An ettin enhanced and imbued by Cho’gall, Halfus is in charge of capturing the dragons used by the Twilight Hammer.
Role Summaries
- Everyone
- Avoid swirlies on the floor
- Interrupt Shadow Nova
- Follow your raids kill order
Abilities
Halfus Wyrmbreaker
Halfus places a stacking healing received reduction on his target, necessitating tank swaps when stacks get too high to handle.
Halfus increases his attack speed by 120% for the remainder of the fight.
Halfus channels briefly before dealing massive Shadow damage and knocking back all targets. This can be interrupted, but the cast is very fast.
At 50% health and below, Halfus will begin casting Furious Roar. This deals high Physical damage to all players and stuns them for 2 seconds. This will be cast 3 times in a row.
This is Halfus companion throughout the fight. The Proto Behemoth will fly above the raid, casting fireballs on the raid until Halfus is dead.
Imprisoned Dragonkin
Once released, the Nether Scion reduces Halfus chance to hit, as well as his attack speed and damage by 25%. This makes the boss significantly less threatening for your tank. Once the Nether Scion dies, Halfus will receive a debuff increasing his damage taken by 100%.
Once released, these cast Atrophic Poison on the Proto-Behemoth, reducing the damage it deals with a stacking debuff. Once all of the Orphaned Dragon Whelps die, Halfus will receive a debuff increasing his damage taken by 100%.
Once released, the Slate Dragon will debuff Halfus, causing him to occasionally become petrified for 12 seconds. During this time Halfus cannot attack or move. Once the Slate Dragon dies, Halfus will receive a debuff increasing his damage taken by 100%.
Once released, the Storm Rider drastically reduces the cast speed of Halfus, making it possible to actively interrupt every Shadow Nova cast. Once the Storm Rider dies, Halfus will receive a debuff increasing his damage taken by 100%.
Once released, the Time Warden will debuff the Proto-Behemoth with Time Dilation, reducing the cast speed and velocity of its Fireballs by 50%, making them much easier to dodge. Once the Time Warden dies, Halfus will receive a debuff increasing his damage taken by 100%.
Raid Composition & Preparation
This fight is nothing spectacular, so bringing a large amount of healers is not necessary.
No particular DPS classes or specializations are preferable, bring what you have.
You will need at least two tanks for Halfus Wyrmbreaker and the drakes. On 25-man, you may want to consider a third to smooth the damage, allowing the Halfus tank to never swap out.
Strategy
For this fight you will have to fight both Halfus Wyrmbreaker and several other dragonkin simultaneously. These dragonkin start the fight locked in various cages around the room. On normal difficulty three of these will be active, while the remaining two will be inactive. On Heroic, they will all be active.
Players will need to release these dragonkin by opening their cages, and each individual dragonkin provides their own debuff to assist you against Halfus. Despite their assistance, these dragonkin will turn hostile and will need to be killed alongside Halfus. Each dragonkin (or group of) will debuff Halfus with Dragon’s Vengeance when killed, stacking and increasing the damage he takes by 100%.
At the very start of the fight, assign a player to each dragon cage you intend to open. Have the main tank grab Halfus, and the off tank grab the dragonkins, bringing them over to stack with Halfus. You don’t need to kill all active dragons, but the more you kill the more damage Halfus takes. Once your raid can beat the 6-minute enrage timer, as well as survive whatever is left, you should be good to go.
Your priorities should be to kill the Orphaned Emerald Whelps with AoE first, followed by the Nether Scion, and finally the Storm Rider. The Slate Dragon and Time Warden can be left alive as long as your tanks can handle the damage. As long as the Slate Dragon is alive, the tanks will need to swap to manage Malevolent Strikes. You can also delay releasing the Slate Dragon until the other dragons are dead, as the debuff isn’t vital to your success in the fight.
For most of the fight everyone will need to actively avoid Scorching Breath and Fireball Barrage. These are clearly telegraphed attacks that should be moved out of at all times. You will also need to interrupt Shadow Nova every time it is cast, otherwise it will almost certainly wipe the raid. Once Halfus hits 50% health, the most difficult mechanic will start to happen. Halfus will cast Furious Roar three times in a row, stunning the raid each cast. This is a lot of damage and also a lot of downtime. Mitigate this as best you can, but consider that stacking the raid may lead to a Fireball Barrage wiping the raid.
Halfus is a big fan of casting Shadow Nova while players are stunned by Furious Roar. This means you will need a class that can break the stun to interrupt it. Blink from Mages is a great tool here, as you can Blink the stun and follow up with Counterspell. Death Knights can also break the stun with Icebound Fortitude and interrupt with Brain Freeze.
As long as you survive the Fireball Barrage and keep interrupting Shadow Novas, you should be good to go!
