Dark Inquisitor Xanesh Tactics and Strategy guide

Before you start reading the strategy, we advise you to look at the abilities of Xanesh, in our encounter journal pages.

• This is a single-phase fight during which you fight a single target, Xanesh.
• Aside from dealing with a few standard abilities, the raid will have to "kick" around a ball, making sure that it reaches its target without touching a number of other obstacles (which would lead to a wipe).

• Perform a tank swap to deal with the debuff from Abyssal Strike.
  • Make sure not get knocked back off the arena when this ability is used.
• Move the boss away from the place where you were tanking him when Soul Flay is cast, to ensure you are as far away as reasonably possible from the Flayed Soul images when they explode.

• Be prepared for the raid-wide damage from Anguish, as well as for any unexpected bursts of damage on players hit by avoidable damage ( Torment or the Void Orb, notably).

• DPS Xanesh.

• Designated players soak the void zones from Void Ritual, and then intercept and redirect the Void Orb to the portal.
• Anyone not involved in redirecting the Void Orb must make sure not to come in contact with it at any point.
• After Soul Flay is cast, move away from the location where you were standing, so that the Flayed Soul does not damage you too much when it explodes.
• On Heroic mode, avoid coming in contact with the radius of the Obelisks.

This is a single-phase fight, during which the only target you will have to attack is Xanesh. Queen Azshara is present in the center of the room throughout the fight, but she cannot be attacked and does not need to be tanked.

For a full list of the abilities used in this phase, check out our dedicated Dark Inquisitor Xanesh Encounter Journal page.

As stated, Queen Azshara is present at the center of the encounter space throughout the fight. She deals constant raid-wide damage through Anguish, and from her Torment is regularly cast, which forms a pattern of void zones and safe zones going outwards towards the edges of the arena.

If not evident from the above description, the Void Orb mini-game mechanics work as follows.

• The boss casts Void Ritual, which creates 3 large void zones that must be soaked by one player each.
  • Failure to soak a void zone will result in a wipe.
• Players who soak a Void Ritual void zone receive the Voidwoken debuff.
  • This reduces their damage done by 99% and allows them to redirect Void Orbs for 40 seconds.
  • Once this debuff expires, the players are debuffed with Void-Touched for 3 minutes, which deals low ticking damage and prevents them from being Voidwoken during this time.
• Shortly after these void zones are soaked, a Void Orb ball appears and starts moving in a random direction. A portal will also appear at a location in the arena, which marks the "goal" into which the "ball" must be directed.
• When a Voidwoken player comes in contact with the ball, the ball is redirected to move in the direction this player was facing.
• If the ball hits the walls of the arena, Queen Azshara, or one of the obelisks present, it will deal high raid-wide damage and buff the boss.
• If the ball comes in contact with a non-Voidwoken player, it deals high damage to this player knocks them back.
• If the ball enters the goal, it despawns and the ability is essentially finished.

It is worth noting that on Heroic mode, Voidwoken players gain a stack of Imminent Doom each time they come in contact with a ball. This lasts 6 seconds, and if the players reach 4 stacks they instantly die.

There are two main parts of the strategy for this fight. The first concerns dealing with Xanesh and all her abilities, while the second is all about Void Orb management.

• Tanks should perform regular tank swaps to deal with the boss's Abyssal Strike ability. Make sure to position in such a way as not to be knocked back off the arena.
• All players must beware not to stand in the void zones that regularly appear, due to the Torment ability. Moving into the safe zones that are formed is crucial.
• On Heroic mode, players must also make sure not to enter the radius of any Obelisk (from Summon Ritual Obelisk), as this deals damage and slows the player.

In addition to this, healers will have to contend with the constant raid-wide damage from Anguish.

As soon as the boss casts Soul Flay, targeted players should move away from the Flayed Soul that is created at their location, so as to be as far from it as possible when it explodes, thus reducing the damage taken.

Even though only players affected by Soul Flay are at risk of taking damage (and each player only from the Flayed Soul created by them), it can be easiest to simply have the entire raid stand together (all the time, since nothing requires spread out, but particularly when Soul Flay is about to be cast), and then move away together to a new location, far enough away from where all the Flayed Souls spawned.

Because of the Void-Touched debuff, you cannot have a single group of players handling the Void Orbs throughout the fight, so most of the DPS players will eventually have to participate.

The way to handle the ability is simple: have the players who soaked the void zones created by Void Ritual intercept the Void Orb and redirect it to the portal. In doing so, they basically need to place their characters in its path, making sure to face the direction where they wish the orb to go. The orb must make it to the portal without touching the sides of the arena, Queen Azshara in the center, or any of the Obelisks (in Heroic mode).

Note that there are no "Rocket League"-like physics involved, and you do not need to impart any momentum to the Void Orb. You can simply stand still and face the correct way and let it touch you.

It is possible for a single player to handle the Void Orb alone. This is possible even on Heroic mode, where subsequent touches of the Void Orb debuff the player with Imminent Doom, by simply making sure to leave at least a 6-second window between the touches, to prevent accumulating 4 stacks. Note that the current Encounter Journal claims the duration of Imminent Doom to be 12 seconds, in which case a single player cannot perform the task on Heroic mode.

3 players must soak Void Ritual each time, and doing so debuffs the players to do 99% reduced damage for 40 seconds. The only benefit we see to having fewer than 3 players actively handle the Void Orbs is to have some healers help soak Void Ritual (so that no additional DPS players are unable to damage the boss), and then simply having the healers stand still and focus on healing while the DPS player(s) handle the Void Orb.