The Shado-Pan Monastery is a 5-man dungeon located in Kun-Lai Summiton Pandaria. The Normal-difficulty version of the dungeon is open to playersbetween level 87 and 90, while the Heroic-difficulty version of the dungeon isreserved to level 90 players. It houses 4 encounters:Gu Cloudstrike, Master Snowdrift,Sha of Violence, and Taran Zhu.

1. Introduction↑top

The Shado-Pan Monastery becomes available to players after reaching level87. The monastery is the most important Shado-Pan training center in Pandaria.It has been corrupted by the Sha of Violence, causing most of theShado-Pan monks to turn against one another. You will have to fight your waythrough the monastery, in order to defeat the Sha of Violence and the variouscorrupted Shado-Pan leaders to make them come to their senses.

The dungeon has a linear layout during which you will progress throughfour different zones and encounter four bosses. The main zone is the Shado-PanMonastery. It is composed of 3 buildings and a courtyard. In each of theselocations, you will find a boss. Each building has its own sub-map. Whentraveling from one building to the other, you can use a ground mountto gain some time.

The dungeon featuresboth Normal (level 87+) and Heroic (level 90) modes. There are nodifferences in mechanics between Normal and Heroic modes. The onlydifferences are increased health and damage done for all bosses and enemies.

Overview	Cloudstrike Dojo
Snowdrift Dojo	Sealed Chambers

This guide will cover all of the four boss encounters, as well as thequests and achievements that are available in the dungeon.

2. Normal Difficulty Loot↑top

In Normal Difficulty, the level of the items you can obtain from theShado-Pan Monastery is 435.

2.1. Armor

Item Name	Armor	Slot	Main Stats	Source
Cowl of Angry Thoughts	Cloth	Head	Intellect	Lord of the Shado-Pan
Antagonist's Headwrap	Cloth	Head	Intellect	Lord of the Shado-Pan
Gloves of Enraged Slaughter	Cloth	Hands	Intellect	Sha of Violence
Cord of Disturbed Dreams	Cloth	Waist	Intellect	The Path to Respect Lies in Violence
Cloudstriker Cord	Cloth	Waist	Intellect/Hit	The Path to Respect Lies in Violence
Headcover of Disturbed Serenity	Leather	Head	Intellect	Lord of the Shado-Pan
Cord of Sha Savagery	Leather	Waist	Intellect	The Path to Respect Lies in Violence
Darkbinder Leggings	Leather	Legs	Intellect	Taran Zhu
Headcover of the Impatient	Leather	Head	Agility	Lord of the Shado-Pan
Shado-Pan Initiate's Belt	Leather	Waist	Agility	The Path to Respect Lies in Violence
Vexing Coif	Mail	Head	Intellect	Lord of the Shado-Pan
Kun-Lai Climbing Belt	Mail	Waist	Intellect	The Path to Respect Lies in Violence
Leggings of the Charging Soul	Mail	Legs	Intellect	Gu Cloudstrike
Blastwalker Footguards	Mail	Feet	Intellect	Taran Zhu
Cowl of Internal Strife	Mail	Head	Agility	Lord of the Shado-Pan
Shadowspine Shoulderguards	Mail	Shoulders	Agility	Taran Zhu
Azure Serpent Chestguard	Mail	Chest	Agility	Gu Cloudstrike
Elemental Archer's Links	Mail	Waist	Agility	The Path to Respect Lies in Violence
Hood of Endless Agitation	Plate	Head	Intellect	Lord of the Shado-Pan
Mindbinder Plate Gloves	Plate	Hands	Intellect	Taran Zhu
Quivering Heart Girdle	Plate	Waist	Intellect	Master Snowdrift
Sha-Trapper Waistguard	Plate	Waist	Intellect	The Path to Respect Lies in Violence
Helm of Unstable Temperament	Plate	Head	Strength/Mastery	Lord of the Shado-Pan
Helm of Enmity	Plate	Head	Strength/Dodge	Lord of the Shado-Pan
Gauntlets of Resolute Fury	Plate	Hands	Strength/Dodge	Master Snowdrift
Girdle of the Broken Seal	Plate	Waist	Strength	The Path to Respect Lies in Violence
Monastery Guardian Waistguard	Plate	Waist	Strength/Dodge	The Path to Respect Lies in Violence
Sparkbreath Girdle	Plate	Waist	Strength/Dodge	Gu Cloudstrike
Spike-Soled Stompers	Plate	Feet	Strength/Mastery	Sha of Violence

