Al'Akir Encounter Guide: Strategy, Abilities, Loot

• This fight has a lot of personal responsibility and ways for you to take avoidable damage. Always prioritize living and be ready with any personal defensive cooldowns if you are hit by anything.
• Save major DPS cooldowns when Al'Akir has high stacks of Feedback.

• Phase one has very high burst damage to anyone that gets hit by any mechanic, be ready to throw a quick heal on these people to prevent deaths.
• Save big healing cooldowns towards the end of phase two to heal through the stacking Acid Rain damage.

• Do not be afraid to use defensive cooldowns early in phase one as there is a ton of raid damage going on here.
• If you are tanking Al'Akir he will attack you with Electrocute whenever you are not in melee range. Quickly return to melee range to prevent this damage from ramping too high and killing you.
• If you are assigned to tanking Stormlings make sure you do not kill them early if they are left with very low health.

• Phase One
• Lightning Strike
• Squall Line
• Static Shock
• Ice Storm
• Wind Burst
• Electrocute
• Phase Two
• Squall Line
• Acid Rain
• Stormling
• Feedback
• Electrocute
• Phase Three
• Lightning
• Eye of the Storm
• Wind Burst
• Lightning Rod
• Lightning Cloud

Phase one of the fight can be the most difficult as it requires very precise positioning from the entire raid; split the raid up into 8 groups of 3 players each, with 1 group being 4 players. This is to avoid the Lightning Strike from hitting the entire raid, as it will target a random player and bounce for full damage to each additional target hit. On heroic difficulty it will stay in the chosen area, requiring players to temporarily move out of it to other nearby groups, returning to their original location after the cast ends.

Constantly throughout all of phases one and two, Al'Akir will spawn in a Squall Line, sending a wall of cyclones either clockwise or counter-clockwise around the platform. Players will need to be aware of the gaps in these Squall Lines and move through these openings to avoid being hit by the cyclones. If you are hit by the Squall Line, you will lose control of your character for 5 seconds and take a high amount of Nature damage over time.

Al'Akir will frequently use Static Shock, interrupting all nearby enemy casters in his melee range (red zone). Casters should try to stay at range (green zone) as much as possible to avoid being interrupted. He will also constantly summon Ice Storms on the platform, dealing Frost damage along a random path and leaving patches of ice on the ground along their path, slowing all enemies caught in the area. Avoid the Ice Storms and the ice patches they leave behind as the slow will likely cause you to die to the other abilities.

The last ability you will need to deal with in phase one is Wind Burst. This is a 4 second cast that will knockback everyone in the raid and deal high Nature damage. To counter this and prevent being knocked off the edge of the platform, move as close to the boss as you can before the cast finishes. Being knocked off the platform does not guarantee you will die as you will be picked up by the wind and carried back onto the platform, but you will take damage by doing this.

Phase two starts once Al'Akir reach 80% health. He will no longer use Ice Storm or Lightning Strike, allowing you to stack together. He will however continue using Static Shock, meaning casters will need to avoid being in melee range. Al'Akir will also still use Squall Line, requiring you to continue to dodge the tornados. His new ability in this phase is Acid Rain, which deals damage to all enemies, increasing over time the longer he is in this phase. This makes phase two a pure DPS race to reach phase three before the Acid Rain damage overwhelms your healers.

You will also need to deal with the Stormlings that Al'Akir summoners every 20 seconds during this phase. These Stormlings deal AoE damage to all nearby enemies, requiring a second tank to pick them up and tank them away from other players. When a Stormling dies, it will debuff Al'Akir with Feedback, increasing his damage taken by 10% per stack. You need these stacks of Feedback to beat the DPS check of this phase before Acid Rains damage ramps too high. To take full advantage of this, you don't kill the first two adds that spawns, instead get them low health and wait for the third one to spawn. After the third add spawns you can kill the first one to debuff Al'Akir with a stack of Feedback. When the Feedback debuff is about to run out, around 5 seconds remaining, kill the next add to refresh the debuff and apply another stack, further increasing Al'Akirs damage taken. Repeat this process of getting the Stormling add low health, and only killing it when you need to refresh the Feedback debuff. Once you have a few stacks of Feedback on Al'Akir, you will want to use all major DPS cooldowns to burn as much health as possible.

