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{{Stub/Strategy}}
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<noinclude>[[Category:Navigation Templates|{{PAGENAME}}]]
 
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{{for|character biography|Nefarian}}
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</noinclude>
 
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{{for|strategy on the Blackwing Lair encounter|Nefarian (tactics)}}
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{| style="text-align: center; background-color: #000; padding: 1ex; margin: 1ex auto; border: 1px outset; color: white;"
 
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{{npcbox
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|
 
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|name=Nefarian
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'''''Partying Help Pages'''''<br>
 
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|image = Nefarian new flying.jpg
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[[:Category:Tactics|Tactics]]: [[Party]]ing, [[Instance Grouping Guide|Instancing]]<br>
 
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|race = Black wyrm
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Roles: [[Leader]] | [[Main assist]] | [[Puller]] | [[Tank]] <br>
 
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|creature = Dragonkin
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Supporting: [[Crowd Control]]lers | [[Healer]] | [[Nuker]] | [[Scout]]<br>
 
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|type = Boss
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Related: [[Meeting Stone]] | [[Hybrid classes]] | [[Wipe]]
 
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|level = ??
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|}
 
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|location = [[Blackwing Descent]]
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|faction = Combat
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|health = 22,761,000 (10-man)<br/> 51,000,000 (10-man Heroic)<br/>98,000,000 (25-man)<br/> 179,000,000 (25-man Heroic)
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|status=
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|instance=Blackwing Descent
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}}
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'''Nefarian''' is the last boss of [[Blackwing Descent]], a raid shipped with ''[[World of Warcraft: Cataclysm]]''. He can be found in the [[Vault of the Shadowflame]], where he resurrects his sister [[Onyxia (Blackwing Descent)|Onyxia]], who makes up the first phase of the fight. Throughout the fight, Nefarian has several other undead adds as well.
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Deathwing's son, Nefarian, gained infamy for his horrifying efforts to create chromatic dragons from the essences of Azeroths various dragonflights. After his death in Blackwing Lair, he was reanimated and charged by Deathwing to continue his insidious endeavors. <ref>[[Encounter Journal]]</ref>
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==Abilities==
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Throughout the entire encounter every 10% of Nefarian's health will cause Nefarian's lightning machine to strike the raid with Electrocute.
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*{{abilities|Electrocute|Generates a massive bolt of lightning that strikes the ground, inflicting 103950 to 106050 Nature damage on all enemy targets.|id=94090|image=spell nature lightningoverload|}}
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===Phase One===
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[[File:Onyxia (Blackwing Descent).jpg|thumb|250px|Undead Onyxia is the first part of the encounter. She awaits players following the intro.]]
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''Onyxia'' - 5,582,000 million (10-man) / 24,000,000 (25 man) / 34,700,000 million (25 man heroic) HP
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*{{abilities|Electric Discharge|When the lightning orbs on Onyxia's sides are glowing inflicts 19500 to 20500 Nature damage per second to enemies on Onyxia's sides. Damage increased by Onyxia's lightning charge level. Can be avoided by line of sight behind the pillars in the room.|id=94107|image=ability criticalstrike|}}
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*{{abilities|Shadowflame Breath|Inflicts 35,000 Shadowflame damage to enemies in a cone in front of the caster every 0.5 seconds for 1.5 seconds. Also resurrects Animated Bone Warriors in the area of effect.|id=94124|image=ability creature cursed 03|}}
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*{{abilities|Tail Lash|A sweeping tail strike hits all enemies behind the caster, inflicting 15750 to 20250 damage and stunning them for 2 sec.|id=94128|image=inv misc bone 03|}}
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*{{abilities|Children of Deathwing|Nefarian and Onyxia attack 100% faster when they are within 60 yards of eachother.|id=78620|image=inv misc head dragon black|}}
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*{{abilities|Electrical Overload|Inflicts 855000 to 1045000 Nature damage to all enemies. Cast when Onyxia's lightning charge level reaches full and wipes the raid.|id=78999|image=spell_nature_lightningoverload|}}
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''Nefarian''
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*{{abilities|Hail of Bones|Nefarian will cast this six times in phase one before landing, each time spawning an Animated Bone Warrior and doing 23987 to 26512 Shadow damage to nearby enemies.|id=94121|image=ability warlock eradication|}}
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*{{abilities|Shadowflame Breath|Inflicts 54,000 Shadowflame damage to enemies in a cone in front of the caster every 0.5 seconds for 1.5 seconds. Also resurrects Animated Bone Warriors in the area of effect.|id=94125|image=ability creature cursed 03|}}