2.2. Weapons

Item Name	Type	Main Stats	Source
Crescent of Ichor	One-Hand Axe	Agility	Sha of Violence
Snowdrift's Bladed Staff	Staff	Agility	Master Snowdrift
Warmace of Taran Zhu	Two-Handed Mace	Strength/Mastery	Taran Zhu
Shield of Blind Hate	Shield	Strength/Dodge	Taran Zhu

3. Heroic Difficulty Loot↑top

In Heroic Difficulty, the level of the items you can obtain from theShado-Pan Monastery is 463, with one exception, Ka'eng, Breath of the Shadow, which has an item level of 476.

3.1. Armor

Item Name	Armor	Slot	Main Stats	Source
Robes of Fevered Dreams	Cloth	Chest	Intellect	Taran Zhu
Gloves of Enraged Slaughter	Cloth	Hands	Intellect	Sha of Violence
Star Summoner Bracers	Leather	Wrists	Intellect	Gu Cloudstrike
Darkbinder Leggings	Leather	Legs	Intellect	Taran Zhu
Leggings of the Charging Soul	Mail	Legs	Intellect	Gu Cloudstrike
Blastwalker Footguards	Mail	Feet	Intellect	Taran Zhu
Shadowspine Shoulderguards	Mail	Shoulders	Agility	Taran Zhu
Azure Serpent Chestguard	Mail	Chest	Agility	Gu Cloudstrike
Bladed Smoke Bracers	Mail	Wrists	Agility	Sha of Violence
Mindbinder Plate Gloves	Plate	Hands	Intellect	Taran Zhu
Quivering Heart Girdle	Plate	Waist	Intellect	Master Snowdrift
Hateshatter Chestplate	Plate	Chest	Strength/Mastery	Taran Zhu
Gauntlets of Resolute Fury	Plate	Hands	Strength/Dodge	Master Snowdrift
Sparkbreath Girdle	Plate	Waist	Strength/Dodge	Gu Cloudstrike
Spike-Soled Stompers	Plate	Feet	Strength/Mastery	Sha of Violence

3.2. Weapons

Item Name	Type	Main Stats	Source
Crescent of Ichor	One-Hand Axe	Agility	Sha of Violence
Ka'eng, Breath of the Shadow	One-Hand Fist Weapon	Agility	Taran Zhu
Snowdrift's Bladed Staff	Staff	Agility	Master Snowdrift
Shield of Blind Hate	Shield	Strength/Dodge	Taran Zhu
Warmace of Taran Zhu	Two-Handed Mace	Strength/Mastery	Taran Zhu

3.3. Amulets, Rings, and Trinkets

Item Name	Type	Main Stats	Source
Necklace of Disorientation	Amulet	Intellect/Spirit	Sha of Violence
Ring of Malice	Ring	Intellect	Taran Zhu
Eye of the Tornado	Ring	Intellect/Hit	Master Snowdrift
Seal of Hateful Meditation	Ring	Agility	Taran Zhu
Cloudstrike Pendant	Amulet	Strength	Gu Cloudstrike
Heart of Fire	Trinket	Mastery/Dodge	Master Snowdrift

4. Quests↑top

5. Gu Cloudstrike↑top

The fight against Gu Cloudstrike is a 3-phase fight.

1. During the first phase, you fight Gu and his Azure Serpent. The phaseends when Gu reaches 50% health.
2. During the second phase, Gu becomes invulnerable and you have to killhis Azure Serpent.
3. During the third phase, you have to finish Gu.

