Fabled place, tons mobs, some dts, most legend eq load spots. However, it is not as dangerous as breelegends describe it ;) More exactly: is not dangerous at all for clueful legend with good map and some info about tricks/smobs of this place (such as this file). Good map is problem, though ;) Map it as legend scout, and be ready to eat like 5 dt deaths, and maybe even some mobdeaths too (depends on your skill), so before mapping ask your friend to collect like 5-8 22 pb+ shields/chanted ekets/fgcs/plain picks, and be online all time while you map/die. Before going inside store some food/oil flasks, one walking/travelling lore isn't excess too. MUME Moria water sources are not poisoned as JRRT describes it, so no point much in storing water.

To enter Moria via west gate you must solve some kind of quest. You must prac detect magic spell (decay it later if non-mage). Go to some n from gate (don't wait at gate, or tentacles will drag you to Moria kraken - 99% mobdeath), wait till moonrise, cast detect, go to gate and type 'exa inscription'. It must be night (if month is wrong, moon can rise after sun, and go down before night comes). If you see “Doors of Durin bla bla” - quest solved :) Later you can enter Moria at any time/month, and even without detect - just come to gate and say 'friend' in Sindarin. If you don't know Sindarin well - spam say! ;) After you enter Moria via wgate, it will be blocked for 20-30 mins (but it will not when you _leave_ it).

Well, some general info about dts. n and s from Durin's Bridge are instant dts, noflee though. Also one instant dt is in Shaghosh area (nw part). All other dts are either timed or mudlled. For example, one more dt in Shaghosh area triggers like 1 sec after you enter it (lose balance and fall); Ruined Avenue ruins if many heavily eqipped players enter it (like 4-5 metal dwarves), though it is timed too. Other places are not dts actually - just some damage. Boulder room (where you hear 'click' when enter) is delayed 150-200 damage, but magic armour can absorb it; heavy wheels in Shaghosh area (west from Mine Office) do like 150 damage too, but with high dex you can dodge em. These wheels can also trap you if you fail to run out, in such case just wait until zone pops.

All Moria can be mapped easily by legend scout, but I must point to some dangerous places. General rule: in most cases exits down lead to more dangerous areas than exits up, so if in trouble - spam up anywhere you can ;) Not far from wgate are 2 oneways leading to jade bracelet area - there can load up to 6 patrols of 6-7 mobs in each, if just 2-3 patrols loaded - consider yourself lucky and map it. Boulder exists in this area, and oneway south from it leads to zone with even more mobs, and two secrets out named 'rockdoor'.

Some n of it is Shaghosh area, with tons hardhitting mobs/secrets/dts/etc. You should always remember how to run back to safe rooms from it (drop some coins on important crossroads maybe).

Patrols near egate are nastier, but there always loads same number of patrols (like 3), and two more not moving (one guarding barricade). Middle part of the Mustering Stairs is here too, and down from it is area with most concentration of mobs in whole Moria: 13-mob patrols are common here.

Bottom area (Hwain's way) is most dangerous. It is patrolled by black uruks, which track over half of area (you should run like zone to make them stop tracking you). There are just 4 entrances to this area: via whirlpool (oneway), down from 'Intersection of roads', 2d from 'Cavern crossroads' and one more via secret w from Durin's bridge. In this area located Muranog, Hshkhlahk and Balrog. From room named 'deep shaft' oneway down leads to the Deeps of Moria - there live 3 worms (nobash, eff vs mental, bashing and hardhitting), and area repops every *7 seconds*. Exit out is locked 'shaft', you must have high pick to get out, or break it - othervise it is 100% mobdeath for solo player. If you fall here, quickly walk w or s from room where you fall to, and drop something here - so you will know which room has exit.

