The World of Warcraft 20th Anniversary Event includes a revamped version of the classic dungeon Blackrock Depths (BRD), now as an exclusive 10-15 player raid, which is only available during the anniversary (until January 6th 2025). The raid is on a weekly loot lockout and can be done on LFR, Normal and Heroic difficulty.
In this guide we outline the mechanics of each of the 8 bosses in the raid, and provide a strategy for defeating the boss fights on normal and heroic difficulty.
You can also watch the video below by Tactyks (the author of our Mythic+ Guides) where he also covers the Normal and Heroic Blackrock Depths Raid bosses.
Non-flexible Raid Size
Something to be aware of is that although the raid size in Blackrock Depths can be between 10 and 15 players, the raid is not actually flexible. It is set to the raid size you were when you queued to enter the raid.
This means you can’t start the raid as 12 people and then invite a 13th player later; Nor can you drop a player from the raid and see the bosses scale down to your new raid size. If you start the raid as 14 players, your raid remains scaled to 14 players, even if one or more players leave.
How to enter the Blackrock Depths Anniversary Raid
In order to enter the new anniversary version of Blackrock Depths Raid, your group needs to form up 10 to 15 players and the raid leader will queue into the raid by talking to Moira Thaurissan.
LFR difficulty is the only exception to this, which you can queue for in the group finder, under the Raid Finder section. Much like LFR for most other raids, Black Rock Depths is split up into separately queueable groups of bosses.
Moira Thaurissan is located in the 20th Anniversary event area in Tanaris, she is standing next to the mole machine close to the center of the event area.
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Blackrock Depths Raid Bosses
There are 8 bosses and a number of mini-bosses within the Anniversary Blackrock Depths Raid:
- Lord Roccor
- Bael'gar
- Lord Incendius
- Golem Lord Arglemach
- The Seven
- General Angerforge
- Ambassador Flamelash
- Emperor Dagran Thaurissan
Lord Roccor
Lord Roccor is a large Rock Elemental who spawns a lot of adds and has a nasty AoE.
He has several abilities:
- Eruption - Lord Roccor will spawn several pools of Roiling Magma around the room. Each of the pools will spawn 3 Living Magma around it. These magma will slowly move towards the pool, and after a few seconds they will disappear as the pool has soaked them up. The Living Magma can be “killed” by players by stepping on them, each soak will cause increasing damage over time.
- Igneous Crystallization - Lord Roccor will Transform the pools into adds depending on how many Living Magma the pool soaked.
- No Living Magma - Lesser Obsidian Elemental
- 1 Living Magma - Obsidian Elemental
- 2 Living Magma - Greater Obsidian Elemental
- 3 Living Magma - Son of Roccor
- The adds - The Lesser and Obsidian Elementals have no special abilities. The Greater Obsidian Elemental and Son of Roccor both have a Slag Armor cast. This is an interruptible cast that applies a stacking debuff, which both does damage to and increases damage taken by the tank. The debuff is dispellable.
- Volcanic Upheaval - Lord Roccor channels dealing a large amount of raid wide damage.
Strategy
The boss has no tank mechanic, so one tank can tank the boss, and the other can pick up and tank all the adds.
The Son of Roccor adds have a Slag Armour cast that you want to interrupt as frequently as you can since the stacking debuff can easily lead to a tank death. Dispel the tanks if needed.
Everyone should focus on removing the Living Magmas every time they spawn, to get as easy adds as possible, to have more time on the boss.
Save healer cooldowns for Volcanic Upheaval.
Bael'gar
Bael’Gar is a molten giant with an AoE where you have to hide behind a boulder. There are occasional adds, so in general it’s a light cleave encounter.
He has several abilities:
- Giant Strike - He strikes the targets in front for heavy damage split between all the enemies. Tanks should stand on top of each other.
- Rockfall - Bael’Gar drops large Boulders that deal drop off damage, the further away you are the less damage you take.
- Molten Furnace - Deals a lethal amount of damage unless you are hiding behind a boulder
- Boulder - These are attackable and summon a spawn of Bael’Gar when killed
- Spawn of Bael’Gar - When killed, puts a damage overtime on a random player.
- Shatter - Deals heavy raid wide damage, and additional raid wide damage for each boulder that is still alive.
Strategy
When boulders spawn, kill all but one, and then use that one to hide behind for Molten Furnace. Once Molten Furnace is over, kill the last boulder before Shatter.
There is no tank swap mechanic, but tanks should stand together to share the cleave.
When adds spawn, either have one tank run out and pick them up while the other pops a defensive, or misdirect and pull/knock them towards the tanks. Avoid swirls on the floor.
Lord Incendius
Lord Incendius is a Fire Elemental with high priority target adds and a floor fire effect that is constantly affecting a large part of the room.