5.1. Phase One

In Phase One, Gu keeps casting Invoke Lightning on a random target.This ability has an AoE component, so you need to be spread out 5 yards,to limit the damage it does.

The Azure Serpent keeps putting down Static Field at the location ofa random party member. These fields have a very obvious visual effect andneed to be avoided.

5.2. Phase Two

In Phase Two, Gu is protected by Charging Soul, which his Azure Serpentcasts on him.

The Azure Serpent does not need to be tanked. He has two abilities: Lightning Breath and Magnetic Shroud.

Lightning Breath is a frontal attack that heregularly uses to damage party members in front of him. Avoid it.

Magnetic Shroud is a somewhat complex ability that he sometimescasts and that you can choose to completely ignore (at least, it was the case onbeta).

Magnetic Shroud creates a healing absorption shield on all party members. Tobreak the effect, one of the party members needs to be healed until the shield isbroken (50,000 in Normal mode, 75,000 in Heroic mode). Breaking the shield ofone party member will cause all the other shields to break as well, andeveryone in the proximity of that party member will share a bit of healing.

5.3. Phase Three

In Phase Three, Gu Cloudstrike keeps casting Overcharged Soul,which hits everyone in the party. The frequency at which he casts this abilityis proportional to his missing health. That is to say, he casts thisability more and more often as his health lowers. This mechanism constitutes asoft enrage timer.

6. Snowdrift's Students↑top

After defeating a few groups of trash mob, you will reach Snowdrift Dojowhere Master Snowdrift, the last non-corrupted Shado-Pan master, willtest you.

Before engaging Snowdrift, you will have to prove your worth bydefeating 24 Shado-Pan Novices (who will come to you in several waves)as well as Flying Snow andFragrant Lotus, his top students. None of these fights shouldpose problems to your group. Flying Snow will fixate on a random party memberand deal proximity damage, so avoid standing next to her.

6.1. Achievement: Respect

To complete Respect, you need to bow back to 20 of theShado-Pan Novices after they bow to you when you defeat them. In order todo this easily, take the Novices down one by one and use a /bowmacro.

7. Master Snowdrift↑top

The fight against Snowdrift is divided in 3 phases.

1. Phase One lasts until Snowdrift reaches 50% health.
2. Phase Two lasts until you destroy the images that Snowdrift createsof himself.
3. Phase Three lasts until you defeat Snowdrift.

7.1. Phase One

During Phase One, Snowdrift has two damaging attacks: Fists of Furyand Tornado Kick. He also melees the tank.

Fists of Fury deals damage to everyone in front of him, which means that,besides the tank, players should avoid standing in front of him.

Tornado Kick kicks players around Snowdrift and knock them back. Ifyou are at melee range, then try moving away when he is using TornadoKick.

7.2. Phase Two

During Phase Two, Snowdrift creates images of himself in the corners ofthe room. These images keeps appearing and disappearing. When they areactive, all they do is cast Ball of Fire, which creates a traveling ball offire that damages players in its path.

In this phase, you need to attack the images and destroy them, all the while avoidingthe Balls of Fire.

7.3. Phase Three

During Phase Three, there are two abilities to watch out for: Tornado Slam and Parry Stance.

• Tornado Slam causes Snowdrift to fixate on a random raid member andchase them. If he catches up with them, he casts Tornado Slamat them, dealing 30% of their maximum health as Physical damage. When youare fixated upon, you need to start running.
• Parry Stance causes him to sometimes assume a momentary defensivestance in which he replies to:
  • melee attacks with Quivering Palm and Unleash Vibrations, heavily damaging and stunning the attacker;
  • ranged attacks with Flying Kick, dealing low physical damage.
  Melee players should hold off their attacks while Snowdrift is in ParryStance, as the penalty for attacking him in melee range is heavy damage and a2-second stun. However, Ranged players should keep attacking him.

8. Sha Trash Mobs↑top

On your way to the Sealed Chambers, where you will fight the Sha of Violence,you will encounter several groups of Sha mobs, which can be painful to deal with.

