Algalon The Observer Encounter Guide: Strategy, Abilities, Loot

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.

• 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.

• 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.

• 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.

• Big Bang
• Cosmic Smash
• Phase Punch
• Quantum Strike
• Ascend to the Heavens

• Collapsing Star
• Black Hole Explosion
• Living Constellation
• Arcane Barrage

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 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.

Item	Type/Slot
Pendant of the Somber Witness	Neck
Strength of the Heavens	Neck
Observer's Mantle	Mail Shoulder
Shoulderplates of the Celestial Watch	Plate Shoulder
Drape of the Messenger	Back
Breastplate of the Timeless	Plate Chest
Pulsar Gloves	Cloth Hands
Gloves of the Endless Dark	Leather Hands
Starfall Girdle	Plate Waist
Zodiac Leggings	Leather Legs
Starlight Treads	Cloth Feet
Nebula Band	Finger
Band of Lights	Finger
Dark Matter	Trinket
Meteorite Crystal	Trinket
Reply-Code Alpha	Trinket

Item	Type/Slot
Boundless Gaze	Mail Head
Solar Bindings	Leather Wrist
Pharos Gloves	Cloth Hands
Starwatcher's Binding	Cloth Waist
Star-beaded Clutch	Leather Waist
Legplates of the Endless Void	Plate Legs
Planewalker Treads	Mail Feet
Sabatons of Lifeless Night	Plate Feet
Comet's Trail	Trinket
Starshard Edge	Main Hand Dagger
Constellus	Main Hand Mace
Fang of Oblivion	One Hand Dagger
Dreambinder	Staff
Cosmos	Off Hand
Bulwark of Algalon	Shield
Skyforge Crossbow	Crossbow
Reply-Code Alpha	Quest
Fragment of Val'anyr	Val'anyr, Hammer of Ancient Kings

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.