Kael ' thas Sunstrider ( tactics ) Kael ' thas Sunstrider is the fourth and final boss encounter of the Eye in Tempest Keep . It ' s a very interesting fight with five phases . Phases 2 and 3 are DPS race s , while 4 and 5 are one big Battle for survival . Overall , many veteran raiders consider this to be one of the most challenging and most enjoyable boss encounters in the whole of The Burning Crusade . Abilities . Kael ' thas , his advisors , and the phoenixes are immune to Taunt , Crowd Control and all snare or slow effects . The Weapons are susceptible to all of these effects . The advisors enter Phase 1 with half of their normal HP . After they are resurrected for Phase 3 they are at full health . Raid Composition . This fight favors ranged damage dealers because there are mobs which are highly dangerous for melee ( Thaladred and Capernian ) , and the Phoenix eggs are much easier killed by ranged ( only 15 sec time to do 70k damage ) , melee lose too much time running to the egg . Strategy . Phase 1 : Introducing the Advisors . The raid can leisurely kill each advisor . To make phase 3 easier , each advisor should be killed in a pre - planned location . The advisors engage in the following order : Phase 2 : The Weapons . After all advisors are dead , Kael ' thas summons his arsenal of seven legendary weapons . By killing and looting these weapons all raid members can equip themselves with legendary weapons for the rest of the fight ( the weapons are multi - drop but unique ; one player can theoretically pick up one copy of each ) . Killing the weapons is a mixture of AoE and focus fire . There should be an AoE kill zone , where most of the weapons are held , while the remaining DPS concentrate on one weapon after the other . Here ' s an overview of the weapons in a reasonable kill order : Has a Multi - Shot attack , drops aggro if any melee or pet attack it . Preferably tanked by a hunter facing it away from the raid to avoid Multi - Shot hitting others . This is the most dangerous weapon and should be killed first by all hunters and ranged DPS which do not take part in the AoE . Low melee damage , attacks with Frostbolt and Frost Nova . It likes to cast a Frost Nova , run away 10 - 15 yards and then start to Frostbolt . It ' s a highly desirable item because its " use " ability grants immunity to the Remote Toy debuff , and it increases the damage output of casters . It also has low HP and dies faster than the other weapons . Low melee damage . Heals itself and friendly targets , which must be interrupted . The melee damage dealers should control and kill this first . Hits normal but attacks very fast . Has a Thrash ability ( similar to Prince Malchezaar ' s phase 2 ability ) that grants it two extra attacks . Hits for 1 - 1 . 5K every 2s on plate . Applies a stacking Rend DoT . Each stack ticks for an additional 500 damage every 3s for 15s ; the Rend attack that applies the DoT can miss , be dodged or parried . Frequently Whirlwinds , which one - shots any non - tanks . Must be tanked slightly away from the other weapons , near the edge or even outside the AoE zone . Not very useful for most raid members , therefore it ' s not a problem if it doesn ' t die quickly . Does high damage . Has a " shield spike " - like ability which when activated can reflect a lot of damage to a fast attacking melee DPSer . Also has much higher HP and armor than the other weapons . The tanks can manage phase 3 without it , but they must absolutely have it to tank Kael ' thas in phase 4 . Weapon tank list : The weapon corpses despawn after 60 seconds , and the looted weapons disappear 15 minutes after being looted . Players also lose them when releasing ( after a death ) or when the encounter is reset . It ' s not a big problem to have two weapons alive ( e . g . the and ) when phase 3 starts . Alternative strategy . Some guilds believe that managing to get all weapons down before phase 3 is the basis for a perfect Kael ' Thas kill . Suggested raid composition for this is 3 tanks 6 healers and 16 DPS players . The DPS composition should include at least 2 hunters , 3 mages and 3 warlocks . As soon as the weapons spawn the main tank should grab the axe . The bow should be tanked by 2 hunters . The staff should be tanked by your off tank ( A good position is behind Kael ' Thas ) . A paladin tank can and should tank all the other weapons . The Two hunters should be left alone to kill the bow . The mages and warlocks should start by nuking the axe . The Melee should take care of the staff very very fast . As soon as the staff is down the DPS you have assigned to the axe should change their focus to the group of weapons tanked by the protection paladin regardless if the axe is down or not ( it will be finished later by the hunters ) . Additionally they should proceed in good order to loot the Staff one by one ( if all of them rush to get it then the AoE on the group of weapons will be too low to take them down in time ) . At the same time the melee should focus on the