Bosses in 5 Seconds: Hellfire Citadel LFR – Destructor’s Rise

The fourth wing of Hellfire Citadel LFR, Destructor’s Rise, opens up today on US realms. It consists of three bosses: Fel Lord Zakuun, Xhul’horac, and Mannoroth. Our bosses in 5 seconds series focuses on the core points you need to know going into these fights.

Keep in mind that you’ll need a minimum item level of 650 to queue for Hellfire Citadel LFR. This can be accomplished quite quickly by adventuring in Tanaan Jungle.

Fel Lord Zakuun

Have individual players soak Rumbling Fissures (swirls on the ground) by standing in them until they disappear. Block any purple waves which are going to hit a spawned pillar. Move away from the raid when you get Befouled or Seed of Destruction.

More details:

• Zakuun is a purely single target fight with a few simple mechanics. The most important is Rumbling Fissures, which he will cast several times in the fight. Players must stand in all but one of the fissures until they disappear. This way only a single pillar spawns. You should leave the fissure farthest from the boss for this purpose.
• Those who soak fissures will receive a temporary Latent Energy debuff, causing them to be stunned if they’re hit by any waves. Note in Normal mode and higher, this mechanic is much worse (you explode on the raid when hit by waves).
• Tanks swap when Soul Cleave happens. The tank hit by this is phased out and must avoid hitting waves and also jump over the expanding circles.
• Players who get Befouled need to be healed to remove the debuff. This player should be standing outside of the group when the debuff is healed off or else they’ll deal AoE damage.
• Players who get Seed of Destruction should spread out, away from the raid, as they will send waves in all directions.
• Save Bloodlust for when the boss reaches 30% health.

Xhul’horac

If you get Fel Surge or Void Surge, run to the edges of the room to drop the green and purple fire. When the two fire types mix, they explode (this deals damage to all within 20 yards, but it also clears fire patches which is good). Kill adds and don’t stand in fire.

More details:

• Phase 1: Kill the big green add when it spawns.
  • Players with Fel Surge need to run to the edge of the room to drop green fire.
  • Players with chains need to run away from each other to break them.
  • One tank on the add, one tank on the boss.
• Phase 2: After green add dies, kill the newly spawned purple add.
  • Players with Void Surge need to run to the edge of the room to drop purple fire. These players can also drop their purple fire in a green fire patch to clear out all of the surrounding fire patches if the raid is running out of room.
  • A Black Hole will spawn and suck in everyone. Several players can run to the center of the black hole to split the damage from Singularity (or a single player with a cooldown/shield up) and collapse the Black Hole.
  • One tank on the add, one on the boss.
• Phase 3: After purple add dies, Xhul’horac will begin rapidly swapping between phase 1 and phase 2 abilities.
  • Tanks should swap every time a Fel Strike or Void Strike goes out, so each tank is only being hit by one of the strikes (being hit by both will trigger Shadowfel Annihilation).
• Phase 4: At 20% health, Xhul’horac will begin casting Overwhelming Chaos, dealing heavy raid damage. This is when Bloodlust should be used to burn down the boss.
• Note: I didn’t mention any other adds because they do not spawn in LFR at all, in case you were wondering.

Mannoroth

Kill the 3 summoners to begin the main encounter. Prioritize adds over Mannoroth. Stack near the boss and move out of bad stuff (except players who are feared, stack up near them).

More details:

• Phase 1: There are 3 summoners standing in front of Fel Spires around the room. These should be killed one at a time. Recommended kill order for the summoners is red -> purple -> green (the color of the Fel Spire they stand at). When one is dead, move onto the next (adds will follow the raid).
  • A tank needs to immediately pick up the Doom Lord that spawns when killing the first summoner.
• Phase 2: Prioritize Infernals and Imps before DPSing Mannoroth.
  • Tanks should keep their back to the green Fel Spire to avoid being knocked off the platform with Massive Blast. The tank not hit by Massive Blast needs to taunt immediately.
  • Everyone else should be stacked near the boss and killing adds, but move away from Fel Hellstorm (black shadows on the ground).
  • Stand near players who are feared with Mannoroth’s Gaze to split the damage.
  • Move out of the expanding green circle (Felseeker) or it will knock you off the platform.
• Phase 3: Begins when Mannoroth reaches 65% health.
  • Same as phase 2 except Imps no longer spawn.
  • New ability: Shadowforce — Run towards Mannoroth to avoid being pushed off the platform.
• Phase 4: Begins when Mannoroth reaches 35% health.
  • As the Fel Spire is destroyed, tanks should face the boss towards the center of the room. Only one tank should be in front of the boss at a time.
  • Use Bloodlust to burn the boss.
  • All boss abilities are now empowered. Fel Hellstorm is constant and Shadowforce affects the entire raid.
  • Stand in the white patches on the ground during Empowered Shadowforce to help prevent being pushed off the platform.

If you want more details on these fights, you may also want to check out our class-specific guides:

• Hellfire Citadel 101 for Rogues
• Hellfire Citadel cheat sheet for Hunters
• Paladin tanking tips and strategies for the bosses of Destructor’s Rise
• Priest healing the Upper Halls of Hellfire Citadel
• Bastion of Shadows and Destructor’s Rise for Mages
• Holy Paladin tips for Bastion of Shadows, Destructor’s Rise, and Archimonde

Looking for more help through Hellfire Citadel? Check out our Bosses in 5 Seconds guides for Hellbreach, Halls of Blood, Bastion of Shadows, and Archimonde.