Introduction
This guide is intended to provide a comprehensive description of theencounter with Malkorok 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.
Molkorok is the ninth boss in the Siege of Orgrimmar raid instance. Thisboss is located in some sort of underground area of Orgrimmar that seems tohave been unlocked only as part of the Siege of Orgrimmar, since it is notaccessible in-game otherwise. This is a very challenging fight. It has a shortenrage timer, and it will require the utmost focus from your entire raid.
1. General Information↑top
1.1. Health Values
| 10-man | 376M | Heroic-only |
| 10-man Heroic | 629M | 4.6M |
| 25-man | 1B | Heroic-only |
| 25-man Heroic | 1.8B | 4.6M |
| LFR | ???M |
1.2. Enrage Timer
This fight has a hard enrage timer of 6 minutes; he casts 
Eradicate,wiping your raid. There does not seem to be a soft enrage timer.
1.3. Raid Composition
| 10-man | 2 | 2-3 | 5-6 |
| 10-man Heroic | 2 | 2-3 | 5-6 |
| 25-man | 2 | 5-7 | 16-18 |
| 25-man Heroic | 2 | 5-7 | 16-18 |
2.1. Armor
| Item Name | Armor | Slot | Main Stats |
 Ebon Blood Chestguard (LFR, Flexible, Heroic) | Mail | Chest | Intellect |
 Miasmic Skullbelt (LFR, Flexible, Heroic) | Cloth | Waist | Intellect/Hit |
 Hood of Perpetual Implosion (LFR, Flexible, Heroic) | Cloth | Head | Intellect/Spirit |
 Robes of Riven Dreams (LFR, Flexible, Heroic) | Cloth | Chest | Intellect/Spirit |
 Bracers of Averted Fatality (LFR, Flexible, Heroic) | Leather | Wrists | Intellect |
 Boots of Perilous Infusion (LFR, Flexible, Heroic) | Leather | Feet | Intellect |
 Lazahk's Lost Shadowrap (LFR, Flexible, Heroic) | Leather | Chest | Agility |
 Wristguards of Ruination (LFR, Flexible, Heroic) | Mail | Wrists | Agility |
 Terrorguard Chestplate (LFR, Flexible, Heroic) | Plate | Chest | Intellect |
 Legplates of Willful Doom (LFR, Flexible, Heroic) | Plate | Legs | Strength/Mastery |
 Malkorok's Giant Stompers (LFR, Flexible, Heroic) | Plate | Feet | Strength/Mastery |
 Blood Rage Bracers (LFR, Flexible, Heroic) | Plate | Wrists | Strength/Parry |
2.2. Weapons
2.3. Amulets, Cloaks, Rings, and Trinkets
| Item Name | Type | Main Stats |
 Black-Blooded Drape (LFR, Flexible, Heroic) | Cloak | Intellect/Spirit |
 Seal of Sullen Fury (LFR, Flexible, Heroic) | Ring | Intellect/Spirit |
 Frenzied Crystal of Rage (LFR, Flexible, Heroic) | Trinket | Intellect/Cleave damage |
 Ring of Restless Energy (LFR, Flexible, Heroic) | Ring | Agility |
 Malkorok's Tainted Dog Tags (LFR, Flexible, Heroic) | Amulet | Strength/Mastery |
 Vial of Living Corruption (LFR, Flexible, Heroic) | Trinket | Stamina/Cooldown reduction on major abilities |
3. Overview of the Fight↑top
The Malkorok encounter has two phases that alternate until the bossdies. These phases are on a fixed timer, and your raid's actions do notaffect their succession in any way.
- The Might of the Kor'kron Phase is the first phase you willexperience. It lasts for 2 minutes, and during this time Malkorok uses severalabilities against your raid. After 2 minutes, the phase ends.
- The Blood Rage Phase follows the Might of the Kor'kron Phase. Itlasts for 20 seconds, and during this time Malkorok only uses two abilitiesagainst your raid.
Malkorok has a Rage bar which serves no other purpose than to indicatewhen the next phase change will occur. When Malkorok reaches maximum Rage,the Might of the Kor'Kron Phase ends and he enters the Blood Rage Phase,causing his Rage to start decreasing. When his Rage reaches 0, he enters theMight of the Kor'kron Phase once again.