Phase three begins once Al'Akir reaches 25% health. He will then break the platform and cause all players to fly in the air with increased speed from Eye of the Storm, as well as cover the outskirts of the area in a deadly Lightning storm. The raid will need to quickly stack together and fly up as high as you can. Al'Akir will continue to use Wind Burst, trying to knock players back into the Lightning storm, so be sure you are as close to the boss as possible. He will attack random targets with Lightning this phase, and periodically debuff a random player with Lightning Rod. The Lightning Rod target must quickly move out of the group horizontally, they must not move vertically as they will deal Lightning damage to all nearby allies after 5 seconds.

The main ability of this phase is Lightning Cloud, which will summon a deadly cloud at the location of a random player. The entire raid will need to quickly move down together out of this cloud while remaining as high in the air as possible without taking damage from it. You will need to repeat this movement until the boss dies, moving down every 30 seconds or so. If your raid has lower DPS, you can do two clouds at the top of the area, then fly all the way down. When the third Lightning Cloud spawns here at the bottom, move up and wait for the fourth cloud. After the fourth cloud spawns, fly all the way back to the top of the room and repeat this process until Al'Akir dies.

4.

Al'Akir Loot

Normal Heroic

Below you will find all of the loot available for this boss encounter. Use the different buttons to view the different loot between both Normal and Heroic difficulties.

4.1.

