This guide is intended to provide a comprehensive description of theencounter with Wind Lord Mel'jarak 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.

Wind Lord Mel'jarak is the fourth boss in the Heart of Fear raid instance.This is an encounter in which your raid will have to deal with a largevariety of adds. Healers, tanks, and DPS will all have to perform excellentlyin order to defeat the boss.

1. General Information↑top

2. Loot↑top

In addition to the items listed below, Mel'jarak drops the tokens thatyou will need for buying your Tier 14 Hands parts.

2.1. Armor

Item Name	Armor	Slot	Main Stats
Robes of Torn Nightmares (LFR, Heroic)	Cloth	Chest	Intellect/Spirit
Clutches of Dying Hope (LFR, Heroic)	Leather	Hands	Intellect
Wingslasher Pauldrons (LFR, Heroic)	Mail	Shoulders	Agility
Impaling Treads (LFR, Heroic)	Plate	Feet	Strength

2.2. Amulets, Cloaks, and Rings

Item Name	Type	Main Stats
Korven's Amber-Sealed Beetle (LFR, Heroic)	Amulet	Intellect/Spirit
Painful Thorned Ring (LFR, Heroic)	Ring	Agility
Cloak of Raining Blades (LFR, Heroic)	Cloak	Strength/Dodge

3. Overview of the Fight↑top

The encounter against Wind Lord Mel'jarak (henceforth referred to simplyas Mel'jarak) is a single-phase fight. During the fight, you will haveto fight Mel'jarak, as well as 9 adds: 3 Sra-thik Amber-Trappers, 3Kor'thic Elite Blademasters, and 3 Zar'thik Battle-Menders. The adds willall become active as soon as you engage the boss.

Handling and killing the adds plays a central part in the encounter. They havea number of mechanics associated to them, which will decide your raid strategy.

• Adds of the same kind share a health pool and have the same abilities.
• Killing 3 adds of the same kind grants Mel'jarak a stack of a buff thatincreases his damage done and his damage taken.
• Adds can be crowd-controlled:
  • when 9 adds are alive, you can crowd-control 4 adds;
  • when 6 adds are alive, you can crowd-control 2 adds;
  • when 3 adds are alive, you can crowd-control 0 adds.

As we will explain in this guide, the fight can be done in a numberof ways, depending the order in which you kill the adds, which adds youcrowd-control, whether you decide to finish off 2 kinds of adds at thesame time (to reduce the amount of time that you have to fightnon crowd-controlled adds), etc.

3.1. Video by Inner Sanctum

4. Mobs and Abilities↑top

4.1. Mel'jarak

Mel'jarak has a few spells that he will use throughout the fight. Inaddition to this, he melees with a relatively high frequency and for a highamount of damage.

• Whirling Blade is an ability that Mel'jarak casts every 60 seconds.He throws his weapon at the location of a random raid member. Upon reachingthat location, the blade returns to Mel'jarak. The blade deals damage to allplayers in it path, both on the way to the location, and on the way back toMel'jarak.
• Rain of Blades is a raid-wide damaging ability that Mel'jarak castsevery 60 seconds. It deals Physical damage to all raid members every 0.50seconds, for 6 seconds.
• Wind Bomb is an ability that Mel'jarak casts regularly after hereaches 75% health. He throws a bomb at the location of a raid member, whichdeals a high amount of Nature damage to anyone within 5 yards of the location.3 seconds after landing, the bomb arms itself and explodes if any raid memberscome within 6 yards of it, dealing a very high amount of raid-wide Naturedamage. The bombs that Mel'jarak casts do not despawn, and remain present inthe room until the end of the fight, progressively limiting the space thatplayers have to move around.

In addition to these abilities, each time adds of the same kind are killed,Mel'jarak gains a stack of Recklessness, which increases hisdamage done by 50%, and his damage taken by 33%.

4.2. Adds

As we mentioned earlier, there are 9 adds present in theroom where you fight Mel'jarak. They all engage together, when Mel'jarak ispulled.

