General Drakkisath Mission Guide

This guide focuses on the Heroic General Drakkisath encounter in Blackrock Mountain, but also works for the normal version.

Minis in General Drakkisath’s army

• Core Hounds - Fiery Rebirth
• Dark Iron Miner - Gold Mine
• Drake - Mother Drake
• Fire Elemental - Immolation Aura
• Firehammer - Moultin Metal
• Living Bomb - Blast Radius
• Ogre Mage - Avarice

General Drakkisath has several notable talents for his army. The Core Hounds damage nearby enemies when resurrected. The Drake leaves behind Whelp Eggs. The Fire Elemental deals area damage around it. The Firehammer deals additional damage to flying units.

Other minis and map mechanics

Drakkisath starts the fight with a Molten Giant and a Fire Elemental on the board. New Molten Giants, each equipped with the Blood of the Mountain talent that causes them to explode on death, will spawn every 35 seconds. The timed spawn pattern is this:

• 3:30 (the start): Molten Giant on the left, Fire Elemental on the right
• 2:55: Drake on the left, Molten Giant on the right
• 2:20: Molten Giant on the left, Fire Elemental on the right
• 1:45: Drake on the left, Molten Giant on the right
• 1:10: Molten Giant on the left, Fire Elemental on the right
• 0:35: Drake on the left, Molten Giant on the right
• 0:00: Molten Giant on the left, Fire Elemental on the right

All of Drakkisath’s minis have Resist, so they only take half of the usual Elemental damage.

To compensate for the many timed minis Drakkisath gets, his gold income is lower than the player’s. With all those additional spawns, Drakkisath still gets more minis than a player can play.

There are two pressure plates on the map. Each pressure plate ignites the fire underneath the grate on the opposite lane for as long as a ground mini is on top of the pressure plate. The fire deals damage to any ground minis on the grate.

In addition to his melee attack, Drakkisath also hits incoming enemies with Flamestrike. This area attack has a range of 5 and a radius of 10, and it deals 260 Elemental damage, incinerating small minis. Drakkisath will cast Flamestrike every 10 seconds while in combat.

General strategy

The key to beating Drakkisath is to make good use of his Molten Giants. You want to steal them instead of killing them: as they spawn every 35 seconds and explode on death, killing them effectively is very difficult. Banshee is the key mini that can steal the Giants for you.

Because Drakkisath always starts with a Molten Giant on the left lane, you want to focus on stealing that first. With sufficient levels, you can end the entire fight in a single push: steal the Molten Giant with a Banshee, send Harpies after it, make Drakkisath use his Flamestrike just as you approach with Whelp Eggs so that it does not hit the Harpies, and just rush him down.

I found the rush strategy unreliable, especially at lower levels. Drakkisath’s counter-push from the right can sometimes race you, and Drakkisath can also deploy at the Meeting Stone on the left, hindering your ability to steal the Molten Giant, or at the very least delaying it so that, again, a push from the right threatens your base. It is still good to be aware of the opportunity.

A more consistent way to beat Drakkisath is to build a cycle deck with Banshee in it, so that you can steal every Molten Giant played against you. With such a large supply of Molten Giants, you can push both lanes and put the pressure back on Drakkisath.

Use the pressure plates to burn enemies, especially enemy miners and casters, try to secure gold veins and mine when you can - without getting your miners burned - and avoid getting your damage dealers hit by Drakkisath’s Flamestrike.