Mistress Sassz'ine, Healer Guide - World of Warcraft

Mistress Sassz'ine Dungeon Journal Model This page covers a healer-focused strategy for Mistress Sassz'ine in the Tomb of Sargeras. 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 fight 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 fight with several abilities that are present throughout.

Abilities in all Stages

When Hydra Shot is being cast, players must stand in the line from the boss to the targeted player to help mitigate the damage dealt.
- Being hit applies the Hydra Acid debuff, dealing damage over time, and preventing anyone affected from helping soak for 6-seconds.
The tanks will be dealing with Burden of Pain.
- If the tank with this debuff is taking damage from the boss, it will deal that damage to the entire group.
Sets of three Abyss Stalkers will spawn throughout the fight.
- These should be killed away from the group, they drop Concealing Murk upon death.
- On Heroic, these blink to random players with Dark Depths and apply Jaws from the Deep, dealing moderate damage over time.

Stage One - ten thousand fangs

This stage starts when the fight begins and ends when Sassz'ine reaches 70% health.

Avoid the line of Slicing Tornado that moves across the room.
- There are no gaps between the Torndoes, so they must come in contact with a Concealing Murk to make a gap.
Consuming Hunger summons several Razorjaw Waverunner that attach themselves to players, dealing moderate damage over time while using the following abilities.
- Water Blast deals moderate damage to random players.
Avoid the Thundering Shock areas.
- Unless you have a Razorjaw Waverunner attached to you, then standing in one of the circles will remove it.

Stage Two - terrors of the deep

During this stage, Sassz'ine summons several large adds to the fight. This stage starts at 70% health and ends at 40% health.

Ossunet
- Places Befouling Ink clouds around the room.
  - If touched, these clouds stick to players and deal light damage over time.
Sarukul
- Appears at the edge of the room and casts Devouring Maw, pulling players towards him and dealing moderate group-wide damage.
- Any players that go within 15-yards of him will be devoured (denoted by a blue circle).
- Disappears after consuming 3 Befouling Ink clouds on Normal, or 5 Befouling Ink clouds on Heroic.
  - Players with the Befouling Ink debuff should step into the purple circle to "feed" him the ink without taking fatal damage.
Vellius
- Appears at the edge of the room and uses Crashing Wave, dealing heavy damage to players caught in the line extending across the room.

Stage Three - vast oceans of wrath

This stage combines spells and adds from the first two stages. This stage starts at 40% health and ends when Sassz'ine is killed.

Ossunet continues to place Befouling Ink clouds around the room.
Vellius continues to use Crashing Wave.
Avoid the Slicing Tornado line again during this stage.
Consuming Hunger is used again in this stage, spawning more Razorjaw Waverunner.

Mythic Differences

There will now be Delicious Bufferfish around the room for players to pickup.
- For DPS and Tanks: increases damage done by 2% for each stack.
- For Healers: increases mana regeneration by 350 mana per second for each stack.
- Taking any damage causes the fish to fall off and sit on the ground, applying a debuff preventing any Fish from being picked up by that player for 2-minutes.
- When Mistress Sassz'ine reaches 85%, 70%, 55%, 40%, 25%, and 10% health, Dread Sharks will appear at the location of all Bufferfish, consuming the fish and any players within 10-yards.
  - It's important that players drop their Bufferfish before these health checkpoints or they'll be eaten.

Stage One - ten thousand fangs

Murloc Mash buffs all murlocs for each one not attached to a player.
- This forces murlocs to be removed in a controlled manner, or requires snares and crowd control.

Stage Three - vast oceans of wrath

Murloc Mash is no longer present in this stage as there's no way for players to remove murlocs from themselves.

Healing Strategy

Quick Notes, All Difficulties

Abilities in all Stages

Hydra Shot and the resulting Hydra Acid will deal consistent, moderate damage to affected players throughout the fight.
On Heroic, Jaws from the Deep will also deal consistent, moderate damage over time to affected players throughout the fight.

Stage One - ten thousand fangs

Players with Razorjaw Waverunner attached to them will need moderate healing over time and should be kept near full health so when they stand in Thundering Shock they don't die.

Stage Two - terrors of the deep

Players affected by Befouling Ink will need light healing over time.
Devouring Maw causes moderate damage over time to the entire group, and may require a group-healing cooldown.

Stage Three - vast oceans of wrath

Players affected by Befouling Ink will need light healing over time.
Players with Razorjaw Waverunner attached to them will need moderate healing over time.

In-depth Notes, Normal and Heroic

Consider this section in "beta." My goal is to lay out the order of events without necessarily providing an entire strategy for all roles (other sites do that already). The idea being it should help organize your cooldowns or pre-healing. Feedback is greatly appreciated as Tomb of Sargeras is my first time attempting something like this.

