This guide is intended to provide a comprehensive description of theencounter with Primordius in Throne of Thunder. It is targeted at anyonewho desires to understand the fight mechanics.

This guide is updated for World of Warcraft MoP 5.4.

Primordius is the eighth boss in the Throne of Thunder. This is nota complicated boss, despite the very large number of abilities present in theencounter.

The fight will mostly put a strain on your DPS players, who must manageseveral buffs and debuffs in order to meet the DPS requirement for defeatingPrimordius before he enrages.

1. General Information↑top

2. Loot↑top

2.1. Armor

Item Name	Armor	Slot	Main Stats
Robes of Mutagenic Blood (LFR, Heroic)	Cloth	Chest	Intellect
Bracers of Fragile Bone (LFR, Heroic)	Cloth	Wrists	Intellect
Helix-Breaker Gloves (LFR, Heroic)	Cloth	Hands	Intellect/Spirit
Leggings of the Malformed Sapling (LFR, Heroic)	Leather	Legs	Intellect
Leggings of Ebon Veins (LFR, Heroic)	Cloth	Legs	Intellect/Spirit
Gloves of Cushioned Air (LFR, Heroic)	Leather	Hands	Agility
Clear-Mind Helm (LFR, Heroic)	Mail	Head	Intellect
Bracers of Mutagenic Fervor (LFR, Heroic)	Mail	Wrists	Agility
Synapse-String Handguards (LFR, Heroic)	Mail	Hands	Agility
Spaulders of Primordial Growth (LFR, Heroic)	Plate	Shoulders	Intellect
Bonemender Bracers (LFR, Heroic)	Plate	Wrists	Intellect
Pathogenic Gauntlets (LFR, Heroic)	Plate	Hands	Strength
Metabolically Boosted Shoulderplates (LFR, Heroic)	Plate	Shoulders	Strength/Parry
Black Blood Legplates (LFR, Heroic)	Plate	Legs	Strength/Parry

2.2. Weapons

Item Name	Type	Main Stats
Acid-Spine Bonemace (LFR, Heroic)	1H Mace	Strength/Parry
Greatshield of the Gloaming (LFR, Heroic)	Shield	Strength/Dodge

2.3. Cloaks, Rings, and Trinkets

Item Name	Type	Main Stats
Stolen Relic of Zuldazar (LFR, Heroic)	Trinket	Spirit/Shield on use
Talisman of Bloodlust (LFR, Heroic)	Trinket	Agility/Haste
Hydra-Scale Bloodcloak (LFR, Heroic)	Cloak	Strength
Band of the Scaled Tyrant (LFR, Heroic)	Ring	Strength
Primordius' Talisman of Rage (LFR, Heroic)	Trinket	Crit/Strength

3. DPS Requirements↑top

Assuming that, in 10-man, about 5 Living Fluids spawn every 10 seconds, andthat you will kill about 2/3 of them (so 160 over the course of 8 minutes), and thattanks do half as much damage as DPS, the DPS requirements are as follows:

• 10-man with 5 DPS: 142k DPS;
• 10-man with 6 DPS: 122k DPS.

We will update this section as soon as we have health values for 25-man.

Note that most players will be benefiting from damage-increasing buffsfor a good part of the fight.

4. Overview of the Fight↑top

The encounter against Primordius is a rather straightforward single-phasefight. Despite the fact that there are very many abilities used throughoutthe fight, only a handful of them really matter.

By default, all players deal greatly reduced damage to Primordius. If thiswere the case for the entire fight, your raid would have no chance of defeatingthe boss before hitting his 8-minute enrage timer. Fortunately, there aretwo mechanics in place that allow you to deal additional damage.

• Adds will pour out of the sides of the room throughout the entirefight, and make their way to Primordius. When these adds are killed, theyleave behind void zones that provide various buffs to raid members whostand in them (stacking increases in stats, haste, mastery, and critical strikechance).
• When a raid member reaches a combined total of 5 stacks of theabove-mentioned buffs, they become Fully Mutated for 2 minutes, dealingfull damage to Primordius for this time.

The difficulty and complexity of the encounter comes from the fact thatif the adds we talked about above are not killed before they reach Primordius,they buff him. Over the course of the fight, Primordius will temporarily gaincertain combinations of damaging abilities to use against your raid, thanksto a resource that he passively gains at a slow pace. He gains this resourcemuch faster if the adds, which do not do anything other than slowly move towardshim after they spawn, are allowed to reach him.

