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This article is about the in-game raid boss. For character biography and Warcraft III appearances, see Kael'thas Sunstrider. For the character's appearance in the Magisters' Terrace instance, see Kael'thas Sunstrider (Magisters' Terrace tactics).

Kael'thas Sunstrider <Lord of the Blood Elves> is the fourth and final boss encounter of the Eye in Tempest Keep. It's a rather complicated fight with five phases where all raid members have to learn how to survive. The Kael'thas fight is considered to be one of the hardest fights in the game because he is considered the gateway to the true endgame content.

Contents 1 Updates in 2.4 2 Abilities 3 Raid Composition 4 Phase 1: Introducing the Advisors 5 Phase 2: The Weapons 6 Phase 3: The Advisors, Reloaded 6.1 Kill order 7 Phase 4: Taking matters into one's own hands 7.1 Phoenix handling 7.2 Pyroblast 7.3 Event Cycle 8 Phase 5: True Power 8.1 Gravity Lapse 8.2 Enrage 9 Notes 10 Loot 11 Quotes 12 First kills 13 Movies 14 External links

Updates in 2.4

In Patch 2.4, Kael'thas no longer is needed for attunement to Battle for Mount Hyjal. In addition, it will be possible to go directly to Kael'thas without first killing all other bosses in Tempest Keep. The number of Tier 5 chest tokens he drops will be increased from two to three.

Abilities

Kael'thas, his advisors, and the phoenixes are immune to Taunt, Crowd Control and all snare or slow effects. The Weapons are tauntable, and can be affected by stuns/roots/etc.

The advisors enter Phase 1 with half of their regular max health. After Kael'thas resurrects the advisors for Phase 3 their health is fully replenished.

Thaladred the Darkener

• ~560k health (~280k in P1)
• Melee – 3-4k on plate plus 2.5k every tick for 12 seconds
• Gaze – Fixes aggro to a random person in raid; 9 second cooldown
• Psychic Blow – 4-5k damage plus knockback to his current target, 30 yard range
• Silence – Silences anyone within 8 yards

Lord Sanguinar

• ~580k health (~290k in P1)
• Melee – 3-4k on plate
• Bellowing Roar – 35 yard AoE fear centered on himself, 1.5 second cast, no aggro reset

Grand Astromancer Capernian

• ~400k health (~200k in P1)
• Fireball – 6-7k single-target fire damage
• Conflagration – Randomly targets players within 30 yards; causes disorient effect with 600-900 damage per second plus 300 damage per second to all players within 8 yards of the debuffed player. Capernian will not attack players afflicted by conflagaration.
• Arcane Explosion – 4.5k Arcane damage plus knockback and slow debuff; only used if players are in melee range

Master Engineer Telonicus

• ~550k health (~275k in P1)
• Bomb – 7-9k fire in a small AoE centered on current target's location, 1.5 second cast
• Remote Toy – 60 sec debuff placed on a random player, periodically stuns the affected player for 4 seconds

Kael'thas Sunstrider

• ~3.6 million HP
• Melee – ~4k on plate
• Fireball – 2.5 sec cast, ~16-20k fire damage, interruptible
• Flamestrike – 3 sec cast, ~3k fire damage per second AoE for 10 sec
• Summon Phoenix – periodically summon a Phoenix
• Arcane Disruption – 1750-2250 Arcane damage and a 10 second disorient to every raid member, 20 sec cooldown
• Shock Barrier – a shield which absorbs 80,000 damage, lasts 10 seconds and prevents spells from being interrupted

Phase 4 specific abilities:

• Mind Control – Mind controls 2-3 people in the raid
• Pyroblast – 4 sec cast, 45k-55k fire damage, interruptible, 60 sec cooldown; begins casting immediately after casting Shock Barrier

Phase 5 specific abilities:

• Gravity Lapse – All members of raid are teleported to him and then swim in the air for 30 sec
• Nether Beam – 1850-2150 arcane damage to a random target, jumps to nearby players, damage doubled for each jump (similar to C'Thuns eye beam)
• Nether Vapor – Small black clouds floating in the air near Kael'thas. If touched they add a stacking debuff which reduces max health by 10% each time, stacking up to 9 times, to 90% reduction.

