This guide is intended to provide a comprehensive description of theencounter with General Nazgrim in Siege of Orgrimmar. It is targeted at anyonewho desires to understand the fight mechanics.

This guide is updated for World of Warcraft MoP 5.4.

General Nazgrim, the prominent Horde lore figure, is the eighth boss inthe Siege of Orgrimmar. This is the final encounter that takes place in thecity of Orgrimmar proper. During the fight, your raid will face Nazgrimhimself, who functions very similarly to the Warrior character class, as wellas a large number of adds.

1. General Information↑top

2. Loot↑top

In addition to the items listed below, General Nazgrim drops the tokens thatyou will need for buying your Tier 16 Hands parts:

• Gauntlets of the Cursed Conqueror (LFR, Flexible, Heroic);
• Gauntlets of the Cursed Protector (LFR, Flexible, Heroic);
• Gauntlets of the Cursed Vanquisher (LFR, Flexible, Heroic).

2.1. Armor

Item Name	Armor	Slot	Main Stats
Spaulders of Kor'kron Fealty (LFR, Flexible, Heroic)	Cloth	Shoulders	Intellect/Hit
Sandals of Two Little Bees (LFR, Flexible, Heroic)	Cloth	Feet	Intellect/Spirit
Robes of the Warrior's Fall (LFR, Flexible, Heroic)	Leather	Chest	Intellect
Shoulderguards of the Righteous Stand (LFR, Flexible, Heroic)	Leather	Shoulders	Agility
Crown of Tragic Truth (LFR, Flexible, Heroic)	Mail	Head	Intellect
Ravager's Pathwalkers (LFR, Flexible, Heroic)	Mail	Feet	Agility

2.2. Weapons

Item Name	Type	Main Stats
Arcweaver Spell Sword (LFR, Flexible, Heroic)	One-Hand Sword	Intellect
Nazgrim's Gutripper (LFR, Flexible, Heroic)	Dagger	Agility
Gar'tok, Strength of the Faithful (LFR, Flexible, Heroic)	Two-Hand Mace	Strength/Mastery
Bulwark of the Fallen General (LFR, Flexible, Heroic)	Shield	Strength/Mastery

2.3. Trinkets

Item Name	Type	Main Stats
Nazgrim's Burnished Insignia (LFR, Flexible, Heroic)	Trinket	Intellect/Increased healing

3. Overview of the Fight↑top

During the fight against General Nazgrim you will face GeneralNazgrim himself, as well as a number of adds that the boss summonsregularly throughout the fight.

General Nazgrim mimics the mechanics of the Warrior class, having a Rageresource, a number of abilities that cost Rage to use, and three stances.The rate at which Nazgrim gains Rage depends on your raid, and every 15 secondshe will use the most expensive ability he can. Therefore, your raid's goalwill be to keep the boss' Rage as low as possible, so that he does not usehis dangerous abilities often.

While doing this, you will also have to contend with the adds that theboss summons.

Videos:

• PTR Preview —a short overview of the boss, based on PTR testing, which is extremelyuseful for getting a rough understanding of the fight;
• Video Guide— a video guide of the boss, based on live-realm experience.

4. Class-specific Advice↑top

On our forums, we are maintaining threads with class-specific advice for each of thefights of Siege of Orgrimmar. So, make sure to check them out, and if you have things toshare, do not hesitate to contribute!

Class	Forum Threads
Death Knight	Blood Frost/Unholy
Druid	Balance Feral Guardian Restoration
Hunter	All specs
Mage	All specs
Monk	Brewmaster Mistweaver Windwalker
Paladin	Holy Protection Retribution
Priest	Discipline Holy Shadow
Rogue	All specs
Shaman	Elemental Enhancement Restoration
Warlock	All specs
Warrior	Arms/Fury Protection

5. Abilities↑top

5.1. General Nazgrim

5.1.1. Rage and Stances

General Nazgrim has a Rage resource, with a maximum capacity of100. At the start of the fight, Nazgrim has 0 Rage, but there are manymechanics in the fight that allow him to gain Rage. Nazgrim's Rage is veryimportant, because most of his abilities cost Rage to use. Nazgrim will usea Rage-costing ability every 15 seconds, and he will always choose the mostexpensive ability he can afford. He cannot use Rage-costing abilities moreoften than every 15 seconds because of Cooling Off.

Nazgrim gains Rage from his abilities and from his stances.

Several of Nazgrim's abilities can give him Rage, depending on howwell your raid reacts to them. We detail these abilities in the next section.

