Kael'thas Sunstrider
Yes boys and girls of Serenity, I present the strategy for eliminating the final boss of Tempest Keep: The Eye, Kael'thas Sunstrider <Lord>. This is one of five major characters from previous Warcraft games that are on our Hit List (the others being Lady Vashj, Illidan, Magtheridon and Archimonde). Many of us will have seen Kael'thas previously in Warcraft III, The Frozen Throne expansion. This will be another tricky fight with five phases and lots of raid positioning changes. Plus we get to use Legendary quality weapons!
LORE: Who the boss is and where he comes from
Prince Kael'thas Sunstrider is the last of the Sunstrider dynasty that ruled Quel'Thalas for thousands of years, and as such is the de facto leader of all blood elves. He resides in Tempest Keep, a citadel he captured from the naaru, in the Netherstorm of Outland, where he serves Illidan Stormrage. Descending into an apparent state of madness, Kael'thas declared himself the "Sun King" of the blood elves in Illidan's service - although the Scryers have discovered their prince has other ambitions that do not include Illidan.
While the blood elves remaining in Azeroth revere Kael and hope to join him in Outland, none know the truth of his allegiance.
Before the Third War, Prince Kael'thas was a powerful mage and a prominent member of both the Kirin Tor and the Convocation of Silvermoon. Compassionate and caring, he spent most of his time in Dalaran. With the Scourge invasion of Quel'Thalas, Kael evacuated as many survivors as he could and burned many of the enchanted forests to spite the Scourge. He assumed command over the bulk of the surviving high elves (see the fall of Quel'Thalas and Splintering) and renamed his followers blood elves in homage to their murdered brethren. All he feels now is hatred for the undead that ravaged his homeland, rage for the Alliance he feels failed his people, desperation over his people's collective addiction to magic, and grief for his ravaged kingdom.
As the last known surviving member of the Sunstrider dynasty, Kael is the heir to the high elven crown but has yet to take it. Instead, he styles himself as the "Lord of the Blood Elves". He is proficient in siphoning magical energies from demons to feed his addiction and has taught his brethren to do the same. He salvaged the skull of his father, Anasterian, from the ruins of Quel'Thalas, enshrining it in Tempest Keep. The skull is among the artifacts that the Red and Green Dragonflights would need to restore the Sunwell.
In battle, Kael naturally relies foremost on his magic. However, he is also a skilled swordsman and wields the Flamestrike sword, the ancient runeblade of the Sunstrider House that was first wielded by his ancestor, Dath'Remar.
RESEARCH: Information we need to know
* Level: ?? (Boss)
* Type: Humanoid (Blood Elf)
This is a five stage fight however only in the last two stages do we fight Kael'thas himself. The first phase we fight his advisers one by one. In the second, Kael'thas spawns weapons from his armory that we have to fight. Once each weapon is "dead" we can loot it. Equip it, then drag it to one of your action bars. Each weapons has a player triggerable effect that will be needed in the later phases. In the third phase, Kael'thas will rez all of his Advisors, which we will fight at the same time. The final phases involving fight Kael'thas himself.
The raid will need to change positions depending on the stage and mob(s) being fought. Listening to Vent on this fight is essential, those not listening to Vent will wipe the raid.
Strategy in the post is from WoWWiki with comments and additions added by Theseus. Raid positioning images from Bosskillers.com
Another Strategy can be found at Bosskillers.com
Videos:
http://www.stage6.com/user/Fustercluck/ ... ical-Guide Kael'thas Tactical Guide (Stage6) Thanks to Ishtar for the link (in an older post). Sorry for the long link but the forum software chokes on part of the link.
Last Resort vs. Kael'Thas Long video from a Mage PoV. Comes with raid chatter in Vent.
Schism vs. Kael'thas Sunstrider From a Feral Druid's PoV
THE MOBS: Abilities and Weakness
Thaladred the Darkener
* Gaze – Fixes aggro to a specific person in raid. Thaladred emotes the target he's gazing at ("Thaladred sets his gaze on ...") and proceeds to chase them down. This is similar to Buru the Gorger in the Ruins of Ahn Qiraj (AQ20). The person who gets Gaze must kite Thaladred around the room.
* Knockback – Knocks a player (usually the one he's Gazing at) away from himself, dealing 4-5k damage.
Lord Sanguinar
* Fear – 30 yard AoE fear centered on himself, 1.5 second cast.
