This strategy is written for World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade (TBC 2.4.3), the Tempest Keep raid for 25 players. Mechanics and numbers match the fight on the Moonwell server.
Fight map
Hover a number on the map or in the text to highlight the spot and the strategy line. Marks follow the fight scripts.
Final boss of Tempest Keep, 25-player raid: 3–4 tanks, 6–7 healers. Five stages back to back: the advisors, the legendary weapons, all advisors at once, Kael'thas himself, then flying in Gravity Lapse. Main danger in stage four: mind control, fire circles and a Pyroblast chain on the tank.
Phase 1: advisors one by one
Kael'thas is invulnerable for now. At 32 seconds Thaladred the Darkener comes out; each next one comes after the previous one falls. In this phase the advisors do not die. Every 8 seconds Thaladred picks a target and walks after it: the target runs, ranged attack him, within 10 yd of him Silence. Lord Sanguinar is tanked; Bellowing Roar fears within 35 yd. Grand Astromancer Capernian is held at range by one player, usually a warlock: Arcane Burst hits everyone within 10 yd, everyone moves away from the Conflagration target. Master Engineer Telonicus: Bomb hits within 5 yd of the tank.
Phase 2: weapons, 105 seconds
Summon Weapons summons seven enemies. Usual order: Staff of Disintegration, Netherstrand Longbow (face it away from the raid), Cosmic Infuser (interrupt Heal), Infinity Blades, Warp Slicer, Phaseshift Bulwark (attack from behind), Devastation (keep its Whirlwind away from the raid). Each drops its own item; the corpse stays for 60 seconds.
What the items do
Phaseshift Bulwark for the tank: absorbs 100,000 damage for 4 seconds, once every 30 seconds. Staff of Disintegration: a 30 yd field protects against stun, silence and disorient. Infinity Blade removes Mind Control with a melee hit. Cosmic Infuser for a healer: their target takes half as much fire and shadow damage.
Phase 3: all advisors
Resurrection brings them all back with double health; now they die for good. Kael'thas enters after 3 minutes, or 3 seconds after the last one dies. Ranged kill Thaladred and Capernian, melee kill Sanguinar and Telonicus.
Phase 4: 100% to 50%
Taunt does not work on him: let the tank build threat. Fireball hits its target for 18,000–22,000, interrupt it. Every 20–30 seconds Arcane Disruption hits the raid and disorients for 10 seconds. Every 20–25 seconds Mind Control takes three players for 30 seconds: use the Infinity Blade or Polymorph. Every 30 seconds Flame Strike: after 5 seconds, an explosion for 115,000–134,000 within 6 yd under a random player.
Phase 4: phoenixes and Pyroblasts
A Phoenix arrives at 50 seconds, then every 45; it burns everyone within 8 yd and loses 5% of its own health every 2 seconds. When it dies it leaves a Phoenix Egg: if the egg is not killed within 15 seconds, the phoenix rises again. Every 60 seconds Shock Barrier absorbs 80,000 damage for 10 seconds and prevents interrupts. Then Pyroblast three times, 4 seconds each, 45,000–55,000 on the tank. Break the barrier and interrupt: one interrupt cancels the whole chain. The third Pyroblast can be interrupted in any case.
At 50%
Kael'thas moves to the center and is invulnerable for about 36 seconds. Finish off the phoenixes and eggs.
Phase 5: 50% to death
No more Mind Control or Pyroblasts. 10 seconds after he lands, Gravity Lapse lifts the raid into the air for 30 seconds, then repeats 54 seconds later. The boss is under a barrier, phoenixes freeze. From 5 seconds, Nether Vapor: four clouds, damage within 8 yd and minus 10% health, up to 9 times. From 8 seconds, Nether Beam hits five players and jumps to those nearby: spread out. Descend toward the end, but below 4 yd you get tossed back up.
Tanks
One each on Sanguinar and Telonicus. In phase 4 the main tank takes the Phaseshift Bulwark.
DPS
Assign interrupts for Fireball and Pyroblast in advance.
Common mistakes
- Players stand in Flame Strike: the circle kills.
- Pyroblasts not interrupted: the tank does not survive the chain.
- Eggs not killed: phoenixes rise again.
- Players fly into Nether Vapor: their health pool melts away.
Abilities, loot and map: boss card