Shadow-Lord Iskar Detailed Strategy Guide (Heroic+Mythic Modes included)

Table of Contents

• +1. General Information
  • 1.1. LFR Difficulty
  • 1.2. Normal, Heroic, and Mythic Difficulty
  • 1.3. Enrage Timer
• 2. Overview of the Fight
• +3. Summing Things Up
  • 3.1. Tanks
  • 3.2. Healers
  • 3.3. DPS
  • 3.4. Everyone
• +4. Preliminary Mentions
  • 4.1. Eye of Anzu
  • 4.2. The Fighting Area
• +5. Phase One
  • 5.1. Abilities
  • 5.2. Strategy
    • 5.2.1. Positioning and Tanking
    • 5.2.2. Dealing with Abilities
• +6. Phase Two
  • 6.1. Abilities
  • 6.2. Strategy
    • 6.2.1. Positioning and Tanking
    • 6.2.2. General Phase Two Tactics
    • 6.2.3. First Phase Two
    • 6.2.4. Second Phase Two
    • 6.2.5. Third Phase Two
• 7. When to Use Heroism/Bloodlust/Time Warp
• 8. When to Use Legendary Rings
• 9. Learning the Fight
• +10. Mythic Mode
  • 10.1. Differences From Normal/Heroic Mode
  • 10.2. Strategy
• +11. Loot
  • 11.1. Armor
  • 11.2. Weapons
  • 11.3. Amulets, Cloaks, Rings, and Trinkets
• 12. Concluding Remarks
• 13. Changelog

Introduction

This guide is intended to provide a comprehensive description of the encounter with Shadow-Lord Iskar in Hellfire Citadel. It is targeted at anyone who desires to understand the fight mechanics.

This guide is updated for World of Warcraft WoD 6.2.

Shadow-Lord Iskar is a boss encounter in the Hellfire Citadel raid instance. This fight revolves around a creative ability that allows designated raid members to control parts of the encounter. Additionally, your raid will also face an array of positioning and movement challenges.

This guide is written and maintained by Azortharion, a top Hunter with 6 years of raiding experience, who currently raids in Ðanish Terrace, a world top 20 guild.

For the Looking for Raid version of the fight, we provide you with a special LFR guide. This will tell you everything you need to know in order to complete the encounter, in a quick and concise way.

This main part of this guide covers both the Normal and Heroic versions of the encounter, as far as mechanics and general strategy is concerned. The only difference between these two modes is found in the tuning, with Heroic being more difficult.

When we speak of extreme situations (such as the difficulty of a soft enrage timer, or damage from a certain source being too high to survive), we mostly refer to Heroic mode.

In addition to this, we have a specific Mythic mode section, where we present all the differences between Normal/Heroic and Mythic, as well as the strategy to defeat the Mythic encounter.

This fight has a hard enrage timer of 8 minutes.

Shadow-Lord Iskar is a two-phase encounter, with the two phases alternating back and forth, three times. Phase One is always the same, while each instance of Phase Two has some variations.

The end of Phase One is determined by Iskar's health, each time. Thus, Phase One ends when Iskar reaches 70%, 45%, and 20% health, respectively. At each of these health thresholds, Iskar will enter Phase Two for 40 seconds.

During Phase One, the raid faces Iskar alone. During Phase Two, a number of adds spawn, which your raid has to deal with. Each Phase Two that your raid is in (first, second, or third) determines the adds that you will face. This works in a progressive manner, with each new Phase Two adding an additional add for your raid to face in addition to the other adds faced during previous instances of Phase Two.

In this section, we will very briefly summarise what the players belonging to each of the three roles have to do during this fight. This is by no means meant to provide sufficient information to master the encounter, and it is only supposed to give you a very rough idea of what to watch out for.

• During Phase One, one tank should take Shadow-Lord Iskar, while the other tank has no specific tasks to perform.
• During Phase Two, one tank should handle the Illusionary Outcasts, while the other tank should handle the other adds.

