Sapphiron (tactics)

Sapphiron is the penultimate boss of Naxxramas. As of patch 3.3.0, players no longer need to clear the wings in order to fight Sapphiron. He guards the gateway to Kel'Thuzad's inner sanctum.

25-man abilities

 * Sapphiron has approximately 13,000,000 hit points.
 * The Wrath of the Lich King version of Sapphiron is no longer immune, but still highly resistant to frost spells.
 * There is a 15-minute enrage timer.

Phase one

 * Sapphiron is a standard dragon and will both cleave and tailslap. Note that due to his massive hitbox the area for melee to hit him safely is quite small and located near his hind legs. Sapphiron hits very hard compared to other bosses in the instance. ~12,000 on plate with cleaves for ~15,000.
 * Spell Frost FrostShock.png Frost Aura:
 * After Sapphiron is engaged everyone in the entire room will be hit for 1600 Frost damage every 2 seconds until Sapphiron is slain. After 15 minutes of combat, this will increase to 9600 Frost Damage every 2 seconds.


 * Spell Shadow LifeDrain02.png Life Drain:
 * This is a curse that drains 4,500 to 5,500 health as Shadow damage and heals Sapphiron for 9,000 to 11,000 every 3 seconds for 12 seconds. Afflicts 5 random players every 24 seconds.


 * [[image:Spell Frost IceStorm.png|32px]] Chill:
 * Chill is an ice storm that drifts around the room at all times after Sapphiron is engaged. There will often be multiple ice storms up. It will deal 5,550 to 6,450 Frost damage every 2 seconds to everyone within it and slow their movement speed by 50% for 10 seconds. The animation of Chill is considerably more obvious and intense than Mage Blizzard.

Phase two
Every 45 seconds Sapphiron will take to the air, everyone within his hitbox will be sent flying against the wall of Sapphiron's lair by his beating wings.


 * [[image:Spell Frost Glacier.png|32px]] Icebolt:
 * Sapphiron will cast this on three players per air phase. Encases the target in a solid block of ice which blocks line of sight, stunning the target until the ice block is shattered and dealing 6,300 to 7,700 Frost damage to the target and nearby players within 10 yards.


 * [[image:Spell Frost ArcticWinds.png|32px]] Frost Breath:
 * After casting three Ice Bolts Sapphiron will emote, "Sapphiron takes in a deep breath..." and begin a seven second Frost Breath cast. At the end of the cast everyone in the entire room within line of sight of Sapphiron will be hit for 112,500 to 187,500 Frost damage. To avoid this, just hide behind the ice blocks.  Following this Sapphiron will land and once again commence phase one.  This is not a threat wipe.

10-man abilities

 * Sapphiron has approximately 4,250,000 hit points.
 * The Wrath of the Lich King version of Sapphiron is no longer immune, but still highly resistant to frost spells.
 * There is a 15-minute enrage timer.

Phase one

 * Sapphiron is a standard dragon and will both cleave and tailslap. Note that due to his massive hitbox the area for melee to hit him safely is quite small and located near his hind legs.
 * Spell Frost FrostShock.png Frost Aura:
 * After Sapphiron is engaged everyone in the entire room will be hit for 1,200 Frost damage every 2 seconds until Sapphiron is slain. After 15 minutes of combat this will increase to 7,200 Frost Damage every 2 seconds.


 * Spell Shadow LifeDrain02.png Life Drain:
 * This is a curse that drains 2188 to 2812 health as Shadow damage and heals Sapphiron for 4,376 to 5,624 every 3 seconds. Afflicts 2 random players every 24 seconds.


 * [[image:Spell Frost IceStorm.png|32px]] Chill:
 * Chill is an ice storm that drifts around the room at all times after Sapphiron is engaged. There will often be multiple ice storms up.  It will deal 3,500 to 4,500 Frost damage every 2 seconds to everyone within it and slow their movement speed by 50% for 10 seconds.  The animation of Chill is considerably more obvious and intense than Mage Blizzard.

Phase two
Every 45 seconds, Sapphiron will take to the air and everyone within his hitbox will be sent flying against the wall of Sapphiron's lair by his beating wings.


 * [[image:Spell Frost Glacier.png|32px]] Icebolt:
 * Sapphiron will cast this on two players per air phase. Encases the target in a solid block of ice which blocks line of sight, stunning the target until the ice block is shattered and dealing 2625 to 3375 Frost damage to the target and much more (approx 15k without Frost Resistance) to nearby players within 5 yards.


 * [[image:Spell Frost ArcticWinds.png|32px]] Frost Breath:
 * After casting two Ice Bolts Sapphiron will emote, "Sapphiron takes in a deep breath..." and begin a seven second Frost Breath cast. At the end of the cast everyone in the entire room within line of sight of Sapphiron will be hit for 112,500 to 187,500 Frost damage. To avoid this, just hide behind the ice blocks. Following this Sapphiron will land and once again commence phase one. This is not a threat wipe.

