Twin Consorts

The Twin Consorts are the eleventh boss encounter in the Throne of Thunder consisting of Suen and Lu'lin.

Adventure Guide
''The Twin Consorts are said to be greatest of the Thunder King's treasures. Rumored to be the only known female mogu in existence, Lei Shen keeps his trophies close and their combined arsenal against interlopers closer.''

Encounter Design
''Players may have noticed the complete absence of any female mogu in their exploration of the continent of Pandaria. Players who look closely at the models of these celestial twins will note that they seem quite literally carved out of stone. Indeed, these were specifically created by Lei Shen and empowered to serve and guard him, and they are a direct reflection of his will rather than any broader sense of mogu culture as a whole. An earlier version of the concept for the fight had them actually being spirits of the Sun and Moon, but that didn’t feel quite right (and we all know that the only true spirit of the Moon is Elune, and clearly she was not locked away by the Thunder King).''

Darkness Falls: Lu'lin's Luminosity
As night falls upon the Twin Consorts' chamber, Lu'lin is empowered and fully active, while Suen plays a more limited role.

Blazing Daylight: Suen's Fury
As Day breaks within the Twin Consorts' chamber, Suen is empowered and fully active, while Lu'lin plays a more limited role.

Break of Dusk: The Dance of the Consorts
During the Dusk, both Twins are active, each retaining some of their abilities, and gaining the following new abilities.

Lu'lin, Mistress of Solitude
If Lu'lin perishes, Dusk ends and Day begins anew, fully empowering Suen. During Day, Suen once again burns brightly with Blazing Radiance.

Suen, Mistress of Solitude
If Suen perishes, Dusk ends and Night begins anew, fully empowering Lu'lin. During Night, Moon Lotuses once again bloom, and Beasts of Nightmares once again spawn.

Celestial Aid
A player may choose to invoke the spirit of any Celestial by selecting his or her faded image. Upon doing so, the player must trace that Celestial's constellation. Upon completion, the Celestial appears and gives aid to the players:

Strategy
There are four phases corresponding to the active bosses (Lu'lin, Suen, both, and then whichever is left). For the DPS and tanks it's mostly tank and spank with minor environmental awareness, though ranged players will want to spread out and healers will be under pressure from raid damage at times. The twist is the optional use of Celestials to aid the raid.

All phases: The Celestials' Blessings
The 4 Celestials appear as faded images atop statues around the room. Each can be used twice, since they are reset at the Break of Dusk (phase 3). Each provides a specific bonus for the raid - Xuen's Celerity (allows hyper-quick projectile dodging) is most helpful against falling stars in Phase 1; Yu'lon's Vitality (HoT & MoT) and Niuzao's Fortitude (health boost) help survive Suen in Phase 2, and Chi-Ji (damage blast) can be used in any phase (although Suen is usually considered more dangerous, so Phase 2 is recommended). All are useful in phase 3. Only one may be active at a time and lasts up to 30 seconds, so plan out usage across each phase.

To activate a statue, a single player (typically a ranged damage dealer, ideally one with a speed boost) interacts with it, and will be phased to a parallel universe that is empty except for a set of 7 stars in the center of the room, arranged in a hexagon-and-center pattern. One star will be highlighted with white light, and the player must trace the correct constellation starting from there by running from star to star - the required pattern will appear above the player's head. Once a correct constellation segment is traced, a starbeam will connect the two points; an incorrect star will flash red when entered. A failed tracing can be re-attempted as often as desired, though the raid will obviously lose that player's contributions during that time.

Use of the Celestials is helpful but completely optional.

Phase 1: Darkness Falls
Lu'lin, the blue/dark consort, will be active in the first phase. Tanks will need to deal with an unusual swap mechanic: the current tank will be fixated upon by a summoned Beast of Nightmares, which will need to be killed by the tank and only the tank - the raid can't attack it. Heals upon the tank fighting his Nightmares will corrupt the healer with a stacking DoT, so the other tank must taunt the boss off immediately, the Nightmare tank should use cooldowns to reduce healing pressure (and kill the add quickly), and healers should restrict themselves to a few big heals on that tank.

The raid's primary responsibility is to not get put to sleep by the increasing numbers of Slumber Spores, green clouds drifting slowly in straight lines, released by Moon Lotuses. The sleep should be dispelled if it does hit. The raid should also spread to avoid splash damage from the Light of Day and primarily Cosmic Barrage, stars that will crash down upon 4 or 8 random players at the end of the cast. Optionally, a raid member may also use Xuen's Celerity to put the raid into hyperspeed and allow it to dodge the stars entirely. Suen will appear periodically during this phase to deal unavoidable raid damage. While she is channeling Tears of the Sun, she is attackable, so raid members may make use of multi-DoTs and cleaves.