• While holding the Eye of Anzu
  • dispel Fel Bomb;
  • interrupt Fel Conduit, if your class has an interrupt.
• Beware of the very high damage players struck by Fel Chakram take.
• Players affected by Phantasmal Wounds can be healed to 90% of their health in order to remove the debuff. This is something you will have to do whenever the Eye of Anzu is not used to remove the debuff (by having it passed to the affected players).

• During Phase One, DPS Shadow-Lord Iskar.
• During Phase Two, DPS down the Corrupted Talonpriest as quickly as possible, ideally before the phase ends. The next add in priority is the Shadowfel Warden (during the second and third Phase Two iterations), and finally the Fel Raven. Then, you should DPS down the other adds in each Phase Two as quickly as possible.
• On Mythic mode, the Phantasmal Resonance adds are the top priority in each Phase Two, and they must be burst down very quickly.

• Correctly manage the Eye of Anzu
  • Pass the it to raid members affected by Phantasmal Winds and Phantasmal Wounds.
  • Pass it to healers during the second Phase Two so that they can dispel Fel Conduit and Fel Bombs.
  • Pass it to the Fel Raven's current tank right before it casts Phantasmal Corruption on them.
• Stand in a line in front of or behind the player carrying the Eye of Anzu when Focused Blast is cast in order to split the damage.
• Run out of the raid and far away from everyone else when targeted by Fel Chakram.
• Kite the fire trail away from other raid members when targeted by Fel Incineration.
• On Mythic mode, be extremely careful when targeted by Chains of Despair. You will have to follow the instructions and communicate with your allies in order to break the chain connecting you with your partner, all while making sure not to move too close to anyone who is not your partner.

Eye of Anzu is a glowing orb that is located on the ground, in front of the boss. It can be picked up by getting close to it and right-clicking on it. If it is not picked up at all, it deals increasing Fire damage over time to everyone in the raid. When carrying the Eye of Anzu, raid members gain the ability to overcome a number of mechanics in different ways. By pressing their Extra Action Button while targeting a fellow raid member, the Eye of Anzu can be passed around from raid member to raid member. Only one raid member can hold the Eye of Anzu at a time.

Raid members holding the Eye of Anzu gain the Radiance of Anzu debuff. It deals low Fire damage every 2.5 seconds.

The raid will fight Iskar and the rest of the mobs in a rectangular room. The only thing worth noting here is that the room is open at the opposite end from where your raid first enters, and that players can fall to their deaths if they walk off the edge of the room. There is also an ability in the fight that pushes players back, which can also lead to them falling off the edge.

Phase One is always the same. Phase One ends when Iskar reaches 70%, 45%, and 20% health, respectively.

During Phase One, your raid only faces Shadow-Lord Iskar. He uses the following abilities.

• Fel Chakram is an ability that Shadow-Lord Iskar regularly uses. He targets 3 random raid members and debuffs them with Fel Chakram. After about 3 seconds, he throws a projectile at each one of these players which deals moderate Fire damage to all raid members it comes in contact with. Additionally, the targeted raid members deal damage in an area around them when they are hit by the projectile.
• Phantasmal Winds is an ability that Shadow-Lord Iskar regularly uses. He targets a random third of the raid and debuffs them with Phantasmal Winds. The debuff pushes the targeted raid members towards the edge of the room, and may push them off the edge and to their deaths. Raid members can initially run against the winds and avoid being pushed off, but the pushback gets progressively stronger the longer the debuff is active. Holding the Eye of Anzu clears the debuff instantly.
• Phantasmal Wounds is an ability that Shadow-Lord Iskar regularly uses. He targets a number of raid members and debuffs them with Phantasmal Wounds. It deals moderate Shadow damage once, and then deals further moderate Shadow damage every 2 seconds until the targeted raid members are healed to 90% of their health, at which point the debuff disappears. Holding the Eye of Anzu also clears the debuff instantly.
• Fel Incineration is an ability that Shadow-Lord Iskar regularly uses. He targets a random raid member and debuffs them with Fel Incineration. This causes the targeted player to drop a continuous trail of fire on the ground for a few seconds. Any players standing in the fire take heavy Fire damage every 1.5 seconds.

The Phase One strategy is fairly straightforward. Your raid will have to do as much DPS as possible to Iskar while dealing with the abilities he uses.

