Cenarius Mythic Strategy/Tactics

Table of Contents

• +Introduction
  • 1. Contents
  • 2. Lore
  • 3. Outline
  • 4. TL;DR
    • 4.1. Boss Tank
    • 4.2. Healers
    • 4.3. DPS
    • 4.4. Everyone
  • 5. Changelog
• +Abilities
  • 1. Overview
  • 2. Phase One
    • 2.1. Cenarius
      • 2.1.1. Creeping Nightmares
      • 2.1.2. Nightmare Brambles
    • 2.2. Malfurion
    • 2.3. Forces of Nightmare
      • 2.3.1. Wisps
      • 2.3.2. Corrupted Wisps
      • 2.3.3. Cleansed Ancient
      • 2.3.4. Nightmare Ancient
      • 2.3.5. Emerald Drake
      • 2.3.6. Rotten Drake
      • 2.3.7. Redeemed Sister
      • 2.3.8. Twisted Sister
  • 3. Phase Two
  • 4. Changelog
• +Normal/Heroic Strategy/Tactics
  • 1. Overview
  • 2. Phase One
    • 2.1. Which Adds To Cleanse?
    • 2.2. Creeping Nightmares' Stacks Management
    • 2.3. Positioning
    • 2.4. Tanks
    • 2.5. Healers
    • 2.6. DPS
    • 2.7. Everyone
  • 3. Phase Two
  • 4. Changelog
• ×Mythic Strategy
  • 1. Mythic Changes
  • 2. Strategy
    • 2.1. Tank Setup
    • 2.2. The Pull and First Wave of Forces of Nightmare
    • 2.3. Second Wave of Forces of Nightmare
    • 2.4. Third Wave of Forces of Nightmare
    • 2.5. Phase Two
    • 2.6. More Tips
      • 2.6.1. Nightmare Blast Tank Rotation
      • 2.6.2. Cleansing Nightmare Brambles
  • 3. Changelog
• +Loot
  • 1. Relics
  • 2. Cloaks and Trinkets
  • 3. Armor

General Information

On this page, you will find a list of changes between Normal/Heroic modes and Mythic mode, as well as a working strategy to defeat Cenarius in The Emerald Nightmare in Mythic mode.

The other pages of our Cenarius guide can be accessed from the table of contents on the right.

About our Reviewer

This guide has been reviewed and approved by Pottm from Serenity.

In addition to the boss and all adds having more health and dealing more damage, there are 2 entirely new mechanics in Mythic mode as well as several small changes.

• Corrupted Wisps now explode upon death, dealing high raid-wide damage with Corrupted Detonate.
• Desiccating Stomp is now cast twice in rapid succession by the Nightmare Ancient.
• Cenarius has a new Phase One ability called Nightmare Blast, which deals very high damage in front of him and increases damage taken by this ability by 100% for 45 seconds, forcing a tank swap.
• Cenarius has a new Phase Two ability called Beasts of Nightmare, which summons a wave of adds that cause Gripping Fog to players around them, dealing high Shadow damage every 0.5 seconds.
• For each wave of Forces of Nightmare (except the first), Cenarius spawns the add(s) you cleansed in the previous wave.

The strategy that follows is entirely from Pottm from Serenity.

The required setup for the fight is 3 tanks, 4 healers, and 13 DPS. The idea is to designate one tank to pick up the drakes, which you never kill, and keep them in the bottom left corner. The goal is to have enough DPS to push the boss to Phase 2 after 3 waves. This way you only have to deal with 2 drakes.

By having only 3 waves, you deal with the following Forces of Nightmare (and cleanse the one in bold. You need to assign someone in the raid to this cleansing job (tanks can do the first two waves).

1. Wisps (top left), Nightmare Ancient (top right), Rotten Drake (bottom left)
2. Wisps (top left), Twisted Sister (bottom right), Rotten Drake (bottom left)
3. Cleansed Ancient (top right), 2x Twisted Sister (bottom right)

The Boss Tank will tank to the boss at all times.

The Dragon Tank will tank the Rotten Drakes. Preferably, it should be a Guardian Druid or Protection Warrior.

The Add Tank will tank the remaining adds, when they spawn.