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!
 Death Knight | |
 Druid | |
 Hunter | |
 Mage | |
 Monk | |
 Paladin | |
 Priest | |
 Rogue | |
 Shaman | |
 Warlock | |
 Warrior | |
5. Might of the Kor'kron↑top
This phase always lasts for exactly 2 minutes, as indicated by Malkorok'sRage bar.
5.1. Abilities
Throughout the Might of the Kor'kron Phase, all raid members are affected bya debuff called 
Ancient Miasma. This debuff has two effects.
- Firstly, it causes all healing done to raid members to place a damageabsorption shield on them instead of healing them. The shields have a maximumcapacity of 100% of the player's maximum health. These shields protect playerseven against fall damage.
- Secondly, it deals a moderate amount of Shadow damage to all players every2 seconds.
Malkorok himself uses several abilities against your raid.
Fatal Strike is a stacking debuff that Malkorok applies on his currenttank. Each stack increases the target's damage taken by 10% for 30 seconds.This ability requires a tank switch.
Seismic Slam deals a massive amount of Physical damage to a randomraid member, knocking him up into the air. Any allies within a 5-yard radiusalso take the same damage and are also knocked up. Malkorok uses this abilityroughly every 15 seconds.
Arcing Smash is a series of three frontal cone attacks thatMalkorok casts in random areas of his platform, about 15 seconds apart. Theattacks deal a massive amount of Physical damage.
Breath of Y'Shaarj is an ability that Malkorok uses about 10 secondsafter the third frontal cone attack of Arcing Smash. This ability deals alethal amount of Shadow damage to anyone standing in the areas of the platformthat had been affected by the previous three Arcing Smash frontal coneattacks.
Imploding Energy is an ability that Malkorok uses roughly every15 seconds. It creates a number of void zones (3 in 10-man, 7 in 25-man) onthe ground that, 4 seconds after appearing, deal a very high amount of Shadowdamage to any players standing in them. If there is not at least one persondamaged by each void zone, then the entire raid takes a very high amount ofShadow damage instead.
5.2. Strategy
The strategy for this phase of the fight is very reliant on positioning andawareness.
We will summarise it here before going into more details below.
- Your tanks must perform a tank switch on Malkorok, in order tohandle the Fatal Strike debuff.
- Your raid should be spread out around the platform to minimise thedamage taken from Seismic Slam.
- Raid members must avoid getting hit by Arcing Smash, and theymust also avoid being in the locations affected by Arcing Smash when Breath of Y'Shaarj is cast.
- Each Imploding Energy void zone must be soaked.
In addition to this, players have to avoid taking any unnecessary damage,since Ancient Miasma makes it impossible to heal players. Whiledamage absorption shields can stack up to 100% of a player's maximum health,players who temporarily lose their shield and take damage cannot be healedup (but they can be re-shielded).
5.2.1. Tanking and Positioning
The boss should be tanked in the center of the platform, where the twotanks will have to perform a standard tank switch.
The raid should spread out evenly around the entirety of the platform,and players should aim to be at least 5 yards apart (so as not to takeunnecessary damage from Seismic Slam.
5.2.2. Arcing Smash and Breath of Y'Shaarj
By far the most dangerous abilities in this phase are Arcing Smash and Breath of Y'Shaarj.
Raid members will have to be quick on their feet to avoid the frontal coneattacks of Arcing Smash (which, remember, will be cast in random areas of theplatform). We advise someone in your raid to place raid markers at thelocations where Arcing Smash hits, because everyone will have to standclear of these locations when Breath of Y'Shaarj is cast.
Assuming good movement abilities and general awareness from your raidmembers, these mechanics should not pose any additional problems.
5.2.3. Imploding Energy
Imploding Energy creates several purple void zones at randomlocations around the room (with an annoying tendency to rarely spawn underraid members). At least one raid member (and ideally no more than one) shouldrun into each void zone before it has a chance to deal its damage. Ideally,this task should be performed by players whose absorption shields are atmaximum capacity, since otherwise the damage of the void zone would damageplayers beyond their shields.