We recommend stacking up behind the boss and fairly far away from the side of the room. This is because players could fall off the edge due to Phantasmal Winds pushing them back. Having everyone stacked behind the boss means that players affected by Fel Chakram and Fel Incineration can move far away from others fairly easily.

As far as tanking is concerned, only Shadow-Lord Iskar must be tanked during this Phase. He does not require a tank switch, and there is nothing special to be said about this task.

When raid members are targeted with Fel Chakram, they must move far out of the raid, and far away from other raid members targeted by it. Using defensive cooldowns at this time is recommended.

Raid members debuffed with Phantasmal Winds must receive the Eye of Anzu as quickly as possible. We recommend prioritising tanks (although we are not yet sure if tanks may be targeted on live servers), followed by healers and finally DPS raid members. Raid members must figure out who to throw the Eye of Anzu to, depending on who is affected by Phantasmal Winds (remember that only a third of the raid is affected).

Players affected by Phantasmal Winds should also run against the wind, and they must be especially careful not to be pushed off the edge of the room.

Raid members debuffed with Phantasmal Wounds must either be healed to 90% health, or receive the Eye of Anzu. Passing the Eye of Anzu to these raid members is by far the easiest thing to do, and we recommend not stressing about healing them to 90% health and instead focusing on getting the Eye of Anzu passed around as quickly as possible.

When a raid member is targeted by Fel Incineration, they must move out of the raid and place the line of fire in a way that does not obstruct the raid's movement. They must also take into account the areas of the room that the raid may need to use in the upcoming Phase Two. This implies that the Fel Incineration fire trail should be led away from the strip running from the entrance to the boss' spawn location. It is here that the raid will spend most of its time during Phase Two.

There are 3 instances of Phase Two throughout the fight. Each Phase Two is slightly different, as each time there is a different add that your raid has to deal with. Aside from the different add, however, Phase Two remains the same each time. It lasts roughly 40 seconds.

During Phase Two, Shadow-Lord Iskar takes to the air, flying above the raid for the entire duration of the phase. He cannot be attacked or damaged, and only uses Focused Blast. This is a large laser that is fired from stationary pylons in the far end of the room. The laser targets the player currently holding the Eye of Anzu. Its deals lethal damage, split between all players standing in its (fairly narrow) path.

In addition to Shadow-Lord Iskar, you also have to handle a number of adds during this phase. Some of the adds spawn in every single iteration of Phase Two, while others only spawn in certain iterations. We explain all this below.

• Illusionary Outcasts are adds that spawn in large numbers at the start of each Phase Two. They have no abilities and simply melee their current tank.
• Corrupted Talonpriest is an add that spawns at the start of each Phase Two.
  • Phantasmal Obliteration is an ability that the Corrupted Talonpriest regularly uses. It marks several raid members with Phantasmal Fel Bomb, and debuffs a single raid member with Fel Bomb.
    • Phantasmal Fel Bomb is a debuff that deals heavy Fire damage to everyone within 15 yards of the affected player after 5 seconds.
    • Fel Bomb is a debuff that does nothing on its own. However, when it is dispelled, all Phantasmal Fel Bomb debuffs in the raid are also dispelled, and do not carry out their damaging effect when they otherwise expire. Fel Bomb can only be dispelled by someone holding the Eye of Anzu.
• Shadowfel Warden is an add that only spawns in the second and third Phase Two.
  • Fel Conduit is an ability that the Shadowfel Warden regularly uses. It is a long channel that can only be interrupted by a player holding the Eye of Anzu. Every 1.5 seconds, the Shadowfel Warden deals heavy Nature damage to 5 random raid members. This damage increases, as the Shadowfel Warden gains a 25% damage increase each time a tick of Fel Conduit happens.
• Fel Raven is an add that only spawns in the third Phase Two.
  • Phantasmal Corruption is an ability that the Fel Raven regularly uses. It marks its current tank, and after a few seconds, that tank explodes and deal massive Fire damage to the entire raid, and increases everyone's Fire damage taken by 100% for 10 seconds. If the tank is holding the Eye of Anzu, they are not targeted by Phantasmal Corruption at all.

