Destruction Warlock DPS Castle Nathria Raid Guide — Shadowlands 9.2.5

In this section, you will find information and guidance for each boss individually in Castle Nathria as a Destruction Warlock. These are not complete encounter guides, but rather provide specific tips for any Destruction Warlock on each boss.

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.

We advise you to use the following talents against Shriekwing.

• Level 15: Flashover or Soul Fire
• Level 25: Internal Combustion (or Reverse Entropy, situationally)
• Level 30: Burning Rush (situational options: Demon Skin or Dark Pact)
• Level 35: Cataclysm
• Level 40: Mortal Coil
• Level 45: Roaring Blaze (or Rain of Chaos, situationally)
• Level 50: Dark Soul: Instability (situational options: Soul Conduit or Channel Demonfire)

We advise you to use the following Legendary against Shriekwing: Madness of the Azj'Aqir.

Single-target encounter with 2 phases.

Smart Demonic Circle placement can trivialise the movement requirements of abilities such as Earsplitting Shriek and Echolocation.

During Phase 2, focus on dodging Echoing Sonar.

For more information, please refer to our Shriekwing guide.

We advise you to use the following talents against Huntsman Altimor.

• Level 15: Flashover (situational options: Eradication or Soul Fire)
• Level 25: Reverse Entropy or Internal Combustion
• Level 30: Demon Skin or Dark Pact (or Burning Rush, situationally)
• Level 35: Cataclysm (or Fire and Brimstone, situationally)
• Level 40: Mortal Coil
• Level 45: Roaring Blaze or Rain of Chaos
• Level 50: Dark Soul: Instability (situational options: Soul Conduit or Channel Demonfire)

We advise you to use the following Legendary against Huntsman Altimor: Madness of the Azj'Aqir.

Council fight with multiple targets and few burst phases.

Try to maximise Havoc windows while not delaying the ability.

Avoid Spreadshot and consider talenting Dark Pact to mitigate Vicious Lunge damage.

Demonic Circle and Demonic Gateway placement can give healers more time to handle the Rip Soul mechanic.

Fear can be applied on Shades of Bargast to increase the damage taken through Destabilize right before bursting them down. Try to pool resources when that happens and save Mortal Coil for emergency heals or to interrupt Deathly Roar if needed.

Unending Resolve can be used to alleviate the incoming damage from Crushing Stone should the tank decide to drop a large amount of stacks from the boss. Use Demonic Circle to drop Stone shard patches away from the group when targeted by Petrifying Howl.

Burning Rush can bypass movement slows during the fight and give increase mobility but Demon Skin and Dark Pact offer much higher damage mitigation.

For more information, please refer to our Huntsman Altimor guide.

We advise you to use the following talents against Sun King's Salvation.

• Level 15: Flashover or Soul Fire
• Level 25: Reverse Entropy (or Shadowburn, situationally)
• Level 30: Burning Rush (or Demon Skin, situationally)
• Level 35: Inferno (situational options: Fire and Brimstone or Cataclysm)
• Level 40: Mortal Coil
• Level 45: Rain of Chaos (or Roaring Blaze, situationally)
• Level 50: Soul Conduit or Dark Soul: Instability

We advise you to use the following Legendary against Sun King's Salvation: Wilfred's Sigil of Superior Summoning.

Multi-target fight with frequent adds dying and few priority targets.

Pay attention to boss mechanics that require spreading and the cone that has to be baited. Use Havoc cleave to bolster your resources and stack as many Rain of Fire as possible while getting as many Immolates rolling when playing with Inferno. If talented with Fire and Brimstone, do not focus on Immolate after the 5th and instead use Incinerate as the main shard generator in order to cast as many Rain of Fire, while saving Havoc to burst down targets with Chaos Bolt.

For more information, please refer to our Sun King's Salvation guide.

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

• Level 15: Flashover or Soul Fire
• Level 25: Internal Combustion (or Reverse Entropy, situationally)
• Level 30: Burning Rush (situational options: Demon Skin or Dark Pact)
• Level 35: Cataclysm
• Level 40: Mortal Coil
• Level 45: Roaring Blaze (or Rain of Chaos, situationally)
• Level 50: Dark Soul: Instability (situational options: Soul Conduit or Channel Demonfire)

We advise you to use the following Legendary against Artificer Xy'Mox: Madness of the Azj'Aqir.

Single-target fight with multiple mechanics that involve a good amount of movement.

Demonic Circle and Demonic Gateway can help both you and the raid placing Dimensional Tears or moving Seeds of Extinction.

For more information, please refer to our Artificer Xy'Mox guide.

We advise you to use the following talents against Hungering Destroyer.

• Level 15: Flashover or Soul Fire
• Level 25: Internal Combustion (or Reverse Entropy, situationally)
• Level 30: Burning Rush (situational options: Demon Skin or Dark Pact)
• Level 35: Cataclysm
• Level 40: Mortal Coil
• Level 45: Roaring Blaze (or Rain of Chaos, situationally)
• Level 50: Dark Soul: Instability (situational options: Soul Conduit or Channel Demonfire)

We advise you to use the following Legendary against Hungering Destroyer: Madness of the Azj'Aqir.

Single-target fight with various movement phases involved.

When targeted by Gluttonous Miasma, absorbs from both Soul Leech and Dark Pact work.

