Archimonde (Hellfire Citadel tactics)

Archimonde is the final boss of in Tanaan Jungle as well as the final encounter of World of Warcraft: Warlords of Draenor.

Archimonde is a long battle for survival that surpasses his previous incarnation in difficulty. He has three main phases: Phase 1 dealing with his attempts to corrupt and scorch the land beneath the players' feet. Phase 2 has Archimonde summoning demons and assaulting the raiders' souls with shackles. Finally, Phase 3 involves him banishing players into the Twisting Nether while utilizing Rain of Chaos to summon infernals to strike the planet. Yrel, Khadgar, and also join the battle, though their contributions are all fight mechanics and do not contribute any actual damage.

Adventure Guide
''One of the original eredar who betrayed the draenei of Argus to take his place as the sinister hand of the dark titan Sargeras, Archimonde the Defiler commands the military might of the Burning Legion. He arrives in Draenor, reaching across space and time, to ensure that the invasion of Azeroth proceeds as planned, and that Gul'dan does not fail his Legion masters.''

Designer note
''We planted some seeds that this confrontation might be coming in the level-up quest experience. In the original timeline, Kil’jaeden was the broker behind Gul’dan’s dark deal with the Horde, but here—thanks to Garrosh’s interference—he failed, and so Archimonde was entrusted with the task of finishing the job. There are a couple of nods to the old Battle of Mount Hyjal encounter (Doomfire was mandatory), but Archimonde has learned a number of nasty new tricks since then. Although you have the greatest heroes of Azeroth and Draenor standing beside you in this battle, even they cannot aid you within the Twisting Nether itself. . . .''

Overview
Archimonde assaults players with the might of the Burning Legion, gaining new abilities each time his health is reduced by 15%, eventually summoning Rain of Chaos to destroy Draenor. When a player is launched into the air by Shadowfel Burst, their allies must catch them to avoid fatal damage. As Archimonde Desecrates the land, players must protect themselves with the Light of the Naaru. When Archimonde reaches 40% health remaining, he begins to cast Nether Banish, sending players to the Twisting Nether.

[[file:Dps_icon.png]] Damage Dealers

 * Destroy Doomfire Spirits quickly before they create too much Doomfire.
 * Wrought Chaos inflicts heavy damage if aimed towards other players.
 * Shackled Torment inflicts lethal raidwide damage if mutliple shackles are broken at once.
 * Infernal Doombringers will begin to cast Hellfire if not killed quickly.

[[file:Healer_icon.png]] Healers

 * Desecrate inflicts increasing raidwide damage to players without Light of the Naaru.
 * Shadow Blast significantly increases Shadow damage taken by Death Brand.
 * Shackled Torment inflicts heavy raidwide damage each time it is broken.

[[file:Tank_icon.png]] Tanks

 * Death Brand inflicts massive initial damage and periodic damage until Hellfire Deathcallers are killed.
 * Nether Banish sends tanks to the Twisting Nether along with any other players within 10 yards.

Phase 1: The Defiler







 * Hellfire Deathcaller
 * Hellfire Deathcaller


 * Yrel
 * Yrel
 * Yrel

Phase 2: Hand of the Legion
When Archimonde reaches 70% health remaining, he calls on new powers to destroy his enemies.






 * Hellfire Deathcaller
 * Hellfire Deathcaller


 * Felborne Overfiend
 * Dreadstalker
 * Dreadstalker
 * Dreadstalker

Phase 3: The Twisting Nether
When Archimonde reaches 40% health remaining, he calls on the Twisting Nether to destroy his enemies.







The Nether





 * Void Star


 * Shadowed Netherwalker





Phase 3: The Twisting Nether
When Archimonde reaches 40% health remaining, he transcends. All of his enemies are drawn helplessly into the Twisting Nether, an endless, chaotic space from which few have ever returned...













Strategy
Two tanks are required for this fight, switching every time Archimonde casts Death Brand on his current tank. In Phase 3, one tank will always be banished into the void to tank the voidwalker, while the other will continue fighting outside as normal. Save Bloodlust for the final phase. The group should have four target markers: one for the melee and one for the ranged on either side of the Black Gate. The melee/tanks and the ranged group will move to their respective markers when Archimonde casts Allure of Flames.

