Arcatraz Heroic Guide for TBC Classic

The Arcatraz is one of the end game dungeons in TBC, requiring flying to get there, and is an important part of the Karazhan attunement process. But for those getting into the swing of things, farming rep, or aiming for their pre-bis then here is an Arcatraz Heroic Guide.

For anyone who is looking for a normal version of the guide, then this is perfectly adaptable to that difficulty too.

The Arcatraz is the second floating building to the left of all of the Netherstorm dungeons.IN order to gain entry into Arcatraz, player’s will ideally need to complete the questline, breaking into the Arcatraz. The quest chain will allow the player to forge a key for it, although, anyone in the party with the key can let their group in. Moreso, Rogues with 350 lockpicking can open the gate.

There is lots and lots of trash in the Arcatraz, with every single one of them having a gimmick attached. Some are more deadly than others, while some mobs can be a complete noob trap if not careful. Also, there the standard mobs that put debuffs on people or require people to move out of AOE. These are basic mechanics and will not be listed as they are fairly straightforward to deal with. Therefore, here are the most noteworthy mobs in the Aracatraz Heroic Guide:

• Arcatraz Sentinel
• Protean Spawn
• Negaton Screamer
• Negaton Warp-Master
• Death Watcher
• Gargantuan Abyssal
• Skulking Witch

Mobs Explained

While this is not much of a warning, players need to be aware of the start of the instance of the wave mechanic. Until both sides of Blood Elf Archers are dead, the instance will continue to spawn really easy to kill trash. Kill both sides of the trash. Otherwise, they’ll keep spawning as you fight your way down the first corridor. It is the first tip that can easily save a wipe in our Arcatraz Heroic Guide.

Arcatraz Sentinel are a mob scattered around the second and third levels of the dungeon. They start dead to the side of doorways; however, they reactivate and attack you as your approach them. They randomly attack people in range for 1000 arcane damage while they are alive and will continue to zap players even when they die. The tank should put them into a corner out of the way of the pathways; otherwise, the RNG of two dead sentinels could theoretically one-shot a player. Also, they do an arcane explosion as they die, so tanks and melee should either be topped up or the melee move out of the way when they are about to die.

Protean Spawns are easy to kill mobs that inflict a nasty debuff the those it attacks. They spawn when players find themselves approaching the corpses of blood elf units throughout the instance. Be careful on positioning as they die, as they deal an AOE explosion.

Negaton Screamers are the first void elemental you’ll encounter on the first floor. They surround the first boss, and need clearing out. Although, be warned they fear, and they gain a large amount of resistance to the first element that hits them. Player’s can bait it out with a school no one uses, like a shadow if there are no Spriests or warlocks, etc. Also, Prot Pallys may have a hard time getting threat as they’ll likely find they gain holy resistance.

Second and Third Floor Mobs

Negaton Warp-Master are one of the two void elementals walking around on the second floor. They are fairly easy to kill, but they leave pools of shadow below them that heal them and buff their damage. So, the tank should move them away whenever a shadow pool forms.

Death Watchers place a debuff called ‘Marked for Death’ on players, particularly the Tank. These mobs become a DPS race to kill them before their debuff goes off and wipes the party. Try only pulling one at a time as the debuff lasts 30 seconds, with the explosion one-shotting classes like mages with 5000 damage.

Gargantuan Abyssal – These giant green Infernals are located just before the final boss. Players need to stack to avoid one player taking the Meteors as they split the damage between players in range. Although, be warned that the Infernals have an Immolate aura, meaning the entire party is taking damage. The damage is not too hard to manage, but a Holy Priest or Resto Shaman will have the easiest time here.

Zereketh the Unbound Tactics

Zereketh is the first boss you’ll encounter, which is a Shadow elemental. Before fighting the boss, make sure the room is cleared out of all the trash to avoid accidental pulling during the Shadow Nova.

The boss isn’t too hard to fight, as it simply requires the Tank to face it against the wall. The rest of the party should be as far back as possible to avoid accidental damage through the Seed of Corruption pop. Also, players will need to move around during the fight, as the boss will leave shadow pools under random party members, including pets. If there are pet classes in the group, then the Lock or Hunter may need to reposition the pets. Although, the Tank can move the boss slightly to make sure the pets leave the Void Zones, as pets dying is a DPS loss.

Wrath-Scryer Soccothrates Tactics

Once again, tanks will need to pull this boss against the wall to avoid getting punted backwards through the Knock Away ability. After that, the boss will charge a random player, resetting aggro. Let the tank get aggro back through a taunt and reset positions.Ranged characters will need to spread out in a circle to avoid the felfire the boss leaves behind from the charge unnecessarily hitting an ally. Rinse and Repeat until dead.

Dahlia the Domsayer Tactics

Another fairly easy boss. One DPS needs to interrupt the boss as she casts the heal to avoid her healing herself. Furthermore, the Healer needs not to heal the target afflicted with ‘Gift of the Doomsayer’, as it will heal the boss instead. Therefore, keep the Healer should keep everyone topped up before the cast goes off. Finally, the Tank and the Melee DPS should get out of range during the Whirlwind cast. On Heroic mode, she’ll cast shadow bolts on the entire party, which require healing on top of. Although, it is not too dangerous unless players get caught in the whirlwind straight after.

Harbringer Skyriss Tactics

Harbinger is the last boss of the Arcatraz, and has many things going on before the fight starts. Once engaged, a Blood Elf will RP and open four different prison cells, with a few variations of mini-bosses.

Firstly, you’ll either encounter a Blazing Trickster Imp or a Phase-Hunter. The Phase Hunter moves fast, while the imp repeatedly casts fire damage at the target with a fire shield. Simply Tank it and kill them.

The next mob is always Millhouse Manastorm, which will aid the party during the actual boss encounter. From then on. It is either an Akkiris Ligntining-Waker or a Sulfuron Magma Thrower. Both deal with different forms of magic AOE. So, move out of the rain of fire or spread to avoid the Chain Lightning bounces.

Finally, the fourth prison cell contains a Twilight Drakonar or  Blackwing Drakonar. The Blackwing will immediately Morlat Strike the first target it hits and then breathe fire on them. The tank needs to pick it up with no other party member in front of the mob. Furthermore, it will use Blast Wave that will deal large damage to anyone hit, so the Tank should move it away from the party. On the other hand, the Twilight Drake will use different schools of magic. Greene will stun the target hit by the breath, with black dealing fire damage, blue dealing frost damage, and bronze dealing arcane damage, with red dealing periodic damage to all those in its radius. Once again, face it away from the party.

The Boss

Once when all the mobs are dead, the boss itself will spawn. Please note that the tank will likely spend most of the time stunned, so DPS needs to be careful with their moves. Firstly, the boss will Mind Rend and stun its target, dealing heavy damage. Secondly, the boss will likely target the healer to burn them with a potentially randomly target fear on a tank or healer. Lastly, the boss will dominate a player at random and turn them against the party for ten seconds. Use any CC you can on that target while mind-controlled to prevent extra damage or them accidentally killing an ally.

At 66% and 33% of the boss’ health, Skyriss will split into two mobs. The Tank will need to taunt the clone as soon as possible, so it doesn’t start killing the DPS. The DPS will then need to focus on the clone as it has the least amount of health but does lots more damage. Millhouse will assist in this encounter and can be chosen at random by the Mind Rend’s. Healers can focus target Millhouse in case he needs healing, although it isn’t necessary.

Once when the boss is down, you’ll have completed the dungeon. Hopefully, this Arcatraz Heroic Guide will have taught you a thing or two to get through this dungeon with ease.