This guide is intended to provide a comprehensive description of theencounter with Blade Lord Ta'yak in Heart of Fear. It is targeted at anyonewho desires to understand the fight mechanics.

This guide is updated for World of Warcraft MoP 5.4.

Blade Lord Ta'yak is the second boss in the Heart of Fear raid instance.This encounter will check your raid's ability to stack up and spread out.Additionally, the encounter requires that your raid do a solid amount of DPS,as there are two soft-enrage mechanics at play.

1. General Information↑top

2. Loot↑top

2.1. Armor

Item Name	Armor	Slot	Main Stats
Twisting Wind Bracers (LFR, Heroic)	Cloth	Wrists	Intellect/Hit
Boots of the Blowing Wind (LFR, Heroic)	Cloth	Feet	Intellect/Spirit
Bracers of Unseen Strikes (LFR, Heroic)	Leather	Wrists	Agility
Kaz'tik's Stormseizer Gauntlets (LFR, Heroic)	Mail	Hands	Intellect
Bracers of Tempestuous Fury (LFR, Heroic)	Mail	Wrists	Intellect
Windblade Talons (LFR, Heroic)	Plate	Hands	Strength/Parry
Waistplate of Overwhelming Assault (LFR, Heroic)	Plate	Waist	Strength/Mastery

2.2. Weapons

Item Name	Type	Main Stats
Tornado-Summoning Censer (LFR, Heroic)	Off-hand Frill	Intellect/Hit

2.3. Rings and Trinkets

Item Name	Type	Main Stats
Drape of Gathering Clouds (LFR, Heroic)	Cloak	Intellect/Spirit
Choker of the Unleashed Storm (LFR, Heroic)	Amulet	Agility
Ring of the Bladed Tempest (LFR, Heroic)	Ring	Strength

3. Overview of the Fight↑top

The encounter against Blade Lord Ta'yak (henceforth referred to simply asTa'yak) is a two-phase fight. This is purely a single target fight,during which your only enemy will be Ta'yak himself.

Phase One lasts between 100% and 20% of the boss' health. Duringthis time, the boss will use several abilities against your raid, which mainlyrequire that you stack up and spread out in a coordinated manner.

Phase Two begins at 20% health. During this phase, your raid willmostly have to dodge oncoming tornadoes, and deal damage to the boss. Thisphase places high emphasis on movement.

Throughout the fight, Ta'yak gains a stacking buff that increases his damagedone, acting as a soft enrage that will eventually wipe your raid. Additionally,Phase One has a second soft enrage mechanic of its own.

4. Phase One↑top

Phase One begins when Ta'yak is engaged, and lasts until he reaches 20%health.

4.1. Abilities

During Phase One, Ta'yak makes use of the following abilities.

• Every 20-30 seconds, Ta'yak uses Tempest Slash, creating a tornadoat the location of a random ranged raid member. The tornadoes he creates slowlymove around the area where they were created, damaging and knocking backplayers who come in contact with them. The tornadoes do not despawn, meaningthat their number will continually increase as the phase goes on. This is oneof the two soft enrage mechanics that we mentioned above.
• Every 60 seconds, Ta'yak casts Unseen Strike on a random raid member.Ta'yak places a marker above the player, and disappears. 5 seconds later,he appears at the location of the player, and deals a massive amount ofPhysical damage in a cone in front of him. The damage is split between allenemies in the area of the cone. Affected targets are also knocked back ashort distance. The cone attack is unavoidable by the targeted player, and itis more than enough to instantly kill them if it is not split among asufficient number of players.
• Wind Step is an ability that Ta'yak uses every 30 seconds. He blinksto the location of a random raid member, and applies a 30-second bleed on thatplayer and any other raid members within 8 yards of them. The bleed deals ahigh amount of Physical damage.
• Overwhelming Assault is an ability that Ta'yak regularly casts on hiscurrent aggro target. It deals a high amount of damage, and also debuffs theplayer for 45 seconds, causing them to take 100% more damage from OverwhelmingStrike for this duration. This ability forces the use of two tanks.
• Every 60 seconds, Ta'yak gains a stack of Intensify, which increaseshis damage done and haste by 5% per stack. This is the second soft enragemechanics.

