Hellfire Citadel

Boss Description:

Tyrant Velhari is a 3-phase encounter during which your raid contends with Tyrant Velhari herself and with a number of large adds.

• Phase One lasts from the start of the fight until the boss reaches 70% health.

• Phase Two lasts from the end of Phase One until the boss reaches 40% health.

• Phase Three lasts from the end of Phase Two until the boss dies.

In each of the three phases, once the boss has lost 10% of her health (but only once per phase, so at 90%, 60, and 30% health), she will summon a specific add that plays an important role in the phase.

 

Tank Responsibilities

In each phase, have one tank tank the boss, and the other tank the add that spawns in that phase, and perform a tank switch when the Seal of Decay debuff stacks too high.

 

Healer Responsibilities

• During Phase One, use healing cooldowns when Infernal Tempest is used.

• During Phase Two, use healing cooldowns when raid members struck with Font of Corruption stack up, mostly towards the end of this phase.

• During Phase Three, use healing cooldowns towards the end of the phase, when damage taken becomes insurmountable otherwise.

• Throughout the fight, outheal the Touch of Harm healing absorb shield. If its wearer is about to die, dispel it and outheal the rest of it on the target that it jumps to.

 

DPS Responsibilities

• During Phase One, the Ancient Enforcer is a lower DPS priority than the boss, though it should still die around the end of the phase to incidental damage.

• During Phase Two and Phase Three, the Ancient Harbinger and Ancient Sovereign are the highest priority, followed by the boss.

• High DPS is important, as Tyrant Velhari's own debuffs can quickly run out of control if she stays in any phase for too long.

 

Everybodies Responsibilities

• During Phase One

  • Spread out in groups of 4-5 players.

  • Move out of Searing Blaze void zones, moving as little as possible.

  • Dodge the Enforcer's Onslaught orb that floats around.

  • Use a defensive cooldown if targeted by Annihilating Strike, while other raid members move away.

• During Phase Two

  • Interrupt the Harbinger's Mending as much as possible, and dispel the HoT it applies if it goes through.

  • Stack up somewhere close to the boss. All players affected by Font of Corruption must stack together elsewhere.

• During Phase Three, move out of Despoiled Ground void zones that appear.

• In all phases, players affected by Edict of Condemnation should run into the melee group in order to have its damage split.

 

Abilities Used in All Phases and Corrupt Power

In addition to a number of different abilities that the boss uses in each phase, she has 3 abilities that she uses throughout the entire encounter.

• Edict of Condemnation places a debuff on a random raid member that deals lethal Shadow damage to them every 3 seconds for 9 seconds. Each tick of this lethal damage is split between all allies in a radius around the affected player. The radius is very large for the first tick, smaller for the second tick, and very small for the final tick. The size of the radius is indicated visually by a purple ring around the player.

• Seal of Decay is a stacking debuff that is applied to current tank through melee attacks. It reduces healing and absorbs received by 10% for 18 seconds. This ability requires a tank switch.

• Touch of Harm places a large healing absorb shield on the target, which can be dispelled. When dispelled, it jumps to another random raid member while inheriting its remaining absorption. When the shield is absorbed entirely, it disappears.

In addition to these 3 abilities, Tyrant Velhari uses a resource called Corrupt Power. This resource has a maximum capacity of 3, and it starts at 0 at the start of the fight. In each phase, one ability generates Corrupt Power (at a rate of 1 per cast), and Tyrant Velhari has one ability that costs 3 Corrupt Power to use (which she uses as soon as she reaches 3 Corrupt Power).

 

The only purpose of Corrupt Power is to inform the raid of when to expect the next cast of the ability that costs Corrupt Power. Velhari's gains of this ability cannot be influenced in any way.

 

Phase One

Phase One lasts from the start of the fight until Tyrant Velhari reaches 70% health.

 

Abilities

Tyrant Velhari

• Aura of Oppression is immediately applied to all raid members when the fight begins, and it persists for the duration of Phase One. It causes all raid members to take Shadow damage every 0.5 seconds while moving. The longer Phase One goes on, the more damage each tick does (the damage increases by 10% every 5 seconds). If it goes on for too long, any bit of movement may instantly kill a raid member.

