Balance Druid DPS Sepulcher of the First Ones Raid Guide — Shadowlands 9.2.5

During Shadowlands Season 4, Castle Nathria, Sanctum of Domination, and Sepulcher of the First Ones will each spend time being featured as a Fated Raid. During these times encounters within the specific raid will include an additional mechanic and items will drop at increased item levels. If you would like to learn more general information about the Fated Raids system as a whole, please see our overview below. Otherwise, continue to use this page for specialization-specific tips.

Balance Druids will most likely be swapping between Night Fae and Venthyr in this raid. Night Fae is a great choice for an unknown raid because you do not need to think into cooldown utilization as you do for Venthyr.

If you find that there are great opportunities to use Ravenous Frenzy on a boss, it is easy enough to swap over and do some get some value out of Venthyr.

Night Fae on fewer targets is extremely close to Venthyr in DPS output but the space widens quickly with more targets (if Venthyr can use their cooldowns on them). Night Fae is great defensively given you higher effective Health with Grove Invigoration and is another good reason to test new waters with the Night Fae Covenant.

Talents are going to be nearly the same across the board:

• Level 15: Nature's Balance
• Level 25: Wild Charge
• Level 30: Guardian Affinity
• Level 35: Mighty Bash
• Level 40: Incarnation: Chosen of Elune
• Level 45: Stellar Drift
• Level 50: Fury of Elune (Venthyr or multi-target) or New Moon (Night Fae single-target)

For Night Fae, you will always use Primordial Arcanic Pulsar as both your single Legendary and your second Legendary with Unity.

For Venthyr, you will use Sinful Hysteria as your single Legendary with no tier. When you acquire 2-piece you will always wear Primordial Arcanic Pulsar. Sinful Hysteria will come back as Unity when you can use double Legendary.

We advise you to use the following talents against Vigilant Guardian.

• Level 15: Nature's Balance
• Level 25: Wild Charge
• Level 30: Guardian Affinity (or Restoration Affinity, situationally)
• Level 35: No specific recommendation
• Level 40: Incarnation: Chosen of Elune
• Level 45: Stellar Drift
• Level 50: Fury of Elune (or New Moon, situationally)

We advise you to use the following Legendaries against Vigilant Guardian.

1. Primordial Arcanic Pulsar
2. Unity

For this multi-target fight you will want to have Starfall up for add waves but these will most likely die pretty quickly. Cooldowns can be used on pull and on cooldown but save the final usage for Bloodlust.

There is plenty of movement on this boss, use Stampeding Roar to help your group get to safe zones spread around the boss arena.

On Mythic, the Vigilant Guardian starts as soon as you begin combat. That being said you will still be focusing down adds as your top priority as this is still the major mechanic of the fight.

On Mythic, Refracted Blast spawns a set of Spike of Creation at the location of the blasts. These can be popped by anyone, normally a ranged or a healer, and if you are the designated mine detonator then use your Stellar Drift mobility for minimal damage loss. Save Barkskin for when you get extra stacks of the Spike of Creation DoT as that is the only overly scary part of the fight.

For more information, please refer to our Vigilant Guardian guide.

We advise you to use the following talents against Skolex, the Insatiable Ravener.

• Level 15: Nature's Balance
• Level 25: Wild Charge
• Level 30: Guardian Affinity (or Restoration Affinity, situationally)
• Level 35: No specific recommendation
• Level 40: Incarnation: Chosen of Elune
• Level 45: Stellar Drift (or Stellar Flare, situationally)
• Level 50: Fury of Elune or New Moon

We advise you to use the following Legendaries against Skolex, the Insatiable Ravener.

1. Primordial Arcanic Pulsar
2. Unity

This is a purely single-target boss fight and one that you could use Stellar Flare on. Stellar Drift is really nice for the movement required on this boss so it is a great quality of life feature here.

Balance Druids are good candidates for being out of range and taking Dust Blast but be careful and use defensives when taking Ravening Burrow as you will be taking more damage than most players with your extra DoT stacks.

This boss works almost identically to the Heroic version, just dealing more damage and having a moderately tight enrage timer. When baiting, always wait for the third application of Ephemera Dust before returning back to the stack group for the Retch cast. Save Barkskin for high stacks of the DoT or for Ravening Burrow.

You will only get two uses of Incarnation: Chosen of Elune on this boss so try to find a good opportunity for your second use where you will not be interrupted.

For more information, please refer to our Skolex, the Insatiable Ravener guide.

We advise you to use the following talents against Artificer Xy'mox.

