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BossHellfire High Council
Image of Hellfire High Council
Race(s) Orc, Fel orc, Dire orc (Humanoid)
Level ?? Boss
Reaction Alliance Horde
Location Hellfire Citadel
Status Killable

Hellfire High Council is a boss encounter in the Hellfire Citadel in Tanaan Jungle. It is a Council encounter that tests the healers' ability to heal through large amounts of raid-wide damage.

Background[]

Adventure Guide[]

Thousands of Iron Horde orcs accepted the blood of Mannoroth, but none grew as powerful as the three that stand before you. Dia Darkwhisper, champion of Void magic and an outcast of the Shadowmoon, rose quickly to power - the left hand of Gul'dan. Gurtogg, with his insatiable hunger for blood, emerged the victor in hundreds of trials by combat. He was bested only once, in a draw, by Blademaster Jubei'thos. Tainted with fel sickness, they serve Gul'dan as both Highguard and Council of War.

Designer notes[]

We couldn’t in good conscience make a fel orc raid set in Draenor without a throwback to Gurtogg Bloodboil, the brutish Black Temple boss whose signature Bloodboil ability makes a return in this encounter. Accompanying Gurtogg are champions of other allied orc clans, expressing the core of each clan’s power with a fel twist.

Overview[]

Each member of the council has a special attack that they will only use below 30% health. These effects will persist until the end of the encounter.

Dps icon Damage Dealers[]

  • If you are afflicted with Mark of the Necromancer when Dia Darkwhisper casts Reap, the ground beneath your position will burn for the remainder of the encounter, so position yourself carefully.
  • Use defensive abilities to maximize your chance of survival if Gurtogg Bloodboil targets you with his Fel Rage.
  • Move away from the impact point of Gurtogg Bloodboil's Demolishing Leap to minimize damage taken.

Healer icon Healers[]

  • Dispel Dia Darkwhisper's Mark of the Necromancer before its damage becomes lethal, but do not dispel prematurely as doing so causes the effect transfers to 2 additional targets when dispelled.
  • Use defensive abilities to maximize your chance of survival if Gurtogg Bloodboil targets you with his Fel Rage.
  • Move away from the impact point of Gurtogg Bloodboil's Demolishing Leap to minimize damage taken.

Tank icon Tanks[]

  • When Dia Darkwhisper uses Nightmare Visage, use defensive abilities to reduce the damage you take.
  • Keep Dia Darkwhisper away from her allies, else they will gain the effects of Void Haze.
  • Move away from the impact point of Gurtogg Bloodboil's Demolishing Leap to minimize damage taken.

Abilities[]

Blademaster Jubei'thos[]

BlademasterJubei'thos

Blademaster Jubei'thos

  • Inv weapon shortblade 62 Fel Blade — Jubei'thos hurls his flaming blade, inflicting 97500 to 102500 damage to enemies with which it comes into contact.
  • Spell fire felflamering Felstorm — Jubei'thos whirls a fiery tempest at enemies, inflicting 12285 to 12915 Fire damage to all enemies every second for 8 sec.
  • Spell frost windwalkon Windwalk — Jubei'thos disappears into the wind, summoning Mirror Images. He will re-emerge after 45 seconds or when all images have been defeated, whichever occurs first.
    • Spell nature mirrorimage Mirror Images — Jubei'thos summons decoys of himself. He will re-emerge when all of his images have been destroyed, or after enough time has passed.
  • His Final Hour — Upon reaching 30% health remaining, Jubei'thos will begin to cast Wicked Strike. After his death the images of Jubei'thos will continue to haunt players, striking them from the shadows.
    • Ability criticalstrike Wicked Strike — An image of Jubei'thos appears behind half of all living players, striking them for 84474 Fire damage. This effect increases in damage over time. When Jubei'thos is defeated, he continues to haunt players from the grave, Wicked Striking them until the encounter is defeated.

