This guide is intended to provide a comprehensive description of theencounter with Imperial Vizier Zor'lok 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.

Imperial Vizier Zor'lok is the first boss encounter in the Heart of Fear.This is a two-phase fight, which will mainly serve to test your raid members'ability to perform movement-based tasks. The second phase of the encounteris of greater complexity than the first, and this is where the maindifficulties will arise.

1. General Information↑top

2. Loot↑top

2.1. Armor

Item Name	Armor	Slot	Main Stats
Attenuating Bracers (LFR, Heroic)	Cloth	Wrists	Intellect
Gloves of Grasping Claws (LFR, Heroic)	Cloth	Hands	Intellect
Gauntlets of Undesired Gifts (LFR, Heroic)	Leather	Hands	Intellect
Boots of the Still Breath (LFR, Heroic)	Leather	Feet	Agility
Mail of Screaming Secrets (LFR, Heroic)	Mail	Chest	Intellect
Zor'lok's Fizzing Chestguard (LFR, Heroic)	Mail	Chest	Agility
Chestplate of the Forbidden Tower (LFR, Heroic)	Plate	Chest	Intellect
Warbelt of Sealed Pods (LFR, Heroic)	Plate	Waist	Strength
Articulated Legplates (LFR, Heroic)	Plate	Legs	Strength/Parry

2.2. Amulets, Cloaks, and Rings

Item Name	Type	Main Stats
Pheromone-Coated Choker (LFR, Heroic)	Neck	Agility
Hisek's Chrysanthemum Cape (LFR, Heroic)	Back	Strength
Fragment of Fear Made Flesh (LFR, Heroic)	Ring	Intellect/Hit
Vizier's Ruby Signet (LFR, Heroic)	Ring	Strength/Parry

3. Overview of the Fight↑top

The encounter against Imperial Vizier Zor'lok (henceforth referred tosimply as Zor'lok) is a two-phase fight.

• During Phase One, the raid will have to fight Zor'lok on thethree elevated platforms around the room. He will always go to allthree platforms (flying to a new platform every time you remove 20% ofhis life), and it appears that the order of the platforms is fixed (even thoughit was random when the raid instance was first released). Zor'lok will firstvisit the south-western platform, then the north-eastern platform, andfinally the south-eastern platform. On each platform, Zor'lok will use anextra ability specific to that platform. Also, at ground level, theroom will be filled with Pheromones of Zeal, a damaging/silencinggas that the raid will have to traverse when following Zor'lok to a newplatform.
• When Zor'lok's health reaches 40%, he enters Phase Two. Hewill fly to the center of the room, absorb all the gas to buff his damage, andpull everyone to his location. Throughout this phase, Zor'lok will keep usingall of the abilities that were previously granted to him only when he wasstanding on a specific platform.

3.1. Video by Inner Sanctum

4. Core Abilities (used throughout the fight)↑top

Zor'lok has a few abilities that he uses throughout the fight, regardlessof the phase.

4.1. Inhale and Exhale

Exhale and Inhale are two complementary abilities that Zor'lokoften uses. Exhale is a damaging ability and Inhale is a self-buff that Zor'lokstacks on himself to increase the damage of Exhale.

4.1.1. How Inhale Stacks

Inhale is cast one or twice between every cast of Exhale. Eachtime Inhale is cast, it increases the damage of Exhale by 50%. The cast ofInhale lasts 2 seconds and cannot be interrupted. Whenever Exhale iscast when there are 3 or more stacks of Inhale on Zor'lok, the stacksof Inhale are removed.

As you can see, you have no control on the number of stacks of Inhalethat Zor'lok will have. You simply need to be aware of the fact that somecasts of Exhale (those at 3 or 4 stacks of Inhale) will deal more damagethan others (those at 1 or 2 stacks of Inhale).

4.1.2. How Exhale Works

Exhale is a channeled spell with which Zor'lok targets a random raid member.It fires a beam towards the target, dealing damage to them every 0.5 seconds,and stunning them. If a player intercepts the beam (i.e., moves between Zor'lokand the targeted raid member), then Exhale no longer affects its target, andinstead deals reduced damage to the intercepting player.

4.2. Song of the Empress

Song of the Empress is an ability that Zor'lok uses to damage the raid ifno players are performing melee attacks against him. This ability forces yourraid to engage Zor'lok on which ever platform he is on.

4.3. Dealing with the Core Abilities

Exhale can be easily dealt with by having the tank interceptthe beam. The damage dealt by this ability is relatively low, and Zor'lok doesnot melee during this time.

The only concern is for melee players, who should make sure to be slightlyaway from the boss so that, if targeted, the tank can properly get betweenthem and Zor'lok's hitbox.

Dealing with Song of the Empress merely involves having your raidmove to Zor'lok's new platform as soon as possible, and begin attacking him.This will require you to move through the center of the room, where you willtake damage from Pheromones of Zeal.