The 9 adds are 3 Sra-thik Amber-Trappers,3 Kor'thic Elite Blademasters, and 3 Zar'thik Battle-Menders.Adds of the same kind share a health pool, meaning that damagingone add also damages the other two. Therefore, when oneadd of a kind is killed, the two other adds of the same kind die as well.

4.2.1. Crowd Control

The key mechanic of the encounter is the ability to crowd-controlthese adds. Most crowd-control spells, such as Polymorph or Freezing Trap, can be used. The encounter also provides you with an easy way tocrowd-control, regardless of your raid composition. Around the edges of theroom, there are 4 weapon racks. Interacting with these racks will grantplayers (1 per rack) a special ability called Impaling Spear.

Impaling Spear is a form of crowd control. It effectively stuns thetargeted add for 50 seconds. The stun is broken by direct damage done to theadd, but not by damage that the add takes due to other adds of the same kindbeing attacked. The same applies to all other forms of crowd-control, namelythat indirect damage dealt to that mob (through its shared health pool) doesnot break the crowd-control.

There is a limit on how many adds you can have crowd-controlled at onetime.

• If all adds are alive, you can crowd-control a maximum of4 adds.
• If 6 adds are alive, you can crowd-control a maximum of 2adds.
• If 3 adds are alive, you cannot crowd-control any adds.

If you exceed these limits, Mel'jarak will dispel the crowd-control from alladds.

Note that crowd-controlling adds at the start of the fight does not pullthe boss, so you have ample time to set-up your assignments.

4.2.2. Sra-thik Amber-Trappers

Sra-thik Amber-Trappers cast two abilities.

• Amber Prison traps the targeted player and any other players within2 yards of them, encasing them in amber. Players who are trapped are stunnedand unable to move. Other players can free them simply by interacting with theamber (right-clicking it). The Amber-Trappers cast Amber Prison roughly every35 seconds. Players who free others from Amber Prisons are debuffed with Residue, which prevents them from freeing other players for 115seconds.
• Corrosive Resin is a debuff that the Amber-Trappers place on a randomraid member. This debuff has 5 stacks, and deals a moderate amount of Naturedamage to that player, every second, for each stack present. When the affectedplayer moves, the stacks are progressively consumed, and each stack that isconsumed leaves behind a void zone, called Corrosive Resin Pool. CorrosiveResin is cast every 35 seconds.

4.2.3. Zar'thik Battle-Menders

Zar'thik Battle-Menders cast two abilities.

• Mending is an interruptible heal that the Battle-Menders cast on arandom add, which heals them for 25% of their maximum health.
• Quickening is a dispellable buff that the Battle-Menders place onall of the adds, which increases their damage done and melee attack speed by25% for 15 seconds. This buff stacks.

4.2.4. Kor'thik Elite Blademasters

Kor'thic Elite Blademasters have a single ability.

Kor'thik Strike deals a high amount of Physical damage to a randomraid member. All 3 Blademasters target the same random raid member, and attacksimultaneously. This ability is cast every 40 seconds.

5. Strategy↑top

First, we will summarise the strategy for the encounter. Afterwards, we willgo into detail about the various important aspects of the fight.

• Have one tank pick up the boss and one or two of the adds, while the othertank(s) pick(s) up the remaining adds.
• Spread out in a circle around the boss, to minimise damage from Whirling Blade, and to avoid having more than one person caught in Amber Prison.
• Make sure that players move from the landing location of Wind Bombs,and that no one triggers the Wind Bombs after they arm.
• Crowd-control as many of the adds as the limit allows (which of the addsyou crowd-control depends on your strategy, see below).
• Handle the various add abilities
  • Interrupt Mending.
  • Dispel Quickening.
  • Have players affected by Corrosive Resin move, and place the voidzones in such a way that it does not inconvenience the raid.
  • Free players from Amber Prison.

5.1. Crowd-Controlling the Adds

By far the most important decision you will have to make is which of theadds you will crowd control. We will begin by saying that the fight iskillable with more or less any combination of adds you choose to crowd-control.It is ultimately up to you to decide which combination works best for yourraid group, based on your strengths and weaknesses.

