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World of Warcraft: Dragonflightallows you to take a trip down memory lane, revisiting some classic locations from prior expansions. Shadowmoon Burial Grounds is a memorable Warlords of Draenor dungeon and comes armed with a somewhat lighter load of mechanics than your typical modern instance.
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However, the dungeon still possesses a variety of threats, and when it comes to timing your Mythic Plus keys, it pays to know the best ways of dealing with them. This guide will tell you the best route for the Shadowmoon Burial Grounds dungeon, the various boss and trash mechanics, and what gear you can loot from completing it.
Sadana Bloodfury Trash
After defeating the pack around the altar, kill off theCorpse SkitterlingPack andjump down the hole. This will take you to the lower level. Proceed West, fighting one more pack before taking the next staircase down to the first boss.
After the first pack, do your best toavoid the initial Void Spawn.He willpatrol back and forth at the bottom of the stairs,so take whichever path he is not currently at.
Shadowmoon Bone-Mender x2
Shadow Mend
Cast that heals target enemies for 50 percent of their maximum health.
Your priority interrupt, these heals going off will significantly slow down the rate at which these enemies die.
Shadow Bolt
Fires a bolt of Shadow damage at a random player.
This enemy is crowd controllable, so try to keep them locked down as much as possible to avoid any group damage from these casts.
Shadow Word: Frailty
Applies a DoT that also reduces the player’s maximum health by 30 percent.
A nasty debuff that should be dispelled as soon as possible.
Void Slash
Tank buster that deals a hefty amount of Shadow damage.
attempt to keep these stunned, but with only a couple of these enemies per pack, this ability typically won’t become an issue.
Sinister Focus
Increases own Haste and movement speed by 100 percent.
This effect can be purged or spellstolen to reduce the frequency of Shadow Bolt casts.
Defiled Spirit x3
Cry of Anguish
Teleports behind a player and begins a cast that will deal Shadow damage and pacify any player within the AoE.
Simply move out of the light purple swirly. There are relatively few mechanics going on in these initial packs, so you should be able to do this with ease.
None
N/A
These enemies have very low health, so you can freely AoE them down.
Sadana Bloodfury
The first boss you will need to defeat is Sadana Bloodfury. She is a relatively simple fight but will also deal some significant AoE damage to your party. Strong single-target damage will help you speed up the add phases and allow you to get back to damaging her.
Strategy
Daggerfall
Spawns multiple daggers that fall to the ground, dealing Shadow damage to all players and leaving behind a pool of purple sludge.
Avoid the falling daggers, and try tobait them by standing at the edges of the room.
Deathspike
Melee attacks have a chance to generate three extra autos, which deal additional Shadow damage.
Try tokeep mitigation up if you are tanking the boss, as your health may drop suddenly.
Dark Communion
Spawns a spirit, that slowly moves towards Sadana. If it reaches her she will consume it, healing for ten percent of her max health and gaining a 20 percent damage buff for 20 seconds.
The spirit can be crowd-controlled, so use any slows or stuns to stop it reaching the boss. Kill it off as quickly as possible and return to DPSing Sadana.
Dark Eclipse
Covers the arena in darkness. Standing on aLunar Runewill grantLunar Clarity, reducing the damage of the subsequent explosion by 80 percent.
As soon as this cast begins,run and stand on top of one of the glowingLunar Runes. This ability will still deal a high amount of damage even with the buff, so try toheal people up before the nextWhispers of the Dark Star.
Whispers of the Dark Star
Channels AoE Shadow damage to all players.
Use personal defensives and healing cooldowns to survive this section of the fight.
Nhallish Trash
After beating Sadana, head East up the stairs, where you will find yourselves in a long tunnel. This section contains some tricky mobs that require good interrupting to shut down.
If you leave the initial pack castingDomination, you will be able tocleave down theShadowmoon Dominatorswithout dealing with their other ability, butit will empower theSubjugated Souls,so watch out for getting fixated!
