Deathbringer Saurfang - CLK boss guide

Complete raid guide for Saurfang the Deadly in CLK (3.3.5a): Blood Power mechanics, Mark of the Fallen Warrior, Blood Beasts, layout, role tips and loot on NM and hardmode.

Icecrown Citadel
10N10HC25N25HC
⏱ Berserk: 8 minutes on normal / 6 minutes on hardmode (hard berserk)

Review

Saurfang the Deadly is the fourth boss of the CLK and the final boss of the Lower Spire. This is the resurrected Lich King Dranosh Saurfang, whom you meet immediately after the WoA battle on the ships, on the balcony at the gates inside the Citadel. The battle is one-level and represents a tough DPS check: the entire mechanic revolves around the “Blood Power” resource, which the boss accumulates from his abilities and the damage of Bloody Monsters, and upon reaching 100%, hangs the Mark of the Fallen Warrior on a random player.

General tips
  • This is a DPS race: the fewer Marks of the fallen warrior the boss manages to place, the easier the battle. Don't give him extra Blood Power.
  • Range and healers will spread out at least 12 yards so that the Blood Ring does not hit several - each hit accumulates Blood Power.
  • Bloody monsters cannot be AoEshed (Resistant Skin) and cannot be allowed into the raid - they almost one-shot and feed the boss heavily. We hit a single target with priority.
  • Disc priests are immature here: if the shield completely absorbs damage, the Blood Power does not grow (after patch 3.3.2 - only complete absorption).
  • At 30% HP, Frenzy is activated - at this point we are accumulating MP (Heroism/Bloodlust) and all DPS cooldowns.

Abilities

Blood Ties
Other
Passive: Saurfang gains Blood Power whenever he deals damage with his abilities (Ring of Blood, Rune of Blood, Blood Boil) and damage from summoned Blood Monsters. Your own basic attacks and damage from the Mark do NOT provide Blood Power.
Action: Minimize unnecessary damage to the raid: spread, monster control, shields - everything that prevents the boss from accumulating resources.
Blood Power
Other
Boss resource scale (0–100, like DK’s energy). For each point, Saurfang grows in size by 1% and deals 1% more damage. Converts 100% to Mark of the Fallen Warrior and resets to zero. Each active mark accelerates the growth of the scale.
Action: Keep scale growth under control; Before the first mark, the boss must be at 60% Blood Power or lower. Tanks press their defensive CD when the scale is above 60%.
Mark of the Fallen Warrior
Debuff
Hangs on a random non-tank at 100% Blood Power. The boss' auto attacks on the tank ricochet at the tagged one, dealing ~6175–6825 physical damage. damage (about 6000/sec at 25ppl). The debuff hangs until the end of the battle and is not removed by anything, including death. If the tagged one dies, the boss is healed (~5% max HP on normal, 20% on hardmode).
Action: Continuously heal the marked person (DO NOT kill if he died from the mark). Distribute stamps among healers (ideally Beacon of Light). the last 1-2 marks can be cleared with Warlock's Sacrificial Stone + Paladin's Supreme Intercession (immune until the end of the battle).
Rune of Blood
Tank
Debuff on the current tank (20 sec): the boss' auto attacks against him drain 5950–8050 health and heal Saurfang 10 times more.
Action: The fight is a tank swap. The second tank instantly taunts the boss as soon as the debuff appears on the first one. Delay = the boss heals a bunch of HP and an almost guaranteed wipe. Tanks should hit the cap and use the taunt glyph.
Ring of Blood
Raid damage
Blood explodes from a random target, dealing 9500–10500 Physical damage. damage to everyone within a ~10-12 yard radius. Every hit you hit feeds Blood Power. After the hotfix, it is less likely to be cast on a target with the Mark of the Fallen Warrior.
Action: Range and heals will spread out at least 12 yards so that the explosion only hits one.
Boiling Blood
Raid damage
Boils the blood of a random raid target: ~5000 physical. damage every 3 sec (according to the tooltip - above, 24 sec). Each tick gives the boss Blood Power. Can be removed with the Hand of Protection (mostly needed on hardmode while on a tagged one).
Action: Healers keep track of the debuff, especially if it coincides with the Mark of the Fallen Warrior on the same player.
Summon Blood Monsters
Raid damage
Approximately every 35-40 seconds, Saurfang summons Bloody Monsters: 2 at 10ppl (left and right), 5 at 25ppl (pentagram). After ~2 seconds they activate and run towards the target with the greatest threat. Monster damage feeds Blood Power; the contact is almost a one-shot (on hardmode it will one-shot any non-tank). Immune to control, but take root/slow/stun.
Action: Do not AoEsh at the moment of spawn (you will pull aggro and die). We hit a single target with priority, the range switches to the distant monster with ping-pong. Kit with slows/stuns/knockbacks (hunter's trap, Earthbound Totem, Owlwoman Typhoon). We take the monsters off the platform.
Sustainable leather
Other
Buff on Bloody Monsters: AoE damage received is reduced by 95%, damage from diseases is reduced by 70%. Essentially prohibits AoE focus.
Action: Don't waste AoE on monsters - single target only.
Rabies
Berserk
At 30% HP, the boss goes into Frenzy (soft berserker), +30% to attack speed. This dramatically accelerates the increase in Blood Power and damage to those marked.
Action: Towards this threshold, we accumulate MP (Heroism/Bloodlust) and all DPS cooldowns - we finish off the boss as quickly as possible.
The smell of blood
Raid damage HC
Hardmode only. ~5 seconds after spawning, Bloody monsters sense prey: the movement speed of all nearby enemies is reduced by 80%, and the monsters’ damage is increased by 300% for 10 sec.
Action: Breed monsters from the raid in advance; kiting becomes more difficult due to the slow - rely on control and positioning for this.

