With the Warlords of Draenor expansion Blizzard has updated a long time favourite instance of many original WoW players, the Upper Blackrock Spire.  This instance has been updated to be a level 100 instance for players at the new level cap.  In addition to the level 100 normal mode version it can be completed in both heroic and challenge mode.

On normal mode you will be rewarded with ilevel 615 items.  The heroic version of the instance will reward players with ilevel 630 items.

While the instance remains much the same as it originally was in terms of layout, the bosses are changed.  There are now 6 bosses in the instance, which are: Orebender Gor’ashan, Kyrak, Commander Tharbek, Son of the Beast, Ragewing the Untamed, and Warlord Zaela.

Orebender Gor’ashan

The first encounter in Upper Blackrock Spire is against Orebender Gor’ashan and is a fairly simple fight as long as you can stay alive. 

Once Orebender Gor’ashan is pulled all players must stack on top of the platform with the boss, as there will be electricity that fills the floor around the platform.  At intervals in the fight Orebender Gor’ashan will stop the lightning from filling the room and draw on it to power himself up with the Power Conduits around the room.

Each Power Conduit that is powered up prevents 14% damage to Gor’ashan while it remains active.  During this time Gor’ashan will start to cast Thunder Cacophony which deals heavy damage to anyone near him.  To stop this, players must jump off the platform and deactivate the power conduits on the ground.  However, there will be fast moving electric pulses that circle the room.  Players must watch and jump down just after a pulse passes them, de-activate a conduit and then get back on the platform. The first time this happens only 2 power conduits will be active, then 4, 6, and finally 8.  The electric damage caused is extremely heavy and players need to be cautious when deactivating the conduits. 

Kyrak

The second encounter is against Kyrak and found immediately following the first boss.  The fight against Kyrak  is fairly straight forward, he starts the fight with two adds that should be killed quickly to simplify it further.

OnOnce the adds are dead, Kyrak has 3 abilities to be worried about.  He will target random players with Debilitating Fixation, which slows you down and deals heavy damage over time, but can be interrupted.  He also throws out Vileblood Serum pools which stay in effect for a while and deal heavy AOE damage.  Lastly, he will use Rejuvenating Serum on himself to heal back health.  This can and should be cleansed from him if possible.

Essentially though this fight is simply about dealing damage, interrupting the fixation beam, and staying out of the pools.

Commander Tharbek

The third encounter starts with a three wave gauntlet of trash mobs that get progressively harder before players get to fight the real boss, Commander Tharbek.

The commander will arrive after the trash mounted on an Ironbarb Skyreaver.  The fight is heavily movement based, and players need to avoid the many different AOE effects that all deal heavy damage.  The effects include the drakes fire breath and acid spit pools, as well as Tharbek’s charge and flying axes.  Tharbek can also hurl an Iron Axe at random players that places a heavy bleed DOT on them.

The tank needs to hold Tharbek facing away from the group to minimize the fire damage to the group.  Damage is very heavy throughout the fight for all players, so any AOE that can be avoided should be.

You do get some help from Awbee an NPC that will join the fight roughly halfway through, but it isn’t a lot and you really need to push as much DPS on your own as you can.

Son of the Beast (Optional Boss)

The fourth encounter is a completely optional fight, and has no loot reward.  The boss is the Son of the Beast which references back to the Beast from the original Blackrock Spire instance.

The fight is simple with few mechanics, but is very reminiscent of the original Beast fight.  Son of Beast has a Terrifying Roar which will occasionally fear players as well as a Fiery Charge that will target random players and hurl them back through the air.  When he charges a trail of fire is left on the ground to damage players that step in it.

The fight is a quick and fun trip down memory lane.

Ragewing the Untamed

The fifth encounter in Upper Blackrock Spire is against Ragewing the Untamed, a vicious flying dragon that protects the bridge to the last area in the instance.  The fight consists of three phases and is essentially about avoiding AOE and DPS’ing as fast as possible.

In the first phase Ragewing will fly close to the bridge and use Magma Spit and Engulfing Fire on players.  Magma Spit is a small AOE and you simply need to move when targeted, however Engulfing Fire is much larger and covers a good portion of the bridge.  When cast, move quickly to the other side.

At two points in the fight a Fire Storm phase will start.  Ragewing will fly high above the bridge and releases whelps and a Firestorm.  Kill them quickly and avoid the AOE damage.  Once they are dead, Ragewing will once again engage you, after the second round of whelps Ragewing will land on the bridge and the third phase will start.

Once in the last phase Ragewill will keep using Magma Spit on random players as well as start to use a new ability called Burning Rage, which buffs damage by 10% and stacks up to 4 times.  If allowed to stack too high, Burning Rage will cause issue for the tank and healer, so it needs to be removed as often as possible.  This stage really becomes a DPS race, as once you have run out of ways to clear the rage effect the fight becomes harder and harder to heal through.

Warlord Zaela

The final encounter in the instance is against Warlord Zaela.  The fight is a three-phase fight with heavy movement based mechanics with a significant amount of AOE damage that must be avoided as much as possible.

The fight starts with Zaela alone and is mainly about avoiding her Black Iron Cyclones which she will cast on random players.  This cyclone deals moderate damage and will follow players so make sure that if you are targeted you should kite them away from other players.  Additionally she will hurl Rebounding Blades at random players that  bounce to other nearby players, so everyone should spread out.  Once she is reduced to 60% health the next phase will begin.

When the second phase starts Zaela will leap onto a drake and three adds will land on the platform.  The adds are not particularly damaging but they do cause issues with the pulls and AOE they have.  In addition the drakes that circle the room will start to breath fire on the platform, each time they do they cover about 1/3 of the platform, make sure you get out of the damage area as quickly as possible.

About 45 seconds after phase two starts it will end and Zaela will return to the fight.  You need to ensure that all three adds are defeated by that point in time or the fight will become more difficult.  During this last phase you need to deal with Zaela while avoiding the fire from the drakes, which will continue until the end of the fight.