Thaddius



Thaddius is the fourth and final boss of the Construct Quarter in Naxxramas. Thaddius appears in World of Warcraft as well as World of Warcraft: Ashbringer.

History
Pieced together from the flesh of innocent women and children, this massive abomination dwells in one of Naxxramas' experimental laboratories, flanked by two huge wights—Stalagg and Feugen. Powerful bolts of electricity arc through the laboratory, supercharging Thaddius and his wight minions. It is said that the souls contained in Thaddius are fused together - eternally bound within that foul prison of flesh.

Introduction

 * Your raid cleared out the last group of monsters, and the only thing left are the two gates at the very end of the room. All of a sudden, the mighty gates fly open. A vast laboratory filled with all kinds of strange machinery lies before you, electric discharges and lightning painting the walls with jagged shadows. Even though you know you should be trying to rally your raid you can't help but stare at the monstrosity in the center of the room. At the last second you snap out of it and barely escape a fierce blow by of one of the two gruesome wights that descended from platforms higher up in the room. As your raid forms up and mounts a first organized attack on the creatures, you can't help but wonder what other nightmares lie in wait in the cursed depths of Naxxramas.


 * You get the feeling you'll find out soon enough.

Feugen and Stalagg
The encounter begins with splitting the raid in two to engage Feugen and Stalagg. If they leave their platforms (or are even just pulled too close to the ramp up to their platforms) the entire raid will be hit by unhealable massive nature damage from the Tesla coils in the room. They have 2,100,000 HP each. If they are not killed within 5 seconds of each other they will resurrect each other with full health.

Feugen
Hits for about 4,500 on plate.


 * Spell Shadow SpectralSight.png Static Field:
 * Does 3,500 Nature damage every 3 seconds to everyone within 60 yards.


 * Spell Nature GroundingTotem.png Magnetic Pull:
 * Pulls Stalagg's tank to Feugen every 30 seconds and switches their threat.

Stalagg
Hits for about 6,000 on plate.


 * Spell Shadow SpectralSight.png Power Surge:
 * Increases Stalagg's melee haste by 200% for 10 seconds.


 * Spell Nature GroundingTotem.png Magnetic Pull:
 * Pulls Feugen's tank to Stalagg every 30 seconds and switches their threat.

Thaddius
After Feugen and Stalagg are slain the raid has 15 seconds to jump to Thaddius' platform before Thaddius becomes active. Thaddius has approximately 30,400,000 hit points.


 * Spell Nature ChainLightning.png Chain Lightning:
 * Hits 5 random players for 6938 to 8062 Nature damage. Cast every ~15 seconds.


 * Spell Nature Lightning.png Polarity Shift:
 * Charges the entire raid either negatively or positively. Roughly half will be each.  When standing on people with the same charge a 10% damage buff is gained per person.  When standing on people with the opposite charge they will deal 4,500 damage after 5 seconds to each other. (If you are standing near a group of the opposite charge you will receive 4,500 damage multiplied by the amount of people.)

This damage buff is needed to have any hope of killing Thaddius before his berserk. Cast every 30 seconds. THERE IS NO PATTERN TO WHICH RAID MEMBERS GET WHICH POLARITY!


 * Spell Lightning LightningBolt01.png Ball Lightning:
 * If no one is in melee range of Thaddius he will ball lightning his primary aggro target for 17500 to 22500 Nature damage.


 * Berserker Enrage - After six minutes in combat Thaddius will Berserker enrage, increasing all damage done by 1,000%. 30 m / (6x60) = 83,333 (83.3k) Raid DPS needed = ~ 3,333 (3.3k) per player to beat this timer. Assuming 3-4 tanks and 6-7 healers leaves 15 dps means dps needs to do 5.5k dps each. Due to the damage buff can assume +100% to +120% dmg ie: equivalent to average of 2.5k to 2.8k per player on other fights.

Feugen and Stalagg
The encounter begins with splitting the raid in two to engage Feugen and Stalagg. If they leave their platforms the entire raid will be hit by unhealable massive nature damage from the Tesla coils in the room. They have 838,300 HP each. If they are not killed within 5 seconds of each other they will resurrect each other with full health.

Feugen
Hits for about 3,000 on plate.


 * Static Field - Does 2,500 Nature damage every 3 seconds to everyone within 60 yards.


 * Magnetic Pull - Pulls Stalagg's tank to Feugen every 30 seconds and switches their threat.

Stalagg
Hits for about 4,500 on plate.


 * Power Surge - Increases Stalagg's melee haste by 200% for 10 seconds.


 * Magnetic Pull - Pulls Feugen's tank to Stalagg every 30 seconds and switches their threat.

Thaddius
After Feugen and Stalagg are slain the raid has 15 seconds to jump to Thaddius' platform before Thaddius becomes active. Thaddius has approximately 3,850,000 hit points.


 * Chain Lightning - Hits 3 random players for 3600 to 4400 Nature damage. Cast every ~15 seconds.