4.2. Strategy

The strategy for Phase One is, as you can tell, relatively simple. Yourraid will have to stay spread out to minimise the damage received from Wind Step, but must be prepared to stack together each time Unseen Strike is cast. Indeed, if the entire raid does not stack on theplayer who is targeted by Unseen Strike, this player will instantly bekilled.

In addition to this, the tanks must alternate tanking the boss due to thedebuff applied by Overwhelming Assault, and the entire raid has to avoidthe tornadoes created by Tempest Slash.

Finally, you must keep in mind that you will have a limited amount of timeto finish this phase, since the increasing number of tornadoes present willeventually lead to a wipe. Moreover, you must aim to keep the number of Intensify stacks that Ta'yak gains as low as possible.

4.2.1. Positioning, Stacking, and Spreading

The greatest challenge of this phase is proper positioning from your raid. Asthe default position, you should be spread out loosely around the boss. Thisavoids having more than one player hit by Wind Step, which the bosscasts with some regularity.

You must, however, make sure that players do not end up too far away fromeach other, since you will only have a few seconds to stack tightly together,each time Unseen Strike is cast.

You should designate a location for stacking for Unseen Strike, so thatthe raid executes the same movement each time, regardless of whether thetargeted member is ranged or melee. We recommend marking a melee DPS playeror a tank, and having the entire raid simply stack on them for each UnseenStrike.

Stacking for Unseen Strike is not as easy as it sounds, because it isdifficult to tell from which angle Ta'yak will attack the marked player. Eventhough he disappears at this point (and is unattackable/untargetable), a faintoutline of the boss can still barely be seen. It is important to see where theboss moves in this way, and position the raid on the opposite side of themarked player from him. This is not always possible, so your best bet remainsto stack exactly in the same location, as tightly as possible.

We would also like to mention that the player who is marked for UnseenStrike will be stunned around 1-2 seconds before the boss makes his attack.This means that, in reality, this player is only able to move freely for around3 seconds. This is important, and it has two consequences.

• Players must watch their boss mod timers and prepare to stack a few secondsbefore Unseen Strike is cast. This means that everyone must make sure that theyare not too far away, or that their movement-enhancing abilities (like Blink or Dash) are available.
• If you notice that the marked player stops moving while on the way to thestacking location, you must instead move to him before the boss makes hisattack.

Also keep in mind that Unseen Strike will knock all players back a shortdistance. There is currently a great deal of confusion and contention aboutwhether or not it is possible to affect the direction from which Ta'yak willattack the marked player. We discuss this issue in more detail later on, in the Heroic mode section of the guide. Thereason why this matters is that sometimes, players might be knocked back intotornadoes (and sometimes, knocked by one tornado into another one). Theseplayers will take extreme amounts of damage and risk dying. However, since this is much less of an issue in Normal mode, we do not delve into it deeply here.If you are in the position of being knocked into a tornado, do not hesitate touse personal survival cooldowns like Anti-Magic Shell, Dispersion,or Divine Shield.

It is not possible to have the player marked for Unseen Strike remainaway from the other raid members and simply survive the damage by use ofcooldowns. Users on our forums have confirmed that the following abilitiesdo not work to prevent death in this case:

• Ice Block and Cauterize;
• Divine Shield and Hand of Protection;
• Cheat Death;
• Deterrence.

Dispersion works, as it is not an immunity, but just a very highdamage reduction. This can be used to survive Unseen Strike in 10-man(where the damage of Unseen Strike is 3,000,000, meaning that the Priest willtake about 300,000 damage through Dispersion), but it is insufficient in25-man (where the damage is 6,000,000).