During Phase Two, Iskar cannot be attacked, but your raid will still have to occasionally contend with his Focused Blast ability. In addition to this, your raid will have to handle several adds, including a specific add for each different Phase Two.

During Phase Two, we recommend stacking up roughly around the middle of the room. It is important that there is enough space for the raid to be able to form a line in order to split the damage of Focused Blast.

When the raid member holding the Eye of Anzu is targeted by the Focused Blast, they must move towards the middle of the long straight line that runs throughout the middle of the room (from the entrance door to the edge on the other end). Other raid members should try to line up in front of, or behind this player to ensure that the damage is split. If everyone stands properly, Focused Blast does not do a lot of damage at all.

We advise one tank to pick up all of the Illusionary Outcasts that spawn, while the other tank should pick up the Corrupted Talonpriest and the other add that spawns (depending on which Phase Two it is).

Corrupted Talonpriests are a top priority during Phase Two. In order to deal with their Phantasmal Obliteration, the Eye of Anzu must be passed to a healer. That healer must then dispel the Fel Bomb from the targeted player, and all of this must happen within 5 seconds. This completely clears the Phantasmal Fel Bomb debuff and prevents the bombs from exploding.

Illusionary Outcasts must be tanked. These adds have no abilities, and killing them is not a priority. DPS players should worry about these adds last, and they can usually be killed off by incidental AoE damage.

During the First Phase Two, your raid will only have to follow the suggestions we outlined above, as this phase does not present anything new aside from that.

During the second Phase Two, the raid will have to deal with the Shadowfel Warden.

Its Fel Conduit must be interrupted as quickly as possible. Since healers should be using the Eye of Anzu during Phase Two anyway, in order to be able to dispel the Fel Bombs, it is possible for them to interrupt the Fel Conduit casts as well, in some cases (Discipline Priests, Holy Paladins, and Mistweaver Monks). If you have such healers in your raid, then having them pass the Eye of Anzu among themselves is recommended. Otherwise, DPS players or tanks will have to momentarily receive the Eye of Anzu to interrupt Fel Conduit.

During the third Phase Two, the raid will have to deal with the Fel Raven, in addition to all of the adds encountered in the previous Phase Two instances.

For handling Phantasmal Corruption, we recommend passing the Eye of Anzu to the Fel Raven's current tank when it is about to be cast. This makes them completely immune to the debuff and negates the ability. You can see when the Fel Raven is going to cast Phantasmal Corruption on your boss mod timers. If the tank acquires the debuff anyway, the Eye of Anzu can still be thrown to them to clear the debuff. This must be done within a few seconds, however, as otherwise they will explode.

Keep in mind that it is not feasible for tanks to simply hold the Eye of Anzu permanently during this phase, since healers need to have the Eye during Phase Two in order to dispel players and interrupt the Shadowfel Warden. Tanks can also interrupt the Shadowfel Warden while holding the Eye of Anzu, if necessary.

We recommend using Heroism/ Bloodlust/ Time Warp at the start of the encounter, since this is when all players will have their DPS cooldowns available, and especially because there are no other, more suitable moments during the encounter.

DPS players should use their Legendary Ring together with all 2-minute DPS cooldown usages, mainly in each Phase Two.

Healers should use their Legendary Rings during Phase Two for Focused Blast, and for potential uninterrupted Fel Conduit damage in the second Phase Two.

Tanks should use their Legendary Ring in Phase Two, when damage done to them becomes increasingly hectic.

Learning the Shadow-Lord Iskar fight is almost completely about ensuring that the Eye of Anzu is passed around as quickly and as accurately as possible. Many fight mechanics can be completely negated by this. It is important that all raid members are aware of who is affected by the relevant debuffs by using their raid frames properly. An attentive raid leader with a good overview will go a long way on this fight.

Since the raid will progress through the fight in a very structured way, there is not much to be said about the correct steps to take in order to learn the fight. Your raid will find it very difficult to move on to the next stage without having mastered the fight up to that point.

The Mythic mode of the Shadow-Lord Iskar encounter is fairly similar to the Normal/Heroic modes of the encounter. The tuning of the fight is quite different, though, with the Mythic mode being very difficult. Additionally, there are two new mechanics and a new add to worry about, but their impact can be greatly mitigated if the raid has high DPS.