Moreover, raid members are punished for taking additional stacks ofbeneficial buffs once they are Fully Mutated. When doing so, thesebeneficial buffs turn into detrimental ones. This means that raid membersmust be careful.

We have prepared the following video preview of the fight againstPrimordius, based on the testing from the Public Test Realms. Once we can dothe fight on live realms, we will also publish an up-to-date video guide. Westrongly recommend watching the video in order to get a better visual idea ofthe fight.

5. Class-specific Advice↑top

On our forums, we are maintaining threads with class-specific advice for each of thefights of Throne of Thunder. 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

6. Abilities↑top

6.1. Primordius

6.1.1. Base Abilities

By default, Primordius only has two abilities, as well as a buff.

• Primordial Strike is a frontal cone attack that deals a high amountof Physical damage. Primordius casts this every 20 seconds or so. It issomething that tanks are meant to simply survive.
• Malformed Blood is a stacking debuff that Primordius applies to thecurrent target. It deals Nature damage every 3 seconds, but also causes theplayer to deal increased damage to Living Fluids (adds that spawnthroughout the encounter). This ability imposes a tank switch.
• Mutated Abomination is a buff that Primordius retains for the entireduration of the fight. It causes the boss to take greatly reduced damage fromany players who are not Fully Mutated.

6.1.2. Evolution and Temporary Abilities

Primordius has a resource bar, that tracks his mutation level. Hismutation increases slowly over time, and he also gains a large amount ofmutation whenever one of the Living Fluid adds reaches him.

Whenever the mutation bar reaches maximum capacity (60), the boss permanentlygains a stack of a buff called Evolution, which increases his damage done by 10%, and his mutation is reset to 0. Each time the boss gains a new stack ofEvolution, he also gains one of the following abilities, at random.

• Ventral Sacs is a raid-wide AoE damaging ability that deals Naturedamage every second.
• Caustic Gas is an ability that causes Primordius to deal a very largeamount of Nature damage, split between all players within 25 yards of theboss.
• Acidic Spines are nukes that Primordius targets random raid memberswith. They deal damage to all players within 5 yards of the target.
• Volatile Pathogen causes Primordius to apply a debuff called Pathogen Glands on random raid members. It deals a large amount ofNature damage every second to that player, for 10 seconds.
• Metabolic Boost is a buff that increases Primordius' attack speed by50%, and reduces the cooldown of his other abilities by 50%.
• Erupting Pustules is an ability that causes Primordius to throwseveral projectiles that deal Nature damage in random areas of the room.

Primordius can not have more than 3 of these abilities active at one time.At the start of the fight, he will have none. After gaining the first Evolutionstack, he will gain one ability, then another with the second Evolution stack,and then finally a third. The fourth time he is due to receive one of theseabilities (on gaining the fourth Evolution stack), the ability replaces thefirst one that he received, and so on.

6.2. Living Fluids and Player Buffs

For the entire duration of the fight, Living Fluid adds willbe pouring out from the edges of Primordius' room. They do not do anythingother than head straight for the boss. They have very low health and theycannot be stunned or slowed.

When a Living Fluid reaches Primordius, the boss gains a certain amount ofmutation, pushing him closer to the next level of Evolution.

When a Living Fluid is killed, it leaves behind one of two void zones.

• Mutagenic Pools are small void zones that provide beneficial buffsto players who come in contact with them. In most cases, this is the void zonethat a Living Fluid will leave behind.
• Volatile Pools are large damaging void zones that move slowly towardsPrimordius, buffing him if they reach him. These void zones appear much lessfrequently than Mutagenic Pools.

6.2.1. Mutagenic Pools

When a player comes in contact with a Mutagenic Pool, they gain a stackof one of the following buffs (at random). All of these buffs last 2minutes.

• Thick Bones grants a 5% increase in all stats.
• Clear Mind grants a 10% increase in Mastery.
• Improved Synapses grants 10% increase in Haste.
• Keen Eyesight grants a 10% increase in Critical Strike chance.