The Boss Tank pulls Cenarius and drags him to the top left corner. Use Bloodlust/ Heroism/ Time Warp on cooldown and maximize damage output. This means DPSing through Aura of Dread Thorns and leaving the healers to heal the damage. After cleansing the Wisps, players will be able to use their Creeping Nightmares stacks with the Cleansed Ground patches left behind (as in Normal/Heroic mode).

The Rotten Drake needs to be picked up by the Dragon Tank and moved to the bottom left corner (as far in the corner as possible). Rotten Breath has a limited range, so moving the drakes as far away as possible creates more room for ranged players. Assign a healer (preferably Holy Paladin) to go to the corner with the tank. Their only job is to keep the Dragon Tank alive.

The Add Tank must pick up the Nightmare Ancient and bring it to the boss. The raid must continue damaging both the boss and the Nightmare Ancient. Prioritize damage so that the Nightmare Ancient dies shortly before it casts its second wave of Desiccating Stomp (which would probably kill everyone). Handle the first wave of Desiccating Stomp by having all melee move into the Nightmare Ancient's melee range, popping personal and raid cooldowns (such as Demon Hunters' Darkness), and using a Spirit Link Totem if available.

Shortly after dragging the Nightmare Ancient to Cenarius, he will cast his first Nightmare Blast. After the cast, the Boss Tank and the Add Tank need to swap targets. The Add Tank needs to keep the boss for the next 2 casts of Nightmare Blast, before rushing to the bottom right to tank the Twisted Sister, while the Boss Tank picks the boss back up.

Continue damaging the boss and taking care of your Creeping Nightmares stacks. When Cenarius casts Forces of Nightmare again, he will also summon 5 Corrupted Wisps. They need to be killed as soon as possible and the use of personal and healing cooldowns is advised to survive their explosions.

Once they are dead, the Boss Tank needs to move the tank to the top right corner. The Rotten Drake that spawns must be picked up by the Dragon Tank and the Twisted Sister must be picked up by the Add Tank and killed as soon as possible by the raid.

Once the Twisted Sister is dead, the raid needs to focus again on the boss. For the third and final cast of Forces of Nightmare, you will once again get 5 Corrupted Wisps, which you need to kill as soon as possible. The Boss Tank can drag the boss along the top edge of the room to stop the wisps from getting the Aura of Dread Thorns debuff if needed. Afterwards, you will get a Cleansed Ancient that will provide healing for the healers and two Twisted Sisters in the bottom right corner. This is the hard part with a lot of debuffs. Interrupt them properly and kill them one by one.

Once the Twisted Sisters are dead, you will likely have a high amount of Creeping Nightmares stacks (no friendly Wisps in the previous wave). This part of the fight requires very good healing while you push the boss to 35% to trigger Phase Two.

During Phase Two, tank the boss at his spawning location and make sure to place Spear of Nightmares in the top left corner. Each Spear needs to be placed on top of the first one. You will get 4 to 6 in total, so plan cooldowns accordingly.

Reset stacks of Creeping Nightmares once you have Cleansed Ground. Then send an extra healer to help out the Dragon Tank who will likely be struggling to survive by that point.

Other than this, kill the boss as if you were in Heroic mode, with the addition of dodging the regular walls of Beasts of Nightmare that Canerius summons.

1. Boss Tank (shortly after the Nightmare Ancient arrives)
2. Add Tank (Nightmare Ancient about to die)
3. Add Tank (shortly after second cast of Forces of Nightmare; Boss Tank must taunt immediately and Add Tank must run to get the newly spawned Twisted Sister)
4. Boss Tank (after having dragged boss to the top right corner)
5. Add Tank (after killing the Twisted Sister)
6. Boss Tank (while the two Twisted Sisters are up)
7. Boss Tank (shortly before or after killing the two Twisted Sister and right before pushing the boss to Phase 2)

Then, Add Tank taunts the boss to handle the first Spear of Nightmares in Phase Two

It is important to assign beforehand who will cleanse Nightmare Brambles and when. Here is an example of assignment from Serenity.

1. Rogue #1
2. Rogue #2
3. Add Tank with Blessing of Freedom
4. Shadow Priest with Dispersion
5. Rogue #1
6. Rogue #2
7. Whoever can (Hunters with Turtle, Shadow Priest with Dispersion, Paladins with Divine Shield, etc.)
8. Phase Two: whoever can

• 08 Nov. 2016: Added Mythic strategy.

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