Zskera Vaults is one of the many highlights of the Forgotten Reach. The new zone was added in Patch 10.0.7 as a way for us to explore Neltharion’s various stored treasures and forgotten research.

To start, pick up Hidden Legacies from the Healing Wings Envoy at the Seat of the Aspects in Valdrakken to learn about events in the Forbidden Reach. Then complete the short questline starting with Helping Hand and Claw that leads you to the entrance of the Zkera Vault.

We have discovered a series of vaults below the island. Neltharion hoarded treasures, accumulated knickknacks, and stashed away the results of his failed experiments. When I say he’s a hoarder, I’m not kidding! He filled chamber after chamber, and in time, they were all forgotten… until now. Treasure awaits us behind these locked doors! Also, the occasional deathtrap. Also, treasure! Now we have the keys to unlock those doors.

When you first enter and explore Zskera Vault: Az, you’ll be tempted to use all your keys but DON’T because the next quest asks you to go back in and unlock more rooms.

Uncover the secrets of the Zskera Vaults

With your help, we can now delve deeper into the secrets of this land. Nearby lay the Zskera Vaults. Within these large underground chambers, Neltharion stored various treasures and forgotten research. Exploring these vaults would be most beneficial. Please travel with Tacha and Jeb and assist them as needed.

Zskera Vault Key

Zskera Vault Keys can drop from the repeatable rares on the Forbidden Reach or looted from chests or special hand-ins. Sometimes you’ll loot a scroll or similar item that will mark a treasure on the map. Once looted you can trade in these items to the four envoys in the camp.

My personal favourite is the Sack of Oddities sold by Cataloger Daela (34, 59) located on the left side of the group of renown envoys in Morqut Village. The Sack costs 2,000 Elemental Overflow but that is easy to come by in the zone.

Achievements

There are a few achievements you can collect from the Vault. My favourite would have to be the first one since you can easily farm 29 keys before you go in the second week.

  • Every Door, Everywhere, All At Once – Unlock every door in a single Zskera Vault within one week.
  • Door to Door – Unlock 50 doors within the Zskera Vaults using Zskera Vault Keys.
  • Door Buster – Unlock 150 doors within the Zskera Vaults using Zskera Vault Keys. You shall be granted the title “the Key Master”

The rooms are randomized so you will likely see different treasures for each toon you take in there with the vault resetting each week. Even though there are four different vaults, there doesn’t seem to be a major difference between Az, Ur, Ix and Kz apart from the mobs you see in the middle when you first enter the vault and the different ways you can move around the vault.

Reaching Higher Levels

There are several ways you can move around the four levels of the vault. The first week had Web Ropes to explore the 1st floor. You can also loot an item from a small glowing chest that will activate the Bubble Lifter allowing you to reach the next 3 floors. A small jar that lets you jump from one platform to the next or allows you to land safely on lower levels.

The second week I used the Flask of Elastic Ooze sitting on the Obsidian Mixing Table in the middle of the vault. It allows you to easily jump to the first level. Another two rooms had a Crate of Unfinished Scrolls that randomly teleports you around the vault and a handy waygate you can use once you repair it.

Usually, there’s no issue reaching the first level but if you use one of the other teleports to reach the second or third level, I find Windward Steps the most reliable way to move between platforms on the same level. Thankfully, it also has the longest buff so you can just right-click the waygate or scroll buff if you want to use windward steps instead.

In the third week, I didn’t get the waygate, scroll or bubble lifter so I used the Experimental Dragon Packs to reach the other levels. These can usually be found in the Prototype Tinker-Tron’s room and on occasion in another room as well.

Week four only had the box of scrolls when I cleared the ground floor, so I ended up using the Experimental Dragon Packs until I found the room with the Windward Steps potion.

Zskera Vault Puzzles

Here are the notable chests and puzzles I’ve found in the Vault. Click on any of the links below to see my video guides on YouTube.

Prototype Tinker-Tron

Prototype Tinker-Tron – Gilded Mechafrog (pet) & the Neltharion Gift Tokens

arcane room

Arcane Watcher – Primordial Arcane Cache

Zskera vault frost room

Frost rooms – Kobaldt (pet) from the Inanimate Crystalspine

Frozen rooms – Primordial Water Cache & Frozen Coffer

fire room

Fire rooms – Primordial Fire Cache & Searing Chest

Slime room – Resilient Goo and the Consumed Gem

recipe rat

Rat room – obtain the secret cooking recipe from the Recipe Rat – Ratcipe: Deviously Deviled Eggs

Bone room – collect the Spore-Bound Essence (toy) from the Overgrown Skeleton

Rune Chest – click the 2nd, 4th, 3rd and 1st runes to unlock the Primordial Earth Cache

Water room – collect Patos (pet) from the Unkempt Aquarium

Chain room – pull the chains to lower the Chain-Bound Primordial Caches

Disgusting Vat – fish up Emmah (pet) from the vat

Titan Coffers – use the Runic Wrench to repair the Malfunctioning Protector inside the Titan Coffer room

Zskera Vault’s Secret Room

Grand Obsidian Cache

Apart from some pirate mobs, a Breaching Cannon to blast open one of the doors and some Buccaneer’s Ropes taking me up to the next level, there wasn’t really anything worth recording this week until I discovered the Grand Obsidian Cache inside the secret room in Zskera Vault.

The next week I used the active waygate in The Waking Shores to give me a direct port to Zskera Vaults. Even though the cache didn’t have anything unusual after looting the antler customisation for my proto-drake, I still think it’s an easy way to get to the Forbidden Reach. It also has a chance to contain a few of the zone-wide pets like Bunbo.

Quest NPCs

Earthcaller Yevva

Each week you may see one or two additional NPCs offering another quest.

  • A Brew for the Ages – offered by Tapper Swindlekeg rewards 3 Zskera Vault Keys
  • Primordial Answers – offered by  Earthcaller Yevaa rewards a Zskera Vault Key, Neltharion Gift Token, Condensed Fire Magic, Prismatic Fragment

Treasures of the Forbidden Reach

Discover the hidden treasures within the post-storm Forbidden Reach.

Forbidden Hoard
Obsidian Coffer
Bone Pile
Irontide Stash
Stonescaled Cairn – located one at the base of a brazier in Stormsunder Crater (73, 56)
Frozenheart Cairn
Avian Trove
Spellsworn Reserves
Farscale Cache
Storm-Eater Cairn – located outside the cavern at Stormsunder Crater and on the path (68, 64)
Blazing Cairn – this seems to share a spawn with the Obsidian Coffers in the Siege Creche. Finally found mine in one of the little alcoves at 53, 20.
Morqut Provisions

I found most pretty easily but needed the Reliquary Scroll of Perception purchased from Cataloger Daela to find the last two treasures around Stormsunder Crater.