In order to make an informed choice, we will quickly go over the problemsthat each type of adds presents for your raid, but we will refrain fromsuggesting crowd-controlling combinations. If one combination proves to bevery easy to handle, we will write about it.

5.1.1. Amber-Trappers

Sra-thik Amber-Trappers will regularly encase players in Amber Prisons. While this deals no damage, it is a great inconvenience.This spell is cast every 35 seconds, so if all 3 adds are left free for a longtime, the Residue debuff will eventually overwhelm your raid, and youwill be unable to free all the trapped players.

The void zones left behind due to the Corrosive Resin debuff are notproblematic in and of themselves, but they will limit your raid's movementspace, and can cause problems after a while.

Overall, this is the least problematic type of adds, and the one that youcan leave up and relatively unattended for the longest time.

5.1.2. Battle-Menders

Zar'thik Battle-Menders, if left unchecked, will heal the other mobs forvery high amounts, as well as buffing their damage greatly. The heals canbe interrupted, and the damage buff can be dispelled, but it will require theconcentration of your raid for as long as these adds are alive and notcrowd-controlled.

Failing to interrupt their heals is quite a set-back, as they heal all 3 addsof a random kind for 25% of their maximum health.

Since tank damage is quite intense in this encounter, the Quickening buff can quickly lead to a burst of damage that can kill atank.

While these adds can theoretically be negated almost entirelythrough interrupts and dispels, in practice this will prove quite difficult forany sustained period of time. We recommend always crowd-controlling at leastone of these adds.

In 10-man, a single reliable interrupter is sufficient to prevent aBattle-Mender from successfully casting any heals.

5.1.3. Elite Blademasters

Kor'thic Elite Blademasters, if left unchecked, will deal extreme amountsof damage to random players. By casting their Kor'thik Strike abilityin unison on the same target, the 3 Blademasters can easily one-shotplayers.

It is not possible to tell who will be hit by Kor'thik Strike, as they donot change target from the tank, nor do they announce their victim.

While it is possible to overcome this through having everyone topped offwhenever a Kor'thik Strike is about to happen, as well as covering it witha raid cooldown such as Rallying Cry, leaving all 3 of these mobs free isnot exactly feasible. Given the rather long interval between the casts ofKor'thik Strike, it may be possible to simply burn these adds down with DPScooldowns.

We recommend always having at least one Blademaster crowd-controlled.

5.1.4. General Advice

As we mentioned earlier, it would not serve much purpose for us to tellyou which adds to crowd-control when. There are a few things that may provehelpful, however.

• If your raid has many classes that can interrupt and dispel reliably, youare better off not crowd-controlling all the Battle-Menders, and letting themlive for longer, instead. In this case, you should take advantage of yoursituation and kill the Blademasters first.
• If your raid is able to survive the damage from all three Blademasters(either through good use of cooldowns, or because the damage of these abilitiesends up not one-shotting players on live servers), you should take advantage ofthe situation and crowd-control other mobs instead.

5.1.5. Viable 10-man Crowd-Control Strategy

While there are many crowd-control strategies that work, we can attest tothe following one being relatively easy to pull off.

1. Crowd-control 1 Amber-Trapper, 2 Battle-Menders, and 1 Blademaster.
2. Kill the Battle-Mender first. Tank all the mobs together for additionalAoE damage from cleaves.
3. When the Battle-Menders are dead, crowd-control 1 Amber-Trapper and 1Blademaster.
4. Kill the Blademasters.
5. Kill the Amber-Trappers.

5.2. Target DPS Priority

First of all, DPSing Mel'jarak is not a priority until the adds have beenkilled. Of course, any damage that you are able to deal to him through cleavingor DoTs is welcome, and will make the fight easier, especially if the enragetimer proves to be strict.

Secondly, it is important to note that when adds are killed, theremaining adds are not healed. This means that it is possible to bring alladds of two kinds (or even 3) to low health before finally killing them. Thisis something we strongly recommend, as it makes it much easier to control themobs, especially the Blademasters (because you keep the ability to crowd-control4 adds).

It is possible, however, that the complications resulting from keeping alladds alive for a long time may overwhelm your raid. In this case, you canfocus down one type of adds.