We do not yet know if Guardian Spirit works, but based on the aboveresults we assume that it does not.

As soon as Unseen Strike takes place, everyone should spread out again,in preparation for the next Wind Step.

It does not appear that Ta'yak targets melee DPS players or tanks withWind Step, which is fortunate, since spread out is practically impossible forthese players.

4.2.2. Avoiding Tornadoes

Avoiding the tornadoes that the boss creates through Tempest Slash is very important. Not only is getting hit a disruption ofyour DPS or healing, but it also deals a large amount of damage that must thenbe healed.

Avoiding individual tornadoes is easy, since they move rather slowly, evenif their path is not always predictable. The difficulty increases as more andmore tornadoes spawn, and it is further compounded as your raid needs to eitherspread out or stack up.

Your raid should come up with an organized way in which to manage thetornado spawning locations. This is mostly up to your ranged DPS and healers,who have to be in the same general location (while still spread out at least8 yards apart), ideally close to the edges of the room. This will cause thetornadoes to spawn alongside the edges, and not take up central positions.

You should begin by tanking Ta'yak where he is, and having all your rangedDPS and healers move up against the walls of the alcove where the boss islocated. When the area becomes too crowded, your tank can pull Ta'yak back tothe alcove where the entrance to the room is, and your ranged DPS and healerscan once again move close to the walls here. Once both of these alcoves areno longer usable, you should move Ta'yak to one end of the long corridor. Bythis point, you should be nearing the end of Phase One.

4.2.3. Sources of Damage

The bulk of the damage taken by the raid in this phase comes from the Unseen Strikes. While the actual damage values will vary, healers canexpect a fully split Unseen Strike to cause about 50% of players' health poolsin damage.

Additionally, there is bleed damage on random raid members who have been hitby Wind Step (ideally, only one such player should be bleeding at onetime). These players will require additional healing.

Tank damage is moderate in general, but can spiky every time Overwhelming Assault is cast.

Finally, you must be prepared for the damage of all these abilities toincrease as the phase progresses, due to Intensify.

5. Phase Two↑top

Phase Two begins when Ta'yak reaches 20% health, and lasts until he iskilled.

5.1. Abilities

When the phase starts, Ta'yak will teleport everyone to the middle of along corridor present in his room. All the tornadoes from Phase One willdespawn. Then, he will envelop each raid member in a tornado, which willtransport them to one end of the corridor, while Ta'yak himself will move tothe other end. The distance between the two ends of the corridor is so greatthat you will not be in range to attack Ta'yak.

Once your raid and Ta'yak are at opposite ends of the corridor, he willbegin summoning tornadoes next to him. These tornadoes will then slowly beginmoving towards your raid. The corridor has three lanes, and each tornado willspawn on one of the three lanes (more or less randomly).

For your raid to reach Ta'yak, you must make your way along the corridor,while avoiding being hit by any of the oncoming tornadoes. Being hit by atornado causes it to envelop you, which will move you back to the end of thecorridor, where you need to restart your journey.

At 10% health, Ta'yak will move to the other end of the corridor, and willbegin summoning tornadoes from his new location.

Throughout the entire phase, Ta'yak will deal a moderate amount of Naturedamage every second to all raid members. This damage is increased by the boss' Intensify buff.

During this phase, he continues to stack Intensify on himself, butthe rate is highly increased. He gains new stack every 10 seconds.

This phase is reminiscent of the last boss encounter in thehttp://www.icy-veins.com/./siege-of-niuzao-temple-heroic-dungeon-guide heroic dungeon.

5.2. Strategy

The strategy for this phase is extremely straightforward, although itsexecution may prove to be problematic.

Firstly, you should aim to have the raid at reasonable health levels whenthe transition is about to happen, so that everyone can survive the damage thatthe boss deals every second during this phase, while the tornadoes areincapacitating the healers. Ideally, you should place some HoTs on playersduring this time.

