Atramedes Raid Guide

Blackwing Descent Guide

Blackwing Descent Loot

Magmaw

Omnotron Defense System

Atramedes

Chimaeron

Maloriak

Nefarian

Experiment 626 25463-D was an attempt to grant a black dragon enhanced senses. Unfortunately, this caused nothing but permanent blindness for Atramedes, who now must hunt with sound and smell alone.

(You can reference the Atramedes Loot list if you want to see all of the boss drops.)

Role Summaries

Abilities

Sound

This is the primary mechanic that the fight revolves around. As Atramedes is blind, he must use sound to locate players. This is represented with a bar, starting at 0 Sound and increases as players take damage. If a player reaches 100 Sound, Atramedes will kill them with Devastation.

Ancient Dwarven Shields

There are Ancient Dwarven Shields located around the arena. If a player activates one of these, it will interrupt Atramedes casting, reset all players sound to 0 and cause Vertigo for Atramedes. Once he recovers, he will destroy that Ancient Dwarven Shield.

If Atramedes is airborne when a Shield is activated, he will switch the target of Roaring Flame Breath to the player that activated the Shield.

Resonating Clash

This is caused by activating an Ancient Dwarven Shield and is what interrupts his casting.

Vertigo

The sound of the Ancient Dwarven Shield induces Vertigo, increasing the damage Atramedes takes by 50% for 5 seconds. This is a short burst window.

Sonar Pulse

While on the ground, Atramedes will periodically throw sonic discs around the room. Any player hit by this gains additional Sound.

Modulation

While on the ground, Atramedes casts Modulation. This is unavoidable raid damage and Sound gain.

Sonic Breath

While on the ground, Atramedes will fixate on a random player, breathing fire and turning towards that player. Any player hit by this will take moderate Fire damage but receive a significant amount of Sound. This has a cast time, giving players a chance to prepare for it. The targeted player should run one direction while everyone else runs the opposite direction. This should be discussed and decided beforehand, but the actual direction is not relevant.

Searing Flames

While on the ground, Atramedes will periodically blindly breathe fire, dealing damage to anyone hit, as well as applying a stacking debuff increasing their Fire damage taken. This should be interrupted with the Ancient Dwarven Shields.

This also spawns flame patches throughout the room that last for 30 seconds, dealing damage and increasing the Sound of anyone hit. Avoid these.

Devastation

Ataramedes will channel this on all players with 100 Sound, dealing heavy Fire damage twice per second. Don’t be too loud!

Roaring Flame Breath

As Atramedes begins flying, he will cast this at a random player, following them with a beam of fire that deals heavy Fire damage and adds a lot of Sound. This beam starts off slowly, but gains speed through its duration. This will also leave patches of fire on the ground, similar to Searing Flames. This can be interrupted with an Ancient Dwarven Shield, but after the 5 seconds of Vertigo have passed, Atramedes will target whoever activated the Shield.

This can be used to your advantage, by having a player with an immunity activate the Shield, such as a Paladin.

Sonar Bomb

While flying, Atramedes will launch Sonar Bombs at random players. Anyone hit will take moderate Arcane damage and receive 30 Sound.

Sonic Fireball

While flying, Atramedes will launch Sonic Fireballs at the spot his Sonar Bombs. Anyone hit will take heavy Fire damage.

Obnoxious Fiend (Heroic Only)

On Heroic difficulty, Nefarius will randomly open portals, summoning Obnoxious Fiends. These will jump onto players and increase that players Sound by casting Obnoxious. These need to be killed to avoid players dying to the extra sound.

Any time an Obnoxious Fiend is not attached to a player, it is immune to spells.

Raid Composition & Preparation

Healers

You will want 4-6 healers for this fight. Damage can be high at times, as well as somewhat unpredictable.

DPS

You will want a good mix of melee and ranged DPS, with no particular classes being preferred.

Tanks

This fight only requires one tank as there are no tank swap mechanics.

Strategy

Phase 1

Atramedes should be tanked close to the entrance and the Ancient Dwarven Shields. Throughout the Phase, Atramedes will throw discs at random players. To make this easier to avoid, players should stay mostly stacked. This allows the raid to more easily predict where the disc will hit. Healers will need to be prepared for Modulation, as the damage is high and raid wide. Keep your eye on your Sound to make sure this won’t push you over the edge!

Periodically during the Phase, Atramedes will fixate on a player for Sonic Breath. This player will need to run one direction while the rest of the raid runs the opposite direction. As long as players react quickly, this shouldn’t be an issue.

The biggest concern in this Phase is Searing Flames. Whenever Atramedes channels this, a designated player should immediately run to the Ancient Dwarven Shields and activate one to interrupt the cast. This comes with the added benefit of a 5 second burst window against the boss.

Phase 2

This Phase starts with Atramedes taking flight. The big concern in this Phase is Roaring Flame Breath. This is targeted on a single player and will follow them with a beam. The tracking of the beam will speed up the longer it channels, and it is key that players run away from this as effectively as possible. This can be interrupted by using an Ancient Dwarven Shield, but after the 5 second stun, Atramedes will focus whoever rung the gong.

Warlocks with Demonic Portal, Mages with Blink, Engineers with Nitro Boosts, and any other class with significant movement abilities are very useful here, as they are able to run the beam for extended periods of time. Once you are no longer able to outrun the beam, a player should whack the Shield, taking your place.

The rest of the raids focus is on avoiding damage through fireballs, bombs, and flame patches.