Valiona and Theralion Tank Strategy Guide (Heroic Mode included)

Table of Contents

• 1. Overview of the Fight
• 2. Twilight Realm
• 3. Valiona Phase
• 4. Theralion Phase
• 5. Heroic Mode

Introduction

This guide is intended to provide a comprehensive description of the encounter with Valiona and Theralion in Bastion of Twilight. It is mostly targeted to tanks who desire to have a short but detailed overview of what is expected of them during that fight.

This guide is updated for World of Warcraft WoD 6.1.2.

Valiona and Theralion is an encounter that presents absolutely no challenge to a tank. The damage you will be taking is minimal and you will scarcely be required to move.

Valiona and Theralion are two dragons that your raid will fight during the encounter. There are two phases: Valiona Phase, during which Valiona is on the ground and Theralion is in the air, and Theralion Phase, during which Theralion is on the ground, and Valiona is in the air. These two phases alternate until Valiona and Theralion, which have a shared health pool and can both be damaged simultaneously, die or enrage. The first phase will always be a Valiona Phase, regardless of which dragon you choose to attack to start the encounter.

The alternation between the phases is time-dependant and as such can not be influenced by the raid actions. Valiona Phase lasts 100 seconds while Theralion Phase lasts 140 seconds.

Only the dragon currently on the ground requires tanking, while the flying dragon will cast various spells at the raid.

The Twilight Realm is a parallel dimension of the room where the encounter occurs. Players can be transported there after failing to dodge one of two abilities: Dazzling Destruction and Twilight Flames. These abilities are the only ones that can also deal damage to players inside the Twilight Realm, who stand in their area of effect.

Here is a screenshot of the Twilight Realm Theralion at the end of a Valiona Phase:

The 2 void zones you can see have been created by Dazzling Destruction, the ability that we used this time to enter the realm.

Players inside the realm need to look for exit portals, run to them, and click them to be transported back into the Normal Realm. The screenshot shows such a portal (Collapsing Twilight Portal), slightly north-west of the player's location.

Moving shadow orbs are scattered throughout the Twilight Realm and need to be avoided because they deal heavy Shadow damage.

You can continue tanking the currently grounded dragon while you are in the Twilight Realm. However, you cannot receive healing from players in the Normal Realm.

During this phase, you will tank Valiona, who will hit you with melee attacks every 2 seconds for approximately 25 damage in 10-man difficulty and 35-40k damage in 25-man difficulty.

Devouring Flames is the only ability of Valiona that you should worry about. Twice during the phase, she will face a random direction and begin casting a breath attack. After 2.5 seconds, she will breathe Shadow damage in a large area in front of her, dealing massive damage to anyone being hit. Simply move away from the targeted area if you are standing in it.

85 seconds into Valiona Phase (so 15 seconds before the end of the phase), Theralion will cast Dazzling Destruction 3 times, each time placing two rather large void zones on the ground. You have about 5 seconds to move out of a void zone before being sent into the Twilight Realm.

After Dazzling Destruction, Theralion will land and you need to taunt him. Valiona will take off and she will be of no concern to you until she lands again.

During this phase, you will tank Theralion, who will hit you with melee attacks every 2 seconds for approximately 25k damage in 10-man difficulty and 35-40k damage in 25-man difficulty.

You might occasionally have to move from your location, should a ranged DPS stand too close to you and be targeted by Fabulous Flames, which leaves a damaging void zone on the ground.

95 seconds into Theralion Phase (so 45 seconds before the end of the phase), Valiona will take a deep breath and cover the third of the room over which she is about to fly over with Twilight Flames. She does that three times in a row, with a 15 second interval. You need to watch out for these, as you will be sent into the Twilight Realm if you are hit by this ability.

After the breath attacks, Valiona will land and you need to taunt her. Theralion will take off and he will be of no concern to you until he lands again.

As a tank, you will notice that some abilities deal more damage and that the dragons melee attacks are more powerful (approximately 40k damage in 10-man difficulty and 65k damage in 25-man difficulty).

The important change is that, every 20 seconds or more, the grounded dragon applies a stacking debuff on the tank: Twilight Shift. When the debuff reaches 5 stacks, it wears out and triggers Shifting Reality, sending the tank and nearby raid members into the Twilight Realm. Inside this realm, the tank will build up stacks of Twilight Zone every 2 seconds. These stacks will last for 2 minutes before dropping off.

The combination of Twilight Zone (which last 2 minutes) and Twilight Shift results in a unique tank being sent to the Twilight Realm before dropping stacks of Twilight Zone, which means that these stacks will keep increasing over time, until it becomes very hard to manage (though a Protection Paladin can solve this with Divine Shield)

Therefore, the advised strategy is to use 2 tanks. They take turns tanking the dragons, swapping when one tank is sent to the Twilight Realm.

In 10-man difficulty, where the enrage timer can feel tighter, it is possible to use only one tank and have a DPS taunt the boss and survive a few melee attacks while the tank makes it back from the Twilight Realm.

DPS players and healers need to go in the Twilight Realm from time to time to kill some adds. For this reason, a tank is often required to announce that their stacks of Twilight Shift have reached 4, so that, if needed, some designated DPS players and healers can come and stack on them in order to be sent to the Twilight Realm at the application of the 5th stack.