Sire Denathrius (tactics)

Sire Denathrius is the final boss of Castle Nathria. The Master of Revendreth has fallen prey to the very sins he was meant to excise from others, now seeking to rule the realms. As the one responsible for the severe anima drought throughout the Shadowlands, and one of The Jailer's foremost allies, Denathrius must be overthrown if the Covenants are to prevail against the Jailer.

The battle against Denathrius is a very long one which consists of 3 different phases. Phase 1 revolves around the raid managing their Burden of Sin stacks and avoiding Denathrius' sneak attacks. Phase 2 involves battling Denathrius, his living sword Remornia, and his loyal followers, while using the room's teleportation mirrors to dodge his Hands of Destruction spells. The final phase is a race to finish him off as the room becomes filled with blood.

Adventure Guide
''For countless ages, Sire Denathrius stood among the Eternal Ones who rule the realms of Death. But in the Shadowlands' darkest hour, he has betrayed his sacred duty. With his bloodthirsty living blade Remornia at his side and defended by his most sycophantic loyalists, Denathrius will cut a swath through any who stand against him and cast their remains into the inescapable terror of the Maw.''

Strategy
This fight requires 2 tanks. Bloodlust should be saved for the final phase where the raid begins to run out of room the longer the phase goes on for. The raid should have enough ranged DPS to kill the Crimson Cabalists in the 2nd phase that are beyond the melee players' reach. Denathrius has a unique skill, Inevitable, which will allow him to instantly teleport to the target of his aggro no matter where they are.

Phase 1
The fight starts in a round room, with Denathrius fighting the raid and his sword Remornia standing in the center. Random players will be targeted by Feeding Time, causing circles to appear underneath them. 5 seconds later, the boss will strike each player and heal for 150% of the damage caused to all players in the circle. Simply move out of the raid to minimize raid damage. This phase has a hard timer due to Remornia's Ravage cast: After a 6 second cast, Remornia will fill one third of the room with blood which does heavy damage to those within it. After 3 casts, the raid will wipe. The raid must get Denathrius down to 70% health to transition him to Phase 2 prior to the third Ravage, but they cannot do this unless everyone has 2 or less Burden of Sin stacks.

Burden of Sin and the Transition: Each member of the raid starts with 4 Burden of Sin stacks. These stacks serve to slow your movement speed during the transition from Phase 1 to 2. During the transition, Denathrius will knock all raid members to the wall, silence them, and command them to come to the center of the arena where it is safe, channeling for 15 seconds. If a player has too many stacks, they will be too slow to reach the center by the time the boss finishes and they will die. Players must have a maximum of 2 stacks to survive.

Managing Burden of Sin: To clear your stacks, players need to be struck by the boss' Cleansing Pain attack. This is a frontal cone that targets the tanks and players near them in a cone. Being hit will drop a stack from each player hit, but also cause an Echo of Sin add to spawn. These are low health mobs, but deal high AOE damage and can potentially be lethal if too many players are hit at once. Thus, to ensure everyone loses stacks at a steady rate, but the Echoes are kept manageable, the raid should be divided into 2 teams, each with 1 tank: One group to take 2 Cleansing Pain attacks first, and the other takes the last 2. However, this also has a caveat due to the Blood Price spell.

Blood Price stuns each player for 3 seconds, lifts them into the air, and tosses them back, dealing higher damage the more people there are with the same amount of Burden of Sin stacks. If everyone has the same amount, this ability becomes lethal. To counter this, ensure each of the 2 groups has a different number of stacks at all times. This is done by having the first two Cleansing Pains hit Group 1, and the last two Cleansing Pains hitting Group 2. This will ensure the damage from Blood Price is kept to a minimum.

Note that the transition can be cheesed by Death Knights who activate Death's Advance prior to being silenced. The same is true for players who chose the Night Fae Covenant who Soulshape and Shamans who use Ghost Wolf prior to the silence. Priest healers who make it to the center can also use Leap of Faith to pull players who have too many stacks inside the safe zone for the transition.

By the time everyone only has 2 stacks, (making the transition survivable) the boss should be just about at 70%. Ensure everyone is topped up, head to the center during the transition, and Phase 2 will begin.

Phase 2
All players who made it safely to the center of the arena will drop down into a new one, with a large central area, and 4 walkways that lead to 4 mirrors at the ends. These mirrors serve as teleporters to the mirror at the opposite edge of the room, which will become vital during this phase. Remornia will become active and start attacking the raid, applying hard-hitting bleed stacks. These can be removed either by a Kyrian player's Phial of Serenity, a dwarf player's Stoneform, or simply allowing the debuff to drop off after 15 seconds. Meanwhile, Denathrius replaces Cleansing Pain with Wracking Pain, a frontal cone that increases all damage taken. Tanks typically want to swap every single application of Wracking Pain.

