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So you've killed Prince Malchezaar and have cleared all normal bosses from Karazhan. If one of your raid members has been following the long questline Karazhan has (which we will cover later), you will be able to summon Nightbane at the Master's Terrace. Many consider Nightbane the true final boss of this dungeon, as his abilities demand more concentration from your group than any other fight in the zone.

We recommend bringing a warrior to tank. That's not to say paladins for either side can't, but the tactics for horde paladins are a bit more complex and luck-reliant than usual, so to avoid complications, use a warrior!

This is a very, very long fight, so come prepared with regeneration consumables and potions, your healers will be needing to regenerate their mana a handful of times throughout the fight!

To start this event, make sure you have the summoning urn for Nightbane, and head on over to the side entrance to Karazhan. From here, go down into the Master's Terrace, you will see the Balcony and an image of Medivh fighting a Blue Dragon. Here is where you summon the creature Nightbane.

Abilities

Bellowing Roar: As with other dragons, he will fear everyone in his immediate range for a few seconds. Use berserker rage, death wish, will of the forsaken, etc, to avoid it. Casts it every 45 seconds to 1 minute.

Charred Earth: Nightbane summons a blackened zone in a random player's feet, the area around them will deal massive fire damage should you stay in it. Stay spread out to the corners, avoid being in the center to minimize charred earth's area.

Cleave: 1000 damage on armor, ~5000 on cloth, stay away from his frontal area!

Smoldering Breath: 3700-4500 fire damage breath with a DoT, heal your tank through

Distracting Ash: Reduces range of spells and abilities by 50%, this can be dispelled.

Tail Sweep: Typical dragon tail sweep, stay away from his behind!

Abilities in the Air (Phase 2)

Rain of Bones: Causes physical damage on one player with the appearance of bones falling ontop of him/her, this player will spawn skeletal minions that must be killed, and the player must also separate himself from the raid from hurting everyone with AoE damage.

Smoking Blast: 1800-2100 physical damage on a player every 10-15 seconds. Uses it on his highest threat upon going up.

Firewall Barrage: Should you try to run from the encounter, Nightbane will pummel everyone with massive fire damage until everyone is in range. If you want to reset, wiping is faster.

Strategy

Nightbane has 2 phases, and you will see them switch every 25%, for a total of 3 transitions. Once you master the transition, this fight is as good as won!

Phase 1.

Nightbane lands and your tank picks him up in the middle of the balcony. Make him face outwards toward the valley, your tank has an invisible wall that will prevent him from falling, don't worry. Once aggro is established, begin your light DPS down to 76%, but make sure everyone is either bunched up in the railing or near the tower, and never in the middle, to avoid Charred Earth affecting more than 2 groups and provoking splitting up or going out of range.

Some people prefer to split their raid in 2, half north, half south, tank in middle, go with whatever seems more comfortable for your raid group.

Once Nightbane hits 76%, start moving closer and hit him down to 75%, this will trigger phase 2, where he will soar to the sky like Onyxia. During this period, have everyone in your raid bunch up where the tank is, and figure out quickly who's got the bone storm that will ensue within a few seconds. Once that person notices, he/she should move north of the raid group while receiving heals, to avoid damaging everyone.

Your DPS should focus on the adds that are spawning. Make sure to set an assist and try to kill them as fast as possible for the skeletons hit cloth wearers for quite a bit. You only have a minute or so before Nightbane lands again. Once he yells out that he will land, all should resume their original positions and the tank should ready him/herself to pick him up once more. It is important to note that AoE is not the best strategy to use against the skeleton adds as they will hit whoever is doing it hard and possibly kill him/her before any go down. Single-target kill them.

Should your tank be successful, finish up all remaining skeleton adds and repeat phase 1. Be mindful of the fear timers and the charred earths! Otherwise, this fight is pretty simple. Repeat the process 3 times more and you should have defeated Nightbane!

Make sure to time your innervates, battle resses, and soulstones well. This fight is long and requires concentration from your entire group, and it is possible to wipe to silly things in the last phase. (Fear plays a big role in those wipes, usually). After 10-12 minutes or so, Nightbane will go down.

So what does the true 'final boss' of Karazhan have, lootwise?

Chestguard of the Conniver
Leather - Chest
364 Armor
+37 Agility
+36 Stamina
Equip: Improves hit rating by 22.
Equip: Increases attack power by 90.

Dragonheart Flameshield
Shield - Off Hand
4872 Armor
122 Block
+19 Stamina
+21 Intellect
Equip: Increases damage and healing done by magical spells and effects by up to 23.
Equip: Restores 7 mana per 5 sec.

Emberspur Talisman
Neck
Equip: Increases healing done by spells and effects by up to 66.
Equip: Restores 11 mana per 5 sec.

Ferocious Swift-Kickers
Mail - Feet
558 Armor
+22 Stamina
+21 Intellect
Yellow Socket
Blue Socket
Socket Bonus: +6 Attack Power
Equip: Improves critical strike rating by 16.
Equip: Increases attack power by 58.

Ironstriders of Urgency

Plate - Feet
997 Armor
+33 Strength
+20 Agility
+28 Stamina
Red Socket
Yellow Socket
Socket Bonus: +3 Strength

Nightstaff of the Everliving
Staff - Two-Hand
142 - 290 Damage
(67.6 damage per second)
+33 Stamina
+34 Intellect
+55 Spirit
Equip: Increases healing done by spells and effects by up to 348.


Panzar'Thar Breastplate

Plate - Chest
1450 Armor
+51 Stamina
Yellow Socket
Blue Socket
Blue Socket
Socket Bonus: +4 Block Rating
Equip: Increases defense rating by 26.
Equip: Increases your shield block rating by 24.
Equip: Increases the block value of your shield by 39.

Robe of the Elder Scribes
Cloth - Chest
194 Armor
+27 Stamina
+29 Intellect
+24 Spirit
Equip: Improves spell critical strike rating by 24.
Equip: Increases damage and healing done by magical spells and effects by up to 32.
Equip: Gives a chance when your harmful spells land to increase the damage of your spells and effects by up to 130 for 10 seconds.

Scaled Breastplate of Carnage
Mail - Chest
812 Armor
+33 Stamina
+38 Intellect
Equip: Improves critical strike rating by 24.
Equip: Increases attack power by 80.
Equip: Restores 8 mana per 5 sec.

Shield of Impenetrable Darkness
Shield - Off Hand
4872 Armor
122 Block
+33 Stamina
Equip: Increases defense rating by 22.
Equip: Increases the block value of your shield by 33.


Stonebough Jerkin

Leather - Chest
364 Armor
+34 Stamina
+35 Intellect
+31 Spirit
Equip: Increases healing done by spells and effects by up to 77.
Equip: Restores 9 mana per 5 sec.

Talisman of Nightbane
Held In Off Hand
+19 Stamina
+19 Intellect
Equip: Improves spell critical strike rating by 17.
Equip: Increases damage and healing done by magical spells and effects by up to 28.


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Last Updated: Mar 13, 2016

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