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*{{abilities|Tail Lash|A sweeping tail strike hits all enemies behind the caster, inflicting 15750 to 20250 damage and stunning them for 2 sec.|id=94128|image=inv misc bone 03|}}
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*{{abilities|Children of Deathwing|Nefarian and Onyxia attack 100% faster when they are within 60 yards of eachother.|id=78619|image=inv misc head dragon black|}}
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''[[Animated Bone Warrior]]''
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*Have an energy bar that slowly depletes over time. It will be reset to full if they are touched by [[shadowflame]] effects. While they have far too much HP and are too numerous to be killed, they will 'lie down' and despawn if they run out of energy. Their damage increases steadily while melee-ing, so they should be kited. They can be [[crowd control]]led, excluding fear effects and [[Polymorph]].
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*{{abilities|Animate Bones|Shadowflame energy animates these bones, taking 2 energy per second.|id=78122|image=spell fire windsofwoe|}}
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*{{abilities|Empowering Strikes|The caster grows more powerful over time, increasing damage done and movement speed. Stacks.|id=94091|image=ability hunter swiftstrike|}}
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===Phase Two===
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''Lava''
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*{{abilities|Magma|Swimming in Magma deals 5,000 fire damage per second. Increases damage taken from Magma by 2000. Stacks.|id=94075|image=spell shaman lavaflow|}}
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''Nefarian''
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*{{abilities|Shadowflame Barrage|Spammed on the raid the whole of phase 2. Inflicts 22500 to 27500 Shadowflame damage to an enemy.|id=94121|image=ability warlock shadowflame|}}
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*{{abilities|Shadow of Cowardice|Inflicts 30000 Shadowflame damage to an enemy and increases Shadow damage taken by 100%. Appears to only be used when trying to exploit the encounter.|id=79353|image=ability warlock shadowflame|}}
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'''Heroic Mode Only'''
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*{{abilities|Explosive Cinders|Burns several enemies at random, coating them in explosive residue that inflicts periodic fire damage. The residue detonates after 8 sec, inflicting 42750 to 47250 Fire damage in a small area and knocking enemies back 150 yards.|id=79339|image=spell fire elementaldevastation|}}
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''[[Chromatic Prototype]]''
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* Will stand in place and constantly try to cast Blast Nova, which can be interrupted. 2.6M/8M/9.7M(25 hc) HP. Does not melee.
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*{{abilities|Blast Nova|Deals 30050 to 40950 Fire damage to all enemies every 2 seconds for 30 seconds. Interruptable.|id=80734|image=spell fire sealoffire|}}
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===Phase Three===
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''Nefarian''
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*{{abilities|Shadowflame Breath|Inflicts 54,000 Shadowflame damage to enemies in a cone in front of the caster every 0.5 seconds for 1.5 seconds. Also ressurects Animated Bone Warriors in the area of effect.|id=94125|image=ability creature cursed 03|}}
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*{{abilities|Tail Lash|A sweeping tail strike hits all enemies behind the caster, inflicting 15750 to 20250 damage and stunning them for 2 sec.|id=94128|image=inv misc bone 03|}}
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*{{abilities|Shadowblaze Spark|Creates a shadowy blaze at a nearby location that spreads quickly. It will expand from its starting location in a circular shape and will follow players and speed up if it is touched.|id=81031|image=ability warlock shadowflame|}}
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*{{abilities|Shadowblaze|Inflicts 50,000 Shadowflame damage per second to enemies within the Shadowblaze. Also resurrects Animated Bone Warriors in the area of effect. Also continuously wipes all debuffs on living Animated Bone Warriors that remain in the flame (most notably roots and stuns).|id=94087|image=spell shadow shadowfury|}}
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''Heroic Mode Only''
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*{{abilities|Dominion|Dominate the minds of 2/5 nearby humanoids, seizing control of their bodies for 20 sec. Immune to stuns and roots. Dominated players will walk towards Dominion portals which will spawn in the north, south, west and east parts of the room. Dominated players will die instantly when they touch the portals.|id=79318|image=ability warlock eradication|}}
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*{{abilities|Siphon Power|Absorb a little of the immense power Nefarian is using to control your actions. |id=79319|image=spell arcane focusedpower|}}
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*{{abilities|Stolen Power|Strike back with great vengeance and furious anger. Damage and healing of your next spell or ability is increased by 15%. Does not function with many abilities such as Rip, Bane of Doom, Deep Freeze and others. Stacks.|id=80627|image=spell arcane focusedpower|}}
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*{{abilities|Free Your Mind|Focus your will to attempt to break Nefarian's dominion over your actions.|id=79323|image=spell arcane mindmastery|}}
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''Animated Bone Warrior''