These groups are made up of the following types of creatures:

• Volatile Energy (not present in all groups), which casts Explosion, dealing a large amount of damage to nearbyparty members;
• Regenerating Sha, which heals nearby allies for large amounts with Regenerate (can be interrupted);
• Consuming Sha, which deals heavy damage to its target with Consuming Bite and Consumption;
• Destroying Sha, which deals AoE damage through Shadows of Destruction.

9. Sha of Violence↑top

During the fight with the Sha of Violence, there are mainly two abilitiesto watch out for: Smoke Blades and Sha Spike.

• When Smoke Blades is cast, you will notice a smoky cloud around theSha of Violence. Melee players should ignore this ability and rangedplayers are normally too far away from the boss to be hit.
  • Every second, this cloud inflicts a small amount of damage to players standing inside it. These players are also prevented from scoring critical strikes for up to 30 seconds (this duration is reduced by 5 seconds each time you use an ability). When this effect ends, these players receive the Parting Smoke buff, which causes the next attack or spell to be a critical strike that hits for 100% more damage than usual.
• Sha Spike causes an erupting spike to appear at the location of a randomplayer, dealing damage to them and knocking them back. It also summonsa Lesser Volatile Energy enemy that attacks the group for 30 seconds(it can be killed). Simply move away when the ground beneath you startsvibrating.

In addition, the healer and the tank need to be aware of Disorienting Smash, which regularly deals heavy Shadow Damage to thetank, and Enrage, which causes the Sha to dealincreased damage at low health.

9.1. Achievement: The Obvious Solution

To complete The Obvious Solution, you need to release all the Sha minionsimprisoned in the Sealed Chambers and kill them before defeating the Sha ofViolence. Releasing the minions causes the boss to engage your group, whichmeans that you have to kill the minions all the while fighting the boss.

To release the minions, you need to go to the northern chamber. To do so,take left when you reach the boss (be careful not to aggro him). In this chamber,you will find an object that looks like the units where the Sha minions are contained,albeit much smaller. Clicking this object will release the minions.

10. Taran Zhu↑top

Although not a difficult fight, the encounter with Taran Zhu hascomplex mechanics that you need to understand.

10.1. Hatred and Meditate

The fight presents you with an interesting mechanic, Hatred,which is represented by a progression bar that startsout empty and fills as you take damage from the boss.

When you reach maximum Hatred, your chance to hit is reduced by90% and your healing done by 25%. To remove this effect and reset yourHatred, you need to use Meditate. This fight-specificability can be used by clicking the button in the middle of your screen.Meditate is a channeled ability, so you cannot do anythingfor a few seconds while it resets your Hatred.

Note that there are several sources of unavoidable damage in thisfight, so you will have to use Meditate.

10.2. Sources of Damage

Rising Hate is an ability regularly cast by Taran Zhu at severalrandom targets. The cast of this ability can and should be interrupted.

Ring of Malice causes Taran Zhu to surround himself with a damagingShadow ring for 15 seconds, during which time his movement speed is reduced by 80%.The ring only deals damage to players that touch its border. Make sure to beeither inside or outside the ring.

The tank and the healer need to pay special attention to Sha Blast.This ability is only cast when Ring of Malice is active. It deals a highamount of damage and knocks the tank back.

Finally, Taran Zhu often summons a Gripping Hatred, which needs tobe killed as it creates a damaging Sha zone underneath itself and keeps pullingparty members into it.

10.3. Summing up the Strategy

Despite the lengthy ability explanations, the strategy can be easily summarisedas follows:

• use Meditate when you reach full Hatred;
• be either inside or outside of Ring of Malice, but not on the ring;
• kill the Gripping Hatred and move away from its Sha zone when youare pulled into it.

10.4. Achievement: Hate Leads to Suffering

To complete Hate Leads to Suffering, you need to get Taran Zhulow on health and then wait a bit for all the party members to reachfull hatred. Then you can finish him off.

11. Final Considerations↑top

This concludes our Shado-Pan Monastery dungeon guide. If youfind any inconsistency or mistake, feel free to comment or send us an e-mail.