Darkflame Cleft Dungeon Guide: Location, Boss Strategies, and Trash

Darkflame Cleft is a max-level dungeon located on The Ringing Deeps, Khaz Algar.

This guide will be an extensive overview of the dungeon, providing vital information on how to complete it across all difficulties. We will cover all 4 Boss fights, as well as the most notable trash enemies in the dungeon and their important abilities. If you would like to learn about the rest of the dungeons in The War Within Season 2, please see our overviews linked below. Otherwise, without further ado, let us begin!

• Your tank must pay attention to the stackable Crude Weapons's Bleed effect coming from Menial Laborer.
• Run away from Rank Overseer's Wild Wallop. Be mindful of the number of mobs you are pulling with him due to his Overpowering Roar buff to nearby enemies.
• PRIORITY MOB Interrupt Wicklighter Bolt coming from Royal Wicklighter. In addition, dispel Flashpoint as quickly as you can.
• Lowly Moleherd is the only static mob in this area, making him hard to group on top of the existing pack. They will Throw Rock on random members of your party outside of melee (stack together on top of him!). Use crowd-control abilities to stop its Pack Moles which Enrages Mole Frenzys.
• Speaking about Pack Moles, they will be harmless outside of their Nasty Nibble Disease debuff on your tank.

• Dodge the Reckless Charge and its follow-up effect - Cave-In. Both of those abilities are fatal to Menial Laborers.
• When Ol' Waxbeard casts 'Kol'-to-Arms, avoid being hit by the High Speed Collision minecart.
• When Underhanded Track-tics is being cast, focus on the dynamite laden cart before it explodes and wipes your team.

• Use your active mitigation when Ol' Waxbeard is casting Rock Buster on you.
• Gather all Menial Laborers under the boss to enable your party to effectively cleave them.

• Use your healing cooldowns when Luring Candleflame is cast.

• Step away from the Surging Flame AoE ability and use defensives when Quenching Blast is cast (it does group-wide damage).
• Interrupt Blazing Fiend's Explosive Flame cast.

• Avoid being hit by the ground fire swirlies coming from Wicklighter Barrage and instead light up as many candles as you can.
• Don't stay in fire patches coming from Incite Flames.
• When Blazikon reaches 100 energy, he will begin to cast, Enkindling Inferno, make sure to stay in the safe spot to avoid further damage.
• If you are being targeted by Extinguishing Gust use it to exstinguish the active candles.

• Make sure to be present in melee at all times to avoid Blazikon from casting Blazing Storms.

• Make sure everyone is healthy before each Dousing Breath cast as it does group-wide damage.

• Interrupt Kobold Flametender's Flame Bolt.
• Use defensive when Torchsnarl targets you with One-Hand Headlock.
• Avoid the Ceaseless Flame frontal from Sootsnout and interrupt as many Candleflame Bolts as you can.

• The whole fight evolves around Eerie Molds; the longer they stay active the more damage your party will take. It is your goal to destroy as many of them as possible when the boss targets you with either Darkflame Pickaxe or Throw Darkflame. Make sure to avoid the Molten Wax lingering ichor once you destroy them!
• Don't stay too close to the wax statues, otherwise you will trigger the Cursed Wax effect.
• Interrupt The Candle King's Paranoid Mind at all times.

• Move the The Candle King away from any existing Molten Wax lingering ground ichors.

• If multiple wax statues live for a long time, you will have to use your major cooldowns to keep your team alive!

Once you defeat Blazikon, you will trigger the Push the Cart event, which will introduce you to the basics you need to defeat the final boss of the dungeon - The Darkness. Collect any nearby lights to keep the cart pushing to its final destination.

• Move away from the Skittering Darkness's Suffocating Darkness, triggering upon their death.
• Use your disturb effects to stop Shuffling Horror from draining the candle life out of your cart with Drain Light.
• Your tank must pay attention to its Creeping Shadow stacks coming from Corridor Creeper.

Before engaging the boss, you will do a final event dropping its health by throwing dynamite at him. The more accurate you are, the lower the health it will be at its final stage before engaging him.

The whole boss fight relies on you managing the Candlelight by doing your best to avoid it being hit by any of the boss's abilities. This way, you don't need to refresh its duration as often and spend your time actively damaging the boss.

• Make sure to be close to the Candlelight to avoid having Smothering Shadows debuff. Once the Candlelight is depleted, your party will suffer from Rising Gloom.
• If you are targeted by Shadowblast, use a defensive and move away from your group to avoid "clipping" them.
• Use your special action button to move away the Candlelight when The Darkness is casting Umbral Slash.
• Use defensive cooldowns during Eternal Darkness cast.
• Interrupt Call Darkspawn cast as quickly as you can.

• Gather any existing Wriggling Darkspawns and stack them under the boss.

• Be proactive at helping your team recharge the Candlelight.
• Use your major healing cooldowns during each Eternal Darkness.

Type	Item	Stats
1H Axe	Rail Rider's Bisector	Str, Mastery/Vers
Off-Hand	Arcane Scuttle	Vers/Crit
Mail Shoulder	Mole Knight's Grimemail	Vers/Haste
Ring	Wick's Golden Loop	Haste/Vers
Trinket	Conductor's Wax Whistle	Agi

Type	Item	Stats
Plate Head	Waxsteel Greathelm	Haste/Vers
Neck	Flickering Glowtorc	Mastery/Crit
Cloth Wrist	Gleamwax Shackles	Mastery/Crit
Leather Hands	Shimmering Glimclaws	Haste/Mastery
Mail Waist	Scent-Strong Candlecord	Haste/Vers
Trinket	Carved Blazikon Wax	Int

Type	Item	Stats
1H Axe	Dark Zone Headtaker	Mastery/Crit
Back	Candlebearer's Shroud	Vers/Crit
Cloth Hands	King's Malicious Clutches	Crit/Haste
Leather Waist	Gleamkeeper's Buckle	Crit/Mastery
Mail Feet	Gloomstomper's Sabatons	Mastery/Haste
Trinket	Burin of the Candle King	Int

Type	Item	Stats
Polearm	Poleaxe of Somber Fate	Mastery/Haste
Dagger	Crepuscular Carver	Mastery/Haste
Mail Head	Gloaming Visage	Mastery/Vers
Cloth Shoulder	Photophobic Amice	Vers/Mastery
Plate Hands	Caliginous Claspers	Vers/Haste
Trinket	Remnant of Darkness	Special effects
Rare Mount	Wick's Lead	-

There are 4 total achievements to obtain in Darkflame Cleft:

Achievement	Criteria
Darkflame Cleft	Defeat The Darkness in Darkflame Cleft.
Heroic: Darkflame Cleft	Defeat The Darkness in Darkflame Cleft on Heroic difficulty or higher.
Mythic: Darkflame Cleft	Defeat The Darkness in Darkflame Cleft on Mythic or Mythic Keystone difficulty.
Keystone Hero: Darkflame Cleft	Complete Darkflame Cleft at Mythic Level 10 or higher, within the time limit.