Kael'thas Sunstrider Guide: Strategy, Abilities, Loot

Kael'thas Sunstrider is the fourth and final boss of the Tempest Keep 25 player instance. Kael'thas can be an extremely lengthy encounter and is filled with unique mechanics that are constantly changing throughout the fight, making it one of the most demanding encounters in The Burning Crusade expansion.

Make sure that you keep a healthy range from the Advisors. It is very easy for you to pull aggro especially during the third phase where they are all active.

Cosmic Infuser is an extremely powerful tool, and making sure to apply the buff from the Cosmic Infuser can greatly mitigate damage in every phase of the fight.

During the phases where the Advisors are active, melee DPS should never attack Thaladred the Darkener or Grand Astromancer Capernian; if you are Conflagrationed or Fixated, you will die. Ensuring that the other Advisors are handled is a much higher priority and ranged DPS should be the ones focusing them down.

All Melee should pick up an Infinity Blade. It is important that everyone has one to ensure Mind Controls are dealt with as quickly as possible. If you assign this job to a single person the risk of them dying and having to figure it out on the fly can lead to a wipe or unnecessary deaths.

Phoenix Eggs are the highest priority in the fight at all times. If you see one alive make sure to focus it down as quickly as possible.

Interrupt the boss as much as possible. Fireball and Pyroblast from Kael'thas are both interruptible and deal massive damage if he is able to finish the cast.

During the weapon tanking phase it is crucial that a tank picks up the Devastation add as quickly as possible and hold it far from the raid to ensure the Whirlwind does not hit anyone.

During Phase 1 tanks should ensure that Lord Sanguinar and Master Engineer Telonicus are against a wall in the room when they die. The Advisors resurrect for the 3rd phase where they were killed in the first phase, and properly positioning these can make the third phase much easier.

When a Phoenix is about to die make sure the tank has time to get out of melee range; upon death the Phoenix will explode for massive Fire damage to anyone in melee range of it.

There is a massive amount of abilities that the bosses in this encounter will be using compared to most any other boss fight in The Burning Crusade.

• Psychic Blow — Knocks back the target and deals a considerable amount of damage. This spell has a 30-yard range so if you are fixated make sure you are as far away as possible.
• Silence — interrupts spell casts and prevents spell casting from anyone within 8 yards of Thaladred.
• Gaze — Thaladred does not have a traditional threat table but will pick a random player on the raid and chase after them with the emoted message of "Thaladred the Darkener fixes his gaze on player". If you are fixated you must run. There is no tanking Thaladred.

• Thrash — Lord Sanguinar will occasionally auto attack an extra time.
• Bellowing Roar — This fears all nearby players.

• Fireball — deals Fire damage to whoever has aggro on Grand Astromancer Capernian
• Arcane Burst — Deals Arcane damage and knocks back everyone within melee range. No one should ever be in melee range of Capernian.
• Conflagration — A random player within 30 yards will be affected by a large damage-over-time effect, disorienting them and anyone nearby. Stay at max range to avoid this ability and mitigate its impacts.

• Bomb — Deals Fire damage in an area around the person he targets. Stay spread to mitigate the damage of this ability.
• Remote Toy — Periodically stuns the person effected by this debuff for 4 seconds. It can be removed by using the Staff of Disintegration on-use effect.

• Summon Phoenix — Kael'thas will summon a Phoenix that constantly pulses Fire damage around itself. This damage effect also deals damage to the Phoenix so it will eventually kill itself. When it dies it will spawn a Phoenix Egg which must be focused down and killed as quickly as possible.
• Shock Barrier — Kael'thas will envelop himself in a massive damage shield. This effect will make him immune to interrupt effects so it is important to burn through this shield as quickly as possible so Pyroblast and Fireball are able to be interrupted.
• Flamestrike — Summons a patch of fire on the ground that deals massive damage to anyone standing in it.
• Fireball — Deals a massive amount of Fire damage to the person with aggro on Kael'thas. Interrupting this is very important as it will easily kill any non-tank.
• Pyroblast — Pyroblast is a 4-second cast that will deal 50,000 Fire damage to the target. This spell MUST be interrupted or mitigated with the on-use effect of Phaseshift Bulwark.
• Mind Control — Occasionally multiple raid members will be charmed by Kael'thas. The best way to handle this is having members of your raid with Infinity Blade equipped attack the Mind Controlled targets to free them.
• Arcane Disruption — Deals a small amount of Arcane damage over time to everyone in the raid and disorients them. Arcane Disruption is always cast after three Pyroblasts are successfully cast or Pyroblast is interrupted.

