Lord Aurius Rivendare

Lord Aurius Rivendare
Race	Death knight (Undead)
Level	51 Elite
Location	The Slaughter House, Stratholme
Relative(s)	Baron Rivendare (assumed)
Undead Stratholme
	Main Gate
Skul (rare); Stratholme Courier; Fras Siabi; Hearthsinger Forresten (rare); The Unforgiven; Timmy the Cruel; Commander Malor; Risen Hammersmith; Willey Hopebreaker; Instructor Galford; Balnazzar;	(lore); (lore); (lore); (lore); (lore); (lore); (lore); (lore); (lore); (lore); (lore)
	Service Entrance
Postmaster Malown; Black Guard Swordsmith ; Baroness Anastari; Stonespine (rare); Nerub'enkan; Maleki the Pallid; Magistrate Barthilas; Ramstein the Gorger; Lord Aurius Rivendare;	(lore); (lore); (lore); (lore); (lore); (lore); (lore); (lore); (lore)
	NPCs
	Crusade Commander Eligor Dawnbringer; Master Craftsman Wilhelm; Packmaster Stonebruiser; Crusade Commander Korfax; Archmage Angela Dosantos; Argent Flight Commander Vahdat
	Loot

Lord Aurius Rivendare replaced Baron Rivendare as the last boss of Stratholme in patch 4.0.3a. It is worth noting that his first name, look and gear is the same as the paladin Aurius who has fallen against Baron Rivendare.

Strategy

The Aurius Rivendare fight presents two major challenges. First, [Unholy Aura] (Automatically inflicting 100 Shadow damage every 2 sec, to nearby enemies.), his damage aura, which applies shadow damage to everyone in range. Second, he periodically spawns waves of skeletons from the bone piles scattered around his room. If these skeletons survive long enough, he casts Death Pact on them, killing them but healing himself.

To deal with the shadow aura, have your tank position Aurius against one wall of the chamber. Have your healers and ranged damage dealers stand on the opposite wall. This will allow them to stay out of range of the aura, avoiding the damage and casting interruptions. The tank and melee damage dealers will have to absorb the aura's damage. A priest can buff the group with [Shadow Protection], or a paladin can use the [Shadow Resistance Aura] to mitigate that damage. If the tank has any kind of shadow resistance gear, it's not a bad idea to equip it, although not absolutely required to defeat Aurius.

The skeletons will almost always immediately aggro your healer. One of the easiest ways to deal with this is to have a class with high AoE damage, like a mage or a warlock in the group, and position them right next to the healer. They can then AoE the skeletons, which have moderate damage but very low hit points, as they rush towards the healer.

If you don't have a mage or a warlock in the group, there are other ways to deal with the skeletons. A priest with the [Holy Nova] talent can kill the skeletons and keep the ranged party members healed at the same time, but this is very mana intensive, and he might need that mana to heal through Aurius' damage. A paladin can use [Holy Wrath] as well, which will normally kill all the skeletons and hurt Aurius somewhat.

You can also try having members of your party use the [Stratholme Holy Water] that can be gathered throughout the instance. One bottle is generally enough for each wave of skeletons.

Owners of pets must note to have their pets in passive mode as they enter the chamber, as their response to the shadow aura damage will likely trigger the encounter before the party is ready.