Conquering Nefarian: A Comprehensive Guide

Embarking on the Nefarian encounter in Blackwing Descent, players are presented with a formidable challenge that spans three intricate phases. This guide distills essential strategies, raid compositions, and mechanics to navigate the complexities of battling Nefarian and Onyxia, offering a roadmap for victory.

In order to engage Nefarian you need to click the orbs on the balcony surrounding his arena below.

Raid Composition

A balanced team composition is crucial for tackling Nefarian’s encounter. For 10-man setups, a composition of 2 tanks, 3 healers, and 5 DPS is recommended across both normal and heroic difficulties. Meanwhile, 25-man groups should consider 2-3 tanks, 5-7 healers, and 15-18 DPS for normal, shifting to 3 tanks, 6-7 healers, and 15-16 DPS for heroic. The DPS composition doesn’t matter too much but make sure you have reliable interrupters.

Health Pools

Onyxia and the Chromatic Prototypes have varying health pools depending on the raid difficulty. For 10-man normal and heroic difficulties, Onyxia has 26.1M and 34.8M health. In 25-man formats, her health increases to 78.3M in normal and 103M in heroic. Chromatic Prototypes, encountered during Phase Two, also have tailored health pools: 248k in 10-man normal, 584k in 10-man heroic, 872k in 25-man normal, and 2.13M in 25-man heroic. These figures are crucial for DPS planning and execution throughout the fight.

Phase One: A Dual Threat

In Phase One the raid faces the dual challenge of engaging Onyxia and Nefarian simultaneously. The Ony tank can jump in to start the fight. Pull her to the edge of the arena with her sides facing the center so the raid is in the center and the dragons on the outside. Nefarian will land soon and that tank can do the same thing on the opposite side.

Onyxia

Each Dragon has their unique set of abilities. Onyxia’s primary threats include her Shadowflame Breath, a potent frontal cone attack that necessitates careful tank positioning to avoid raid damage. This ability will also bring Anamated Bone Warriors back to life for the raid to handle and cleave down. Her Tail Lash presents a risk to those behind her, stunning and damaging players. The raid team has to be at her sides at all times. A critical mechanic unique to Onyxia is her Electricity Charge. This gradually fills, leading to a devastating Electrical Overload if not managed properly. It will wipe the raid if it goes off. This mechanic demands the raid to kill Onyxia before her charge reaches full capacity, influenced significantly by Nefarian’s Electrocute ability which give Onyxia 18 charges. Nef will cast Electrocute every 10% of his health.

Additionally, Onyxia and Nefarian gain increased attack speed from the Children of Deathwing buff when in close proximity to each other. Tank them on opposite sides of the room with their sides facing the center of the room 50 yards from each other.

Nefarian

Nefarian shares the Shadowflame Breath and Tail Lash with Onyxia. This reinforcesthe need for meticulous positioning. His Electrocute ability, triggered by every 10% health reduction, poses a significant raid-wide threat with its unavoidable Nature damage. This ability plays a pivotal role in managing Onyxia’s Electricity Charge, as each Electrocute increases her charge by 18. The encounter also introduces Animated Bone Warriors, requiring focused add management. These adds are susceptible to a wide array of crowd control and pose a sustained threat if not handled correctly.

Strategy

Phase One revolves around balancing two melee DPS groups on  Onyxia and Nefarian’s side. The ranged should be dead center of the arena. You need to control the pacing of Electrocute every 10% of Nefarians health to prevent Onyxia’s Electrical Overload when she reaches 100 charges. You will have a UI meter for this from Blizzard and DBM will add a numerical one. Tanks must position both dragons to mitigate the raid damage from their breath attacks. Keep them 50 yards apart to avoid their Children of Deathwing buff. Add management and crowd control on the Animated Bone Warriors are crucial from the third tank in heroic. Nefarians Shadowflame Breath will bring them back to life and buff them so make sure you get them out of the way of the cone and kill them there.

P1 Heroic Changes

Heroic mode amplifies the encounter with the Dominion mechanic. While Nefarion is casting Dominion you don’t want to be mashing the 1 key as this is where the Free Your Will ability appears and you will immediately break out. When players are under the effect of Dominion, they will lose movement control temporarily and walk towards a portal. If they reach the portal, they are instantly killed. During this time, players’ action bars are replaced with two abilities.