• Level 15: Nature's Balance
• Level 25: Wild Charge
• Level 30: Guardian Affinity (or Restoration Affinity, situationally)
• Level 35: No specific recommendation
• Level 40: Incarnation: Chosen of Elune
• Level 45: Stellar Drift
• Level 50: Fury of Elune or New Moon

We advise you to use the following Legendary against Artificer Xy'mox.

1. Primordial Arcanic Pulsar
2. Unity

You will normally get two or three cooldown usages on this boss depending on your raid DPS. Judge how far you are into the fight before using your second cooldown as it may be better to save for the final phase.

When using Primordial Arcanic Pulsar make sure you get at least one proc on each add phase by pooling Astral Power and Pulsar stacks before each intermission. Look to Solar Beam caster adds and focus down the Xy Acolytes before they cast Hyperlight Ascension.

Defensives are best used on Glyph of Relocation when you have the raid DoT. Wild Charge can be used to spread easily by negating the pull in from Glyph of Relocation. Soulshape and Door of Shadows can both be used to jump over the rings if you are in a tight spot.

Fight timings for this boss can be extremely volatile depending on how many people are alive by the end of the fight. Given the difference in kill times, it is best to use your cooldowns as they come up regardless of where you are in the fight. Get a rough estimate of where you will be using Bloodlust and save a cooldown set for that if you will not lose a usage over the course of the fight.

Just like Heroic, play safe with the Glyph of Relocation, using Barkskin liberally. You can easily dodge rings for higher uptime on the boss especially when using cooldowns. Otherwise just dodge the additional swirlies and lines and you will be fine.

We advise you to use the following talents against Dausegne, the Fallen Oracle.

• Level 15: Nature's Balance
• Level 25: Wild Charge
• Level 30: Guardian Affinity (or Restoration Affinity, situationally)
• Level 35: No specific recommendation
• Level 40: Incarnation: Chosen of Elune
• Level 45: Stellar Drift
• Level 50: Fury of Elune or New Moon

We advise you to use the following Legendaries against Dausegne, the Fallen Oracle.

1. Primordial Arcanic Pulsar
2. Unity

A single-target boss with some priority add focus, Balance Druids can use Primordial Arcanic Pulsar procs on mechanics like Domination Core and Siphoned Barrier.

Use Barkskin to help soak Staggering Barrage as often as you can and use Soulshape and Door of Shadows to leap over each Disintegration Halo.

On Mythic, Disintegration Halos are much more dangerous and should be skipped as often as possible. As Venthyr, it is quite easy to skip at least one ring every set but you are otherwise more fragile to any other residual damage. Night Fae is a tankier Covenant choice but can skip fewer ring sets and must remain in Soulshape for a longer period of time resulting in downtime on this boss.

For three-minute cooldowns, those can be used on pull and with the second Siphoned Barrier cast and then on cooldown thereafter. Convoke the Spirits can be used on as many Domination Cores as possible as those are a main priority in this encounter. If you are playing Night Fae, it is best to use your Soulshape for a quick skip or before cooldowns to prevent too much downtime while in Incarnation: Chosen of Elune.

Defensives can be used liberally in this encounter if you are tanking Disintegration Halos. Barkskin will always be up but Bear Form, Frenzied Regeneration, and Heart of the Wild can be used for additional defensive purposes and will all help save you from rotting down.

For more information, please refer to our Dausegne, the Fallen Oracle guide.

We advise you to use the following talents against Prototype Pantheon.

• Level 15: Nature's Balance
• Level 25: Wild Charge
• Level 30: Guardian Affinity (or Restoration Affinity, situationally)
• Level 35: No specific recommendation
• Level 40: Incarnation: Chosen of Elune
• Level 45: Stellar Drift
• Level 50: Fury of Elune or New Moon

We advise you to use the following Legendaries against Prototype Pantheon.

1. Primordial Arcanic Pulsar
2. Unity

Use your first set of cooldowns to help clear the first set of adds from the Necrotic Ritual. If your second set of cooldowns is coming up late into the second phase, save them for the final phase burn.

Stampeding Roar can be helpful for the Windswept Wings forced movement in phase one and three and Wild Charge can be used during Hand of Destruction to negate the pull in and help spread further out in the arena. Barkskin is also best used on this ability as well.

Cooldowns should be saved to burst down adds spawned by Necrotic Ritual normally targeting the side or back adds and single-targeting them down. Use Starfall to navigate the platform while still focusing down your single add or when moving through Windswept Wings. You will only be using two cooldowns on this fight in the first and the last phase. They will come up in Phase Two but you should save them.