Note that once Sapphiron goes below 10% health, he will not fly back up into the air. This is almost certainly to prevent any error with a corpse in the air that may be unlootable. However, he will life drain below 10% health, and if you have him at 10% health, its likely you'll kill him anyway.

25-man strategy
The first time you engage Sapphiron there will be a short entrance animation in which Sapphiron will come together from bones on the ground. In subsequent attempts he can be engaged without watching him form. This encounter is considerably easier with 300 Frost Resistance but by no means impossible without. You will want more healers to go the second route. You will need one tank.

The tank should engage Sapphiron and point him towards the door to Kel'Thuzad's chamber. Healers and DPS should spread out on one side of Sapphiron. Do not have people on both sides or they may be unable to reach the ice blocks in time during Frost Breath. Melee should stack up near Sapphiron's hind leg and be ready to move out should an ice storm drift towards them. Decursers and healers will need to be in a position to reach everyone in the raid. Missed curses not only may kill a player but will also heal Sapphiron a considerable amount. Be aware of the massive hitbox of Sapphiron's cleave. It is advisable to simply heal the tank through Chill should it be on him. Moving Sapphiron is very dangerous. Everyone else should take great care to avoid being hit by Chill as the slow effect may prevent you from escaping and Chill hits quite hard.

After Sapphiron takes to the air, everyone (including the tank) should spread out around the first player to be Ice Bolted. It is important not to immediately stack on top of the Ice Block as the second Ice Bolt's AoE will then hit multiple players causing a lot of unnecessary damage. It is also quite possible a Chill will drift over the first block meaning the raid should run behind the second. As soon as Sapphiron casts his last (third) Ice Bolt the entire raid must get behind one of the Ice Blocks and ensure they are out of line of sight of Sapphiron for his deep breath. As soon as the ice blocks are shattered the tank must run and pick up and reposition Sapphiron as he will land immediately and phases one & two repeat again until Sapphiron is dead.

NOTE: As mentioned above, it is recommended to have at least 300 frost resist for the 25-man version of Sapphiron. Keep in mind that Sapphiron's frost aura is hitting for more damage and is hitting even more players, giving frost aura a huge boost to total damage done. A player's aura or totem only gives 130 frost resistance which equals roughly 23.5% frost damage reduction. This means, Sapphiron's frost aura will be hitting the raid for 30,604 damage every second. A player with 300 frost resist, which is easily obtainable at level 80 (All armor crafting professions make 3 bind on equip pieces of frost resist gear), reduces Sapphiron's frost aura damage by 54.2% which equals to 18,316 damage every second, making this fight "considerably easier" for the healers. It is also recommended that the tank should not use frost resist gear, unless he or she can do so while remaining at 540 defense.

Chill kiting
Chill is possibly the most dangerous ability in the Sapphiron fight because it can easily wipe the raid in the event that one or both ice blocks are caught in it and it spawns with some deal of randomness. Chill Kiting can limit the damage caused by Chill, allowing healers to conserve their mana.

Using the tactics above, the ranged group will also be responsible for coordinating the Chill Kiting which can require some coordination between the tank, melee group, and ranged group. As Chill approaches the ranged group they should attempt to keep the Chill blizzard to their left shoulder while maintaining DPS and heals. They should start DPS from the back side of Sapphiron and slowly move towards the head as the Chill blizzard follows them.

As the ranged group approaches the head, the tank should slowly rotate Sapphiron a quarter of the way around, putting the ranged group back towards the back quarter of Sapphiron.

When Sapphiron enters Phase 2, the ranged, melee and tank should converge and make their way around the room, counter clockwise (keeping their distance to avoid AoE from the Ice Bolt), until they are a sufficient distance from the Chill blizzard or until the first Raid member is Ice Blocked. At that point, they should wait for the second member to be Ice Blocked and run behind either one (whichever is the safest distance from the Chill blizzard).

When Sapphiron lands, the Chill Kiting continues from the beginning and follows the same procedures until Sapphiron is downed.

Note: Chill has a 10 second duration and may spawn at another random location in the raid, which could be on top of one of your ice blocks, but in most cases Chill Kiting will save all, if not a few seconds, of healing required due to Chill, which can mean a big difference in your end result.

Related Achievements

 * Sapphiron's Demise (10 player)
 * Sapphiron's Demise (25 player)
 * The Hundred Club (10 player)
 * The Hundred Club (25 player)

Quotes

 * Outro
 * yell
 * yell
 * yell
 * yell
 * yell
 * yell

Trivia

 * Like Sindragosa, Sapphiron's model was changed in China due to not being allowed to show bones. He instead uses a slightly modified blue dragon model.