Skip to main content

Return to Karazhan, DPS Guide

Updated 5 years, 8 months ago for patch 7.3.5 and Timewalking by Virendra. View the change log.

This is a DPS-focused guide for the new mythic-only dungeon coming in Patch 7.1: Return to Karazhan. The information in this guide is preliminary and based on the PTR Dungeon Journal, but will be updated as needed when the dungeon goes live. If you have any suggestions or feedback, you can leave a comment below or tweet @VirendraDG.

You can also watch a video version of the guide by clicking the banner below.


Opera Hall Dungeon Journal Models Opera Hall

You will face one of these encounters at random every week.

Wikket

There are two targets in this fight that share damage: Elfyra and Galindre. The two bosses are light on mechanics but good execution and spatial awareness is still essential.

Mechanics

  • Elfyra and Galindre are active at the same time and share a health pool.
  • Interrupt Flashy Bolt and Dreary Bolt to spare some damage.
  • Elfyra will use Summon Assistants  to bring in adds. Kill these and don't let them get out of control.
  • Elfyra will launch (227444)  at players. Move away from the vortex it leaves behind until it is needed. Getting into the vortex will consume it; if too many are consumed before (227346)  there will not be enough for the whole party to avoid the attack.
  • Galindre uses (227346) , filling the ground and dealing a huge amount of damage. Jump into a vortex from (227444)  to be launched up and avoid the damage. The vortex itself causes a small amount of damage, so keep that in mind.
  • Melee should be somewhat cautious when Wondrous Radiance is cast on the tank, as it deals damage to anyone within 4 yards.

DBM Settings

  • As a DPS, you really only need to worry about when (227346) will cast.

Westfall Story

This is a fight in three stages. In Stage One, you will fight Toe Knee and his gang. In Stage Two, you face Mrrgia. In Stage Three, both Toe Knee and Mrrgia attack together.

Stage One - The Defias Brotherhood

  • Toe Knee will periodically use Dashing Flame Gale on multiple targets, leaving a Flame Gale at that location. Move away from the Flame Gale.
  • When Toe Knee starts to use Burning Leg Sweep, move at least 10 yards to avoid the 4-second knockdown and additional damage
  • Gang Ruffians spawn and should be killed.

Stage Two - The Fins

  • When Mrrgia casts (227780) , all players need to spread out at least 5 yards.
  • Look out for the waves of water (Wash Away) and (227434) .

Stage Three - Somewhere

DBM Settings

  • Coming Soon

Beautiful Beast

There are four castle servants to defeat, and after each one is killed, the remaining servants are fully healed and gain a stacking 25% damage increase for the rest of the fight. This means that you should focus each target one at a time, and multi-DOTting is pointless.

Luminore

  • Uses Burning Blaze, tossing a candle at the target and creating a Burning Blaze at that location. Move away from this.
  • Interrupt (228025)  when channeled.

Mrs. Cauldrons

  • Mrs. Cauldrons will use Soup Spray at targets, dealing damage and applying the Drenched debuff. Drenched players will be slowed, but can move through Burning Blaze patches to remove them.
  • Will periodically use Leftovers, dealing damage and knocking back players within 10 yards.

Babblet

  • Babblet the Broom will focus a player with  (228019) , dealing damage and blinding for 4 seconds if she catches up with them. Run away from Babblet, but don't drag her through any Burning Blaze patches.
  • When Babblet hits a Burning Blaze, she gains Sultry Heat, increasing her movement speed by 250% for 6 seconds.

Coggleston

  • Coggleston is immune to all damage until the other three servants are defeated.
  • He will periodically increase the haste of all the servants for 12 seconds.
  • Summons Silver Fork adds
  • Flashing Forks find a target and spin in place at that location. Dodge the whirlwind.
  • When not using Flashing ForksForks will deal damage and apply DOTs.

Luminore, Mrs. Cauldrons, and Babblet must be defeated before Coggleston can be attacked.

DBM Settings

  • Coming Soon

Maiden of Virtue Dungeon Journal Model Maiden of Virtue

This fight involves a lot of stacking damage. As DPS, it is up to you to help the tank on interrupts, pay attention to your own positioning, and burst at appropriate times.