• Annihilating Strike fires a frontal cone attack at a random raid member (the target is indicated by a visual effect above their head shortly before the attack is made). The player who is targeted by this ability cannot avoid it. The cone attack deals massive Fire damage to anyone standing in it, and players who are hit create a Searing Blaze void zone at their location. Annihilating Strike generates one Corrupt Power for Velhari.

  • Searing Blaze is a void zone that explodes a few seconds after it appears dealing high Fire damage to anyone standing in it, and knocking them into the air. Time spent traveling in the air counts as movement, and causes players to take damage via Aura of Oppression.

• Infernal Tempest is an ability that Velhari uses when she has generated 3 Corrupt Power. It causes all raid members to burst into flame, dealing moderate Fire damage to all players within 2 yards of them, and it creates 4 Searing Blaze void zones under each player, approximately one second apart.

 

Ancient Enforcer

When Velhari reaches 90% health, she summons an Ancient Enforcer add. When the add spawns, all raid members are knocked back and they take moderate Nature damage. The Ancient Enforcer can be tanked, and it has a single ability, called Enforcer's Onslaught. It creates a fiery orb in front of the Ancient Enforcer, which travels in a straight line. When the orb reaches an edge of the room, it returns to the Ancient Enforcer and disappears. Anyone who is struck by this orb takes moderate Fire damage, and leaves a Searing Blaze at their location.

 

Strategy

The strategy during Phase One focuses on bringing Tyrant Velhari to 70% health, pushing her into Phase Two, as quickly as possible. This is because the Aura of Oppression, which increases in power, will otherwise cause your raid to wipe if the phase goes on for too long.

 

Tanking and Positioning

During this phase, you will have to tank both Velhari and the Ancient Enforcer. Each tank should take one of the two, and the tanks should perform a tank switch when Seal of Decay stacks too high.

 

To avoid Aura of Oppression dealing more damage than necessary, we recommend having a spread around the room with clusters of approximately 5 players standing close together, although no closer than roughly 6 yards apart. This is to prevent more than one player having to move in order to avoid a Searing Blaze void zone. This positioning allows the raid to effortlessly stack together for Edict of Condemnation while minimizing the movement required to do so.

 

Handling Tyrant Velhari's Abilities

For Aura of Oppression, the positioning strategy suggested above should help reduce unnecessary damage taken by movement. In general, though, all raid members should try to minimize any movement, especially towards the end of the phase. Additionally, the raid should focus on pushing Velhari under 70% and into the next phase rather quickly.

 

For Edict of Condemnation, the affected players should simply run into the melee group, where the damage of Edict of Condemnation can be safely split.

 

For Touch of Harm, it is recommended to heal the absorb shields until they disappear, instead of dispelling them, because this simply causes the shield to jump to another player. That said, if a raid member is about to die because they cannot receive healing, dispel the debuff and heal the raid member to full. Touch of Harm still needs to be outhealed on the second target that it jumps to, however.

 

In order to deal with Annihilating Strike, the targeted raid member should stand still and use/receive a defensive cooldown, while everyone else moves away from them to avoid being hit by the cone.

 

Players should move out of Searing Blaze void zones, regardless of which ability triggered them, while moving as little as possible.

 

Finally, your raid has to manage Velhari's Infernal Tempest. Your healers should use a healing cooldown, and all raid members should remain at least 2 yards apart, while constantly moving out of the 4 consecutive Searing Blazes that spawn for each player. The Tempest damage itself is not high, but coupled with everyone constantly moving to avoid Searing Blaze (and thus taking damage from Aura of Oppression), a very large amount of damage is dealt in a short period of time.

 

It is worth mentioning, regarding the Searing Blaze void zones created by Infernal Tempest, that you can theoretically stand still until two void zones have appeared under you, before the first one has exploded. By doing so, you can halve the number of times you need to move during Infernal Tempest, but it requires excellent timing, as there is only a fraction of time between when the second void zone appears and when the first explodes.

