The Shade of Akama is one of the early bosses in the Black Temple raid in World of Warcraft. While the fight itself is straightforward, players often get stuck because the Shade of Akama encounter is not starting.
If you’re farming transmog, chasing achievements, or just exploring, running into this problem can be frustrating. This guide will walk you through how to start the Shade of Akama fight and give you quick fixes if the event doesn’t trigger.
Where to Find the Shade of Akama
The Shade of Akama is located in the Halls of the High Council inside the Black Temple raid in Shadowmoon Valley. After defeating Supremus, move deeper into the temple, clearing trash mobs along the way, until you find Akama standing in the middle of the council chamber. This is where the encounter begins.
Shade of Akama: How to Start
The encounter doesn’t begin automatically when you enter the room. To start it:
- Find Akama in the middle of the room.
- Speak to Akama and select his dialogue option.
- After you talk to him, Akama will walk toward the Shade, and waves of enemies will spawn.
- Once the scripted waves are done, the Shade of Akama becomes attackable.
If you don’t interact with Akama, nothing happens — which is the main reason people think the encounter is broken.
Common Issue: Shade of Akama Not Starting
Many players run into problems where the Shade event just doesn’t kick off. Here are the usual culprits:
- You didn’t talk to Akama. The fight is triggered only by his dialogue.
- Akama bugged or missing. Clearing too fast or skipping trash sometimes prevents him from appearing properly.
- Script stuck. The event may start but then stall with no enemies spawning.
- Old raid lockout. If you’ve already partially done the event in this lockout, it won’t reset until the weekly reset.
Quick Troubleshooting Checklist
If you’re searching for shade of akama not starting, here’s a step-by-step fix you can try:
- ✔ Make sure you clicked Akama’s dialogue.
- ✔ Clear all nearby trash mobs before trying again.
- ✔ Leave the chamber, re-enter, and check if Akama has reset.
- ✔ If that fails, exit and reset the instance.
- ✔ If Akama still doesn’t appear, wait for the weekly raid reset and try again.
Most of the time, simply talking to Akama or resetting the instance solves the issue.
How to Reset if Problems Persist
If the encounter is still stuck after trying the basics, there are a couple of tricks that often help. You can intentionally wipe the fight by pulling extra mobs or letting yourself die, then running back in to see if the script restarts.
Another option is to fully leave the instance, right-click your character portrait, and select Reset All Instances. This forces the raid to reset and respawn everything, usually fixing Akama’s dialogue event. If you’re still locked into a bugged state after that, you’ll need to wait until the next weekly raid reset for a fresh run.
Loot from Shade of Akama
While not one of the raid’s hardest bosses, Shade of Akama still drops notable loot. Players farming transmog can find several pieces of Tier 6 armor tokens here, which are part of some of the most iconic class sets in the game.
He also has weapons like Blade of Savagery and Soul-Cleansing Gloves, along with other epics. Even though he is not the main source of highly prized loot in Black Temple, you’ll need to defeat him to continue deeper toward Illidan and the other major bosses.