The Illidari Council Guide: Strategy, Abilities, Loot

The Illidari Council is the eighth boss you will encounter in the Black Temple. The Illidari Council is one of the harder bosses in the raid, if not the hardest. There is a lot of raidwide burst damage, as well as very high tank damage. This is another fight players will want to prioritize Stamina gear to survive mechanics.

This fight is also unique compared to all of the other encounters in the raid, as it is a "council" based fight. You will face 4 enemies at once who all share the same health pool through their Balance of Power buff and all must be handled in different ways.

There is quite a lot of damage that happens during this fight. Tanks will be taking high damage consistently, while random raid members will be taking high bursts of damage from multiple different abilities. If assigned to heal a tank, be sure to keep them topped up at all times. Healers assigned to the raid need to be quick on their feet and ready to top off any members hit by boss abilities.

This is another fight you will want to prioritize Stamina gear for as there are many random damage abilities that can easily kill you. Be ready at any time to move out of any area damage or use any of your defensive abilities to survive incoming damage.

Caster DPS may want to change targets over to High Nethermancer Zerevor whenever Chromatic Resistance Aura is active to prevent their spells from resisting much more often.

Tanks will want to prioritize high health for this fight as there is plenty of magic damage going out consistently throughout the encounter. The tank assigned to Gathios the Shatterer in particular should play extra defensively, as this is one of the hardest-hitting bosses in the game.

Gathios the Shatterer should be moved frequently to keep your melee DPS out of AoE abilities. If using a Protection Warrior to tank him, you can Spell Reflection his Seal of Command Judgement combo back at him, saving you tons of health and generating all the threat you need.

A Mage tank will be required to tank High Nethermancer Zerevor, similar to Krosh Firehand on the High King Maulgar fight from Gruul's Lair. Simply Spellsteal the Dampen Magic buff whenever possible to reduce your damage taken and generate some threat to keep him attacking you. Avoid being near him at all times.

As this fight has 4 different bosses, we will list each boss and their specific abilities down below.

• Empowered Smite — This is a 2-second cast, dealing 5,463 to 6,037 Holy damage. It is used as her main attack.
• Divine Wrath — Cast at a random target, dealing 5,000 initial Holy damage plus an 8-second DoT for 2,500 damage every 2 seconds.
• Reflective Shield — This 20-second self-shield buff absorbs up to 25,000 damage. Half of the absorbed damage is reflected back to the attacker, but it does not protect Malande against interrupts.
• Circle of Healing — 2.5-second cast that heals the combined boss health pool for 100,000 with a 20-second cooldown; it can be interrupted.

• Arcane Bolt — This 2-second cast deals roughly 15,000 Arcane damage to the current target. It is used as Zerevor's main attack.
• Flamestrike — Deals damage in a 10-yard AoE on a random target. This will deal 5,000 initial Fire damage and then 3,000 damage per tick in the impact area, with a 12-second duration.
• Blizzard — This is a 10-yard AoE on a random target. It deals 6,000 Frost damage per tick over a 12-second duration.
• Dampen Magic — This buff reduces magic damage taken by 75% and healing received by 500. However, it can be spellstolen or dispelled.
• Arcane Explosion — This 10-yard AoE spell is centered around Zerevor and deals 9,000 Arcane damage. It is only used if any target is within 10 yards of him.

• Hammer of Justice — Stuns a random target within 40 yards for 6 seconds. However, it can be dispelled.
• Consecration — Drops a Consecrate at Gathios' feet, dealing 2,250 Holy damage to nearby enemies every 3 seconds for 20 seconds.
• Seal of Command — 30-second buff, increasing melee damage dealt by 70%; shares a cooldown with Seal of Blood.
• Seal of Blood — 30-second buff, adding 800 Holy damage to melee attacks; shares a cooldown with Seal of Command.
• Judgement — Both seals above can be judged. Seal of Command deals 7,000 Holy damage when judged and can be spell reflected. Seal of Blood deals 11,000 Holy damage over 9 seconds when judged.
• Blessing of Spell Warding — 15-second buff, granting immunity to magic spells. Can be cast on any of the other bosses, but never himself. It shares a cooldown with Blessing of Protection.
• Blessing of Protection — 15-second buff, granting immunity to Physical abilities. Can be cast on any of the other bosses, but never himself. It shares a cooldown with Blessing of Spell Warding.
• Chromatic Resistance Aura — 30-second buff, increasing all resistances of allies by 250 and has a 30-yard range. It shares a 1-minute cooldown with Devotion Aura.
• Devotion Aura — 30-second buff, increasing the Armor of allies by 20% and has a 30-yard range. It shares a 1-minute cooldown with Chromatic Resistance Aura.