Since the enrage timer of the encounter is somewhat strict, you should tryto do as much as damage to Mel'jarak while killing the adds as possible. Thismostly means keeping up DoTs on him, spreading diseases, and so on.

5.3. Tanking the Mobs

Mel'jarak will be active for the entire duration of the fight. Even thoughhis abilities are not at the forefront, they will still have to be dealt with.As we mentioned before, Mel'jarak also melees for a large amount of damage,something that is increased each time adds are killed.

10-man raids will want to use two tanks for this fight, but it is possibleto one-tank the fight with a properly geared tank. In this case, this tankwill benefit from a very large amount of Attack Power from Vengeance,greatly boosting their DPS and self-healing. If using two tanks, one tank willhave to pick up Mel'jarak, and one or two of the remaining 5non-crowd-controlled adds. The other tank will have to tank the rest of theadds.

25-man raids have the option of using three tanks. This makes the tankhealing considerably easier. One tank should take Mel'jarak and one add, whilethe remaining adds should be split between the other two tanks.

All the adds that are not crowd-controlled should be tanked in the sameplace, together with the boss. This allows for easy cleaving and AoE damage,which will help lower the health of multiple types of adds simultaneously.

5.4. Positioning

There is no point in the fight when your raid can safely stack together.The ideal positioning is to be spread out in a wide circle around the boss.Melee DPS are unable to spread out too much, but they should still be ableto stand at least 2 yards apart from one another so that Amber Prison does not affect more than one player (assuming it can even becast on melee players).

As an exception to this, your raid may find it necessary to stack up during Rain of Blades to make healing possible, especially after all the addshave been killed and Mel'jarak's damage is increased. In this case, beextremely wary of the fact that Mel'jarak will often cast Whirling Bladeimmediately before or after Rain of Blades, so everyone must move in to stackat the last possible moment, and must be very quick to move out again onceRain of Blades is over.

It is important that players do not line up in relation to Mel'jarak'sposition, because Whirling Blade damages all players in the path of thetarget.

Players will have to also move out of the void zones left behind by theplayers affected by Corrosive Resin.

Finally, certain areas will become inaccessible, as they will be taken up byMel'jarak's Wind Bombs. While Wind Bombs do not normally target meleeplayers, if everyone is stacking together to help healing during Rain ofBlades, the boss will cast a Wind Bomb in melee range, so everyone must bevery quick to move away.

5.5. Dealing with Add Abilities

5.5.1. Amber-Trappers

Whenever a player is trapped by an Amber Prison, someone should freethem. There is no need for assignments, as whoever is nearest to the trappedplayer can perform the task.

Players should, however, communicate when they are unable to release othersdue to the Residue debuff. Ideally, everyone should have a way ofdisplaying players' Residue debuff on their raid frames, so that they knowautomatically when they need to free someone. Otherwise, if the players who arenext to the trapped player have Residue, they should call out for someone elseto free that player.

Players who are affected by the Corrosive Resin should move immediatelyin order to get rid of the stacks of the debuff. They should be careful wherethey run to, however, so that they do not fill the central area of the roomwith the void zones. Ideally, they should run straight to one of the edgesof the room, and then run along the edge.

5.5.2. Battle-Menders

Any Battle-Menders who are not crowd-controlled must be interrupted any timethey cast Mending. Indeed, if even a single cast goes through, it willseverely set back your raid.

Whenever they cast Quickening, it should be dispelled from all thetargets. Mass Dispel is excellent for this, but other, single-targetdispels can also be used.

5.5.3. Elite Blademasters

The Elite Blademasters are the least complicated adds to deal with. For themost part, they will simply melee the tank. As we have seen, dealing with the Kor'thik Strike can be very difficult if all Blademasters are free, but itis otherwise simply an inconvenience, and something that the healers can justheal through.

Due to the fact that the damage dealt by Kor'thik Strike is Physical, eventhe highest theoretical hit (with 3 free Blademasters) of 450,000 is probablysurvivable by a random topped-off raid member, due to the damage reductionprovided by their armor. If at least one Blademaster is alwayscrowd-controlled, then this becomes much easier to manage.

