Elite mode

Hard mode, not to be confused with heroic mode, refers to the increase in difficulty of a raid boss encounter resulting in increased rewards and/or achievements. This is accomplished by doing or not doing certain things that increase the difficulty of the boss fight. You can not set the boss encounter to Hard mode from the user interface.

Information

Ahn'Qiraj

Prior to the release of Wrath of the Lich King and the coming of real hard mode encounters, the Temple of Ahn'Qiraj was the only raid instance to have an encounter where the difficulty and loot were determined by the order you kill each boss.

Obsidian Sanctum

Obsidian Sanctum was the first raid instance released with a hard mode boss encounter.

Ulduar

Ulduar took the concept further with 10 of the 14 bosses having hard modes. These are: Flame Leviathan, XT-002 Deconstructor, Assembly of Iron, Freya, Hodir, Thorim, Mimiron, General Vezax, Yogg-Saron, and Algalon the Observer. Algalon is WoW's first hard mode only encounter, and for this reason was made optional (skippable) as far as completing the instance is concerned.

Hard mode encounters

Three Bugs

Three Bugs in the Temple of Ahn'Qiraj offers players 3 different methods. The easiest way to complete this encounter is to kill Lord Kri first, then Princess Yauj and finally Vem. The 'medium' way is to kill Lord Kri in second. The hardest way is to kill Lord Kri last. The rewards are determined by the order you kill the Bug Family. Each bug has some unique items in its loot table, while others are shared.

Sartharion

Sartharion in Obsidian Sanctum has 3 different hard modes. The three drakes, Vesperon, Shadron, and Tenebron can be killed to make the Sartharion encounter of normal difficulty or it can be increased to hard mode by leaving one or more of the drakes alive when starting the Sartharion encounter. Defeating Sartharion with the drakes up rewards an achievement and additional loot, increasing with additional drakes.

Flame Leviathan

Flame Leviathan in Ulduar has 4 different hard modes. There are 4 towers, with loot and badges increasing for each tower NOT destroyed, similar to Obsidian Sanctum.

Several achievements are also given out depending on the number of towers destroyed. They are  Orbital Bombardment (3 tower destroyed),  Orbital Devastation (2 towers destroyed),  Nuked from Orbit (1 tower destroyed), and  Orbit-uary (All towers left up).

XT-002 Deconstructor

XT-002 Deconstructor has one hard mode. At 75%, 50%, and 25%, XT-002 Deconstructor's heart will be exposed. Destroying the heart (which has a multi-million point health pool) activates the hard mode, which heals XT-002 Deconstructor to full HP and gives him the buff Heartbreak, which increases XT-002 Deconstructor's HP by 150% and his damage done by 30%. Defeating XT-002 Deconstructor while killing his heart awards players the achievement  Heartbreaker or  Heroic: Heartbreaker and additional loot.

Assembly of Iron

There are two different hard modes for the Assembly of Iron. The normal strategy is to kill Stormcaller Brundir last. The 'medium' hard mode is to kill Runemaster Molgeim last. The hardest way to do the encounter (and the method that rewards the best loot) is to kill Steelbreaker last. The rewards are increased loot and achievements.

Hodir

Hodir's hard mode requires the raid to down him in under 3 minutes, preventing him from shattering the Rare Cache in the room. As of Patch 3.1, Hodir will not shatter the cache if he is downed mid-cast.

Thorim

Reaching Thorim within 3 minutes causes Sif not to despawn and assist Thorim in the fight. Meanwhile, she cannot be targeted and she nukes the raid. Normal mode also put the debuff Touch of Dominion to reduces his HP and damage by 25% (means 25% less damage and hp than hard mode).

Freya

Freya has 3 different hard modes. The three Ancients, Elder Brightleaf, Elder Stonebark, and Elder Ironbranch can be killed to make the encounter of normal difficulty or it can be increased to hard mode by leaving one or more of the Ancients alive when starting. Defeating Freya with the Ancients up rewards an achievement and additional loot.

Mimiron

Mimiron's hard mode is activated by pressing a button prior to the encounter. Pressing the button puts an 8-minute enrage timer on the encounter and increases the health and damage done of all the vehicles in the encounter by 25%.

General Vezax

General Vezax's hard mode is simple: Do not use the Saronite Vapors to regain mana. If nobody in your raid makes use of the Saronite Vapors, then after 8 Saronite Shards, adds will spawn, you kill the adds and then kill General (there are only 8 Saronite Shards for the whole fight that will spawn), General Vezax will drop improved loot and reward the achievement  I Love the Smell of Saronite in the Morning.

Yogg-Saron

Very little information is known about Yogg-Saron's hard modes. There are four different hard modes for Yogg-Saron. The normal mode involves using the assistance of the four keepers - Freya, Hodir, Mimiron, and Thorim. The four different hard modes were revealed in PTR build 9704.^{[citation needed]}  They involve using the assistance of fewer Keepers. The reward is improved loot (assumed) and four achievements depending on which difficulty you engage him on. The achievements are:  Three Lights in the Darkness (Use three or fewer Keepers),  Two Lights in the Darkness (Use two or fewer Keepers),  One Light in the Darkness (Use one or fewer Keepers), and  Alone in the Darkness (Do not accept the help of any Keepers).

Algalon the Observer

Algalon the Observer is unique in that he has no normal mode. He is considered a "hard mode only" boss by Blizzard because to confront him you must defeat multiple bosses on hard mode. There is little information on the encounter involving Algalon at this time other than the achievement  Supermassive/ Heroic: Supermassive (Defeat a certain amount of Black Holes within a time limit).

See also

• Heroic mode
• Normal mode