Halion Halion is a twilight dragon . He is the main boss of of the Ruby Sanctum , which was implemented in patch 3 . 3 . 5 . In order to shatter the Wyrmrest Accord and to crush those that would stand in the way of their master ' s reemergence into Azeroth , a powerful war party of the Black dragonflight ; led by the fearsome twilight dragon Halion and his lieutenants Saviana Ragefire , Baltharus the Warborn and General Zarithrian ; has launched an assault upon the Ruby Sanctum beneath Wyrmrest Temple . Abilities . Phase 2 . " Halion retains Cleave , Tail Lash , and Twilight Precision from phase 1 . " Phase 3 . " Halion retains all abilities from phase 1 and 2 , but only uses them in the appropriate realm . " Enrage . Halion enrages after 8 minutes in 10 - man , 25 - man , regular , and heroic modes . Strategy . Preparation . The fight requires at least two tanks . It is advantageous to have a balanced mix of ranged and melee DPS . It takes place in two places , the physical and the twilight realm . During Phase 1 everyone is in the physical realm . At 75 % , Halion shifts to the twilight realm and opens a permanent portal so the raid can follow for Phase 2 . At 50 % , the Dragon is present in both realms at the same time . During Phase 3 , the raid must split and maintain balanced DPS in both realms . Like many dragons , Halion has a frontal cone breath attack , a tail swipe and a cleave . The tail swipe stuns . He retains these abilities over all three phases . Unlike many dragons , he does not use fear and can be taunted . Heroism / Bloodlust . With only one shaman in the raid , this buff should be used in Phase 2 . Otherwise , when using it in Phase 3 , it ' s highly probable that the realm where Bloodlust was used deals a lot more damage than the other , forcing that realm to stop DPS until the other catches up , basically wasting the buff . If two shamans are present it ' s possible to use the buff in Phase 3 . The shamans must go to different realms and coordinate so they both use it at the same time . Phase 1 : Physical realm . A few seconds after the pull , a circle of flames appears around the boss , closing off any players not in the stage . In the physical realms , two special effects must be taken care of . Mark of Combustion is a debuff which is put on a random player . It gains one stack every few seconds and expires after 10 ( ? ) stacks . When it expires or is dispelled , it places a circular AoE centered on the player the diameter of which depends on the number of stacks ( more stacks = larger ) . This AoE deals damage to players in it , and also knocks away players inside when it forms . In order to deal with Mark of Combustion , affected players must run towards the outer edge of the battle area and be dispelled there quickly . Failing to react fast means a larger or badly positoined AoE , which usually hampers melee DPS . The second effect in the physical realm are random fireballs , which fall from the sky and hit for AoE fire damage , leaving a patch of flame where it hit , plus four flames going in different directions . The location where the fireball hits is indicated by a hellfire graphic . Players must move away from the point of impact and the residual flames . Phase 2 : Twilight realm . After the dragon has vanished to the twilight realm , it ' s important that a tank enters the portal first , other classes die too fast when alone . The rest of the raid should follow quickly , the tank should pull the dragon away from the entrance point , else the raid may die from breath . It is usually a good idea to leave a healer and a tank in the physical realm in preparation of phase 3 . These two just wait out phase 2 . In the twilight realm , Mark of Combustion is replaced by Mark of Consumption , which behaves quite similar , but pulls players into its AoE instead of knocking them away . The fireballs are replaced by Shadow Cutter . Two shadow orbs circle clockwise around the outer edge of the area opposite to each other . Every 20 seconds , a beam connects the orbs for 10 seconds . This beam ( = Shadow Cutter ) deals very high damage to everybody who touches it . All players ( including the tank ) must move on a circular path to avoid this beam . Shadow Cutter Positioning . One possible positioning is to tank the boss in the center of the area . The tank waits until an orb is near his right side , and then strafes to the left , so that the orb stays right of the tank at all times . If the beam appears , it should be in the area right of the tank , but pretty close to him ( so that the beam runs nearly lengthwise through the dragon ) . This allows players to stand on both sides