The DPS will want to focus on the Crimson Cabalists, adds which do nothing except channel Shadow damage to the entire raid. Two will spawn next to a mirror, and 1 other will spawn across a chasm which only ranged players can target. The tank holding Denathrius should draw him close to the adds to be cleaved while the DPS focus on the adds, keeping him faced away from the DPS to avoid them being hit by Wracking Pain. However, Wracking Pain can also hit the adds, increasing their damage taken by 50%. Communicate with the raid so that the DPS quickly move out of the way, and the tank can strike both adds at once, helping them go down quickly.

The raid will typically want to stand close to the mirrors for Hand of Destruction. Denathrius will pull all players to his location, leaving an afterimage that will explode after 6 seconds, dealing lethal damage to those close by and moderate damage to those far away. Use the mirrors to teleport away. The boss' Inevitable skill will activate, allowing him to follow the raid instantly across the room.

Remornia: Denathrius' sword will not just be attacking the off-tank, but also using abilities of her own. Impale will cause Remornia to temporarily become unhittable and target 3 random players. A few seconds later, she will rush through these players, one after the other in a line indicated by arrows on the floor, and apply a bleed to anyone hit. Keep one side of the arena clear so people who are targeted by Impale can safely move to the side without fear of hitting anyone else. She will also periodically use Massacre, creating lines on the floor that will be slashed through with massive swords after a few seconds. Be ready to dodge, especially if the raid is clumped close together as there will be a lot of sword-lines close to each other, which could potentially make it difficult to dodge.

Ideally, this phase should only see about 3-4 waves of Crimson Cabalists, killing any remaining adds as the boss reaches 40% health. Any additional adds who are still alive during the transition will remain in Phase 3, which can be disasterous for multiple reasons: The last phase is a hard race against time where all DPS needs to be alive and focused on the boss. There is also a large amount of raid-wide damage going out in Phase 3 which, when combined with the Crimson Cabalists' passive Shadow damage, can easily prove lethal. Watch DPS, be patient, and wait for a moment to perform a clean transition.

Phase 3
Denathrius will teleport to the center of the arena, shatter the mirrors, and cause red fog to envelop the outer edges of the arena, beginning the final phase. He will now wield Remornia, reducing his attack speed, but drastically increasing his attack power. His attacks also apply a stacking DOT called Scorn. Tanks typically want to swap at 4-6 stacks to keep damage low.

In addition, Denathrius also gains two of Remornia's abilities: Massacre from Phase 2 and Ravage from Phase 1. Both of these abilities are the same, including the hard enrage that Ravage creates from slowly covering the arena in damaging blood. Three uses of Ravage and the raid will wipe, so Bloodlust should be used at the start of this phase. Dodge Massacre as normal.

In addition to keeping his Hand of Destruction cast, which the raid now needs to run away from normally instead of using mirrors, the boss will also gain a few final abilities. Fatal Finesse will mark 3 players with large circles. Similar to Feeding Time, this only deals damage to those caught in the circle, so step out of the raid to avoid damaging teammates. Lastly is Shattering Pain, which hits the tank with heavy physical damage, then damages and knocks back all players. Players should be mindful to never stand too close to the edge of the arena, as Shattering Pain could potentially knock them over the side. Tanks should position the boss closer to the center when he uses Shattering Pain, but closer to the edge when using Hand of Destruction to keep raid damage at a minimum.

This last phase is about being mindful of the limited space the raid has to work with, and using it to its full potential: Keeping Fatal Finesses away, knowing where to run during Hand of Destruction, and keeping DPS high to beat the enrage. If all these steps are followed, Denathrius should go down.

Quotes

 * Intro
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 * Aggro
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 * Cleansing Pain
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 * Blood Price
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 * Command: Ravage
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 * Intermission: March of the Penitent
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 * Stage Two: The Crimson Chorus
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 * Wracking Pain
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 * Hand of Destruction
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 * Command: Massacre
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 * Crimson Cabalist
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 * Stage Three: Indignation
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 * Sinister Reflection
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 * Killing a player
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Death

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 * Denathrius' soul is pulled into Remornia. His shoulderpads clatter to the floor as Remornia begins to escape.
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 * Renethal channels a spell that seals Remornia in place.
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 * Renethal silences the blade.
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