Darkheart Thicket Dungeon Guide: Location, Boss Strategies, Trash, and Loot

This guide will focus on an extensive overview of the dungeon, providing vital information to increase your chance of completing the key. We will cover all 4 boss fights supported by 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 Mythic+, please see our overviews linked below.

Darkheart Thicket is a max-level dungeon in Val'sharah, Broken Isles. The dungeon is available in both Mythic and Mythic+ mode.

• Important mob: Watch out for Frenzied Nightclaws as they will leap on a random player applying Frantic Rip, a permanent Bleed the effect that is removed instantaneously once the player's health reaches above 90%.
• Interrupt Mindshattered Screecher's Unnerving Screech.
• If you have Poison removal, use it for Dreadsoul Prisoner's Nightmare Toxin, triggering its follow-up effect Nightmare Eruption.
• Interrupt Dreadsoul Ruiner's Despair cast while dodging the Star Shower ground effect.
• Avoid getting hit by Crazed Razorbeak's Propelling Charge.
• Important mob: Festerhide Grizzly is the hardest non-boss-enemy in this area due to its Maddening Roar AoE damage ability, which is also a stackable debuff; the longer you fight it, the harder it becomes to survive. In addition, they will cast Spew Corruption, spawning 3 Nightmare Abominations which leave corruption pools on the ground (you don't have to kill them just use crowd-control abilities to get away from them and focus the Festerhide Grizzly).

When fighting Archdruid Glaidalis, beware of its Grievous Leap, it will always target the furthest target and apply Grievous Tear Bleed effect. In addition, avoid its Primal Rampage frontal while being mindful of its Nightmare Abominations fixate + avoiding the Nightfall puddles. More information, down below:

• Avoid being hit by the Primal Rampage.
• Use defensive cooldowns during Grievous Tear Bleed effect.
• Cleave down the Nightmare Abominations while avoiding the Nightfall ground puddles.

• Tank Archdruid Glaidalis closer to the Nightmare Abominations to allow your party to "cleave".
• Side-step the Primal Rampage frontal.

• Top up any target who has Grievous Tear, up to 90% HP.

• Focus on killing first Rotheart Dryads due to their Poison Spear ability leaving a Poison effect on a random member from your party. In addition, they will occasionally swap positions , making it much harder to stack together as they can easily attack from range with Throw Spear.
• Important mob: Make sure to nuke down any Rotheart Keepers first due to its Corrupted Infusion healing abilities. In addition, they will continuously spawn Vile Mushrooms, which will be lethal on the higher-end keys; avoid staying in them!
• Sidestep the Vilethorn Blossom's Root Burst ground effect.
• Interrupt Nightmare Dweller's Tormenting Eye to prevent you from being Tormenting Feared (you can dispel it). Any other form of crowd-control works if you lack the interrupts.

Your main focus during the Oakheart boss encounter is to stay healthy before each Shattered Earth AoE damage/knockback ability. In addition to that, if you get Strangling Roots root underneath you, avoid stepping on it (you will take periodically take damage if rooted); you must shift your damage to break the rooted player and, therefore, slow down the boss fight. Avoid staying in front of the tank so the Nightmare Breath won't hit you and focus cleave any nearby Vilethorn Sapplings that come after the Uproot cast. The more Strangling Roots you have the more Vilethorn Sapplings there will be each time Uproot has been cast. They will do melee attacks exclusively to your tank and are otherwise harmless. More information down below:

• Use defensive cooldowns if you have low HP before each Shattered Earth cast.
• Avoid stepping into any active Strangling Roots.
• Never stay on top of your tank, or else you will be hit with Nightmare Breath.
• Cleave any existing Vilethorn Sapplings while focusing the boss.

• Beware how you face the boss to avoid unnecessary deaths before each Nightmare Breath.
• Collect the Vilethorn Sapplings as soon as they spawn.
• Use your major defensive cooldowns during Crushing Grip.

• Top-up your party members before each Shattered Earth.
• Use your external cooldowns on your tank during Crushing Grip.

• Beware when you engage any Hatespawn Slimes as they will do damage upon death with - Dreadburst. Killing them all simultaneously requires you to pre-use defensive cooldowns to stay healthy.
• Do not step over any nearby Corrupted Dragon Egg or else it will spawn Hateful Whelpling. Although they only do melee attacks and are not dangerous, they will still slow down your run. Side note: if any mob gets in contract with them, it will also trigger and spawn Hatespawn Whelpling.
• Avoid the Bloodtainted Fury's Blood Assault frontal and step aside from any nearby Blood Bomb. Once you defeat it, it will trigger Dispersion, spawning 4 Bloodtainted Bursters. Interrupt their Bloodbolt and stop the Blood Metamorphosis or else they will turn back to Bloodtainted Fury.