• Gravity Lapse — Teleports your entire raid to Kael'thas and allows everyone the ability to fly for 30 seconds.
• Netherbeam — Deals Arcane damage to a random player and bounces to nearby players, with the damage doubling after each bounce. It is important that people affected by this get out of the raid so it stops bouncing.
• Nether Vapor — Clouds will fill the air around Kael'thas that apply a stacking debuff reducing the total health of anyone within it.

Before pulling Kael'thas it is important to have a Warlock tank assigned and ready to hold threat on Grand Astromancer Capernian and have a proper understanding of the abilities of each Advisor. Making sure they die as spread out as possible near the walls of the room can help ease the transition into the third phase. Try to make sure Lord Sanguinar and Master Engineer Telonicus die on opposite sides of the room and keep Grand Astromancer Capernian as far from the raid as you can.

The first phase of this encounter will have you fighting each of Kael'thas' Advisors one by one.

The first Advisor you will be fighting is Thaladred the Darkener. There is no reason for anyone to ever be in melee range of Thaladred as it risks him fixating them and instantly killing them. Maintain max range and bring him down.

Lord Sanguinar will be the second Advisor you fight. Everyone is able to DPS him down, but try to make sure that any melee group has a Tremor Totem and your tanks receive a Fear Ward to help with Bellowing Roar.

Grand Astromancer Capernian is the third Advisor. Only ranged DPS should be killing Capernian as a Conflagration going off on melee would be catastrophic and likely lead to many deaths. Ensure a Warlock tank is assigned and has time to get aggro on Capernian before fully committing to damaging her.

Master Engineer Telonicus is the final Advisor. Make sure to remain spread to mitigate the effects of his Bomb ability but otherwise just burn him down.

The second phase of this encounter will have the raid facing off against a multitude of Legendary Weapons. Upon killing these Weapons they will be lootable and are able to be used in the remainder of the encounter against Kael'thas and his Advisors. Each Weapon has its own unique mechanics and uses.

• Phaseshift Bulwark will cast an ability called Shield Bash, reflecting damage to anyone attacking it. Upon its defeat the Phaseshift Bulwark should be picked up by your tanks; the on-use ability that it offers gives the wielder a 100,000 damage absorb shield for 4 seconds and is crucial to deal with Kael'thas Pyroblast ability.
• Infinity Blades has a Thrash effect granting it extra auto attacks. Melee DPS should pick up the Infinity Blade upon its defeat as it applies a stacking magic damage taken debuff to targets hit by its melee swings but more importantly, attacking anyone effected by Kael'thas Mind Control will dispel the Mind Control effect instantly if you have the Blade equipped.
• Cosmic Infuser will attempt to heal the other weapons and must be interrupted. Healers should pick up the Cosmic Infuser upon its defeat as it will grant a Fire and Shadow damage reduction buff to anyone impacted by heals cast by the wielder of the Infuser.
• Warp Slicer will apply a stacking Rend debuff on whoever has aggro on it. Any one-handed melee DPS can take advantage of this weapon after it is defeated.
• Devastation has a Whirlwind attack that will deal massive damage to anyone in range and it is important this is tanked away from the group. Any two-handed DPS users can take advantage of this weapon upon its defeat, picking up Devastation.
• Netherstrand Longbow does a Multi-Shot attack and should be faced away from the raid. It must be tanked by a ranged DPS as it has no melee threat table; a Hunter or Warlock is preferable to tank this. After its defeat, the Netherstrand Longbow should be picked up by Hunters. Auto attacks while wielding the Longbow will apply a stacking debuff that increases all Physical damage dealt to the target.
• Staff of Disintegration casts Frostbolts and will occasionally Frost Nova anyone in melee range of it. Any caster can pick up the Staff of Disintegration afterward. Its on-use ability grants AoE immunity to stuns which completely stops the Remote Toy mechanic.