Detailed Event List - +

The event list lays out major boss abilities based on what time they occurred after the boss entered combat (denoted by [minutes:seconds], along with notes on how to identify or handle the mechanics. Once enough events have repeated to develop patterns, the patterns are noted below the event list. Numbers are based on a 20-man Heroic group.

For Mistress Sassz'ine, I've separated the events based on different Stages.

Stage One - ten thousand fangs

[00:11] First Thundering Shock.
[00:18] First set of three Abyss Stalkers.
[00:23] First Consuming Hunger/set of three Razorjaw Waverunner.
[00:25] First Hydra Shot.
[00:30] First Slicing Tornado.
[00:46] Second set of Abyss Stalkers.
[00:48] Second Thundering Shock.
[00:57] Second Consuming Hunger/set of Razorjaw Waverunner.
[01:05] Second Hydra Shot.
[01:15] Second Slicing Tornado.
Skipping ahead to avoid too much redundancy.
[01:45] My guild entered Stage Two.

Stage Two - terrors of the deep

Timings for shared abilities reset when the Stage begins.

[01:58] First set of six Befouling Ink.
[01:59] First Hydra Shot.
[02:12] First set of Abyss Stalkers.
[02:16] First Crashing Wave.
[02:25] First Devouring Maw.
- This is likely what will require a group-healing cooldown, especially if it goes on too long.
[02:25] Second set of Befouling Ink.
[02:30] Second Hydra Shot.
[02:40] Third set of Befouling Ink.
[02:43] Second set of Abyss Stalkers.
[02:58] Second Crashing Wave.
[03:00] Third Hydra Shot.
[03:08] Second Devouring Maw.
Skipping ahead to avoid too much redundancy.
[03:55] My guild entered Stage Three.

Stage Three - vast oceans of wrath

Timings for shared abilities and abilities from other stages reset when the Stage begins.

[04:10] First set of Befouling Ink.
[04:10] First Hydra Shot.
- If you have group-healing cooldowns left, this is a good time to use them during the final stage.
[04:24] First set of Abyss Stalkers.
[04:26] First Crashing Wave.
[04:37] First Consuming Hunger/set of Razorjaw Waverunner.
[04:45] Second set of Befouling Ink.
[04:51] Second set of Abyss Stalkers.
[04:52] Second Hydra Shot.
[05:00] First Slicing Tornado.
[05:10] Second Consuming Hunger/set of Razorjaw Waverunner.
[05:10] Third set of Befouling Ink.
[05:20] Third set of Abyss Stalkers.
[05:22] Second Crashing Wave.
[05:38] Third Hydra Shot.
[05:40] Fourth set of Befouling Ink.
[05:40] Second Slicing Tornado.

Based on the Event List, we can assume the following:

Stage One - ten thousand fangs
- Thundering Shock occurs every 40-seconds, starting 10-seconds in.
- Abyss Stalkers spawn every 30-seconds, starting about 20-seconds in.
- Hydra Shot occurs every 30-seconds, starting ~15 seconds in.
- Consuming Hunger/set of Razorjaw Waverunner occurs every ~25-seconds, starting ~20-seconds in.
- Slicing Tornado occurs every 40-seconds, with no clear pattern on when it starts
Stage Two - terrors of the deep
- Abyss Stalkers spawn every 30-seconds, starting about 20-seconds in.
- Hydra Shot occurs every 30-seconds, starting ~15 seconds in
- Devouring Maw occurs every 40-seconds, starting 40-seconds in.
- Befouling Ink occurs every 20-seconds, starting 10-seconds in.
- Crashing Wave occurs every 30-seconds, starting 30-seconds in.
Stage Three - vast oceans of wrath
- Abyss Stalkers spawn every 30-seconds, starting about 20-seconds in.
- Hydra Shot occurs every 30-seconds, starting ~15 seconds into each Stage.
- Consuming Hunger/set of Razorjaw Waverunner occurs every ~25-seconds, starting ~20-seconds in.
- Slicing Tornado occurs every 40-seconds, with no clear pattern on when it starts.
- Befouling Ink occurs every 20-seconds, starting 10-seconds in.
- Crashing Wave occurs every 60-seconds, starting 30-seconds in.

Debuffs to Track

Several abilities cause players to need additional healing over time.
- Consuming Hunger
- (Optional) Hydra Acid
- (Optional) Jaws from the Deep
- (Optional) Befouling Ink

DBM Settings

Below are the DBM settings I'll be using for the Mistress Sassz'ine. 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 Mistress Sassz'ine