Raid Composition

• Main Tank
• Fire Resist Tank (~150 for use as Conflag target during P1 and Phoenix tank in P4/5)
• 2 Off-Tanks
• 6-7 Healers
• 5-6 Melee
• 10-11 Ranged

This fight favors ranged damage dealers because there are mobs which are highly dangerous for melee (Thaladred and Capernian), and the Phoenix eggs are much easier killed by ranged (only 15 sec time to do 70k damage), melee lose too much time running to the egg.

Phase 1: Introducing the Advisors

The raid can leisurely kill each advisor. To make phase 3 easier, each advisor should be killed in a pre-planned location.

The advisors engage in the following order:

• Thaladred the Darkener fixes aggro on ("sets his gaze on" emote) a raid member at all times, and, for the duration of the gaze, walks toward that target, who run away and thus kite him while ranged DPS attack Thaladred. For brief intervals between gazes, or if the gaze target dies, Thaladred may melee or follow the target with the most threat. Nobody should be closer than 10 yards when a gaze shift takes place.
• Lord Sanguinar is a simple tank and spank boss, made interesting only by his fear ability (which no longer resets aggro).
• Grand Astromancer Capernian casts Arcane Explosion if there are people in melee range, making this another ranged-only fight. Conflagrate must be avoided by everybody except her tanks. One possible setup is to have a fire resist tank stand rather close to her (about 15 yards, still outside Arcane Explosion range) to eat the conflagrations, while a Warlock kills her from 30 yards away. Such a setup needs two healers on the warlock, and one on the fire tank. Alternately, she can be tanked by two warlocks which take turns - when one is conflagrated, the other takes over. Warlocks tanking her must not have Nether Protection, or she closes range, melees and casts Arcane Explosion after one of her spells is resisted.
• Master Engineer Telonicus is probably the least dangerous of the advisors. His Remote Toy debuff is potentially fatal if active on a tank during phase 2 (significantly hampering threat generation and making positioning difficult), so delay killing Telonicus until no tank has the debuff. In phase 3, the debuff is made irrelevant by the staff's anti-stun aura.

Phase 2: The Weapons

After all advisors are dead, Kael'thas summons his arsenal of seven legendary weapons. By killing and looting these weapons all raid members can equip themselves with legendary weapons for the rest of the fight (the weapons are multi-drop but unique; one player can theoretically pick up one copy of each). Killing the weapons is a mixture of AoE and focus fire. There should be an AoE kill zone, where most of the weapons are held, while the remaining DPS concentrate on one weapon after the other. Here's an overview of the weapons in a reasonable kill order:

[Netherstrand Longbow] ~210k HP

Has a Multi-Shot attack, drops aggro if any melee or pet attack it. Preferably tanked by a hunter facing it away from the raid to avoid Multi-Shot hitting others. This is the most dangerous weapon and should be killed first by all hunters and ranged DPS which do not take part in the AoE

[Staff of Disintegration] ~170k HP

Low melee damage, attacks with Frostbolt and Frost Nova. It likes to cast a Frost Nova, run away 10-15 yards and then start to Frostbolt. It's a highly desirable item because its "use" ability grants immunity to the Remote Toy debuff, and it increases the damage output of casters. It also has low HP and dies faster than the other weapons

[Cosmic Infuser] ~280k HP

Low melee damage. Heals itself and friendly targets, which must be interrupted. The melee damage dealers should control and kill this

[Infinity Blade] ~210k HP

Hits normal but attacks very fast. Has a Thrash ability (similar to Prince Malchezaar's phase 2 ability) that grants it two extra attacks

[Warp Slicer] ~290k HP

Hits for 1-1.5K every 2s on plate. Applies a stacking Rend DoT. Each stack ticks for an additional 500 damage every 3s for 15s; the Rend attack that applies the DoT can miss, be dodged or parried.

[Devastation] ~230k HP

Frequently Whirlwinds, which one-shots any non-tanks. Must be tanked slightly away from the other weapons, near the edge or even outside the AoE zone. Not very useful for most raid members, therefore it's not a problem if it doesn't die quickly.