When a player reaches a combined total of 5 stacks of these buffs, theygain another 2-minute buff, called Fully Mutated, all the while retainingtheir previous buffs. This transforms theplayer's model into that of a Saurok. While Fully Mutated, players deal fulldamage to Primordius. In addition to this, while Fully Mutated, anyMutagenic Pools that players come in contact with no longer offer thebeneficial buffs listed above, but instead they apply a stack of one of thefollowing debuffs (at random). All of these debuffs last 5 minutes.

• Fragile Bones reduces all stats by 10%.
• Clouded Mind reduces Mastery by 20%.
• Dulled Synapses reduces Haste by 20%.
• Impaired Eyesight reduces Critical Strike chance by 20%.

Dispelling players is possible, but a single dispel will remove allmutations from that player.

6.2.2. Volatile Pools

If Primordius comes in contact with a Volatile Pool, he instantlygains a new stack of Evolution, and he is healed for 10% of his maximumhealth. If a player comes in contact with one of these void zones, they take alarge amount of damage and receive one of the debuffs mentioned above. TheVolatile Pools move very slowly towards Primordius' location.

7. Strategy↑top

The strategy for this fight is extremely simple, and we will summarise itbefore going into more details.

• Have all DPS players who are not Fully Mutated exclusively killLiving Fluids, and absorb the Mutagenic Pools left behind in orderto gain mutation stacks.
• Have all DPS players who are Fully Mutated exclusively DPSPrimordius.
• Have your tanks face Primordius away from the raid, and alternate tankinghim, in order not to let the stacks of Malformed Blood get too high. Thetank who is not currently tanking Primordius should be attacking the LivingFluids, as Malformed Blood grants increased damage against these adds.
• Move Primordius away from any Volatile Pools that are coming hisway.
• Have the entire raid react to what ever 3 abilities Primordius isempowered with.
  • Ventral Sacs requires the healers to heal a large amount of raiddamage.
  • Caustic Gas requires multiple players to be within 25 yards ofPrimordius, to split the damage between them.
  • Acidic Spines requires players to spread out at least 5 yardsapart.
  • Pathogen Glands requires the targeted random raid members to behealed intensely.
  • Erupting Pustules requires raid members to avoid the fallingprojectiles.

7.1. DPS Priority

While at first it may seem that DPSing Primordius and DPSing Living Fluidsare two tasks that achieve different goals, it is actually not so. Proper DPSon the Living Fluids will only increase your ultimate DPS on Primordius. Thisis because the only way to do significant damage to Primordius is to be Fully Mutated (which in the process will also provide you with manystacks of other beneficial buffs), and the only way to become Fully Mutated isto come in contact with a lot of void zones left behind by dead LivingFluids.

Therefore, anyone who is not Fully Mutated (and who, thus, would deal verylow damage to Primordius) should be focusing entirely on killing Living Fluids.Anyone who is Fully Mutated should take advantage of this buff, and focusentirely on DPSing Primordius himself.

Assuming that the uptime on buffs is maximised (we talk about this below),doing this should ensure that there is enough DPS on Primordius to beat theenrage timer.

One final important note is that you should make sure to never killLiving Fluids too close to Primordius, since you always risk them leavingbehind a Volatile Pool instead of a Mutagenic Pool, which healsPrimordius for 10% of his health. If an add is too close to Primordius, youshould just let it reach him.

7.2. Managing Player Buffs

The buffs that you gain from coming in contact with Mutagenic Pools aredistributed randomly, so there is absolutely no reason to talk about thespecific benefits they offer. You have no way of controlling what thesebuffs will be.

There are two important things to keep in mind regarding Mutagenic Pools.Firstly, when you come in contact with a pool and gain a buff, the pooldisappears. Secondly, Mutagenic Pools disappear on their own if no one comesin contact with them for a long time.

Essentially, as you are progressing through the fight and killingLiving Fluids, you must constantly be running over Mutagenic Pools togain stacks of the beneficial buffs.

Unavoidably, some players will become Fully Mutated before others.You should assign your highest DPS players to take the buffs first, so thatthey get more time on the boss.

It is crucial to make sure that you do not come in contact with any otherMutagenic Pools once you are Fully Mutated, since doing so applies harmfuldebuffs to you that will greatly diminish your DPS potential.