Dia Darkwhisper[]

DiaWhisper

Dia Darkwhisper

  • Inv enchant voidsphere Void Bolt — Dia focuses void energy at her primary target, inflicting 150000 Shadow damage.
  • Ability priest voidentropy Void Haze — Dia's dark presence shrouds allies in a dark haze, absorbing all damage taken for as long as they stand within 25 yards of her.
  • Spell shadow summonvoidwalker Nightmare Visage Tank Alert — Dia transforms into a visage of nightmares, unleashing a flurry of attacks on her primary target.
  • Ability bossfelorcs necromancer purple Mark of the Necromancer Healer Alert Magic Effect — Dia marks random enemies with the sigil of the necromancer, inflicting increasing Shadow damage over time. When dispelled, this effect bounces to 2 nearby allies of the afflicted player. In Mythic difficulty, Mark of the Necromancer bounces to 3 targets, instead of 2.
    • Ability rogue envelopingshadows Reap — Dia reaps all marked targets, causing her mark to burn into the ground. This mark inflicts 58500 to 61500 Shadow damage to all enemies within the effect every second.
    • Spell deathknight necroticplague Burden of the Necromancer — When Mark of the Necromancer is dispeled, it will detonate for 29250 to 30750 Shadow damage to all enemies.
  • Ability rogue envelopingshadows Wailing Horror — Dia shrouds the room in darkness, inflicting 102375 to 107625 Shadow damage to all enemies every second. Darkness amasses, causing Wailing Horrors to form in random locations and sail across the room. These horrors will inflict 102375 to 107625 Shadow damage to enemies with which they come into contact.
  • Her Final Hour — Upon reaching 30% health remaining, Dia Darkwhisper is overcome by darkness, applying Mark of the Necromancer to half of all remaining foes. In her madness, she will no longer use Reap.

Gurtogg Bloodboil[]

GurtoggBloodboil(WoD)

Gurtogg Bloodboil

  • Spell shadow bloodboil Bloodboil — Gurtogg causes the 5 furthest enemies' blood to boil, inflicting 70834 to 74468 Physical damage. In Mythic difficulty, this effect boils the target's blood for 70834 to 74468 Physical damage every second. This effect stacks.
  • Ability gouge Acidic Wound Tank Alert — Gurtogg's fel sickness infects the wounds of his current target, inflicting Nature damage every 2 sec. and reducing armor by 100. Stacks up to 60 times, lasts 30 sec.
  • Spell fire elementaldevastation Fel Rage — Gurtogg goes into a fel rage, focusing on a random enemy. A sickening fel energy courses through their veins, causing them to gain extra defenses. Successful melee attacks will cause Gurtogg to increase his attack speed by 10% in all difficulties except Looking For Raid.
    • Spell holy blessingofstrength Fury Enrage — Damage dealt increased by 10%. This effect stacks.
  • Ability foundryraid demolition Demolishing Leap — Gurtogg crashes around the room, inflicting up to 341250 to 358750 Physical damage to players based on proximity to his impact.
  • His Final Hour — Upon reaching 30% health remaining, Gurtogg begins to cast Tainted Blood until he is defeated.
    • Inv misc boilingblood Tainted Blood Deadly — Gurtogg taints the blood of his enemies, limiting their maximum health value by 10% per application. This effect stacks, and persists until the encounter is over.

Strategy[]

Two tanks are required: one to take Dia Darkwhisper, and the other to handle both Gurtogg Bloodboil and Blademaster Jubei'thos. Each boss has an additional ability unlocked at 30% health, meaning it is better to focus them down one at a time. The kill order is: Gurtog first, then Jubei'thos, and Dia last.

