- This article contains information on how to defeat Kael'thas in the Magisters' Terrace instance. For character biography and WCIII appearances, see Kael'thas Sunstrider; for information on how to defeat Kael'thas in Tempest Keep, see Kael'thas Sunstrider (tactics).
 Kael'thas Sunstrider | |||||||||||||
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| Title | <Lord of the Blood Elves> | ||||||||||||
| Race | Felblood elf (Humanoid) | ||||||||||||
| Level | 72 Elite | ||||||||||||
| Affiliation(s) | Burning Legion | ||||||||||||
| Location | Grand Magister's Asylum, Magisters' Terrace | ||||||||||||
| Status | Killable | ||||||||||||
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Kael'thas Sunstrider <Lord of the Blood Elves> is the final boss of the Magisters' Terrace in Patch 2.4.0.
Abilities
Fireball: Hits for around 2-3k. ~6k damage in Heroic Mode (not partially resistable). Can be interrupted and reflected.- Flamestrike: A large and very obvious circle appears on the floor, and a flamestrike follow 5 seconds after. ~5k damage (~9k in Heroic Mode). (Put Spell Detail on high to spot it faster)
- Summon Phoenix: In Phase 1, phoenixes move slowly towards their threat-leader. In Phase 2, they stop moving and cast Fireballs. They constantly pulse
[Hellfire] for ~2K damage per second. Given enough time, a phoenix's own Hellfire will kill it. On death, they:
- Produce a short-range, high-damage explosion and knockback.
- Spawn an egg that must also be destroyed or the phoenix will respawn.
- Gravity Lapse: At 50% health, Kael'thas enters Phase 2 and only casts Gravity Lapses. Every lapse summons the entire party to him. Three Arcane Orbs appear, choose a player to follow, and melee for heavy damage. During a Lapse's 30-second period, all players:
- Bounce to the ceiling when within a few yards of the floor.
- "Swim" in the air.
- Receive 300 Arcane damage per second (that is, 300 damage per second for 30 seconds, for a total of 9,000 damage)
Heroic Only:
- Shock Barrier: Absorbs 10k damage and grants immunity to interrupts. This spell begins the 4-second casting time of Pyroblast.
- Pyroblast: ~55k damage before mitigation, cast on his current target 60 seconds after the fight started. Can only be interrupted after the Shock Barrier is destroyed. Cannot be reflected. Kael CAN cast Flamestrike while casting Pyroblast. It can be completely avoided by nuking him below 50% before 60 seconds have passed.
Strategy
Phase 1
At the start of the fight, Kael'thas will largely stick to melee, as well as throwing out the occasional Fireball. If you have no-one in melee range, Kael will resort to casting spells instead. Fire Resistance isn't necessary, although a bit of it (from a Paladin Aura or a Fire Resistance Totem) will help. Kael's casts can also be interrupted so players with silencing abilities should be sure to interrupt his Fireball, and a single shaman can avoid almost all damage from fireballs by alternating grounding totem and earthshock. However, it is not possible to interrupt the Flamestrike, Phoenix, or Gravity spells. He also uses Flamestrike which is easily avoidable, but will kill you if you stand in for the initial hit. You should kill the bird and the egg before Kael'thas reaches 50%.
Managing Phoenixes
Shortly after combat begins, Kael will summon a phoenix, and will summon a second (and possibly a third) after some minutes have passed. When a phoenix is out it needs to be beaten down quickly (with ranged damage), by at least two party members. The phoenix should be kited away from the tank and Kael, as it will eventually explode when it dies, dealing tremendous damage and throwing nearby players backwards. Once it dies an egg will spawn in its place, which will very soon hatch and respawn the phoenix if it is not destroyed. A total of two phoenix spawns are almost unavoidable for most groups. Take Kael to 50% to start Phase 2 after the second phoenix egg is broken; having even one phoenix up during Phase 2 is an almost guaranteed wipe.
To minimize the damage Hellfire causes to players that the phoenix passes, you should plan out positioning and aggro.
- Start by having the main tank fight Kael near either of the large stacks of boxes to either side of where he stands when the group comes into the room. This will reduce the amount of time the phoenix might possibly be near enough to Kael to also roast your tank and give you extra kiting room.
- Melee DPS should be alert and ready to sidestep the phoenix if it appears near Kael. (A wide area between the tank and other melee lowers the risk of Flamestrikes anyway.) Parties with more than 2 melee DPS should convince one of them to off-heal, or to be ready to leave Kael for the egg when it spawns.
- Kite the phoenix in a broad arc that leads past the entryway steps and to the ramp on the side furthest from Kael and your tank. This will get your group the most kiting room (and time) possible.
- Don't kite the phoenix up the steps to the entryway, as it's AoE will be much more difficult to avoid in such close quarters and can result in the kiter becoming trapped and burned to death or at least severely singed.
- Hunters will do well to drop a frost trap near the center of the room, slightly closer to the door than the center (at base of the sun on the carpet) as soon as the fight begins. This will allow whoever gets the phoenix's attention to quickly lead it over the trap and buy even more kiting time.
- If you have 2 ranged DPS, place the less aggressive one to one side of Kael'thas, the more aggressive one near the ramp opposite where the tanking will take place, and the healer just up the steps near to the entrance (where the phoenix is highly unlikely to ever spawn).
- If you have 1 ranged DPS, place that player near the base of one of the ramps (again, furthest from the tank) leading to the translocation device or near the device itself in the back of the room. The phoenix cannot jump the rim of the stage and will have to go around. The player may then jump down to gain distance.
- If you are extremely loaded with DPS, it is possible to go through the entire Phase 1 without having a phoenix spawn.