Night Hunter can and should be taken in Bear Form, too, as we can survive without anyone soaking in the chance no one is in your line.

For more information, please refer to our Prototype Pantheon guide.

We advise you to use the following talents against Lihuvim, Principal Architect.

• Level 15: Nature's Balance
• Level 25: Wild Charge
• Level 30: Guardian Affinity (or Restoration Affinity, situationally)
• Level 35: No specific recommendation
• Level 40: Incarnation: Chosen of Elune
• Level 45: Stellar Drift
• Level 50: Fury of Elune or New Moon

We advise you to use the following Legendaries against Lihuvim, Principal Architect.

1. Primordial Arcanic Pulsar
2. Unity

Cooldowns can be used at will on this fight as long as you have some form of damage to put into each intermission add. Coordinate movement cooldowns and use Stampeding Roar to help drop off Unstable Motes and move immediately or you will detonate them.

After you kill the selected intermission add, get to the center and focus down the Defense Matrix Automa before dumping Astral Power into Starfall as everything takes reduced damage while this add is alive. If targeted with Degenerate, use a personal to reduce the damage taken.

Balance Druids should take Mass Entanglement on Mythic Mode as it can be utilized to root the Acquisitions Automa. The first cooldown is normally used on pull but you would save Convoke the Spirits for the intermission add. If playing Venthyr, save your first cooldown for that add and use Starfall to carry the damage over into the boss.

Second cooldowns are normally saved for the second intermission where the double pack of Degeneration Automa spawn. Third cooldown is used on cooldown or with Bloodlust toward the end of the boss if your guild is burning the boss here.

Save Barkskin for each intermission phase as that is the highest source of damage on this boss. You can negate the pushback and the pull from Cosmic Shift using Wild Charge either normally or turning around quickly.

For more information, please refer to our Lihuvim, Principal Architect guide.

We advise you to use the following talents against Halondrus the Reclaimer.

• Level 15: Nature's Balance
• Level 25: Wild Charge
• Level 30: Guardian Affinity
• Level 35: Heart of the Wild
• Level 40: Incarnation: Chosen of Elune
• Level 45: Stellar Drift
• Level 50: Fury of Elune or New Moon

We advise you to use the following Legendaries against Halondrus the Reclaimer.

1. Primordial Arcanic Pulsar
2. Unity

It is preferred to use our cooldowns on pull and on the second Reclaim but if you use your cooldowns on the first Reclaim, you may end up saving your second set for the final phase burn. If you are using Incarnation: Chosen of Elune with Precise Alignment and Primordial Arcanic Pulsar, you can pop your cooldowns much earlier before Reclaim and they will carry into the shield phase.

Guardian Affinity is highly recommended on this fight as Balance Druid is one of the prime candidates in playing goalie for the Ephemeral Motes all throughout the fight. Starfall can be used on Reclaim for added mobility and in phase three where you have to be continuously rotating around the boss.

Barkskin can be used liberally as well as Heart of the Wild for bonus Stamina and just Bear Form in general when soaking a large amount of Ephemeral Motes.

For cooldowns on this boss, it depends on if you have a high damage composition or a high healing composition. This boss can die in either two uses, meaning you would use on pull and with Bloodlust at the end, or you would use the first two on cooldown and get a third cooldown normally with only a partial or no Bloodlust.

As a ranged, you will be on Volatile Charges duty. Always play safe with this as you are taking increased damage. Be especially careful when picking up or dropping the bomb during a mechanic as the damage will compound and potentially be more than you may expect.

Use heavy mobility to transfer the Volatile Charges a long distance in the intermission as we have the toolkit to make frequent long movements. Just be sure not to outrange your healers!

For more information, please refer to our Halondrus the Reclaimer guide.

We advise you to use the following talents against Anduin Wrynn.

• Level 15: Nature's Balance
• Level 25: Wild Charge
• Level 30: Restoration Affinity (or Guardian Affinity, situationally)
• Level 35: Heart of the Wild
• Level 40: Incarnation: Chosen of Elune
• Level 45: Stellar Drift
• Level 50: Fury of Elune or New Moon

We advise you to use the following Legendaries against Anduin Wrynn.

1. Primordial Arcanic Pulsar
2. Unity

This is a boss where Venthyr has a great damage profile. Cooldowns are best used on pull and each intermission phase as Venthyr. Starfall obliterates Fiendish Souls and you can pump Starsurge into either the boss or the Monstrous Soul.

