Chromaggus Guide: Strategy, Abilities, Loot (Updated for the Season of Mastery)

• 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.

• 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.

• 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

• 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.

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.

• 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.

Item	Slot	Class
Pauldrons of Transcendence	Shoulder	Priest
Bloodfang Spaulders	Shoulder	Rogue
Pauldrons of Wrath	Shoulder	Warrior
Epaulets of Ten Storms	Shoulder	Shaman
Dragonstalker's Spaulders	Shoulder	Hunter
Judgement Spaulders	Shoulder	Paladin
Nemesis Spaulders	Shoulder	Warlock
Netherwind Mantle	Shoulder	Mage
Stormrage Pauldrons	Shoulder	Druid

Item	Slot
Angelista's Grasp	Waist
Ashjre'thul, Crossbow of Smiting	Crossbow
Chromatic Boots	Feet
Chromatically Tempered Sword	One-Handed Sword
Claw of Chromaggus	Dagger
Elementium Reinforced Bulwark	Shield
Elementium Threaded Cloak	Back
Empowered Leggings	Legs
Girdle of the Fallen Crusader	Waist
Primalist's Linked Waistguard	Waist
Shimmering Geta	Feet
Taut Dragonhide Gloves	Gloves
Taut Dragonhide Shoulderpads	Shoulder

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.