Tazavesh Hard Mode Guide – How to Unlocking and Beat Bosses

Tazavesh is the new dungeon that launched in World of Warcraft Shadowlands 9.1. The new dungeon is the mega-dungeon of the Shadowlands, granting extra difficulties, eight bosses, with new challenges, lore, and ilvl 223 gear drops suited to gearing alts. However, it comes with a few challenges. If you’re venturing into Tazavesh Hard Mode, then here is a handy guide for the Hard Mode tactics for every boss. Also, if you need to figure out how to unlock Tazavesh hard mode, we have that detailed for you as well. 

Tazavesh, the Veiled Market, has a hard mode that is activatable on Mythic Difficulty, granting extra mechanics to make the fights tougher in exchange for better rewards. To start it, you’ll need to wait till you have the Passably-Forged Credentials necklace from having full cleared the dungeon at least once.

You can get the necklace by killing the first boss and going downstairs, turning right and finding the Questionable Trader. You’ll want to browse his wares, acquiring the Fraudulent Credentials item. After that, go to the Oasis and speak to Xydarid, the vendor that gives you the first item to begin the hunt for the password. Complete the event, head inside the oasis and speak to Au’manal to exchange the fraudulent Credentials for the Necklace. With the new necklace equipped, accept the quest from Au’manal to seek out his business associate. Congratulation, you have unlocked Hard Mode!

Next, you’ll need a fresh Mythic instance and a full party. Sadly, you’ll have to wait till Week 2 of 9.1 as all party members need the necklace to sneak through Customs at the start of the instance. As you enter the now fresh instance, have your party use their necklaces to morph into Brokers, allowing you to sneak through Customs, rather than fighting through them to summon the first boss.

While you are disguised as a Broker, you want to seek out Fe’tajid and speak to him. Fe’tajid is Au’manal’s business partner, who you’ll need to speak to hand in the quest from the previous week. Also, go up to him and cycle through the dialogue options to start the dungeon in Hard Mode. If the Customs Officers / Bouncers start their role-play trying to throw you out, you’ll have failed Tazavesh Hard Mode and will need to leave and reset.

Every single boss in Tazavesh Hard Mode is slightly different to the regular Mythic difficulty version, whether it is ability or approach changes. If you would like to see a regular Mythic guide and compare the bosses, we have a regular Tazavesh Mythic guide for you.

Zo’phex Hard Mode

The biggest difference between Zo’phex Hard Mode and regular Mythic mode is the boss room. Because you are sneaking through the Customs Office, you naturally have less space to fight the boss because of the trash. Also, you’ll have no other choice but to pull the Portalmaster and fight the boss at the same time. Tanks should use defensives to withstand the boss’ attacks and Healers need to be prepared for the burst. Also, the Tank should lead the bosses as far away from the Customs Office trash as possible, with the Ranged remaining cautious of where they stand. Accidentally pulling the trash is easily a wipe.

When the fight is ready, deal with Zo’Phex’s abilities as normal, with the DPS focusing down the Portalmaster, as he unleashes powerful AOE abilities (which is deadly in the confined space of the boss room). Once the Portalmaster is down, proceed as you usually would in the Mythic encounter.

Menagerie Hard Mode

Unlike the Mythic difficulty, you need to fight the first two minibosses simultaneously a lot earlier in the fight. In the regular fight, a new mini-boss drops in every 40% HP threshold. However, Achillite comes in roughly 30 seconds into the fight, with Venza activating roughly a minute after starting the encounter.

All it means is that the fight is a massive DPS check. It also means that some of the ability overlaps, like Venza’s dragging ability into Alcruux’s Hunger cast, could be lethal combos. All we can advise is to be ready to adapt, pop cooldowns, use Bloodlust, bring meta DPS specs, have decent gear, etc. But, of course, the meta part is only important if your group doesn’t consist of players entering the patch with a strong Item LvL from 9.0.5 gear.

Mailroom Mayhem Hard Mode

Only one mechanic changes from Mythic to Hard Mode, and that is the Unstable Goods. Remember how you needed to move the bombs that fall from the sky into the incinerators before the timer expired? Well,  in Hard Mode, you cannot move, with the only option to throw the bombs in a hot potato conga line to the incinerator.

It means having someone picking up the bombs, with other players lining up with the incinerator a good 20-40 yards apart. Alternatively, assign two players to throw it between themselves so the other three can beat the boss up. Remember, a poor throw will cause the bombs to hit the floor and detonate early.

On a final note, it is possible for higher item level players to skip the Unstable Goods phase entirely. If your group is suitably geared, you’ll more than likely skip the Hard Mode mechanic entirely

Oasis Hard Mode

The Oasis gets more difficult from the random trash that climbs on stage to fight you. This time, you’ll find the support band isn’t happy with you, and they want a piece of the action.