As Night Fae, you can cooldown on pull and then try to pool Primordial Arcanic Pulsar and Convoke the Spirits for Kingsmourne Hungers. Position yourself to hit the appropriate add you need to focus while downstairs. With two Legedaries you have much more felxibility on using Convoke and cooldowns but before then you should use Incarnation: Chosen of Elune on pull and on each intermission as well despite having no Convoke available.

Balance Druid brings great utility to this boss. You can assist with healing on Befouled Barriers or on Anduin's Hope. Restoration Affinity provides additional healing and Ursol's Vortex to help manage Fiendish Souls in each intermission.

Balance Druids are tanky and able to bait Soul Explosion from killing adds in the intermission. Try to remain inside healing circles as long as possible and use Barkskin when needed or at high reduced healing stacks. Calling for a Paladin's Blessing of Protection especially when Starfalling immediately can help reduce stacks of Necrotic Claws.

On Mythic, one of the main differences in the fight is add control. When the Kingsmourne Hungers group goes down, you have to control and whittle down the adds spawned without killing them early. Be ready to utilize Incapacitating Roar in a crowd control rotation or as an emergency. When damaging these, you will have to play off of your composition. Some groups may need more focus through DoTs and Starfire, and other groups may only need Starfall.

Just as it is on Heroic, you use cooldowns on pull and normally on one of the two Monstrous Souls each intermission phase. As always, plan to have a Starfall toward the end of the ramp leading up to your Starsurge dump so you can still build optimal stacks while you bait Soul Explosion.

Mighty Bash and Solar Beam can single-handedly control a Grim Reflection in Phase Two for 12 seconds without ever having to land an interrupt. Additionally, Cyclone can be used on these adds in an emergency or even to allow the tank to place Kingsmourne Hungers on a Grim Reflection without having to be focusing other crowd control into it.

For more information, please refer to our Anduin Wrynn guide.

We advise you to use the following talents against Lords of Dread.

• Level 15: Nature's Balance
• Level 25: Wild Charge
• Level 30: Guardian Affinity
• Level 35: Heart of the Wild
• Level 40: Incarnation: Chosen of Elune
• Level 45: Stellar Drift
• Level 50: Fury of Elune (or New Moon, situationally)

We advise you to use the following Legendaries against Lords of Dread.

1. Primordial Arcanic Pulsar
2. Unity

Swarm of Decay phases happen at around 1 minute, 3 minutes, 6 minutes, and 8 minutes and last 20 seconds long so plan accordingly. For Incarnation: Chosen of Elune and Ravenous Frenzy, you can send these on pull, second swarm phase, and then on cooldown. If you are playing Night Fae, Convoke the Spirits can be saved for every Swarm of Decay phase for the extra Starfall. It is important to save Primordial Arcanic Pulsar windows for these phases if you do not have Incarnation as the damage bonus is quite powerful.

Defensively, Balance Druids are one of the stronger classes for tanking Cloud of Carrions and staying out during Swarm of Decay using Barkskin and even Bear Form if necessary.

On Mythic, groups oftentimes Bloodlust on the first Swarm of Decay. As a Venthyr you want to cooldown the second that Bloodlust is cast so you can have an extended trinket use and also finish your cooldown just as Swarm of Decay ends. After this, you will normally use cooldowns as they come up so we get all of our three uses.

This is a hard fight for ranged damage dealers. If you ever get a Cloud of Carrion immediately after a Swarm of Decay, be ready to use all emergency measures to survive. Heart of the Wild can be used for the extra Health and Frenzied Regeneration charge to live in these dire circumstances.

For more information, please refer to our Lords of Dread guide.

We advise you to use the following talents against Rygelon.

• Level 15: Nature's Balance
• Level 25: Wild Charge
• Level 30: Guardian Affinity
• Level 35: Heart of the Wild
• Level 40: Incarnation: Chosen of Elune
• Level 45: Stellar Drift
• Level 50: Fury of Elune or New Moon

We advise you to use the following Legendaries against Rygelon.

1. Primordial Arcanic Pulsar
2. Unity

How you play this boss will highly depend on your raid composition. Collapsing Quasar is the main fight mechanic. They spawn spread out around the room and need to be killed at the appropriate times to allow those with Dark Eclipse to dispose of their debuffs and not kill the raid. Starfall is great at whittling down their Health but be careful not to overkill them using cooldowns or you may end up causing a wipe.

Cooldowns can be used as they are needed. Most of the time you will save them for the normal phase to help burn down early Quasars but the fight only lasts slightly longer than six minutes so you will be hard-pressed to get more than two full cooldowns out so plan out a good usage of your second cooldown set.