Mechanics

  • Holy Bolt will target a player and then bounce to another player within 6 yards, increasing damage with each jump. The party should stay spread out at all times, as this ability will one-shot someone with too many jumps.
  • Sacred Ground is a patch of holy damage that will start at a player's feet and slowly expand, dealing damage with a stacking effect every 3 seconds. When targeted with Sacred Ground, run as far away as possible. Drop the patches as close together as possible, but taking more than one stack at a time will add up. After it drops, move away from the area unless you are using it to break Mass Repentance.
  • Maiden will cast Mass Repentance, stunning the entire group for 30 seconds or until they take damage. Get a stack of Sacred Ground during her cast to break the stun as quickly as possible, but don't linger.
  • Directly after Mass Repentance, Maiden will buff herself with (227817) , absorbing damage and preventing interrupts.
  • While shielded, she will cast Holy Wrath repeatedly. Burn through the shield quickly and get to interrupting before the stacking damage causes a wipe. With all three dps alive and focusing, you have plenty of time to break the shield and interrupt.
  • Maiden will use Holy Shock on the tank, but DPS needs to help with interrupts, as that damage stacks as well.
  • Drop your strong cooldowns on pull before everything gets too crazy.

DBM Settings

  • Set an alert for when you are afflicted with Sacred Ground.
  • A timer for Mass Repentance helps to keep you from dropping cooldowns at the wrong time.
  • Your Range check box should be easily visible.
  • An alert for Holy Shock helps to keep interrupts going.

Attumen the Huntsman

This fight will cycle between fighting Attumen and Midnight together and fighting them separately. Attumen and Midnight start out the fight together until Midnight reaches 50%, at which point they will separate while Midnight recovers her health.

Horse and Rider as One

  • Damage Midnight until she reaches 50%. Attumen is untargetable in this phase.
  • Mighty Stomp will deal damage and interrupt any spellcasts in a 30 yard range. The damage is low, but the 4-second interrupt will cause problems. Stop casting when Midnight uses this ability.
  • Spectral Charge will summon a line of ghost horses that charge across the battlefield straight in front of them. The fight is in a cramped room, but try to avoid the horses. One tick will not kill you (at full health), but multiple ticks could.
  • Intangible Presence can typically be handled by the healer, though sometimes DPS will need to assist in finding the correct player to dispel. Every party member will get a DOT, but only one will have an actual specter shadowing their moves. This is the player that must be dispelled. Dispelling any other player causes heavy damage to the group.

Fighting on Foot

  • When Midnight is at 50%, Attumen fights on foot and is finally targetable.
  • Midnight will charge around using Mezair, dealing damage in front of her. Move out of her frontal cone.
  • Don't stand in front of Attumen. Mortal Strike will hit any player 12 yards in front of him.
  • When Attumen casts Shared Suffering, move to stand in Attumen's arc. The whole party needs to do this. His strike range is indicated by a dark purple arc.
  • When Midnight recovers her health, the two will recombine and you will have to get Midnight back to 50%.
  • When Attumen reaches 0%, Midnight enrages. Defeat her to end the fight.

Separately, Midnight and Attumen have low health. Midnight will go down quickly enough that you should save your strong DPS cooldowns and Heroism/Time Warp/Blood Lust for the first separation. The most difficult part of this fight is Intangible Presence, as it can be difficult to spot the specter. Dispelling the wrong player could easily wipe the group.

DBM Settings

Moroes Dungeon Journal Model Moroes

Moroes comes with 4 adds randomly generated from a group of 6. Your group can grab two Ghost Traps from the Grand Ballroom and two from the Banquet Hall. Only two adds can be trapped at a time. You should prioritize the two active adds before focusing Moroes. At 60%, Moroes’s Ghastly Purge will make the remaining adds immune to CC. If the fight goes on too long, stacking damage from Garrote will wipe the party.

Moroes

Baroness Dorothea Millstipe

Lady Catriona Von'Indi

Baron Rafe Dreuger

Lady Keira Berrybuck

  • Berrybuck will give Moroes a significant damage buff, making it difficult to keep the tank up. Prioritze killing Berrybuck.
  • Focus this add first if you have her.

Lord Robin Daris

  • Whirling Edge will target a random player and spin at their location. Move away from the blade.
  • The room for the boss fight is huge, so these spinning blades don't cause a huge problem.

Lord Crispin Ference

  • Will Breaker deals damage to targets in a line in front of the caster.

Before the pull, decide which two adds will be trapped. Using a Ghost Trap will start the fight. Drop cooldowns to burn the two active adds, then DPS Moroes until 60%. Your next priority depends on the composition of the adds. Pick one to kill and leave the other alive to focus on Moroes. For example, Lord Robin Daris is trapped until 60%, and then left to free roam because his ability is entirely avoidable. At this point in the fight Garrote damage will be building up, so finish it quickly.