Aside from everything dealing more damage and all mobs having more health, the Mythic version of this encounter introduces a new type of add (with 1 ability), as well as a new ability.

The new add is called Phantasmal Resonance, and it spawns in each Phase Two. Its only ability is Chains of Despair, which he first uses about 20 seconds after spawning, and roughly every 35 seconds after that. Chains of Despair applies the Dark Bindings debuff to 6 random raid members. What this does is effectively link these 6 players together, in pairs of 2. The Dark Bindings debuff deals moderate Shadow damage every 1.5 seconds to affected players, and it can only be removed if the two paired raid members move next to one another. Things are not as simple as they appear, though, because there are several other elements to this ability.

• Players cannot see whom they are paired with unless they are holding the Eye of Anzu.
• If a player affected by Dark Bindings comes in close proximity with anyone who is not their pair, they trigger Abandoned Hope (which we explain below). The same Abandoned Hope is triggered if Dark Bindings is not removed within 30 seconds, or if one of the two paired players dies.
  • Abandoned Hope deals lethal Shadow damage to both paired raid members, as well as to anyone who triggers it (in case it is triggered by having a raid member other than the paired one move too close to someone affected by Dark Bindings).

The new ability is called Shadow Riposte. This is cast regularly throughout the fight, and it removes the Eye of Anzu from the player currently holding it. This does a high amount of Shadow damage to that player, and places the Eye of Anzu on the ground near to them. As in Normal/Heroic mode, if the Eye of Anzu is not picked up by any player, it deals increasing raid-wide Fire damage.

The strategy for the Shadow-Lord Iskar encounter does not change significantly, and the primary challenges of the encounter remain the same.

For positioning in Phase One, we recommend standing on either side of the line running through the middle of the room, in front of the entrance and with the boss placed on the other side of this middle line. From here, raid members targeted by Fel Chakram run to the side of the group, and raid members who are targeted by Fel Incineration run backwards, with the stacked group readjusting their position as necessary.

For Phase Two, we recommend that ranged raid members go to the center of the room. Then, the Phantasmal Resonance is very quickly burst down using 2-minute DPS cooldowns and Legendary Rings (which should be saved after being used on the pull). If there is enough DPS in the group, it is very possible (and recommended) to kill the Phantasmal Resonance before it casts Chains of Despair at all, completely negating the mechanic.

If this is not feasible, then your raid will have to deal with Chains of Despair. We recommend that the ranged group spreads out loosely immediately after the first Focused Blast strikes the group and waits until the Dark Bindings debuff is applied. Then, all unaffected raid members should stack up again, leaving only the 6 chained players standing spread out. The Eye of Anzu should then be thrown to someone with the debuff. They must quickly identify who they are chained to by seeing where the chain connected to them ends, and call their name out on voice communication so that the two chained raid members may meet and break the chain. Once two pairs have been broken, the two remaining raid members with the debuff can run together, since they must be the final pair.

When this is done, and possibly while it is being done, the Eye of Anzu must be thrown to the dispelling healer, so that Fel Bombs do not detonate.

For Shadow Riposte, we recommend having an assigned, ranged raid member picking the Eye of Anzu up each time it is knocked from the current player, and throwing it to someone who needs it. The default target for this should be a competent raid member in Phase One, and a dispelling/interrupting healer in Phase Two, unless someone requires breaking out of Phantasmal Winds.

Since the adds that spawn in Phase Two present the biggest challenge of the fight by far, we recommend saving DPS cooldowns for them in the following fashion.

• 2-minute DPS cooldowns: save for first Phase Two, and they will be up for the second and third Phase Two as well.
• 3-minute DPS cooldowns: save for the second Phase Two, and it will be up for the ending part of the third Phase Two.
• Longer DPS cooldowns: save for the second Phase Two if you are a melee, and save for the third Phase Two if you are a ranged player.

Finally, for the third and final Phase Two, we recommend that the raid completely ignores the four adds that spawn, and simply goes to the edge of the platform and kills Iskar. This is because Iskar begins this phase with 20% health remaining, which is roughly 40 million health, while all the adds combined have 100 million health. Most melee raid members will not be able to hit the boss until he lands again, however, but this is still the best strategy.