Any mob(s) in Moria except Balrog can be done by group of legend buffer (preferably defwarrior in thin metal or shining chain/white chain, attack warrior on wimpy in thick metal goes too), legend cleric with blind and legend mage with sleep. Solo mage in metal with stored spells can manage pretty much too, just Mezagor (due to bash attack) is impossible. Balrog is not supposed to be soloed by mage with charmies, but you can seek yourself if you can charm enough nasty mobs to do him ;)

HINT: Moria as an area is too complex to rely only on written info, but perhaps this will give you some insight on what to expect…

Small hints

1) Packrats will never repop until someone kill one with key, loots it and loots chest. If there are no visible packrats in Moria - means somewhere in Umuk or Shaghosh area hides last one with key (Hiddenslab is also a likely place to find last rat) Rats popping is somehow related to westgate, so if no rats you can try opening westgate and going west/east to try and make them pop. (Ussually takes a few minutes after)

2) As far as I know, no zone in Moria will repop when player is in - so don't be afraid of doing some locked in rooms with mobs like boil-infested troll. (the one exception to this… some people lure karkarak to eastgate, block the west exit, and then quake flee it there to avoid patrols… this is a very bad idea because eastgate itself can pop which results in mobdeath…)

3) There is bridge-type place, with 3 exits down in a vertical row. Under it live some snakes and 2 orms, and of course in watery rooms. They are nice exp, but dangerous without boat/canoe. Canoe loads in Shaghosh area, but dont jump down from bridge with it: mudlle will force you to drop it, and it will be shattered (which can lead to drow/mobdeath). Get rope with hook near circlet chest, keep it in inventory - and then you will be able to move down 1e from bridge, without falling (and get back same way). You can also just go west from the black troll on mustering stairs to take a one way down to this area.

4) With Bulag, if you kill the grey trolls and leave the Bulky troll blind/ bashed/slept or whatever, the grey's don't pop next time around. Makes it much easier.

5) With Shaghosh, if you just kill shaghosh and leave the trolls/wolves alone and shut in, you can lure JUST Shaghosh out when he next pops. Again, makes it much easier.

Location: upper halls of Moria, from Intersection of roads u max e max sw is area where he wanders.

Strategy: Not harder than epriest, same warning: try avoid blinding. May be some problems though is trolls follow him - in this case just blind them. Loot small stone key from corpse and go to north-eastern part of zone, to room with 3 trolls. They block exit e, so kill them or blind to pass. Unlock/open stonelatch, e is Grey Spider which guards some treasure on the ground and chest with shining chain and jewel-encrusted key.

Loads: Shining chain mail leggings (very rarely), Balrog key, plate greaves and vambraces, amethyst, opal and some gold.

Location: from Central Gathering Hall (with water-drake) 2n w.

Strategy: nothing unusual, just tough monster and 3 big trolls following him. Better blind/sleep lesser trolls before doing Karc - it's hard for any buffer to buff 4 trolls at the same time ;) And also: as this is egate area, everyone in group must know how to run from patrols (better hide behind panel wn bridge, or behind statuary w of it).

Loads: Shining chain mail shirt (rarely), fell blade (sometimes) or heavy morningstar, belt of pearls and crystals.

Location: from Cavern Crossroads 6e open greydoor nww and kill a small orc for intricate steel key. Then 2e s 3w 3n 2e 2n 2e 5s, d is his area.

Strategy: There will be up to 20(!) trollmobs before and behind entrance to Umuk. Better to clear all trolls that move before going d. Then there are two door to w and e, blackslab and bloodydoor. Prudent to open the doors and let the trolls out one at a time. Proceed inside wseenw to check that you have killed all, then Umuk + bulky cavetroll is wses. Kill them and open dirtfloor to loot some coins and harp (alive Umuk blocks exit down). Then open lichen and follow to the chest with BDA. If you are just 3, killing all trolls will take like 20-30 mins. In this case first kill trolls, then go check orc for key - this key decays very fast.

Note: Key can decay very fast. If you need the metals and axe, I would suggest only getting after you are ready to use it. \\Iluvator

Loads: Thick gauntlets on Umuk, blackened dwarven axe and plate metal set in the chest.

Location: from Cavern Crossroads 3e 4n 3w open crag w s open irondoor, s w s 2w s 2w open redeye w n.

Strategy: Shag located in dangerous area, tons patrols here, so everyone must have map to be ready to flee out to Durins way. Only broad orcs non-aggressive here. You can kill all mobs of course, but if you are just 3, better to just skip patrols.
Before redeye stands patrol of commanding orc and 2 cave trolls - dangerous even for 3 legends. But! This room is NO_MOB, and once patrol leaves it - it can't neither follow you now track you back in ;) So, just lure patrol outside and go rest to redeye. Behind redeye is patrol of commanding (5.) orc and 4 lesser orcs, and n of them is Shaghosh the Durghash orc chieftain + 2 bulky trolls + 2 dire wolves. Kill them all, though better to sleep higher mobs first, and do lesser while boss slept ;) Get huge iron key and bwf from Shaghosh corpse, open secretstairs d, go and loot another bwf. Then go back u s, unlock/open steeldoor, go w and loot all treasure.