Shadowmoon Dominator x3
Domination
Dominates either aSubjugated Soulor a player, mind-controlling them and increasing their damage done.
This is a must-kick,as having mind-controlled players running around can be an easy wipe.
Rending Voidlash
Channel that deals ticking Shadow damage to a random player.
Kick this as soon as the cast begins, or else you may lose group members.
These enemies willfixate on players under the effects ofDomination, so watch out for randomly taking high bursts of damage. It is best to keep them crowd-controlled as much as possible.
Exhume the Crypts
Spawns any nearbyExhumed Spiritsfrom their crypts.
These adds are relatively harmless, provided they don’t get theirDeath Blastcast off, so interrupt them and cleave them down.
Casts a bolt of Shadow damage at a random player.
This deals high damageon greater M+ difficulties, sokick as many as you can.
Exhumed Spirits x4
Death Blast
Cast that deals a massive blast of Shadow damage to a random player.
Purge the shieldsfrom these enemies to make them easier to kill and crowd control orinterrupt everyDeath Blast.
Nhallish
After clearing out the tunnel, you will fight the dungeon’s second boss, Nhallish. He is considered one the easiest bosses around, and as long as you pay attention to a couple of key mechanics, you shouldn’t have much trouble defeating him.
Planar Shift
Teleports to a random player’s location and begins to channelVoid Vortex.
Stay relatively spread to reduce any unnecessary movement.
Void Vortex
Initiates a pull-in effect and creates a zone of Shadow damage around himself for the duration.
Run out immediatelyto reduce any damage taken from the purple aura. Movement speed increases will help here.
Void Blast
Channels a beam of Shadow damage towards the Tank, dealing damage to any player caught inside.
Make sure theTank is positioned away from the groupwhen this cast comes in.
Soul Steal
Teleports each player into an alternate realm, where they must kill their own soul and interact with theReturned Soulto escape.
Whilst in the alternate realm, all players will take ticking Shadow damage fromSoul Shred.
attempt to have an offensive cooldown ready to burst down your add. You will gain a 40 percent damage and healing buff for 20 seconds after successfully retrieving your soul.
Void Devastation
Channel that creates multiple void zones around the arena. Each zone will deal heavy Shadow damage on impact and leave a pool of void behind.
Dodge the purple zones and use this opportunity to deal big damage to the boss.
Around the sides of Nhallish’s room lie multiplesmall stone slabs, surrounded by a purple glow.Walking near one of these slabs spawns anExhumed Spirit,who will chain-castDeath Blastat a random player.
Purge their shield for a quick kill, and make sure to interrupt this cast, as it does massive damage.
Bonemaw Trash
From Nhallish’s room, take the left-hand passage, defeating moreShadowmoon ExhumersandDominators. Progressing onwards, you will now encounter a variety of wild creatures. Focus your attention on their casts, as many of them are interruptible and will save your group from taking unnecessary damage.
Spawns any nearbyExhumed Spiritsfrom their crypts
You can alsouse Charm dispels, such as Tremor Totem,alongside interruptingto remove this effect.
Shadowmoon Dominator
Dominates either aSubjugated Soul or a player, mind-controlling them and increasing their damage done.
This is a must-kick, as having mind-controlled players running around can be an easy wipe.
Monstrous Corpse Spider x3
Necrotic Burst
Cast that applies a large Nature damage DoT to all players and reduces their healing taken by five percent for five seconds.
Your priority interrupt,never let this go off, or your group will take heavy damage, although the Disease can also be dispelled.
Death Venom
Tank ability that deals Nature damage and places a stacking Nature DoT onto them.
Dispel or heal through the Poison effect.
Plagued Bat x6
Plague Spit
Cast that inflicts a stacking Nature damage DoT to a random player and also slows their movement speed by 50 percent for 12 seconds.
Spells such asBlessing of Freedomwill remove this debuff, alongside any Poison dispel.
Fetid Spit
Sprays all players with light Shadow damage.