Highly geared damage dealers should avoid killing Lu'lin unless they and their healers are very high geared indeed, since that would skip straight to phase 4 with Suen still at 100%. Otherwise, after about 3 minutes, the sun rises with Suen.

Summary: Dodge clouds, spread out, taunt boss of Nightmare tanks, use few/big heals on Nightmare tanks, don't kill the boss. Use Xuen to dodge stars.

Phase 2: Blazing Daylight
Suen, the red/fiery consort, ceases to be shrouded by shadows in this phase, while Lu'lin veils herself in darkness and becomes unattackable. Sleep Spore clouds burn away, and Suen will begin emitting increasing amounts of raid-wide damage. This damage must be reduced by pulling Suen near an Icy Comet, blue objects cast on players by Lu'lin (unless Lu'lin is dead, in which case the raid must burn down Suen before the damage overwhelms the healers). The Comet cannot be attacked, but will melt as it brings Suen's damage stacks down, so the process must be repeated with new Comets. Comets also create Icy Shadows that protect the raid from significant Fire damage, but reduce action speed by 75% (in normal mode). Tanks may stand in the Shadows if their threat is secure; otherwise only dying players should stand there.

Suen will periodically charge a raider with Flames of Passion, and leave a fire trail while returning to the tank. If Suen charged through the melee group, the tank may step sideways so the return trip does not leave fire underneath them. The raid should again spread somewhat to avoid splash damage from Ice Comets, Light of Day, and Flames of Passion, though not too far, to reduce the length of fire trails and travel distance to Ice Comets. The tanks must swap due to a standard stacking debuff, at about 2 stacks. Healers should top off the raid when a new Comet is incoming. Optionally, raiders may activate Yu'lon's and Niuzao's blessings to improve survivability, and Chi'Ji's Rush of Cranes for a faster kill. If Suen is not dead, Dusk will fall after about 3 minutes.

Summary: Fight boss near Comets, don't stand in Shadows, don't stand in fire, spread out, and swap tanks. Use the remaining Celestials.

Phase 3: Break of Dusk
At Dusk both bosses will be active. They should be tanked somewhat apart from each other; tank swap mechanics will not be used. Lu'lin gains an additional ability: Tidal Force, which fires very fast waves of damaging water in random directions. Ranged players may want to roughly distribute themselves around Lu'lin, while the Suen tank forms a right angle between the two bosses to avoid getting themselves and the melee group Tidal Waved at the same time. Like the stars, these waves are undodgeable unless Xuen has sped up the players' reflexes. Lu'lin is also unhittable while channeling this ability. Both bosses will use all their previous abilities except for the tank swaps and sleep clouds, so spreading out is crucial, as is pulling Suen to Ice Comets. One boss should be chosen to focus down (see Phase 4), ending Dusk with either's death.

Celestial blessings are reset at the start of the phase, and all are useful but optional. Chi-Ji will hit both bosses and speed the phase transition, Niuzao and Yu'lon once again aid survivability, and Xuen's "speed boost" is helpful against stars, waves and comets.

Summary: Tank bosses with medium separation, pull Suen to comets, don't stand in shadows, don't stand in fire, spread out. Burn Suen. Use all Celestials, including Xuen to dodge waves stars and comets.

Phase 4: Night Falls Again / Dusk Changes Its Mind
This phase begins as soon as there is only one boss alive - if either boss is killed in phase 1 or 2, Dusk will be skipped and this phase will begin immediately. It is nearly identical to one of the first two phases, depending which boss is left alive:
 * If Lu'lin is alive, return to following phase 1 mechanics. All previous Moon Lotuses will start up with the Sleep Spores again, so the number of clouds to dodge will be greater than ever. Lu'lin will stop casting Tidal Force, but start sending Nightmares at tanks again. Since Suen is dead, the raid will no longer be taking random damage from her. This is the easier option.
 * If Suen lives, phase 2 mechanics will occur. Blazing Radiance will continue stacking up, but this time with no new Ice Comets to stop it. The raid should try to start the phase right after a fresh Ice Comet cast for maximum boss stack reduction. Tanks will need to resume swapping. This is the harder option (as well as violating the laws of nature by going from Dusk to Daylight), and awards From Dusk 'til Dawn if Suen starts the phase above 30%.