Phase 1
Phase 1 begins with Archimonde summoning a Doomfire Spirit--an immobile felfire orb that targets a single player at a time, and causes Doomfire to continuously spawn and move toward them until the spirit is killed. In addition, Archimonde will cast Death Brand on his current tank, causing a Hellfire Deathcaller to spawn and fixate on that tank, attacking them and causing increased shadow damage until it is killed. The DPS requirements for this fight can be steep and unforgiving, as leaving either of these adds alive for too long can easily cause a wipe. The Doomfire Spirit, if left alive, will eventually spread too much felfire to dodge; the Deathcaller, if left alive, will continue stacking shadow damage onto the Branded target.

Archimonde will then cast Allure of Flames, causing the spots of doomfire to jump into the air and down onto a random player, forcing players to move to the opposite side of the room. However, Archimonde will then use Shadowfel Burst to send one ranged player and anyone within 8 yards into the air. As they hit the ground, they take massive damage split among the players in the location they fell. Thus, while the ranged must stay spread out while moving away from Allure, they must also be ready to collapse back together to save the person being shot up from taking the full brunt of the damage or they will die. At 85%, the boss summons massive fel spires from the ground, similar to Fel Lord Zakuun, which cause unavoidable AoE damage but do not interrupt line of sight. Yrel will periodically shatter the spires, causing orbs of light to form around them, causing players who run into them to receive immunity from shadow damage and increased movement speed. Tanks should have this effect to reduce damage from the Deathcallers and move away from Allure faster. This buff lasts 30 seconds, so some of the other raid members can feel free to use the orbs if the tanks already have the buff. At 70% health, phase 1 ends and Yrel destroys the rest of the spires.

Phase 2
In phase 2, Archimonde will stop summoning Doomfire Spirits, though he continues summoning Hellfire Deathcallers. He will still cast Allure of Flames as well, requiring that players continue to move away from any Doomfire already summoned. Shackled Torment targets 3 random players and will do increased damage to them the longer they remain attached to their chains. Moving away 30 yards will break the chains, but cause strong raid-wide damage. Because of this, players should have their raid frames out and judge whether or not it is an appropriate time to break shackles, as breaking all shackles at once while people are at low health can cause a wipe. It can also help to have someone make call-outs when to break shackles.

This phase truly starts at 55% health, when Archimonde uses the Black Gate to summon additional demons. Dreadstalkers are fast-moving felstalkers that run/teleport to random players and begin casting Consume Magic to damage and spell-interrupt anyone in 8 yards. They attack at random and cannot be tanked, so ranged players are encouraged to take them out quickly. Meanwhile, melee should deal with the Felborne Overfiend, a large green overfiend that periodically casts Flames of Argus to damage the raid. This spell should be quickly interrupted as the overfiend is killed. The kill-order should be Deathcallers first, then overfiends, then dreadstalkers for ranged, and Archimonde last.

Phase 3
Finally, Phase 3 begins at 40% health when pushes the demon minions back to the portal. Archimonde stops using Death Brand and casts Nether Banish, causing a large green circle to form around a tank which will send them and everyone within the circle to a platform of rock in the Twisting Nether. On this rock is a Shadowed Netherwalker for the group to fight, as well as falling felfire. Lastly, a single void star--a small orb of void energy--will spawn and fixate on a random player in the void, exploding and sending the player off the platform to their death if they reach them. Non-fixated players can safely melee the star; they must destroy it as soon as possible. This last phase is critical as, if one tank dies in the nether, they cannot be resurrected.