Only does low damage, so focus on healing up people targeted by thePlagued Bats.
Body Slam
Frontal slam that deals massive Shadow damage and knocks back any player hit.
The Worm will aim thisslam toward the Tank, soother players should stand slightly apart from them. If you do get knocked off, you can swim into a water spout to be shot back up.
Bonemaw
Whilst being a very simple encounter, the giant worm known as Bonemaw is a long fight, and if you lose someone early toBody Slam, he can easily whittle down your M+ timer.
Bonemaw willsummon the twoCarrion Wormsfrom the previous bridge during the fight. These will spit at players and duplicate hisBody Slamcast, so try tofinish them off as quickly as possible.
Bonemaw sprays a player with light Shadow damage.
The boss will cast this very frequently, but the damage is low enough that you should rarely need to worry about it.
Corpse Breath
Sprays all players with Shadow damage and spits a pool of bones at a ranged player, leaving behind a lingering grey puddle, which deals light ticking damage and slows players' movement speed if they are within its area.
These puddles are imperative for dealing withInhale, soranged payers should stack in melee, as this will allow melee to continue damaging the boss during the cast.
Inhale
Bonemaw draws all players towards him at an increasingly powerful rate. If a player is dragged into him, he will spit them out into the surrounding water.
Eitherimmune this effectwith a spell such asDeath’s Advance,orstand in one of theCorpse Breathpools to avoid being dragged into Bonemaw’s mouth. If you are unfortunate enough to be dragged in, simply swim over to the variouswater spoutssurrounding the arena, and it will launch you back onto the platform.
Thepurple zone is a bit delayed, so attempt to alwaysplay at the sides of the boss, as he will always slam directly across the platform.
Ner’zhul Trash
In the last corridor of the dungeon, progress right from Bonemaw’s platform and clear the spider and bat pack in front of you. The trickiest pack of the dungeon is up the stairs, a doubleVoid Spawn. These enemies will inflict heavy AoE damage, so your healer has to be prepared to quickly top the group in between theirVoid Pulsecasts.
Monstrous Corpse Spider x2
Plagued Bat x2
Void Pulse
Long cast that deals large Shadow damage to all players.
Focus down one of the Void Spawns at a time, as there is a long delay between their casts, while the healer should focus on keeping the whole group healthy enough to survive the next Pulse.
Dodge the purple/grey swirlies.
Ner’zhul
After skipping the cinematic, you will be teleported into Ner’zhul’s chamber, where you must face the leader of the Shadowmoon clan. While the fight is simple in theory, proper positioning, especially from the ranged players, will make it go much smoother.
Malevolence
A large frontal cone focused on a random player. This deals heavy Shadow damage and reduces affected players' damage by 50 percent.
While you have a decent amount of time to dodge this, if you stand far away from the boss, the zone will be very wide, so try tostay relatively close tohim tosidestep this more effectively.
Omen of Death
Spawns a shadow dagger onto the furthest away player, which pulses AoE damage to all players affected by your proximity to the dagger.
Ranged should try tobait these daggers at the edges of the room, whilst theboss is kept predominantly in the middle. This will massively reduce the damage the group takes from the AoE pulses.
Ritual of Bones
Ner’zhul spawns a row of skeletons that move across the room, leaving a wall of shadow damage in their wake.
You mustfocus down one of the skeletons, as when it dies, a corridor becomes clear of the shadow zone. Mark which skeleton to kill as they spawn, and allDPS should switch their focus to bursting it down. The tank should also drag Ner’zhul over to the add for cleave.
Voidmender’s Shadowgem
Intellect Trinket
Active: Gain Critical Strike for 15 seconds; your healing spells have a chance to empower this bonus (one minute 30-second cooldown)
Bonemaw’s Big Toe
Strength Trinket
Active: Gain Critical Strike for 30 seconds, and emit a blast of Shadow damage in front of you (two-minute cooldown)
Mail Feet
Crit, Haste
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