 * Polarity Shift - Charges the entire raid either negatively or positively. Roughly half will be each.  When standing on people with the same charge a 10% damage buff is gained per person.  When standing on people with the opposite charge they will deal 3,500 damage a second to each other each (7,000 total).  Cast every 30 seconds.


 * Ball Lightning - If no one is in melee range of Thaddius he will ball lightning his primary aggro target for 17500 to 22500 Nature damage.


 * Berserker Enrage - After six minutes in combat Thaddius will Berserker enrage, increasing all damage done by 1,000%.

25-man strategy
Two tanks are required for this encounter. Thaddius and the phase one adds are tauntable. This encounter is significantly harder on 25-man mode, as the enrage timer becomes a very restricting factor should you lose raid members early. Even losing non-damage classes can be harmful, due to the loss of a stacking +10% damage buff. The Thaddius portion of the fight is typically easy to heal, usually requiring no more than 3-4 healers for a 25-man raid. Any remaining healers should help DPS to beat the enrage timer.

Phase 1: Feugen and Stalagg
Phase 1 is very simple. Split the raid into two groups that will deal approximately equal damage, with half the tanks/healers on either side. Keep the tanks alive and heal Feugen's/Stalagg's damage, keep the adds on their platforms, and kill them simultaneously. Tanks should be certain to keep Feugen and Stalagg in the middle/back of their platforms and within range of the Tesla coils - shifting too far towards the base of the ramp can pull them out of range, causing unhealable nature damage to the room and wiping the raid. Every so often, the tanks will be "thrown" to the opposite platform, and their accumulated threat reassigned to the new mob. Tanks may need to pull back and reposition slightly after being thrown to the opposite platform. At around 5% it is necessary for both groups to check where the other is on damage. If either Stalagg or Feugen are killed while the other still has more than 5% to go, both Feugen and Stalagg will be resurrected and the fight will begin anew.

Phase 1.5: The Platform Jump
As soon as Feugen and Stalagg are down, the raid should jump to Thaddius' platform. It is important to note that this jump is difficult for some people. If one or more members of the raid fail to make the jump, they can run around to the front of the room, up to Feugen or Stalagg's platform, and try again. However, any raid members who arrive on Thaddius' platform after the fight begins must wait for a Polarity Shift before moving near the rest of the raid. Having no charge (because you were out of range for the first Polarity Shift) will still trigger polarity charge damage, because the charge is not the same as the other members of the raid (i.e., "no charge" is viewed as a different charge than + or -). A member arriving late to Thaddius' platform will thus need to wait, away from the rest of the group, until a Polarity Shift occurs and a charge is received, and the raid member can then join the rest of the raid on the appropriate side. After 3.0.8, priests can cast Levitate and mages can cast Slow Fall (ability) on anyone in the raid. Players who have trouble jumping down should ask a priest or mage to buff them after Feugen and Stalagg are dead so that all they have to do is run off the edge and float safely down to Thaddius's platform.

Phase 2: Thaddius
Thaddius will become active a few seconds after the group reaches his platform, and should be tanked in the center of the platform where he is, but slightly forward so that there is room for the raid to see where to run on either side of him during the Polarity Shifts. Approximately 10 seconds after Thaddius becomes active, he will cast his first Polarity Shift on the raid. The raid will need to immediately stack up in two separate groups depending on their charge. Raid leaders, make sure you clearly state what side the Negative group is on and what side Positive is on! Each group should clump up at maximum melee range. This allows members with the same charge to buff one another and allows melee DPS to engage Thaddius, all while avoiding shocking members of the opposite group. Stacking the charges is critical, as each charge provides a +10% damage buff (up to 12 stacks) that will be necessary to defeat Thaddius before the enrage timer. The tank should rotate around Thaddius to match the group that shares his charge. Some raids may prefer to use a front/back arrangement, with (for example) negative against the wall and positive on the edge of the platform. This ensures that the groups are tightly bunched for the damage buff, and allows anyone coming in late to go directly to the right place without running through the opposite-charged players.

When Thaddius switches polarities again, everyone that has to move should move to the appropriate side as fast as possible. One strategy is to ask everyone to run around him either clockwise or counter-clockwise to avoid shocking players running the opposite direction. However, there are only about 4 seconds between the polarity shift and the first shock, so some raids opt to have members run straight through Thaddius to their new spots. Note that not every Polarity Shift will change the charge on a raid member, so the raid members will need to monitor their debuffs each time Polarity Shift is cast.

Once the raid is back in position and stacked with others who have a similar charge, the fight continues as before. This is the entire fight from 100% to 0% - there are no phases. You have six minutes to get through Thaddius' 30,400,000 HP. This enrage timer is quite strict and it is highly unlikely you will be able to beat it if you lose more than a few people, both because of the lost DPS and because fewer members of the raid alive means there are fewer people to stack to receive the same-charge buff (thus, even a healer death can become somewhat problematic). Once Thaddius is down, the charges immediately dissipate.

