Valiona and Theralion Healer Strategy Guide (Heroic Mode included)

Table of Contents

• 1. Overview of the Fight
• 2. Twilight Realm
• 3. Valiona Phase
• 4. Theralion Phase
• 5. Tips and Tricks
• 6. Heroic Mode

Introduction

This guide is intended to provide a comprehensive description of the encounter with Valiona and Theralion in Bastion of Twilight. It is mostly targeted to healers who desire to have a short but detailed overview of what is expected of them during that fight.

This guide is updated for World of Warcraft WoD 6.1.2.

The Valiona and Theralion encounter is not intensive for healers. A large part of the damage can, and should, be avoided by your fellow raid members. When damage occurs, it is predictible and not high. The fight will, however, require a great deal of movement, which you must accommodate to your healing.

Valiona and Theralion are two dragons that your raid will fight during the encounter. There are two phases: Valiona Phase, during which Valiona is on the ground and Theralion is in the air, and Theralion Phase, during which Theralion is on the ground, and Valiona is in the air. These two phases alternate until Valiona and Theralion, which have a shared health pool and can both be damaged simultaneously, die or enrage. The first phase will always be a Valiona Phase, regardless of which dragon you choose to attack to start the encounter.

The alternation between the phases is time-dependant and as such can not be influenced by the raid actions. Valiona Phase lasts 100 seconds while Theralion Phase lasts 140 seconds.

A large part of the damage is avoidable. The rest is extremely predictable. The major difficulty for healers is to remain focused while moving to avoid or deal with various damaging abilities.

The Twilight Realm is a parallel dimension of the room where the encounter occurs. Players can be transported there after failing to dodge one of two abilities: Dazzling Destruction and Twilight Flames. These abilities are the only ones that can also deal damage to players inside the Twilight Realm, who stand in their area of effect.

Here is a screenshot of the Twilight Realm Theralion at the end of a Valiona Phase:

The 2 void zones you can see have been created by Dazzling Destruction, the ability that we used this time to enter the realm.

Players inside the realm need to look for exit portals, run to them, and click them to be transported back into the Normal Realm. The screenshot shows such a portal (Collapsing Twilight Portal), slightly north-west of the player's location.

Moving shadow orbs are scattered throughout the Twilight Realm and need to be avoided because they deal heavy Shadow damage.

Inside the Twilight Realm, you cannot heal players who are in the Normal Realm. From the Normal Realm, you cannot heal players who are inside the Twilight Realm.

During this phase, you will be asked to spread out 8 yards from everyone else. Ideally, try to find a spot close to the boss because it will make it easier to deal with the abilities.

Tank healing is rather simple as melee attacks from Valiona make up most of the damage the tank is expected to take (25k damage in 10-man difficulty and 35-40k damage in 25-man difficulty).

Twice (sometimes 3 times), Valiona will cast Blackout on a random raid member. The debuff this ability places absorbs a certain amount of healing, and can, ideally, be dispelled. It lasts 20 seconds. When the debuff wears off of the target, whether through reaching its absorption cap, being dispelled or simply running out, it will deal a large amount of Shadow damage to all players around the affected player, split among them.

The raid will usually deal with this ability by having everyone, excluding the tank, move behind Valiona in order to soak the damage. Therefore, you will need to move, like everyone else, and heal the damage, if your healing assignment requires it.

Immediately after a Blackout, Valiona casts Devouring Flames, a frontal breath-like attack. It covers a portion of the room with damaging flames. It is not possible to know in advance where this will happen, as Valiona will randomly choose a direction to face before casting this. Therefore, after each Blackout, you need to go back to spreading and be ready to move out of Devouring Flames if it happens to be cast in your direction. Note that if you cannot realistically move to a safe area, simply run away from Valiona, you will take less damage. Be also ready to heal raid members damaged by this ability.

Note that if Valiona has the time to cast a third Blackout during her phase, she will, however, never cast a third Devouring Flames.

Every two seconds, Theralion casts Twilight Blast at a random raid member. This cannot be avoided and must be healed through. This ability is the reason why ranged players must spread out 8 yards.

At the end of the phase, Theralion will create void zones on the ground. You have 5 seconds to move out of them before being sent to the Twilight Realm.

During this phase, you can be asked to either stack with the melee group or remain at range. Stacking at melee range makes the fight easier as it reduces the need to move.

Much like Valiona Phase, tank healing during this phase is easy and only consists in helping the tank survive Theralion's melee attacks, which deal just as much damage as Valiona's melee attacks.

The most damaging attack in this phase is cast by Valiona every 6 seconds and is called Twilight Meteorite. When someone is targeted by this ability, they need to move to the melee group so that the damage is spread. Note that this ability is substantially less damaging that Blackout. For this reason, only the targeted person (if not already in the melee group) needs to run to the melee group.

The other damaging ability, if not handled properly, is Engulfing Magic. When someone is affected by this debuff, they need to move out of the raid before attacking or healing again. Anyone who fails to do so (i.e., casts spells while being in the proximity of other players) will deal a lot of damage to surrounding players. If you are affected by Engulfing Magic, you need to stop casting and position yourself 10 yards away from everyone else (if you were not already spread out). Note that your HoTs trigger the damaging effect from Engulfing Magic.

Players at range will sometimes be targeted by Fabulous Flames, which creates a void zone that deals moderate Shadow damage. Move out of it if it targets you and heal people who take damage from it.

At the end of the phase, Valiona will fly over the room 3 times, each time covering one third of it with flames. A player standing in the flames takes moderate Shadow damage and is shifted to the Twilight Realm.

During Valiona Phase, Holy Paladins can move out of the raid and use Divine Shield when they are targeted by Blackout.

During Theralion Phase, healers should make good use of Engulfing Magic to boost their healing done. Also, Holy Paladins can use Divine Shield when they are targeted by Twilight Meteorite.

Besides the abilities of Valiona and Theralion dealing more damage, the main difference between the Normal mode and the Heroic mode is the presence of Twilight Sentries inside the Twilight Realm. Each sentry channels Rift Blast, which chooses every 3 seconds a random player to damage.

A new sentry spawns every 15 seconds, which means that the raid will eventually be overwhelmed and wiped by the ever growing number of Rift Blast channels. Therefore, your raid will need to periodically send people inside the Twilight Realm to kill the adds. Inside the realm, these players will need to be healed and you might be chosen to accompany them. In that case, we recommend you to read the related section of our detailed guide.

Your raid will probably be using 2 tanks for the encounter, because a mechanics of no concern to the healers requires it.