Scholomance ( original ) The Scholomance ( SKOH - loh - mance ) , a vile academy for prospective necromancers of the Scourge , is located in the ruins of the palatial House of Barov , on a rise overlooking the abandoned city of Caer Darrow . The enemy level range is 38 - 48 and requires that you be at least level 33 and possess the or a rogue with a 280 lockpicking skill to enter . Alternatively , a warlock can Life Tap himself as low as possible , then Hellfire himself to death . While in ghost form , he can step through the door and resurrect on the inside , letting the group in that way . Prior to being re - tuned for a lower level range with Patch 4 . 0 . 3a , Scholomance was probably the single most efficient pre - TBC instance for farming , with trash runs up to the Great Ossuary taking about 45 minutes for a fast player , and potentially yielding 100 - 200 gold , depending on which blue items dropped . The instance had a very rich loot table for the level range , and individual mobs tended to drop good amounts of both coins and Runecloth , which generally sold well on the Auction House . In addition , necromancers and dark summoners ( as well as a few of the bosses ) dropped the prized Dark Rune s , which were useful for raiders and could command prices of 15 - 20 gold each on the Auction House . It was not uncommon for 3 - 4 to drop during a single run , adding potentially another 80 gold to the instance ' s yield . History . The Scholomance was founded by the rogue wizard nearly ten years ago . His Cult of the Damned renovated the ancient crypts beneath Caer Darrow ( an old Arathorian fortress ) and turned them into a school for necromancy . The Cult used this place to train its mortal agents and prepare to unleash the Plague of Undeath upon Lordaeron . It has been brewing with young talented wizards and adepts all this time . No one in Lordaeron knew . Originally , the Barov family ( of Alterac ) owned the land and gave it to the Cult in exchange for the Lich King ' s blessing of immortality . Now the Barovs remain as undead monsters . One of Kel ' Thuzad ' s mightiest agents , the Ravenian , also lives within the recesses of the school — ever ready to devour those students who show any sign of weakness . The lich rules over the site and guards it for the Scourge , but the mortal necromancer , , serves as headmaster of the school , succeeding who was headmaster after Kel ' thuzad . Loot . See Scholomance loot ( original ) . Difficulty . At release , Scholomance was an extremely challenging dungeon . Typically , the dungeon was raided in 10 - man parties , with a difficulty similar to Upper Blackrock Spire . Subsequent patches in the summer of 2006 changed Scholomance drastically . Mobs were weakened slightly , and a great many were removed . However , Scholomance could no longer be run with more than 5 party members . At the time , this " Scholo Nerf " was a common topic for party chat among long - time players . Loot in Scholomance has changed gradually over time . Originally , each boss dropped some relatively weak loot . The dungeon waned in popularity as players saw little point in running it after they had completed their quests and acquired their Dungeon Set 1 hat . Blizzard again patched the dungeon . At this point , Scholomance drops a moderate amount of fairly useful items , including a very small chance at the epic and . The rewards available from the Argent Dawn have also broadened through patches . Scholomance is a staple source of Argent Dawn reputation and Scourgestone s . Players seeking Argent Dawn tradeskill recipes , resistance enchantments or Armaments of the Dawn often spend a great deal of time in Scholomance or Stratholme .