Phase 2
Phase 2 begins when Kael'thas hits 50% health. After a few seconds, Kael'thas will cast Gravity Lapse, which will throw your entire party into the air and allow you to float freely around, much like the fight with him in Tempest Keep. He'll begin channeling Arcane Energy onto your entire group, which deals 300 damage every second for 30 seconds. He will also summon three Arcane Orbs, which will hit you in melee range for around 2k+. It is thus vital for your party to swim around and avoid the orbs. It is a good idea to move outward immediately, while still trying to DPS Kael'thas as much as you can. A healer with an AoE, such as a Priest, or HOTs like Druids, is tremendously helpful for this fight, whereas Paladins and Shamans will have extreme difficulty keeping an entire group alive due to the nature of their healing. There is no tanking at this point. Ranged DPS may continue firing upon Kael as opportunities present themselves, but the priority is to above all give the orbs a wide berth.
Phase 3
After 30 seconds Kael'thas will tire and Gravity Lapse will end, giving you a few seconds to freely attack Kael without reprisal. Kael takes 50% more damage in this state. After 30 seconds, he will get back up again and re-cast Gravity Lapse (repeat Phase 2), so try and do as much DPS as you can while you have the chance. Again, tanking does nothing.
It is possible for classes with at least 1 healing spell (such as an Affliction Warlock) to solo the boss for the remaining 50% on both Normal and Heroic, as Kael will no longer use direct attacks. For this reason, do not assume that your group has wiped if you lose some members during the encounter. Thus as long as there are any remaining survivors, do not release your body if you die during the encounter, lest you not get credit for the kill while you return back in spirit form.
Heroic
In Heroic Mode, Kael's damage with Fireballs and Flamestrikes is increased.
After sixty seconds (and if still in phase 1) Kael will use the Shock Barrier ability (identical in behavior to the one he uses in Tempest Keep, and similar to the Priest in the Maulgar fight), which will absorb 10,000 damage. When the shield has taken the 10,000 damage, it will disappear and allow someone to interrupt the Pyroblast that he is casting. The Pyroblast will kill any tank that lacks sufficient spell damage reduction. It is very possible (especially with 
[Bloodlust]/
[Heroism]) to take Kael to phase 2 before this time has elapsed, and if done he will not cast Pyroblast. Also note that the 60 second delay is perfect for a Warlock to time a 
[Curse of Doom] to hit during the shield, making it trivial to interrupt.
Paladins can bubble (after he has started casting) to prevent all Pyroblast damage. Warriors can use Shield Wall and Last Stand to survive it (Spell Reflect will not work). Druid tanks are out of luck.
Note that the tank dying to the Pyroblast does not mean the group will wipe. Usually Kael'thas will hit 50% shortly after the Pyroblast and start phase 2. A tank is unnecessary in phase 2 since Kael does not move and does not directly attack.
Alternative
Note: This strategy is only suggested if you don´t have Warrior or Paladin tanking or have Paladin healing (he can cast 
[Blessing of Protection] to tank.)
For this strategy, you HAVE to have a rogue with Cheat Death. The strategy can be done on Normal, although it's advised to just tank it as you usually would on Normal.
Phase 1
For this to work, have the ROGUE tank Kael, make sure NOT to pull off of him, if your tank is a Warrior or Druid, have them help DPS, if it's a Paladin/Druid (Choice of Druid), help heal. Druids are prefered to help heal this fight.
Just follow the above strategies and DPS him down and ranged on the Phoenix when it comes up. At all costs, keep the rogue from taking an attack that will possibly kill him, as this will make this strategy fail, or at least, the rogue will die before he's to be used.
The main reason why a rogue with Cheat Death tanks comes when he throws his Shock Barrier up. During this attack, you do NOT have to worry about the Pyroblast at all if the Rogue hasn't took a hit that would otherwise kill him. When the Pyroblast hits, ALL damage will be negated due to Cheat Death, since it would otherwise kill him.
This means that the Rogue can Cloak of Shadows at any time during the fight he wishes to.
Phase 2 & 3
Same as the other strategies. Stay away from the Orbs and DPS down Kael as much as you can. Good luck!
Tip
Tree of Life is ideal healer because it has many HoTs and many of them are instant, and this makes healers job easer at Gravity Phase.
Quotes
This humorous outburst from Kael'thas in Magisters' Terrace - shouted when he tired from Gravity Lapse - was a placeholder during the earliest phases of public testing:
- Wow, that sucked. Oh well let's try again. [1]
When Kael'thas' room is cleared:
- Don't look so smug! I know what you're thinking, but Tempest Keep was merely a set back. Did you honestly believe I would trust the future to some blind, half-night elf mongrel? Hahahaha... Oh no, no, no, he was merely an instrument, a stepping stone to a much larger plan! It has all led to this...and this time, you will not interfere![2]
Casting Flamestrike:
- Felomin ashal!
Summoning a phoenix:
- Vengeance burns!
Casting Gravity Lapse:
- I'll turn your world...upside...down.[3]
Tiring:
- Master, grant me strength."
Recasting Gravity Lapse:
- Do not get...too comfortable.
Death:
- My demise accomplishes nothing! The Master will have you! You will drown in your own blood! The world shall burn! Aaaghh![4]
Loot
Note that Kael does not drop a [Primal Nether] in Heroic mode. He instead drops recipes [5]
Note: Kael'thas drops BOP versions of many outland recipes. These recipe drops are BOP, even if the recipe is normally a BOE world drop. They can only be looted by people who need the recipe and will not be seen unless someone in the group needs it.
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