Free Your Mind: This ability allows players to break out of the Dominion effect, regaining control of their characters. It’s crucial to use this ability just before reaching the portal to avoid instant death.

Siphon Power: This ability stacks a buff called Stolen Power on the player each time it’s used. Stolen Power increases damage and healing done by 3% per stack, stacking up to 150 times for a maximum of 450% increased damage or healing. It has no cooldown and is instant cast, allowing players to quickly stack the buff.

Strategy

Raiders targeted by Dominion should focus on stacking Stolen Power as much as possible without reaching the portal. The goal is to maximize the buff to significantly boost damage or healing output. Ideally, players will stack the buff to near the maximum amount and then use Free Your Mind to break the control effect. Do this just before you reach the portal. This maximizes the benefit from Stolen Power without taking a long dirtnap by reaching the portal.

Players under Dominion cannot be healed or take damage from Nefarian or Onyxia. The primary concern is managing the walk to the portal and maximizing Stolen Power stacks. Other raid members can slow the affected players to extend the time available for stacking Stolen Power. Use abilities like Ice Traps or Cone of Cold.

Phase Two: Lava and Chromatic Prototypes

Phase Two of the Nefarian encounter introduces a dramatic shift in the battlefield, demanding swift adaptation from the raid. As Onyxia dies, Nefarian’s fury escalates, blanketing the arena in molten lava and forcing combatants to seek refuge atop three stone pillars. This phase tests the raid’s ability to manage positioning, interrupts, and healing under pressure.

Transition to Phase Two:

The arena’s descent into a lava pit signals the onset of Phase Two. Nefarian, now airborne and beyond the reach of melee attacks, unleashes havoc from above. Each member of the raid must get onto one of the three available pillars. Raid leaders assign players to each pillar to make sure they each have sufficient interrupts. Move quickly to your pillar or die.

Chromatic Prototypes: Occupying each pillar is a Chromatic Prototype, a creation of Nefarian’s twisted magic. These adds are immune to traditional aggro mechanics and fixate on launching a deadly Blast Nova. This is a potent cast capable of decimating the raid if left uninterrupted. Each Prototype must be interrupted consistently to prevent the cast of Blast Nova, placing a premium on reliable interrupters distributed across all pillars. The cast is 5 seconds long. Burn and kick but kill them all at the same time to enter phase three with them all dead. Any one of them dying will trigger the new phase.

Strategy

The ideal strategy involves a balanced distribution of roles among the pillars: at least one healer and one dedicated interrupter for 10-man groups, with additional healers and a second interrupter (or classes capable of multiple interrupts like Elemental or Enhancement Shamans) for 25-man groups. Coordination is paramount, as is the adaptability of assigning backup interrupters.

Navigating the Lava: As raid members establish their positions atop the pillars, they must remain aware of Nefarian’s aerial assault—Shadowflame Barrage. This ability targets random raid members, necessitating efficient healing distribution to mitigate its impact. The confined space of the pillars underscores the importance of spatial awareness to minimize damage and ensure that healing resources are not overstretched.

End of Phase Two:

Phase Two concludes upon the death of all three Chromatic Prototypes or the elapse of three minutes, whichever occurs first. Failure to adequately manage the Chromatic Prototypes or to sustain the raid through Nefarian’s barrages could spell doom for the raid.

Strategic Highlights:

Preparation and Positioning: Before the lava rises, position and prepare each raid subgroup near their designated pillar and prepare to jump up when the lava rises high enough.
Interrupt Coordination: Assign primary and backup interrupters to each Chromatic Prototype, ensuring that Blast Nova casts are consistently countered.
Healing Management: Allocate healers across the pillars to manage the incoming damage from Shadowflame Barrage, with particular attention to those affected by Blast Nova’s damage spikes.
Damage Mitigation: Encourage the use of personal damage mitigation abilities to lessen the healing burden during moments of high damage, especially when dealing with Shadowflame Barrage. Feint, Cloak of Shadows, Deterrence etc.
Communication: Maintain clear coms so that kickers and healers can communicate. Missing interrupts will be what gets most raids here.

P2 Heroic Changes

In Heroic Mode Explosive Cinders are introduced and add a layer of individual responsibility to get out and not blast your teammates off the platform.

