Reliquary of Souls (Reliquary of the Lost) Guide: Strategy, Abilities, Loot

Reliquary of Souls is the fifth boss you will encounter in the Black Temple. Reliquary of Souls is a unique fight, having three different phases, each having a unique mechanic that requires specific gameplay. Understand each phase's specific mechanic and you can easily defeat this boss.

Phase 1 prevents any heals from going through, so healers will need to DPS the boss. Priests can still use Power Word: Shield on the tanks to absorb the damage they take. Classes with a dispel will need to be constantly removing the Soul Drain debuff.

Phase 2 and 3 have very high raid healing requirements. Put out as much healing as possible in each phase. Your Mana will be restored to full between each phase, so do not be afraid to burn through your Mana in each phase.

Phase 1 just simply make sure you are not the closest target to the boss; stay at max range. Phase 2 all damage dealt to the boss will be reflected, so be careful to not die to the reflect damage during this phase. In Phase 3, simply wait for threat, stay behind the boss, and burn it down quickly.

Phase One tanks will constantly be alternating who is tanking based on your Power Word: Shield. Tanking in this phase is determined by whoever is the closest target. Simply alternate moving in and out depending on your health and shield duration.

Phase Two is a fairly basic tank and spank, with Warrior tanks being able to Spell Reflection the Deaden back at the boss, increasing its damage taken. If you are doing this, be sure to announce this to the raid so no one dies from the reflect damage they are dealing to themselves during Phase Two.

Phase Three is again a basic tank and spank phase, with only 2 things you need to worry about. First, the boss will cast Seethe if he ever changes targets. Use this to your advantage at the start of the phase to build a massive threat lead. If you ever lose threat during this phase, simply taunt the boss.

The second mechanic to worry about in Phase Three is Soul Scream. Simply keep the boss faced away from the raid, and watch the timer of this ability as well as your current Rage/Mana pool. Protection Paladins can use Righteous Fury multiple times in a row at the start of this phase to drop down to around 2,000-3,000 Mana to reduce the damage they take by this spell. Feral Druid tanks can shift out and back into Bear Form to drop their Rage, and Protection Warriors can simply change stances to drop Rage.

• Aura of Suffering — Reduces healing done, health regeneration, and Armor by 100% and the Defense skill by 500.
• Fixate — Locks aggro on the closest nearby target every 5 seconds.
• Enrage — Every 45 seconds increases Physical damage dealt by 25% and attack speed by 50% for 15 sec.
• Soul Drain — This is a 30-second dispellable debuff on three random targets, dealing 2,625 to 3,375 damage and draining 2,625 to 3,375 Mana every 3 seconds.

• Aura of Desire — 50% of damage dealt is reflected back to the player. Healing done is increased by 100%. All Players' maximum Mana is reduced by 5% every 8 seconds. After 160 seconds Mana users have 0 maximum Mana.
• Deaden — This 1-second cast increases damage taken by 100%; it has a 10-second duration and can be Spell Reflected.
• Spirit Shock — This 1-second cast deals 9,250-10,750 Arcane damage to the current target and disorients them for 5 seconds, removing them from the aggro table temporarily.
• Rune Shield — 15-second duration. This Shield absorbs 50,000 damage and grants immunity to interrupt effects. It also increases attack and casting speeds by 100%.

• Aura of Anger — Deals Shadow damage to all enemies every 3 seconds, which increases by 100 every tick. Its damage starts at 100 after 3 seconds, then 200 after 6 seconds, 300 after 9 seconds, and so on. It also increases damage dealt by players by 5% for each stack.
• Seethe — After swapping targets, either through threat loss or taunt, the boss gets a 10-second buff that increases attack speed by 100%. The raid will also get a 10-second debuff increasing threat generated by 200%.
• Soul Scream — Up to 5 targets in a 10-yard frontal cone take 2,625-3,375 Shadow damage plus additional damage based on Mana/Rage, 0.5 damage per 1 Mana and 100 damage for 1 Rage. This ability has a 10 second cooldown.
• Spite — 3 random targets will get a debuff which grants 2 seconds of damage immunity. They then take 7,500 Nature damage, followed by another 2 seconds of damage immunity.