Gurtogg will stack Bloodboil on the tank that steadily stacks. The only way to get rid of it is to wait until he is finished with his Fel Rage, giving enough time for the stacks to fall off. As the stacks inevitably get higher, tanks and healers must keep an eye out and be prepared to use cooldowns in the moments before Fel Rage starts. Fel Rage will cause Gurtogg to fixiate on one of the DPS and only attack him. He runs too fast to outrun, so this will test the healer's ability to keep said player from dying to Gurtogg's attacks. He will also leap at players and hit them for some damage. At 30%, pop Spell nature bloodlust [Bloodlust] because he will start casting Tainted Blood on the whole raid, steadily reducing their maximum hp by 10% per stack. Since this effect stacks quickly and remains for the rest of the fight, it is imperative to get Gurtog down quickly when he reaches low health.

Blademaster Jubei'thos' attacks mostly consist of attacks that effect the whole raid as opposed to just the tank. Using Windwalk, he will randomly slash random players (Regardless of distance) in addition to hitting the tank. His Felstorm will cause unavoidable AOE damage to the whole raid. When he casts Mirror Image, he will split into multiple copies around the room and begin channeling a large amount of AOE fire damage to the raid which must be healed through. Any damage taken by the Mirror Images is also taken by Jubei'thos himself. The amount of damage the raid takes will decrease as more images are killed. AT 30%, he will start using Wicked Strike, which is similar to Windwalk, except it hits half the raid and deals far more damage. DPS should try to stack up to be more easily healed, especially if Jubei'thos happens to use Mirror Images during his Wicked Strike phase. Be mindful that he continues using Wicked STRIKE after being killed.

Dia Darkwhisper is arguably the most dangerous to tanks and her high damage output the reason she should be tanked separately from the other two. Use an interrupt to pull her further away from Gurtog and Jubei'thos. Her Nightmare Visage increases her attack speed and damage for about 8 seconds before changing back. Brewmaster monks excel here as they can stack Ability monk elusiveale [Elusive Brew] due to her normal attacks being undodgeable spells that do negligible damage, and pop it during Nightmare Visage to receive almost no damage by dodging all her attacks. Dia casts Reap on those who randomly have the Mark of the Necromancer debuff, causing those affected to spawn void zones underneath them. When you have been targeted by Reap, move to the edge of the room to drop it safely. Lastly, she will cast Wailing Horror which is yet another raid wide damage attack. The raid can avoid the worst of it by moving to the edge of the room, avoiding most of the damage the flying voidwalkers do.

Loot[]

Raid Finder Normal/Heroic/Mythic
Item Type Item Type
Inv axe 2h draenorhonors2 c 01 [Rivetspike Cleaver] Strength two-hand axe Inv sword 2h felfireraid d 02 [Fel-Burning Blade] (H · M) Strength two-hand sword
Inv staff 2h draenorhonors2 c 03 [Spring-Loaded Jawstaff] Agility staff Inv sword 1h felfireraid d 01 [Blazing Demonhilt Sword] (H · M) Strength one-hand sword
Inv sword 1h draenorhonors2 c 02 [Hellfire Mindblade] Caster one-hand sword Inv sword 1h felfireraid d 01 [Mindbender's Flameblade] (H · M) Caster one-hand sword
Inv sword 1h draenorhonors2 c 01 [Viscera-Stained Longsword] Strength one-hand sword Inv leather raidrogue p 01helm [Gurtogg's Discarded Hood] (H · M) Leather helmet
Inv 60dungeon neck3b [Gorget of Induced Madness] Tank necklace Inv 6 0raid necklace 4b [Spiked Bloodstone Pendant] (H · M) Tank necklace
Inv shoulder leather draenorhonors2 c 01 [Fel-Crazed Pauldrons] Leather shoulders Inv leather raidrogue p 01shoulders [Blood-Tanned Pauldrons] (H · M) Leather shoulders
Inv shoulder plate draenorhonors2 c 01 paladin [Wailing Woe Pauldrons] Plate shoulders Inv cape felfireraid d 03 [Rugged Bloodcaked Drape] (H · M) Strength cloak
Inv glove mail draenorhonors2 c 01 [Gauntlets of Reckless Assault] Mail gloves Inv cape felfireraid d 03 [Windswept Wanderer's Drape] (H · M) Agility cloak
Inv belt plate draenorhonors2 c 01 paladin [Blade-Chipped Waistguard] Plate belt Inv bracer mail raidhunter p 01 [Bloody Berserker's Bracers] (H · M) Mail bracers
Inv belt cloth draenorhonors2 c 01 [Sash of Guttural Intonation] Cloth belt Inv bracer cloth raidwarlock p 01 [Cursed Blood Bracers] (H · M) Cloth bracers
Inv pant cloth draenorhonors2 c 01 [Void-Pact Leggings] Cloth leggings Inv plate raidpaladin p 01buckle [Girdle of Savage Resolve] (H · M) Plate belt
Inv boot mail draenorhonors2 c 01 [Bladewalk Boots] Mail boots Inv pant plate raiddeathknight p 01 [Acid-Etched Legplates] (H · M) Plate leggings
Inv misc 60raid ring 2d [Hazy Voidstone Band] Spirit ring Inv pant cloth raidwarlock p 01 [Dia's Nightmarish Leggings] (H · M) Cloth leggings
Inv misc 60raid ring 2a [Shadowmoon Ancestry Ring] Caster ring Inv robe mail raidshaman p 01 [Kilt of Self-Reflection] (H · M) Mail leggings
Inv misc trinket6oih lanternb2 [Smoldering Felblade Remnant] Agility necklace Inv 6 2raid ring 1d [Shimmering Voidstone Band] (H · M) Spirit ring
Achievement dungeon shadowmoonhideout [Desecrated Shadowmoon Insignia] (H · M) Caster trinket
Spell nature mirrorimage [Mirror of the Blademaster] (H · M) Agility trinket