 

Handling the Ancient Enforcer

When the Ancient Enforcer add spawns, it must be picked up by one of the tanks, and tanked close to Velhari. Killing the Ancient Enforcer is not a priority, so it should mostly die to cleave damage and multi DoTs. That said, since the add does not despawn when Velhari goes into Phase Two, you do not want to ignore it completely, and you should aim to have it die around the time when the boss transitions to the next phase.

 

When the Ancient Enforcer spawns, it will damage and knock back all raid members, and players must be very careful not to be knocked back into Searing Blaze void zones.

 

While the Ancient Enforcer is alive, the raid should simply avoid the ball of Fire created by its Enforcer's Onslaught ability. Damage taken from Aura of Oppression caused by moving out of the ball's way is less damaging than being hit and also having to dodge the Searing Blaze that spawns afterward.

 

Phase Two

Phase Two starts when Tyrant Velhari reaches 70% health, and it lasts until she reaches 40% health.

 

Abilities

The boss continues using the Touch of Harm, Edict of Condemnation, and Seal of Decay abilities during this phase. In addition to these, she gains new abilities.

• Aura of Contempt is placed on all raid members the moment that Velhari reaches 70% health, and it lasts until the end of Phase Two. It prevents all raid members from being healed above 80% health, but this amount is reduced the longer the phase goes on (it is reduced by 5% every 13 seconds).

• Tainted Shadows targets a random raid member, inflicting heavy Shadow damage in a single strike, and triggering a Corrupted Blast. It generates one Corrupt Power.

  • Corrupted Blast deals moderate Shadow damage to anyone in a 5-yard radius around raid members targeted with Tainted Shadows.

• Font of Corruption is an ability that Velhari uses when she has acquired 3 Corrupt Power (from using Tainted Shadows 3 times). It targets a random, high number of raid members and curses them, so that subsequent casts of Tainted Shadows also target them (in addition to the targeted player). Cursed raid members are immune to the splash damage of Corrupted Blast.

 

Ancient Harbinger

When Velhari reaches 60% health, she summons an Ancient Harbinger add. When the add spawns, all raid members are knocked back and they take moderate Nature damage. The Ancient Harbinger can be tanked, and it has two abilities.

• Harbinger's Mending is an interruptible ability that the Harbinger casts on Velhari. If the cast goes through, it instantly heals Velhari (the amount differs based on difficulty, but it seems to be 2% in Normal and 5% in Heroic), and also places a HoT on her (the HoT heals for 1% every 3 seconds over 9 seconds in Normal mode, and for 2% every 2 seconds for 10 seconds in Heroic mode). The HoT can be dispelled.

• Impatient Mind causes the Ancient Harbinger to increase its casting speed by 10% for every time it is interrupted. This effect stacks.

 

Strategy

The strategy during Phase Two is to kill the Ancient Harbinger as quickly as possible while keeping it interrupted, and to then push Velhari to 40% in order to trigger Phase Three.

 

Tanking and Positioning

As during Phase One, both the boss and the add (the Ancient Harbinger that spawns at 60% health) will have to be tanked. Continue performing a tank switch on the add and Velhari, when Seal of Decay stacks too high. In the event that the Ancient Enforcer from Phase One is still alive when you transition into Phase Two, this add must also be tanked until it dies (which should, in any case, happen before Velhari reaches 60% health).

 

Regarding positioning, we recommend stacking up somewhere close to the boss. However, we recommend that raid members cursed with Font of Corruption all stack together somewhere else. Since they are immune to the splash damage from Corrupted Blast, they can safely stack and be collectively healed with AoE heals. It is best to assign a place in the room where Font of Corruption players should gather, and from which all other players should stay away.

 

Handling the Ancient Harbinger

When the Ancient Harbinger add spawns, it must be picked up by one of the tanks, and tanked close to Velhari. The knockback and damage that it deals when it spawns is less problematic than in Phase One, since Aura of Oppression is no longer present to damage players who move or are moved.

