The Vortex Pinnacle Dungeon Guide: Location, Boss Strategies, Trash, and Loot

The Vortex Pinnacle is a max-level dungeon in Uldum, Kalimdor. You can quickly go there by accessing the portals in each of the capital cities (Orgimmar or Stormwind).

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 3 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 dungeon in Season 2, please see our overviews linked below. Otherwise, without further ado, let us begin!

Upon dying, you will release at the start of the dungeon. However, 2 checkpoints will unlock once you progress further into the instance. Both of them appear as a Slipstream (see the picture); they will be located to the left of the entrance (once you defeat Grand Vizier Ertan) and to the right (once you defeat Altairus). This way, when you wipe or fall off the platform, you can use one of the [ Slipstreams to quickly move through the dungeon!

• Watch out for Armored Mistral, this non-boss-enemy is extremely ranged-unfriendly due to its Cloud Guard. In addition, all party members should watch out for the Pressurized Blast knock-up effect.
• Interrupt the incoming Wind Bolt cast from Wild Vortex. Be mindful of the quantity of Wild Vortex in each pull! At last, the most important cast to stop is going to be Cyclone; if this ability goes through, you will be unable to do anything for 6 sec (you cannot dispel it).
• Watch out for Gust Soldier's Rushing Wind. The follow-up damage-over-time effect can be dispelled.
• At last, use your defensive cooldowns when Cloud Prince in casting Turbulence, this can become especially problematic when fighting multiple of those mobs. Be also ready to dodge its Typhoon ground animation at all costs.

Throughout the entire Cyclone Summit area (first part of the dungeon until you face Grand Vizier Ertan), you will face a mob called Lurking Tempest. You need to understand how it works since you will not only see it multiple times, but it will also be present during the first boss encounter. The non-boss-enemy is completely harmless, as long as you face you are facing it (your camera must face the mob regardless of the distance between each other), and it will stay in a Lurk. What happens if you don't face him? The mob will continuously cast Lethal Current until you either out-range him or face him.

• Interrupt as many Lightning Bolt as you can.
• Stay inside the circle of cyclones during Storm's Edge to prevent it from getting damaged.
• When the boss casts Summon Tempest, make sure to always have someone from your team facing them to prevent Lurking Tempest from casting Lethal Current.
• Dodge the incoming Cyclone Shield Fragment.
• Avoid getting hit by any cyclones when the boss casts Cyclone Shield. You will take unavoidable damage for a couple of seconds before the cyclones return to their original positions, here will be a great place to use your defensive cooldowns.

• Help your team by facing as many Lurking Tempest as you can.

• Be ready with your cooldowns on every Cyclone Shield Shield cast, as your team will take unavoidable damage.
• Top-up any member damaged by Storm's Edge due to their poor positioning.

Once you have defeated Grand Vizier Ertan, grab the Slipstream to the left to make your way towards the second boss of the dungeon - Altairus. Here is what you should know about all non-boss-enemies residing in this area:

• Turbulent Squall is the first trash mob you will face, make sure to interrupt their Cloudburst cast and do your best to Purge their Storm Shield.
• Your tank must pay attention to Empyrean Assassin's Lethargic Poison since the Poison effect stacks. In addition, make sure to interrupt their Vapor Form, else they will take much longer to die.
• Young Storm Dragon is the hardest trash mob in this area, first because of its AoE damage ability - Icy Buffet and last because of its lethal frontal - Chilling Breath. The good part here is that you can benefit from Healing Well if you stand in it!

Before you begin the boss fight, you must understand how Call the Wind works. Depending on where the winds are and your current position, you will either get rewarded ( Upwind of Altairus) or punished ( Downwind of Altairus). Playing around with this boss mechanic will be the primary goal, as you must always pay attention to the winds if you want to speed up this key. More information, down below:

• Do not ever stay outside of the boss' platform, else you will slowly die from Cold Front.
• Reposition immediately when you get the Downwind of Altairus, you will take damage every 0.5 sec and have your abilities & attacks slowed by 30%.
• Avoid the wide Chilling Breath frontal, it will always target a random player!
• Dodge the ground Twisting Winds, they will be moving in slow motion, so it's much easier to avoid them.
• Once you see Downburst being cast, use the nearest Twisting Winds to knock yourself up in the air so that you can avoid the damage and the silence effect. Immunities and abilities like Blink work perfectly fine!

• Tank the boss in the center so that you can reposition the boss in the Upwind of Altairus area more quickly.

• Top-up players that get hit by Twisting Winds.
• If any player gets caught by Downburst, use your healing cooldowns to prevent them from dying.
• Keep in mind that throughout the whole fight, each of the party members will take damage from Biting Cold.