5.2.4. Ancient Miasma
There are several sources of unavoidable damage in this phase.
This unavoidable damage means that players' absorption shields willconstantly be put under pressure, which in turn means that your healers willconstantly have to spam heal the raid to ensure that everyone's shields areat maximum capacity. If players lose their shields and take additional damagebefore they are re-shielded, this renders them very fragile for the remainderof the phase because, as we have already said, it is no longer possible toheal these players (all the healing will simply turn into an absorptionshield).
A particularly problematic moment of the fight is right at the pull,when no one has any shields set up and everyone immediately starts takingdamage from Ancient Miasma. You should find ways to get a lot of bursthealing as soon as the fight starts. For example, you can have the raid groupup on top of Restoration Druid 
Wild Mushrooms. Beware of the fact thatthe first Seismic Slam is cast only a few seconds after the fight starts,so you cannot remain stacked up for long.
6. Blood Rage↑top
When Malkorok reaches 100 Rage, he enters the Blood Rage phase for20 seconds. At the end of the phase, he goes back into the Might of theKor'kron phase.
6.1. Abilities
During this phase, the Ancient Miasma is no longer in effect. Malkorokuses two abilities
Blood Rage causes each of Malkorok's melee attacks to deal anextremely high amount of Physical damage split among all raid members in a conein front of him.
Displaced Energy is a debuff that Malkorok applies on random raidmembers. It deals Shadow damage every 3 seconds for 9 seconds. When the debuffexpires or is dispelled, it explodes dealing a massive amount of Shadow damageto all players within 8 yards. Players who are affected by Displaced Energy donot take damage from the explosion.
When the Blood Rage phase ends, Malkorok gains a stack of
Relentless Assault, a buff that increases his damage done by 25% untilthe end of the fight.
6.2. Strategy
This phase is very straightforward, but also very difficult. As soon asMalkorok reaches 100 Rage, your raid should stack up in front of him (all thewhile being mindful of the final Breath of Y'Shaarj before the transition).Here, the raid will have to undergo a gruelling 20-second phase of very intenseraid damage. Healers should have defensive cooldowns prepared for this.
In addition to this, some players will be affected by Displaced Energy.These players must move out of the raid to a location where they must bedispelled or wait until their debuff expires. As soon as their debuff is gone,they should move back in with the rest of the raid.
The Relentless Assault buff that Malkorok gains at the end of eachBlood Rage Phase is simply going to make the fight more difficult as it goeson, but it does not require any action from your raid.
7. When to Use Heroism/Bloodlust/Time Warp↑top
We recommend using 
Heroism/
Bloodlust/
Time Warp at thestart of the fight, because there is no better time to use it, and becauseusing it at the start allows all raid members to use all of their offensivecooldowns.
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
8.2. Healers
- Make sure players' Ancient Miasma shields are at maximumcapacity.
- Dispel players with the Displaced Energy debuff when they are out ofthe raid, if your strategy calls for it.
8.3. DPS
8.4. Everyone
- Spread out around the platform during the Might of the Kor'kron Phase, andstack up during the Blood Rage phase.
- Make sure to soak the Imploding Energy void zones if you are assignedto do so.
- Be extremely mindful of the locations of Arcing Smash and Breath of Y'Shaarj.
9. Learning the Fight↑top
Positioning and movement are the key concepts your raid will have to masterin order to defeat this boss (along with having enough DPS and HPS,of course).
It is important that you emphasize the importance of proper positioning toyour raid members, because if multiple players take damage from abilitiesthat should only damage one player, your healers will struggle to keep everyonealive.
You can have some attempts where you purposefully do not DPS Malkorok,allowing your DPS players to focus solely on properly handling the mechanics.Since the phase changes happen regardless of what your raid does, this willeven allow you to "test" the Blood Rage phase.
10. Heroic Mode↑top
The Heroic mode of the Malkorok encounter is step up in difficulty,compared to the previous Heroic modes in the Siege of Orgrimmar.Although there are few mechanicaldifferences, the fight is very intense.