of Halion , although the dragon ' s left side ( right of the tank ) is a little safer . On that side , the only danger is a tail swipe , while on the other side ( right of the dragon , left of the tank ) people may get hit by breath or cleave , which is more dangerous . It ' s still advantageous to stand on both sides to minimize confusion from Mark of Consumption . When learning the encounter ( or with small groups ) it may be helpful to instruct everyone to stand on the dragon ' s left side , and to move to avoid the tail . While explaining the encounter this situation can be simulated with a mounted raid member posing as the dragon . Player Deaths in the Shadow Realm . Dead characters appear in the physical realm , so it ' s rather difficult to battle rez them . If all characters die in the twilight realm , characters still alive in the normal realm are still in combat , but can not be attacked by Halion . To end the encounter , they either must enter the twilight realm and die , or get out of combat using some ability ( like Feign Death , Vanish , Divine Intervention ) . Phase 3 : Both realms . At the start of Phase 3 , two portals appear in the twilight realm which lead back to the physical realm . If no tank was left behind , the tank must use that portal first . Until the end of combat , Halion exists in both realms , and the raid must split in two . The encounter mechanics in both realms remain the same , that is Shadow Cutter in the twilight and Fireballs in the physical . When a Fireball spawns on the melee group it may force them to move out of melee range , while the constant movement required by Shadow Cutter hampers ranged DPS more than melee . For this reason melee prefer the shadow realm , while ranged do better in the physical . The new element in Phase 3 is that Halion receives a buff called Corporeality . It starts at 50 % , and it ' s advantageous to keep it close to 50 % . It changes when Halion takes more damage in one realm than in the other . 100 % corporality means that Halion is present only in the realm player is in , 0 % means he ' s only in the other realm . When he takes more damage in one realm , he moves towards the realm where he takes less . Depending on the value of Corporality , Halion also deals and takes more damage in one realm than the other . Changes to corporeality are signified by the warning : " Your ( or your companion ' s ) efforts have forced Halion further < into / out of > the < Twilight / Physical > realm ! " If no damage is dealt in one realm , Halion rapidly regenerates health . The following table summarizes the stat differences depending on corporeality : As an example , if Halion had way too much DPS on him in the Physical realm , his corporeality might be down to 20 % in that realm . This means Halion takes 50 % less damage and deals 30 % less damage in the Physical realm . However in the Twilight realm , Halion ' s corporeality is 80 % and he takes double damage and deals 60 % more damage . The problem is the increase of damage dealt by Halion , tanks die too quickly if Corporality is too far from 50 % . If DPS in both realms is fairly balanced , the corporeality buff does the fine - tuning by itself , since in the realm where less damage is dealt , the damage taken is increased . Stopping DPS in either realm should not normally be necessary . DPS numbers of individual players should be used when determining who goes where , rather than splitting the DPS 50 / 50 between both realms . Heroic Mode Changes . In phase 1 , Fireballs cause a blast wave upon landing . Fireballs also spawns a Living Inferno and some Living Embers on 25 - man . The zones that appear after a Combustion put a dot on anyone inside them that does increasing damage per stack rather than flat damage . In phase 2 , four shadow orbs circle the stage instead of two , so that players can be caught behind or in front of Halion during a Death Beam , and therefore get hit by a tail swipe , cleave , or dark breath . The zones that appear after a Consumption put a slow on anyone stood in them - the slow lasts for 2 seconds and is applied every 1 second , so it can ' t easily be removed except by Hand of Freedom - this will cause difficulties running from the cutter unless the zones are placed very carefully . In all phases , the void zones from combustion / consumption appear and affect both the Twilight and Physical realms , not just one . This gives the raid less space in both realms to move around , and is mostly an issue in Phase 3 . A single misplaced zone in phase 3 can very easily cause a wipe . Videos . 10 player Normal encounter . < youtube > P _ ZktpWxC _ A < / youtube >