5.6. Healing Concerns

As should be obvious by now, there are many different sources of damagein this encounter. The fight is quite strenuous on the healers overall.

The sources of damage are:

• generally high tank damage, and increasing damage on Mel'jarak's tank, asthe fight goes on (with 3 stacks of Recklessness, healers canexpect hits of up to 170,000 on the tank);
• regular raid-wide damage from Rain of Blades;
• single-target damage on random raid members, when they are targeted by Whirling Blade;
• single-target damage on random raid members, when they are affected by the Corrosive Resin debuff;
• bursts of single-target damage from the Blademasters' Kor'thik Strike, the size of which depends on the number of Blademasterscurrently crowd-controlled.

Healers can also expect to sometimes notice bursts in damage, if the mobsare buffed by Quickening.

Finally, there may be cases of Wind Bombs being accidentally detonated,which will probably cause a wipe.

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

The best timing for Heroism/ Bloodlust/ Time Warp will dependon what the most problematic moment of the encounter is for your raid.

For example, if you are trying to burn the Blademasters down before theyare able to cast (another) Kor'thik Strike, then you should useHeroism/Bloodlust/Time Warp then. Likewise if you are trying to quickly downanother type of adds.

From a raid DPS perspective, the best time to use the cooldown is when alladds have been killed. This is because the boss is taking greatlyincreased damage at this time, and your raid will have fewer distractions sincethe adds will not be there to cast their abilities. This may prove to be anear-mandatory strategy, depending on your raid's DPS, as the boss' enragetimer is quite strict.

7. Learning the Fight↑top

The Mel'jarak encounter is a difficult one, and each different stage of thefight will have challenges for your raid.

The first obstacle you will have to overcome is the initial chaos thatoccurs at the start of the fight. At this point, you will have to handle theboss (and all his abilities except for Wind Bomb) and 5 adds. You shouldnot hesitate to make use of healing and defensive cooldowns at this stage,in order to survive longer and be able to practice this stage better.

We also do not recommend bringing Mel'jarak below 75% health until a firsttype of adds has been killed, so that you do not have the added challenge ofWind Bombs.

After the first 3 adds are dead, you will have to deal with one fewer type ofadds. Since Mel'jarak willbe taking 33% increased damage, you can use DoTs and cleaving to bring him to75% at this point, and begin practicing how to best handle the Wind Bombs.

The amount of abilities and mobs that you will have to deal with up to thispoint is high, and this will undoubtedly cause problems for your raid at first.All you can do is try repeatedly, prioritising staying alive over killing theadds, so that everyone gets as much time as possible to get used to theabilities.

When 6 adds have been killed, you will have to deal with thelast 3 adds without any crowd-control. Depending on the adds that youchose, this could prove to be an extremely stressful time (even more so sinceMel'jarak's damage is greatly increased by this point). Most cooldowns shouldbe available once again, and you can use them at this point.

Even though it is likely that this boss will have a rather strict enragetimer, you should focus first on finishing the fight with everyone alive, andactually reaching the enrage timer. Once you are able to do this more or lessreliably, then you can start looking at ways to optimise your DPS (by DoTtingand cleaving Mel'jarak, etc.).

8. Heroic Mode↑top

The Heroic mode of the Mel'jarak encounter is quite similar to the Normalmode, although it presents a few interesting changes. Compared to the otherHeroic modes in the Heart of Fear raid, this is one of the more accessibleones.

8.1. Differences from Normal Mode

Wind Lord Mel'jarak has considerably more health than in Normal mode, andboth him and his adds deal more damage. In addition to this, there are a fewother changes.

• A maximum of 3 adds may be crowd-controlled at one time before Mel'jarakdispels all of the adds, down from 4 in Normal mode.
• The adds now respawn. 45 seconds after a group of adds is killed, a newgroup (identical to the first one) will enter the fight.
• The Recklessness debuff that Mel'jarak gains when a group ofadds dies is changed. The buff is no longer permanent, and it no longerstacks. Instead, it lasts for 30 seconds, and it increases the damage thatMel'jarak takes by 600% (up from 33%). The increase in damage dealt byMel'jarak remains unchanged (50%).