Related Achievements[]

Quotes[]

Aggro
Dia Darkwhisper yells: Gurtogg! Dispatch our enemies...
Gurtogg Bloodboil yells: Yes, Dark Lady.

Blademaster Jubei'thos[]

Mirror Images
Burn... BURN!
Wicked Strike
My blade seeks vengeance!
Being Marked of the Necromancer
Your darkness burns within me!
Killed a player
  • To ash...
  • To cinders!
Death
I am everburning!
Unused quotes
  • For the Burning Blade!
  • Taste my blade!
  • I walk in shadow.
  • Like the wind!

Dia Darkwhisper[]

Reap
  • It rips. It tears. It is boundless and eternal...
  • The void, it hungers!
Wailing Horror
And then the dead shall rise once more.
Mark of the Necromancer
  • They have been marked.
  • They will carry the darkness with them.
Killed a player
  • How it struggles when death is near!
  • It has fallen. It is mine now.
Death
The sweet mercy... of death.
Unused quotes
  • They come for us! They will not find what they seek!
  • I have shown them... the Netherlands.

Gurtogg Bloodboil[]

Demolishing Leap
Iron Horde will CRUSH you!
Fel Rage
  • Drink your blood, eat your flesh!
  • I'll rip the meat from your bones!
Tainted Blood
More! I want MORE!
Killed a player
  • Time to feast!
  • Crush you!
Death
ArRRgghhHhh...
Unused quote
I hunger.

Videos[]

Hellfire High Council Heroic - Mage

Hellfire High Council Mythic - Boss Voices - Mage

Notes[]

Ion "Watcher" Hozzikostas has this to say about the many fixes and changes regarding Dia Darkwhisper's Mark of the Necromancer and Reap abilities:

why the buff to dia again again | 2015-08-13 06:02 | Blizzard Entertainment Watcher

There's definitely a messy history here. Our aim throughout has been to provide a more consistent experience, but there have been other bugs exposed as we applied various fixes in pursuit of that goal, which required new fixes, and so forth. Fingers crossed, but we think we're at a final state at this point.

The core of the original problem lay in Dia's nature as a Shadow-school-exclusive caster with a variety of spells, one of which (Void Bolt) needed to respect school lockout when interrupted, and Mark of the Necromancer's exponential growth that makes Reap timing very important.

