This page covers a healer-focused strategy for Nefarian in Blackwing Lair. 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, logs information, and Dungeon Journal information. I'll continue to update it as-needed.

General Mechanics and Abilities

Stage One - Drakonids

This stage begins the encounter and ends when 42 drakonid adds are killed.

• Drakonids spawn from the two doorways near the back of the room.
• Chromatic Drakonid
  • Stay at least 15-yards away to avoid Brood Power: Black.
• Small Chromatic Drakonid
  • Two out of the five drakonid types will be used with each raid reset, chosen at random.
  • Red Drakonid
    • Stay at least 15-yards away to avoid Brood Power: Red.
    • Resistant to fire damage.
  • Blue Drakonid
    • Target random players with Brood Power: Blue (dispel, magic), draining mana and reducing attack speed.
    • Resistant to frost damage.
  • Green Drakonid
    • Stun random players with Brood Power: Green.
    • Resistant to nature damage.
  • Black Drakonid
    • Stay at least 15-yards away to avoid Brood Power: Black.
    • Resistant to shadow and fire damage.
  • Bronze Drakonid
    • Target random players with Brood Power: Bronze (dispel, magic), reducing casting and attack speed.

Stage Two - Nefarian Calls

This stage begins after 42 drakonid adds are killed in stage one and ends when Nefarian reaches 20% health.

• At the beginning of the stage, all players are hit by Shadow Flame. It's recommended everyone be wearing Onyxia Scale Cloak to avoid the damage over time effect.
• Don't stand in front of the boss to avoid Cleave and Shadow Flame.
• Move at least 35-yards away from the boss before Bellowing Roar to avoid the fear effect.
• Targets the player nearest to the center of Nefarian's hitbox with Veil of Shadow (dispel, curse), greatly reducing healing received.
• Every 30-seconds, Class Call applies a negative effect to players based on their class.
  • Priests: Direct healing spells deal damage over time to targeted players instead of healing due to Corrupted Healing.
  • Druids: Are forced to be in Cat Form by Involuntary Transformation.
  • Paladins: Continually cast Improved Blessing of Protection on Nefarian by Siphon Blessing.
  • Shaman: Spawns random shaman totems that benefit enemies with Corrupted Totems.
  • Hunters: Their weapon equipped in the ranged slot is immediately broken.
  • Mages: Target random players with Wild Polymorph (dispel, magic).
  • Rogues: Teleported in front of Nefarian and immobilized.
  • Warlocks: Summon two Corrupted Infernals.
    • Corrupted Infernal
      • Stay at least 8-yards away to avoid Immolation.
      • Avoid the impact locations of Inferno Effect.
  • Warriors: Forced into Berserker Stance by Berserk, which also increases damage taken.

Stage Three - Bone Constructs

This stage begins when Nefarian reaches 20% health and ends when he's killed.

• At the start of the stage, all previously killed Drakonids are resurrected as Bone Constructs.
  • Bone Constructs
    • Deal additional damage with Exploit Weakness if attacking the tank from behind.
• Beyond that, stage three works the same as stage two.

Season of Mastery Differences

Stage One - Drakonids

• Drakonids spawn much more quickly.

Stage Two - Nefarian Calls

• Class Calls have additional effects all players must deal with, which persist beyond when the Class Call itself ends.
  • Priests: Corrupted Weapons deal light damage to random players with Mind Flay.
  • Druids: Avoid the Corrupted Brambles (dispel, magic) as they move around the room. Players hit are rooted while taking light damage over time.
  • Paladins: Avoid the locations of holy Corrupted Weapons, which leave behind Consecration.
  • Shaman: Avoid the impact locations of Bouncing Bolt. Players hit gain Pulse Lightning (dispel, magic), reducing casting, attack, and movement speed, while spreading the effect to other players within 8-yards.
  • Hunters: Avoid the Corrupted Shot beams between Corrupted Weapons and their targeting reticle.
  • Mages: Stay more than 10-yards away from arcane Corrupted Weapons to avoid Arcane Explosion.
  • Rogues: Corrupted Weapon deals light damage to random players.
  • Warlocks: Avoid the Corrupted Coil orbs traveling in straight lines out from shadowy Corrupted Weapons.
  • Warriors: Corrupted Weapon deals light damage to and stuns random players with Corrupted Slam.

Resistance Levels

• Players generally won't make use of any additional Resistances on this encounter but should all be wearing Onyxia Scale Cloak.

Healing Notes

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.

• Be aware of other healer classes that are affected by a Class Call as this will likely raise the overall healing requirement.
• Warrior tanks will be taking extra damage while affected by Berserk, both due to the effect itself and because they're stuck in Berserker Stance.
• (Season of Mastery) Class Callings from the following classes can cause a lot of extra damage, especially while players reposition: Mage, Paladin, Warlock.

Debuffs to Track

• Major: Veil of Shadow (dispel, curse), Wild Polymorph (dispel, magic), Corrupted Brambles (dispel, magic), Pulse Lightning (dispel, magic)
• Minor: Brood Power: Red, Brood Power: Bronze (dispel, magic), Brood Power: Blue (dispel, magic), Corrupted Healing, Mind Flay

Addons

Healer DBM Settings for Nefarian

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