Twenty years on, the Master's Key still stands between every fresh 70 and their first Karazhan night. The chain is not hard — it is long, and knowing the timeline prevents the classic panic-Tuesday scramble.
Stage 1: Archmage Alturus (5 minutes)
Pick up the quest outside Karazhan itself, poke around the Underground Pond and the tower grounds, report back. Trivial solo.
Stage 2: Khadgar in Shattrath (5 minutes)
A courier hop to the Terrace of Light. Enjoy the lore beat; it is the last relaxing step.
Stage 3: The dungeon triathlon (2-4 hours)
Entry to the First Key Fragment sits in Shadow Labyrinth — the infamous SLabs run we covered in its own survival guide. Fragment two hides in Steamvault behind Hydromancer trash, and fragment three in Arcatraz, which itself needs its own key or a rogue with maxed lockpicking. Budget one evening if your groups are competent, two if you are pugging.
Stage 4: Black Morass (45-90 minutes)
The Caverns of Time finale: escort Medivh through eighteen portal waves. You will need the short Old Hillsbrad prerequisite first. A geared group makes this cinematic; an undergeared one makes it a wipe montage on wave twelve.
The realistic total
- Organized guild group: one focused evening, door to Master's Key.
- Pug route: two to four evenings depending on Arcatraz key luck and SLabs group quality.
Compressing the timeline
Only ONE group member technically needs deep attunement stages for some skips, but every raider wants their own key for lockout flexibility. If raid night is Tuesday and it is Sunday evening, a carried attunement run through the fragment dungeons plus Black Morass is the difference between raiding this week and watching Discord from the bench. Either way — get the key early in the phase, while dungeon groups are still everywhere.