• Deadly Poison — Debuff a random target, dealing 1,000 Nature damage a second for 4 seconds. It cannot be removed.
• Envenom — Used on targets debuffed with Deadly Poison; at the end of the 4-second debuff, Envenom deals 6,000 Nature damage to the target.
• Vanish — Every 30 seconds or so, Veras Darkshadow will Vanish, becoming untargetable. He will then pick random targets to use his Deadly Poison and Envenom combo on.

Pulling The Illidari Council is one of the most difficult parts of the fight, if not the most difficult. Having multiple Hunters available for Misdirection makes things much easier. Allow the Mage tank to initiate the pull, with every other tank instantly ready to follow it up and grab their assigned target. This pull make take some practice, so do not be frustrated if it takes your group a few times to get the pull down.

Illidari Council can be a very chaotic boss. With 4 tanks taking damage at a time, along with multiple different instances of random damage, things can quickly get out of hand here. Healers assigned to tanks need to keep their tanks topped at all times, as the tanks can also be targets of this random damage, quickly leading to tank deaths.

When Gathios the Shatterer uses Chromatic Resistance Aura, casters will want to swap over to High Nethermancer Zerevor, who should be tanked in a position that is out of range of this aura. This allows caster DPS to continue dealing damage while avoiding the high spell resistance gained from the aura, and since the health pool is shared between all four bosses, this is a large DPS gain for the raid. Always be aware of your threat on High Nethermancer Zerevor, as the Mage may not have had time to build a significant threat lead yet.

Gathios the Shatterer will be the main target the raid is focusing. Melee players, and anyone nearby him, need to be ready to move away from the boss at all times, as he will be constantly dropping Consecration on the ground, and this can easily be combined with any other source of damage, easily leading to a melee player's death.

The raid should always be aware of High Nethermancer Zerevor's position, as going within 10 yards of him will trigger Arcane Explosion, likely killing anyone nearby. The Mage assigned to tanking him will want to make sure he is far on the side, away from where the raid will be spreading. Be aware of your healers' positions and do not go too far away from them. Healers will also need to constantly be aware of Veras Darkshadow, as he will be doing his Deadly Poison and Envenom combo while he is Vanished, and reset his threat after the Vanish ends.

The entire raid should spread out throughout the room to avoid as many people being hit by the same Flamestrikes and Blizzards as possible. Everyone in the raid has a personal responsibility to move out of AoE damage effects as soon as possible to prevent random deaths. Be ready to use any personal defensive abilities available to you, as well as help with off-healing if your class is capable of doing so. The raid needs to survive here.

As Lady Malande is primarily a caster-based NPC, she can be interrupted on the majority of her spell casts. This becomes significantly easier to do by making sure to keep either Curse of Tongues or Mind-numbing Poison's debuff applied to her at all times to increase her casting time. A common tactic is to have a Rogue assigned to wear PvP gloves and interrupt as many casts as possible with both Kick and Deadly Throw, as any Rogue PvP gloves allow Deadly Throw to be used as an additional ranged interrupt, even against bosses.

Multiple interrupts will be needed for Lady Malande, as she can receive either Blessing of Spell Warding or Blessing of Protection from Gathios the Shatterer, making her immune to either Physical- or magic-based spells, including interrupts. The recommended tactic is to have a dedicated Physical interrupter assigned to her, typically your Rogue wearing PvP gloves. Then have your Elemental Shaman ready to interrupt Circle of Healing if she gains a Blessing of Protection, as the Rogue will no longer be able to interrupt. Lastly, have your Restoration Shamans, or any other interrupters ready to interrupt Divine Wrath if she gains a Blessing of Protection. With proper interrupt assignments and solid coordination and awareness, Lady Malande can be easily trivialized during this encounter.

Item	Item Type	Slot
Leggings of the Forgotten Conqueror	Tier Token	Legs
Leggings of the Forgotten Protector	Tier Token	Legs
Leggings of the Forgotten Vanquisher	Tier Token	Legs
Belt of Divine Guidance	Cloth	Waist
Cloak of the Illidari Council	Accessory	Back
Forest Prowler's Helm	Mail	Head
Helm of the Illidari Shatterer	Plate	Head
Madness of the Betrayer	Accessory	Trinket
Veil of Turning Leaves	Leather	Shoulder

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