Normal Difficulty Loot

Item	Affix	Type/Slot
Planetary Drape	...of the Wavecrest +190 Intellect, +127 Mastery, +127 Spirit ...of the Feverflare +190 Intellect, +127 Haste, +127 Mastery ...of the Fireflash +190 Intellect, +127 Crit, +127 Haste ...of the Wildfire +190 Intellect, +127 Hit, +127 Crit ...of the Flameblaze +190 Intellect, +127 Mastery, +127 Hit ...of the Undertow +190 Intellect, +127 Haste, +127 Spirit	Back
Mistral Drape	...of the Zephyr +190 Agility, +127 Haste, +127 Mastery ...of the Windflurry +190 Agility, +127 Crit, +127 Haste ...of the Stormblast +190 Agility, +127 Hit, +127 Crit ...of the Windstorm +190 Agility, +127 Crit, +127 Mastery	Back
Cloudburst Cloak	...of the Landslide +190 Strength, +127 Hit, +127 Expertise ...of the Earthfall +190 Strength, +127 Crit, +127 Haste ...of the Earthshaker +190 Strength, +127 Hit, +127 Crit ...of the Faultline +190 Strength, +127 Haste, +127 Mastery	Back
Permafrost Cape	...of the Bedrock +190 Strength, +127 Mastery, +127 Parry ...of the Bouldercrag +190 Strength, +127 Dodge, +127 Parry ...of the Rockslab +190 Strength, +127 Mastery, +127 Dodge	Back
Soul Breath Leggings	...of the Wavecrest +301 Intellect, +208 Mastery, +208 Spirit ...of the Feverflare +301 Intellect, +208 Haste, +208 Mastery ...of the Fireflash +301 Intellect, +208 Crit, +208 Haste ...of the Wildfire +301 Intellect, +208 Hit, +208 Crit ...of the Flameblaze +301 Intellect, +208 Mastery, +208 Hit ...of the Undertow +301 Intellect, +208 Haste, +208 Spirit	Cloth Legs
Gale Rouser Leggings	...of the Wavecrest +301 Intellect, +208 Mastery, +208 Spirit ...of the Feverflare +301 Intellect, +208 Haste, +208 Mastery ...of the Fireflash +301 Intellect, +208 Crit, +208 Haste ...of the Undertow +301 Intellect, +208 Haste, +208 Spirit	Leather Legs
Wind Stalker Leggings	...of the Zephyr +301 Agility, +208 Haste, +208 Mastery ...of the Windflurry +301 Agility, +208 Crit, +208 Haste ...of the Stormblast +301 Agility, +208 Hit, +208 Crit ...of the Windstorm +301 Agility, +208 Crit, +208 Mastery	Leather Legs
Lightning Well Legguards	...of the Fireflash +301 Intellect, +208 Crit, +208 Haste ...of the Undertow +301 Intellect, +208 Haste, +208 Spirit ...of the Wavecrest +301 Intellect, +208 Mastery, +208 Spirit ...of the Feverflare +301 Intellect, +208 Haste, +208 Mastery	Mail Legs
Star Chaser Legguards	...of the Zephyr +301 Agility, +208 Haste, +208 Mastery ...of the Windflurry +301 Agility, +208 Crit, +208 Haste ...of the Stormblast +301 Agility, +208 Hit, +208 Crit ...of the Windstorm +301 Agility, +208 Crit, +208 Mastery	Mail Legs
Sky Strider Greaves	...of the Landslide +301 Strength, +208 Hit, +208 Expertise ...of the Earthfall +301 Strength, +208 Crit, +208 Haste ...of the Earthshaker +301 Strength, +208 Hit, +208 Crit ...of the Faultline +301 Strength, +208 Haste, +208 Mastery	Plate Legs
Tempest Keeper Leggings	...of the Fireflash +301 Intellect, +208 Crit, +208 Haste ...of the Undertow +301 Intellect, +208 Haste, +208 Spirit ...of the Wavecrest +301 Intellect, +208 Mastery, +208 Spirit ...of the Feverflare +301 Intellect, +208 Haste, +208 Mastery	Plate Legs
Thunder Wall Greaves	...of the Bedrock +301 Strength, +208 Mastery, +208 Parry ...of the Bouldercrag +301 Strength, +208 Dodge, +208 Parry ...of the Rockslab +301 Strength, +208 Mastery, +208 Dodge	Plate Legs
Cloudburst Necklace	...of the Landslide +190 Strength, +127 Hit, +127 Expertise ...of the Earthfall +190 Strength, +127 Crit, +127 Haste ...of the Earthshaker +190 Strength, +127 Hit, +127 Crit ...of the Faultline +190 Strength, +127 Haste, +127 Mastery	Neck
Mistral Pendant	...of the Zephyr +190 Agility, +127 Haste, +127 Mastery ...of the Windstorm +190 Agility, +127 Crit, +127 Mastery ...of the Stormblast +190 Agility, +127 Hit, +127 Crit ...of the Windflurry +190 Agility, +127 Crit, +127 Haste	Neck
Planetary Amulet	...of the Undertow +190 Intellect, +127 Haste, +127 Spirit ...of the Wildfire +190 Intellect, +127 Hit, +127 Crit ...of the Flameblaze +190 Intellect, +127 Mastery, +127 Hit ...of the Fireflash +190 Intellect, +127 Crit, +127 Haste ...of the Feverflare +190 Intellect, +127 Haste, +127 Mastery ...of the Wavecrest +190 Intellect, +127 Mastery, +127 Spirit	Neck
Permafrost Choker	...of the Bedrock +190 Strength, +127 Mastery, +127 Parry ...of the Bouldercrag +190 Strength, +127 Dodge, +127 Parry ...of the Rockslab +190 Strength, +127 Mastery, +127 Dodge	Neck
Cloudburst Ring	...of the Landslide +190 Strength, +127 Hit, +127 Expertise ...of the Earthfall +190 Strength, +127 Crit, +127 Haste ...of the Earthshaker +190 Strength, +127 Hit, +127 Crit ...of the Faultline +190 Strength, +127 Haste, +127 Mastery	Finger
Stormwake, the Tempest's Reach	...of the Undertow +146 Intellect, +97 Haste, +97 Spirit ...of the Wildfire +146 Intellect, +97 Hit, +97 Crit ...of the Flameblaze +146 Intellect, +97 Mastery, +97 Hit ...of the Fireflash +146 Intellect, +97 Crit, +97 Haste ...of the Feverflare +146 Intellect, +97 Haste, +97 Mastery ...of the Wavecrest +146 Intellect, +97 Mastery, +97 Spirit	Main-Hand Sword
Stormwake, the Tempest's Reach	...of the Zephyr +146 Agility, +97 Haste, +97 Mastery ...of the Windstorm +146 Agility, +97 Crit, +97 Mastery ...of the Stormblast +146 Agility, +97 Hit, +97 Crit ...of the Windflurry +146 Agility, +97 Crit, +97 Haste	Main-Hand Sword
Stormwake, the Tempest's Reach	...of the Landslide +146 Strength, +97 Hit, +97 Expertise ...of the Earthfall +146 Strength, +97 Crit, +97 Haste ...of the Earthshaker +146 Strength, +97 Hit, +97 Crit ...of the Faultline +146 Strength, +97 Haste, +97 Mastery	Main-Hand Sword
Helm of the Forlorn Conqueror	Paladin, Priest, Warlock	359 Helm Token
Helm of the Forlorn Protector	Hunter, Shaman, Warrior	359 Helm Token
Helm of the Forlorn Vanquisher	Death Knight, Druid, Mage, Rogue	359 Helm Token
Mantle of the Forlorn Conqueror	Paladin, Priest, Warlock	359 Shoulder Token
Mantle of the Forlorn Protector	Hunter, Shaman, Warrior	359 Shoulder Token
Mantle of the Forlorn Vanquisher	Death Knight, Druid, Mage, Rogue	359 Shoulder Token
Reins of the Drake of the South Wind	—	Flying Mount

Below you will find all of the loot available for this boss encounter. Use the different buttons to view the different loot between both Normal and Heroic difficulties.