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*Same as Phase One.
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==Strategy==
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===Phase One===
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The encounter begins with an introductory event in which Nefarian (as Lord Victor Nefarius) resurrects [[Onyxia (Blackwing Descent)|Onyxia]]. He then turns into his dragon form and flies into the air, landing 30 seconds into the fight. Before Nefarian lands he will spawn 6/12 (10/25-man) Animated Bone Warriors which can be either kited, CC'd or tanked until they run out of energy and die on their own in this phase. Onyxia and Nefarian should be tanked on opposite sides of the room to remove their 100% haste buff Children of Deathwing. Onyxia should be damaged down to low health but not killed. This will give you some time to burn Nefarian's health down before the last phase. Onyxia will eventually hit full energy and instantly kill the raid, and every 10% of Nefarian's health adds 25% to her energy charge. You will generally have time to burn Nefarian down to sub-80% before killing Onyxia and ending the phase. Do not let either Dragon breathe on the Animated Bone Warriors as this will break CC, snares and roots and reset their energy to full.
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===Phase Two===
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The arena will fill with lava and three Chromatic Prototypes will spawn on each raised pillar of the room. They do not melee. They cast Blast Nova which must be interrupted.
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Assign players to each of the three platforms for phase two. Each platform needs one reliable interrupt for 10-man and two reliable interrupts for 25-man (you will need interrupt rotations on 25). A ranged interrupter is helpful in the beginning of the phase on each platform while everyone is jumping up. You should try to damage Nefarian below 70% in this phase, survival cooldowns should be used to mitigate the electrocute at 70%. The phase will end after the Chromatic Prototypes die or after three minutes.
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===Phase Three===
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The lava will subside and Nefarian will land, stay spread out until Nefarian has stopped casting Shadowflame Barrage.
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Phase Three is like phase one except Nefarian will now cast Shadowblaze Spark, it will always be targetted on the location of the Animated Bone Warriors. It will break CC, snares and roots on the Animated Bone Warriors and reset their energy to full just as the dragons' breath does.
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Since Shadowblaze Spark is always targetted on the Bone Warriors, CC and roots are ineffective. You should have a tank kite the Bone Warriors away from Nefarian and continually move to avoid the Animated Bone Warriors ever regaining energy. They will die after 50 seconds and reset their empowering strikes stacks, this will allow the Bone Warrior tank to survive. Both tanks will need to use a survival cooldown to survive Electrocute every 10% of Nefarian's health.
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The longer Nefarian takes to die the faster he will cast Shadowblaze Spark, until it is impossible to avoid and the raid dies.
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===Alternate Strategy===
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An alternate strategy for high DPS, low HPS composition groups, is to push through phase 1 and phase 2 very quickly (essentially nef is full health), then burn in phase 3.
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In Phase 1, tank should continue as normal rotating the boss when needed. DPS should kite the bone warriors on top of the onyxia tank. This phase should last no longer than 2 minutes. As soon as onyxia is dead the bone warriors will all drop in a neat pile.
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On Phase 2, blow a heroism/bloodlust/time warp and down these 3 casters asap. This phase also should last no longer than 2 minutes.
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On Phase 3, it is business as usual. The add tank will stand next to the nice pile of bonewarriors and pick them up to kite ahead of the Nef tank. The Nef tank will slowly circle around in the same direction and the dps follows suit perpendicular to Nef.
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Advantages - Less AOE healing in phase 1 and phase 2, reduced RNG factor.
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Disadvantages - Phase 3 could take longer than usual causing a wipe as the spark mechanic will out run your add tank.
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==Quotes==
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;Enter Blackwing Descent on normal difficulty
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*{{text|yell|Welcome to my personal sanctum heroes! I hope you find the accomodations to your liking. Herein you will find many of my failed experiments and... ultimately... my greatest triumph!}}
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;Enter Blackwing Descent on Heroic difficulty
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*{{text|yell|Mortals that fancy themselves HEROES have entered the Broken Hall! [[Merely a setback|Oh, I do hope this 'raid' will amuse me more]] than [[Blackwing Lair|the last]]!}}
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;Intro
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*{{text|yell|Ha ha ha ha ha! The heroes have made it to the glorious finale! I take it you are in good spirits? Prepared for the final battle? Then gaze now upon my ultimate creation! RISE, [[Onyxia|SISTER]]!}}
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*{{text|yell|Behold, the Broodmother... Onyxia... REBORN. Perhaps my finest work.}}