DBM Settings

  • Coming Soon

The Curator Dungeon Journal Model The Curator

The Curator will attack the party with spellcasts until it reaches 10% mana. At that point, all attacks cease and it will rapidly regenerate mana. Save your strong DPS cooldowns for this phase, as The Curator becomes more vulnerable to attacks.

Active

  • The Curator will summon Volatile Energy - balls of lightning that need to be DPS'd down before their abilities overwhelm the group.
    • Arc Lightning will target a random player and deal arcane damage. Damage increases every time the Volatile Energy casts Arc Lightning.
    • The Volatile Energy will randomly pick a target for Static Charge and deal arcane damage to all enemies within 8 yds. Static Charge has the same animation as Power Discharge, so the two can be confusing.
  • The Curator will periodically use Power Discharge on the group, which deals damage and makes a pool at the impact location. The pools persist throughout the fight and serve as a soft enrage. Be mindful of where you allow the pools to fall since it is so easy to run out of room here.
  • Make generous use of your personal cooldowns in this phase. Power Discharge pools deal a lot of damage and aren't the easiest to avoid.

Regenerating Mana

  • At 10% mana, The Curator will start channeling Evocation to regain mana. It takes 100% increased damage during Evocation, so save your cooldowns for this phase.
  • When Evocation is finished, The Curator will explode with Overload. The explosion is stronger after every cast.
  • Drop your strong DPS cooldowns in this phase.

In the active phase, focus the Volatile Energy before they get overwhelming. Start the fight on one end of the room and work your way to the other. The party should stick as close together as possible so that Power Discharge pools don't eat up all your space. He casts Power Discharge one more time before using Evocation, and melee could accidentally cut themselves off from Curator if they don't pay attention.

DBM Settings

  • A timer for Power Discharge will help you position yourself when the cast comes.

Shade of Medivh Dungeon Journal Model Shade of Medivh

The Shade of Medivh rotates between several spells that can all be deadly in their own way. Coordinated interrupts by the entire group is the key to success.He will constantly cast, and there will be no way to interrupt every spell.

Medivh's Spells

  • Medivh channels Piercing Missiles on the tank for 5 seconds. If channeled for the full duration, the tank will get a debuff that increases arcane damage taken by 25% for 20 seconds. Interrupt this spell to keep the tank from taking significant damage.
  • Inferno Bolt will target a random player. It deals damage to the target and every player within 8 yards. This spell can be handled without interrupts, but be sure not to be near other players when you're targeted.
  • Frostbite will deal heavy damage and freeze a player indefinitely. If there are enough interrupts, interrupt Frostbite. If one gets through, the frozen player can be thawed with Inferno Bolt, just run to the frozen player when targeted.

Focused Power

At full mana, the Shade of Medivh will use one of his more powerful spells. These spell effects last for 20 seconds, and you will have to deal with his normal abilities on top of them.

  • Ceaseless Winter will fill the room with ice for 20 seconds. The ice will afflict players with a stacking DOT and movement speed debuff. Moving around cancels one stack. Remember to move every few seconds to keep your stacks manageable.
  • Flame Wreath will surround two players with fire for 20 seconds. If the fire ring is crossed, it explodes for 2500000 Fire damage to all players. This will wipe you. Do not move when Flame Wreath is cast.
  • Guardian's Image will  split the Shade of Medivh into 4 Guardian's Images that will cast Arcane Bolt and use Shimmer. Damage these down before Shimmer stacks too high.

Your interrupt priority will generally be Piercing Missiles > Frostbite > Inferno Bolt. Inferno Bolt is typically not too dangerous. If a Frostbite does go through, remember to use Inferno Bolt to thaw the victim. Use your DPS cooldowns before Medivh reaches full mana so you can damage without having to manage the extra abilities.

Mana Devouorer Dungeon Journal Model Mana Devourer

The main mechanic of this fight is to keep the Mana Devourer from reaching full mana. At full mana, it will instantly one-shot the group. When the Devourer discharges its mana, all players will need to pick up the Loose Mana and drop it off in Energy Void.

Abilities

  • Energy Discharge will inflict damage to all players.
  • Coalesce Power reduces damage taken by 75% and causes the Devourer to drop all of its mana.
    • Loose Mana will be floating around. Picking up the mana will grant a stack of the Unstable Mana debuff. For every Loose Mana that makes contact with the Mana Devourer, he will gain 5% mana.
    • Unstable Mana will give you a damage buff, but also a DOT. The DOT deals heavy damage and will probably kill you before you can get any benefit from the damage boost.
    • When the stacks become overwhelming, drop off the Loose Mana in an Energy Void. One tick in the zone drops one stack. Be mindful of the damage you take during this phase and remember defensive cooldowns.
  • Arcane Bomb will cause an area to explode and inflict massive damage. Move away from any bomb locations.