10.1. Differences From Normal Mode
In addition to Malkorok's health and damage being increased, there are afew new mechanics to consider.
10.1.1. Might of the Kor'kron Phase
During the Might of the Kor'kron Phase, there are two new mechanics.
- Every 3 seconds, a number of orbs of corruption (2 in 10-man and 5 in25-man) will spawn in random locations on the platform. These orbs persistindefinitely, and they do not do anything unless players come in contact withthem. When a player comes in contact with an orb, the orb is detonated and theplayer loses their damage-absorption shield (caused by the Ancient Miasma) and takes a moderate amount of Shadow damage.
- Adds called Living Corruption spawn regularly throughout this phase.While they sometimes spawn whenever Seismic Slam is cast, their spawningdoes not appear to be strictly related to these casts. These adds melee, andthey respond normally to threat mechanics, but they do not have any otherabilities. What they do have, however, is a passive aura that reduces themovement and spell casting speed of all players within 8 yards by 75%.
10.1.2. Endless Rage Phase
The only difference to the Endless Rage Phase is that players who areaffected by Displaced Energy are now also rooted in place for as long asthey are affected by the debuff.
10.2. Strategy
The Heroic mode changes affect the strategy in each of the two phases, so wewill discuss these separately.
10.2.1. Might of the Kor'kron Phase
During this phase, your raid will have two additional tasks to perform:
- kill any Living Corruptions that spawn, ideally away fromspell-casting raid members;
- regularly detonate orbs of corruption.
Regarding the Living Corruptions, your raid obviously cannot allow any ofthese adds to stay alive, since the fact that their aura slows movement speedmakes it impossible for players to move around as needed to avoid themechanics of this phase. This means that the Living Corruptions should bekilled off as quickly as possible. They are not very damaging, so it is safeto bring the adds into melee range and have them cleaved next to Malkorok. Thisalso ensures that they stay away from ranged raid members who may need to movearound freely.
Since the orbs of corruption persist indefinitely, they end up limitingyour raid's free space, which will cause problems when you need to move aroundto avoid Breath of Y'Shaarj or Arcing Smash. This means thatyou need to regularly detonate them to make enough space for adequatemovement. That said, since detonating an orb removes the damage-absorptionshield of the player who detonates it, and also damages them, it means thatyou cannot simply have people running around and detonating the orbs. Instead,you must have players with strong damage-reduction cooldowns (such as ShadowPriests with 
Dispersion or immunities (Hunters with 
Deterrence,Rogues with 
Cloak of Shadows) detonate as many orbs as they can. Everyoneelse must be extremely careful not to come in contact with an orb, since thiswill most likely get them killed (especially if they are just about to soak an Imploding Energy void zone).
You will not be able to keep the room clear of all orbs of corruption, butthis is not necessary as long as you free up a reasonable amount of space.
Aside from this, the strategy for the phase remains unchanged from Normalmode.
10.2.2. Endless Rage Phase
Even though the change for this phase appears minor, it has a large impacton the strategy. Since players affected by Displaced Energy cannot move,it is up to the rest of the raid to get away from these players. There arecurrently two working strategies for this phase.
The first (and easiest) strategy is to have your raid use a single tank forthe boss during this phase, while the rest of the raid spreads out aroundthe room. This tank will need to survive the truly massive amounts of damagethat the boss deals (since there will be no other players there to split thedamage), so a good chaining of tank and external defensive cooldowns must beused. The 
Rook's Unlucky Talisman trinket helps greatly with this task.The rest of the raid can take this time to clear up any remaining orbs ofcorruption, before the end of the phase.
The second strategy requires your raid to stack up in front of Malkorok(as you would do normally for this phase), and to then move through the bossto the other side each time Displaced Energy is cast. Doing so ensures that allplayers who are not rooted will move away from the rooted players. We onlyadvise trying to make use of this if, for some reason, your tank is unable tosurvive solo-tanking the boss (although this should never be the case).
11. Concluding Remarks↑top
This concludes our raid guide for Malkorok. 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: Improved Heroic mode strategy section.
- 21 Nov. 2013: Added Heroic mode strategy.
- 20 Sep. 2013: Added a link to the video guide.