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*{{text|yell|My dearest sibling... do you hunger? THEN FEAST UPON OUR ENEMIES!}}
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;Phase 1
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*{{text|yell|See how the shadowflame animates their bones! They fight at my command!}}
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;Attacking Nefarian by not doing so...
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*{{text|yell|COWARDS! Face the brood mother or face DIRE consequences!
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;Phase 2
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*{{text|yell|Curse you, mortals! Such callous disregard for one's possessions must be met with extreme force!}}
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;Phase 3
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*{{text|yell|I have tried to be an accomodating host, but you simply will not die. Time to throw all pretense aside and just KILL YOU ALL!}}
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;Shadowblaze Spark
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*{{text|yell|Flesh turns to ash!}}
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;Dominion
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*{{text|yell|Mortal minds, so easily manipulated...}}
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;Killing a player
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*{{text|yell|HAH!}}
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*{{text|yell|It has been a pleasure!}}
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*{{text|yell|You really have to want it!}}
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;Berserk
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*{{text|yell|I thank you for coming. But you really all must DIE now!}}
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;Death
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*{{text|yell|Defeat has never tasted so bitter...}}
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==Loot==
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{{lootbox|Normal Mode
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|Akmin-Kurai, Dominion's Shield
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|Andoros, Fist of the Dragon King
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|Belt of the Blackhand
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|Belt of the Nightmare
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|Crul'korak, the Lightning's Arc
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|Mantle of Nefarius
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|Pauldrons of the Apocalypse
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|Prestor's Talisman of Machination
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|Rage of Ages
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|Reclaimed Ashkandi, Greatsword of the Brotherhood
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|Shadow of Dread
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|Shadowblaze Robes
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|Spaulders of the Scarred Lady
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|Helm of the Forlorn Conqueror
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|Helm of the Forlorn Protector
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|Helm of the Forlorn Vanquisher
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}}
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{{lootbox|Heroic Mode
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|Akmin-Kurai, Dominion's Shield (heroic)
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|Andoros, Fist of the Dragon King (heroic)
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|Belt of the Blackhand (heroic)
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|Belt of the Nightmare (heroic)
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|Crul'korak, the Lightning's Arc (heroic)
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|Mantle of Nefarius (heroic)
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|Pauldrons of the Apocalypse (heroic)
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|Prestor's Talisman of Machination (heroic)
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|Rage of Ages (heroic)
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|Reclaimed Ashkandi, Greatsword of the Brotherhood (heroic)
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|Shadow of Dread (heroic)
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|Shadowblaze Robes (heroic)
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|Spaulders of the Scarred Lady (heroic)
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|Helm of the Forlorn Conqueror
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|Helm of the Forlorn Protector
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|Helm of the Forlorn Vanquisher
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|Crown of the Forlorn Conqueror
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|Crown of the Forlorn Protector
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|Crown of the Forlorn Vanquisher
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}}
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==Related achievements==
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*{{achievement|Blackwing Descent (achievement)}} / {{achievement|Blackwing Descent Guild Run}}
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*{{achievement|Heroic: Nefarian}} / {{achievement|Heroic: Nefarian Guild Run}}
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*{{achievement|Keeping it in the Family}}
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*{{achievement|Realm First! Nefarian}}
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==Videos==
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===10-man Heroic===
