Fallen Avatar Strategy/Tactics for Normal/Heroic

Table of Contents

• +Introduction
  • 1. Contents
  • 2. Lore
  • 3. Outline
  • 4. TL;DR
    • 4.1. Tanks
    • 4.2. Healers
    • 4.3. DPS
    • 4.4. Everyone
  • 5. Positioning
  • 6. Bloodlust/Heroism/Time Warp
  • 7. Changelog
• +Abilities
  • 1. Overview
  • 2. Phase One: A Slumber Disturbed
    • 2.1. Fallen Avatar
      • 2.1.1. Touch of Sargeras
      • 2.1.2. Rupture Realities
      • 2.1.3. Shadowy Blades
      • 2.1.4. Unbound Chaos
      • 2.1.5. Desolate
      • 2.1.6. Containment Pylon & Corrupted Matrix
      • 2.1.7. Ripple of Darkness
    • 2.2. Maiden of Valor
      • 2.2.1. Cleansing Protocol
      • 2.2.2. Malfunction
      • 2.2.3. Matrix Empowerment
    • 2.3. Consume
  • 3. Phase Two: An Avatar Awakened
    • 3.1. Dark Mark
    • 3.2. Rupture Realities
    • 3.3. Sear
    • 3.4. Black Winds
    • 3.5. Desolate
  • 4. Changelog
• ×Normal/Heroic Strategy/Tactics
  • 1. Overview
  • 2. Positioning and Strategy
    • 2.1. Phase One
    • 2.2. Phase Two
  • 3. Changelog
• +Mythic Strategy
  • 1. Mythic Mode Abilities
    • 1.1. Tainted Matrix
      • 1.1.1. Tainted Essence
    • 1.2. Shadowy Blades
    • 1.3. Touch of Sargeras
    • 1.4. Rain of the Destroyer
  • 2. Strategy
  • 3. Changelog

General Information

On this page, you will find a working strategy to defeat Fallen Avatar in Tomb of Sargeras for both Normal and Heroic modes, which usually only differ by the tuning of the boss.

Here, we assume that you have read our descriptions of the abilities for this encounter.

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

Potent damage and healing numbers along with strong environmental awareness will be a great asset when approaching this encounter. Prolonging the first phase as long as possible is essential to success, and failure to do so will result in consistent raid wipes. This is a "spread and stack" style fight, meaning that there are a variety of abilities forcing your team to group to split damage, though immediately following this there will be a separate set of mechanics forcing a quick spread. Approach this encounter with patience and persistence, as it can be quite demanding.

Five lines in the floor stem out from the Avatar to glowing yellow circles; these are the positions in which the Fallen Avatar can spawn Containment Pylons. The Fallen Avatar will accrue Energy over time passively, and this cannot be prevented. The Maiden of Valor will also be active at the beginning of the fight. To begin the encounter the ranged and healers should spread across the room, staying somewhere between the pylon spawn locations and the Avatar himself to ensure healing range. This will greatly ease dealing with many of the mechanics of this fight as the area is quite large, which makes positioning conducive to a healthy spread.

The Fallen Avatar cannot be moved by the tanks, and one tank must always be in range to hold him to prevent Ripple of Darkness. The other tank should tank the Maiden of Valor. Whenever a Containment Pylon is active, the Maiden tank must immediately drag the Maiden into the beam to prevent the Avatar from gaining Energy. During this time, the Maiden will gain a stacking damage buff via Matrix Empowerment. Generally, this debuff should not be a major cause for concern and the tank damage should be manageable regardless. Tanks should swap jobs every 2 stacks of Desolate applied by the Avatar. Defensive cooldowns may be required for the second application depending on your class and level of gear.

When the Maiden of Valor reaches 100 Energy and begins her cast of Cleansing Protocol, all DPS should immediately switch and damage her until the shield is broken and a Malfunction is triggered. It is very important that no cleave or multi-DoT is done to the Maiden before this time, and that all DPS immediately switch and scrub DoTs once Malfunction occurs. This is because each Malfunction deals 25% of the Maiden's maximum health, and the Maiden is the only way to prolong the first phase. If the Maiden dies early (before the fourth and final Cleansing Protocol), you will enter the second phase earlier than desired and may result in a raid wipe in Phase Two. Conversely, it is equally important that you do not enter Phase Two (Avatar hitting 100 Energy) before the Maiden dies, as the Avatar will cast Consume and heal for her remaining hitpoints. This will also likely result in a raid wipe in the second phase.

Anyone targeted with Shadowy Blades should make their way to the back and edges of the room to deposit the pools of Lingering Darkness. The blades are denoted by a purple beam connected from the Avatar to their targets. Any players in this path will also take damage once the blades fire. Correct placement is important as they persist for the duration of the phase and can limit your space to deal with other mechanics.

When Touch of Sargeras zones appear, the raid must quickly divide up and stack within them to split the damage. On Heroic difficulty, only 2-3 players will be necessary to safely soak the damage (the more the better), assuming a 20 man raid. Failure to soak even one of these zones will result in a raid wipe, as they will deal massive raid wide Shadow damage if they are left alone. These can be solo soaked with immunities, such as Cloak of Shadows, allowing for the rest of the raid to have higher uptime on the boss.

When Unbound Chaos is cast you should run in a tight circle, minimizing overall movement and potential collateral damage to other players while still ensuring you take no damage from the eruptions. This is another instance where spread positioning minimizes the chance of fatalities.

The final and least threatening of the Avatar's abilities is Rupture Realities. This ability is very telegraphed, having a whopping 7.5-second cast time. The raid should use this time to move as far away as possible, as the damage is dramatically reduced by distance. Players with immunities can opt to stay in for increased damage and uptime, though consider these precious cooldowns may be better spent dealing with other mechanics. Following Rupture Realities the current Avatar tank needs to quickly re-enter melee range to avoid melee deaths and casts of Ripple of Darkness.

The only abilities present from the previous phase are Desolate and Rupture Realities. They are handled in the same ways as before, with the caveat that Rupture Realities now shatters the floor beneath the Avatar. The Fallen Avatar is mobile in this phase and should be dragged to the edge of the platform immediately by the active tank.

The raid will also take constant ticking damage from Sear in this phase. The damage starts low, but each time the platform shatters the Fallen Avatar will inevitably gain stacks of Fel Infusion, permanently increasing the ticking damage for the remainder of the phase. This promotes the ranged and healers to stack near the melee whenever possible to maximize raid healing. This also makes splitting the damage of Dark Mark simpler, which occurs quite often in this phase.

Periodically Black Winds will sweep the platform. They should be avoided at all costs, though there is no specific positioning or strategy for dealing with them.

Each time Rupture Realities shatters the floor, the boss should be moved back onto solid ground as soon as possible to minimize stacks of Fel Infusion. Provoke can be very helpful in this situation. The boss is usually able to cast Rupture Realities about 5 times before no platform remains and a wipe is all but certain.

• 02 Jun. 2017: Guide added.