Theater of Pain Mythic+ Dungeon Guide

For this encounter you’ll be fighting 3 bosses simultaneously, with the goal of cleaving them down relatively evenly as the remaining bosses gain a stack of Final Will upon one dying. Also beware that the combatants that surround the arena will hit players that get too close, knocking them back slightly in the process, so steer clear of them.

Starting with Sathel, you’ll want to keep an interrupt rotation on the Necromantic Bolt cast to help reduce the damage your tank is taking. There’s also Magic debuffs that get thrown out in Withering Touch, which targets 2 players at a time. Healers will want to make sure they dispel one quickly, then the second once it’s back off CD, or use other forms of Magic debuff removal if you have them. At full energy Sathel will debuff all players with Searing Death, dealing shadow damage that splashes to others within 3yds, so make sure you are loosely spread and use a defensive if you are taking other damage at the same time.

Moving on to Paceran, you’ll want to watch out for his random target Decaying Breath frontal, as this will deal lethal damage to anyone it hits. His full energy ability is Noxious Spores, which spawns puddles under every player 3 times over 6s, so you’ll want to do your best to cluster these in one part of the arena to ensure you don’t run out of space. I recommend initially pulling the bosses towards the entrance of the arena and then rotating as a group when the part you’re in fills with puddles.

Finally we have Dessia, who has the tank hit in Mortal Strike, also leaving behind a nasty healing reduction for 5s. Tanks make sure you have a defensive running for this, especially if Sathel gets any bolts off around the same time. Other than that Dessia will use Mighty Smash at max energy, dealing a hit of nature damage to all players and slowing them for 10s, so once again you’ll want to use a defensive if you are taking any other damage at the same time, such as if you’re debuffed with Withering Touch.

Throughout this encounter Xav will spawn Oppressive Banners, which stack up a 15% slow on all players while they persist. After they spawn you’ll want to drag the boss over to them and cleave them down, as this slow can be quite dangerous if it's still active during the Might of Maldraxxus combo. When this ability happens the boss jumps to the centre of the arena, damaging all players and beginning a random combination of 3 abilities. Deafening Crash does a 12yd AoE around the boss and interrupts casters, Massive Cleave is a random target frontal that cleaves half the room, and Crushing Slam is a random target line attack, so make sure you’re ready to avoid all of these abilities.

When the boss reaches 100 energy he will use Blood and Glory, throwing 2 random DPS players into the pit below to duel each other. Upon completion of the duel the players return to the boss arena, with the winner gaining the Glorified buff and the loser instead getting Bloodied. If one of the dueling players has cooldowns available soon you can have the other player sit down or turn their back for some slight damage optimization, however the main goal here is to end the duel as fast as possible.

Outside of this, tanks will be taking damage from the Brutal Combo channel, so make sure you are ready with a defensive when this happens.

While engaging this boss he will remain stationary in the centre of the room, but you’ll want to be careful not to step too far inside the bosses hitbox as there is a puddle underneath him that deals heavy damage to any players that stand in it.

In general you’ll want to be loosely spread out for this fight, as throughout the encounter 2 players will be randomly debuffed with the Well of Darkness DoT, which also splashes to other players within 4yds. This is the main source of damage on this fight, so targeted players can use a defensive to help smooth out the damage intake.

To force a bit of movement the boss has the Death Spiral ability, which spawns several orbs that rotate around the arena and deal heavy damage to players they touch. For ranged it’s easier to stand near the edge of the platform as those orbs take longer to go around the room compared to the ones closer to the centre.

At full energy the boss uses Draw Soul, dealing ticking damage to all players for 8s then spawning a Lost Soul at their location. If these adds ever reach the boss they will explode for heavy shadow damage, so when this cast starts you’ll want to group up near the edge of the boss platform, then use CCs to lockdown the adds while you cleave them.

Other than that, you’ll want to keep an interrupt order on the random target Necrotic Bolt cast to reduce the overall group damage, and tanks will want to use a defensive and make sure they point the line from the Necrotic Eruption frontal away from the rest of your party.

The main mechanic of this boss fight are the Meat Hooks that the boss calls to sweep across the arena. These hooks can appear on either side of the room, and always move in 2 distinct waves, with the first having 2 small safe openings and the second with the rest of the arena being safe. These hooks will apply Jagged Gash and drag any players hit across the room, so you’ll want to make sure you dodge through the safe spaces in the waves of hooks to avoid the extra damage.

On top of the hooks, every time they appear the boss also summons two Oozing Leftovers mobs. These abominations slowly lose health over time, and have the same Leaping Thrash ability you saw in the trash before, so make sure you are loosely spread to prevent that from cleaving. On top of this, they leave behind a large puddle of Coagulating Ooze on death, so if possible try and cleave these mobs down together to conserve space, which will make avoiding the hooks a bit easier.

There’s also some forced movement from Tenderizing Smash, which grips all players in and does a lethal AoE around the boss after a few seconds, so be ready to use mobility spells to move away before that happens.

For tanks there’s the Hateful Strike ability, which is a large physical hit that you’ll just want to make sure you have a defensive for.

After defeating all the bosses indoors you can head back out to the first boss room where you’ll now be able to take on Mordretha. Just like during the initial boss fight, combatants will surround the arena and knock back players who touch them, so make sure to avoid getting too close, as getting pushed at the wrong time can easily result in you dying.

In terms of things to avoid there are a couple that you should be aware of. First is Dark Devastation, which is a random target frontal attack that then rotates slightly as the boss channels it, so make sure you give this ability a lot of space. The other is the Grasping Rift, which spawns randomly somewhere in the room and pulls players towards it for 6s, debuffing anyone who gets too close with the Death Grasp Curse, so use movement abilities here as needed to avoid this from happening.

For tanks there’s a very dangerous hit in Reaping Scythe, which deals a mix of shadow and physical damage. This is the most dangerous tank buster in the dungeon, so you’ll want to make sure you have a good defensive rotation to cover every cast.

When it comes to group damage, most of that comes from Manifest Death, which applies a 6s DoT to all players that splashes to anyone within 6yds, then after exploding spawns a Deathwalker add under each player. These adds just spam cast Death Bolt at random players, which you’ll want to keep interrupted. I recommend loosely spreading around the boss to avoid cleaving your group, then once the add spawns have everyone interrupt the one they spawned to quickly group them all up under the boss, where you can then use things like AoE CCs to prevent them from casting while you cleave them down.

After pushing the boss to 50% health she will begin to cast Echoes of Carnage, which deals a large hit of shadow damage after completing, followed by a small pulse of shadow damage every 2s for the remainder of the encounter. This is the largest individual hit of the fight, so make sure you have a defensive running for that initial group AoE at 50%. On top of dealing group damage, this will also cause Ghostly combatants to spawn throughout the arena for the rest of the encounter, which you’ll have to deal with on top of all the other mechanics we just discussed. These combatants have 2 abilities, Echo of Battle which are 8yd AoEs and happen all around the arena, and Ghostly Charge which are line attacks from 4 mounted combatants that charge straight across the arena. Keep an eye out for these and make sure you avoid them.