Trash Mobs and the 3 Drake Lieutenants

Trash

While there is not much trash inside the Obsidian Sanctum the trash can easily wipe even an over geared raid group who are not prepared. There are 2 types of add packs inside the Sanctum: a pack of 4 dragons, and a pack with 2 Onyx Sanctum Guardians. The Guardians require a tank on teach and are a hard hitting tank and spank. They cast a Curse of Mending on random raid members which will heal them every time that player attacks. This needs to be dispelled or the targeted player needs to stop DPS till it wears off. The pack of four consists of an Onyx Brood General who when killed will break all CC from the other dragon kin and prevent them from being Cced again for the rest of the fight, 1-2 Onyx Flight Captains who have no major abilities but tend to hit very hard, and 1-2 Onyx Blaze Mistresses which should be killed first as they conjure up Flame Orbs that do damage to anyone near it.

Drakes

All three drakes are very similar fights with small differences. All three drakes have a Shadow Breath so no one except the tank should be in front of them, all three will spawn void zones that should be avoided by all players, and each drake will spawn portals throughout the fight that can be taken by the raiders. While in a portal everyone will take shadow damage, and what you do in the portal depends on the drake you are facing. Depending on the drake you are facing it is currently acceptable to skip some of these portals.

Tenebron - located on the terrace to Sartharion’s right side, she will open portals into the Twilight realm that give players a chance to destroy her eggs. Left untouched these eggs will eventually spawn Twilight Whelps which will attack the raid. Currently it is much easier for players to ignore her portals and focus on DPSing her down while an off tank picks up her adds. Unless killed before engaging Sartharion, she will be called to aid him after 30 seconds, strengthening Sartharion even more.

Shadron - located on the terrace to the rear of Sartharion, Shadron will regularly open portals to the Twilight realm that will give players the opportunity to slay acolytes which Shadron will summon. Players will need to take these portals as the acolytes will give Shadron the Gift of Twilight which decreases Shadron’s suffered damage to zero. Send in an off tank, all your DPS, and a few healers (or just one on 10-man) and the acolyte will easily go down. Unless killed before engaging Sartharion, he will be called to aid him after 75 seconds, strengthening Sartharion even more.

Vesperon - located on the terrace on Sartharion’s left side, he will open portals to the Twilight realm that give raiders the chance to kill acolytes that will be summoned by Vesperon. These acolytes have an ability that inflicts damage to players who attack Vesperon or the acolyte. Depending on how confident you are in your healers and your DPS to take down Vesperon quickly you can skip these portals, however to make it easier simply send in an off tank, a few healers and your DPS and take out the acolyte. Unless killed before engaging Sartharion, he will be called to aid him after 75 seconds, strengthening Sartharion even more.

Each drake will drop an Emblem of Conquest upon their death.

Sartharion

While being an old fight Sartharion still requires the raid to have moderate movement skills and situational awareness, especially when attempting 3 drakes. Sartharion is most frequently done with no drakes alive, or all three drakes. While 1 or 2 drakes can also be done it seems almost silly not to just do all 3 and get the whole shebang out of the way.

No Drakes

Sartharion has all the abilities you would expect from a dragon: tail whip, a frontal Cleave, and a cone fire breath. Keeping Sartharion faced away from the raid with his tail out of the way is key here. The best spot I have personally found for the tank to stand is on the eastern tip of the island. That way Sartharion faces out toward the lava, his tail is towards the lava on the other side, and the DPS can spread out along his side while the tank can avoid the Lava Wave with just a few steps.

Sartharion has several unique abilities that make the fight a little bit more difficult, and fun. Throughout the fight Sartharion will summon Fire Elementals. They do not hit hard initially and should be picked up by an off tank. However if they are not killed and they manage to hit a Lava Wave they will enrage, gain more health and hit very hard. Killing the Fire Elementals at regular intervals and having your off tank drag them out of the Flame Waves is key. Lava waves will also be summoned throughout the fight. You will receive an emote about the wave, and then a wall of lava will sweep over the island. The waves can either move left to right or right to left. Each wave will have a safe spot that players will need to get to. If the wave moves left to right (looking in from the entrance of the room) there will be two openings on each end of the Lava Wave. If the wave sweeps right to left there will only be one opening in the center.