[Phaseshift Bulwark] ~290k HP

Does high damage. Has a "shield spike"-like ability which when activated can reflect a lot of damage to a fast attacking melee DPSer. Also has much higher HP and armor than the other weapons. The tanks can manage phase 3 without it, but they must absolutely have it to tank Kael'thas in phase 4.

Weapon tank list:

• Main Tank: Axe
• Main Tank: Sword + Shield
• Offtank #1: Mace + Dagger
• Offtank #2: Staff
• Hunter: Bow

The weapon corpses despawn after 60 seconds, and the looted weapons disappear 15 minutes after being looted. Players also lose them when releasing (after a death) or when the encounter is reset.

It's not a big problem to have two weapons alive (e.g. the [Phaseshift Bulwark] and [Devastation]) when phase 3 starts.

Phase 3: The Advisors, Reloaded

Exactly two minutes after the start of Phase 2, Kael'thas resurrects all the advisors at once. The advisor tanks and their healers should start to move to their assigned advisors (or rather their corpse) about 10 seconds before the end of Phase 2, so that they can immediately pick up the advisors.

Advisor tank list:

• Main Tank: Sanguinar
• Off-tank: Telonicus
• Warlock/fire resist Tank: Capernian

Kill order

As before, Thaladred and Capernian should be avoided by melee. All four advisors can be safely attacked by ranged. Since Thaladred is the biggest nuisance, ranged DPS should concentrate on him first. One melee damage dealer with the [Infinity Blade] should put the debuff on him, but very carefully - the player must be highly aware of imminent gaze shifts, move away *before* each shift, and get back in only when a target other than themself gets the gaze.

All other melee damage dealers should concentrate on Sanguinar first and Telonicus second.

After Thaladred is down, ranged DPS can either help the melee group at Sanguinar, or start on Capernian. This decision mainly depends on whether the melee group is strong enough to kill Sanguinar on their own, or the ranged DPS have to help.

When all other adds are down, Telonicus is finished off last by all damage dealers together.

Phase 4: Taking matters into one's own hands

Three minutes after the start of Phase 3, Kael'thas himself enters the fight. If only one advisor is still up at that point, a smooth kill is close. If two or more are still up, a wipe is highly probable.

Fireball should be interrupted as much as possible.

Mind Controlled raid members should best be sheeped. It's also possible to use the [Infinity Blade] with low damage skills (e.g. Hamstring, Shiv) to dispel the MC. Stuning is not always effective because the buff from the [Staff of Disintegration] may be in effect.

Flamestrike MUST be avoided at all costs by everyone in the raid. Set Spell Details to High to see the glow on the ground, which is visible during the 3 sec cast time before it hits. The AoE looks similar to a Paladins Consecration.

Every 30-40 seconds Kael'thas summons a Phoenix. The graphic effect for this summon is identical to Flamestrike, however the cast time is much shorter, and it deals no damage.

Phoenix handling

After its birth, the phoenix can either be kited by a ranged damage dealer, or simply be tanked by the fire resist tank. It continually uses a hellfire ability which damages itself (5% HP) and everybody around it for ~3,500 fire damage (post-Infernal Protection mitigation) per second, resulting in a 20 second life span. Upon its death, it will do a final large knockback within melee range and then turn into a Phoenix egg. This egg has ~70k HP and must quickly be killed, else it spawns a new Phoenix after 15 seconds.

Pyroblast

Every 60 seconds Kael'thas casts an invariable sequence of Shock Barrier, 3 successive Pyroblasts and an Arcane Disruption.

Even with all the possible mitigations in effect, Pyroblast damage can be up to 23,265 fire damage. Tanks with the [Phaseshift Bulwark] can use it to absorb one Pyroblast. If the damage dealers are up to it, the best course of action is to burn down the shield fast enough to interrupt the second pyroblast. Failing this, a tank with ~20k HP can just barely survive one pyroblast (with the Infernal Protection buff from the [Cosmic Infuser], a Fire Protection Potion or Nightmare Seed and PW:Shield). If a raid consistently fails to interrupt the second pyroblast, it's possible to have the tank eat the first one and absorb the second. This gives the healers enough time to bring the tank up to survive the immediately following arcane disruption. The third pyroblast can always be interrupted, because the shock barrier autmatically wears off after 10 seconds, which leaves 2 seconds cast time remaining.

