Hellfire Citadel, a raid instance released in Warlords of Draenor Patch 6.2, is located in the Tanaan Jungle. This raid is currently available in four difficulties LFR, Normal, Heroic, and Mythic and requires an ilvl of 650 or above to enter. With 13 separate raid bosses in this instance, this bastion of the Iron Horde is massive. Divided up into five sections, this is the largest instance we have seen so far in Warlords.

This guide will cover the final wing of Hellfire Citadel; The Black Gate. Unlike other wings of the instance, there is only one boss found here: Archimonde. Even though he is far easier in LFR difficulty than any other, this guy is sure to give any raid a run for their money. Find out how to defeat this big bad dude below:

The battle against Archimonde is a 3-phase encounter. During the fight your raid will take on Archimonde and a number of different types of adds. Like almost every other battle inside Hellfire Citadel, your raid will need to take down these adds as quickly as possible.

The Defiler – Phase 1

Phase one starts as soon as Archimonde is engaged and will only end when the boss has reached 70% health. During this phase players will be spending most of their time avoiding fire and there is a lot of fire to be avoided. Your raid should attempt to spread out as much as possible during this phase and stay a comfortable distance away from the boss.

There are two important adds that will spawn during this phase:

Doomfire Spirits

These balls of death will spawn green fire that will target random players who should move the fire away from the raid. Kill these quickly.

Hellfire Deathcallers

These adds are called upon by Archimonde with Death Brand and placed on a tank. Death Brand inflicts massive amounts of damage to the tank and will continue to do so until the add is defeated. Tanks should use any damage mitigation abilities they have available and a tank swap may be needed.

Besides the adds, Archimonde will also throw his own touches into the fight. Using the fire left by the Doomfire Spirits, Archimonde will occasionally cast Allure of Flames. This ability will toss all the fire left on the ground towards random players. Avoid the fire by moving away from the green swirls. Preferably your entire raid should move to avoid the flames together, however, it is essential that your raid remain spread out.

Shortly after Allure of Flames is cast, Archimonde will cast Shadowfel Burst. This ability knocks a player (and any allies within 8 yards) into the air. Your raid should aim to only have 1 person thrown into the air at a time. A purple circle will appear on the ground where the player will fall, a number of players should rush to the spot and stand in it to help mitigate the fall damage. After the person reaches the ground, the raid should spread back out.

At 85% health, Archimonde will gain a new ability: Desecrate. This nasty ability spawns fel spires which deal raid wide damage. Yrel (who hangs out for this fight) will provide you with light orbs to combat Desecrate. When touched, the light orbs grant immunity to the damage to you and anyone within 15 yards of you at that time. Players should stack up to get the buff, then separate once again to avoid damage from other abilities.

Hand of the Legion - Phase 2

Phase 2 will begin when Archimonde has reached 70% health and will continue until 40% health. Desecrate and Shadowfel Burst will not longer be cast and Doomfire Spirits will no longer appear during this phase. Also different from Phase 1, your raid in Phase 2 should be giving the boss a big old hug. In other words, stack on top of Archimonde. This is essential to combat three distinct abilities that Archimonde will throw at your raid:

• Wrought Chaos
• Focused Chaos
• Shackled Torment

Each of these abilities will target a random player. Those affected by Wrought or Focused Chaos will simply need to remove themselves from the group quickly. Then all players should move from between that player and the boss, as these abilities will do damage to anyone standing in the way.

Those targeted with Shackled Torment will need to move at least 30 yards away to break the chain that will appear between them and Archimonde. If not broken, the damage from this ability will kill the player. The breaking of the chain will cause raid-wide damage.

As mentioned above, Doomfire Spirits will not spawn during this phase. However the fire from Phase 1 will remain and Archimonde will continue to use Allure of Flames. Move as a group each time this ability is cast.

Hellfire Deathcallers will continue to spawn during Phase 2. They should remain a priority for your raid to kill and tanks should use their damage mitigation abilities to combat these adds. After all Hellfire Deathcallers are defeated, the raid should focus on cleaning up any other stray adds before damaging Archimonde.

At 55% health Archimonde will start to spawn new adds:

Felborne Overfiends

Tankable. Only has one ability; Flames of Agnes. This ability is cast every time the mobs health is reduced by 25% and can and should be interrupted.

Dreadstalkers

Cannot be tanked. Only one ability: Consume Magic that is constantly used. Uniterruptable, this ability teleports the add to a random raid member, indicated by a purple circle on the ground. When the cast finishes, the Dreadstalker deals heavy Shadow damage to any player in an 8 yard radius and interrupts any spell casting.

The Twisting Nether - Phase 3

Phase 3 will begin after Archimonde has reached 40% health and will continue until his death. During this phase the boss will stop summoning new adds (woot!), but don't think you can rest on your laurels. Wrought Chaos and Shackled Torment will continue and should be dealt with exactly as before.

New in this phase is Nether Banish. A green circle will appear around Archimonde who will target the current tank and banish them to the Twisting Nether. This circle will also suck in anyone who is standing in it with the tank. While most players should avoid the circle, your raid should send down at least 1 healer and 2 DPS (Archimonde will heal if at least 3 people aren't transported). The other tank should pick up Archimonde at this point.

While the rest of the raid remains behind, the team of players in the Twisting Nether will need to fight their way out. The group should move towards the edge of the room and then engage the Shadowed Netherwalker. This mini-boss is easy and a very standard tank and spank, however, players should try to interrupt his Touch of Shadows. Once engaged, Void Stars will appear on the edge of the room and fixate on a player. The Void Stars should be killed before the player is reached. Once the Netherwalker is dead, a portal will appear to return you to the rest of the raid.

Nether Tears (big green swirls) appear on the ground after each Nether Banish. Do not stand in these. From the Nether Tears spawn Living Shadows which should be taken out by ranged DPS. Living Shadows fixate on a target and apply a nasty healing debuff if the target is reached.

At 25% health Archimonde goes into meltdown mode. Rain of Chaos begins, bringing with it a barrage of meteors. Avoid! Infernal Doombringers will also spawn. These become the raid's highest priority. They must be killed separately, as they heal when stacked together. Nether Banishes continue and Living Shadows will spawn at an increased rate.

At this point it is easy to panic. Panicking is the worst thing you can do. Just keep avoiding the fire, kill the adds, pop your cool downs and hold on to your ass. Once Archimonde is dead you will be rewarded with phat loot and a pretty awesome cinematic.