Afterwards, as soon as you are released from the tornadoes, you must makeyour way along the corridor, to Ta'yak's location. Doing this will require thatyou constantly switch lanes, to avoid the oncoming tornadoes.

Healing the raid while making your way through through the tornadoes isvery difficult, since the damage is quite high, and you do not have thepossibility to stand still and heal. Everyone must contribute to healing here,using Healthstones and defensive cooldowns.

Ta'yak does not melee during this phase, so it is not necessary to wait fora tank to reach him first.

When reaching Ta'yak's end of the corridor, it is possible to move rightnext to him, effectively behind the spawning location of the tornadoes. Thisallows you to simply stand there and DPS or heal until Ta'yak fliesaway. You must be careful, when moving up to his platform, to walk up usinga lane where a tornado has just spawned (and that you have avoided). Otherwise,if you choose a lane where a tornado is about to spawn (indicated by a swirlingeffect on the floor), you run the risk of being picked up by this new tornadojust as you step up next to Ta'yak. Sometimes, due to latency, it will evenappear that you are being pulled off Ta'yak's platform by the new tornado.

When Ta'yak reaches 10% health, you will have to make your way along thecorridor again, to his new location. A useful tip that you can make use of hereis to leave Ta'yak slightly before he reaches 10% health (while making surethat all DoTs are ticking on him), and move onto the sides of the corridor.There is an air current running along these sides, the purpose of which is toprevent you from going outside the corridor to avoid the tornadoes. The aircurrent acts exactly like the tornadoes, taking you back to the location fromwhere you started. If you step into the air current while Ta'yak is still inhis first location, you will be taken back to the start, which isprecisely where Ta'yak will transition to. By doing so, you effectively bypassthe need to make your way along the corridor normally. This can help yougain valuable time and beat his enrage timer, but it is far from required todefeat the boss.

Players who fail to avoid the tornadoes will, as we mentioned before, beswept up by them and taken back towards the end of the corridor from where theystarted. Players who are in this situation will have to restart their tripto the boss, as soon as they are released.

These players will continue to take damage from Ta'yak, and they may be outof the range of healers, so there is a risk of dying.

Finally, we would like to clarify that while inside tornadoes (both at thestart of the phase, and later on, should you be caught by one), you cannotcast any spells or abilities. Death Knights are able to switch presences atthis point, so other similar abilities may be available to some classes.

6. When to Use Heroism/Bloodlust/Time Warp↑top

We recommend using Heroism/ Bloodlust/ Time Warp duringPhase One, immediately after your raid spreads out after an Unseen Strike.

There are several reasons for this. First of all, using it during Phase Twois highly inefficient due to high-movement nature of that phase. Secondly,using it during Phase One allows you to minimise the amount of Intensifystacks that Ta'yak gains in this phase. Thirdly, it allows you to get throughPhase One faster, which is beneficial since this is the more complex anddifficult phase.

7. Learning the Fight↑top

The encounter against Blade Lord Ta'yak will require a fair amount ofpractice from your raid.

In Phase One, your raid will have to master stacking and spreading for Unseen Strike and Wind Step, respectively. In addition to this, itmay take a bit of practice to ensure that players are able to properly avoidthe increasing number of tornadoes. Improving your DPS in this phase willsignificantly lessen its difficulty.

Phase Two requires a bit of trial and error for everyone in the raid tobecome accustomed to avoiding the tornadoes, something for which there is noother easy way to gain practice.

8. Heroic Mode↑top

The Heroic mode of the Blade Lord Ta'yak encounter is the most accessibleHeroic mode in the Heart of Fear, and it is also the first one you shouldattempt.

The fight is almost identical to its Normal mode counterpart.

8.1. Differences from Normal Mode

Blade Lord Ta'yak has more health, and all his abilities do more damage,when compared to Normal mode.