The support band replaces the second wave of additional mobs (adds), with each band member focusing on a different instrument.

• Dirthwistle, Verethian, and Vilt should fixate the DPS instruments, aka the Trumpet, Saxophone and Guitar.
• Evaile should fixate the Horn, which the Tank should hold.
• Hips should fixate the Drummer, which the Healer should play.

 

Each member of the band has a unique ability.

• The Tank needs to move Evaile away from the group as he performs an AOE shout that stuns players caught in it.
• Hips radiates AOE damage with the ability Drum Roll, meaning the Healer needs to isolate away from the party just like the Tank.
• Verethian casts Infectious Solo, causing the Saxophonist to dance. Simply run away from it to dodge the ability.
• Vilt hits the hardest with his frontal cone smash, Rip Chord. Have a DPS with a decent immunity or defensive ability to take the brunt of this. If your group doesn’t have one, you can potentially swap a Tank onto the Guitar with a DPS taking the Horn instead.

 

So’azmi Hard Mode

So’azmi is the most brutal fight in Tazavesh by a country mile. What makes it worse is that it gets even harder in Tazavesh Hard Mode. The main difference between the two difficulties is that Shuri, one of the easier to dodge abilities, gets replaced with Triple Technique.

Triple Technique is the same as Double Technique from Mythic Difficulty, only that it needs three interrupts to stop the ability from going through. Therefore, all the DPS characters need to be on this, as you can end up in big trouble. Alternatively, having a Resto Shaman in your group will grant some flexibility as they are the only Healer in the game with an interrupt.

Hylbrande Hard Mode

The whole concept behind Hylbrande defeating is communication. Not much has changed on that front, but since it requires a lot of movement and clear comms to beat, the Tazavesh Hard Mode setting throws in an extra mob to make it that much harder.

A new mob called Stormbound Breaker will come into the fight, casting an ability called Lightning Nova. The DPS needs to kick Lightning Nova every time it is up. A DPS with a short interrupt cooldown (like a Warrior, Rogue or Shaman), is nice here. The first cast that gets through won’t be so bad, as it leaves a debuff for 14 seconds that doesn’t do anything straight away. However, if another cast gets through, the debuff will stun the entire party for five seconds.

A five-second stun can be a big deal for a few reasons. The main one is that if players get stuck during the Purged by Fire, it will likely slay them where they stand. The same is true for the Titanic Crash wind-up, which will crush a stunned Tank when they would usually be able to dodge it. Alternatively, getting stunned during the Sanitizing Cycle can extend the fight with some of the consoles getting locked. Overall, the DPS should just nuke the Breakers and coordinate interrupts whenever they can. There is no doubt that the Hard Mode mechanic can feel like easy mode when handled correctly.

Timecap’n Hooktail Hard Mode

The difference between the regular Mythic difficulty and the Hard Mode version of the Timecap’n Hooktail fight lies with its trash mobs. Like the Oasis room, there are mobs that fixate on players. When Hooktail’s pirates jump into the fight, they’ll fixate at random, rather than loosely running around the map waiting to be tanked or CC’d. It isn’t as bad as it sounds: If your group wants the coordination challenge, you can manoeuvre the fixating mob in front of Hooktail’s mouth and the Infinite Breath will activate. That way, the adds get cooked, saving you a job.

Finally, the boss gets one extra mechanic called Slowed Time. It merely reduces the movement speed of players caught in it by 15%, which is pretty unfortunate if you’re fixated by a mob or getting Anchor shotted to a watery grave.

So’leah Hard Mode

Like with other bosses on Hard Mode, So’leah gets a few new tricks up her sleeve. The key mechanic that’s been switched around is the Collapsing Star ability. Rather than simply doing part-wide damage and DoT, the first two that expend one of its charges get hit with Star Vulnerability. All the new debuff does is double the damage from the DoT effect. Therefore, whoever presses it needs to rotate defensive cooldowns, use an immunity like Divine Shield or Turtle Shell to take multiple after the 3 second DoT expires.

The other important mechanic change is the Hyperlight Jolt. It bounces between all five players instead of just three in Mythic mode. However, the strategy doesn’t need to change as you still need to stand next to the Relics as raiders did with the Orbs mechanic in the Lady Inerva Darkvein from Castle Nathria.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mpIn0YhZ4Ug

If you made it this far; well done on taking down Tazavesh Hard Mode. We hope you enjoy your brand new 233 item level gear pieces, bridging the gap from 9.0.5 to 9.1 content. Have fun with the rest of the patch, as there are quite a few other features worth exploring.