Event Cycle

In summary, there's a 60 second rotation which takes place over the entire phase:

[0sec]->[20sec](MC + Arcane Disruption)->[40sec](Phoenix + MC + Arcane Disruption)->[60sec](Shock Barrier + 3 Pyroblasts + Arcane Disruption).

Flamestrike can happen all the time.

Phase 5: True Power

Once Kael'thas' health reaches 50%, he does a short cutscene and becomes invulnerable for a while. During this time, all remaining Phoenixes and their eggs should be killed. With unlucky timing it's possible that he reaches 50% just as he begins a pyroblast cycle, and thus become invulnerable (and truly uninterruptible) while casting 3 pyroblasts (= wipe *unless your tank has Shield Wall up*). Although this is a rare event, it doesn't hurt to pay attention to this possibility, and slow down some DPS if it could occur.

Gravity Lapse

In Phase 5, he no longer uses Mind Control and Pyroblast, instead he regularly casts a combination of Gravity Lapse, Nether Vapor and Nether Beam. Gravity Lapse teleports the entire raid to Kael'thas' position and up in the air from there. In order to avoid the Nether Vapor debuff and Nether Beam chaining, the raid must move away from Kael and spread out, best in three dimensions. Near the end of the 30 sec duration, people should try to keep close to the ground to minimize falling damage, but must not get too low, else they take damage and get launched back up high in the air.

Kael'thas continuously uses Shock Barrier during a Gravity Lapse, and the phoenixes go into a kind of evade mode. There's no point in trying to deal damage during that time.

At the end of a Gravity Lapse, Kael'thas and the phoenixes return to their prior targets, there's no aggro drop. Mages should Counterspell Kael's first Fireball so that he runs to the MT. The raid should initially be careful with DPS because the tank needs to build some rage first. This is a good opportunity to burn down the phoenix and his egg.

Enrage

Kael'thas has no built-in hard enrage timer. The only problem is that the legendary weapons looted in phase 2 despawn 15 minutes after acquiring them. It's possible to bring him down using normal equipment, but the strain on the healers caused by the Arcane Disruptions will eventually be too much.

Notes

• It's a good idea to burn Heroism/Bloodlust prior to phase 4, so that Kael'thas can't buff himself when MCing a shaman. Some raids prefer to go all-out at the start of Phase 2, others wait until Phase 3.

Loot

Tier 5 chest tokens

Chestguard of the Vanquished Champion Binds when picked up Classes: Paladin, Rogue, Shaman Requires Level 70

Chestguard of the Vanquished Defender Binds when picked up Classes: Warrior, Priest, Druid Requires Level 70

Chestguard of the Vanquished Hero Binds when picked up Classes: Hunter, Mage, Warlock Requires Level 70