4.2.

Heroic Difficulty Loot

Item	Affix	Type/Slot
Planetary Drape	...of the Wavecrest +215 Intellect, +143 Mastery, +143 Spirit ...of the Feverflare +215 Intellect, +143 Haste, +143 Mastery ...of the Fireflash +215 Intellect, +143 Crit, +143 Haste ...of the Wildfire +215 Intellect, +143 Hit, +143 Crit ...of the Flameblaze +215 Intellect, +143 Mastery, +143 Hit ...of the Undertow +215 Intellect, +143 Haste, +143 Spirit	Back
Mistral Drape	...of the Zephyr +215 Agility, +143 Haste, +143 Mastery ...of the Windflurry +215 Agility, +143 Crit, +143 Haste ...of the Stormblast +215 Agility, +143 Hit, +143 Crit ...of the Windstorm +215 Agility, +143 Crit, +143 Mastery	Back
Cloudburst Cloak	...of the Landslide +215 Strength, +143 Hit, +143 Expertise ...of the Earthfall +215 Strength, +143 Crit, +143 Haste ...of the Earthshaker +215 Strength, +143 Hit, +143 Crit ...of the Faultline +215 Strength, +143 Haste, +143 Mastery	Back
Permafrost Cape	...of the Bedrock +215 Strength, +143 Mastery, +143 Parry ...of the Bouldercrag +215 Strength, +143 Dodge, +143 Parry ...of the Rockslab +215 Strength, +143 Mastery, +143 Dodge	Back
Soul Breath Leggings	...of the Wavecrest +345 Intellect, +238 Mastery, +238 Spirit ...of the Feverflare +345 Intellect, +238 Haste, +238 Mastery ...of the Fireflash +345 Intellect, +238 Crit, +238 Haste ...of the Wildfire +345 Intellect, +238 Hit, +238 Crit ...of the Flameblaze +345 Intellect, +238 Mastery, +238 Hit ...of the Undertow +345 Intellect, +238 Haste, +238 Spirit	Cloth Legs
Gale Rouser Leggings	...of the Wavecrest +345 Intellect, +238 Mastery, +238 Spirit ...of the Feverflare +345 Intellect, +238 Haste, +238 Mastery ...of the Fireflash +345 Intellect, +238 Crit, +238 Haste ...of the Undertow +345 Intellect, +238 Haste, +238 Spirit	Leather Legs
Wind Stalker Leggings	...of the Zephyr +345 Agility, +238 Haste, +238 Mastery ...of the Windflurry +345 Agility, +238 Crit, +238 Haste ...of the Stormblast +345 Agility, +238 Hit, +238 Crit ...of the Windstorm +345 Agility, +238 Crit, +238 Mastery	Leather Legs
Lightning Well Legguards	...of the Fireflash +345 Intellect, +238 Crit, +238 Haste ...of the Undertow +345 Intellect, +238 Haste, +238 Spirit ...of the Wavecrest +345 Intellect, +238 Mastery, +238 Spirit ...of the Feverflare +345 Intellect, +238 Haste, +238 Mastery	Mail Legs
Star Chaser Legguards	...of the Zephyr +345 Agility, +238 Haste, +238 Mastery ...of the Windflurry +345 Agility, +238 Crit, +238 Haste ...of the Stormblast +345 Agility, +238 Hit, +238 Crit ...of the Windstorm +345 Agility, +238 Crit, +238 Mastery	Mail Legs
Sky Strider Greaves	...of the Landslide +345 Strength, +238 Hit, +238 Expertise ...of the Earthfall +345 Strength, +238 Crit, +238 Haste ...of the Earthshaker +345 Strength, +238 Hit, +238 Crit ...of the Faultline +345 Strength, +238 Haste, +238 Mastery	Plate Legs
Tempest Keeper Leggings	...of the Fireflash +345 Intellect, +238 Crit, +238 Haste ...of the Undertow +345 Intellect, +238 Haste, +238 Spirit ...of the Wavecrest +345 Intellect, +238 Mastery, +238 Spirit ...of the Feverflare +345 Intellect, +238 Haste, +238 Mastery	Plate Legs
