Algalon The Observer Encounter Guide: Strategy, Abilities, Loot
Algalon the Observer is Ulduar's fourteenth and final boss. This boss is considered the "only hard mode" and does not have a normal version. Algalon will despawn 1-hour after entering the raid instance, severely limiting the time you have to attempt him. Do not forget to be aware of the various Raid Buffs and Debuffs as you work to optimize your Raid Composition for this encounter's mechanics!
Overview of Algalon the Observer in Wrath of the Lich King Classic
While Algalon is not technically the final boss of Ulduar, he is considered the raids final and most difficult challenge by most. Algalon does not have a hard mode version of the encounter, as the entire fight is considered hard mode. To even be able to attempt this boss, players must first complete the The Celestial Planetarium quest, which requires defeating all other bosses on their respective hard modes. To make things even more difficult, Algalon will only stick around for 1 hour after being engaged for the first time, greatly reducing how many attempts you get on this boss weekly. High coordination and quick pulls will be required to get this boss down in a timely fashion.
Role-Specific Tips for Algalon the Observer
DPS Tips
- Melee players will either want to split into multiple groups or move together
to avoid the
Cosmic Smash. Be aware of the tank's feet as well as this can target them too.
- Be aware of both Collapsing Stars and Living Constellations and be mindful not to attack or cleave them when you are not supposed to.
- Ranged DPS must be mindful of the Collapsing Star kill order and callouts. Damaging and killing these at the proper time is a key factor in beating this boss.
- Ranged DPS should spread as much as possible, possibly splitting into
multiple groups to avoid needing to move from the
Cosmic Smash as much as possible.
- Moving as little as possible and target swapping properly will vastly improve your performance in this encounter. Coordinate with your raid group properly to get an idea of exactly what your group wants to do.
Healer Tips
- Algalon is one of the hardest-hitting bosses in the entirety of Wrath of the Lich King. You must dump heals into the tank to keep them alive. In addition, you will also need to coordinate defensive cooldowns to help greatly reduce the damage income.
- This fight is extremely mana intensive; you will want to prioritize wearing regen gear to help keep your mana up.
- Spread out as much as possible, ideally standing alone, so fewer people need
to move from each
Cosmic Smash.
Tank Tips
- Algalon is one of the hardest-hitting bosses in the entirety of Wrath of the Lich King. This fight will require a tank with plenty of Ulduar gear to survive his basic attacks.
- Just being geared is not enough for this fight. You will need to coordinate your defensive cooldowns with any available external cooldowns to be taking reduced damage as much as possible.
- Be aware of the
Cosmic Smash positions; you may need to move the boss for the melee DPS or even yourself if the smash is under your feet.
- Be mindful of the Living Constellation timers and paths. If you are assigned to these, make sure to tank them and then build a bit of threat with a ranged attack while guiding them into the Black Holes.
Algalon the Observer Encounter Abilities
Algalon the Observer Abilities
Algalon the Observer Add Abilities
Strategy for Algalon the Observer
Phase One
The main focus of this fight will be simply keeping your tank alive. Algalon hits incredibly hard, easily demolishing even the best-geared tanks. The combination of extremely fast attack speed, high base damage, and multiple abilities aimed at his current target make Algalon easily able to kill your tanks. Make sure your tank is always topped up, Algalon himself is always fully debuffed, and you rotate defensive cooldowns on your tank as often as possible.
Algalon will periodically hit the tanks with Phase Punch, placing a
stacking debuff on them. After five stacks, the target will be ported into another
phase, removing them from the fight for 10 seconds. To counter this, tanks will
want to taunt swap Algalon after receiving four stacks of
Phase Punch to
prevent the boss from getting loose. The tank must be ready with defensive
cooldowns when taunting and coordinate with healers when they will taunt
so heals do not come late.
Frequently throughout the fight, Algalon will cast Cosmic Smash,
calling down three meteors on random players. Players must quickly move away from
these red circles, or they will die from the impact damage. These meteors also
deal splash damage to players near the impact, so be sure to move away from the
red circles even if you are not inside them. This damage is easily avoidable and
should be, as your healers are already stretched thin, keeping your tanks alive.
Make sure to spread out as much as possible to avoid the entire raid needing to
move constantly.
During Phase 1, four Collapsing Stars will spawn every 60 seconds.
These have no real attacks, but their threat comes from when they die. They will
damage themselves slowly over time and, when they die, will cast
Black Hole Explosion, dealing 21,000 Shadow damage to the raid.
If possible, you will want to use a defensive raid cooldown when these die to
help reduce the damage, especially on the tank.