Grand Astromancer Capernian
* Fireball – 6-7k fire damage, cast on target holding aggro.
* Conflagration – Cast on a random raid member within 30 yards of Capernian; all players within ~5 yards of the target player are affected by Conflagrate: disoriented, and dealing 600-900 damage to themselves and all nearby players for 10 seconds.
* Arcane Explosion – 4.5k Arcane damage and a knockback; cast if there are targets Capernian's melee range.
She is ranged tanked with a Mage or a Warlock, similar to Krosh Firehand, the mage boss in the High King Maulgar encounter in Gruul's Lair.
Master Engineer Telonicus
* Bomb – 7-9k fire damage in a small radius, thrown at the target holding aggro.
* Remote Toy – places the Remote Toy debuff on a random raid member. The debuff lasts 60 seconds, and will periodically stun the affected player for 4 seconds.
Cosmic Infuser (Weapon)
* Heal – a large single-target heal that should be interrupted by melee.
* Holy Nova – AoE heal/damage spell, deals around 2k damage to everyone within 10 yards.
Devastation (Weapon)
* Whirlwind – deals a medium amount of physical damage to all players within 8 yards.
Kael'thas Sunstrider
* Fireball –
* Mind Control – mind controls. The Mind Controlled player must be Sheeped, Cycloned or a Fear effect. In the case of Feral Druids, use Hibernate, Scare Beast, Fear effects or Cyclone.
* Arcane Disruption – 1750-2250 Arcane damage and a 10 second disorient.
* Flamestrike – (115625-134375 initial damage, ~3k per second ) – Spell Detail level to High in order to see these, Similar to Void Zones they do damage per second you stand in them. Will give a few seconds to run out of the Flame Strike
* Summon Phoenix – fly around and do AoE damage to players as well as themselves. Will turn into a Phoenix Egg when they die, and this egg will resurrect the phoenix if not killed within roughly 15 seconds.
* Shock Barrier - Shield stops melee from interrupting Pyroblasts, can cause issues if not DPSed down fast enough. > 20k HP.
* Pyroblast – (~18k after all Mitigation) – Melee Interrupts this as much as possible; Tank uses Legendary Shield to mitigate during another ability.
* Gravity Lapse – All members of raid are teleported to him and shot into the air, everyone can "Swim" and needs to get away from each other. At the end of this ability the raid will fall to the ground and take fall damage.
* Nether Beam – 1850-2150 Arcane damage, jumps to nearby players. Randomly targetted while players are under the effects of Gravity Lapse.
* Nether Vapor – Appear as small black clouds floating around in the air with you. If touched they add a stacking debuff that reduces your max health by 10% each time.
THE FIGHT: How we take this guy down
Phase I: Introducing the Advisors
The raid will square off against Kael'thas' advisors one at a time; new advisors enter combat as their immediate predecessor is killed. Individually, the advisors pose no serious threat to the raid, and since there is no time limit for the completion of this phase, it is advised that the raid focuses on survival through this phase, as well as proper positioning of the advisor's corpses for Phase 3.
The advisers are engaged in the following order:
* Thaladred the Darkener focuses ("sets his gaze on") a single raid member, following that member around the room; he should simply be kited by the person he is gazing at, while ranged DPS brings down his HP. Avoid staying close to Thaladred - he occasionally swings at targets other than his focus target, and may focus on you, dramatically reducing the time you have to get away; it is unlikely that anyone will survive more than two hits.
* Lord Sanguinar is a simple tank and spank boss; be wary of his fear ability prior to 2.3 - it may sometimes be recast faster than Berserker Rage cooldown; post 2.3, fear does not reset aggro and should not be an issue.
* Grand Astromancer Capernian should be tanked by two caster (preferably warlocks, due to Searing Pain and Soul Link) - since Conflagration is a temporary threat reset. Due to Capernian's Arcane Explosion, this is a ranged-only fight.
* Master Engineer Telonicus' primary attack is a short-radius AoE bomb centered on his current aggro target; the fight is slightly complicated by the Remote Toy stun, which will temporarily prevent affected targets from tanking effectively.
Phase 2 begins after Telonicus is dead; it is important that none of the weapon tanks are affected by the Remote Toy debuff.
Phase II: The Weapons
After the advisers have been defeated individually, Kael'thas summons his arsenal of weapons; which remain lootable for 60 seconds after their "death" providing the raid with legendary weapons for the rest of the fight (the weapons are multi-drop but unique; one can theoretically pick up one copy of all of them).
