Ruby Sanctum Raid Guide and Halion Boss Tactics

The final raid of Wrath of the Lich King expansion is upon us, and it is time to prepare. For many players, it will be a fresh new experience, while veterans just need to refresh their memories about the strategies used in this raid. Whatever the case may be for you, here you will find all the tips and tricks you might need while killing Halion and clearing the Ruby Sanctum.

Where is Ruby Sanctum Located?

Ruby Sanctum is Located underneath the Wyrmrest Temple in Dragonblight. It can be found in the very same place where the Obsidian Sanctum is located. Look for the portal on the northeast corner of the room to enter the Ruby Sanctum.

Halion Boss Strategy

Halion, the Twilight Destroyer is the only “main” boss of this raid and he is no joke for unprepared groups. Boasting 3 phases with some changes on heroic difficulty. Let’s take a look at the tactics and strategies that you might want to use during the fight. Much like all other dragon-type bosses in the game, Halion uses tail swipe, cleave, and breath attacks, so position yourself accordingly.

Phase 1

The main mechanic of this boss fight is the switching between physical and corporeal realms. Phase 1 starts in the physical realm. Halion will use the Mark of Combustion on a random player. Said mark will tick damage on the player and the damage will grow with each passing tick. It must be dispelled as soon as possible, however, upon dispelling the player who possessed the debuff will knock back everyone around them, and will also leave a pool of fire behind.

This means that while dispelling should be done ASAP, the player who has to be dispelled needs to run away from the raid first. On Heroic Difficulty fire pool left behind by the player will also apply a stacking debuff to anyone who stands within it.

Another major mechanic of this phase is Halion’s Ability called Meteor Strike. Meteor Strike is a projectile that will hit a random player and spread fire upon impact. Simply move to the other side of the boss to avoid dealing with it. On heroic difficulty, Meteor Strike will also spawn adds.

Phase 2

At around 75% health, Halion will move to the Corporeal realm. Players should follow him via the portal that will be left behind. It is important to note that if you are playing on Heroic difficulty, you must first clear the adds, and only then proceed into the portal.

The corporeal realm features pretty much the same abilities but played in reverse. For example, the Mark of Combustion will turn into the Mark of Consumption, and instead of knocking all players away after it is dispelled, it will instead pull raid members towards the dispelled player. On Heroic difficulty, players who are affected by this pull will also be slowed down.

The main mechanic of this phase is Twilight Cutters. Two orbs (four, on Heroic difficulty) will be spawned on the opposite sides of each other, and start circling around the boss arena. Every 30 seconds or so, these orbs will connect with a beam that will deal massive damage to anyone who touches it. You must move the boss in a way that will allow your raid to avoid damage. Woohoo! You've also found a special promo-code. Use BLOG7 to get 7% OFF on your first boosting service!

Phase 3

The final phase of this fight will happen at around 50% HP of the boss. Halion will split into two copies of himself. One copy will reside in a physical and one in a corporeal realm. A portal to the physical dimension will also open, allowing players to exit the corporeal dimension.

The main mechanic of this raid is Corporeality. A meter will appear on top of the screen. Said meter starts at 50% and will progressively move to 0%. If the meter ever reaches 0% in either realm, the boss will disappear and you will be forced to start the entire fight over.

Players have to balance their damage between two realms in a way that will maintain 50% Corporeality in both realms. Melee DPS players should stay in the corporeal realm, as it is much easier for them to deal with Twilight Cutters.

On Heroic difficulty, you will also need to pick up adds and deal with void zones caused by Halion’s abilities. Placing void zones correctly will be one of the most important parts of the fight.

Ruby Sanctum Enemies

Ruby Sanctum is a one-boss raid, much like the Obsidian Sanctum was before it. However, there are 3 minibosses that players have to deal with before getting to the meat of the raid – Halion himself. These minibosses are:

• Baltharus the Warborn;
• Saviana Ragefire;
• General Zarithrian.

Each one of them has their own attacks that players have to be mindful of and watch out for. Here’s a full strategy covering each of the minibosses in Ruby Sanctum.

Baltharus the Warborn

This miniboss is located on the eastern side of the instance. This boss has powerful cleave and frontal damage, and thus should always be faced away from the group. Another thing to watch out for is an ability called Repelling Wave that Baltharus will cast every 20 seconds. It knocks players away and stuns them for 3 seconds. Tanks should be especially wary of this ability and stand with their backs next to the wall to avoid massive knockbacks.

Sometimes Baltharus will cast Enervating Brand debuff on a random player. Said player will start losing their DPS (up to 10%), which will be then returned to Baltharus as a damage buff. To avoid this, the player who gets branded must run out of the raid and wait for the debuff to go away.

The final mechanic of this boss is his cloning of himself. At around halfway point throughout the fight, Baltharus will create a copy of himself which has to be picked up by the second tank, after which it can be ignored while the raid deals with the main boss.

Saviana Ragefire

On the opposite side of the instance, in the western part of Ruby Sanctum players can find Saviana Ragefire. Just like Baltharus, she must be faced away from the raid, as she is dealing massive AoE damage with her Flame Breath.

Every so often Saviana will Enrage, which will increase her DPS remarkably, and because of this, the Enrage must be dispelled immediately. Your raid can use either Tranquilizing Shot Anesthetic Poison II for this.

Just like with Baltharus, Saviana also has a mechanic where one of the players will get branded and has to run away from the raid. This time around the ability to watch out for is called Flame Beacon and simply damages the player who gets affected by it, also damaging players around.

General Zarithrian

The last miniboss of the Ruby Sanctum can be found in the southern part of the instance. This miniboss features a tank-swap mechanic, where Zarithrian will cast Cleave Armor. This debuff reduces the tank’s armor by 20% every 15 seconds, eventually removing all of it completely. Another ability to watch out for is Intimidating Roar. This ability will fear a bunch of players but can be easily mitigated by a Tremor Totem.

Every 30 seconds Zarithrian will summon three adds, that in return will cast Blast Novas dealing AoE damage to the raid, as well as Lava Gouts that deal massive damage to the tank. These adds must be constantly kicked to avoid the wipe. Off-tank must get all of them in a group as quickly as possible so the raid can cleave them down.

Ruby Sanctum Loot

After you are done with the fight, you might be interested in what loot you might expect from the encounter. Here we have prepared a list with all the loot that you can obtain in both 10 and 25-man versions of Ruby Sanctum.

As you can see there is a ton of exciting loot to be had in the final raid of Wrath of the Lich King. If you want to obtain these juicy rewards, as well as many others, but don’t have enough time for raiding, don’t worry as we have just a thing for you. Here you can check out all of our Ruby Sanctum offers, and more. Make your gameplay experience more convenient and enjoyable with Boosthive.