Nightbane is a summonable boss in Karazhan. He is a fiery skeletal dragon, transformed by Medivh from Arcanagos and formerly of the Blue Dragonflight. While not the ruler of Karazhan, a position apparently held by Prince Malchezaar, many consider Nightbane to be the true final boss of the tower, due to his superior difficulty in the early days of the dungeon鈥檚 release. Their comparative difficulty is now in dispute.
One member of your raid needs to complete the [70] Medivh鈥檚 Journal questline to summon the boss. This means Heroic Shattered Halls and Sethekk Halls must be partially completed in order to obtain the [Blackened Urn], which is used to summon Nightbane.
Nightbane鈥檚 Abilities
Phase 1
AoE Fear - The ground will shake shortly before the fear. Easily avoidable on the tank using Fear Ward (for Alliance) or Will of the Forsaken (for undead tanks). If neither of these two options are available, the tank will need to stance dance once the ground shaking animation begins.
Cleave - Does around 7k melee damage on a well geared tank.
Smoldering Breath - Inflicts 3700 to 4300 fire damage to enemies in a cone in front of the caster. While this flame cone should only hit the tank, it will also ignite a random area of earth around Nightbane, which deals 2188 to 2812 fire damage every 3 seconds to those standing on it. If you see the ground change, simply move off it. This Charred Earth will not appear under the tank, so there is no need to move Nightbane.
Distracting Ash - Nightbane randomly casts a debuff on a single person, lowering the range of their spells and abilities by 50%. Not a potential threat until phase 2.
Phase 2
Searing Cinders - 465 every 3 seconds for 18 seconds, stacks up to 4 times. Nightbane will put this on many people. It can be removed with Dispel Magic, but that is not advisable, as he just uses it too often.
Smoking Blast - Nightbane鈥檚 most powerful ability. Deals 4255 to 4945 physical damage to the target and additional fire damage over time. Once Nightbane targets you with this attack, he will cast it on your repeatedly until you are dead. He can target multiple people with it.
Bone Rain - Nightbane will only use this ability during the beginning of phase 2. Targets a random member of the raid, and spawns up to 6 skeletons adds. These skeletons melee attack for about 600 - 700 on plate.
Fireball Barrage - Throws fireballs at any enemies farther than 40 yards away. 2550-3450 fire damage, rapid chain cast fireballs. Seems to be more an exploit blocker than an active ability. Basically, don鈥檛 get too far away from Nightbane.
Defeating Nightbane
Positioning
Before starting, locate the small lone skull on the ground, this is where Nightbane will always land. Your tank should face the skull, with their back against the edge of the balcony.
- The battlefield consists of a long, narrow terrace, bordered by a dome on one side and row of battlements on the other.
- Nightbane will initially land near a skull close to the dome, two-thirds of the way on the south side of the terrace. After phase two (flight), he will land much closer to the center of the terrace.
- The tank will generally have his back to the outside wall, to direct the cleave and breath attack away from the rest of the raid.
- Melee DPS will stand in typical dragon-meleeing position, at the hind legs on either side. Staying between the legs is important because both the tail and the head do cleaves/swipes.
- Ranged people need to be far enough from Nightbane to avoid his Fear ability. Also, the Charred Earth ability lends itself to people staying close to walls and split into two groups. It centers itself on a player, so a player close to a wall will create half as much affected area.
- Splitting up the ranged raid members and sending group 1 to the north side and group 2 to the south side is a viable strategy. However, many raids see superior results keeping both groups on the same side, with group 1 clustered next the dome and group 2 clustered next to the battlements.
- Make sure no one is standing on the domed roof. This WILL evade-bug Nightbane.
Nightbane: Phase 1
Once Nightbane is summoned, he will touch down in front of the tank. Allow the tank a few Sunders to build aggro, then begin DPS-ing Nightbane down. Healers need to chain heal the tank, as he will be taking a considerably large amount of damage. Use of Stoneshield Potions by the tank is extremely advisable.
Melee DPS should position themselves near Nightbane鈥檚 back legs to avoid cleaves. Going further back will put them in danger of being hit by Nightbane鈥檚 tail.
Avoid the Smoldering Earth when it appears. As a healer or ranged DPS, you can easily avoid fears by moving out of healing range of the tank, then quickly back in to continue healing.
Once Nightbane has lost 25% of his life, he will fly into the air, and phase 2 will begin.
Nightbane: Phase 2
Phase 2 occurs at 25%, 50%, and 75% health. While Nightbane remains attackable during this phase, it is not suggested. Survival is the main priority. It is advised that the whole raid hugs the Main Tank so that the adds can be picked up with a mass-taunt. Phase 2 lasts 45 to 60 seconds.
Early in this phase, Nightbane will use Bone Rain to spawn 6 skeleton adds near a player. Crowd control these adds using Frost Nova and Shackle, and kill them off quickly. Don鈥檛 allow DPS classes to do anything but kill skeletons during Phase 2, as attacking Nightbane may draw aggro when he lands (see below).
Receiving Blessing of Protection after a Smoking Blast (or even before if you鈥檙e lucky enough) will prevent Nightbane from using additional Smoking Blasts on that target, thereby keeping them alive. The dot attached to Smoking Blast should be removed with Dispel Magic.
One of the biggest challenges of the Nightbane encounter is getting Nightbane to aggro onto your main tank after phase 2. Nightbane wipes aggro in the air, and can land and immediately aggro on to a healer from healing aggro. To combat this, get a hunter to use Misdirection on your main tank and generate as much aggro as possible just before Nightbane lands. Also make sure you have all healers buffed with Blessing of Salvation, and if possible stop healing before the phase transition. It also can help to have your highest aggro healer move near to the main tank.
After roughly a minute, Nightbane will return to the ground, and phase 1 will begin again and the entire process will repeat. During each phase 1, if your DPS is high enough and healers are able to keep the tank healed while not expending all their mana, you will defeat Nightbane.
Nightbane鈥檚 Loot Table
[Chestguard of the Conniver]
[Dragonheart Flameshield]
[Emberspur Talisman]
[Ferocious Swift-Kickers]
[Ironstriders of Urgency]
[Nightstaff of the Everliving]
[Panzar'Thar Breastplate]
[Robe of the Elder Scribes]
[Scaled Breastplate of Carnage]
[Shield of Impenetrable Darkness]
[Stonebough Jerkin]
[Talisman of Nightbane]