Positioning

Static combat on the balcony (Deadly Rise) at the gate. Disperse the entire raid in front of the pool. There is enough space for 10ppl; at 25ppl it’s tight - the range is staggered. The boss is tanked where he appears. Life hack: the ship from the WoA battle is located behind the raid - if the bullet is unsuccessful, you can run at it, Saurfang does not reach it and evades.

🛡 Tank
Two tanks hold the boss directly at the spawn point (there are no frontal cones, no need to deploy). Tank swap strictly according to the Blood Rune.
✨ Healer
The heals are the furthest from the boss (or stack from a mile to make room for the range) and keep 12+ yards between them from the Blood Ring. Distribute the heels/bacon to the marks in advance. The priest can reset the aggro of monsters through Fade.
⚔DD
Miles - compact for the boss, be careful with multi-target abilities when spawning monsters. Range - Spread 12+ yards on the balcony, hit the long-range monster and switch as soon as it ags on them.

Role Tips

🛡 Tips for the tank
  • Hit the cap and use the taunt glyph so that tank swap taunts always pass through.
  • Swap strictly according toRune of Blood - intercept the boss instantly, otherwise he will heal.
  • Press personal protective CD whenBlood Power above 60%.
  • An off-tank can pull down the monsters that run up to the raid and take them away from the platform.
✨ Tips for healer
  • Give awayMarks of a Fallen Warriorin advance: 2 holy-palas with Beacon of Light almost completely reset the mechanics.
  • The marked one cannot be dropped - death = healing of the boss (5% on normal / 20% on hardmode). A person who has died from the mark should NOT be killed in battle.
  • Watch out for the matchBoiling Blood and Marks on one player is the peak damage.
  • One healer carries about two active tags if he focuses only on them.
⚔ DD Tips
  • Range will spread 12+ yards to avoid producingRing of blood.
  • We hit bloody monsters on a single target, without AoE (Resistant skin), and keep them away from the raid with control.
  • Don’t start AoE/multi-target exactly at the moment the monsters spawn - you’ll lose aggro and die.
  • Accumulate MP and burst by 30% (Frenzy) and burn the boss before the stamps overwhelm the raid.

Loot

SlotItemClassesNote
Head The Wonderworker's Crackling Cowl MageWarlockPriest Fabric helmet for casters. NM id=50807 / HC id=51896.
Necklace Pendant of Shattered Soul — Necklace for casters. NM id=50809 / HC id=51894.
Chest Chipped Shell WarriorPaladinDeath Knight Plate breastplate for miles. NM id=50801 / HC id=51902.
Breast Hauberk of a thousand cuts HunterShaman Mail breastplate for miles. NM id=50800 / HC id=51903.
Wrists Gargoyle Spit Bracers WarriorPaladinDeath Knight Plate bracers for a tank. NM id=50802 / HC id=51901.
Hands Scourge Stranglers RogueDruid Leather gloves for miles. NM id=50799 / HC id=51904.
Legs Deathforge Legplates WarriorPaladinDeath Knight Plate leggings for a tank. NM id=50808 / HC id=51895.
Legs Leggings of Unending Bloodshed RogueDruid Leather leggings for casters/balance. NM id=50806 / HC id=51897.
Shoes Icespire Sandals MageWarlockPriest Accuracy-rated fabric shoes. NM id=50804 / HC id=51899.
Ring Saurfang's Ice-Forged Ring — Ring under miles. NM id=50803 / HC id=51900.
Weapons Mag'har Warchief's Staff DruidPriestShamanMageWarlock Staff for casters. NM id=50805 / HC id=51898.
Weapons Ramaladni's Blade of Purification WarriorPaladinDeath Knight Two-handed ax under miles (the weapon of Saurfang himself). NM id=50798 / HC id=51905.
Back Warmcloak of the Converted Protector MageWarlockPriestDruidShamanPaladin Only 25ppl. Cloak for casters. NM id=50014 / HC id=50668.
Wrists Huge Toskka fists RogueDruidHunter Only 25ppl. Leather bracers for physical DPS. NM id=50333 / HC id=50670.
Belt Blood Ring Belt HunterShaman Only 25ppl. Chain belt (on wowpedia marked as heal, in fact a universal mail). NM id=50015 / HC id=50671.
Accessory Will of the Deadly One WarriorRogueHunterDeath KnightShamanDruidPaladin Only 25ppl. Top physical DPS trinket with stat procs for the class. NM id=50362 / HC id=50363.
Weapons Blade of Poisoned Blood RogueWarriorDeath KnightHunter Only 25ppl. One-handed sword under miles. NM id=50412 / HC id=50672.
Accessory Conqueror's Sign of Consecration PaladinPriestWarlock Set token tier-10. Drops at 10HC, 25N and 25HC. id=52027.
Accessory Protector's Sign of Consecration WarriorHunterShaman Set token tier-10. 10HC/25N id=52026; 25HC id=52029.
Accessory Sign of the Conqueror's Consecration Death KnightDruidMageRogue Set token tier-10. 10HC/25N id=52025; 25HC id=52028.