His abilities are:
- Firewall - Lord Incedius sets fire to the floor, either in 1/3 of the room or 2/3s. Standing in the fire deals heavy ticking damage.
- Summon Flame Geyser - Lord Incendius summons Flame Geyser adds around the room. The longer the fight continues the more adds he summons.
- Blaze is a cast which deals heavy raid wide damage and increases the speed of future casts by 15%. The cast is interruptible.
- On Death casts Dying Flare, which summons a soak circle dealing heavy damage split by players standing inside it. If noone is hit, it instead deals lethal raid wide damage.
- Scorching Wind - Lord Incendius jumps to the edge of the platform and pushes players away with strong winds.
- Blowback - While using Scorching Winds he will use Blowback, an extra strong push, on the current tank. If the boss is taunted during Blowback the Blowback will swap over to the new tank.
Strategy
Move as a group away from the burning floor, try not to be split up. Interrupt, crowd control and kill adds as soon as they are up. Share the explosion when they die.
Tank Swap when the Blowback is about halfway through to not have one tank pushed off the platform.
Golem Lord Arglemach
Golem Lord Arglemach is an encounter where you fight 4 separate mechanical golem bosses at the same time. Two are stationary and two need to be tanked, but they need to be apart from each other, because each golem within 10 yards of another gains 75% increased damage and 50% increased attack speed.
The golems are possessed one at a time, during which time they gain energy. Once a golem reaches max energy it will use a strong ability, which is different depending on which golem it is. The golems share health.
Arcanoton Mk.II - Tankable
- Power Generator - Max energy ability - Summons an Arcane Orb which will slowly move towards the boss, and buff the boss when it reaches it. Intercepting the orb, by walking into it, reduces the size of it and makes it buff the boss less. Players that intercept the orb gain 12% increased damage for 30 seconds stacking 5 times.
- Arcane Overcharge - Launches an arcane bomb in the air that can be caught by players and will deal damage and apply a debuff that increases the damage taken by the orb and launches a new orb that falls faster. When it hits the floor it does raid wide damage reduced by the amount of orbs that have been caught.
Toxitron Mk.II
- Poison Mist - Max energy ability - Huge raid wide damage and applies a Poison-soaked debuff, which can be removed by Magmatron Mk.II Flamethrower ability.
- Chemical Bomb - Targets several players with Chemical Bombs, staying inside the circle will deal heavy damage. These can be detonated and removed by Magmarton Mk.II Flamethrower Ability, doing so will cause raidwide damage.
Magmatron Mk.II - Tankable
- Flamethrower- Frontal cone which applies an increased damage taken debuff. The cone also removes Poison Mist and explodes Chemical Bombs, both spawned by Toxitron Mk.II.
- Incineration - Max energy ability - Large raid wide damage. Also explodes all clouds spawned by Chemical Bomb, causing additional damage for each.
Electron MK.II
- Livewire - a magic debuff applied to two players, which deals damage to players within 12 yards. The debuff is dispellable, and when dispelled it deals a burst of damage to everyone within 12 yards.
- Lethal attraction - Max energy ability - Electron Mk.II will link two players. After 10 seconds if they are more than 5 yards from each other they both take lethal damage.
- Chain Lightning - Cast on random players. You should spread out.
Strategy
There are a lot of abilities to remember in this fight. Have someone pay attention to which golem is possessed at the moment, so you know which max energy ability will come next.
Keep the two movable bosses more than 10 yards apart from each other as well as from the stationary bosses. Tank Swap every so often because of Flamethrower, and whoever tanks Magmatron has to continuously move around the room and get rid of poison. When tanking Arcanotron, use speed boosts to catch the Arcane Overcharge.
If you get linked, run together. If the orb is moving towards the boss, run into it. If nothing else is happening, stand loosely spread for chain lightning, and throw more dots if you can.
The Seven
The Seven is a council encounter of seven ghostly dwarves. With the Corporeal and Incorporeal mechanic making three of them active at a time. While a dwarf is Corporeal they deal and take normal damage and can be interrupted. While a dwarf is incorporeal they deal 50% reduced damage, are immune and can’t be interrupted. All the dwarves share health.
Anger’rel - Always Corporeal
- Sunder Armor - Hits current tank for heavy physical damage and applies a debuff increasing physical damage taken by 9%.
- Mortal Strike - Hits current tank for heavy physical damage and applies a debuff reducing healing by 35%.
- Bladestorm - Ultimate ability where he will charge towards a ranged player and deal heavy physical damage in a 15 yard circle while moving towards whichever tank has aggro.
Gloom’rel - Always Corporeal
- Rend - A strong bleed DoT to his current tank.
- Rampage - A series of strikes dealing heavy physical damage to his current tank.
- Recklessness - Gains 75% increased damage for 15 seconds.