We also do not recommend trying to "save up" Mutagenic Pools and then havingmany raid members transformed at once. This is a bad idea for severalreasons, two of which being that you would be left with too few players onLiving Fluids if everyone is Fully Mutated and attacking the boss, and alsothe fact that you run the risk of having the Mutagenic Pools despawn before youget to use them.

You should also never dispel players, because a single dispel will removeall buffs that the player has (both the beneficial and the detrimental ones).Players must simply be very careful not to touch any Mutagenic Pools once theyare Fully Mutated.

7.3. Dealing with Boss Abilities

In addition to the tasks mentioned above (killing adds, picking upbuffs, DPSing Primordius), you must also deal with his own abilities, inwhich ever combined form they are present.

At the start of the strategy section, we summarised how to deal with eachability on its own, and there is really not much more to be said about that.There are two combinations of abilities, however, that are quiteproblematic.

A combination of Gas Bladder and Acidic Spines or Gas Bladder and Erupting Pustules requiresthat your raid stacks within a 25-yardradius of Primordius, but also that it spreads out. During a time like thiswe advise stacking up tightly and using healing and defensive cooldowns tosurvive. It may even be worth letting many Living Fluids reach Primordiusduring this time, to force the next Evolution faster, so that one ofthe two contradictory abilities is removed.

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

We recommend using Heroism/ Bloodlust/ Time Warp at a pointin the fight where as many players as possible are Fully Mutated, so thatyou can do as much damage as possible to Primordius himself.

9. Learning the Fight↑top

There are two very important aspects of the fight that your raid membersmust be familiar with.

First of all, everyone should understand how the gaining of buffs from Mutagenic Pools works, and especially the drawbacks of coming in contactwith Mutagenic Pools once Fully Mutated. Players will have to become veryadept at moving into the Mutagenic Pools to gain buffs, and to avoid thementirely when Fully Mutated.

Second of all, your raid will have to be quite focused in order toproperly deal with Primordius' temporary abilities, all the while managing theirown buffs. It is important to assign someone to call out over voice chatthe basic idea of what the raid has to do depending on what abilities Primordiushas (things like "stack" or "spread out").

10. Heroic Mode↑top

The Heroic mode of the Primordius encounter is extremely similar to theNormal mode version. One difference in mechanics does exist, but its overallimpact on the strategy is limited.

10.1. Differences From Normal Mode

In addition to the boss and the adds having increased health and dealingincreased damage, a new add exists in Heroic mode. This add is calledViscous Horror, and a new one spawns every 30 seconds. The add requiresa tank.

The Viscous Horror only has two abilities.

• Deadly Mutagen causes the add to explode if it comes in close contact(about 10 yards) with Primordius, wiping the raid instantly.
• Black Blood is a stacking debuff that the Viscous Horror applies onits tank. This deals damage to the target every 3 seconds, but also causes thetarget to deal additional Nature damage to Primordius with each one of theirmelee attacks.

Finally, Primordius can now have 4 mutations active at once, up from only 3in Normal mode.

10.2. Strategy

The strategy for this fight remains quite similar to Normal mode. The onlysignificant difference is that one of the tanks will have to tank theViscous Horrors some distance away from Primordius, and that your raidwill have to kill them regularly. Every now and then, your tanks will have toperform a tank switch (both because of Black Blood stacking on theViscous Horror tank, and because of Malformed Blood stacking on thePrimordius tank).

Your DPS players should aim at going through 3 Fully Mutatedphases before the boss enrages after 8 minutes. The final Fully Mutatedperiod should be spent burning the boss while ignoring any remaining adds.You should also try to have some players become Fully Transformed a bit beforeothers (for example, have the melee transformed a bit before the ranged) sothat you do not have the entire raid hunting for void zones to bere-transformed at the same time.

11. Concluding Remarks↑top

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

12. Changelog↑top

• 09 Jun. 2013: Added Heroic mode.
• 13 Mar. 2013: Added link to forum threads that containclass-specific advice for the encounter.
• 12 Mar. 2013: Several updates based on the live version of thefight.
  • Updated health values in 10 and 25-man.
  • Updated the guide to account for the fact that Fully Mutated nowhappens at 5 stacks.
  • Removed mentions of Revival dispelling players, since this issue wasremedied by a hotfix.
• 02 Mar. 2013: Added PTR video preview.