Anub'rekhan

# Naxxramas - Boss Guide

Anub’Rekhan is a large undead crypt lord and the first boss of the Arachnid Quarter, defeating him is necessary to unlock the gate leading to Grand Widow Faerlina and ultimately, Maexxna. He is one of the more punishing boss fights in the wing, where one misstep or slow reaction time can cause you to wipe.

## Before Facing Anub’Rekhan

Number one priority, especially so on Mythic / Ascended, is a fair amount of interrupts and silences, bringing one or two people with the Flesh Hook Worldforged Mystic Enchant can also make things easier and faster.

## Positioning & Tanking

Two tanks are recommended for this boss across all difficulties. At the start of the fight, both the main and off-tank should charge in, the main tank grabbing Anub’Rekhans aggro, and the off-tank taking the two Crypt Guards. The main tank should immediately start slowly going towards the side of the room. This is crucial, as when Anub’Rekhan casts Locust Swarm, everyone will need to get out of his range as to not get disabled, when his initial cast ends, two more of the Crypt Guards will spawn, these areas must not overlap. During the Locust Swarm, he will fixate onto your main tank, who’ll have to kite him around the room to not take any further damage.
Warning: The Crypt Guards cleave, meaning it is not advised to stand in front of them, they hit very hard.

## Fighting Anub’Rekhan

While Anub’Rekhan doesn’t have pronounced phases, like some other bosses, he does boast a variety of attacks.

### **Phase 1: Regular Phase**

At the start of the fight, you’ll have to take care of the Crypt Guards, interrupting them whenever you can, as these will most likely one-shot members of your raid team or at least put them at a very low HP percentage. After the Guards have been defeated, you can start hitting Anub’Rekhan.

During this phase, he’ll summon small Corpse Scarabs from his starting position, which the off-tank will have to take and bring them under the boss for ease of cleave.

He has two primary ways of damaging your raid group, one being his shadow trap and the other being impale. He will regularly throw out black, shadowy circles on the ground, these will arm after a short while, and stepping on them damages the entire raid group. Activating these whenevers health is topped up is recommended to not flood the area with them later down. He’ll also select a member of your raid team to fixate onto for a short while (think 0.5s) and cast Impale, everyone in a straight line from the boss all the way to the selected target will get knocked up into the air and take substancial damage. Overlapping a shadow trap and impale can lead to deaths, be precise and communicate your intent when you plan to activate a trap.

Spreading around the boss can help reduce the total number of people getting hit by Impale.

### **Phase 2: Locust Swarm**

After a lengthy cast, he will disable the spells and abilities of every person around him in a large radius, this debuff isn’t dispellable from the targets, and lasts until the actual Locust Swarm ends, and not when you get out of the circle. Melee DPS are advised to get out early. After the initial cast, focus down the newly spawned Crypt Guards while still interrupting them when needed. After the Guards have been killed and the Swarm ended, you can start hitting Anub’Rekhan again, and with that, Phase 2 has ended. Repeat until the boss has been slain.