Doom’rel
- Shadowbolt Volley - Shadow damage AoE to all raid members. Interruptible while corporeal.
- Banish - Cast on a random raid member, making them unable to act for 30 seconds. This is dispellable.
- Summon Felguard - Ultimate Ability which summons a powerful Felguard. This is interruptible.
Dope’rel
- Fan of Knives - Deals physical damage to all players.
- Smoke Bomb - The room fills with smoke for 6 seconds, reducing players range by 100% while the smoke persists.
Hate’rel
- Magma Bolt - hits a random player with magma and applies a Magma Burn debuff. Magma Burn deals heavy fire damage over time, and stacks. This is dispellable.
- Summon Fire Elemental - Ultimate ability which summons a fire elemental. While it is alive, Hate’rel’s Magma Bolt will hit all players instead of a single player.
Seeth’rel
- Blizzard - A blizzard at a random player's location, which deals damage and slows players who remain in the area.
- Bitter Cold - Seeth’rel puts a circle around all players. After 5 seconds the circles erupt dealing damage and rooting them for 3 seconds.
Vile’rel
- Power Word: Respite - Shields one of the dwarves, while the shield persists the dwarves will be healed.
- Terrify - Throws a circle on the ground, being hit causes damage over time and to be feared for 6 seconds.
- Mind Torrent - Targets a single player, dealing heavy damage that can be reduced by other players standing within 8 yards.
Strategy
Try to tank the bosses on top of whichever is corporeal at the time. Whenever Anger’el uses Bladestorm make sure the tank currently tanking him moves to an area away from other players. Tank swap on 3 stacks of Sunder Armor or Rend.
Try to always keep interrupts on the active caster mobs.
When Hate’rel summons the Fire Elemental make sure to swap and kill it as fast as possible while interrupting both the Fire Elemental and Hate’rel.
Ranged should try to spread out so less people are affected by Seeth’rel’s Blizzard casts. When Seeth’rel casts Bitter Cold, make sure to spread out.
When you are targeted by Mind Torrent make sure to move into melee so it's easily soaked.
Remember they share health so cleave damage is really strong in this fight.
General Angerforge
General Angerforge is an add fight. In the room you will be moving around a corridor to activate Shaowforge braziers to start the boss. There are a lot of different adds in this fight. We have mentioned the ones that are most important.
- Anvilrage Officer - These have Commanding Aura reducing the damage of nearby mobs by 50% and making their casts uninterruptible.
- Shadowforge Flame-keeper - Has two casts. The first is Keepers Flame, this puts a damage overtime debuff on random players that is dispellable. The 2nd cast is Rings of Fire, this spawns a ring around the Flame-keeper that will detonate and then spawn a larger ring that will detonate shortly afterwards. On death he will drop a Shadowforge Torch that should be picked up.
- Anvilrage Medic - These cast an interruptible Heal.
- Harbinger of Flames - Activated by clicking on the Shadowforge Brazier by the player who picked up the Shadowforge Torch. Deals heavy ticking AoE damage.
- General Angerforge - Can be attacked once two Harbinger of Flames have been defeated. He has the same aura as the officer.
- Dark Iron bombs - Summons a set of dark Iron Bombs near players, these deal heavy damage when soaked.
- Fireburst Grenade - Deals raid wide damage that can be avoided by moving out of line of sight.
- Deploy Mole Machine - Summons a group of Dark Iron adds.
Strategy
Make sure to take your time to avoid the swirls from the Artillery Barrage during the initial add phase. Whenever there is a pack with an officer in it, have one tank pull it out so you can cleave and interrupt the rest of the pack.
Make sure to pick up the Shadowforge Torch when the Flamekeeper dies so that the player who picked it up can activate the Harbinger of Flame by clicking on the Shadowflame Brazier.
On the large packs of Anvilrage Dragoons make sure to use AoE stops to lower the amount of random raid damage that is going out.
Tank General Angerforge near pillars, so that players can use them to line of sight the Fireburst Grenade damage.
Ambassador Flamelash
The penultimate boss of the Blackrock Depths raid. He summons several types of adds throughout the encounter.
- Magma Infusion - Ambassador Flamelash will target his current tank with 4 Magma Sweeps, these are side stepable frontal cones.
- Summon Firestarters - Ambassador Flamelash Summons several small adds that will fixate on a player. If they reach the player they will deal physical damage in an 8 yard radius then spawn a fire damage circle.
- Summon Flamewalker - Ambassador Flamelash summons a tankable add with several abilities:
- Superheat - A large fall off damage AoE, the closer you are the more damage it deals.
- Magma Infusion - Targets the current tank with Magma Sweep, a sidestepable frontal cone.
- Explosive Demise - When the Flamewalker is reduced to 1 health it will cast Explosive Demise, which deals raid wide damage.