Getting to the boss is a bit different than others, as players will need to fight their way through a miniature gauntlet of enemies on their way to the boss' location. Mobs here will have a short, 15-second respawn timer, making it easy for raids to fall behind and quickly become overwhelmed. We recommend having the raid stack together and run as one unit, stopping 2 to 3 times during the gauntlet to AoE down the mobs before quickly resuming the run. Avoid placing any totems, traps, or any similar abilities that can aggro respawning mobs behind the raid. We recommend killing mobs in the order listed below:

• Angered Soul Fragment — Red glowing mobs with low health. Recommend to kill these first as they deal AoE damage that can quickly overwhelm the raid if too many are alive at once.
  • Anger — Deals 900 Nature damage to all enemies within 15 yards.
• Suffering Soul Fragment — Second kill target. Have single-target DPS focus on these when there are no Angered Soul Fragment to kill. Have tanks spread aggro on these as they deal damage based on max HP.
  • Soul Blast — Blasts current target, dealing Shadow damage equal to 20% of their maximum health.
  • Shadow Bolt — Deals minor Shadow damage to current target.
• Hungering Soul Fragment — These are the third type of mob in the gauntlet. These can mostly be avoided, but may pull sometimes. They are very non-threatening and should be killed last.
  • Consuming Strikes — This enemy's melee attacks cause it to heal for the damage dealt.

Reliquary of Souls is engaged when any player gets close enough to the boss. Be careful when preparing to pull, as this boss has a large aggro range. Running to the bottom of the ramp in the boss' room will engage it in combat.

After defeating both Phase One and Phase Two, multiple Enslaved Souls will spawn in the room. When these ghosts are killed, they will cast Soul Release, healing anyone nearby for 30% health and Mana. Make sure your raid is stacked up tightly and let these ghosts be dragged on top of the raid before killing them, as Soul Release only has a 10-yard range.

Phase One of Reliquary of Souls prevents healing from being done, as well as removing all Armor and the Defense skill from players. Tanks will take more damage during this phase and need to alternate who tanks. Every 5 seconds the boss will Fixate on the nearest players, so tanks will use this to swap out depending on their health and cooldowns.

Be ready to dispel the Soul Drain whenever it comes out and burn the boss down as soon as possible, healers included. Tanks with cooldowns will want to take over tanking during the Enrage, or you can have a Rogue with Evasion take over for the Enrage.

This phase is very straightforward. There will need to be an interrupt order on this boss to prevent the constant casts of Spirit Shock from completing. Use Curse of Tongues during this phase to increase the boss' cast time, making it easier to interrupt.

DPS players need to play safe during this phase to avoid killing themselves. Be ready to cancel casts/attacks if you get crits, especially during the Deaden as you can easily die to reflect damage during this phase. Spells like Curse of Doom and Execute can easily kill you and should be used cautiously, or not at all during this phase.

The third and final phase, this last part of the boss is very easy. Wait until threat is established early on, as tanks will want to utilize the Seethe debuff to build large threat at the start of the phase. Afterwards it is a simple nuke phase, with increasing raid damage taken and tanks needing to manage their Mana/Rage pools.

Item	Item Type	Slot
Boneweave Girdle	Mail	Waist
Crown of Empowered Fate	Plate	Head
Dreadboots of the Legion	Plate	Feet
Elunite Empowered Bracers	Leather	Wrist
Gloves of Unfailing Faith	Cloth	Hands
Grips of Damnation	Leather	Hands
Naaru-Blessed Life Rod	Ranged Weapon	Wand
Naturewarden's Treads	Leather	Feet
Pendant of Titans	Accessory	Neck
The Wavemender's Mantle	Mail	Shoulder
Torch of the Damned	Weapon	Two-Hand Mace
Touch of Inspiration	Weapon	Off-hand
Translucent Spellthread Necklace	Accessory	Neck

If you were looking for a full guide for the Black Temple raid, or would like to know what specializations the loot from the Reliquary of Souls should be prioritized to, see the links below.