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{{Youtubelink|iuZp_8M8wlo|desc=[http://www.vagrantcorps.com/ Vagrant Corps] - 1080p}}
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{{Youtubelink|NhQwxa6zUp8|desc=TWSS - 1080p (Tank POV)}}
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===10-man Normal===
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{{Youtubelink|ft0RuMTFd3Q|desc=[http://www.vagrantcorps.com/ Vagrant Corps] - 1080p}}
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{{Youtubelink|j5UsneKgD9I|desc=[http://www.vagrantcorps.com/ Vagrant Corps], "Keeping it in the Family" achievement - 1080p}}
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{{Youtubelink|yhzCA-Y8IRM|desc=Vexryn's Guide to Nefarian, Blackdawn, Tank PoV}}
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{{Youtubelink|Ec7oStO9GSU|desc=TGN}}
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{{Youtubelink|nTg1lU_xSTA|desc=Cause and Effect, on screen guide, voice chat, low in game sound}}
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===25-man Normal===
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{{Youtubelink|0h1Bh6m9c_E|desc=<Aeon> Turalyon-U.S (1080p)}}
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{{Youtubelink|DOADoiTyDug|desc=OMFGcata}}
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{{Youtubelink|MfCbRrT_S5c|desc=dovvids}}
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{{Youtubelink|yNMN5hrm_mQ|desc=Game voices}}
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{{Youtubelink|6XcCrHfpytQ|desc=MidwinterofYsera}}
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===25-man Heroic===
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{{Youtubelink|C0Jw6Kj6jec|desc=Shattered Oath}}
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==Trivia==
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*Nefarian was the last boss of the entry tier of ''Cataclysm'' to be killed on normal mode, in part due to a respawn bug.
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*The world first kill came on 13 December 2010, almost a week after the expansion's release. It was completed on 10-person mode by the Russian guild Exorsus.
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*The world first heroic kill was on 10 January 2011 by Paragon (25 person).
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== Patch changes ==
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* {{Patch 4.2.0|note=
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** Health and melee damage has been reduced by 20%.
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** Animated Bone Warriors take 33 seconds to fall over, down from 50. In addition, fewer Animated Bone Warriors spawn.
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** Blast Nova cast time has been increased.
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** Chromatic Prototype health has been reduced by 20%.
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** Electrocute damage has been reduced by 30%.
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** Magma Stacking debuff effect has been reduced by 75%.
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** Nefarian's Shadowblaze cast frequency cannot increase beyond 1 once every 15 seconds.
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** Onyxia health and melee damage has been reduced by 20%.
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** Shadowflame Barrage damage has been reduced by 20%.
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** Tail Lash damage has been reduced by 50%. }}
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* {{Hotfix|date=2011-04-29|bluenote=Nefarian will no longer stutter step toward his main target.|link=http://us.battle.net/wow/en/blog/2690293}}
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* {{Patch 4.1.0|note=
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** The damage of Shadowflame Barrage has been reduced by 15% (10-player normal and Heroic difficulty only).
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** The damage of Tail Lash has been reduced by 20% (10-player normal and Heroic difficulty only).}}
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* {{Hotfix|date=2011-03-16|bluenote=Players will move at the same speed, even when setting their normal speed to "walk" using the keybind, when Nefarian casts Dominion.}}
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* {{Hotfix|date=2011-01-18|bluenote=[[Rip]] and [[Bane of Doom]] damage is no longer affected by the damage increase of Stolen Power when engaging Nefarian. |link=http://us.battle.net/wow/en/blog/1232869}}
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* {{Hotfix|date=2011-01-05|bluenote=[[Anti-Magic Shell]] no longer stops Onyxia or Nefarian's Shadowflame Breath from being cast.|link=http://us.battle.net/wow/en/blog/1232869}}
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* {{Patch 4.0.3a|note=Added.}}
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==External links==
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<!-- Read http://www.wowpedia.org/Wowpedia:External_links before posting your links here.
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Links that do not conform to the rules will be DELETED.
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Repeat violations may result in a BAN.
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Have a nice day. :) -->
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{{Elinks-NPC|41376}}
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{{elink|icon=25man|site=25man.com|link=http://25man.com/cata-guides/nefarian|desc= Nefarian Tactics & Strategy Guide}}
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[[Category:Bosses]]
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[[Category:Blackwing Descent mobs]]
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[[Category:Black dragons]]