- Cremate - Channels into the current tank, dealing heavy fire damage split by people within 8 yards. Leaves a damage increase for fire damage taken on the tank.
- Open Firelands Portals - Ambassador Flamelash will summon 6 portals to the Firelands, 3 on each side of the room.
- Firelands Portals summon burning spirits which cast Fury of the Firelands, this buffs Ambassador Flamelash causing raid wide AoE.
- 12 Portal Anchors spawn around the room, 2 for each portal, killing these will close the portal but deal pulsing AoE damage until all 6 portals have been closed.
Strategy
Pull the boss to the center of the room, this allows players to quickly switch to the portals when they spawn.
When Ambassador Flamelash summons Firestarters, all players should make sure they step away and let tanks soak them, then move out for the fire circle.
When the tanks are targeted by Magma Sweep make sure to point it away from your group.
When Ambassador Flamelash channels cremate into the tank stack and use raid cooldowns such as Spirit Link Totem or Aura Mastery.
After he summons the Fireland Portals, split the group so that all the portals die at a similar time, make sure to crowd control and interrupt the Burning spirits as much as possible.
Emperor Dagran Thaurissan
The Emperor of the Dark Iron Dwarves, he is joined by Moira Bronzebeard.
- Moira Bronzebread has several abilities
- Shadow Word: Necrosis - Puts a debuff on a player that reduces healing taken by 70%. The debuff will jump to a nearby player, also dealing damage to the new player that the debuff jumps to.
- Shadow Word: Nemesis - Puts a debuff that ramps up in damage. It can be dispelled, when dispelled it will duplicate to a nearby player.
- Mind blast - Interruptible shadow damage on random raid members.
- Radiant Infusion - Moira Channels a beam on to Emperor Dagran Thaurissan that will heal him, players can intercept this beam.
- Mind Shattering Screams - Moira Screams, spawning several cones around her. There will always be two safe areas around her.
- Emperor Dagran
- Call Imperial Guard - Dagran summons a guard through a mole machine, standing where the mole machine spawns deals physical damage.
- Call Twilight’s Hammer Ambassador - These cast Moment of Twilight, if the cast completes everyone dies.
- Hand of Thaurissan - targets 3 players with an arrow and throws a hammer at each, after the cast finishes you can sidestep to avoid the hammer.
- Ironfoe’s - Every 3rd melee hit will be significantly stronger.
- Iron Brand - Stacking tank debuff that increases damage taken.
- Beseech the Firelord - When Moira is defeated or Dagran hits 70% health, he gains a large damage shield and summons an Avatar of Ragnaros.
- Avatar of Ragnaros
- Volcanic Blast - Heavy AoE Damage that can be shared by players within the circle, then spawns a volcanic stone which leaves a pool that deals damage.
- Summon Fireguard Destroyer - The Avatar summons a Fireguard Destroyer, dealing heavy damage if you are nearby when it spawns. On death, it casts Fiery Demise, a large AoE that is reduced by players standing in it. Spawns firelings afterwards.
Strategy
Phase 1
At the start of the fight focus on killing Moira as her abilities are much more difficult to handle the longer she is alive. Any ranged player affected by Shadow Word: Necrosis should move out and try no to pass the debuff to nearby players, if a melee gets targeted by Shadow Word: Necrosis at the start of the fight they should pass it to a ranged player.
Any player affected by Shadow Word: Nemesis should try to save defensives for when the damage ramps up and healers should try to avoid dispelling until the damage is close to unhealable. Interrupt Moira’s Mind Blast as much as possible.
When Moira casts Mind Shattering Screams, quickly find the safe spot, making sure you are as close to the boss as possible so the player with Shadow Word: Necrosis can play slightly further away without passing the debuff to other players.
When Moira channels Radiant Infusion, make sure that the tank stands in the beam to prevent the boss from healing.
When Dagran summons the Imperial Guard, make sure the tank that is not actively tanking the boss picks it up and points it away from the group as it will do a frontal shortly after spawning.
Dagran summons 4 Twilight’s Hammer Ambassadors on the higher platforms, these need to be switched to and killed by DPS as fast as possible; it's worth splitting your DPS into 2 groups as they are on 2 different sides. Try to interrupt their Pyroblast to reduce raid damage.
Phase 2
At 70% Dagran will stop spawning adds and run near the entrance of the room and cast Beseech the Firelord, this will summon an unattackable Avatar of Ragnaros. This ability deals drop off damage so make sure you are outside of the circle where he is casting.
Then pull the boss and group up near the entrance of the room, when the boss casts Volcanic Blast, stay grouped to share the damage and then move out in the direction of the throne at the end of the room. Make sure to move the boss enough so you have enough space to easily dodge the boss's mechanics.