Between avoiding Lava Walls, and killing Fire Elementals all DPS should be on Sartharion. Getting up as many DoTs as possible makes this fight go much faster. Avoid the Lava Waves, kill off the Fire Elementals regularly, and keep Sartharion from turning to the raid and you will easily win this boss fight.

Three Drakes

Doing Sartharion with three drakes up means he will continue to do all his normal abilities discussed above plus the drakes will now join the fight in intervals, buffing Sartharion and debuffing the raid. Void Zones will now appear throughout the fight and will one shot a player and should be avoided at all costs. The most viable tank for this fight is a Death Knight as they have the most cool downs. A priest healing the main tank is also a good idea as they can lend their wings or pain suppression as extra cool downs for the tank.

The drakes give the following debuffs to the raid and buffs to Sartharion:

Power of Tenebron - Increases Shadow Damage by 100%
Power of Shadron - Increases Fire Damage by 100%
Power of Vesperon - Decreases maximum health by 25%

Will of Sartharion - Increases Sartharion’s health and those of the other drakes by 25%
Twilight Revenge - Increases Sartharion’s physical damage and attack speed by 25% every time a drake dies
Berserk - When Sartharion reaches 35% health while at least one of the drakes are alive, he will berserk, increasing his attack speed by 150% and damage done by 500% for 5 minutes.

Once pulled all damage should be on Sartharion until Tenebron lands after 30 seconds. Tenebron should be picked up by an off tank and the raid will burn her down. Shadron will land after 75 seconds, and should be taken care of by a second off tank. The raid should have killed Tenebron, and have a good start on Shadron by the time Vesperon lands after 125 seconds. If the raid is lucky Shadron will not cast his immunity shield before his death and the raid can continue on to kill Vesperon. The damage to the main tank at this point will be extreme and the tank and his healers should do everything possible to keep him alive. If Shadron does manage to cast his immunity shield the DPS , a healer, and an off tank (or a plate wearing DPS) will have to enter the portal to kill the add inside to be rid of the immunity debuff. During this time Fire Elementals as well as Whelps will still spawn which should be picked up by an off tank. Once the last drake dies the raid should kill off any adds (Whelps, and Fire Elementals) that have built up and then move quickly to Sartharion. It now becomes a race to the finish with your raid trying to defeat Sartharion before the damage overwhelms your tank. Void Zones will have stopped spawning after all the drakes are defeated however your raid will still need to dodge Lava Waves.

Three Drakes Zerg

A recently developed and commonly used strategy (by well geared groups) is the zerg method. The zerg strategy requires little skill, a large amount of DPS, and may be made impossible to do by Blizzard at a future date. It is largely controversial as some consider it cheating, especially those who completed three drakes the way it was intended.

This strategy will require 1 tank, 1 healer and 8 DPS (10 man) with more healers being used for 25 man. A feral druid or another class that can DPS but still taunt is also required here. Players will need excellent gear, and need to come with all available buffs (flasks, food, etc). Heavy melee here is a plus. The main tank will grab Sartharion and pull him into position while the DPS goes all out, blowing all cool downs. If there are any Rogues or Hunters in the raid they should use their abilities to help the MT keep aggro. The MT should grab all the adds that he can, including Tenebron when he first lands. Once Sartharion reaches 25% the Druid, or another class with a taunt ability should taunt Tenebron off the MT as he will enrage and kill your MT quickly. Tenebron should then be kited by the OT back to the instance portal. All that is left is to continue burning Sarth down. It will be a close call, don’t be distracted by Shadron if he lands, just continue to DPS.