Nazgrim has three stances (Battle, Berserker, and Defensive), and eachof them increases his Rage generation in a different way. Technically,stances are self-buffs that the boss casts, each lasting 1 minute and beingmutually exclusive (he can only have one up at a time). The boss cycles throughthese three stances in the same order throughout the fight.

1. Battle Stance causes Nazgrim to generate 1 Rage everysecond.
2. Berserker Stance increases Nazgrim's damage done and damagetaken by 25%. While in this stance, Nazgrim does not generate Rage every second,but the Rage his abilities generate is doubled.
3. Defensive Stance reduces Nazgrim's damage taken by 10%, andcauses him to gain 3 Rage every time he is attacked (but at most once persecond). Attacks made on the boss by the tanks do not cause him to generateRage.

5.1.2. Abilities

General Nazgrim uses two abilities that do not cost Rage to use.

• Sundering Blow is a very damaging attack that Nazgrim uses on hiscurrent target. It deals a large amount of Physical damage, and it stacks adebuff on the target that reduces their armour by 10% per stack. WheneverNazgrim uses this ability, he gains 5 Rage. If he casts it on a player whoalready has stacks of Sundering Blow, then he gains an additional 5 Rage forevery stack. This ability requires a tank switch.
• Bonecracker is a spell that Nazgrim casts on random raid members.It places a bleed effect on these players, causing them to take a moderateamount of Physical damage every second for 30 seconds, and it also reduces theirmaximum health by 10%.

The rest of Nazgrim's abilities cost Rage to use. As we mentioned above,every 15 seconds he will cast the most expensive ability he can afford.

• Heroic Shockwave costs 30 Rage. Nazgrim leaps at the location ofa random raid member, dealing a large amount of Physical damage to all playerswithin 10 yards, and causing several Aftershocks.
  • When Nazgrim lands, three lines of fire on the ground appear. A fewseconds later, these lines, called Aftershocks, erupt and deal veryhigh Fire damage to any players they come in contact with. Nazgrim gains3 Rage for every player that takes damage from Aftershock.
• For 50 Rage, Nazgrim will summon a Kor'kron Banner. This is anattackble NPC that does not do anything except cause the attacks of all addscurrently present in the fight to grant Nazgrim 3 Rage. The Banner does notneed to be tanked, and it has relatively low health.
• War Song costs 70 Rage. This is a raid-wide damaging attack thatcauses players to take 50% of their maximum health as Physical damage.
• Ravager costs 100 Rage. Nazgrim throws a weapon at the location ofa random raid member. The weapon cannot be targeted or attacked, and it willcontinue to spin in place at that location until the end of the fight, dealingvery high Physical damage to any players in a 6-yard radius, and grantingNazgrim 5 Rage every time a player takes damage from it.

5.2. Adds

Before pulling Nazgrim, you will notice that he is surrounded by a largegroup of Orgrimmar Faithful. These adds are linked to the boss (so youcannot get rid of them before pulling Nazgrim), but they have low health andno abilities.

Throughout the fight, roughly every 45 seconds, Nazgrim will summon twoadds. There are 4 types of adds, and Nazgrim will always summon two of themat random (although every pair of summons must contain one of each type ofadd, so after the first summon of each pair you can anticipate what addswill come next).

• Kor'kron Ironblades
  • cast Ironstorm, spinning around for 1 minuteand dealing high Physical damage to any players within 6 yards;
  • cast Last Stand when they reach 50% health, increasing theirmaximum health by 25% (and gaining 25% health in the process).
• Kor'kron Assassins
  • enter the fight in Stealth. They are not visible, and theirmovement speed is reduced by 50%;
  • cast Backstab, dealing a massive amount of Physical damage toa random player, but only if they manage to attack that player frombehind;
  • cast Assassin's Mark, causing them to fixate on a random (non-tank)raid member.
• Kor'kron Arcweavers
  • cast Arcane Shock, an interruptible single-target nuke thatdeals high Arcane damage to a random raid member. Each successful cast ofArcane Shock buffs the Arcweaver with a stack of a buff that increases theirArcane damage done by 25% for 10 seconds'
  • cast Magistrike is an interruptible spell that deals highArcane damage to players in an area, and also causes them to take some Arcanedamage over time;
  • cast Unstable Blink, blinking around to a random location in theroom.
• Kor'kron Warshamans
  • cast Earth Shield on an ally (either Nazgrim or another add).This buff heals the target for 5% of their maximum health the next time theytake damage. It can be dispelled;
  • cast Empowered Chain Heal, an interruptible chain heal that jumps toup to 5 targets, healing each for increasing amounts;
  • cast Healing Tide Totem, summoning aHealing Tide Totem that has low health and that heals allieswithin 8 yards for a massive amount of health (30% of their maximum healthevery 3 seconds).