Demonic Circle can be used to help place Expunge rifts away from the others, and to nullify the pull from Consume, together with Demonic Gateway.

For more information, please refer to our Hungering Destroyer guide.

We advise you to use the following talents against Lady Inerva Darkvein.

• Level 15: Flashover (situational options: Eradication or Soul Fire)
• Level 25: Reverse Entropy or Internal Combustion
• Level 30: Burning Rush (situational options: Demon Skin or Dark Pact)
• Level 35: Cataclysm (or Fire and Brimstone, situationally)
• Level 40: Mortal Coil
• Level 45: Roaring Blaze or Rain of Chaos
• Level 50: Soul Conduit or Dark Soul: Instability (or Channel Demonfire, situationally)

We advise you to use the following Legendary against Lady Inerva Darkvein: Madness of the Azj'Aqir.

Demonic Circle and Demonic Gateway can be used to soak Bottled Animas relatively efficiently, even if Warlocks are not the best recipients.

The additional adds spawning from Unleashed Shadow can be used to generate plenty of extra resources to funnel boss DPS.

For more information, please refer to our Lady Inerva Darkvein guide.

We advise you to use the following talents against The Council of Blood.

• Level 15: Flashover (situational options: Eradication or Soul Fire)
• Level 25: Reverse Entropy or Internal Combustion
• Level 30: Burning Rush (situational options: Demon Skin or Dark Pact)
• Level 35: Cataclysm (or Fire and Brimstone, situationally)
• Level 40: Mortal Coil
• Level 45: Roaring Blaze or Rain of Chaos
• Level 50: Soul Conduit or Dark Soul: Instability (or Channel Demonfire, situationally)

We advise you to use the following Legendary against The Council of Blood: Madness of the Azj'Aqir.

Council fight with periodic movement phases.

Pool resources for when the Danse Macabre happen, in order to get the most out of Fancy Footwork stacks.

Dark Recital can be quite annoying to deal with, with limited instant casts available, especially as Destruction, so make sure to refresh Immolate in time.

For more information, please refer to our The Council of Blood guide.

We advise you to use the following talents against Sludgefist.

• Level 15: Flashover or Soul Fire
• Level 25: Internal Combustion (or Reverse Entropy, situationally)
• Level 30: Burning Rush (situational options: Demon Skin or Dark Pact)
• Level 35: Cataclysm
• Level 40: Mortal Coil
• Level 45: Roaring Blaze or Rain of Chaos
• Level 50: Dark Soul: Instability (situational options: Soul Conduit or Channel Demonfire)

We advise you to use the following Legendary against Sludgefist: Madness of the Azj'Aqir.

Standard single-target fight with enrage mechanism

Pooling resources for Destructive Impact damage amplification phase is advised. Dark Soul: Instability matches every other Destructive Impact for increased burst.

For more information, please refer to our Sludgefist guide.

We advise you to use the following talents against Stone Legion Generals.

• Level 15: Flashover (situational options: Eradication or Soul Fire)
• Level 25: Reverse Entropy or Internal Combustion
• Level 30: Burning Rush (situational options: Demon Skin or Dark Pact)
• Level 35: Cataclysm (or Fire and Brimstone, situationally)
• Level 40: Mortal Coil
• Level 45: Roaring Blaze or Rain of Chaos
• Level 50: Dark Soul: Instability (situational options: Soul Conduit or Channel Demonfire)

We advise you to use the following Legendary against Stone Legion Generals: Madness of the Azj'Aqir.

Council fight with periodic adds and multiple phases.

Shattering Blast knockback can be nullified by Demonic Circle activation. The ability can also be used to get back in the group after baiting Wicked Blade outside.

Passively cleave the Goliaths and be ready to swap once they hit 20% health to burst them down using Havoc on boss instead.

Demonic Circle and Demonic Gateway can also be used to facilitate the Reverberating Eruption mechanic. Due to good passive and active damage mitigation Warlocks are good candidates to soak Unstable Ground locations (from Unstable Footing).

For more information, please refer to our Stone Legion Generals guide.

We advise you to use the following talents against Sire Denathrius.

• Level 15: Flashover or Soul Fire
• Level 25: Internal Combustion (or Reverse Entropy, situationally)
• Level 30: Burning Rush (situational options: Demon Skin or Dark Pact)
• Level 35: Cataclysm
• Level 40: Mortal Coil
• Level 45: Roaring Blaze (or Rain of Chaos, situationally)
• Level 50: Dark Soul: Instability (situational options: Soul Conduit or Channel Demonfire)

We advise you to use the following Legendary against Sire Denathrius: Madness of the Azj'Aqir.

Multiple phases encounter with a fair amount of movement involved.

Precast Cataclysm on the boss when the group of players is getting cleaved to spawn Echoes of Sin, and follow up with Channel Demonfire if talented.

Demonic Gateway can be used once again to trivialise the movement required to avoid Command: Ravage.

March of the Penitent can be mitigated by casting Burning Rush before boss hits 70% health, reducing the movement speed penalty at the cost of life.

In Phase 2, Demonic Gateway can be used to reach the 3rd add.Smart Havoc usage coupled with high Immolate uptime can result in a noticeable amount of additional resources.

In Phase 3, Demonic Gateway or even a pre placed Demonic Circle can help when dealing with Hand of Destruction, but the latter is better saved to avoid knockbacks during this last phase.