Heroic mode
During the night phase, Lu'lin will summon Lurkers in the Night that cannot be seen or targeted by players normally (you can, however, spot their location if you watch for where the darkness bolts are coming from) and will regularly deal damage to the raid. The tank who is NOT tanking the boss should taunt Suen while she is casting Tears of the Sun and kite her around the room to reveal and kill the adds so the raid is not overwhelmed by them. The adds, after being revealed, just have a normal threat table and melee their targets. Xuen's buff should be used on this phase to allow the raid to dodge the Cosmic Barrage, as a combo of Cosmic Barrage along with the Lurkers' darkness bolts can easily kill players not topped off.

The Sun Phase plays exactly the same as Normal; the only difference is that every 30 seconds Suen will cast Nuclear Inferno, and the raid needs to stack behind an Ice Comet to take reduced damage from it. Tanks should also should make sure to keep one Comet alive and unused to allow the raid to mitigate the Inferno damage during the whole cast. You should use Nuizao and Yu'lon's buffs during the final Nuclear Inferno casts to restore mana and give some breath to the healers.

The Break of Dusk plays the same way as normal mode, and you will want to use Heroism/Bloodlust/Time Warp and Chi-Ji's buff to kill Suen fast while doing as much damage as possible to Lu'lin, as well as Xuen's buff to allow the raid to dodge the Tidal Force waves.

The final phase plays very much the same as Normal mode, but your raid will not have Suen to reveal the Lurkers that will keep spawning, and raid damage will get increasingly high as the phase proceeds. Your raid will need to finish off Lu'lin before it becomes overwhelmed.

Related Achievements

 * Pinnacle of Storms
 * From Dusk 'til Dawn
 * Heroic: Twin Consorts
 * Throne of Thunder Guild Run

Quotes

 * Aggro
 * yell
 * yell


 * Phase 1
 * yell


 * Phase 2
 * yell


 * Flames of Passion
 * yell


 * Phase 3
 * yell
 * yell


 * Killing a player
 * yell
 * yell


 * Wipe
 * yell
 * yell


 * Suen Dies First
 * yell
 * yell


 * Lu'lin Dies First
 * yell


 * Celestials
 * yell
 * yell
 * yell
 * yell


 * Unused quotes
 * Lu'lin: So lonely...
 * Lu'lin: Just leave me alone!
 * Lu'lin: You do not belong here!
 * Suen: Intruders! Guardians of the throne, awaken!
 * Suen: Ah ah ah...
 * Suen: Now I'm really angry!

Trivia

 * The twins borrow their names from celestial objects. Suen is Cantonese for Sun while Lu'lin is possibly named after either the 145523 Lulin, Comet Lulin or the Lulin Observatory in Taiwan where the former celestial objects were discovered.
 * The twins were referred to as the "Empyreal Queens" in the Patch 5.2 PTR files.
 * The Consorts' animations are based on the female draenei skeleton, just like the mogu animations are based on the male draenei skeleton.
 * Lu'lin is voiced by Kate Higgins.
 * Suen is voiced by Lauren Tom.

Speculation
As the only known living mogu females in existence (albeit fabricated ones) the Twin Consorts are involved in speculation surrounding mogu gender and reproduction. See Mogu speculation.

As they were created by Lei Shen, the Consorts are not genuine female mogu, and their description as "a direct reflection of [Lei Shen's] will rather than any broader sense of mogu culture as a whole" in itself suggests some notable difference between the Consorts and their real-life counterparts. This leaves a large amount of room for speculation as to the reason behind their fabrication. While some of these questions have numerous possible answers, none of them appear confirmed thus far:


 * Why did Lei Shen create the female Consorts?
 * If created specifically for purposes of strength and offensive capabilities, is there a reason he chose to create females rather than males? Do female mogu possess superior magical capabilities to the presumably physically superior male mogu?
 * If created partly for purposes of reproduction, does Lei Shen have descendants? If so, what form would these half-synthetic offspring take? Why would Lei Shen choose these synthetic Consorts, rather than real mogu females? Perhaps for reasons related to power granted to the offspring?
 * Other speculated reasons for the creation of the Consorts include imitation of Zandalari society, personal pleasure, and the desire to create (and possess) something impressive and unique.
 * In relation to many of these reasons, it can be asked why Lei Shen would choose to fabricate the Consorts rather than simply taking mogu females. The apparent scarcity of females may be one answer.
 * What are the differences between the Consorts and regular mogu females, and why would Lei Shen choose to specifically engineer these differences?

Of course, the question of just how synthetic the Consorts really are is also up for debate. They are described as seeming "quite literally carved out of stone", but with the mogu's legendary flesh-shaping powers, is there that great a difference between the Consorts and other mogu? Since all mogu were originally created by the titans, before later succumbing to the Curse of Flesh, it could be suggested that the Consorts are closer to the mogu's original form than Lei Shen himself.

25-man Normal

 * (1080p) - Mage, Boss voice, Vent, Constellations included