Exploring the lore behind all eight Venomous Abyss raid bosses

We’ve arrived on the Coiled Isle, explored with our Pants of Poison Resistance on, and are ready to dive into the Venomous Abyss raid — but who exactly will we be fighting in Midnight’s newest raid, and why? Wonder no more as we lay out everything you need to know about each boss for you to digest while your tank helps their mom bring in the groceries (actual thing that happened to my raid mid-Icecrown Citadel).

Here there be spoilers for patch 12.1 and the Venomous Abyss raid. If you’ve yet to experience the story of the Coiled Isle, come back when you’re ready to raid.

At the center of the new zone lies the Vaults of Atal’Utek, an ancient temple prison designed to contain the essence of the terrible serpent, Ula’tek. This winged, multi-headed monstrosity was summoned from the Rift of Aln many millenia ago by the Amani Trolls in their horrific war against the Aqir and their leader, Kith’ix.

While the strategy paid off and the Aqir were defeated, Ula’tek proved to be an unpopular means of victory. The serpent goddess herself succumbed to her battle wounds, but her summoners and followers were sealed inside of the Vaults of Atal’Utek by the rest of the Amani and largely forgotten.

Hex Lord Malacrass is revealed to be still alive and renewing his efforts to sieze the power of Ula’tek, something he has been attempting since the events of The Burning Crusade. With Malacrass having swayed Zul’jan to do his bidding in the name of Amani glory, Zul’jarra sends our plucky band of heroes into the Venomous Abyss to eliminate the newly awoken broods of Ula’tek and stop Zul’jan from unleashing the serpentine monstrosity upon Azeroth.

Nek’zali the Soulcoiler is the opening boss of the Venomous Abyss and will be quite familiar to players who have completed the main story quest for the Coiled Isle. While exploring with Orwenya, we discover that Nek’zali was a Shadow Hunter who had great skill as a healer and fought in the ancient battle against Kith’ix and the Aqir. With conflicting feelings about the loa of the Zandalari, Nek’zali gathered followers that she dubbed Soulcoilers and set about summoning the terrible beast she could sense stirring beneath the surface.

Rather than healing her wounded allies on the field of battle, Nek’zali absorbed their life essence and used that power to finish the ritual that summoned Ula’tek to fight Kith’ix. After the defeat of the Aqir, Nek’zali expected great praise from her Amani comrades and her brother Jak’mo, warlord of their band. Instead, Jak’mo ordered Nek’zali and her followers to be sealed away in the Vaults of Atal’utek. She has been restored from death by the seeping power of Ula’tek and seeks to once again complete the necessary rituals to awaken the unspeakable serpent.

The Twin Fangs, Vexhul and Ithraz, are the first of Ula’tek’s blood. These two colossal serpents are the elders out of a brood of what seems like millions given the population of snake-like things scattered about the Coiled Isle (not to mention all of the eggs). You’ll have your hands full managing the constant venomous attacks of Vexhul and debilitating blood magic of Ithraz while also dealing with swarms of Ula’tek’s grandkid-snakes.

The Entombed Sentinels are a pair of stone golems placed within the Vaults of Atal’Utek that have fallen into the age-old trap of being corrupted by the very thing they were assigned to guard in the first place. After thousands of years of exposure to the venom of Ula’tek coursing through the vaults, they now attack intruders on sight. In a similar pattern to the Twin Fangs, one golem (The Breath of Ula’tek) hocks venomous slimeballs and toxic droplets at the adventurers while the other (The Blood of Ula’tek) attacks heroes with shadowy blood magic.

Vashnik the Malignant can add “the Frustrated” to his title after watching the infiltrating band of champions vanquish his corrupted stone guardians. One of the enigmatically humanoid Children of Ula’tek, Vashnik resembles a cross between a Sethrak and Professor Putricide. He has lurked within the Vault of Atal’Utek for untold millennia in his Chamber of Virulence experimenting with the venom of Ula’tek.

The Lost Explorers are a definite a change of pace within the Venomous Abyss. Adventurers get a bit of a break from battling venomous snakes when encountering these three Tortollans who are attempting to fight off possession by an entombed Soulcoiler spirit. Mor’zahi is the ghost-Troll in question, and interrupting his ascension ritual becomes top priority as the champions move through this area of the Venomous Abyss.

Trader Gebbo, Scrollsage Iku, and First Mate Nama are the three unlucky Tortollans who have wandered deep into the vaults. You may remember First Mate Nama from the story campaign, where the player’s attempts to revive him fail and he runs off babbling about being a good sacrifice. Don’t forget to feed Disgusting Fish to the hapless turtle-people because everyone knows it’s super effective at staving off possession by a millennia-old vengeful Troll spirit.

Sszorak is another ascended offspring of Ula’tek that looks like a cross between a Naga, a Sethrak, and a Demon Hunter. The heroes are now deep enough inside the Vaults of Atal’Utek that ominous air movements can be utilized by its denizens, and that’s exactly what happens in this encounter at the Altar of Six Winds. You’ll need to overcome venom-coated claws, howling maelstroms, and a large amount of rage to slay this beast and advance to the final wing of the vaults.

The Coiled Altar is where things get interesting story-wise. Hex Lord Malacrass has finished with his pithy one-liners and follows through on his promised threat to transform Zul’jan into “something…useful”. That something turns out to be a very Naga-like Troll-snake hybrid’jan which the party barely has time to process before they’re dodging a flurry of Amani axes.

Eventually Malacrass joins the fray and the adventurers must fight him off as well. After gaining the upper hand, the band of champions must fight off both Malacrass and Zul’jan at the same time. Despite emerging victorious, the ritual that Malacrass used Zul’jan to execute completes and the great beast rises from the bubbling venom.

Ula’tek, as we have already learned, was originally summoned thousands of years ago and is ready to make a triumphant, bloody, venomous return to Azeroth. She shares similarities with Chimaerus, the sole nightmarish raid boss within the Dreamrift, and Hakkar the Soulflayer, another serpent-like being from beyond that was summoned by Trolls in dire straits.

Even though the fight takes place on Ula’tek’s acid-green home turf, the champions of Azeroth notch another victory onto their belts and get closure in the form of a raid finale cinematic. Is the feathered five-headed monstrosity finally vanquished for good? Will Hex Lord Malacrass return once again after lying low for a few expansions? Is Zul’jarra ready to move forward as the leader of the Amani?