- Cosmic Infuser (1h Mace)
- Devastation 2h Axe)
- Infinity Blade (Dagger)
- Netherstrand Longbow (Bow)
- Phaseshift Bulwark {Shield)
- Staff of Disintegration (Staff)
- Warp Slicer (1h Sword)
It may be desirable for ranged DPS to kill the staff first (providing the people affected by Remote Toy with immunity to the stun effect, and improving AoE DPS later in this phase), then proceed to AoE the remaining weapons, which can be positioned in so that they'd all be hit by AoE. Melee should focus on killing Mace (preventing it from healing other weapons) and daggers (boosting melee DPS)
Phase 3 begins exactly two minutes after Phase 2; the raid group will have to deal with any weapons that may remain alive by that time (with proper positioning and good DPS, that should only be Axe and Shield because of their increased HP).
Phase III: The Advisers, Reloaded
Kael'thas resurrects all of his advisers, who engage the raid along with any weapons still alive from Phase 2. After cleaning up any remaining weapons, the raid can split as follows: hunters and melee kill Telonicus while casters go after Thaladred; after killing their respective targets, both groups go after Sanguinar (and ranged eventually goes on to kill Capernian).
Phase 4 begins exactly two minutes after Phase 3; the raid group will have to deal with any advisers that may remain alive by that time in addition to Kael'thas himself; that should typically only be Capernian.
Phase IV: Taking matters into one's own hands
Kael'thas enters the fight himself; spamming Fireball on the tank in between spawning Phoenixes, casting flame strikes, mind controlling people and using Shock Barrier. The Main Tank should grab aggro on Kael'thas while the raid nukes any remaining advisers. A group of ranged DPS (Hunters/Mages) should be detailed to kill Phoenixes once they spawn. Once the Phoenix is dead, All DPS should focus on killing the egg. If the egg is not dead in 15 seconds, then the Phoenix will respawn and the cycle begins again. Melee should not engage Phoenixes, stay focused on Kael'thas untilt the Phoenix is dead.
Phase 5 begins once Kael'Thas' health reaches 50%
Phase V: True Power
Pyroblast is replaced by Gravity Lapse/Nether Beam, the fight continues until 0% more or less unchanged. The raid needs to spread out to avoid nuking each other with Nether Beam.
THE AFTERMATH: The corpse has hit the floor
Along with Lady Vashj in SSC, Kael'thas must die as part of the Caverns of Time: Mt. Hyjal attument quest. You need to loot Kael's Vial Remmant from his corpse. Kael'thas also drops a quest turn in item (Verdent Sphere) similar what Onyxia, Hakkar and Ossirian the Unscarred drop. Kael'thas drops the Tier 5 Chest tokens along with the usual collection of Epic loot and crafting plans.
Full loot list at WoWHead: http://www.wowhead.com/?npc=19622#drops
QUOTES: What the boss yells at us
Intro:
* Energy. Power. My people are addicted to it. Their dependence made manifest after the Sunwell was destroyed. Welcome to the future...a pity you're too late to stop it. No one can stop me now. Selama ashal'anore.
Advisor Introductions: Grand Astromancer Capernian
* Capernian will see to it that your stay here is a short one.
Master Engineer Telonicus
* Well done. You have proven worthy to test your skills against my Master Engineer, Telonicus.
Thaladred the Darkener
* Let us see how your nerves hold up against the Darkener, Thaladred
Lord Sanguinar
* You have persevered against some of my best advisors. But none can withstand the might of the Bloodhammer. Behold, Lord Sanguinar.
Summoning Weapons:
* As you can see, I have many weapons in my arsenal.
Summoning Advisors:
* Perhaps I underestimated you. It would be unfair to make you fight all four Advisors at once, but...fair treatment was never shown to my people. I'm just returning the favor.
Casting Gravity Lapse:
* Having trouble staying grounded?
* Let us see how you fare when your world is turned upside down.
Killing a player:
* You will not prevail.
* You gambled...and lost.
Mind Control:
* Obey me.
* Bow to my will.
Summoning phoenix:
* Anara'nel belore!
* By the power of the sun!
Enrage:
* I have not come this far to be stopped! The future I have planned will not be jeopardized! Now, you will taste true power!
Death:
* For...Quel...thalas!