Dresaron is fairly simple fight in which you must avoid the Breath of Corruption frontal (it goes on the tank), while making sure you have a good amount of health before each Earthshaking Roar. In addition, after each Earthshaking Roar, Falling Rocks will appear on a random player; make sure to avoid staying in them to prevent you from taking any unnecessary damage. At last, during Down Draft, you will be pushed back onto any existing Corrupted Dragon Eggs, so here will be the perfect opportunity to use any movement speed increase effects to prevent you from triggering the eggs and spawning Hatespawn Whelplings. More information down below:

• Avoid the Breath of Corruption frontal, and don't stack in front of the tank.
• Pre-use defensive cooldowns if you have low HP before each Earthshaking Roar.
• Move out of the Falling Rocks as quickly as you can.
• Use bonus movement-speed abilities during each Down Draft to avoid breaking any Corrupted Dragon Eggs and thus spawning Hatespawn Whelplings.

• Stay away from your team before each Breath of Corruption frontal.
• If any Hatespawn Whelplings spawn, collect the aggro and stack them under the boss to enable cleaving.

• Top-up every player before each Earthshaking Roar.

• Interrupt Dreadfire Imp's Dread Inferno cast. If you have any spare kicks, you can use them for their Firebolt.
• Interrupt Taintheart Summoner's Shadow Bolt and be mindful of the Curse of Isolation. Although you can interrupt the curse, if there are no allies around you, no one takes damage!
• Beware of Taintheart Stalker's Dark Hunt, as he will randomly teleport and damage a random member of your party.
• Important mob: Focus on killing any Tormented Bloodseekers due to their Darksoul Bite ability, leaving multiple applications of the Disease effect on your tank - Darksoul Drain.
• At last, Taintheart Deadeye will cast Scorching Shot and Shoot on a random target when out of melee. If they are in melee, you can only expect them to auto-attack your tank and occasionally cast Shadow Decoy, spawning Deadeye Decoy trying to "trick" you (ignore the spawn).

Throughout the fight, Shade of Xavius will cast Nightmare Bolt to a random target and select a Waking Nightmare target (stay close to each other to prevent them from getting feared if the Waking Nightmare target is all by himself; they will get feared). Being stacked has its disadvantages , such as Induced Paranoia effect, in which case you have to swiftly react and avoid the targeted person. At last, be aware that Apocalyptic Nightmare will be cast throughout the fight, all together with Feed on the Weak, in which case, use personal defensive! More information down below:

• Use defensives during Feed on the Weak cast.
• Stay away from anyone that gets the Induced Paranoia debuff.
• Stay close enough to each other so you can react to Waking Nightmare debuff, this way you will prevent the person from getting feared!
• Be mindful of Apocalyptic Nightmare ground animation.

• Use personal defensives during the Festering Rip tank buster ability.

• Top everyone up before each Apocalyptic Nightmare cast.
• Spot-heal the Feed on the Weak channel cast.

Type	Item	Stats
Plate Wrist	Thornscar Wristguards	Mastery/Crit
Mail Hands	Gloves of Wretched Lesions	Haste/Mastery
Cloth Waist	Poisonroot Belt	Mastery/Crit
Leather Boots	Grove Darkener's Treads	Mastery/Vers
Ring	Arch-Druid's Tainted Seal	Mastery/Haste
Trinket	Corrupted Starlight	Mastery

Type	Item	Stats
1H Mace	Corrupted Knot	Str, Vers/Mastery
Mail Wrist	Blighted Grasp Bracers	Vers/Haste
Cloth Legs	Oakheart's Trunkwarmers	Vers/Haste
Ring	Band of Twisted Bark	Crit/Mastery
Trinket	Oakheart's Gnarled Root	Vers

Type	Item	Stats
Neck	Chain of the Green Flight	Mastery/Crit
Cloth Shoulder	Slipstream Shoulderpads	Haste/Mastery
Leather Wrist	Thermal Bindings	Mastery/Crit
Plate Waist	Greatbelt of Disruption	Vers/Mastery
Mail Boots	Whelp Handler's Lined Boots	Mastery/Haste
Trinket	Nightmare Egg Shell	Agi

Type	Item	Stats
Plate Shoulder	Mantle of the Resolute Champion	Crit/Vers
Back	Cloak of Fading Echoes	Crit/Haste
Mail Chest	Dream Bolstered Chestguard	Mastery/Crit
Leather Hands	Gloves of Vile Defiance	Haste/Mastery
Cloth Boots	Paranoid Sprinters	Crit/Mastery
Trinket	Writhing Heart of Darkness	Crit

There are 6 total achievements to obtain in Darkheart Thicket:

Achievement	Criteria
Darkheart Thicket	Defeat the Shade of Xavius in Darkheart Thicket.
Heroic: Darkheart Thicket	Defeat the Shade of Xavius in Darkheart Thicket on Heroic difficulty or higher.
Mythic: Darkheart Thicket	Defeat the Shade of Xavius in Darkheart Thicket on Mythic difficulty.
Keystone Hero: Darkheart Thicket	Complete Darkheart Thicket at Mythic Level 20 or higher, within the time limit.
Burning Down the House	Defeat the Shade of Xavius while he has 10 stacks of Apocalyptic Empowerment in Darkheart Thicket on Mythic difficulty.
Egg-cellent!	Defeat Dresaron after slaying the Hateful Abomination in Darkheart Thicket on Mythic difficulty.