Once you have defeated Altairus, click the nearby Slipstream to move forward to the last area of the dungeon where you will be facing Asaad. Before this, however, there are several important non-boss-enemies you must face:

Before you make your way toward the first pack, you can walk closer to the nearby Zephyr, they will grant you a 70% movement speed and save you a couple of seconds in this dungeon(see the screenshot below).

• Servant of Asaad is the easiest mob here, they will occasionally charge you with Sure Strike, dealing physical damage, be sure to be topped up.
• Interrupt Temple Adept's Holy Smite and its heal effect Greater Heal. If you do have Purge in your group, you can remove their Desperate Speed buff(they will occasionally gain it once they are in combat). This is the trash mob you want to always focus on first!
• Executor of the Caliph is one of the harder-hitting mobs, first because of their unavoidable AoE ability - Crashing Stone and second because of its uninterruptible Rally ability, temporarily increasing their healthy by 30%.
• Minister of Air is the scariest caster mob here; luckily for you, every one of those mobs has a nearby Grounding Field, which will grant you immunity against any magical abilities like Lightning Lash or from any other mobs (see the picture down below). The trick here is, as soon as you see Minister of Air casting Overload Grounding Field, you must quickly get away from it to avoid being damaged.
• Use your defensive cooldowns when facing the pack of Skyfall Stars. They don't have any other abilities except for Starlight.

• Get away from any nearby party members if you get targeted by Chain Lightning.
• Immediately focus the Skyfall Nova when it spawns.
• Use dispel effects, immunity, or movement-impairing removal effects (like Blessing of Freedom) when the boss casts Static Cling.
• Get inside the Unstable Grounding Field triangle to avoid a sure death from Supremacy of the Storm channel cast. If you are far away, any other magical immunity can save your life!

• Move Asaad closer to the Skyfall Nova to enable your party to cleave both targets simultaneously.

• Dispel as many Static Cling as you can to help your team make it to the Unstable Grounding Field.
• Make sure players are topped when they get targeted by Chain Lightning.

Type	Item	Stats
2h Axe	Thundercleaver Axe	Haste/Mastery
Dagger	Biting Wind	Int, Crit/Haste
Plate Head	Headcover of Fog	Parry/Crit
Neck	Choker of Stolen Thunder	Haste/Mastery
Neck	Ionized Choker	Haste/Vers
Neck	Red Sky Pendant	Crit/Mastery
Mail Shoulder	Fallen Snow Shoulderguards	Crit/Haste
Cloth Waist	Stratosphere Belt	Mastery/Crit

Type	Item	Stats
1H Axe	Axe of the Eclipse	Str, Mastery/Crit
Neck	Amulet of Tender Breath	Crit/Vers
Leather Shoulder	Mantle of Bestilled Winds	Haste/Vers
Back	Billowing Skydrape	Mastery/Crit
Mail Waist	Hail-Strung Belt	Mastery/Crit
Cloth Boots	Sandals of the West Wind	Crit/Mastery
Ring	Skyshard Ring	Crit/Haste
Mount	Reins of the Drake of the North Wind

Type	Item	Stats
Gun	Lightningflash	Crit/Haste
Plate Head	Lunar Halo	Crit/Haste
Back	Billowing Cape	Parry/Mastery
Back	Shadow of Perfect Bliss	Crit/Haste
Leather Hands	Gloves of Haze	Crit/Mastery
Cloth Legs	Leggings of Iridescent Clouds	Vers/Crit
Plate Legs	Legguards of Winnowing Wind	Crit/Mastery
Ring	Ring of Frozen Rain	Crit/Vers
Trinket	Heart of Thunder	Vers

There are 6 total achievements to obtain in The Vortex Pinnacle:

Achievement	Criteria
The Vortex Pinnacle	Defeat Asaad in The Vortex Pinnacle.
Heroic: The Vortex Pinnacle	Defeat Asaad in The Vortex Pinnacle on Heroic difficulty.
Heroic: The Vortex Pinnacle Guild Run	Defeat Asaad in The Vortex Pinnacle on Heroic difficulty while in a guild group.
Keystone Hero: The Vortex Pinnacle	Complete The Vortex Pinnacle at Mythic Level 20 or higher, within the time limit.
Extra Credit Bonus Stage	Collect 5 Golden Orbs in a single visit to The Vortex Pinnacle on Heroic difficulty.
No Static at All	Completely avoid the Static Cling effect during the Asaad encounter in The Vortex Pinnacle on Heroic difficulty.