Because the Collapsing Stars are slowly dying over time, it is vital that ranged DPS prioritize killing them one at a time, or else all four will explode at once, instantly wiping the raid. Coordinate together to attack the same one, kill it and wait for healers to top the raid up, then coordinate your attacks on the next. You will want to do this for at least the first three, and you can decide whether the fourth one will explode at a good time. Avoid having multiple sources of raid-wide damage going off at once; your healers will be stretched very thin on this fight already.
In addition to the massive raid-wide Shadow damage they deal when the
Collapsing Stars die, they will also create a Black Hole at their
death location. These Black Holes are portals to another
realm, teleporting players that stand on them. These Black Holes are
needed for multiple mechanics later; for now, you want to avoid them. If you
happen to get teleported to this other realm accidentally, you will need to
survive attacks from multiple Dark Matter creatures for 10 seconds before
you are returned to the normal room with the rest of your raid.
Shortly after you have dealt with the Collapsing Stars, Algalon will
summon three Living Constellations. These will attack their highest aggro
target with Arcane Barrage, most likely starting with healers. Whoever
is not tanking Algalon will need to taunt these and build a threat on
them. This tank must then bait these Collapsing Stars to walk into the
Black Holes created before. The Black Holes will destroy the
Collapsing Star when they touch it, removing them from the fight. The
tank doing this must be careful not to enter the Black Hole on accident,
as this will set the Collapsing Stars free, where they will most likely
return to attacking healers. If the Black Holes are not in ideal
positions, it is possible to move them with spells that either knock back or pull
an enemy. Getting rid of at least one Collapsing Star quickly
will make the tank job much easier.
Players can enter the Black Holes
because of Big Bang. Four times throughout the fight Algalon will cast
this ability, killing any player left in the normal phase. When he starts to
cast this, everyone must walk into a Black Hole and enter the other realm
to avoid the damage. However, if no one is left in Algalons room, he will
immediately wipe the raid with
Ascend to the Heavens. Therefore, at
least one person must be left in Algalons realm, and they must survive the
damage.
Big Bang will ignore all immunities, such as
Divine Shield and
Ice Block, meaning you must survive
the damage through defensive abilities. The most common and best tactic is to
have a Shadow Priest with
Glyph of Dispersion soak every one
using
Dispersion as the 90% damage reduction it grants is enough to
survive the damage.
Phase Two
Phase 2 starts when Algalon reaches 20% health. This phase plays out nearly
the same as Phase 1. Tanks will still get trucked and need to taunt swap every
4 stacks of Phase Punch. You will still need to avoid the
Cosmic Smash meteors, as well as enter the Black Holes to avoid
Big Bang. However, the adds that Algalon spawns will change.
Both Living Constellation and Collapsing Stars will no longer spawn, and any active Black Holes will be removed from the area. Algalon will instead open four of his Black Holes and out of each spawn a Unleashed Dark Matter every 30 seconds. Whichever tank is not currently tanking, Algalon will need to grab all 4 and drag them on top of the boss so they can be AoEd down. Luckily they have no real abilities and hit for fairly minor damage on a tank.
Algalon the Observer Loot
Algalon the Observer 10-Player Loot
Item | Type/Slot |
---|---|
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Neck |
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Neck |
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Mail Shoulder |
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Plate Shoulder |
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Back |
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Plate Chest |
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Cloth Hands |
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Leather Hands |
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Plate Waist |
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Leather Legs |
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Cloth Feet |
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Finger |
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Finger |
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Trinket |
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Trinket |
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Trinket |
Algalon the Observer 25-Player Loot
Item | Type/Slot |
---|---|
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Mail Head |
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Leather Wrist |
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Cloth Hands |
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Cloth Waist |
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Leather Waist |
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Plate Legs |
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Mail Feet |
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Plate Feet |
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Trinket |
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Main Hand Dagger |
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Main Hand Mace |
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One Hand Dagger |
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Staff |
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Off Hand |
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Shield |
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Crossbow |
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Quest |
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Further Reading
Algalon the Observer is just one of the 14 encounters present in the Ulduar raid of Wrath of the Lich King Classic. If you would like to learn more about the other fights and their respective loot, please see our Ulduar Raid Hub page below.
Changelog
- 18 Jan. 2023: Page added.
This guide has been written by Abide, TBC and WotLK veteran for nearly a decade. Abide is a Warrior tank and multi-class expert currently playing on Faerlina Horde. You can find him in the Icy Veins Discord if you have any questions or concerns.
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