The Coven of Shivarra 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. Bloodlust/Heroism/Time Warp
  • 6. Changelog
• +Abilities
  • 1. Overview
  • 2. The Coven of Shivarra
    • 2.1. Passive/Shared Abilities
      • 2.1.1. Shivan Pact
      • 2.1.2. Sense of Dread
    • 2.2. Noura, Mother of Flames
      • 2.2.1. Fiery Strike
      • 2.2.2. Whirling Saber
      • 2.2.3. Fulminating Pulse
    • 2.3. Asara, Mother of Night
      • 2.3.1. Touch of Darkness
      • 2.3.2. Shadow Blades
      • 2.3.3. Storm of Darkness
    • 2.4. Diima, Mother of Gloom
      • 2.4.1. Flashfreeze
      • 2.4.2. Chilled Blood
      • 2.4.3. Orb of Frost
  • 3. Torment of the Titans
    • 3.1. Torment of Aman'thul
    • 3.2. Torment of Golganneth
    • 3.3. Torment of Khaz'Gororth
    • 3.4. Torment of Norgannon
• ×Normal/Heroic Strategy/Tactics
  • 1. Positioning and Strategy
    • 1.1. Noura, Mother of Flames
    • 1.2. Asara, Mother of Night
    • 1.3. Diima, Mother of Gloom
    • 1.4. Further Boss Rotations
    • 1.5. The Titans' Torment
      • 1.5.1. Machinations of Aman'Thul
      • 1.5.2. Fury of Golganneth
      • 1.5.3. Flames of Khaz'Goroth
      • 1.5.4. Torment of Norgannon
  • 2. Tank Concerns
  • 3. Healing Concerns
  • 4. Useful Tips
  • 5. Bloodlust/Heroism/Time Warp
• +Mythic Strategy
  • 1. Mythic Mode Abilities
    • 1.1. Thu'raya, Mother of the Cosmos
      • 1.1.1. Touch of the Cosmos
      • 1.1.2. Cosmic Glare
  • 2. Strategy
  • 3. Heroism/Bloodlust/Time Warp
  • 4. Changelog

General Information

On this page, you will find a working strategy to defeat The Coven of Shivarra in Antorus, the Burning Throne 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 The Coven of Shivarra guide can be accessed from the table of contents on the right.

The Coven of Shivarra is a council-style encounter. On all difficulties except Mythic, there are three total Coven members, but only two will actively engage the raid. All three of them share a health pool, but they must be kept apart at all times due to their Shivan Pact. The minimum distance is 18 yards, but we recommend leaving a little extra space just so that the damage reduction does not accidentally kick in. 20-25 yards is plenty of breathing room.

The bosses themselves do not have a significant number of abilities to be concerned about, however the presence of the "Titans' Torment" sections of the encounter add a new dimension of difficulty to this boss.

Noura, Mother of Flames, and Asara, Mother of Night will be active when the fight commences. The bosses will leap in and out of the fight as it progresses, however there will always be two bosses attacking the raid. There are no set "phases"; the raid merely has to remember which abilities match each boss and react accordingly as the pairings change.

Whenever Noura, Mother of Flames is active, the Tanks must keep her faced away from the raid at all times due to her Fiery Strike. Noura's Whirling Sabers will also move throughout the room; the initial toss can be dodged, and is marked by a small targeting circle on the floor. While the Whirling Sabers do not deal scary damage, they should be evaded so as to not unnecessarily strain the Mana of the Healers. Finally, Noura will periodically apply Fulminating Pulse to several members of the raid. These targets will need surgical healing to survive the ticking damage. These targets are marked by a 6-yard radius red circle surrounding them; by the time the debuff expires, all other raid members should ensure they are out of the blast radius. The afflicted players can alternatively move out of the raid entirely, however we recommend you simply form a 6-yard spread whenever Noura is active so that none of the Ranged DPS and Healers are affected.

Taunt swaps should be performed after two stacks of Fiery Strike. When trading the bosses, it is best to have the Tanks swap positions rather than the bosses, if possible. Abilities such as Transcendence: Transfer and Heroic Leap allow for the Tanks to keep the bosses in place without triggering the damage reduction of Shivan Pact. If this is not possible, for example, if a Blood Death Knight is being used, simply ensure that the bosses reach their new positions as quickly as possible.

Asara, Mother of Night's main ability to be aware of is Shadow Blades. The Shadow Blades travel slowly outwards and are always in pairs of three. Asara's other major ability is Storm of Darkness, however this ability is relatively low impact as multiple safe zones will appear that allow the raid to evade the damage from the storm entirely. The safe zones appear as golden circles on the ground, and during Storm of Darkness all raid members should taken refuge within the aforementioned safe zones.

After approximately 180 seconds, Diima, Mother of Gloom will join the fray, and Noura, Mother of Flames, will exit to the sidelines. Diima will stack Flashfreeze on the current Tank. A taunt swap will be required at some point, however the number of stacks taken depends greatly on how mobile the tank classes are. For example, a Brewmaster Monk can take very high stacks (7-9) without worry thanks to their exceptional mobility cooldowns, whereas a Death Knight will likely want to trade a little earlier (5-6). Whatever you decide, your Tanks will need to be able to reach the safe zones during Storm of Darkness in spite of the Flashfreeze debuff. As with Noura, Mother of Flames, try to keep the bosses stationary if possible rather than having them pass by each other.

