Lady Deathwhisper - 2nd boss in ICC
14 Million Mana + 13.5 Million HP
4-5 Minute fight
2 Tanks, 5-7 Healers
What to Expect
This is another two phase fight, but unlike Marrowgar each phase only occurs once. The key to this fight is add control and proper allocation of DPS. The objective of phase 1 is to DPS down Lady Deathwhisper’s mana shield, while keeping control of the adds that spawn each minute. Once the shield drops, phase 2 begins and the fight becomes a tank and spank.
Phase 1 Abilities
- Death and Decay - This is displayed as a giant green rune on the ground... Don’t stand in it, it hurts a lot!
- Mind Control - Every so often she will MC a random raid member... Be kind to your guildies and just CC them rather than killing them.
- Curse of Torpor - This is a nasty little curse that increases the cooldown of all abilities that you use (while affected by it) by 15 seconds, this includes abilities that have no CD. No matter what your roll, you will almost always be better waiting for this to be decursed than ignoring it.
- Shadowbolt - Her standard single target attack on a random raid member. It does decent damage, but can’t be stopped so just heal through it.
- Summon Aide - She will summon 7 adds every minute, each add does something a little different that I will explain later.
Phase 2 Abilities
- Death and Decay - Same as phase 1
- Mind Control - Same as phase 1
- Frostbolt Volley - An interruptible AoE that hits the entire raid for a sizable portion.
- Vengeful Shade - She will summon ghosts randomly that will close on a raid member and explode for A LOT of damage... stay away from them.
- Touch of Insignificance - A stacking debuff on the tanks that reduces threat generation by 20% per stack.
So What Do We Do?
This fight is pretty difficult to explain, and even more difficult to understand until you really see it. I will do my best, but don’t get discouraged if you feel completely lost your first couple times seeing it.
When you enter Lady Deathwhisper’s (hence forth referred to as LD) room, you will notice that she is on a platform at the back of the room (where she will remain for the whole fight). On the right and left walls, you will notice 3 alcoves; these are where the adds spawn in phase 1. There is also a seventh add that will spawn on the staircase that you descended when entering her room.
The most important part of this fight takes place before the pull. This is when the raid leader will assign each member a specific side of the room. You are responsible for ensuring that the adds on your side die in a timely manner. Phase 1 starts when someone engages LD. The raid has about 5-10 seconds to stack whatever debuffs and DoTs on her before the first set of adds are spawned. Tanks should be waiting on their assigned sides to pick these adds up immediately.
The left side of the room will spawn 2 Fanatics and 1 Adherent, while the right side spawns 2 Adherents and 1 Fanatic. Because of this, the left side will often be slightly heavier on casters, and the right side slightly heavier on melee. The spawn on the stairs is random, and usually the MT will grab this.
The tricky part is that LD will intermittently reanimate an add, returning it to life and making it more powerful. I am not going to go in to all the nitty gritty about what happens here, there are sites listed below that can help with that. The important thing to know is that if it looks like a skeleton Melee needs to kill it ASAP, and if it looks like a zombie on steroids, the casters need to take care of it.
Your reward for successfully killing all the adds on your side is DPS time on the boss. The only way to move in to phase 2 is to DPS through LD’s 14 Million mana. It is important to not bring her in to phase 2 while adds are still alive, otherwise raid damage may become unhealable.
Once you have entered phase 2, the fight becomes much more simple. Your only job is to kill the boss without dying. This is somewhat complicated by the Vengeful Shades that spawn and chase around random raid members. These guys hit like a truck, so if you see one coming for you, run away! The second trick is a Frostbolt Volley that LD casts. This is interruptible, and should be whenever possible. The last trick is a stacking debuff on the tanks (I know, what a concept!). This debuff reduces the amount of threat they are able to put out, so if you are DPS you need to be very careful about your threat levels here.
There you have it, an excessively long yet very simplified version of this fight. Once again, you almost certainly will need to see this fight a couple times before you get the hang of it... don’t be discouraged.
DPS Specific Tips
- Melee - DPS from behind the adds... the Fanatics have a Shadow Cleave that could very well kill you.
- Casters - Reanimated and Mutated Fanatics need to be kited by someone, if you do not want to be that someone, watch your threat. If you turn in to that someone, kite or die.
- If you get Curse of Torpor either stop DPS entirely until it is off you or use abilities that you generally don’t (fireblast, insect swarm, smite, etc.)
- DON’T kill mind controlled allies, CC them instead!
Healer Specific Tips
- Range on this fight can be a bit tricky... trust in your fellow healers and stick to healing your side of the room.
- In phase 2, if someone gets hit by a shade try to heal them to full ASAP. A poorly timed and uninterrupted Frost Volley will kill careless or unlucky DPS.
Tank Specific Tips
- Decide amongst yourselves who is going to handle the add from the stairs. Missing this add can often lead to early deaths.
- One tank needs to be ready to immediately pick up LD upon entering phase 2.
- In phase 2 make sure you keep an eye on each others debuff. At 4 stacks you will only be putting out 20% of your normal threat, and at 5 stacks you will not be generating threat at all.
Miscellaneous Notes
- Frost and Shadow resists can be helpful for this fight
- DPS may be able to purchase the coveted “Full-Time-On-Boss” position with their hard earned DKP. Speak to your raid leader before the fight if you are interested in this!