8.2. Strategy

You will choose 3 adds to keep crowd-controlled for the entire duration ofthe fight (we recommend keeping all three Sra-thik Amber-Trapperscrowd-controlled). You will then be left with the remaining two groups of adds,and the boss. Given the huge health pool of the boss, and the equally hugeincrease in damage taken when a group of adds is killed, you should pretty muchignore Mel'jarak at this point, and focus on killing one of the two groups ofadds. When the adds die, you should switch to Mel'jarak and burn him hard,using DPS cooldowns, for the 30 seconds during which he takes increaseddamage. When his debuff expires, you should switch to the remaining group ofadds, and DPS it. Remember that 45 seconds after the first group of adds iskilled, it will essentially respawn (3 identical adds will join the fight).

From here on out you will simply employ a rotation of killing thelowest-health group of adds, then switching to Mel'jarak while he is takingincreased damage, then DPSing the next group of adds and so on.

There are several other specific concerns that you will encounter whileperforming this strategy, and we talk a bit about them below.

8.2.1. Dealing with Wind Bomb

Note that, since you are DPSing Mel'jarak while there are adds alive,he will begin casting Wind Bomb while there are adds active. This shouldnot be a problem, unless you have Sra-thik Amber-Trappers that are notcrowd-controlled. This can cause players to be trapped in amber while inside aWind Bomb, which basically ensures a wipe (no one can go in to free themwithout triggering the bomb, and they will trigger the bomb themselveseventually).

Since we strongly advise crowd-controlling the Amber-Trappers, dealing withWind Bombs will simply be a choice of individual awareness andpositioning.

8.2.2. Dealing with Battle-Menders

Since you are leaving the Zar'thik Battle-Menders free, you will need tohave several dedicated interrupters (3 in 10-man and 6 in 25-man). Thereshould be no need for back-up interrupters, since no designated interruptersare at risk of being trapped in amber.

Additionally, of course, you will have to dispel Quickening as youusually would.

8.2.3. Dealing with Blademasters

You will have to contend with the coordinated attacks of all threeBlademasters (we are, of course, referring to their Kor'thik Strikeability). Given that the damage done by this is Physical (and, therefore,reduced by armor), no topped-off player will get one-shot by it. However, ifsaid raid member has recently taken damage from Rain of Blades or Whirling Blade, the Kor'thik Strike can easily kill them. This willrequire the healers to be very prompt in topping off players whenever aKor'thik strike is coming up.

8.2.4. Timing DPS Cooldowns

Even though killing each set of adds quickly is always beneficial, everyoneshould save their DPS cooldowns for when a group of adds has just been killed,because these cooldowns are much more efficient when Mel'jarak is takingincreased damage.

Heroism/ Bloodlust/ Time Warp should be cast during one ofthe periods when Mel'jarak is taking increased damage. The 8-minute enragetimer of the fight should generally not be a problem, provided that your raidis executing the strategy correctly.

9. Achievement: Less Than Three↑top

The Less Than Three achievement is part of the Glory of the Pandaria Raider meta achievement. The achievement requires thatyou kill Mel'jarak without having more than 2 adds crowd-controlled at thesame time.

As you can probably tell, this is straightforward, but it will make theencounter considerably harder. It means that, until the first pack of adds iskilled, you only crowd-control 2 adds, instead of 4. We advisecrowd-controlling 1 Zar'thik Battle-Mender and1 Kor'thic Elite Blademaster, and using all DPS cooldowns tokill the Zar'thik Battle-Menders, while interrupting them.

Once the Menders are dead, you can choose to kill either the Blademastersor the Amber Trappers next, depending on what is easier for your raid, andhow you execute your regular kills, although we advise killing theBlademasters.

10. Concluding Remarks↑top

This concludes our raid guide for Wind Lord Mel'jarak. We hope you havefound our guide helpful, and we remind you that we always award greatconsideration to your feedback, both on our forums or by e-mail.