Chromaggus Guide: Strategy, Abilities, Loot (Updated for the Season of Mastery)
Chromaggus is the seventh boss you will encounter in Blackwing Lair, and can be found in the room after the three drakes' room. Chromaggus is the penultimate boss in Blackwing Lair, and is also quite a unique boss in that he changes week to week.
New to the Season of Mastery version of this encounter is an additional effect when each brood affliction is removed, and an important adjustment to making use of line-of-sight to avoid mechanics.
Chromaggus Summary by Role
Tanks
- You will need at least 2 tanks.
- Pay attention to which two breath types are being cast. You will only need to
tank swap if
Time Lapse is one of the casts, in which case the off-tank should always LoS this cast, then come back and immediately taunt away from the main tank. You can then swap every Time Lapse cast.
- If
Time Lapse is not one of the breaths, then the main tank will just need to hold Chromaggus and never leave his LoS.
Healers
- Dispels and curse removals are absolutely critical on this fight, depending on what debuffs go out. In the Season of Mastery version of this encounter, dispelling debuffs will cause a unique effect to happen so ensure your raid has a plan on when to dispel which debuff.
- The only main breath to watch out for is
Time Lapse. If this happens, 2 healers and the off-tank will be the only people LoSing the breath each time it is cast to ensure they can keep everyone alive for the 6 seconds that you will be stunned.
- With the exception of
Time Lapse as stated above, you should be running around a corner to LoS every single breath. This is the single most important mechanic of the fight, and failure to do so will likely mean death.
DPS
- Hunters should be watching for
Frenzy to use
Tranquilizing Shot.
- The exception to the above rule is for
Time Lapse. If Time Lapse is one of the breaths, then all DPS need to be hit by it every time to avoid stealing aggro from the tank.
- The Season of Mastery version of this encounter removes the
ability to LoS Chromaggus' breath using the walls in the boss room. Make sure
you are aware of which members of the raid are affected by the
Brood Affliction: Blue debuff; when they are dispelled it will spawn an iceblock that is the only way to LoS and avoid breaths in this version of the encounter
General Tips for Chromaggus
- The fight plays out in one of two ways, and entirely comes down to whether or not
Time Lapse is one of the breaths. The entire raid should always LoS every breath, but should get hit by every single
Time Lapse breath if it is one of the two breaths that week.
- Dispels and curse removals are critical but cannot be done randomly. It is important
to have specific members of the raid assigned to dispelling specific debuffs when
appropriate; coordinate with your group when you plan to dispel
Brood Affliction: Blue to allow your group to avoid Chromaggus' breaths. The Iceblocks created by removing this affliction last only a short while so it is important to dispel right before a Breath is cast.
- Hunters should be watching for
Frenzy to remove it with
Tranquilizing Shot.
Strategy for Chromaggus
Chromaggus is a unique boss in that it changes week to week. Each week, Chromaggus will choose two of five possible breaths to alternate casting throughout the fight. The five possible breaths are listed below.
Time Lapse will stun anyone in LoS for 6 seconds, reduce their health by 50%, and reduce their generated threat by 50%.
Ignite Flesh will deal some Fire damage every 3 seconds for 1 minute to anyone in LoS. This effect can stack.
Frost Burn deals a burst of Frost damage and increases the time between melee attacks by 80% for 15 seconds to anyone in LoS.
Corrosive Acid deals some Nature damage every 3 seconds and reduces armor by 4500 for 15 seconds to anyone in LoS.
Incinerate deals a large burst of Fire damage to anyone in LoS.
Four of the breaths basically play out the exact same way and do not chance the fight
at all. The only breath that will change what you do is Time Lapse. If
Time Lapse is not one of the breaths, then one tank can hold Chromaggus the entire
fight and the raid can just LoS every single breath. If Time Lapse is one of the breaths,
then the entire raid needs to be hit by it every time it is cast, with the exception
of an off-tank and ~2 healers. As soon as Time Lapse is cast, the off-tank can run back into
LoS, taunt the boss, and hold the boss until the tanks swap on the next cast again.
The entire raid will want to be hit by each Time Lapse cast because it is easy for someone
to out threat the tanks if their threat is not reduced by half when the tank's threat is.
Besides the breath mechanics, Chromaggus will also put different afflictions on people in the raid that will ignore LoS. There are 5 possible afflictions that he will cast on different players, listed below. Note that in the Season of Mastery version of this encounter, removing these afflictions triggers a bonus effect.
Brood Affliction: Black is a curse that increases Fire damage taken by 100%.
Brood Affliction: Blue is a magic effect that burns 50 Mana per second, increases cast time by 50%, and reduces movement speed by 30%. Dispelling this debuff will cause an iceblock to spawn for a few seconds, acting as the only way to LoS in the Season of Mastery version of this encounter.
Brood Affliction: Bronze will periodically stun the player for 4 seconds. This can only be removed by
Hourglass Sand, which is a drop from other enemies in the instance. These should be used sparingly by tanks and healers. Dispelling this ability will stun players nearby the dispelled player.
Brood Affliction: Green is a poison that deals a small DoT and reduces healing taken by 50% and spawns a small gas cloud beneath the person that is dispelled, dealing Nature damage to anyone standing inside of it.
Brood Affliction: Red is a disease that deals a small DoT, and will heal Chromaggus if the afflicted person dies while affected. Dispelling this debuff will spawn a small patch of fire beneath the player dispelled.
Each debuff must be dispelled properly, with every debuff other than the Blue being handled by having that member of the raid run out of the group, calling for a dispel, and then returning to the stack. If a player at any point is afflicted by all 5 afflictions at once, they turn into a Chromatic Drakonid and will most likely kill the raid.
The last mechanic to watch for is Chromaggus' Frenzy. He will sometimes
become frenzied, and this just needs to be removed by a Hunter using
Tranquilizing Shot.
Tank damage is high on this fight, and failure to remove a frenzy can easily lead to
a tank dying.
Important Abilities
- The breaths are all important, but the most important one to watch out for
is
Time Lapse. Read above about how this changes the fight.
- The afflictions listed above all need to be removed as soon as possible, with the exception of the Bronze affliction.
Frenzy needs to be removed by Hunters using
Tranquilizing Shot.
Loot from Chromaggus
Tier 2 Loot
Item | Slot | Class |
---|---|---|
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Shoulder | Priest |
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Shoulder | Rogue |
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Shoulder | Warrior |
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Shoulder | Shaman |
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Shoulder | Hunter |
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Shoulder | Paladin |
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Shoulder | Warlock |
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Shoulder | Mage |
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Shoulder | Druid |
Non-Tier Loot
Item | Slot |
---|---|
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Waist |
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Crossbow |
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Feet |
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One-Handed Sword |
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Dagger |
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Shield |
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Back |
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Legs |
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Waist |
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Waist |
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Feet |
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Gloves |
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Shoulder |
Other Blackwing Lair Guides
If you were looking for a full guide for the Blackwing Lair raid, or would like to know what other loot is available from its bosses, see the links below.
Changelog
- 07 Feb. 2022: Updated for Season of Mastery Phase 3.
- 10 Feb. 2020: Guide added.
This guide has been written by Sellin, a former top 10 US raider and current season and several time Gladiator, long time WoW Player and passionate about all things Warcraft and Theorycrafting. You can follow him on Twitter and watch him on Twitch.
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