Kael'thas Sunstrider loot

Band of the Ranger-General Binds when picked up Unique Finger +27 Stamina Requires Level 70 Equip: Improves hit rating by 18. Equip: Improves critical strike rating by 28. Equip: Increases attack power by 56. "This ring was formerly held by Sylvanas Windrunner..."	Crown of the Sun Binds when picked up Cloth Head 188 Armor +39 Stamina +38 Intellect +49 Spirit Durability 60 / 60 Requires Level 70 Equip: Increases healing done by up to 108 and damage done by up to 36 for all magical spells and effects.	Gauntlets of the Sun-King Binds when picked up Cloth Hands 145 Armor +28 Stamina +29 Intellect +20 Spirit Durability 35 / 35 Requires Level 70 Equip: Improves spell critical strike rating by 28. Equip: Increases damage and healing done by magical spells and effects by up to 42.	Leggings of Murderous Intent Binds when picked up Leather Legs 380 Armor +45 Agility +31 Stamina Durability 90 / 90 Requires Level 70 Equip: Improves critical strike rating by 37. Equip: Increases attack power by 92.
Rod of the Sun King Binds when picked up Unique Mace One-Hand Speed 2.70 189 - 352 Damage (100.2 damage per second) Durability 105 / 105 Requires Level 70 Chance on hit: Chance on melee attack to gain 10 Energy or 5 Rage. Equip: Increases attack power by 52.	Royal Cloak of the Sunstriders Binds when picked up Back 116 Armor +27 Stamina +22 Intellect Requires Level 70 Equip: Increases damage and healing done by magical spells and effects by up to 44.	Royal Gauntlets of Silvermoon Binds when picked up Plate Hands 1080 Armor +57 Stamina Yellow Socket Blue Socket Socket Bonus: +3 Dodge Rating Durability 55 / 55 Requires Level 70 Equip: Increases defense rating by 24. Equip: Increases your dodge rating by 32.	Sunhawk Leggings Binds when picked up Mail Legs 847 Armor +39 Stamina +31 Intellect Blue Socket Blue Socket Yellow Socket Socket Bonus: +9 Healing Durability 105 / 105 Requires Level 70 Equip: Increases healing done by up to 108 and damage done by up to 36 for all magical spells and effects. Equip: Restores 13 mana per 5 sec.
Sunshower Light Cloak Binds when picked up Back 116 Armor +18 Stamina +24 Intellect +20 Spirit Requires Level 70 Equip: Increases healing done by up to 77 and damage done by up to 26 for all magical spells and effects.	Thalassian Wildercloak Binds when picked up Back 116 Armor +28 Agility +28 Stamina Requires Level 70 Equip: Increases attack power by 68.	The Nexus Key Binds when picked up Staff Two-Hand Speed 3.20 145 - 313 Damage (71.5 damage per second) +76 Stamina +52 Intellect Durability 120 / 120 Requires Level 70 Equip: Improves spell critical strike rating by 51. Equip: Increases damage and healing done by magical spells and effects by up to 236.	Twinblade of the Phoenix Binds when picked up Sword Two-Hand Speed 3.60 375 - 564 Damage (130.4 damage per second) +53 Stamina Red Socket Yellow Socket Blue Socket Socket Bonus: +8 Attack Power Durability 120 / 120 Requires Level 70 Equip: Improves critical strike rating by 37. Equip: Increases attack power by 110.
Ashes of Al'ar Binds when picked up Unique Mount Requires Riding (300) Requires Level 70 Use: Summons and dismisses a rideable phoenix. This is a very fast mount. "And from the ashes it was reborn..."

Quest Items

Kael's Vial Remnant Quest Item Unique "Contains a small amount of water from the Well of Eternity."

Verdant Sphere Binds when picked up This Item Begins a Quest Requires Level 70 "A magical sphere belonging to the lord of the blood elves."

Quotes

Intro:

• Energy. Power. My people are addicted to it. Their dependence made manifest after the Sunwell was destroyed. Welcome to the future...a pity you're too late to stop it. No one can stop me now. Selama ashal'anore.

Advisor Introductions (in order of appearance):
Thaladred the Darkener

• Let us see how your nerves hold up against the Darkener, Thaladred.

Lord Sanguinar

• You have persevered against some of my best advisors. But none can withstand the might of the Bloodhammer. Behold, Lord Sanguinar.

Grand Astromancer Capernian

• Capernian will see to it that your stay here is a short one.

Master Engineer Telonicus

• Well done. You have proven worthy to test your skills against my Master Engineer, Telonicus.

Summoning Weapons:

• As you can see, I have many weapons in my arsenal.

Resurrecting Advisors:

• Perhaps I underestimated you. It would be unfair to make you fight all four Advisors at once, but...fair treatment was never shown to my people. I'm just returning the favor.

Engaging combat (phase 4):

• Alas, sometimes one must take matters into one's own hands. Balamore shanal!

Mind Control:

• Obey me.
• Bow to my will.

Summoning phoenix:

• Anara'nel belore!
• By the power of the sun!

Enrage (phase 5):

• I have not come this far to be stopped! The future I have planned will not be jeopardized! Now, you will taste true power!

Casting Gravity Lapse:

• Having trouble staying grounded?
• Let us see how you fare when your world is turned upside down.

Killing a player:

• You will not prevail.
• You gambled...and lost.
• This was Child's play.

Death:

• For...Quel...thalas!

First kills

See Also: The Burning Crusade: Guild Progression

Movies

External links