Rashok the Elder Raid Guide in Aberrus, the Shadowed Crucible

This page has been made based on PTR testing. This will be updated after the raid has gone live.

I also have my own website dedicated to both tanks and raid leaders where I share my insight on the bosses with strategy and preparation advice which I will update after my guild has completed progress. If you are interested in this or want to discuss it on Discord, the links to them are below:

• https://www.tanknotes.com
• Discord Invite Link

As this fight is very static in how it plays out, I've provided a raid plan link to show a step-by-step visual explanation for movement on this encounter. Click the numbered tabs at the top of the page to work through the boss encounter.

• RaidPlan Link

• Use Bloodlust / Heroism on the pull.
• Run away with Searing Slam. Do not run next to an existing Lava Vortex if the slam hits an existing vortex, you will wipe.
• Dodge Lava Wave.
• Heroic/Mythic: Lava Wave will fire from every Lava Vortex.
• Soak Charged Smash as a raid.
• Healers Heroic/Mythic: Charged Smash applies a DoT to the raid.
• Soak Doom Flames.
• Tanks: Tank swap when the boss does Flaming Slash or Earthen Crush a second time in the same combo.
• Avoid Shadowlava Blast.
• Tanks: When Shadowlava Blast is cast, move Rashok into the middle of the room to begin the intermission. If you are slow with this, you will wipe.
• Mythic: Before Searing Slam, two orbs will appear in the room. Place Searing Slam on one of these orbs.

• Dodge the Shadowflame Fissures lines.
• Healers: The raid will be taking very large amounts of ticking damage from Scorching Heatwave.
• Do not enter the intermission again until Smoldering Rage has faded.
• You can only enter this intermission 3 times on Normal and 2 times on Heroic/Mythic.

The goal of this phase is to place Searing Slam's away from the boss and maximise damage on the boss before it reaches 100 energy and you drain this energy during the Intermission.

• Before the pull, establish which way around the room you are going. For example: Boss moves clockwise; the player with Searing Slam moves in the opposite direction. This ensures that you will not have any Lava Vortex's in your path as you move around the room.
• Start the fight by pulling Rashok away from the middle towards the side of the room.
• Use Bloodlust / Heroism on the pull.
• When a player gets Searing Slam they should move in the pre-designated direction and drop it away from the raid.
• This will spawn a Lava Vortex which shoots Lava Wave balls in random directions. You want this to not be too close to the raid to make dodging the balls easier.
• When you are dealing with your second (or later) Searing Slam avoid existing Lava Vortex's as if the boss hits one of these you will wipe.
• Tanks: Tank swap when the boss is a tank combo. He will alternate between Flaming Slash and Earthen Crush. Each attack leaves a debuff which makes you take more damage from that same attack. When the boss casts the same attack for a second time in the same combo, do your taunt swap.
• Charged Smash will be cast toward the tank, and this needs to be soaked as a raid. Rashok will gain energy based on the amount of players this hits. If too few people soak this, he will need to enter the intermission early, which significantly reduces the maximum encounter time.
• Doom Flames circles will spawn in the room and need to be soaked they require at least 1 player in each of them, and if any are not soaked the raid will take a large amount of damage.
• This cycle of abilities will repeat twice. On the third cycle, Rashok will cast Shadowlava Blast, which is a very large conal attack. Be near the boss at this time to minimize the amount of distance you need to travel to get out of this.
• Tanks: When Shadowlava Blast is cast, move Rashok into the middle of the room to begin the intermission. If you are slow with this, you will wipe.

Heroic changes:

• Lava Vortex's will shoot Lava Wave balls for the rest of the fight and not just when the boss leaps.
• Charged Smash will apply a 30 second DoT to the raid.

Mythic changes:

• Before Searing Slam, two Shadowflame Energy orbs will appear in the room. After 15 seconds, they will explode and apply a healing absorb on the raid in addition to dealing a large amount of damage. One can be destroyed by placing Searing Slam on top of the orb. This means that you will only get one burst of damage and a healing absorb.
• The DoT from Charged Smash is now permanent and can only be removed by running into the middle of the room. However, this deals raid-wide damage. Take turns running into the middle to remove the debuff.

During this phase, Rashok does not use any of his normal abilities but will stand still and pulse damage on the raid.

• Once Rashok has entered the center circle of the room (the small circle in the middle). The intermission will begin. Rashok will become idle and pulse Scorching Heatwave damage onto the raid.
• Healers: The raid will be taking very large amounts of ticking damage from Scorching Heatwave. Consider using a throughput cooldown here, ideally, one without positional requirements, as you (and the raid) will often be moving.
• Shadowflame Fissures will fire from the boss in random directions all around him. Do not get hit by these lines, as you may die.
• Once the energy has been drained from the boss, you will need to move him away from the middle as he is buffed with Smoldering Rage. This increases the amount of damage he does in the Intermission by 500% if you drag him in too early.
• You can enter the intermission a total of 3 times on Normal difficulty.

Heroic changes:

• You can only enter the intermission twice.