Explosive Cinders targets one player in 10m and three in 25m (one per platform).  Players are marked with a debuff that, upon expiration (8 Seconds), causes them to explode, dealing damage and knocking back nearby allies that are within 8 yards. The Chromes cast this every 20 seconds. This necessitates that affected players quickly jump off the platform but only go far enough, min 8 yards, away to not blast people. Make sure to stay close enough to get back on the platform quickly. Ideally, players targeted should move to the edge of their pillar and then into the lava just before the debuff expires, using movement abilities to return to safety post-explosion.

Immunities will let you ignore this mechanic if your class has one. Cloak of Shadows, Divine Shield, Ice Block etc.

Adjustments in Heroic Mode:

Increased Vigilance: The addition of Explosive Cinders demands heightened awareness from all raid members. Those affected must act swiftly to prevent harming others, adding a personal accountability element to the collective struggle of Phase Two.
Strategic Positioning: The raid must refine its positioning strategy to accommodate the Explosive Cinders mechanic, ensuring ample space for affected players to move away without endangering the group.
Healing Prioritization: Healers must prioritize their targets more carefully, balancing the need to keep the raid topped off against the necessity of quickly healing those affected by Explosive Cinders or the ongoing damage from Shadowflame Barrage.
Enhanced Coordination: Communication becomes even more crucial in Heroic Mode, as the raid must coordinate interrupts on Chromatic Prototypes.

Phase Three: Final Confrontation

In Phase Three the raid faces Nefarian in a final showdown. At this point, all remaining adds from Phase One are reanimated and join the fray.

Nefarian himself takes center stage, engaging the raid with his full might. The tanks can be in the center with him rather then the sides now that he’s solo. The central challenge here involves managing the Animated Bone Warriors again and avoiding Nefarian’s potent abilities. He continues to unleash his Tail Lash and Shadowflame Breath, demanding constant spatial awareness from the raid to avoid unnecessary damage and potential deaths.

A pivotal mechanic introduced in this phase is the Shadowblaze Spark. Nefarian targets areas on the ground, igniting them into spreading flames. These flames not only deal substantial damage to players but also serve to reactivate any Animated Bone Warriors they touch. Kite these adds and kill them away from the flames to prevent their reanimation.

Strategy

The strategic focus shifts towards controlling these adds effectively while simultaneously maintaining consistent damage output on Nefarian. Tanks play a crucial role in managing the adds’ positioning, ensuring they are kept away from the raid and the spreading flames. DPS and healers must balance their focus between add management and boss damage, all while staying alert to Nefarian’s damaging abilities.

P3 Heroic Changes

Phase Three Heroic introduces intensified mechanics that demand coordination and skill from the raid. The primary differences and added complexities in heroic mode include:

Increased Health and Damage

Both Nefarian and the Animated Bone Warriors have significantly increased health pools. All of Nefarian’s abilities, including Tail Lash, Shadowflame Breath, and especially the Shadowblaze Sparks, inflict more damage, requiring heightened awareness and quicker healing responses.

Shadowblaze Sparks Frequency

The Shadowblaze Sparks are cast more frequently by Nefarian, reducing the time window the raid has to react and adjust their positioning. This not only increases the pace of the encounter but also elevates the importance of precise movement and add control. Failing to move the Animated Bone Warriors in time will lead to their reactivation and complicate add management.

Dominion Mechanic

Although primarily impacting Phases One and Three, the Dominion mechanic influences the raid’s strategy throughout the encounter. Dominion forces players to balance the risk of gaining Stolen Power stacks. These increase their damage output, against the danger of being killed if they reach the portal. A dead player is a useless player.

Animated Bone Warriors’ Persistence

Animated Bone Warriors deactivate and despawn after a set period in normal. In heroic mode, these adds only deactivate temporarily and can be reactivated by Shadowblaze Sparks. This persistent threat necessitates ongoing add management throughout the phase. The third tank needs to constantly kite the adds away from the sparks to prevent their reanimation.

Enhanced Individual Responsibility

Every raid member’s role becomes more critical in heroic mode. DPS players must maximize their output while managing the Dominion mechanic. Healers must handle the increased raid damage efficiently. Tanks must expertly control Nefarian and the adds, all while the entire raid navigates the intensified environmental hazards.

Master these mechanics and you’ve defeated BWD, you sweaty little gamer. See you in the next raid.