Revision as of 00:35, 26 July 2011

For character biography, see Nefarian.
For strategy on the Blackwing Lair encounter, see Nefarian (tactics).
MobNefarian
Image of Nefarian
Race Black wyrm (Dragonkin)
Level ?? Boss
Location Blackwing Descent
Blackwing Descent

Omnotron Defense System
Magmaw
Atramedes
Chimaeron
Maloriak
Nefarian's End

(lore)
(lore)
(lore)
(lore)
(lore)
(lore)

Loot

Nefarian is the last boss of Blackwing Descent, a raid shipped with World of Warcraft: Cataclysm. He can be found in the Vault of the Shadowflame, where he resurrects his sister Onyxia, who makes up the first phase of the fight. Throughout the fight, Nefarian has several other undead adds as well.

Deathwing's son, Nefarian, gained infamy for his horrifying efforts to create chromatic dragons from the essences of Azeroths various dragonflights. After his death in Blackwing Lair, he was reanimated and charged by Deathwing to continue his insidious endeavors. [1]

Abilities

Throughout the entire encounter every 10% of Nefarian's health will cause Nefarian's lightning machine to strike the raid with Electrocute.

  • Spell nature lightningoverload Electrocute — Generates a massive bolt of lightning that strikes the ground, inflicting 103950 to 106050 Nature damage on all enemy targets.

Phase One

Onyxia (Blackwing Descent)

Undead Onyxia is the first part of the encounter. She awaits players following the intro.

Onyxia - 5,582,000 million (10-man) / 24,000,000 (25 man) / 34,700,000 million (25 man heroic) HP

  • Ability criticalstrike Electric Discharge — When the lightning orbs on Onyxia's sides are glowing inflicts 19500 to 20500 Nature damage per second to enemies on Onyxia's sides. Damage increased by Onyxia's lightning charge level. Can be avoided by line of sight behind the pillars in the room.
  • Ability creature cursed 03 Shadowflame Breath — Inflicts 35,000 Shadowflame damage to enemies in a cone in front of the caster every 0.5 seconds for 1.5 seconds. Also resurrects Animated Bone Warriors in the area of effect.
  • Inv misc bone 03 Tail Lash — A sweeping tail strike hits all enemies behind the caster, inflicting 15750 to 20250 damage and stunning them for 2 sec.
  • Inv misc head dragon black Children of Deathwing — Nefarian and Onyxia attack 100% faster when they are within 60 yards of eachother.
  • Spell nature lightningoverload Electrical Overload — Inflicts 855000 to 1045000 Nature damage to all enemies. Cast when Onyxia's lightning charge level reaches full and wipes the raid.

Nefarian

  • Ability warlock eradication Hail of Bones — Nefarian will cast this six times in phase one before landing, each time spawning an Animated Bone Warrior and doing 23987 to 26512 Shadow damage to nearby enemies.
  • Ability creature cursed 03 Shadowflame Breath — Inflicts 54,000 Shadowflame damage to enemies in a cone in front of the caster every 0.5 seconds for 1.5 seconds. Also resurrects Animated Bone Warriors in the area of effect.
  • Inv misc bone 03 Tail Lash — A sweeping tail strike hits all enemies behind the caster, inflicting 15750 to 20250 damage and stunning them for 2 sec.
  • Inv misc head dragon black Children of Deathwing — Nefarian and Onyxia attack 100% faster when they are within 60 yards of eachother.

Animated Bone Warrior

  • Have an energy bar that slowly depletes over time. It will be reset to full if they are touched by shadowflame effects. While they have far too much HP and are too numerous to be killed, they will 'lie down' and despawn if they run out of energy. Their damage increases steadily while melee-ing, so they should be kited. They can be crowd controlled, excluding fear effects and Spell nature polymorph [Polymorph].
  • Spell fire windsofwoe Animate Bones — Shadowflame energy animates these bones, taking 2 energy per second.
  • Ability hunter swiftstrike Empowering Strikes — The caster grows more powerful over time, increasing damage done and movement speed. Stacks.

Phase Two

Lava

  • Spell shaman lavaflow Magma — Swimming in Magma deals 5,000 fire damage per second. Increases damage taken from Magma by 2000. Stacks.

Nefarian

  • Ability warlock shadowflame Shadowflame Barrage — Spammed on the raid the whole of phase 2. Inflicts 22500 to 27500 Shadowflame damage to an enemy.
  • Ability warlock shadowflame Shadow of Cowardice — Inflicts 30000 Shadowflame damage to an enemy and increases Shadow damage taken by 100%. Appears to only be used when trying to exploit the encounter.

Heroic Mode Only

  • Spell fire elementaldevastation Explosive Cinders — Burns several enemies at random, coating them in explosive residue that inflicts periodic fire damage. The residue detonates after 8 sec, inflicting 42750 to 47250 Fire damage in a small area and knocking enemies back 150 yards.

Chromatic Prototype

  • Will stand in place and constantly try to cast Blast Nova, which can be interrupted. 2.6M/8M/9.7M(25 hc) HP. Does not melee.
  • Spell fire sealoffire Blast Nova — Deals 30050 to 40950 Fire damage to all enemies every 2 seconds for 30 seconds. Interruptable.

