Gul'dan Abilities

Table of Contents

• +Introduction
  • 1. Contents
  • 2. Lore
  • 3. Outline
  • 4. TL;DR
    • 4.1. Tanks
    • 4.2. Healers
    • 4.3. DPS
  • 5. Bloodlust/Heroism/Time Warp
  • 6. Changelog
• ×Abilities
  • 1. Outline
  • 2. Phase One: The Council of Elders
    • 2.1. The Eye of Aman'Thul
    • 2.2. Liquid Hellfire
    • 2.3. Fel Efflux
    • 2.4. Hand of Gul'dan
      • 2.4.1. Fel Lord Kuraz'mal
      • 2.4.2. D'zorykx the Trapper
      • 2.4.3. Inquisitor Vethriz
  • 3. Phase Two: The Ritual of Aman'Thul
    • 3.1. The Eye of Aman'Thul
    • 3.2. Liquid Hellfire
      • 3.2.1. Empowerment
    • 3.3. Bonds of Fel
      • 3.3.1. Empowerment
    • 3.4. Eye of Gul'dan
      • 3.4.1. Empowerment
    • 3.5. Hand of Gul'dan
    • 3.6. Fel Scythe
  • 4. Phase Three: The Master's Power
    • 4.1. Eye of Gul'dan
    • 4.2. Storm of the Destroyer
    • 4.3. Well of Souls
      • 4.3.1. Soul Siphon
      • 4.3.2. Soul Corrosion
      • 4.3.3. Black Harvest
      • 4.3.4. Flames of Sargeras
    • 4.4. Fel Scythe
• +Normal/Heroic Strategy/Tactics
  • 1. Phase One: The Council of Elders
  • 2. Phase Two: The Ritual of Aman'thul
  • 3. Phase Three: The Master's Power
  • 4. Changelog

General Information

On this page, we list all the abilities from the Gul'dan encounter in The Nighthold. The idea is to give you a solid understanding of the encounter before you read the strategy.

If you are already familiar with the encounter, then you can skip to the strategy and tactics page or access any other page of the guide by using the table of contents on the right.

Gul'dan is a 3-phase encounter that tests all aspects of a raid groups skills and coordination. It will take an exceptional group to bring him down.

During this phase Gul'dan is locked inside the Eye of Aman'Thul while he summons his demonic forces. Players will take on his Shadow Council in his place while he basks in the power of the Eye of Aman'Thul. Players will be granted increased abilities based on their roles.

Resonant Barrier channels the power of the Nightwell into a protective barrier, absorbing all damage taken for 6 seconds.

Scattering Field channels the power of the Nightwell into a protective dome, absorbing 50% of Fire damage taken up to a certain amount, split between all allies within 10 yards.

Time Dilation increases your relative time by 30%, bolstering your casting, movement, and attack speed by an equal amount while decreasing your cooldowns and periodic tickrate by 30%. Receiving Fire damage will cancel the effect.

Liquid Hellfire is a massive orb of Fel Fire that splashes down at a target's location, inflicting heavy Fire damage which decreases based on distance.

Fel Efflux channels Fel energy, inflicting moderate Fire damage every half second to everyone within the energy beam.

Hand of Gul'dan calls down a meteor, summoning a powerful demonic lieutenant at the location and inflicting heavy Shadow damage to anyone caught within.

The Fel Lord conjures Fel Obelisks to impale targets, which deal moderate Fire damage and stun anyone hit, along with moderate Physical damage every half second for 7 seconds. He will also cast the Shatter Essence ability on the tank, dealing massive Fire damage.

The Trapper will periodically cast Anguished Spirits, dealing Shadow damage to targets. He will also spawn a Soul Vortex on the current tank, trapping them and dealing massive damage that increases with each stack and lasts for 30 seconds.

The Inquisitor will afflict random enemies with Drain periodically. He will also spawn nearby Gaze of Vethrizs that will channel energy beams dealing damage to anyone caught in them. Dark Blast strikes targets for light Shadow damage. He will occasionally Shadowblink to a new location.

This time, the raid will engage Gul'dan directly while he continues to occasionally summon demonic allies. He will still draw power from the Eye of Aman'Thul, and players will be granted increased abilities based on their roles. At 85%, 70%, and 55%, Gul'dan will tap into the power of the Eye of Aman'Thul, empowering his abilities further.

Resonant Barrier channels the power of the Nightwell into a protective barrier, absorbing all damage taken for 6 seconds.