As soon as the voidwalker dies, it will cast a spell that sends all players in melee range back outside, so ranged players should take note and be close enough when the time is right. While outside, Archimonde will summon Infernal Doombringers down from the sky. Infernals will heal when close to each other and will start causing massive raid-wide damage if alive for long enough. Because of this, DPS will be taking a beating here, as infernals must be taunted by the DPS to keep them away from each other due to the other tank being in the void. Thus, DPS should remember to use any defensive cooldowns they have, as well as warlock Healthstones or Healing Tonics. The problem is that, as players spend more time in the void, they will gain stacks of Nether Corruption and take increased damage. Thus, a player should ideally not go in more than twice in a row. Groups must decide how to do this phase based on their party makeup, with classes with roots like hunters and death knights being important to slow both the stars in the void and the infernals outside.

An effective way to get as much damage on Archimonde as possible early on is to have all DPS besides hunters go into the nether in the first banish, kill the elemental fast enough to not have to worry about void stars, and once all DPS are outside, use bloodlust to hammer Archimonde with everything the raid has before the next banish. This phase is very difficult due to the outside DPS having to improvise and move around a lot to effectively separate and take down the infernals, and even a small mistake with the void stars can potentially cause a wipe. Staying calm and killing the adds as fast as possible is the key to winning the final phase.

Related Achievements

 * The Black Gate
 * Mythic: Archimonde
 * Realm First! Archimonde
 * Time is a Flat Circle
 * Ahead of the Curve: The Black Gate
 * Cutting Edge: The Black Gate
 * Echoes of Doomfire

Quotes

 * Intro
 * yell
 * yell
 * yell
 * yell
 * yell
 * yell


 * Aggro
 * yell
 * yell


 * Doomfire
 * yell
 * yell
 * yell


 * Death Brand
 * yell
 * yell


 * Shadowfel Burst
 * yell
 * yell
 * yell


 * Allure of Flames
 * yell
 * yell


 * Desecrate
 * yell


 * Light of the Naaru
 * yell


 * 75%
 * yell
 * yell


 * Phase 2
 * yell
 * yell


 * Shackled Torment
 * yell
 * yell
 * yell
 * yell


 * Wrought Chaos
 * yell


 * 55%
 * yell
 * yell


 * Phase 3
 * yell
 * yell


 * Nether Banish
 * yell
 * yell


 * 20%
 * yell
 * yell
 * yell
 * yell


 * Phase 3 (Mythic Only)
 * yell


 * Mark of the Legion
 * yell
 * yell
 * yell


 * Source of Chaos
 * yell
 * yell
 * yell


 * Seething Corruption
 * yell
 * yell
 * yell


 * Killing a player
 * yell
 * yell
 * yell


 * Wipe
 * yell


 * Unused quotes
 * Rikk amanalar golad mishun amanare shi!
 * You have only delay the inevitable! The Burning Legion consumes all!
 * Destruction comes! Lok thorje sorankar!
 * Worthless mongrel! Your miserable race will suffer endlessly for your rebellion!

Closing cinematic

 * Archimonde collapses to the ground, mortally wounded... but looks up towards the Black Gate.
 * Archimonde: bossemote
 * Archimonde raises Gul'dan from the ground with a beam of fel energies.
 * Archimonde: bossemote
 * Screaming in terror, Gul'dan is pulled into the Black Gate, which explodes and collapses. This last act done, the fel glow in Archimonde's eyes fades as he dies. Khadgar, Yrel, Durotan, and Grommash stand near the smoking crater where the Gate had stood.
 * Durotan: bossemote
 * Grommash Hellscream: bossemote
 * Grommash turns to the warriors waiting below, and raises Gorehowl high.
 * Grommash Hellscream: bossemote
 * The warriors begin cheering, but Khadgar returns to the crater, looking down as the staff of Gul'dan suddenly vanishes in fel-fire. Seeing his expression, Yrel approaches him.
 * Exarch Yrel: bossemote
 * Archmage Khadgar: bossemote
 * Exarch Yrel: bossemote
 * Khadgar chuckles lightly.
 * Archmage Khadgar: bossemote
 * Khadgar shifts into a raven form and flies off, as Yrel turns to stand with Durotan and Grommash.
 * Exarch Yrel: [voiceover] bossemote

Trivia

 * At the start of the patch, he was tagged as a humanoid instead of a demon. It was later fixed.