The Staff or Bow should be the first weapons to die so make sure to focus-fire them as they are the most dangerous. After these two are dead the ranged DPS should focus down the Devastation while the melee clean up the remaining weapons. Kill order is largely unimportant after the first two die, so do what is easiest for your group. You only have two minutes to burn through this phase before the Advisors are revived.

Two minutes after Kael'thas' Legendary Weapons are spawned all Advisors will resurrect in the same spots where they were killed during Phase 1. Ensure your tanks are in position and they have healers assigned to them to help control the chaos at the start of this phase.

During this phase all of the Advisors will be using their same abilities from the first phase. Remember melee DPS should not go anywhere near Grand Astromancer Capernian or Thaladred the Darkener and should focus down Lord Sanguinar and then Master Engineer Telonicus. Ranged DPS should be focusing on Thaladred and then Capernian.

Remember to take full advantage of your new Legendary Weapons. The person with Staff of Disintegration should focus on keeping the stun debuff from Master Engineer Telonicus dispelled. Any healer with Cosmic Infuser should ensure this buff stays up on the Warlock tanking Grand Astromancer Capernian as much as possible to mitigate her damage. You have three minutes to kill all of the Advisors before Kael'thas becomes active.

After three minutes in Phase 3, Kael'thas will become active. An interrupt rotation for Fireball must be assigned; any casts that get through can lead to a death. Assigning backups can also be very helpful as Mind Control can quickly interrupt your kick rotation.

After a short while Kael'thas will summon a Phoenix that must be picked up by an off-tank and dragged away from the raid. This add should just be tanked — no DPS needs to damage it as it will be killing itself with its pulsing Fire damage. After the Phoenix reaches 0 health it will spawn a Phoenix Egg that needs to be focused down as soon as possible by all damage dealers. Make sure not to be in melee range of the Phoenix as it dies; it will explode dealing massive damage and knocking back anyone near it.

Flamestrike will occasionally be cast by Kael'thas. Just move a short distance out of the patch of Fire to avoid its damage. You can take advantage of these flame patches, however. If you are standing in one when Kael'thas casts Arcane Disruption the Fire damage you take will dispel the disorient.

The most important spell of this phase is Shock Barrier. All DPS must focus it down as quickly as possible. Kael'thas will cast three consecutive Pyroblasts after shielding himself. Phaseshift Bulwark's on-use effect should be used if a Pyroblast cast is going to finish. It can be difficult to ensure the Shock Barrier is gone by the end of the first Pyroblast cast so tanks should plan to use the Bulwark for the first Pyroblast and the following two should be interrupted.

At 50% Health Kael'thas will enter the final phase of the encounter. During this phase the only abilities to worry about are Gravity Lapse, Nether Vapor, and Netherbeam. Avoid the clouds spawned by the Vapor, make sure to get out of the raid if you are effected by the Netherbeam debuff, and make sure you are not too high up so you do not die from fall damage when the Gravity Lapse effect fades.

Item	Item Type	Slot
Kael's Vial Remnant	Quest Item	Quest Item
Verdant Sphere	Quest Item	Quest Item
Ashes of Al'ar	Mount	Unique
Rod of the Sun King	Weapon	One-Handed Mace
Twinblade of the Phoenix	Weapon	Two-Handed Sword
The Nexus Key	Weapon	Staff
Thalassian Wildercloak	Accessory	Cloak
Royal Cloak of the Sunstriders	Accessory	Cloak
Sunshower Light Cloak	Accessory	Cloak
Band of the Ranger-General	Accessory	Ring
Crown of the Sun	Cloth	Helmet
Gauntlets of the Sun King	Cloth	Gloves
Leggings of Murderous Intent	Leather	Legs
Sunhawk Leggings	Mail	Legs
Chestguard of the Vanquished Champion	Tier Token	Chest
Chestguard of the Vanquished Hero	Tier Token	Chest
Chestguard of the Vanquished Defender	Tier Token	Chest