Carapace of N'Zoth Tactics and Strategy guide
Welcome to our strategy and tactics guide for the Carapace of N'Zoth in Ny'alotha. Here, we tell you all you need to know to defeat this boss. We also include a role by role breakdown of the strategy, so that you can quickly see what you need to do depending on your role: DPS, tanks, or healers.
Read Before
Before you start reading the strategy, we advise you to look at the abilities of Carapace of N'Zoth, in our encounter journal pages.
Fight Overview
- The fight uses the Sanity system from Horrific Visions and, if your Sanity reaches 0, you will lose control and become permanently mind controlled.
- You will need to manage your Sanity while dealing with the adds and boss.
- There are 3 phases to the fight, with the first 2 phases granting the ability to prevent Sanity loss through an action button that only displays if you have the legendary cloak.
- Phase 1 is mainly about dealing with the adds that spawn, rather than killing the boss.
- Phase 2 forces you to follow the main boss further into N'Zoth's carapace, with Wrathion guiding the way.
- Phase 3 is much more open and is focused on killing the boss as soon as possible, as you can no longer restore your Sanity with Wrathion.
Fight Summary / TL;DR
Tanks
- Taunt on 1 stack of
Black Scar during Phase 1, and then taunt as your
stacks fall off. - Let others know if you have the
Madness Bomb on you, so that the
melee can move away. - Tank the boss near the tentacles in Phase 1, to allow for more cleave DPS.
- If you are not currently tanking the boss, pick up any Nightmare Antigen adds. These will slow you, so make sure you try to kite or CC them.
- Pick up the adds in Phase 3 and drag them away from the boss if you are not actively tanking. You should try to CC and kite them as in Phase 1.
Healers
- There is a large amount of potential raid-wide damage that can cause players to die very quickly in all of the phases. Consult your spec's guides for advice on when to use cooldowns and for which abilities.
- Keep a close eye on players that get affected by
Mental Decay, as they
will take ticking damage.
DPS
- Focus down the adds in all phases, using heavy AoE and cleave to keep your damage on the boss at the same time.
- There is a huge amount of forecasted damage in this fight, so you should always make sure to be aware of your surroundings.
- When the tentacles slam in Phase 1, kill the adds on its back as soon as possible. Your tanks should move the boss here to allow for cleave.
- If you do not kill the adds on its back fast enough, there will be huge raid-wide damage. Sync your cooldowns to ensure you can consistently kill the tentacle adds every time.
- In Phase 2, focus down the Synthesis Growths on the walls to prevent the boss from healing.
- Try to keep close to the boss in Phase 2 to ensure you have time to move from
Occipital Blast. - Do not waste your movement abilities in Phase 3, to make sure you have them to find space for the tentacle attacks.
Everyone
- Keep an eye on your Sanity and return to Wrathion as necessary in Phases 1 and 2 to regenerate Sanity.
- Before entering into Phase 3 at 40%, visit Wrathion once more to refresh your Sanity.
- (Heroic) Make sure to interrupt
Breed Madness at every opportunity. - Call out if you are corrupted by losing all of your Sanity so that players know to focus you down and interrupt you. You must be killed if you lose all of your Sanity.
- Spread out if you have either Madness Bomb or
Insanity Bomb,
to avoid hitting other players. - Do not follow the boss immediately after entering Phase 2. Let Wrathion clear the way.
- Stay together when moving through the area covered in cysts, as it allows you to better handle their coverage.
- Do not kill adds in Phase 3 that are not affected by
Adaptive Membrane,
to ensure that you get the Sanity regeneration effect.
Phase 1
During Phase 1, the raid fights the main boss, along with a number of adds and tentacles that are the main focus of the phase.
Abilities
For a full list of the abilities used in this phase, check out our dedicated Carapace Encounter Journal page.
Strategy
The strategy for this phase is very simple, simply requiring you to focus down the adds that spawn (specifically, the tentacle adds) and ensure they are killed as soon as possible to prevent massive damage to the raid.
Your tanks should move the boss towards the tentacle adds as soon as possible, to allow for as much cleave as possible.
The smaller adds should be kited by the off-tank with the help of DPS with strong slows and CC, to prevent the stacking debuff they apply on their auto attacks.
The main problem in this phase is simply the Sanity mechanic, which requires players to avoid getting hit by abilities and regularly visit Wrathion and use their extra button from the legendary cloak. Going insane will cause issues for your raid and, if many people lose all of their Sanity, you will almost certainly wipe.
Once you get the boss down to 50%, you will move into Phase 2.
Phase 2
During Phase 2, you will descend further into the Carapace and have to clear a number of adds on the walls and floor to remove the boss' immunity.
Abilities
For a full list of the abilities used in this phase, check out our dedicated Carapace Encounter Journal page.
Strategy
The most important thing here is to stick together; you do not want to waste time clearing growths that are not in your raid's way. Instead, focus down the Synthesis Growths on the walls to remove the boss' immunity and make sure to clear the cysts on the ground as you move.
The cysts cannot be killed, but must instead just be damaged to reduce the area they cover.
Once the Growths are all killed, the boss becomes very straight forward and has
very few mechanics beyond the first phase. Simply follow the same strategy,
ensuring that you dodge the new ability 
Occipital Blast (stay close to
the boss for easier movement), and DPS the boss down to 40%.
Just before you start Phase 3, refresh your Sanity with Wrathion, as he is no longer available in Phase 3.
Phase 3
During Phase 3, you can no longer use Wrathion to refresh your Sanity, so it is a race between killing the boss and going insane. Dodging abilities is more important than ever.
Abilities
For a full list of the abilities used in this phase, check out our dedicated Carapace Encounter Journal page.
Strategy
The main difference for this phase is the lack of Wrathion, so each bit of
Sanity is even more important. 
Madness Bomb has changed into 
Insanity Bomb,
which applies to every player, and removes even more Sanity.
Make sure that you spread out well, to ensure you do not hit other players with the bombs.
The boss has the same mechanics as before, so you simply need to continue doing what you were doing before.
In order to refresh your Sanity, you will need to only kill the adds when they
have 
Adaptive Membrane, as they will drop orbs to refresh your Sanity.
The new mechanic for Phase 3 is the huge zone-wide attack from the tentacles. They will slam down on the platform and, if you are stood in a dark area, you will die instantly. Save your movement abilities for this.
You should always take the Sanity loss from Insanity Bomb rather than
die to the tentacles.
Loot
Spec by Spec Advice for Ny'alotha
| Death Knight | Demon Hunter | Druid |
|---|---|---|
| Hunter | Mage | Monk |
| Paladin | Priest | Rogue |
| Shaman | Warlock | Warrior |
Changelog
- 25 Jan. 2020: Guide added.
Patch 8.3 Profession Changes
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