C'Thun Guide: Strategy, Abilities, Loot
C'Thun is the final boss in the AQ40, and can be fought once The Twin Emperors are killed. He is one of the four Old Gods of Azeroth, and the first the players faced directly in World of Warcraft.
He will engage players as soon as they enter his room, and often greet them with an instant wipe, courtesy of his green eye beam of death. Read our detailed guide below to avoid that fate!
Notable loot includes Eye of C'Thun, Dark Edge of Insanity, and Scepter of the False Prophet.
Season of Mastery changes to the Temple of Ahn'Qiraj
In the Season of Mastery, the Temple of Ahn'Qiraj has gained a new affix system that allows for new challenges and additional loot to be gained for defeating bosses inside of the raid instance. Check out our in-depth guide for this new feature in the AQ40 raid guide hub.
C'Thun Summary by Role
Tanks
- You will want at least 2 tanks, who will be responsible for tanking the Giant Claw Tentacles in Phase 2.
- Positioning is key. As the Giant Claw Tentacles can spawn anywhere where there are players in the room, you want to have your tanks cover as much of the room as possible that the tentacle can be tanked as soon as possible upon spawning.
- While not tanking Giant Claws, make sure to help interrupt any eye tentacles near your position.
- If you are sent to the tentacle room in Phase 2, you should look to exit immediately before a Giant Claw Tentacle spawns.
Healers
- Most of the damage in this fight will happen on raid players targeted by beams, Mind Flays or tentacle spawns, and should be healed quickly in order to minimize the chance that the player gets hit with another ability and dies.
- Spreading out is a must to avoid one shots from green beam attacks, and as such, the whole room should be used and healers should spread out evenly across the room so that all players can get healed.
- If you are sent to the tentacle room in Phase 2, make sure to heal any DPS players inside to full before leaving. Do not stay for too long or the healing you are forced to do on yourself will drain your Mana needlessly.
DPS
- In general, you will want to spread evenly across the room to minimize damage taken and focus the small Eye Tentacles whenever they spawn. These should also be interrupted as much as possible.
- The red beam attack (Dark Glare) will force you to move around the room to avoid being hit. As soon as it ends, green beams will resume, so make sure to be properly spread by this point.
- Giant Eye Tentacles will start spawning in Phase 2. Their green eye beam is the same as the one from the boss in Phase 1 and will easily kill anyone it chains to. Luckily, they can be stunned and interrupted: make sure to never let them cast!
- If sent to the tentacle room in Phase 2, do as much damage as you can to the Flesh Tentacles present in the room before leaving, but make sure to leave before dying! Using Nature Protection potions can help you stay in the room longer.
Strategy for C'Thun
Phase 1 - The Eye of C'Thun
The pull is always an important part of any boss, but especially so with C'Thun. His main ability in Phase 1, which he will use immediately once anyone enters his room, is a green Eye Beam that chains to anyone near the targeted player, doubling its damage and jumping to another nearby player until it runs out of targets.
Considering this ability averages 3000 Nature damage on the first player it hits, anyone it chains to is likely to instantly die, causing a chain reaction that can wipe your group in an instant.
In order to ensure a safe pull, have everyone be mounted up next to the boss room, do a countdown and, at sub 1 second left, have one of your tank players peek into the room in order to get aggro from the Eye of C'Thun. This will cause him to be the first beam target, and he should ensure he is not near any other player by staying behind as the rest of the raid rushes into the room and spreads out into their assigned positions.
It is imperative players have the boss selected while rushing in and instantly move away from everyone else if targeted by the boss, as an Eye Beam will soon follow. Once everyone is in their assigned positions, DPS the boss and swap to the tentacles whenever they spawn, with Eye Tentacles being the highest priority targets. Stun and interrupt them if you can, also.
Finally, as soon as the Eye glows red, it is about to cast Death Glare, which will one shot anyone caught in the red beam, and will slowly rotate across the whole room. Make sure to move around the room accordingly in other to avoid the red beam, and to be spread once it ends.
Phase 2 - The Body of C'Thun
Once the Eye of C'Thun hits 0 health, it will die and the Body of C'Thun will appear, as shown in the picture below.
While this means the spread out requirements are no longer as strict, it is still recommended to spread out because new tentacles will begin to spawn under random players, and anyone near that player will also take a huge burst of damage.
The first new tentacle to spawn will be a Giant Claw Tentacle. These need to be tanked as soon as possible, as their attacks will one shot any non-tank. Because they can be stunned, try to stun it as soon as it spawns, in order to buy time for a tank to arrive and establish threat.
The second new tentacle to spawn will be the Giant Eye Tentacle. These will cast green Eye Beams of C'Thun on random nearby players and, just like in Phase 1, it will chain and kill anyone who gets hit after its initial target. Keep these tentacles stunned and interrupt them whenever they are casting
Regular small Eye Tentacles will also keep spawning periodically, and should be the first priority for DPS players, as long as Giant Claws are tanked and Giant Eyes are interrupted.
Both of these Giant Tentacles spawn on a 1-minute timer, with the Giant Eye Tentacles spawning 30 seconds after the Giant Claws. Whenever C'Thun stops being weakened, a new Giant Claw Tentacle will spawn, starting a new cycle.
In order to deal damage to the Body of C'Thun, you will have to place him in a weakened state, as he has a 99% damage reduction shield otherwise.
To weaken the Body of C'Thun, you need to kill two Flesh Tentacles inside his stomach. Random players in your group will automatically be eaten by C'Thun during Phase 2 and sent to the stomach.
If you are one of these players, get out instantly if you are a tank, heal DPS players inside to full before leaving if you are a healer, and deal as much damage as you can to the two tentacles before leaving at 10ish stacks (depending on your health situation inside) as a DPS.
Eventually, the tentacles will die and the Body of C'Thun will be weakened. Deal as much damage as possible to him before he reverts into his normal state and the phase restarts with a new Giant Claw Tentacle spawn. Repeat until he dies!
Loot from C'Thun
He will always drop Eye of C'Thun, which starts a quest that grants one item out of Ring of the Fallen God, Cloak of the Fallen God, and Amulet of the Fallen God.
Item | Slot |
---|---|
Mark of C'Thun | Neck |
Ring of the Godslayer | Ring |
Dark Storm Gauntlets | Gloves |
Gauntlets of Annihilation | Gloves |
Cloak of Clarity | Back |
Cloak of the Devoured | Back |
Grasp of the Old God | Belt |
Belt of Never-ending Agony | Belt |
Eyestalk Waist Cord | Belt |
Scepter of the False Prophet | Main-Hand |
Death's Sting | One-Hand |
Dark Edge of Insanity | Two-Hand |
Vanquished Tentacle of C'Thun | Trinket |
Husk of the Old God | Token |
Carapace of the Old God | Token |
Changelog
- 18 Nov. 2024: Page updated for SoD P6 & Classic Anniversary.
- 06 Aug. 2024: Guide reviewed and updated.
- 21 Apr. 2022: Mentioned encounter changes in the Season of Mastery.
- 05 Jul. 2020: Guide added.
This guide has been written by Abide, TBC veteran for nearly a decade. Abide is a Warrior tank and multi-class expert currently playing on Faerlina as Horde. You can find him in the the Icy Veins Discord. You can also see him live on Twitch.
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