Tips Thaddius has a quite large hitbox, so it is possible for your ranged DPS and melee to group up relatively close to each other. This positioning has three benefits:
 * Everyone receives the maximum possible number of group buffs
 * Hunters do not have to sacrifice DPS to gain the group buff
 * No one is close to the tank if he has an opposing charge

If the need for a battle rez arises, the target of the rez should wait for Thaddius' polarity change and accept the rez immediately upon Thaddius' cast, then move to the appropriate group. Prematurely accepting the rez will lead to group damage and the target of the rez dying again, thus wasting a valuable resurrection.

It is no longer possible to use two Bloodlusts/Heroisms during the Thaddius encounter, because the Sated/Exhaustion debuffs now last for 10 minutes, which is longer than the enrage timer.

It may be easier to look at the color of the debuff rather than the symbol, as that can slow reaction times by a fraction of a second. Negative is red, positive is blue.

10-man strategy
The 10-man strategy is exactly the same as the 25-man strategy. The tanks, healers, and DPS are split to kill Feugen and Stalagg simultaneously, and then Thaddius is engaged and the raid begins its rotations after the first Polarity Shift. Thaddius only needs one tank, so have your other(s) DPS.

Phase 1: Feugen & Stalagg
Notably, the pacing of DPS on Feugen and Stalagg may have to be monitored more carefully in this version of the fight. For a 10-man group running 2 tanks, 3 healers, and 5 dps, splitting the raid will mean that one side has more DPS than the other. Consequently, DPS on one side may need to slow down for a brief period of time, to ensure that Feugen and Stalagg are killed within 5 seconds of each other and do not resurrect. Feugen and Stalagg can creep forwards on their platform at times, so it it wise for the tank to reposition their new target at the back of the platform after each tank switch.

Phase 2: Thaddius
The technique for this encounter simply involves assigning a direction to each polarity. As you look in the room before you attack the two mini bosses, you will see Thaddius. The left and right sides as you are facing him are what is referred to by "left" and "right" when sides are called out. When you pull Thaddius and the raid has no charge, stack up on the tank. Then when he casts the first Polarity Shift, run to the assigned side. You only need to get this bit right once!

From then on, the fight becomes simple. Stack on top of each other at max melee range. Thaddius's huge hitbox assures that everyone in each group gets the buff, is close enough to quickly change sides, and can be well out of range of the raid members with the opposite charge. When Thaddius changes polarity again, you must look carefully - if your Polarity has CHANGED, run around the boss in a counter clockwise direction and stack on the other side. If it didn't change, STAY WHERE YOU ARE!

Continue this for 4–5 minutes and you will either kill him or kill yourself depending on how well your group has mastered the movement technique. This technique requires fast reactions and good awareness of de-buffs. If you are part of a group that successfully downed Grobbulus, you are likely to be able to do this encounter. In 10 man, if one person messes up, this does not mean a wipe. If you are unsure where to go, move out of melee range and stand as far away from the boss and both groups as possible, until you understand the mechanic.

Things that can go wrong
 * Your ranged DPS stand too far back and cannot run through the boss in time.
 * Someone in the group gets the polarity wrong and stands at the wrong side (usually wiping half the raid). This can be overcome if Thaddius is under 10%, assuming you have at least one tank and healer still alive.
 * People who miss the platform jump on the first try enter into the fight without having an assigned polarity and shock everyone.
 * Someone in the group suggests a "spread out" technique - it won't work because the DPS needs the stacking buff.
 * Too many people die early, and there is not enough DPS to beat the enrage timer.

Solo strategy
As it's obviously not possible to keep both Stalagg and Feugen each on their respective platform, choose one wight and aggro it, but keep it within range of the Tesla Coil. For description purposes, assume Feugen is pulled and Stalagg has to run over, but the encounter is the same the same either way. Damage Feugen to ~25% health while waiting for Stalagg to run over. Once Stalagg is in range, swap over and damage Stalagg down to near death, then kill them both at the same time. Either wight will still resurrect the other if it is not killed within five seconds.

Once both wights are dead, jump down to Thaddius's platform, pop cooldowns and go to town. Polarity means nothing, so just work through Thaddius's health pool.

Related Achievements

 * The Construct Quarter (10 player)
 * The Construct Quarter (25 player)
 * Shocking! (10 player)
 * Shocking! (25 player)

Quotes
The following screams are heard echoing throughout Naxxramas in addition to during the fight with Thaddius, and will stop after Thaddius dies. The screams sound like those of a woman or child:
 * Pleeease!
 * Stop, please stop...
 * Help me! Save me! (the words Stop screaming! can be faintly heard)
 * Please, nooo!


 * Intro
 * yell


 * Aggro
 * yell
 * yell
 * yell


 * Polarity Shift
 * yell


 * Killing a player
 * yell


 * Death
 * yell


 * Killed first
 * yell


 * Killed second
 * yell


 * Killed third
 * yell


 * Killed last
 * yell

Trivia

 * Thaddius is the fourth and final boss of the Construct Quarter, the fourth wing of the Curse of Naxxramas adventure in Hearthstone. Defeating him awards Feugen and Stalagg as legendary cards. Upon death, if one of the two already died that game, the other will summon Thaddius.