Abilities such as Stampeding Roar and Demonic Gateway areuseful for this task. This is not a major concern, since it is entirelypossible for your raid to reach Zor'lok's new location before he even beginschanneling Song of the Empress. When channeled, however, you will only have afew seconds before the damage wipes your raid.

5. Phase One↑top

As we explained in the overview, Phase One lasts until Zor'lokreaches 40% health. During this phase, Zor'lok will go to each of thethree platforms in the room, switching platform whenever you remove 20% ofhis life (so at 80% and 60%). On each platform, Zor'lok uses a specificability that your raid will have to deal with, as we explain in the sectionsthat follow.

When moving to a new platform, you will have to pass through Pheromones of Zeal, the damaging/silencing gas that the floor of the roomis covered with. This is simply a source of occasional damage and silencesthat the raid needs to be aware of, but it should not pose any problem.

5.1. Platform: Force and Verve

When on the south-western platform (located on the right side of the roomwhere you fight Zor'lok), you will have to deal with Force and Verve,which Zor'lok uses in addition to his core abilities.

5.1.1. Force and Verve

Every 45 seconds, Zor'lok will channel Force and Verve for 10 seconds.This deals a large amount of raid-wide Physical damage every second.

Fortunately, immediately before casting Force and Verve, Zor'lok willcreate 3 shields on the ground near him, that your raid can use for protection.Being under one of these shields will reduce the damage taken from Force andVerve by 40%.

Zor'lok always creates the three shields in the same specific way.

1. The first shield is spawned right next to him (in melee range).
2. The second shield is spawned slightly further away from him.
3. The third shield is spawned around 20 yards away from him.

Each shield can only protect a limited number of players: 4 in 10-man, and9 in 25-man. Any additional players who move under the shield will simply notbenefit from its protection. There is no limitation in LFR.

5.1.2. Strategy

Whenever Zor'lok creates the protective shields, you will have a few secondsto move under them before the channel of Force and Verve begins. Failure todo so will result in very high damage.

While the shields do spawn in random locations, it is easy to assign playersto shields based on their spawning order and distance from the boss. Werecommend splitting your raid into three groups. One group should contain thetank and melee DPS, while the healers and ranged DPS should be split betweenthe other two groups. Then, simply assign each group to one of the threeshields.

Since Force and Verve is a channeled spell, Zor'lok does not melee or cast Exhale during this time. Even so, the damage from Force and Verve isquite high, even to shielded players, so healers will have to be prepared forthis.

You should keep in mind that the damage from Force and Verve is Physical,so cooldowns like Anti-Magic Zone and Devotion Aura will not work.Instead, we recommend using Rallying Cry, Tranquility, or Power Word: Barrier, and other cooldowns of this kind.

In LFR, as we mentioned, there is no limit to how many players can benefitfrom a single shield, so this aspect of the fight is trivialized. Additionally,the damage of Force and Verve overall is considerably lower in LFR, making iteasy to heal. Even players who are not protected by a shield can be kept aliverelatively easily.

5.2. Platform: Attenuation

When on the north-eastern platform (located on the left side of the roomwhere you fight Zor'lok), you will have to deal with Attenuation, whichZor'lok uses in addition to his core abilities.

5.2.1. Attenuation

Attenuation is a channeled spell that Zor'lok uses roughly every 45 seconds.For 9 seconds, Zor'lok sends many disks away from himself, in randomdirections. The disks move at a moderate speed across the floor, dealing alarge amount of Physical damage to anyone who comes in contact with them.

The disks bounce off the edges of the room, after which they begin travelingback towards Zor'lok, despawning long before they reach him. The disks alsosometimes split in two, with the two new disks traveling in slightly differentdirections. Both of these factors make them more difficult to avoid.

5.2.2. Strategy

The strategy for this phase is extremely simple. Whenever Attenuationis cast, your raid members must move to avoid being hit by any of the diskssent forth by Zor'lok.

Even though the disks deal high damage, a player can survive damage fromseveral disks without the need for healing.

Since both Attenuation and Exhale are channeled spells, you will neverhave to deal with both of them at the same time, greatly reducing any potentialdifficulty of the phase.

For avoiding the disks we recommend standing at a moderate distance fromZor'lok. You should not be too close, because this makes it difficult toreact in time to the newly spawned disks. Standing too far away from Zor'lokis also problematic because you have to handle both disks that bounce backfrom the edges of the room, as well as disks that split in two.

It is also quite beneficial to make it a habit of running in a circle aroundZor'lok during Attenuation. This is because he does not spawn the disks atthe same time in all directions around him, but rather in a spiralingpattern. Therefore, by running at the same rate as the disk spawning rate, youwill find that you have to actually avoid very few. To get a feeling for this,simply try it out in practice. The direction of the spiraling pattern can beeither clockwise or counter-clockwise, and your boss mod should alert youquickly which it is. You must run in the appropriate direction, as thisallows you always be a step ahead of the disks, making it easy to avoidthem.