Scattering Field channels the power of the Nightwell into a protective dome, absorbing 50% of Fire damage taken up to a certain amount, split between all allies within 10 yards.

Time Dilation increases your relative time by 30%, bolstering your casting, movement, and attack speed by an equal amount while decreasing your cooldowns and periodic tickrate by 30%. Receiving Fire damage will cancel the effect.

Liquid Hellfire is a massive orb of Fel Fire that splashes down at a target's location, inflicting heavy Fire damage which decreases based on distance.

Empowered Liquid Hellfire also sets the ground ablaze with Fel flames for 3 minutes, dealing Fire damage to anyone who enters.

Bonds of Fel chains a target to a location, snaring them by 50% and inflicting Fire damage every half second. When broken, the bond deals massive Fire damage split between everyone within 5 yards of the bound target.

The bound target is now knocked back and snared for 70%.

Eye of Gul'dan creates several Eyes of Gul'dan, which channel shadowy energy at an enemy, inflicting moderate Shadow damage to all enemies within 8 yards of the target. The damage increases by 2% for every cast. If the Eye reaches full power, it will cast Duplicate, creating a copy of itself, and then move to a new location.

The eyes now channel fiery energy and follow the target with the highest threat.

Hand of Gul'dan calls down a demonic meteor, summoning a powerful Dreadlord at the location and inflicting heavy Shadow damage to anyone caught within. The Dreadlords will cast Carrion Wave, which can be interrupted. Each time they are interrupted, they gain a stack of Fervor, increasing their damage done and attack speed by 25%.

Fel Scythe is cast whenever a target comes within 2 yards of the current tank. Gul'dan builds Fel Energy over time. The scythe deals heavy Fire damage split between both targets and consumes all of his current Fel Energy, increasing the damage by 5% for each point of Fel Energy consumed. If Gul'dan reaches full Energy, he will cast Fel Scythe immediately. Each successive cast grants Gul'dan Fury of the Fel, increasing his attack speed by 15% for 10 seconds. This effect stacks.

At 40% health, Gul'dan harnesses the power of the Eye of Aman'thul to gain new and empowered abilities. The players no longer receive the power of the Eye of Aman'Thul in this phase.

Empowered Eye of Gul'dan creates several Eyes of Gul'dan, which channel fiery energy at an enemy, inflicting moderate Fire damage to all enemies within 8 yards of the target. The damage increases by 2% for every cast. If the Eye reaches full power, it will cast Duplicate, creating a copy of itself, and then move to a new location. The Eyes follow the target with the highest threat.

Storm of the Destroyer deals sequential Shadow damage to targets within sequential radii, with the damage and radius of each instance increasing with each pulse. The first pulse deals damage to targets within 10 yards, followed by targets within 20 yards, followed by targets within 30 yards, and finally to targets within 60 yards.

Well of Souls is summoned, holding fragments of the players' souls. Standing in the Well inflicts Shadow damage every second and causes enemies to ignore you.

Soul Siphon is cast periodically, inflicting light Shadow damage and applying a healing absorb to the target. This adds an additional Soul Fragment to the Well of Souls.

Every 3 seconds a player is standing in the Well of Souls, a Soul Fragment escapes and applies Soul Corrosion. This deals Shadow damage to the player and everyone within 5 yards, and deals Shadow damage every second for 3 minutes, increasing with each stack.

Black Harvest inflicts Shadow damage every 2 seconds, expelling all stored souls within the Well of Souls over 4 seconds. Each Soul Fragment that escapes deals moderate Shadow damage to all players. When the Well of Souls is full, any newly added souls will erupt instantly.

Flames of Sargeras encompasses a target in flames after 3 seconds. Every second they burn they explode light Fire damage, and deal additional moderate Fire damage to anyone within 8 yards. Struck targets leave residual embers, exploding for moderate Fire damage within 5 yards and creating a patch of Desolate Ground. Desolate Ground inflicts Fire damage every second to anyone caught within.

Fel Scythe is cast whenever a target comes within 2 yards of the current tank. Gul'dan builds Fel Energy over time. The scythe deals heavy Fire damage split between both targets and consumes all of his current Fel Energy, increasing the damage by 5% for each point of Fel Energy consumed. If Gul'dan reaches full Energy, he will cast Fel Scythe immediately. Each successive cast grants Gul'dan Fury of the Fel, increasing his attack speed by 15% for 10 seconds. This effect stacks.