6. Strategy↑top

Despite the large number of abilities and adds present in the fight, thestrategy for the encounter is actually quite simple.

At the very start of the fight, you should AoE down all theOrgrimmar Faithful before focusing on Nazgrim.

We have divided the rest of the tasks that your raid has to perform insub-sections.

6.1. General Nazgrim

Throughout the fight, your tanks will have to perform a tank switch onthe boss, in order to ensure that Nazgrim never attacks a player who isdebuffed by Sundering Blow.

Bonecracker is an ability that cannot be avoided in any way, sohealers will have to respond to it by adequately healing the affectedplayers. Healers must also be prepared for the increased damage Nazgrimdeals during Berserker Stance.

The next thing for your raid to do is keep Nazgrim's Rage as low aspossible. This means that no one except the tank debuffed by Sundering Blow should attack him during Defensive Stance, and thatall raid members should avoid Nazgrim's abilities.

Specifically, Nazgrim's abilities should be handled as follows.

• The raid should be spread out in preparation for Heroic Shockwave(so that no more than 1 player takes damage from Nazgrim landing). Allplayers must then make sure to move out of the Aftershocks before theyerupt.
• The raid must kill the Kor'kron Banner immediately, especially ifthere are adds currently alive. Its health is low so doing so should onlytake a few seconds.
• The healers must be prepared to handle the damage from War Song. Raid members affected by Bonecracker are especiallyfragile at this point. Any personal damage reduction cooldowns players canuse for War Song are very welcome.
• Everyone should move away and stay away from the Ravagerweapons.

It it easy to tell what ability Nazgrim will cast next, and when he willdo so, by keeping track of his Rage bar and his Cooling Off debuff.For example, if Nazgrim has 35 Rage and Cooling Off is expiring in 3 seconds,it is most likely that he will cast Heroic Shockwave.

6.2. Adds

Whenever any adds are alive, these should be the top priority, althoughif the only add still alive is a Kor'kron Ironblade, then you can affordto cleave and DoT Nazgrim at the same time, since these adds are the leastdangerous ones.

Kor'kron Ironblades have to be killed by ranged DPS players wheneverthey are casting Ironstorm. Moreover, you should be prepared that thisadd will heal itself when it reaches 50% health. These adds need to betanked.

Kor'kron Assassins have to be stunned and killed as quickly as possible,because they can easily kill raid members through Backstab.It is ideal if the Hunters in your raid can maintain Flares up so thatyour raid can see the Assassins in Stealth. After that, anyonewho is fixated on (through Assassin's Mark) by the Assassins must makesure to face them. These adds need to be tanked when they are not fixated onrandom players.

Kor'kron Arcweavers must be interrupted as much as possible.Specifically, they must never be allowed to cast Magistrike, butany interrupts of Arcane Shock are also welcome. Given that theseadds are trying to cast spells all the time, they do not really need to betanked.

Kor'kron Warshamans must also be interrupted as much as possible. Theymust not be allowed to cast Empowered Chain Heal, their Earth Shield must be dispelled quickly from the target it is caston it, and Healing Tide Totems must be killed right away. It isimportant to make sure never to bring any enemies near the Healing TideTotems. These adds do not really need to be tanked either.

We consider the following kill priority to be the most reasonable.

1. Kor'kron Warshamans;
2. Kor'kron Arcweavers;
3. Kor'kron Assassins;
4. Kor'kron Ironblades.

Given the fact that Ironblades are not very dangerous, you can delay killingthem until the boss enters Defensive Stance. This allows you to dodo more DPS on Nazgrim, and gives you something to do during Defensive Stancewhen you cannot attack him. Only do this if Defensive Stance is comingreasonably soon, because having too many Ironblades up can causecomplications.

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

We recommend using Heroism/ Bloodlust/ Time Warp whileGeneral Nazgrim is in Berserker Stance, sincehe takes 25% increased damage at this time.

8. Summing Things Up↑top

In this section, we will very briefly summarise what the players belonging toeach of the three roles have to do during this fight.

8.1. Tanks

• Regularly perform a tank switch on General Nazgrim to handle Sundering Blow.
• Make sure to tank mobs away from Healing Tide Totems,as well as away from the weapons caused by Ravager.

8.2. Healers

• Beware of the high raid-wide damage of War Song, and do not hesitateto use cooldowns for it. Pay special attention to players affected by Bonecracker.

8.3. DPS

• Prioritise DPSing the adds over Nazgrim. Kill Kor'kron Banners andHealing Tide Totems immediately.
• Do not attack Nazgrim during Defensive Stance.