Loads: 2 black warg furs, emerald, golden necklace and Shining chain mail leggings.

Location: from white fountain e Azaghal's way 4w s open tile d 2e 3n w s open irondoor s kill orc open door e. Strategy: Mezagor is fearsome beast, which is not bashable, but has himself some strange attack like continuous bash - his victim can't do ANYTHING for alot of time or until either he or Mezagor dies. Door to his room is not locked by default, but as soon as someone enters, Meza locks it. So: better destroy door before entering if you are not sure that you can manage him (in this case only buffer dies, but all non-engaged can leave). Meza have like 1200-1500 hps, so can be pretty easely fried by fballs/harms from 2 casters. It loads 2 keys: bloody for it's door and one of Balrog doors; stonekey for Armoury. Backway from Meza: gorydoor.
After doing him begins boring part. Go w 2n 2w 5s e s e. There loads patrol, but don't kill it there ;) Lure n e! This is entrance to armoury, and to enter it you need 3 things: weight, key and word. After killing patrol here go w s w 3n 4e 6n - it is place where load boulders. Bring at least 5 of them to armoury entrance (command “push boulder <dir>”). When enough weight will be in this room (5 boulders, corpses of 1 patrol and 3 players is usually enough), you will hear *click* and see floor message. After that go w s w 3n 2e n open dwarfdoor e, kill both statues (they block exit up), open hatch and go up. There is page containing word (you must know Khuzdul well to read it). Return to entrance, and someone (any race) must say this word in any language - opens keyhole, then you should quickly unlock and open pillars to the east.

Loads: Balrog key in corpse; shining chain mail shirt, white chain sleeves, war mattock and tons metal in the armoury.

Location: Muranog loads on his throne on the bottom-most level of Moria, reachable (w/o killing mobs) by endless stairs (portal needed) OR from the Intersection of roads d 4e s e s 15e n open stairway 2d open crevice w n e n 5e s e n open mahogany e OR from Durin's bridge w open statuary s w 3d e 3d n open door (stairwell from other side) w 2n 4w n open mahogany w n. He can wander nearby also.

Strategy: Mura loads with 3 black olog trolls folling him, and killing all 4 at the same time is hard work. Always better to split them. If you kill Muranog when trolls are in throne room where they loads, he will pop so that trolls won't fol him after repop. This can be done in two ways: if trolls following him - sleep them in throne room, and then kill Mura; if not - just lure him out, and kill anywhere. He's quite easy if group knows what they're doing (since black uruk patrols patrol the area - it's important that all know how to get out unless you wanna risk mobdeaths). Just (cast|stab)/flee if solo, or nuke if in group. 2 casters in most cases have enough mana to spray/dispel him dead - he have like 2000 hps. And beware: Mura can switch targets, so either casters should cast non-engaged, or buffer should have good rescue. As Mura is eff vs fire, it's better to spray him than fireball.

For orc scout it's harder to stab Muranog than for elf (due to maluses in stats/sneak), but for orc there is another strategy: go from mahogany s max w s 6e s 5w, kill Hshkhlahk the Dark Claw, butcher corpse for obsidian eye and stab Muranog blind! Whities can kill claw with nightvision/seeing herblore/95%+ awareness only: it snuffs ANY light, even staff glow. Only possible strategy for group of whities is enter without light, let one buff Claw while another makes camp - and then nuke. Though, if you got group - you can manage Muranog even without killing Claw…
Shining key on him is key to his treasure rooms. With the key you can unlock archeddoor (from Throne room s 2e 2n). Shining chain mail sleeves can load there in 3.chest. You will get blinded when you enter this room (unless you save - like 5% chance) so might be wise to lock archeddoor (same name from inside and from outside) after you're in. Of course, never enter when door is already open - means someone trapping inside! And also, this room is nocast, so it's wrong place for trapping as mage ;) 2s from it is oakdoor. Shining chain mail sleeves can load inside oakdoor too, n from central room, hidden. S of central room is a cabinet which you can open with good pick skill/picks (over 60% total), it loads mithril key for Balrog.

Loads: Either ornate warhammer or HBM or iron-shod mace, corberyl (in left hand), great helm, thick plate/boots, regular vambraces/gaunts/greaves; Shining chain mail sleeves in his treasure rooms.