Phase Three

Nefarian

  • Ability creature cursed 03 Shadowflame Breath — Inflicts 54,000 Shadowflame damage to enemies in a cone in front of the caster every 0.5 seconds for 1.5 seconds. Also ressurects Animated Bone Warriors in the area of effect.
  • Inv misc bone 03 Tail Lash — A sweeping tail strike hits all enemies behind the caster, inflicting 15750 to 20250 damage and stunning them for 2 sec.
  • Ability warlock shadowflame Shadowblaze Spark — Creates a shadowy blaze at a nearby location that spreads quickly. It will expand from its starting location in a circular shape and will follow players and speed up if it is touched.
  • Spell shadow shadowfury Shadowblaze — Inflicts 50,000 Shadowflame damage per second to enemies within the Shadowblaze. Also resurrects Animated Bone Warriors in the area of effect. Also continuously wipes all debuffs on living Animated Bone Warriors that remain in the flame (most notably roots and stuns).

Heroic Mode Only

  • Ability warlock eradication Dominion — Dominate the minds of 2/5 nearby humanoids, seizing control of their bodies for 20 sec. Immune to stuns and roots. Dominated players will walk towards Dominion portals which will spawn in the north, south, west and east parts of the room. Dominated players will die instantly when they touch the portals.
  • Spell arcane focusedpower Siphon Power — Absorb a little of the immense power Nefarian is using to control your actions.
  • Spell arcane focusedpower Stolen Power — Strike back with great vengeance and furious anger. Damage and healing of your next spell or ability is increased by 15%. Does not function with many abilities such as Rip, Bane of Doom, Deep Freeze and others. Stacks.
  • Spell arcane mindmastery Free Your Mind — Focus your will to attempt to break Nefarian's dominion over your actions.


Animated Bone Warrior

  • Same as Phase One.

Strategy

Phase One

The encounter begins with an introductory event in which Nefarian (as Lord Victor Nefarius) resurrects Onyxia. He then turns into his dragon form and flies into the air, landing 30 seconds into the fight. Before Nefarian lands he will spawn 6/12 (10/25-man) Animated Bone Warriors which can be either kited, CC'd or tanked until they run out of energy and die on their own in this phase. Onyxia and Nefarian should be tanked on opposite sides of the room to remove their 100% haste buff Children of Deathwing. Onyxia should be damaged down to low health but not killed. This will give you some time to burn Nefarian's health down before the last phase. Onyxia will eventually hit full energy and instantly kill the raid, and every 10% of Nefarian's health adds 25% to her energy charge. You will generally have time to burn Nefarian down to sub-80% before killing Onyxia and ending the phase. Do not let either Dragon breathe on the Animated Bone Warriors as this will break CC, snares and roots and reset their energy to full.

Phase Two

The arena will fill with lava and three Chromatic Prototypes will spawn on each raised pillar of the room. They do not melee. They cast Blast Nova which must be interrupted.

Assign players to each of the three platforms for phase two. Each platform needs one reliable interrupt for 10-man and two reliable interrupts for 25-man (you will need interrupt rotations on 25). A ranged interrupter is helpful in the beginning of the phase on each platform while everyone is jumping up. You should try to damage Nefarian below 70% in this phase, survival cooldowns should be used to mitigate the electrocute at 70%. The phase will end after the Chromatic Prototypes die or after three minutes.

Phase Three

The lava will subside and Nefarian will land, stay spread out until Nefarian has stopped casting Shadowflame Barrage.

Phase Three is like phase one except Nefarian will now cast Shadowblaze Spark, it will always be targetted on the location of the Animated Bone Warriors. It will break CC, snares and roots on the Animated Bone Warriors and reset their energy to full just as the dragons' breath does.

Since Shadowblaze Spark is always targetted on the Bone Warriors, CC and roots are ineffective. You should have a tank kite the Bone Warriors away from Nefarian and continually move to avoid the Animated Bone Warriors ever regaining energy. They will die after 50 seconds and reset their empowering strikes stacks, this will allow the Bone Warrior tank to survive. Both tanks will need to use a survival cooldown to survive Electrocute every 10% of Nefarian's health.

The longer Nefarian takes to die the faster he will cast Shadowblaze Spark, until it is impossible to avoid and the raid dies.

Alternate Strategy

An alternate strategy for high DPS, low HPS composition groups, is to push through phase 1 and phase 2 very quickly (essentially nef is full health), then burn in phase 3.