Mythic Rygelon is about control and survival. Cooldowns can be used on pull, right as you go down for the second time, and then at the end of the fight. Avoid overkilling Quasars with Starfall and you make a huge difference single-targeting these down when they specifically need to die. The first spawns every phase are the tightest checks of the fight.

The Quasars in each phase are broken down into three kill groups. Kill the closest four Quasars in the first set and control the back two. When the next Quasar set spawns, the back two from the previous set should be in melee and you once again kill the closest four to the boss. Finally you kill the remaining four and you enter the intermission. Typhoon is a good solution for getting the last set of Quasars in a good formation by knocking the two middle ones inwards or slightly backwards.

When in the intermission, a good place to use Barkskin is when you have a 5-stack of Stellar Decay on the first orb or as you get to the second orb as that is where the damage begins to heavily ramp. When leaving the intermission, put damage and DoTs into Unstable Antimatter as you can only target this while in the down phase through the intermission or through taking a Quasar portal. This extra damage will help you make the damage check on these during the normal phases.

For more information, please refer to our Rygelon guide.

We advise you to use the following talents against The Jailer.

• Level 15: Nature's Balance
• Level 25: Wild Charge
• Level 30: Guardian Affinity
• Level 35: Heart of the Wild
• Level 40: Incarnation: Chosen of Elune
• Level 45: Stellar Drift
• Level 50: Fury of Elune or New Moon

We advise you to use the following Legendaries against The Jailer.

1. Primordial Arcanic Pulsar
2. Unity

Cooldowns go as normal on this boss. The first two phases are relatively timed allowing you to use cooldowns on pull and immediately into Phase Two or right after the first mind controls. The last cooldown can be used on a set of torment adds or whenever you would like. The fight can allow for four cooldown sets but only on slow kills as the fight does not normally extend far past 9 minutes.

Rune of Damnation requires you to jump in a hole in the last one or two seconds of the debuff to avoid damaging the whole raid. Balance Druids can use Bear, Cat, or Human Form Wild Charge or Soulshape (if playing Night Fae) to get back down to the platform immediately. Additionally, you can also use Flap while going down the hole to avoid dying if you entered too early.

When dealing with Phase Two's Rune of Compulsion, Travel Form's Wild Charge will leap you forward and you can shift midair to avoid being speed boosted once the mind control takes effect.

Phase Three is the easier of the phases of this fight. Bait Defile and Decimator away from the raid and always mind your step. It is easy to both control and damage Incarnation of Torments using Solar Beam and Incapacitating Roar. Try to get these closer to the boss as not everyone has a 40-yard range Starfall.

The Jailer on Mythic difficulty is a fast-paced boss with many variables that require play adjustment. Learning how to handle each Rune of Damnation position and how you get to each one and how to get stacked for each Rune of Compulsion are some of the bigger learning curves for Mythic Mode. A good way to approach this boss is that you rarely need to use your mobility for anything other than these mechanics. Wild Charge Travel and Human form are both incredible for getting back to your group or skipping over the holes in the room to get to where you need to be.

Defensively, Balance Druids have copious options to choose from and can always fall back on Bear Form and Frenzied Regeneration. As a ranged, you will be assigned to chain Blood of Azeroth to Azeroth herself. Since we will be off the group and oftentimes proccing this damage event immediately after other mechanics or even during, this is extremely dangerous. Barkskin can be used liberally here and if there is every any doubt of living, Healthstone, Cosmic Healing Potion, and even Heart of the Wild in Guardian Affinity can be used in emergencies.

For cooldowns, at this stage of progression we will only get three full uses unless the kill is slower than average. You can get a partial fourth use only if you immediately use in Phase Two which can be dangerous as we will explain further.

First cooldown can be used on pull and Night Fae will be using Convoke the Spirits on cooldown (with Primordial Arcanic Pulsar) when they are able to as there are plenty of line-of-sight issues in this phase. For second cooldowns, wait until the first Rune of Compulsion. This is especially important for Venthyr who rely heavily on their damage in this window. If you get the first mind control, just wait until you are broken out and in position before using cooldowns. The final cooldown is used on the Incarnation of Torments. Venthyr Druids should pre-ramp some stacks of Ravenous Frenzy before these spawn to get a juiced Starfall and hit the boss. This requires you to do the whole sequence of dodging Expelled Corruption, baiting Defile, taking the lock gate, and then dropping Torment correctly. This can be a difficult mechanical challenge but comes with a rewarding payoff.

For more information, please refer to our The Jailer guide.