Chilled Blood will also be applied periodically to random raid members. The Healers simply need take note of the afflicted players and remove the absorb before the end of the debuff so that the players affected are not stunned.

Diima's most notable ability is Orb of Frost. The orb spawns on a random Ranged DPS or Healer, so it can be baited to the edges of the room. The only time the orb is particularly threatening, however, is before a Titan's Torment phase or before a Storm of Darkness. The orb lasts for 20 seconds before despawning.

Approximately 180 seconds after Diima, Mother of Gloom, enters the fight, Asara, Mother of Night, will exit to the sidelines and Noura, Mother of Flames, will re-engage the raid. With the exception of Noura's first rotation out to the sidelines, each boss will stay engaged in active combat for 360 seconds (two full rotations). What this means in practice is that the order is:

1. Noura + Asara
2. Diima + Asara
3. Diima + Noura
4. Asara + Noura

Currently the enrage is unknown, however, if you do take longer than 12 minutes to defeat the boss then the pattern is very easy to extrapolate.

The time until a Titan's Torment phase can be tracked through the Sense of Dread debuff. When this debuff expires, whichever Titan Soul was being tormented by the inactive Coven member will manifest their torment and affect the raid. The Titan Soul being tormented is random and will vary with each pull. The tormented Titan Soul can be identified in advance, however, as the inactive Coven member will be channeling the matching ability (e.g. Flames of Khaz'goroth).

The Torment of Aman'Thul spawns a number of adds around the edges of the room. The adds do not need to be tanked, they cannot move, and merely cast Machinations of Aman'Thul, which is a 21-second cast, at the end of which they will be healed to full. The raid will be suffering ticking Arcane damage each second for each active add, with the effect increasing in intensity after each cast completes.

The adds should be top priority until they are active, however some amount of focus is important due to the potential heal. Focus down the adds in sets of two or three; if the cast is near completion and an add is still very high on health, do not bother wasting damage and simply wait for it to be healed before burning it down.

The Torment of Golganneth spawns four adds; one will appear in the middle of each wall of the room. Like Aman'Thul's Torment, these adds do not need to be tanked and they cannot move. Their unique ability is Fury of Golganneth, which deals heavy Nature damage any time players come within two yards of each other.

It is recommended you simply DoT these adds and cleave them down. They are somewhat low priority unless Storm of Darkness is imminent, in which case some players may need to stay outside the safe zones and use personal cooldowns to "weather the storm". It is worth noting that the effect is multiplied by the number of active adds; if all four are alive and players come within 2 yards, they will likely be one shot because they will receive four instances of damage.

The Torment of Khaz'Goroth spawns 8 adds, evenly spaced around the room in a circle. They face towards the center, and continuously channel Flames of Khaz'goroth. Anyone left in the center of the room when these adds spawn will likely be killed instantly by the flames.

These adds do not need to be tanked, and cannot move; they simply channel the flamethrower which denies much of the space in the room. They are top priority while they are alive and should be killed immediately.

All raid members should move out of the center of the room in advance of this Torment manifesting.

The Torment of Norgannon is unique. The Spectral Army of Norgannon will manifest, creating four lines of adds on the four walls of the room. The adds will march forwards in a straight line; anyone that comes into contact with the spectral army will take massive Arcane damage every 0.3 seconds, virtually guaranteeing an instant death.

The spectral army does not need to be killed, merely avoided until the adds complete their doomed marched. The trick to evading death is using crowd control to create gaps in the spectral army. Gorefiend's Grasp is by far the best way to deal with the spectral army, as it instantly creates a gaping hole. Crowd control that displaces adds is best as it acts instantly, such as Typhoon. The army's march takes approximately 30 seconds.

Taunt swaps are a major concern for the Tanks. Talk to your fellow Tank and determine the best methods of trading the Coven members. Ideally, you will use mobility cooldowns to trade positions as you Taunt swap, allowing the bosses to remain stationary without being empowered by their damage reduction, Shivan Pact. If you have low mobility Tanks, a Demonic Gateway is a great way to facilitate this transfer of threat.

Tanks can be a huge boon for dealing with the Spectral Army of Norgannon, as they often have access to utility or mobility cooldowns, such as Gorefiend's Grasp and Stampeding Roar. This should also be discussed and planned in advance.

There are not many moments of great threat during this encounter. Players who are killed are likely to be one shot, usually by mispositioning during a Titan's Torment. Keep a wary eye on the members of the raid that are debuffed by Fulminating Pulse, however, as they will be suffering intense damage every second until their debuff expires.

Pay special attention to:

• maximizing cleave and multidot between the two active bosses if your class is equipped to do so;
• the Sense of Dread debuff's remaining time and the spell being channeled by the inactive Coven member — being in the wrong place at the wrong time will result in instant death;
• the other boss' timers when Asara, Mother of Night is active, as Storm of Darkness in combination with other abilities can cause fatalities;
• the timer on Orb of Frost, as it can be baited to spawn at the edges of the room, reducing its disruptiveness.

We advise you to use Bloodlust/ Heroism/ Time Warp after the bosses have been properly separated on the pull. There are no soft enrages for the fight, and using it on the opener maximizes the damage as the entire raid's cooldowns will be aligned. The Titans' Torment phases are typically too short or not threatening enough to warrant holding the Bloodlust/Heroism cooldown. However, if your group is struggling, then feel free to change up the timing.