This page covers a healer-focused strategy for King Rastakhan in Battle of Dazar'alor. While it's tailored for healers, other roles may also find the information useful. If you have any suggestions or feedback, you can leave a comment below or tweet @PrestonDvorak.

This guide has been updated and maintained based on my own experiences with the encounter as well as Dungeon Journal information. I'll continue to update it as-needed.

General Mechanics and Abilities

Normal and Heroic

This is a multi-stage encounter during which players will be fighting through Rastakhan's guards to eventually face him and the power of Bwonsamdi.

This is a "flashback" encounter for Horde players, meaning they'll be completing it as Alliance races.

Stage One - Zandalari Honor Guard

This stage begins the encounter and ends when the two Honor Guards are killed.

King Rastakhan

• All damage taken is redirected to the Honor Guards through Bind Souls.
• The tanks will be dealing with Scorching Detonation.
  • The affected tank should run as far away from the group as possible to minimize the damage the group takes.
• During Plague of Toads, avoid the Toads hopping across the room.
  • On Heroic, avoid the Poison Toad Slime these leave behind.
• On Heroic, avoid the Serpent's Breath cones from Greater Serpent Totems.

Prelate Za'lan

• When targeted by Seal of Purification, move away from the group.

Siegebreaker Roka

• Stack with the player affected by Meteor Leap to split the damage dealt.
• The tanks get targeted by Crushing Leap.
  • This applies a stack of Crushed and will likely force a tank swap.

Headhunter Gal'wana

• Heroic only.
• Targets random players with Grievous Axe, dealing damage over time until the player is healed above 90% health.

Stage Two - Bwonsamdi's Pact

This stage beings after the two Honor Guards are killed and ends when Rastakhan reaches 60% health.

King Rastakhan

• King Rastakhan now directly engages the group and takes damage.
• Scorching Detonation and Plague of Toads continue during this stage.
• During Plague of Fire, stay at least 7-yards away from other players to minimize the number of jumps.
• Kill any Zombie Dust Totems to free the mind-controlled players.

Bwonsamdi

• Immune to damage due to Unliving.
• The tanks will be dealing with Caress of Death, this deals damage over time and temporarily absorbs healing.
• Avoid the Aura of Death 30-yards around Bwonsamdi.
  • Player in the aura gain a stack of Deathly Withering every 3-seconds.
• When affected by Death's Door, move away from the group to drop the resulting Death Rift.

Stage Three - Enter the Death Realm

This stage begins when Rastakhan reaches 60% health and ends when Bwonsamdi reaches 50% health.

To begin this stage, half of the group closest to Bwonsamdi will be pulled into the Death Realm.

Living Realm

• Scorching Detonation, Death's Door, and Zombie Dust Totem continue during this stage.
• Rastakhan deals steadily increasing damage due to Bwonsamdi's Boon.
• Phantom of Retribution
  • Targets random players with Grave Bolt.
  • Stand in the impact locations of Seal of Bwonsamdi to avoid them triggering Bwonsamdi's Wrath.
  • After 60-seconds, can no longer be crowd controlled due to Undying Relentlessness.
• Phantom of Rage
  • Don't stand in front of these to avoid Necrotic Smash.
  • After 60-seconds, can no longer be crowd controlled due to Undying Relentlessness.
• Phantom of Slaughter
  • Heroic only.
  • Targets random players with Grave Bolt.
  • When targeted by Focused Demise, only you can interrupt the effect.
  • After 60-seconds, can no longer be crowd controlled due to Undying Relentlessness.

Death Realm

• All players in the Death Realm gain a stack of Deathly Withering every 3-seconds.
  • This can be cleared by touching a Death Rift, which triggers a Withering Burst.
•  Bwonsamdi
  • Targets random players with Caress of Death, dealing damage over time and temporarily absorbing healing.
  • During Inevitable End, avoid being pulled into the death zone.
  • Avoid the Dread Reaping pools as they travel across the room.
    • Any shards that hit a Death's Door will travel to the Living Realm.
  • During Plague of Fire, stay at least 7-yards away from other players to minimize the number of jumps.

Stage Four - Uncontrollable Power

This stage begins when Bwonsamdi reaches 50% health and ends when Rastakhan is killed.

• All players are removed from the Death Realm and Bwonsamdi leaves the encounter.
• Any Phantom of Retribution, Phantom of Rage, or Phantom of Slaughter that weren't killed in the previous stage will still be present.
• Caress of Death, Plague of Toads, Plague of Fire, Death's Door, and Inevitable End continue during this stage.
• All Encompassing Death creates additional Death's Doors near Rastakhan.

Mythic Differences

Stage Three - Enter the Death Realm

Phantoms now return to the Death Realm after being killed due to Empowered Spirit, leaving behind a Death's Door.

Healing Notes

Quick Notes, All Difficulties

The notes below mostly pertain to progression difficulty, meaning if you out-gear the difficulty you're on or use extra healers they may not apply.

• Use Major Cooldowns on
  • Scorching Detonation
• Use Minor Cooldowns
  • Meteor Leap 
  • as-needed on Withering Bursts
• Pre-heal Before (mainly for heal over time classes)
  • Scorching Detonation
  • Meteor Leap
  • players touch Death Rifts
• Potion of Replenishment use
  • immediately after stage three, before stage four ramps up
• Other things to watch for
  • Players affected by Caress of Death or Necrotic Smash, they may need an external defensive cooldown.
  • Players affected by Grievous Axe need immediate healing to remove the effect.
  • Players affected by
  • Be aware of boss and add abilities overlapping, there is a lot of potential for difficult moments.

Debuffs to Track

Major

• Caress of Death prevents players from receiving healing.
• Grievous Axe causes players to need to be healed above 90% health to remove the damage over time effect.
• Focused Demise causes players to need additional healing.

Minor

• Plague of Toads causes players to need additional healing.
• Death's Door causes players to need additional healing.
• Necrotic Smash reduces the healing players receive.

 DBM Settings

Below are the DBM settings I'll be using for King Rastakhan. You can set them up however you'd like, but these ones should work well as a starting point. Some settings may be Mythic only.

Healer DBM Settings for King Rastakhan in Battle of Dazar'alor

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