In Phase 1, tank should continue as normal rotating the boss when needed. DPS should kite the bone warriors on top of the onyxia tank. This phase should last no longer than 2 minutes. As soon as onyxia is dead the bone warriors will all drop in a neat pile.

On Phase 2, blow a heroism/bloodlust/time warp and down these 3 casters asap. This phase also should last no longer than 2 minutes.

On Phase 3, it is business as usual. The add tank will stand next to the nice pile of bonewarriors and pick them up to kite ahead of the Nef tank. The Nef tank will slowly circle around in the same direction and the dps follows suit perpendicular to Nef.

Advantages - Less AOE healing in phase 1 and phase 2, reduced RNG factor.

Disadvantages - Phase 3 could take longer than usual causing a wipe as the spark mechanic will out run your add tank.

Quotes

Enter Blackwing Descent on normal difficulty
  • Welcome to my personal sanctum heroes! I hope you find the accomodations to your liking. Herein you will find many of my failed experiments and... ultimately... my greatest triumph!
Enter Blackwing Descent on Heroic difficulty
Intro
  • Ha ha ha ha ha! The heroes have made it to the glorious finale! I take it you are in good spirits? Prepared for the final battle? Then gaze now upon my ultimate creation! RISE, SISTER!
  • Behold, the Broodmother... Onyxia... REBORN. Perhaps my finest work.
  • My dearest sibling... do you hunger? THEN FEAST UPON OUR ENEMIES!
Phase 1
  • See how the shadowflame animates their bones! They fight at my command!
Attacking Nefarian by not doing so...
  • {{text|yell|COWARDS! Face the brood mother or face DIRE consequences!
Phase 2
  • Curse you, mortals! Such callous disregard for one's possessions must be met with extreme force!
Phase 3
  • I have tried to be an accomodating host, but you simply will not die. Time to throw all pretense aside and just KILL YOU ALL!
Shadowblaze Spark
  • Flesh turns to ash!
Dominion
  • Mortal minds, so easily manipulated...
Killing a player
  • HAH!
  • It has been a pleasure!
  • You really have to want it!
Berserk
  • I thank you for coming. But you really all must DIE now!
Death
  • Defeat has never tasted so bitter...

Loot

Normal Mode
Heroic Mode

Related achievements

Videos

10-man Heroic

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10-man Normal

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25-man Normal

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25-man Heroic

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Trivia

  • Nefarian was the last boss of the entry tier of Cataclysm to be killed on normal mode, in part due to a respawn bug.
  • The world first kill came on 13 December 2010, almost a week after the expansion's release. It was completed on 10-person mode by the Russian guild Exorsus.
  • The world first heroic kill was on 10 January 2011 by Paragon (25 person).

Patch changes

  • Cataclysm Patch 4.2.0 (2011-06-28):
    • Health and melee damage has been reduced by 20%.
    • Animated Bone Warriors take 33 seconds to fall over, down from 50. In addition, fewer Animated Bone Warriors spawn.
    • Blast Nova cast time has been increased.
    • Chromatic Prototype health has been reduced by 20%.
    • Electrocute damage has been reduced by 30%.
    • Magma Stacking debuff effect has been reduced by 75%.
    • Nefarian's Shadowblaze cast frequency cannot increase beyond 1 once every 15 seconds.
    • Onyxia health and melee damage has been reduced by 20%.
    • Shadowflame Barrage damage has been reduced by 20%.
    • Tail Lash damage has been reduced by 50%.
  • Cataclysm Hotfix (2011-04-29): Nefarian will no longer stutter step toward his main target.
  • Cataclysm Patch 4.1.0 (2011-04-26):
    • The damage of Shadowflame Barrage has been reduced by 15% (10-player normal and Heroic difficulty only).
    • The damage of Tail Lash has been reduced by 20% (10-player normal and Heroic difficulty only).
  • Cataclysm Hotfix (2011-03-16): Players will move at the same speed, even when setting their normal speed to "walk" using the keybind, when Nefarian casts Dominion.
  • Cataclysm Hotfix (2011-01-18): Ability ghoulfrenzy [Rip] and Spell shadow auraofdarkness [Bane of Doom] damage is no longer affected by the damage increase of Stolen Power when engaging Nefarian.
  • Cataclysm Hotfix (2011-01-05): Spell shadow antimagicshell [Anti-Magic Shell] no longer stops Onyxia or Nefarian's Shadowflame Breath from being cast.
  • Cataclysm Patch 4.0.3a (2010-11-23): Added.

External links