Murloc

Biodata

Feature	Value
Name	Murloc (鱼人)
Species/Race	Murloc
Affiliation	Murloc tribes of the Murloc Shoal and Gold Coast
Status	Neutral character (AI)
First Appearance	Chapter 1

Background / History

Murlocs are a numerous coastal people in Westfall. Their raids are one of the persistent dangers facing the region’s remaining farms and settlements, alongside gnolls and the Defias Brotherhood 1. They also rob passersby, making their removal a priority for local farm owners 24.

Their population is vast and divided among innumerable tribes, clans, and social strata. Most ordinary murlocs have a Challenge Rating of 1; combat-trained individuals are a minority, generally ranging from Challenge Rating 3 to 5 27.

Shawn’s manipulation of the Kobolds triggers a major Kobold–Murloc conflict at Westfall’s Gold Coast. The initial ambush causes heavy casualties on both sides 11 12. The Gold Coast murlocs lose more than half their population in this attack, while the Jangolode Mine kobolds lose a third of theirs. Gryan Stoutmantle subsequently brings his men to investigate the fighting 11 12. Later, Shawn exploits a similar conflict within the Murloc Shoal dungeon, using a Kobold army and the bloodshed it causes to attract Murloc Killer Crabs—the murlocs’ natural predators 29.

Gryan regards the weakened murloc and kobold populations as an opportunity to eliminate both threats. Old Saldean and Jason agree to help finance the campaign because of the trouble both races have caused Westfall’s residents 24.

The Gold Coast conflict escalates when Shawn again leads kobolds against the murlocs. Although the kobold raid fails, Gryan Stoutmantle’s militia, Shawn, Princess, and the Harvest Watchers subsequently eliminate the remaining murlocs in the area 43 44. Gold Coast later becomes the site of a growing human town developed by Shawn, with construction supported by artisans, laborers, and Gryan’s expanded militia 145.

Society and Classes

Class / Group	Role	Known Challenge Rating
Ordinary Murloc	Most common members of the race	1
Murloc Tidehunter	Rogue-like combatant	3
Murloc Raider	Rogue-like combatant	3
Bluegill Warrior	Warrior-type combatant	3
Murloc Tidecaller	Spellcaster	3
Darkscale Oracle	Spellcaster	3
Coldlight Seer	Spellcaster	4
Coldlight Oracle	High-ranking spellcaster; typically requires several tribes or a large tribe to produce	5
Murloc Warleader	Military commander among murloc forces	Not documented

• A typical tribe contains several dozen murlocs and only a small number of professionals, such as one oracle or seer, two or three raiders/tidehunters, or a Bluegill Warrior 28.
• The proportion of professionals within murloc tribes is no higher than that among humans 28.
• A Murloc Warleader is a commander-level figure who would require the combined professionals of many tribes to support an army 28.
• The Murloc Shoal’s highest-ranking documented native professional is a Coldlight Oracle 28.
• No Murloc Warleader is observed during Shawn’s initial survey of the shoal, and he considers it possible that none exists anywhere in the several-kilometer dungeon 27 28.

Abilities & Traits

Coastal Combat

Murloc combatants inhabit beaches and shoals in scattered groups. When threatened, nearby murlocs rapidly converge on the attacker 27 28.

• Murloc Raiders, Tidehunters, and Bluegill Warriors engage in direct combat 27 28.
• Rogue-like murloc combatants use Backstab and Sinister Strike during the Murloc Shoal battle 29.
• Murloc spellcasters employ ice magic, including Frostbolt and Frost Nova 29.
• During the Gold Coast battle, murloc casters exchange Frostbolts with kobold shamans and are vulnerable to attacks from behind 43.
• Murloc warriors fight with weapons including hammers and axes. Spell attacks frequently strike the melee combatants and disrupt their fighting 43.
• No murloc with a Challenge Rating above 7 appears during the final Gold Coast battle. The murlocs’ spells and physical attacks prove ineffective against Shawn’s three Harvest Watchers 44.

Numbers and Tribal Response

Murlocs possess a large population despite their generally low individual strength 27.

• The Murloc Shoal contains dozens or hundreds of professional combatants in addition to ordinary murlocs 28.
• At least 2,000 murlocs participate in the Gold Coast battle, while several thousand are said to inhabit the wider coastline 43.
• Gold Coast stretches for hundreds of miles, preventing most of its murlocs from reaching the battle despite their overall numbers 43.
• Their numerical advantage can be disrupted by ambushes, as shown when kobolds scatter and slaughter tribes before a unified defense can form 29.
• During the Murloc Shoal assault, the murlocs outnumber the kobolds several times over and possess more professional combatants, but their fragmented response allows the united attackers to overwhelm them tribe by tribe 29.

Vulnerability to Murloc Killer Crabs

Murloc Killer Crabs are the race’s natural predators 29.

• The crabs attack murlocs on sight regardless of relative size or numbers 29.
• Their shells resist the water and ice magic used by Coldlight Seers and Darkscale Oracles 29.
• A sufficiently bloody battle can attract large numbers of crabs, leading to the near-total destruction of local murloc forces 29.
• The crabs destroy the shoal’s main surviving murloc population in less than half an hour. A Coldlight Oracle positioned roughly a kilometer away survives long enough to summon Skoda 29.
• The crabs also attack Skoda, despite her being a Naga, because of her slight resemblance to a murloc and her association with the summoning Oracle 29.