Level: Legend caster/thief can manage him too.

Location: from Muranog s w s w s 7e 3n w s 4w s w n; from here n is his area.

Strategy: To do Balrog you need 4 keys. They load at:

Muranog     - in cabinet   - mithril key
Mezagor     - in corpse    - bloody key
Grey spider - in chest     - jewel-encrusted key
underwater  - behind crack - great bone key

Even if you already have Muranog's mithril key, go and kill him - otherwise Balrog will call him, he will arrive with his 3 trolls, block doors, and it is kinda hard to manage Balrog+Muranog+trolls at the same time…

Also need 7 strange golden rings that will save you from Balrog's heat. Rings load below water-drake. Sleep/blind/kill drake (for kill you have to dive - dangerous, as drake has special mudlle that drags u underwater). Swim & climb on, go 2d, open wellrocks, go e, unlock/open trapdoor, go up. (I think its the underwater key that's needed for trapdoor). Then there are 3 other doors. Behind doors to east and west are pillars. You have to cast 'dispel magic' on each pillar. Then cast 'dispel magic' on field (in central room), unlock/open mithril door, go n and loot The Morgul Blade, emerald, bronze medallion and rings in wooden box (all 4 keys needed there). NB! To get it working, you must type it fully, “cast 'dispel magic'”, without speed modifier (and maybe case- sensetive too).

Then go from well with water-drake (Central Gathering Hall): 16w 3d s 9e n open stairway n 2d open crevice w n e n 5e 2s 7e 3n w s 3w s w. North of this room is entrance to Balrog, guarded by 2 dragon columns. They are not so tough, but they breath fire, just like Mithnaur. So before entering remove/put in container all that burns: arrows, receipts, all metal, shining chain and shining metal (it will damage too and lose absorbtion due to it). After dragons' death casters must stop following warriors and rest in dragons' room (Before the Dread Portal). Warriors must go and kill all mobs in Balrog area, because he calls them.
Then begins last part. All rest full. Each cleric chooses his 2-3 warriors. First, clerics strength their warriors, rest full again. Warriors must go fur and leather (max ob weapons too) - armour will not protect from Balrog's insane hits anyway. They must have at least 150 (better 160) ob on aggressive, because Balrog have insane defence too! After that casters bless their warriors, rest full. Each warrior must wear strange golden ring, because otherwise Balrog's heat will damage them even more than his hits. Last thing: clerics sanc their warriors and go sleep for mana. Warriors go berserk - anyway it's impossible to flee from Balrog if you already hit him: his whip will drag you back! Then warriors must go, find Balrog and hit him to death (or at least to bad/ wounded), rescuing each other. When Balrog starts to flee: either return to casters if low hps and quickly get 1 heal each; or spamfollow and spamhit him otherwise. Be warned: Balrog regens VERY FAST - he drains health from lava. So of course better to fight him in a non lava room, and do not lose even excess second! :) Also: as Balrog is spirit-type mob, better to hit him with eff vs spirit weapon (which means BDA: engraved bsword and thorn do too low damage).

After he dies, loot his key and eq (2 darkie artifacts!), return back to casters, get them and go for loot: 2n e 2n e n w n unlock/open laen n w n unlock/open crystal w loot all (robe from chest, treasure); e unlock/open glimmer n loot all (tunic and treasure from chest); s e unlock/open iron s 2e n unlock/open obsidian n loot all (shield and plate); s e unlock/open marble n loot all (vambraces and greaves); s unlock/open golddoor e loot all (axe and helm); w 2s open bronzedoors s e 3s 3w 2s back to Before Portal. Do not forget before going back go metal and set wimpy again :)

Also: Balrog zone can repop while players are in, but not Balrog himself - so don't be scared of being caught by a fresh Balrog on way back from treasure rooms.

Loads: The Huge Flaming Sword, The Black Many-Tailed Whip (on Balrog), The Axe of Durin, The Dragonhelm, full shining set (breastplate/greaves/vambraces), shield of Balli, white robe, grey tunic, diamond ring, wooden ring, lotsa gold/gems/coins.

Level: 7 (not more, not less!) legend warriors, preferably offence + 3 legend clerics with sanc; 1 mage with dispel to get rings. Hard but possible to have just 2 clerics (pbs's needed in such case).