 

Harbinger's Mending must be interrupted as much as possible. Quicker and quicker reaction times will be needed to interrupt it in time, since its Impatient Mind will cause its cast speed to increase with each interrupted cast. Should a cast go through, the HoT must quickly be dispelled from the boss.

 

The Ancient Harbinger is a top DPS priority, and your goal should be to kill it as quickly as possible. Once it is dead, you can push Velhari into Phase Three.

 

Phase Three

Phase Three starts when Tyrant Velhari reaches 40% health, and it lasts until the end of the fight.

 

Abilities

Tyrant Velhari

The boss continues using Touch of Harm, Edict of Condemnation, and Seal of Decay during this phase. In addition to these, she gains new abilities.

• Aura of Malice is placed on all raid members the moment that Velhari reaches 40% health, and it lasts until the end of the fight. It increases the damage done of all players by 20%, but also increases their damage taken by 10%. The potency of this effect increases the longer Phase Three lasts, but it caps out at 200% damage done and 100% damage taken.

• Bulwark of the Tyrant deals moderate Shadow damage to the main tank, and a random number of raid members. When struck, all raid members leave a Despoiled Ground void zone beneath them. Bulwark of the Tyrant generates 1 Corrupt Power.

  • Despoiled Ground is a void zone that deals low Shadow damage every second to anyone standing in them. They last either indefinitely or for a very long time (in any case, they last longer than your raid can survive in Phase Three).

• Gavel of the Tyrant is an ability that Velhari uses when she has acquired 3 Corrupt Power (from using Bulwark of the Tyrant 3 times). It deals moderate Fire damage to all raid members and knocks them back. Additionally, it applies an 8-second DoT that deals a low amount of Fire damage to all players every 2 seconds.

 

Ancient Sovereign

When Velhari reaches 30% health, she summons an Ancient Sovereign add. When the add spawns, all raid members are knocked back. The Ancient Sovereign can be tanked, and it has a single ability, called Sovereign's Ward. Sovereign's Ward places a damage

reduction shield on Velhari that reduces her damage taken by 90% for 20 seconds. This debuff is removed if the Ancient Sovereign

dies.

 

Strategy

Phase Three is an intense phase during which the raid will not only deal increasing damage, but also take increasing damage. Since Velhari regularly uses an ability that deals raid-wide damage during this phase ( Gavel of the Tyrant), you will race to kill Velhari before she kills the raid.

 

Tanking and Positioning

As during the previous two phases, both Velhari and the add she spawns (at 30% health) must be tanked, and a tank switch must be performed when Seal of Decay stacks too high.

 

As far as positioning is concerned, we recommend stacking up under the boss (where the add should also be tanked), and traveling around the edge of the room as a group. Your goal is to move this way in order to leave behind the void zones created by raid members (due to the Bulwark of the Tyrant ability, as we will explain below). When knocked back, simply run back together again. This ensures the most healing as damage taken ramps higher.

 

Handling Tyrant Velhari's Abilities

As the phase goes on, raid members will deal and take increasing damage, due to Aura of Malice. There is nothing in particular for you to do in order to handle this, but healers must be careful of the increased damage taken towards the end of the phase.

 

In order to deal with Bulwark of the Tyrant, have the entire raid move together as a group to avoid the void zones left behind. We advise moving around the outer edges of the room first, and then moving around the inside of the room when you begin running out of space.

For Gavel of the Tyrant, run back into a stacked position at the location of the boss, after being knocked back. Aside from this, the damage must be healed through, ideally using healing cooldowns as the damage taken increases.

Handling the Ancient Sovereign

Just as with the add from Phase Two, the Ancient Sovereign must be picked up, tanked, and killed as quickly as possible. Its Sovereign's Ward will make it practically impossible to damage Velhari, and since you cannot interrupt it, your only choice is to kill the add quickly. With the damage bonus that all raid members receive from Aura of Malice, this should be fairly simple.