Zor'lok has a massively large hitbox, so melee players are able to attackhim from quite far away.

5.3. Platform: Convert

When on the south-eastern platform (located at the back of the room where youfight Zor'lok), you will have to deal with Convert, which Zor'lokuses in addition to his core abilities.

5.3.1. Convert

Convert is a mind control that Zor'lok casts on a number of random raidmembers roughly every 60 seconds. Convert affects 2 players in 10-man, 5players in 25-man, and 3 players in LFR.

In order for the mind control to be broken, the mind-controlled player(s)must be damaged to 50% of their maximum health. Each attack made on theplayer(s), however, has a chance to instantly break the mind control. Thischance increases the closer the player's health is to 50%.

5.3.2. Strategy

The strategy for this phase simply involves freeing the mind controlledplayer(s) quickly. There is absolutely no complexity involved.

Your healers should be quick to dispel any debuffs that the mind-controlledplayer may apply to the raid, or that raid members inadvertently apply to themind-controlled player when attacking them.

6. Phase Two↑top

At 40% health, Zor'lok will fly above the center of the room, and absorb allthe Pheromones of Zeal. This grants him a buff that increases his damagedone by 10%, and haste by 20%, until the end of the fight.

Shortly after this, he will pull the entire raid to his location.

6.1. Abilities

During this phase, Zor'lok will use all of the abilities from Phase One.Fortunately for your raid, you will never have to deal with Attenuationand Force and Verve at the same time, as they are both channeled. Also,Zor'lok makes much more frequent use of Attenuation and Force and Verve than hedoes of Convert, during this phase.

6.2. Strategy

The strategy for this phase is simply to execute the tasks that you havebeen practicing in the previous phase.

The center of the room is much more spacious than the platforms, so yourraid can spread out more to avoid the disks from Attenuation. You mustbe careful, however, not to have any raid members so far away from the groupthat they cannot reach the protective shields in time.

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

We recommend using Heroism/ Bloodlust/ Time Warp duringPhase Two, since this is by far the most intense and complex phase of theencounter.

8. Learning the Fight↑top

If your raid needs more practice on a specific platform, then it is possible,during an attempt, to stop attacking the boss once the platform is reached.Learning how to deal with boss abilities is a lot easier when players arenot distracted by performing their role. DPS will make less mistakes and takeless damage, making it easier for the healers to heal, giving them morefocus on the boss abilities.

Phase Two is a combination of all the scenarios from Phase One.Even if raid members already know how to deal with all the abilities separately,chances are that having to deal with them at the same time (although Attenuation and Force and Verve cannot happen simultaneously) isgoing to be somewhat confusing. Here, the raid can also stop attacking the bossand have players focus on avoiding boss abilities instead, until they nolonger make mistakes.

Remember that learning something by steps is always easier than tryingto learn it entirely at once.

9. Heroic Mode↑top

The Heroic mode of the fight against Zor'lok is extremely difficult, and itwill prove a tough challenge for most raids. The fight only presents oneadditional mechanic, compared to Normal mode, but several changes make thefight much harder.

9.1. Differences from Normal Mode

The differences from Normal Mode can be categorized as changedmechanics and new mechanics.

9.1.1. Changed Mechanics

To begin with, Zor'lok has more health, and all his abilities deal moredamage, something which is a common trait of all Heroic modes.

Each protective shield created during the Force and Verve casts can onlyprotect 3 players in 10-man, and 7 players in 25-man. There, are however,4 shields created each time, instead of 3.

When Zor'lok is casting Attenuation, in addition to the disks thatexist on Normal mode, several Sonic Pulses also leave his body andtravel outwards. These Sonic Pulses must also be avoided, and they travel insimple, straight directions. They deal very high amounts of damage.

9.1.2. New Mechanics

During the fight, Zor'lok will create three copies of himself, each at agiven time. He will create one copy called Echo of Force and Verve, and twocalled Echo of Attenuation.

• The fist copy, Echo of Force and Verve, is created when Zor'lokreaches 80% health and leaves the Force and Verve platform. The copy willstay behind on the Force and Verve platform.
• The second copy, Echo of Attenuation, is created when Zor'lok reaches60% health and leaves the Attenuation platform. This copy will stay behind onthe Attenuation platform.
• The third and final copy is also an Echo of Attenuation. It is createda short while after Zor'lok enters Phase Two.

There is no Echo of Convert, and when Zor'lok reaches 40%, hesimply enters Phase Two in the same way that he does in Normal mode.