On Mythic mode, we recommend using Heroism/ Bloodlust/ Time Warp when the final Phase Two begins and the ranged DPS players focus down the flying boss.

In this section, you will find the loot table for Shadow-Lord Iskar. The section is divided in 3 subsections: armor, weapons, and the rest (neck, back, finger, and trinket items).

In addition to the items listed below, Shadow-Lord Iskar drops a pet, Corrupted Nest Guardian, in every difficulty.

Item Name	Armor	Slot	Secondary Stats
Amice of Phantasmal Power (Heroic, Mythic)	Cloth	Shoulders	Mastery Critical Strike
Raiment of Divine Clarity (Heroic, Mythic)	Cloth	Chest	Critical Strike Multistrike
Phantasmal Cummerbund — LFR	Cloth	Waist	Multistrike Critical Strike
Helm of Imagined Horrors (Heroic, Mythic)	Leather	Head	Haste Versatility
Bracers of Supreme Despair — LFR	Leather	Wrists	Critical Strike Mastery
Chakram-Gripping Gloves — LFR	Leather	Hands	Haste Critical Strike
Belt of Misconcieved Loyalty (Heroic, Mythic)	Leather	Waist	Critical Strike Mastery
Coif of Untrue Sight (Heroic, Mythic)	Mail	Head	Mastery Haste
Beaked Hood of Betrayal — LFR	Mail	Head	Critical Strike Mastery
Vestment of Illusory Might (Heroic, Mythic)	Mail	Chest	Critical Strike Mastery
Surefooted Chain Treads (Heroic, Mythic)	Mail	Feet	Multistrike Haste
Chestguard of Ill Fate (Heroic, Mythic)	Plate	Chest	Mastery Multistrike
Corrupted Talonguard Chestplate — LFR	Plate	Chest	Critical Strike Haste
Wristplate of the Wretched (Heroic, Mythic)	Plate	Wrists	Mastery Critical Strike
Feather-Embellished Wristclamps — LFR	Plate	Wrists	Multistrike Critical Strike

Item Name	Type	Main Stats	Secondary Stats
Demonspine Wand — LFR	Wand	Intellect	Critical Strike Mastery
Deceiver's Felbeak Wand (Heroic, Mythic)	Wand	Intellect	Haste Critical Strike
Shadowrend Talonblade (Heroic, Mythic)	1H Sword	Agility	Haste Mastery

Item Name	Type	Main Stats	Secondary Stats
Corrupted Talonguard Pendant (Heroic, Mythic)	Amulet	Strength	Multistrike Mastery
Cloak of Desperate Temerity (Heroic, Mythic)	Cloak	Agility	Critical Strike Multistrike
Cursefeather Cloak — LFR	Cloak	Agility	Multistrike Haste
Soul Prison Solitaire — LFR	Ring	Intellect	Mastery Haste
Ring of Foul Temptation (Heroic, Mythic)	Ring	Intellect	Spirit Multistrike
Flickering Nightstone Band — LFR	Ring	Intellect	Spirit Critical Strike
Band of Enthralling Delusion (Heroic, Mythic)	Ring	Strength	Mastery Critical Strike
Filigreed Loop of Zealotry (Heroic, Mythic)	Ring	Agility Strength	Bonus Armor Critical Strike
Talon-Link Loop — LFR	Ring	Agility Strength	Bonus Armor Haste
Unblinking Gaze of Sethe (Heroic, Mythic)	Trinket	Intellect	Damage on proc
Ensnared Orb of the Sky — LFR	Trinket	Intellect	Critical Strike
Anzu's Cursed Plume (Heroic, Mythic)	Trinket	Bonus Armor	Mastery on proc

This concludes our raid guide for Shadow-Lord Iskar. We hope you have found it helpful. Please do not hesitate to post any feedback you may have on our forums.

• 19 Aug. 2015: Added Mythic mode strategy.
• 03 Aug. 2015: Updated health percentages that determine phase changes and added enrage timer.
• 29 Jul. 2015: Added link to LFR guide.

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