I was too lazy to go on my main and farm the charms, so I leveled to 34 and decided to give it a try. The 38 elementals went down easily, but I had to take down two 39 ones. They were harsh fights and took everything I had (I basically let my voidwalker tank them until he got low on health, then I fear bombed them) but I could take them down with chugging a potion.

Took me four kills for both coals.

Ironically, I got a charm on the kill that gave me my second coal.

I noticed that someone said the tailor would not have a mark above his head when you return for the gold thread but he had a blue question mark when I did the quest. Just thought that might help.

I took a stack of 10 crests to the zone and used 8 to get the two drops, and started 0-for-6 ... not sure if it's a 25% drop rate or not, but be prepared to burn a whole stack on this leg. Soloed the entire chain at 31, by the way. The toughest part was ponying up 12g for the robe at AH.

For those with cords, they start around 28,32

I know ppl have difficulty doing this quest espicially at lvl 31 when you pick the quest up, the robes are the least of your problems, the coals are it. have to kill 38-39's fire elementals to get the coals. The resist sucks, and if you don't want to wait for a higher lvl or buy charms off the AH, just ask for help, on one server i had a Belf lock doing this, spent about 15 mins in general going can someone help me with a lock quest in arathi, while killing mobs to pass the time, a 45 came through for me and i was very grateful, So as i read these comments the one thing i haven't seen used so far is the power of kindness, just ask for help. Generally speaking someone will have time to help, even if there just finishing up a quest theyll help you in due time. just be patient, if in a guild ask a guildie for some help, or can ask in general or trade chat in the Cities for someone to help. if all else fails with the above comments, just ask for help, simple.

Either I experienced a bug in the game or there is a cool down lasting several hours before you can you get the gold thread from the tailor. Just thought I should share in case someone else has the same problem.
If you don't see the blue question mark above him, wait. Come back the next day even. Logging out and closing out the game and restarting didn't help. I just had to wait.

The trick with the https://vanillawowdb.com/?item=4481 Cresting Charms is very nice indeed. However, they're not easy to be found on the AH nowadays (depending on server, I know), and the Cresting Exiles that drop those charms are as high level as the Burning Exiles you need to kill for your quest items. If you don't want to wait till the Burning Exiles are yellow to you, and can't find Cresting Charms or a higher level player to help you, there is another way to get this done.

Before you start, buff yourself with anything you have (food/potion), make sure you have a Healthstone just in case, a Soulstone could come in handy too. Also have a small stock of Soul Shards and health/mana potions. Pick the lowest level Burning Exile you can find (so 38), and lure him away from the rest. Set your VW on him, and use your shadow damage based spells and Drain Life. They are Fearable, so use that whenever you can. If your VW gets low in health, Banish the Burning Exile, and bandage/Health Funnel your VW. Repeat till done. You may have to Sacrifice your VW if he gets too low in health and can't be bandaged yet. However, this gives you enough time to dot the Exile up again, and resummon your VW.
I've just done this with both my Locks, both around level 33 at the time.

Thankx for the help
with out it i sure would of been lost

As I was unable to find https://vanillawowdb.com/?item=4481 https://vanillawowdb.com/?item=4481 at the AH I had to due with out it to get the Smoldering Coal. I cleared this quest at level 33 with my Warlock and it took me 5 kills to complete the quest. Here are the tactics I used to clear the quest.
Before I started the quest I had the fallowing items in my bags:
5X Greater Mana Potion (https://vanillawowdb.com/?item=6149 https://vanillawowdb.com/?item=6149), to be used only when fighting Burning Exiles if needed.
4X Sweet Nectar (https://vanillawowdb.com/?item=1708 https://vanillawowdb.com/?item=1708), to top-up Mana pool after every fight.
5 or 6 Stormwind Brie (https://vanillawowdb.com/?item=1707 https://vanillawowdb.com/?item=1707)

First circle the are to get an idea of all the mobs as well as to locate the level 38 Burning Exiles (you have more chances to win a fight against a level 38 Burning Exile rather then a level 39) when you find a good location to start making a pull first clear the area of any mobs such raptors or spiders (you don't want to end up pulling another mob along with the Burning Exile). Make sure you have the Voidwalker out as he is best fit for the job and set the Voidwalker to Passive. Make the pull by casting ""Curse of Agony"" (https://vanillawowdb.com/?spell=6217 https://vanillawowdb.com/?spell=6217) then turn and run in the area where you cleared the mobs, when almost there set the pet to ""Aggressive"" so that your pet can pull enough to give you time to cast ""Corruption"" (https://vanillawowdb.com/?spell=6223 https://vanillawowdb.com/?spell=6223) quickly fallowed by Fear (https://vanillawowdb.com/?spell=6213 https://vanillawowdb.com/?spell=6213), you my need to cast some spells a few times before they take effect due to the differences in levels between you and the mob. As soon as Fear takes effect renew ""Curse of Agony"" and ""Corruption"".You can also try to squeeze in a ""Shadow Bolt"" (https://vanillawowdb.com/?spell=1106 https://vanillawowdb.com/?spell=1106) whenever possible. When the ""Fear"" spell has worn off start casting ""Fear"" again as soon as the mob is in range. If the first cast is a miss then use Sacrifice (https://vanillawowdb.com/?spell=19440 https://vanillawowdb.com/?spell=19440) as protection and cast ""Fear"" again, as soon as ""Fear "" takes effect renew ""Curse of Agony"" and ""Corruption"". Keep repeating this step until the the Burning Exile is dead. Remember to use the Mana pots when ever your Mana has run out. After every Burning Exile killed top-up on HP and Mana and repeat the tactic all over.

These are the general guidelines to the tactic I used with success with my level 33 Warlock to do this quest and should work if done correctly. Good Luck! :

ok ive read these forums and all the info i can find so wtf cant i finish this quest im gettin so angry im gonna implode...............................ive killed literally about 50 plus burning exiles and no smouldering coal dropped and ive abandoned the quest and got it again and killed another 20 of em wtf is wrong before i smash my computer screen

not sure if the drop rate is lower for the coal or i got lucky but at lvl 34 i got mine in 4 kills of the 38 mobs