Balance Druid DPS Nerub-ar Palace Raid Guide — The War Within (11.0.7)

Ulgrax is a two-phase encounter with periodic spread add damage in both of its phases. While boss damage should be prioritized, this is a good opportunity to take advantage of both spread multi-target to free players from cocoons as well as control and kill adds to progress the boss out of the intermission. If the adds are not relevant, play Keeper of the Grove.

• Use Barkskin whenever you are targeted by Digestive Acid.

• Celestial Alignment should be used on pull and then on cooldown. If adds are dying quickly or the boss damage is necessary, save your uses for the second phase 1.

• Use Typhoon and Ursol's Vortex to help keep adds away from yourself and others and controlled for your raid to DPS. You can also shapeshift out of Stalker's Netting.

Ulgrax on Mythic is extremely similar to its Heroic counterpart and all previous advice applies. The main difference is that the raid soak pull-in is extremely strong. You will normally Warlock Gate this, but still save Astral Power to make the most of your forced movement.

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The Bloodbound Horror is a two-sided encounter with adds in one phase and the boss in the other phase. While killing the adds quickly is important, those phases do end quickly. We recommend more single target-oriented talents while also taking Starfall and some cleave talents.

• Use Barkskin after Goresplatter and you can pair this with Renewal or use that to help clear Crimson Rain.

• If you are in group 1, you should use Celestial Alignment on pull and then on cooldown, and if you are in group 2, use cooldowns on pull but try to save some damage for the adds such as Force of Nature.

• Ursol's Vortex can keep all any small adds which spawn from the casters from reaching the boss.

On Mythic, the add phases have much tighter timings. Even if you are in the second group, it may be wise to save your cooldowns for your down phase as that is biggest thing that can wipe your raid. If add killing is not a problem, cooldown the fight as you normally would. You should be able to line up uses of Celestial Alignment for each add phase with Whirling Stars

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Sikran is a pure single-target boss burn encounter that rotates your raid group around the platform over the one-phase fight. Use mobility spells to get in position quickly, as it directly impacts how much space you will have in the arena to move.

• If targeted by Phase Blades, use Barkskin or Bear Form in emergencies as it is about to hit to reduce both the up-front damage and the follow-up DoT.
• Use Renewal when you are overlapping the Cosmic Simulacrum DoT with any other mechanic.

• Use Celestial Alignment on pull and on cooldown after.

• Wild Charge can get you into position easily for Phase Blades and Decimate.

Sikran on Mythic is also quite similar to its Heroic counterpart and all previous advice applies. Try to save defensive cooldowns for the high-stack Decimate debuffs as it is more dangerous than on Heroic.

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Rasha'nan is a single-target boss with periodic burst add damage. Due to the nature of the adds, it may be difficult to ramp consistently into them before they are killed by more suitable classes. While we will not ignore these adds, we should prioritize our build towards single target unless add damage is needed.

• Use Barkskin for Infested Spawn casts especially if overlapping other mechanics.
• Renewal can be used on the Erosive Spray DoT to help top off.

• Use cooldowns as they come up and then on cooldown after. If the boss is about to transition, hold until you are settled at your new location on the platform.
• Smaller cooldowns such as Force of Nature or Fury of Elune should be saved for each Infested Spawn cast to maximize DPS on these targets.

• Ursol's Vortex and Typhoon can be used to help control adds.
• Stampeding Roar can be used when the boss flies away to get your raid over to the boss more quickly.

The big difference on Rasha'nan is the amount of movement. You are traveling across the platform about once every minute so make sure you have a some form of mobility and try to cheat if you know what side the boss is going.

Try to line up Force of Nature with Infested Spawn casts if your group needs help with adds but you most other classes have better tools to deal with these.

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Broodtwister Ovi'nax is a heavy multi-target encounter that revolves around the controlled breaking of various eggs around the room to spawn adds. We will be focusing on multi-target this fight, but try to cleave off the boss where you can.

• Use Barkskin as Experimental Dosage is expiring to keep your health up while the healing absorb is removed.

• Celestial Alignment should be saved when you can properly cleave adds with Orbital Strike, but you should try to use it on cooldown.

• Typhoon and Ursol's Vortex are good crowd control for Blood Parasites.

On Mythic, consider swapping to Leech enchants to help heal off the numerous healing absorbs on the boss.

Boomkins are considered a reliable source of knockback along with Evokers on this boss. When you are going to knock, let the adds spawn, take a few steps back, and knock them forward. This should get the adds close enough to the tanks to allow them to be gripped.

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Nexus-Princess Ky'veza is a full single-target fight focusing on proper positioning and good DPS to beat the boss enrage.

• Renewal and Barkskin should be used liberally to stay healthy as you have less health on this boss than you usually do. There are not many high-damage dangerous hits, but there are a lot of mechanics to dodge, and it is better to be prepared.

• Use Celestial Alignment on pull and then on cooldown after.

• Dash can be used to bring Assassination out of the raid. You can then Bear Form if you are low on the way back.

On Mythic, Health management is much more important as the damage ramps up significantly compared to Normal and Heroic. Plan out good cooldowns for intermissions, normally starting with a Barkskin on the first hit of Regicide. This normally means having to use Bear Form during the first phase or calling for externals. As this is a DPS check boss, considering coordinating additional help from your Healers if you are feeling squishy.

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The Silken Court is a two-target encounter with some small adds and multiple single target burst windows requiring a flexible talents to make the most of both scenarios.

• Use Barkskin and Renewal on each intermission, prioritizing the latter half to maximize the effectiveness of your damage reduction on the ramping pulse damage.

• Cooldowns should be used on pull and either on the intermission shields or on cooldown, as you can hit both targets reliably.
• Anub'arash takes double damage following Reckless Charge, save small cooldowns like Force of Nature or Fury of Elune for these windows..

• Use Ursol's Vortex to keep adds in one place and talent Typhoon if you need additional crowd control.
• Wild Charge and Dash can be used to quickly reposition Binding Webs to stop Reckless Charge.

You should be able to cooldown every single debuff phase with the choice between using cooldowns twice in phase one or twice in phase two. This is dependent on your lust timings.

This fight is more about learning the mechanics than Balance Druid-specific tips. As always, keep your distance from the adds spawned in phase one and limit your debuffs to one or two stacks so that you can save Barkskin for later applications of Stinging Swarm

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Unfortunately, Queen Ansurek was not tested on the Beta realms at all, so exactly how the fight plays out and what is most important is unknown. This page will be updated upon testing of the boss.

• Rotate cooldowns during each soak of Reactive Toxin.
• Barkskin add casts in phase 3 or when targeted with Royal Condemnation.

• Cooldowns should be used on pull, on the first intermission, and at the start of phase 3. If intermission damage is not needed, use on cooldown in phase 1.
• Time uses of Force of Nature with adds like webs in phase 1 and spiders in phase 3.

• Wild Charge can be used on each cast of Wrest to negate the pull-in, even on the edge of platforms.
• Phase 1 roots can be shifted out of. Just make sure to move away afterward.
• Ursol's Vortex can be used to control the spiderlings in phase 3.

Use your cooldowns as they come up for the entire first phase and then save a charge of Celestial Alignment for the second platform of the intermission. Then continue use these on cooldown in phase three.

Balance Druids are great at killing the acolytes in phase three. You can determine if you would like to use a full set of cooldowns on the second add set or if you would rather put it into the boss depending on your raid needs.

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