Drop your strong DPS cooldowns on pull. During the Loose Mana phase, gather and remove what you can, but more than 2 stacks at a time will make it difficult for the healer to keep up. You will not be able to get rid of all the mana on the field. The fight is not about keeping Devourer low on mana, it's about keeping him from full mana.

DBM Settings

  • Coming Soon

Viz'aduum Dungeon Journal Model Viz'aduum the Watcher

This fight takes place in space. You will be chasing Viz'aduum across three locations. At 66% and 33% HP he will open a portal to the next Legion ship.

Stage One: Netherspace

  • Command: Fel Beam will fixate a random player and leave patches of Fel Flame behind. The player will need to kite the beam away from the group.
  • Command: Bombardment will rain down damage from above. Stay out of the swirls.
  • Chaotic Shadows will leave a debuff on a random player. When the debuff expires, the player releases a ring of shadowy orbs that travel outward. Players afflicted with the debuff need to run out of group, and other players need to be dodge any incoming orbs. The debuff is dispellable, and doing so will cause the immediate release of shadow orbs.
  • Disintegrate is a frontal blast and knockback targeting a random player. You can simply side-step to avoid it.
  • Viz'aduum will cast Burning Blast on the tank. It needs to be interrupted or else the tank will gain a hard-hitting DOT.

Stage Two: Command Ship

  • At 66% health, Viz'aduum opens a portal and escapes. The party will need to follow him through to continue the fight.
  • When you land on the next Legion ship, you will have to run past some damaging pylons to get to Viz'aduum. Try to dodge the damaging arc (Soul Harvest) from these pylons, but be wary of the continued use of Disintegrate and its knockback. You can zig-zag your way to Viz'aduum, avoiding Disintegrate by ducking between pylons before a cast and running down the middle after. 
  • When you reach Viz'aduum, the fight continues as in Stage One, minus the Command: Fel Beam, but now two players are afflicted with Chaotic Shadows instead of one.
  • The battlefield size is significantly reduced, so keeping up with interrupts, dodging bombs, dodging orbs, and not being knocked off with Disintegrate gets hectic.

Stage Three: The Rift!

  • At 33% health, Viz'aduum jumps through another portal. Follow him to another Legion ship, where he will start to channel (230084)  for 30 seconds. If (230084)  completes, the party will be overwhelmed with adds and wipe.
  • Instead of pylons blocking the path, there are a number of Felguard Sentry instead. DPS them down and continue towards Viz'aduum to interrupt his cast.
  • Two Felguard Sentry spawn every 25seconds.
  • Viz'aduum continues to use his other abilities from Stage Two, and now Chaotic Shadows affects three players.
  • The fight gets insane in the last phase with tons of damage going out and a lot of abilities to manage. Pop your personal cooldowns and your strong dps cooldowns and burn down the boss before the party is overwhelmed.

DBM Settings


Comment on Return to Karazhan, DPS Guide

Changelog - View the last ten changes. - +

September 29, 2022 - 5:54 pm (Healer) - Updated Infused Pyromancer, Fel Bat, and Wrathguard Flamebringer.

September 13, 2022 - 6:11 am (Healer) - Added Burning Tile to Wrathguard Flamebringer.

August 24, 2022 - 11:22 am (Healer) - Added trash enemies for the kitchen route between Moroes and Attumen.

August 24, 2022 - 10:49 am (Healer) - Updated based on recent patch notes: removed Insatiable Presence from Attumen, removed Shield Smash from Phantom Guardsman.

August 24, 2022 - 1:59 am (Healer) - Added Mythic+ notes.

August 16, 2022 - 7:28 pm (Healer) - Added Virtuous Gentleman/Virtuous Lady to Trash Mobs.

August 16, 2022 - 7:08 pm (Healer) - Noted Flame Wreath, Bloody Jab, and Force Blade as Major debuffs to track, noted Holy Shock as a Minor debuff to track. Changed Shadow Rend to a Major magic dispel.

August 09, 2022 - 2:48 pm (Healer) - Updated information for Ghostly Philanthropist based on recent hotfix patches.

August 09, 2022 - 6:02 am (Healer) - Added Spectral Journeyman to Moroes thru Attunmen trash mob section.

August 04, 2022 - 5:12 pm (Healer) - Added DBM import code.