Thunder Wall Greaves	...of the Bedrock +345 Strength, +238 Mastery, +238 Parry ...of the Bouldercrag +345 Strength, +238 Dodge, +238 Parry ...of the Rockslab +345 Strength, +238 Mastery, +238 Dodge	Plate Legs
Cloudburst Necklace	...of the Landslide +215 Strength, +143 Hit, +143 Expertise ...of the Earthfall +215 Strength, +143 Crit, +143 Haste ...of the Earthshaker +215 Strength, +143 Hit, +143 Crit ...of the Faultline +215 Strength, +143 Haste, +143 Mastery	Neck
Mistral Pendant	...of the Zephyr +215 Agility, +143 Haste, +143 Mastery ...of the Windstorm +215 Agility, +143 Crit, +143 Mastery ...of the Stormblast +215 Agility, +143 Hit, +143 Crit ...of the Windflurry +215 Agility, +143 Crit, +143 Haste	Neck
Planetary Amulet	...of the Undertow +215 Intellect, +143 Haste, +143 Spirit ...of the Wildfire +215 Intellect, +143 Hit, +143 Crit ...of the Flameblaze +215 Intellect, +143 Mastery, +143 Hit ...of the Fireflash +215 Intellect, +143 Crit, +143 Haste ...of the Feverflare +215 Intellect, +143 Haste, +143 Mastery ...of the Wavecrest +215 Intellect, +143 Mastery, +143 Spirit	Neck
Permafrost Choker	...of the Bedrock +215 Strength, +143 Mastery, +143 Parry ...of the Bouldercrag +215 Strength, +143 Dodge, +143 Parry ...of the Rockslab +215 Strength, +143 Mastery, +143 Dodge	Neck
Cloudburst Ring	...of the Landslide +215 Strength, +143 Hit, +143 Expertise ...of the Earthfall +215 Strength, +143 Crit, +143 Haste ...of the Earthshaker +215 Strength, +143 Hit, +143 Crit ...of the Faultline +215 Strength, +143 Haste, +143 Mastery	Finger
Stormwake, the Tempest's Reach	...of the Undertow +165 Intellect, +110 Haste, +110 Spirit ...of the Wildfire +165 Intellect, +110 Hit, +110 Crit ...of the Flameblaze +165 Intellect, +110 Mastery, +110 Hit ...of the Fireflash +165 Intellect, +110 Crit, +110 Haste ...of the Feverflare +165 Intellect, +110 Haste, +110 Mastery ...of the Wavecrest +165 Intellect, +110 Mastery, +110 Spirit	Main-Hand Sword
Stormwake, the Tempest's Reach	...of the Zephyr +165 Agility, +110 Haste, +110 Mastery ...of the Windstorm +165 Agility, +110 Crit, +110 Mastery ...of the Stormblast +165 Agility, +110 Hit, +110 Crit ...of the Windflurry +165 Agility, +110 Crit, +110 Haste	Main-Hand Sword
Stormwake, the Tempest's Reach	...of the Landslide +165 Strength, +110 Hit, +110 Expertise ...of the Earthfall +165 Strength, +110 Crit, +110 Haste ...of the Earthshaker +165 Strength, +110 Hit, +110 Crit ...of the Faultline +165 Strength, +110 Haste, +110 Mastery	Main-Hand Sword
Crown of the Forlorn Conqueror	Paladin, Priest, Warlock	372 Helm Token
Crown of the Forlorn Protector	Hunter, Shaman, Warrior	372 Helm Token
Crown of the Forlorn Vanquisher	Death Knight, Druid, Mage, Rogue	372 Helm Token
Shoulders of the Forlorn Conqueror	Paladin, Priest, Warlock	372 Shoulder Token
Shoulders of the Forlorn Protector	Hunter, Shaman, Warrior	372 Shoulder Token
Shoulders of the Forlorn Vanquisher	Death Knight, Druid, Mage, Rogue	372 Shoulder Token
Essence of the Forlorn	Universal 372 Token	Any 372 Set Item
Reins of the Drake of the South Wind	—	Flying Mount

Al'Akir is just one of the two encounters present in the Throne of the Four Winds raid of Cataclysm. If you would like to learn more about the others, please see our other pages for the raid below.