A history of changes here:

Original state: Nightmare Visage respected school lockout, and because Reap could not be cast during Nightmare Visage, the exact timing and quantity of Void Bolt interrupts could cause huge variance in Reap's timing, and thus the damage taken from Mark of the Necromancer. Some players figured out an exact interrupt order to reliably cause Reap to be delayed so that it started coming after Mark, pretty much trivializing Mark for the rest of the fight.

Reap Hotfix #1 (August 3): Because it was a problem that the danger posed by Mark/Reap could vary drastically from pull to pull, we made Visage ignore school lockout, which made its timing more predictable, and thus Reap's timing as well. We realized that many guilds had only killed the fight by manipulating the timing to get the optimal Reap/Mark order, so we also nerfed Mark damage at the same time to help offset the potential increase in difficulty.

Post-Hotfix #1: This mostly addressed the problem, though quirks in AI timing meant that it was still rarely possible to get the "easy" spell order. The new timing exposed an even worse bug, however. Dia could not Reap while Darkness was occurring. Previously, delayed Visage casts tended to cause these two abilities to not intersect. But after our hotfix, there was a predictable window, about 6:30 into the fight, where they would line up, and the result was to delay Dia's fifth Reap by a significant amount, causing Mark damage to ramp out of control and almost certainly cause a wipe. Not good.

Hotfix #2 (August 11): We fixed the issue with Darkness preventing Reap, and rebuilt the way Reap/Mark work, and now force Dia to re-cast Mark after each Reap so that they can never get desynced and the variance in Mark damage from pull to pull should go way down.

Post-Hotfix #2: The change to Darkness/Reap interaction also increased the effective duration of Darkness (a side-effect, not the core intended change), which increased the damage and positioning disruption from that ability.

Hotfix #3 (August 13): We're going to be reducing the duration of Darkness to match how it used to be prior to Hotfix #2.

We're generally hesitant to buff fights once they're in the wild, and didn't set out here with the intent of making the encounter strictly more difficult (hence the offsetting nerf to Mark damage in Hotfix #1 above). The goal was always to reduce large variation in the fight's difficulty from pull to pull, which makes for a frustrating experience. There were admittedly a few more pitfalls along the way than we expected. Please let us know if you continue to experience any frustrations or apparent bugs here.

View original post

Patch changes[]

  • Warlords of Draenor Hotfix (2015-09-30): Reduced the damage of Dia Darkwhisper's Wailing Horrors by 30% on Normal difficulty.
  • Warlords of Draenor Hotfix (2015-08-14):
    • Dia Darkwhisper's Darkness now lasts 15 seconds.
    • Dispelling Dia Darkwhisper's Mark of the Necromancer during Nightmare Visage should no longer incorrectly cause Burden of the Necromancer to deal more damage.
    • Dia Darkwhisper will no longer cast Mark of the Necromancer during her final cast of Reap.
  • Warlords of Draenor Hotfix (2015-08-11): Dia Darkwhisper should now use her Mark of the Necromancer and Reap abilities more consistently.
  • Warlords of Draenor Hotfix (2015-07-22): Fixed a situation where Mark of the Necromancer could stop dealing damage to players.
  • Warlords of Draenor Hotfix (2015-07-16): Dia Darkwhisper should now be using her Reap ability more consistently.
  • Warlords of Draenor Hotfix (2015-07-13): Fixed an issue that could cause Dia Darkwhisper to not cast Mark of the Necromancer a final time upon reaching 30% health.
  • Warlords of Draenor Hotfix (2015-06-29): Blademaster Jubei'thos should no longer incorrectly reset the number of battle resurrections available to the raid group when he uses his Windwalk ability.
  • Warlords of Draenor Patch 6.2.0 (2015-06-23): Added.

External links[]

Blademaster Jubei'thos Dia Darkwhisper Gurtogg Bloodboil
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