cosmic infuser which will now be tanked by the tank that was on the staff ( assign a rogue or two to stop it from healing ) . As soon as the two hunters finish with the bow they should proceed to loot it and then finish off the axe ( hence freeing the main tank for phase 3 ) The AoE group should by now have started their AoE ( with at least 40 seconds remaining ) . The moment the cosmic infuser comes down the tanking paladin should move a few yards back to allow the healers to loot easily at this point melee and the mace tank should nuke the shield . The AoE should continue non stop with the addition that the mages and warlocks should now target the Phaseshift Bulwark ( shield ) and cast any instant spells they have ( such as fire blast or a curse ) so the can hasten the downing of the shield . Each time a weapon goes down the tankadin should move another 3 yards backwards to allow for easier loot . The last two weapons that will go down are the Infinity blade and warp slicer ( in that order ) . Two rogues and possibly a DPS warrior or an enhancement shaman should loot the infinity blade to use it in the mind controlled of the raid during phase 4 . If you have followed this tactic then the last weapon should go down just about the moment phase 3 starts . Such a smooth handling of weapons is the half of a very smooth performance in phase 3 and hence a very promising phase 4 and 5 . Phase 3 : All Four Advisors . Exactly two minutes after the start of Phase 2 , Kael ' thas resurrects all the advisors at once . The advisor tanks and their healers should start to move to their assigned advisors ( or rather their corpse ) about 10 seconds before the end of Phase 2 , so that they can immediately pick up the advisors . Advisor tank list : Kill order . As before , Thaladred and Capernian should be avoided by melee . All four advisors can be safely attacked by ranged . Since Thaladred is the biggest nuisance , ranged DPS should concentrate on him first . One melee damage dealer with the should put the debuff on him , but very carefully - the player must be highly aware of imminent gaze shifts , move away * before * each shift , and get back in only when some other person gets the gaze . All other melee damage dealers should concentrate on Sanguinar first and Telonicus second . After Thaladred is down , ranged DPS can either help the melee group at Sanguinar , or start on Capernian . This decision mainly depends on whether the melee group is strong enough to kill Sanguinar on their own , or the ranged DPS have to help . When all other adds are down , Telonicus is finished off last by all damage dealers together . Alternative strategy . Since all of your tanks are now free and all of the weapons are down , the melee and your Main tank should head to Sanguinar ( One healer needed and a CoH priest for the melee group ) . One of your off tanks must tank Telonicus the engineer ( one or two healers needed ) and one of your warlocks tank Capernian ( one healer needed - preferably a paladin in the group with the warlock for the fire resistance aura ) . That leaves one healer for the ranged DPS group ( preferably a resto shammy or a CoH priest ) Kill Thaladered with your ranged DPS as fast as possible and then proceed to Sanguinar . As soon as Sanguinar is down , the melee group and their healers should proceed to kill Telonicus . The Ranged DPS should then start with Capernian ( you should have approximately 1 min left before phase 4 ) and kill her . As soon as Capernian is down everyone should move and finish off Telonicus ( don ' t forget to rebuff the tanking warlock with salvation ) . The main tank should take position in front of Kael ' Thas . Telonicus should be down just as Kael comes out to play . You are now in a very good position to do a very clean Kael ' Thas kill . The rest of this strategy ( phase 4 and 5 ) is the same with the " classic " one . Phase 4 : Kael ' thas Sunstrider . Three minutes after the start of Phase 3 , Kael ' thas himself enters the fight . If only one advisor is still up at that point , a smooth kill is close . If two or more are still up , a wipe is highly probable . Fireball should be interrupted as much as possible . Mind Controlled raid members should best be sheeped . It ' s also possible to use the with low damage skills ( e . g . Hamstring , Shiv ) to dispel the MC . Stunning is not always effective because the buff from the may be in effect . In addition to that hunter freezing traps must be set randomly on the ground , and all kinds of fears should and must be used when Kael is mind controlling your raid members . This will solve a lot of problems and it will improve the reaction time of your mages . ( Decursive add on is a must for mages here ) Flamestrike MUST be avoided at all costs by everyone in the raid . Set Spell Details to High to see the glow on the ground , which is visible during the 3 sec cast time before it hits . The AoE looks similar to a Paladins Consecration . Every 30 – 40 seconds Kael ' thas summons a Phoenix . The graphic effect for this summon is identical to Flamestrike , however the cast time is much shorter , and it deals no damage . Phoenix handling . After its birth , the phoenix can either be kite d by a ranged damage dealer , or simply be tanked by the fire resist tank ( it melees for ~ 800 on plate ) . It continually uses a hellfire ability which damages itself ( 5 % HP ) and everybody around it for ~ 5 , 000 fire damage per 2s tic , resulting in an ( at most ) 40 second life span . Upon its death , it will do an Ember Blast ( 4 , 500 fire damage melee range knockback , binary resist ) and then turn into a Phoenix egg . This egg has ~ 70k HP and must quickly be killed , else it spawns a new Phoenix after 15 seconds . Pyroblast . Every 60 seconds Kael ' thas casts an invariable sequence of Shock Barrier , 3 successive Pyroblasts and Arcane Disruption . Even with all the possible mitigations in effect , Pyroblast deals up to 23 , 265 fire damage . Tanks with the can use it to absorb one Pyroblast . If the damage dealers are up to it , the best course of action is to burn down the shield fast enough to interrupt the second pyroblast . Failing this , a tank with ~ 20k HP can just barely survive one pyroblast ( with the Infernal Protection buff from the , a Fire Protection Potion or Nightmare Seed and PW : Shield ) . If a raid consistently fails to interrupt the second pyroblast , it ' s possible to have the tank eat the first one and absorb the second . This gives the healers enough time to bring the tank up to survive the immediately following arcane disruption . The third pyroblast can always be interrupted , because the shock barrier autmatically wears off after 10 seconds , which leaves a 2 - second window for the interrupt . Event Cycle . In summary , there ' s a 60 - second rotation which takes place over the entire phase : [ 0sec ] - > [ 20sec ] ( MC + Arcane Disruption ) - > [ 40sec ] ( Phoenix + MC + Arcane Disruption ) - > [ 60sec ] ( Shock Barrier + 3 Pyroblasts + Arcane Disruption ) . Flamestrike can happen all the time . Phase 5 : True Power . Once Kael ' thas ' health reaches 50 % , he does a short cutscene and becomes invulnerable for a while . During this time , all remaining Phoenixes and their eggs should be killed . With unlucky timing it ' s possible that he reaches 50 % just as he begins a pyroblast cycle , and thus become invulnerable ( and truly uninterruptible ) while casting 3 pyroblasts . Although this is a rare event , it doesn ' t hurt to pay attention to this possibility , and slow down some DPS if it could occur . Gravity Lapse . In Phase 5 , he no longer uses Mind Control and Pyroblast , instead he regularly casts a combination of Gravity Lapse , Nether Vapor and Nether Beam . Gravity Lapse teleports the entire raid to Kael ' thas ' position and up in the air from there . In order to avoid the Nether Vapor debuff and Nether Beam chaining , the raid must move away from Kael and spread out , best in three dimensions . Near the end of the 30 sec duration , people should try to keep close to the ground to minimize falling damage , but must not get too low , else they take damage and get launched back up high in the air . Kael ' thas continuously uses Shock Barrier during a Gravity Lapse , and the phoenixes go into a kind of evade mode . There ' s no point in trying to deal damage during that time . At the end of a Gravity Lapse , Kael ' thas and the phoenixes return to their prior targets , there ' s no aggro drop . Mages should Counterspell Kael ' s first Fireball so that he runs to the MT . The raid should initially be careful with DPS because the tank needs to build some rage first . This is a good opportunity to burn down the phoenix and his egg . Enrage . Kael ' thas has no built - in hard enrage timer . The only problem is that the legendary weapons looted in phase 2 despawn 15 minutes after acquiring them . It ' s possible to bring him down using normal equipment , but the Arcane Disruptions cause the healers to run out of mana sooner or later . Notes . It is a good idea to use Heroism / Bloodlust prior to Phase 4 , so that Kael ' thas can ' t buff himself when mind controlling a shaman . Some raids prefer to go all - out at the start of Phase 2 , others wait until Phase 3 . Soloing Kael ' Thas at level 90 . When soloing Kael ' Thas at level 90 , the most challenging part of the fight is when you have to fight all four advisors at once . Use all of your cooldowns and kill Capernian as quickly as possible or she will repeatedly disorient you . Abilities that summon pets or minions are also useful during this phase , as they can continue to attack while you are disoriented . After killing Kael ' Thas , stay near the ground and do not attempt to loot him until after your Gravity Lapse debuff has run out , or you will be launched high into the air and if your Gravity Lapse runs out in midair the fall could kill you . Casting Gravity Lapse : Quotes . Sound Files . See " Sound files of Tempest Keep : Kael ' thas Sunstrider "