Grand Empress Shek'zara

Grand Empress Shek'zara, formerly Princess Zara, is the current empress of the mantid and a world boss in the Vale of Eternal Blossoms. Sentinel Commander Qipan describes her as hot-headed and impulsive.

Biography
During the war in Pandaria, Zara was too young and weak to depose the sha-corrupted Grand Empress Shek'zeer in the traditional fashion, forcing the Klaxxi and their adventurer allies to kill Shek'zeer themselves.

Battle for Azeroth
By the time of Fourth War, Shek'zara has ascended to empress. Sentinel Commander Qipan described her as being "hotheaded and impulsive as mantid queens usually are", and she has mobilized most of her forces to search for Azerite.

Following the awakening of N'Zoth, Shek'zara pledged her swarm to the Old God and assaulted the Vale of Eternal Blossoms in an attempt to claim Pandaria for her master. After the resistance against her swarm earns her ire, she directed Kri'vin to put an end to it. When Taoshi and adventurers were scouting out the swarm within Dread Wastes, Shek'zara confronted them and ordered the swarm to show them the price for defying N'Zoth. However, her swarm failed in this endeavor with her enemies successfully escaping.

Unlike Shek'zeer, she does not command from her throne, but marched to the Gate of the Setting Sun to command from the front. It is there where she can be confronted and killed by adventurers.

Adventure Guide
''With the awakening of N'Zoth, Shek'zara, empress of the mantid, pledged her swarm to the old god's will. In service of her dark master, she unleashed her forces upon the Vale of Eternal Blossoms to claim Pandaria in N'Zoth's name.''

Strategy
Grand Empress Shek'zara does not require a tank-swap, but requires quite a bit of healing. She periodically summons Zarathik Swarmguards and Ambershapers. Both should not be ignored as their Bladestorm and Amber Bolt Volleys start strong, but if too many are up at the same time, they can be deadly, especially when in concert with Shek'zara's own abilities.

Shek'zara uses two main abilities, both borrowed from Imperial Vizier Zor'lok. First is Song of the Empress (aka, Attenuation). She was stand stationary and begin channeling sonic waves outward, 4 at a time. These are relatively easy to dodge so long as you stand 5 feet or more away from where she is standing. A melee player who is fast enough to react can easily stay in melee range to damage the boss while dodging the waves. Her second ability is Force and Verve (same as Zor'lok). She will again stand stationary and begin a short cast before channeling for 6 seconds. Once she begins her cast, 2 Sound Barrier circles will spawn which the raid needs to get under. The Sound Barriers protect from 70% of incoming damage, but Force and Verve will still cause the raid to be taking a serious beating, so healing cooldowns are recommended at this time.

Regularly kill the adds, dodge the sound waves, and get under the Sound Barriers, and with sufficient healing, the boss should go down.

Drops

 * Chitinous Conqueror's Legplates
 * Greaves of Shattered Thoughts
 * Guise of the Voracious Prowler
 * Loop of Abhorrent Celerity
 * Maniacal Speaker's Cover

Objective of

 * Grand Empress Shek'zara (quest)

Quotes

 * yell
 * say



In Hearthstone
Grand Empress Shek'zara appears as a legendary rogue card in the HS Madness at the Darkmoon Faire expansion for Hearthstone. Her flavor text reads: "So is a Grand Empress an empress that's grand or an empress' empress?"