Halfus Wyrmbreaker Encounter Guide: Strategy, Abilities, Loot

• Be ready to always interrupt Shadow Nova; missing a kick will likely be a wipe.
• Don't exclusively focus on DPSing the Orphaned Emerald Whelps, let them die to natural cleave damage over time as they are fairly weak.

• Damage on tanks is very high at the start of the fight while dealing with the drakes and Halfus Wyrmbreaker at the same time.
• Coordinate a cooldown rotation so the raid always has something up for all Fireball Barrage and Furious Roars.

• Be aware of both tanks duration of Malevolent Strikes debuffs and be ready to tank swap as needed.
• Your damage taken will be highest at the start of the fight when the drakes are still alive; use personal defensive cooldowns as needed to get through the chaotic start of the encounter.

Halfus Wyrmbreaker will be accompanied by his Proto-Behemoth drake, as well as three out of five of the other drakes: Nether Scion, Orphaned Emerald Whelps, Slate Dragon, Storm Rider, or Time Warden. On heroic difficulty, you will always face all five drakes rather than only three. These drakes will start off chained to the ground, being forced to serve Halfus Wyrmbreaker; while they are chained to the floor, each drake will give Halfus Wyrmbreaker a different ability or buff.

Nether Scion grants Halfus Wyrmbreaker with Frenzied Assault and when released will debuff Halfus Wyrmbreaker with Nether Blindness, reducing his attack speed, damage done, and chance to hit by 25%. Storm Rider gives Halfus Wyrmbreaker Shadow Nova. When released, Storm Rider will debuff Halfus Wyrmbreaker with Cyclone Winds, giving you time to interrupt the Shadow Nova. Slate Dragon gives Halfus Wyrmbreaker Malevolent Strikes, requiring you to tank swap after a few stacks; when released it will debuff Halfus Wyrmbreaker with Stone Grip, occasionally stunning him for 12 seconds and increasing his damage taken by 100%.

If present Time Warden will give Proto-Behemoth Fireball Barrage, and when released it will debuff the Fireball Barrage with Time Dilation, making them easier to dodge. The Orphaned Emerald Whelps give Proto-Behemoth Scorching Breath and when released they debuff Proto-Behemoth with 8 stacks of Atrophic Poison. Any adds that are released will become hostile and must be dealt with by the raid.

As you might have guessed, releasing the adds to make the fight easier is the main mechanic of this encounter. You will need to release a few of the drakes to weaken Halfus Wyrmbreaker, and every time you kill one of them he will receive a stack of Dragon's Vengeance, increasing his damage taken by 100% per stack. On the pull you will want to release as many drakes as you can, starting with at least two. It's recommended to always release the Orphaned Emerald Whelps as they deal very little damage and can be killed quickly through passive AoE. The following list is the recommended release order:

1. Storm Rider
2. Nether Scion
3. Time Warden
4. Orphaned Emerald Whelps
5. Slate Dragon

You will typically always want to release at least Storm Rider and Nether Scion as the debuffs they place on Halfus Wyrmbreaker after being released will greatly improve your odds on this fight. It's ideal to release all drakes except for Slate Dragon and kill them before dealing with Halfus Wyrmbreaker himself. If your raid is geared enough you can release all four at the start of the fight and use all major DPS cooldowns to kill them quickly before dealing with Halfus Wyrmbreaker as he will be taking 400% increased damage and quickly die afterwards.

In addition to the drakes, Halfus Wyrmbreaker will also be assisted by his Proto-Behemoth flying high above. The Proto-Behemoth will bombard random locations with Fireball Barrage, dealing very high Fire damage to any enemies in the selection location. When you release the Time Warden he will debuff the Proto-Behemoth with Time Dilation, reducing the projectile speed of the Fireball Barrage, making them much easier to avoid. Lastly, Proto-Behemoth will periodically cast Scorching Breath, dealing massive damage to the entire raid over 8 seconds; if you released the Orphaned Emerald Whelps this damage will be cut in half. Be ready with a raid-wide defensive cooldown during the Scorching Breath as its damage is still very high and can easily kill raid members if they get hit by other mechanics at the same time.

Tanks will need to deal with the Malevolent Strikes stacks by tank swapping frequently. Early on while you are still dealing with the drakes, you will also want to use immunity spells like Divine Shield or Hand of Protection to remove the stacks and buy your raid more time to finish the drakes off. Be sure to interrupt the Shadow Nova all the time; this is made much easier after releasing the Storm Rider and is the main reason you will always want to release it first.

Once Halfus Wyrmbreaker reaches 50% health, he will periodically cast Furious Roar, dealing around 60,000 Physical damage to the entire raid and stunning them for 6 seconds. At the end of Furious Roar he will cast a Shadow Nova as well, easily killing any low health raid members. Be sure to use a raid-wide defensive cooldown before the Furious Roar, especially make sure the current tank has a strong defensive cooldown up. You will need to instantly interrupt the Shadow Nova at the end of Furious Roar, but as you are stunned this can be difficult. The easiest way is to have a Mage Blink out of the stun and interrupt it, or have someone use an immunity, such as a Paladin using Divine Shield.

Achievement	Description
The Only Escape	Defeat Halfus Wyrmbreaker after defeating two drakes within 10 seconds of each other. The Emerald Whelp pack counts as one drake for this purpose.
Heroic: Halfus Wyrmbreaker	Defeat Halfus Wyrmbreaker in the Bastion of Twilight on Heroic Difficulty.

Halfus Wyrmbreaker is just one of the five encounters present in the The Bastion of Twilight raid of Cataclysm. If you would like to learn more about the others, please see our other pages for the raid below.