Appearance

• Murlocs in the Murloc Shoal display blue, green, and multicolored bodies 27.
• They gather in small clusters across the beach, with substantial distances between groups 27.

Notable Groups and Individuals

• Coldlight Oracles — The highest-ranking documented murloc professionals in the Murloc Shoal. One surviving Oracle summons Skoda after the shoal’s murlocs are massacred 28 29. The summoning is performed from an altar-like structure using an ancient incantation 29.
• Murloc Guard Skoda — A Naga, rather than a true murloc, who serves as the guardian and master of the Murloc Shoal. Skoda was formerly Lady Vashj’s bodyguard before losing her position and suffering a decline in strength 29. Her defeat completes Shawn’s dungeon quest and grants the instance-only Gathering ability 30.
• Gold Coast Murlocs — Westfall’s coastal murloc population. They fight repeated large-scale battles against the Kobolds and are eventually pursued and eliminated by Gryan’s forces with Shawn’s support 11 43 44.

Story Role / Major Arcs

Westfall Raids and the First Kobold–Murloc Battle

Murlocs are established as a recurring threat to Westfall’s coastal settlements. Shawn uses the Kobold War Horn to send kobolds against them, sparking a battle that leaves both races with heavy losses 1 11 12.

The ambush kills more than half the Gold Coast murlocs and a third of the Jangolode Mine kobolds, alarming Westfall’s residents 11. Gryan investigates the aftermath and questions Shawn about the cause, but Shawn conceals his responsibility. Gryan treats the fighting as a major development capable of affecting the balance of threats across Westfall 12 13.

Murloc Shoal

The Murloc Shoal is a dungeon filled with murloc tribes and professional combatants. Shawn initially fails to clear it after killing a Murloc Raider draws a large hostile response 27 28.

The dungeon has a three-hour time limit, no starter chest, and an initially unknown completion condition. Its lack of a clear objective and its numerous professional murlocs make a direct assault impractical for Shawn 27 28. He reasons that the Kobold War Horn obtained through his earlier dungeon rewards must provide an indirect means of clearing it 28.

He returns with hundreds of horn-controlled kobolds. Their assault devastates the shoal’s murlocs, while the resulting bloodshed summons Murloc Killer Crabs that finish off the survivors 29. A Coldlight Oracle summons Skoda, whose defeat allows Shawn to clear the dungeon and harvest murloc-related loot, including scales, staffs, robes, shells, pearls, and treasure chests 29 30.

Shawn removes three treasure chests from the murloc camp before leaving the dungeon 30. A subsequent lucky draw for clearing Murloc Shoal also gives him the Ghost Reins, which he later uses to tame Princess 39.

Gold Coast Campaign

Shawn rallies several hundred kobolds from the Jangolode Mine and nearby camps to raid Gold Coast 42. This operation follows an agreement with Gryan: Shawn is to provoke the two races into fighting while keeping his methods secret, in exchange for a weekly ten-percent share of Jangolode Mine profits and all magical items from the spoils 42.

Kobold camps near Gold Coast have been established after the earlier fighting to guard against murloc retaliation. Their inhabitants join Shawn’s advancing force 42. At the beginning of the raid, Shawn rides Princess through the battlefield, kills a Darkscale Oracle with Arcane Missiles, and continues into the sea to retrieve treasure from a nearby island rather than remain in the initial melee 43.

The murlocs repel the kobolds after a prolonged battle, but Gryan’s militia then advances into the coast to pursue them 43. The kobolds’ first assault kills at least three hundred murlocs, but after roughly an hour of fighting, more than half the kobolds are dead and the survivors flee as the War Horn’s influence fades 43. Shawn joins the final assault with spells, Princess, and three Harvest Watchers; the remaining murlocs are wiped out 44.

Items and Materials

• Murloc scales — Gathered from murlocs and used fraudulently by a blacksmith to make a supposed “Silver-Scaled Breastplate” 25. Argus later values a cartload of murloc scales at one copper per scale during a trade with Shawn, distinguishing them from the much more valuable Naga scales harvested from Skoda 33.
• Seashells and pearls — Harvested from the Murloc Shoal; magical pearls are later offered by Shawn in trade to Theocritus 30 36.
• Staves and robes — Shawn’s combined harvest from murloc spellcasters and kobold shamans in the Murloc Shoal yields fifteen white-quality staffs, one green-quality staff, and several tattered robes 30.
• Salvaged treasure chests — Murlocs collect chests from shipwrecks in the Murloc Shoal; one contains gold, silver, and copper coins 30.
• Murloc Guard Amulet — Green-quality equipment harvested from Skoda that grants +1 to all attributes. Despite its name, it comes from the shoal’s Naga guardian rather than a true murloc 30.
• Ghost Reins — Blue-quality equipment obtained from the lucky draw after clearing Murloc Shoal, rather than harvested from a murloc. They can tame a creature with a Challenge Rating no greater than 10 into a mount and enhance its strength through ghost possession 39.

Trivia

• The “Murloc Guard” title is misleading in Skoda’s case: Skoda is explicitly identified as a Naga, not a murloc 29.
• Murlocs are described as one of Azeroth’s two most populous intelligent races alongside kobolds 43.
• Shawn portrays murlocs as the kobolds’ eternal enemies while rallying his second Gold Coast raid. This claim is part of his effort to incite the kobolds, rather than an independently established account of the races’ history 42.

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