Lady Deathwhisper is the second boss in ICC, and while this fight was recently nerfed, it is still a challenge. Especially on 25 man. Hunters have a few unique roles in it too, so today we’ll go over what it takes to take down Deathwhisper.
The fight
There are two phases in the fight- during one, you have to take out adds and focus down the boss’s mana shield, and as soon as you get the shield down, the adds stop spawning and you can burn the boss down.
Phase one, add management
The ultimate goal of this fight is to take down that mana shield I mentioned. Since all damage done drains it, don’t use viper sting, use serpent sting. Unless you’re about to go onto some adds and you need a convenient mana battery. The DPS on the boss while you’re 100% focused on adds is great, but not better than finishing the adds without going into aspect of the viper.
There are two types of adds that spawn- casters (cult adherents) and melee (cult fanatics). When they first spawn, they are not immune to any types of damage, however the casters will reflect spells back at players. You should always single target casters when you can, allowing your mages and locks to focus on the melee adds.
These adds can get reanimated- when they do, casters become virtually immune to magic damage, and melee become virtually immune to physical damage. When this happens, you need to react by first, prioritizing the target, and second, altering your rotation. If a reanimated fanatic shows up, don’t waste cooldowns on aimed shot or steady shot. If a reanimated adherent shows up, don’t waste things like explosive shot or serpent sting. This will gimp us, as hunters. Luckily, assuming all appropriate DPS switches to the right target, you’ll have some classes that do 100% physical or magic damage to help.
The last metamorphosis we need to worry about is when the boss casts dark empowerment, mutating and empowering random adds. Since the empowered casters still reflect spells, you need to focus them first. Once they’re gone, look for mutated melee- they are usually kited because they hit like a truck but move slow.
Now you know the types of adds. On 10 man, they will alternate spawning on the left and right. On 25 man, they spawn on both sides, as well as a random add from the back. As a hunter, your job will probably include misdirecting to help the tanks.
Assuming you’re running some sort of boss mod, you will get a note occasionally saying that you have curse of torpor. When this happens, try to avoid using any abilities you think you’ll need in the next 15 seconds- a mage or someone will eventually decurse you, but until they do, you get a 15 second cooldown on every single ability you use. Mages also have to prioritize themselves, because if they don’t, they get a 15 second cooldown on decurse, and nobody wants that.
Also, while you’re mopping up adds and trying to DPS the boss between waves, you will notice that periodically, someone near you becomes enormous and red, and often starts attacking you. This is a mind control, and only happens on 25 man. Typically they will get sheeped or hexed, but don’t let that stop you from throwing a freezing arrow at their feet- it’s often a free lock and load if you’re survival :)
Oh, and of course, there will be massive glowing green void zones for you to not stand in (well, technically death and decays).
Phase two
If you get here, you’re unlikely to wipe. Deathwhisper will start mind-controlling more people on 25 man, and on both 10 and 25, will start summoning untargetable ghosts that will follow someone until they explode. Don’t lead them into the melee, lead them away from the healers, and don’t let them catch you. I find it helpful to angle my camera so I’m looking straight down on my character, and zoom out a bit. If you’re worried that you’ll face away from the boss, remember that steady shot will point you right at her, even if your camera isn’t pointing that way.
Conclusion
This sounds like a much more challenging fight than it is. Especially now that the boss and all the adds have had their health reduced. Still, good execution can take even a lower-gear raid through it.
Euripides
jurgwena
lemli
eidotrope
pherra
femaledwarf
Just a few things:
Reanimation is not random and seems to always be preceded by the use of Dark Martyrdom by the add. So, when you see an add explode, be ready for it to come back as a skeleton. Don’t stand next to it when it explodes, though, or you might get owned.
You can Tranq Shot the Empowered Fanatic’s vampiric buff. I believe it can also be stolen by mages.
Pets can be left on the boss the whole fight. I sometimes pull my wolf off and pop Dash if I find I’m the only dps on an Adherent, though.
Vengeful Shades will only run for a short distance before disappearing. If one is following you, just run 15 meters or so and you should be fine.
I don’t believe that the adherents have the Shroud right when they come out.
The adds always appear in a particular pattern, with the exception of the one add at the door in 25man. If I remember right, it’s two fanatics and one adherent on the left side (facing the boss) and one fanatic and two adherenets on the right side. Only one side will spawn each wave in 10man (it alternates predictably), and both sides plus the door will spawn each wave in 25man. In situations where you’re on, say, fanatics, it can help to MD the second fanatic on the left side to the tank.
Thanks Eidotrope :)
Oh, one more thing. Lady D doesn’t have a meaningful agro table in phase 1, so feel free to open up on her at any time you can in phase one. Do watch your threat carefully in phase two, though, because she has a normal threat table at this time and casts a stacking threat-reducing debuff on tanks. If a tank screws up on the debuff stacks or something, you could quickly gain agro.
[...] OutDPS – Hunting Lady Deathwhisper [...]
On the left side adds, where there’s two Adherents, I’ll freezing arrow the Adherent furthest from The Lady. No need to tank it, free lock and load, pwn the one closest to her, Win Win Win. The strat works best on 10 man where there’s no MC to worry about needing your freezing arrow for, but I can certainly help in 25 as well, since there’s usually so much CC out there for the MC’d players.
And while pew pew’ing your fellow raiders is obviously bad for the raid, Killing someone while MC’d gives you 3 epeen points.
Apparently I don’t know left from my right. I meant the RIGHT side where there’s double adherents. Pardon my nub.
lol, this fight was actually difficult when you first do it with a fresh raid group that hasn’t seen it before. But once you know what you’re doing, this fight is just cake.
And they just nerfed the SHIT out of it this past week. Lady Deathwhisper’s got less health/mana/something like that, and all the adds have less health. It’s pure cake now, presuming the DPS aren’t retarded.
I was benched this week, so I’m still waiting to see the new nerfed version :P
It felt incredibly nerfed. But it may have been a bit nerfed and because we had 40 raiders and only 25 slots so we got to get an ideal raid group.
By allowing more dps on the boss, and by decreasing the mana pool, Blizzard burned phase 1 time at both ends. It went really quick last night. The changes did not stop people from dying from ghosts, though…
I tend to see casters and healers get ghosted more than others, I guess its due to the desire to finish the cast before they move. Personally I hate the damn things, they remind me of the constructs on Gorefiend. Only an issue if you don’t pay attention.
Distracting Shot is a nice 6-second taunt which gets Deformed adds moving at you, then back to the tank. Any ranged can burn it down while it moves.
Watch where you’re standing, and if needed run further away or Feign as it gets close.
Just be sure your tanks know what you’re doing, or they may taunt it back.