The Echo of Force and Verve only uses one ability, Force and Verve,which is identical to Zor'lok's Force and Verve. The Echos of Attenuation onlyuse Attenuation which is, likewise, identical to Zor'lok'sAttenuation. Additionally, all of the Echoes retain the Song of the Empressability, meaning that if no player is attacking them in melee range, your raidwill have to endure extreme amounts of damage.

The Echoes have their own threat tables, melee their main threat target,and can be killed. It is important to note that Force and Verve (cast byZor'lok's copy) deals damage to players located anywhere in Zor'lok's room.Likewise, it is important to mention that when the Echo of Force and Vervecasts Force and Verve, there will be two protective shields at the locationof the boss, and two at the location of the Echo.

9.2. Phase One Strategy

9.2.1. Force and Verve Platform Strategy

The Force and Verve platform strategy remains largely unchanged fromNormal mode. Even though each protective shield only protects fewer raidmembers, there are now 4 shields, meaning that everyone in the raid can alwaysbe protected.

9.2.2. Dealing with Echo of Force and Verve

When Zor'lok reaches 80% and flies to the Attenuation platform, youshould send one tank and one healer over to the Attenuation platform, and leavethe rest of the raid on the Force and Verve platform, where they must burndown the Echo of Force and Verve. The reason for doing this is that you needto kill the Echo of Force and Verve as quickly as possible (before it has achance to cast more than one Force and Verve). The players on the Attenuationplatform will have to survive Force and Verve while also avoiding damage from Attenuation.

The players on the Attenuation platform have to survive:

• Zor'lok's melee attacks and Exhale;
• Zor'lok's Attenuation;
• The Echo of Force and Verve's Force and Verve.

Therefore, you will have to send a healer who can heal on the move, and hasone or more defensive cooldowns available. If your raid burns the Echo ofForce and Verve properly, there should only be one Force and Verve being castby it. When the Echo is dead, your raid should all move to the Attenuationplatform.

You will notice that not all raid members can besimultaneously protected by the shields when the Echo of Force and Vervecasts Force and Verve. This is due to the modified maximum number ofplayers that the shields can protect, combined with the fact that two shieldswill spawn on one platform, and two on another. As such, someplayers on the Force and Verve platform will have to take the unmitigateddamage from Force and Verve, and survive. The only way to do this is throughthe use of extremely powerful damage reduction cooldowns, or invulnerabilities. In this case, certain designated raid members (Mages with Ice Block,Hunters with Deterrence, Paladins with Divine Shield, and so on)will simply stand outside the shields and survive the Force and Verve throughtheir cooldowns. Healers should be prepared for the fact that, depending on theduration of these cooldowns, these players may take one or more Force and Verveticks.

Alternatively, you can set up a rotation of players to move in and outof certain protective shields. In this case, you will have designated playersstand outside the shields for the first few Force and Verve ticks, and thenthey will move into the shields, while other players who were inside (andpresumably are not in danger of dying) will move out.

9.2.3. Attenuation Platform Strategy

For Attenuation itself, there is not much to be said, and you willsimply have to get used to the added challenge of avoiding theSonic Pulses.

9.2.4. Dealing with Echo of Attenuation

When Zor'lok reaches 60% health and leaves for the Convert platform, youshould split your raid into two roughly even groups, and leave one on theAttenuation platform, to finish off the Echo of Attenuation, while theother travels to the Convert platform. The reason for this is that there mustbe enough players on the Convert platform to break out all the mind-controlledplayers relatively quickly. If there is no one on the Convert platform exceptfor the mind-controlled players, then the boss will start casting Song of the Empress and wipe your raid. Zor'lok's Convert cannotreach players on other platforms (such as those still fighting the Echo ofAttenuation).

Once the Echo of Attenuation is dead, your raid members who were on theAttenuation platform should move over to the Convert platform, and bringZor'lok to 40% health.

9.3. Phase Two Strategy

A short while after Phase Two starts, Zor'lok will create anEcho of Attenuation at his location. While it is possible to DPS and killthis Echo (like the previous two Echos), it is a waste of DPS and it willmost likely mean that your raid does not beat the enrage timer.

You should move this Echo away from the raid, as far as possible, in one ofthe corners of the room, and leave a tank and a healer there to deal with it.This will keep it far enough from the raid that the disks caused by its Attenuation will have spread out considerably by the time they reach theraid, making it easy to avoid.

When Zor'lok casts Force and Verve, the tank and healer assigned to theEcho will have to either make their way to a protective shield (moving the Echowith them in the process), or attempt to survive through the use ofcooldowns.

Finally, sometimes, Zor'lok's and the Echo's casts of Attenuationwill happen at the same time, which will increase the challenge of avoidingthem considerably, but this is simply something you must learn to dealwith.

10. Concluding Remarks↑top

This concludes our raid guide for Imperial Vizier Zor'lok. We hope you havefound it helpful. Please do not hesitate to post any feedback you may have onour forums.