Ta'yak's only new ability is called Blade Tempest. It is only presentduring Phase One. Roughly every 60 seconds, Ta'yak will pull the entire raidto his location, and, a few seconds later, he will begin spinning for about7 seconds, dealing a massive amount of Physical damage every 0.50 seconds, toany players in a 7-yard area around him. While Ta'yak is spinning, players arebeing slowly pulled back towards Ta'yak, and must run away from him to avoidbeing hit by the boss.

8.2. Strategy

The strategy for defeating Ta'yak does not change from Normal mode.Everything is exactly the same, with the only exception that all your raidmembers will have to run away from Ta'yak whenever they are pulled to hislocation for Blade Tempest.

Since Ta'yak's abilities deal considerably more damage than in Normal mode,your raid's execution will have to be flawless. While this applies to allaspects of the fight, it is of particular importance when it comes to Unseen Strike.

Considering that Unseen Strike, the bleed from Wind Step, and the tornadoes from Tempest Slash all deal greatlyincreased damage, any player who is knocked by Unseen Strike into a tornadowill be in great danger of dying. This issue is compounded when players arealso affected by the Wind Step bleed. For this reason, it is of utmostimportance that Ta'yak never knocks players back in the direction of one ormore tornadoes.

As we mentioned much earlier in the guide, there is a lot of confusionabout where exactly Ta'yak will strike his target from. There are severaltheories, and we will present them all here.

The most popular idea is that Ta'yak always attacks his target from theback. More specifically, Ta'yak will attack the targeted player in thedirection that this player was facing 1-2 seconds before the boss attacks. Thismoment appears to coincide with the moment when players are stunned, about 1-2seconds before the boss attacks. In this case, it is best to have everyonestacked up in a cone in front of the marked player (since the marked playeris located at the most narrow point of the cone, and anyone behind him willnot actually soak the damage), and to have the marked player facing an areain which there are no tornadoes (such as a wall).

Another popular theory is that Ta'yak will attack in the direction of themarked player, relative to Ta'yak, at the moment when the boss disappearsfor Unseen Strike. In other words, Ta'yak targets player X for Unseen Strike,who is located to the west of Ta'yak's location. In this case, the boss willattack this player from the east.

Another, less supported claim, is that Ta'yak will attack his target fromthe front. This is the opposite of the first theory we presented.

Finally, there are some that continue to claim that Ta'yak randomlychooses a direction to attack his marked player from.

Despite having done ample research into the matter, and having experiencedthe Unseen Strikes on live servers (in both Normal and Heroic mode), we havenot been able to come to a decisive conclusion. We recommend that youexperiment and try to find out what the truth is.

Finally, as a tip, we would like to point out that, if you are nearing theend of Phase One, and you generally have trouble surviving Unseen Strikes,you can sacrifice the player marked for the final Unseen Strike. You shouldonly do this if you have a means of resurrecting them (or if they are a Shamanand can use their ankh).

9. Achievement: Candle in the Wind↑top

The Candle in the Wind achievement is part of the Glory of the Pandaria Raider meta achievement. The achievement requires thatyou kill Ta'yak after having performed a specific task in the last part ofthe fight, which allows you light four braziers located around the room.

The four braziers are located at the ends of the long corridor that youtraverses the room, two at each end. They are not lit by default. In the centerof the room, there are four other braziers (next to the large pillars, forminga square), which are lit throughout the fight. When Phase Two begins, theselatter four braziers can be clicked, and doing so grants players a buff for30 seconds. This buff allows players to light the braziers at the end of thecorridor, by clicking them.

When Phase Two starts, while passing through the corridor to get to theboss, you should right click the lit braziers and get the buff. Then, when youreach Ta'yak at the end of the corridor, simply light the two braziersfound here. When switching to the other side of the corridor (when Ta'yakreaches 10% health), pick up the buff again, and light the other twoBraziers.

10. Concluding Remarks↑top

This concludes our raid guide for Blade Lord Ta'yak. We hope you have foundour guide helpful, and we remind you that we always award great considerationto your feedback, both on our forums or by e-mail.