8.4. Everyone

• Interrupt the adds as much as possible.
• Dispel Earth Shield immediately.
• Avoid the damage from the various AoE damaging mechanics present in thefight ( Aftershocks, Ravager, Ironstorm, etc.).

9. Learning the Fight↑top

The two most important aspects of the General Nazgrim encounter are not beinghit by Nazgrim's Rage-generating attacks, and handling the addsefficiently.

As such, we feel that the best way for your raid to learn the fight is tofocus on avoiding the mechanics of the boss, and on properly controlling andkilling the adds before trying to maximise DPS. You can take a few attemptswhere all you are focusing on is avoiding the ground effects, interruptingthe adds and so on, to make sure that everyone is familiar with these abilities,before working in the DPS that you need to kill the adds in time, as well asto kill Nazgrim himself.

It is also very useful if your raid leader or another player with goodawareness can call out the next Rage-costing ability that Nazgrim will use,so that everyone can prepare in ample time.

10. Heroic Mode↑top

The Heroic mode of the General Nazgrim encounter is very similar to itsNormal mode counterpart. There is a simple new mechanic, as well as a newtype of add, but the fight does not change much at all.

10.1. Differences From Normal Mode

In addition to General Nazgrim and the adds having increased health anddealing increased damage, there are two major changes in the Heroic mode of thefight.

First of all, every 15 seconds, General Nazgrim will cast Execute on his current tank. This deals a massive amount ofPhysical damage to that player. Execute has a 2.3-second cast time.

Second of all, a new type of add exists, called Kor'kron Sniper. Thisadd uses three abilities:

• Hunter's Mark, a fixate effect that he will cast on a random,non-tank player (with ranged raid members being chosen as targets mostoften);
• Shoot, a basic attack that deals Physical damage;
• Multi-Shot, a frontal cone attack that deals high Physicaldamage.

In Heroic mode, 3 adds spawn in each wave, as opposed to 2 in Normal mode,and the Sniper enters into this rotation with the other adds seamlessly.

10.2. Strategy

The fight plays out almost identically to Normal mode. There are reallyonly two differences.

Throughout the fight, the tank currently tanking Nazgrim needs to beprepared for Execute. Even though the damage of this abilityappears to be very high on paper (3,000,000), it is not as damaging inpractice. This is due to the fact that it is Physical damage, meaning thattanks will reduce it through their armor by a large amount. Any further damagereduction effects simply minimise it even more, and a topped-off tank cansurvive even without the use of any cooldowns (although it is recommended touse cooldowns anyway, especially during Berserker Stance). Thepredictable timer of the ability, coupled with the casting-time, makes timingcooldowns quite easy.

Additionally, your raid will need to be prepared to handle theKor'kron Snipers. These are generally a low priority (only above theKor'kron Ironblades), so killing them quickly is not very important. Whatis, however, important, is that the player on whom they fixate makes sure toface them away from the rest of the raid, in order to minimise the damage of Multi-Shot.

Players who are fixated on by the Kor'kron Assassins cannot afford tohave their backs turned to them even for an instant, since the increase indamage done in Heroic mode means they will instantly be killed. TheKor'kron Warshamans and the Kor'kron Arcweavers remain top priorities.Players with good stuns and interrupts must always be prepared to handle theseadds, since leaving them unattended even for a single cast can havecatastrophic results.

At 10% health, Nazgrim will summon two waves of adds at once. This meansthat it is no longer possible to handle the adds normally. We advise you tohave the off-tank take the adds to the back opposite side of the room from theboss (and keep them there with the help of crowd-control), while the rest ofthe raid burns down Nazgrim with Heroism/ Bloodlust/ Time Warp.

11. Concluding Remarks↑top

This concludes our raid guide for General Nazgrim. We hope you havefound it helpful. Please do not hesitate to post any feedback you may have onour forums.

12. Changelog↑top

• 26 Nov. 2013: Made improvements to the Heroic mode strategy.
• 22 Nov. 2013: Made an addition to the Heroic mode strategy,specifying that the player who is fixated on by the Kor'kron Sniper shouldface the add away from the raid.
• 21 Nov. 2013: Added Heroic mode strategy.
• 25 Sep. 2013: Added 25-man health values, and added a suggestion todelay killing Ironblades until Nazgrim's Defensive Stance.
• 20 Sep. 2013: Fixed a typo, and removed mentions of using Heroism/ Bloodlust/ Time Warp at the start of the fight, sinceit is much better to do so during the boss' Berserker Stance.
• 19 Sep. 2013: Added a link to the video guide.