Legion Boss Guide: Cenarius

For detailed Guide of movement, roles and what to cleanse click here or scroll furthest down.

As usually, these tactics are my own and does not mean they are the most optimal.
Pictures will come during this week.

Background

The demigod Cenarius is the father of druidism in Azeroth, and one of Azeroth´s oldest and most powerful protectors. His disturbing slumber within the groves of Val´sharah was the first sign of the depth of the growing threat from within the Nightmare. That dark power now has complete hold over him, and he may lie beyond hope of redemption.

Overview

This fight is divided in 2 phases:

Phase 1: Forces of Nightmare

In this fight, you will have Malfurion helping you. He creates a cleansing ground on the ground when the boss starts to summon adds (Forces of Nightmare).

The cleansing ground will appear on an add that has most players closest to it.

The boss, Cenarius has 4 abilities and 2 of them are of importance when it comes to the Cleansing ground that Malfurion creates

  • A debuff called Creeping Nightmare that the entire raid gets from time to time that stacks. This can be removed when standing on the cleansing ground that Malfurion creates.
  • Forces of Nightmare is the other ability, in which the boss summons 3 out of 4 adds. After 10 seconds, these adds become hostile (Nightmare adds)
    When the boss summons these adds, you can choose to cleanse 1 of them by stacking on that add and Malfurion will place a Cleansing ground on that area (ally of nature).
    Each of the four set of adds have their own abilities that differs if they are hostile or friendly.

Another important thing the boss does is a debuff called Brambles which fixates a player and leaves small pools behind that does damage and roots players if they touch it. These pools are gone only when a player touches it. So players need to use class abilities to run on them to remove them, such as Divine Shield.

When Cenarius health is 30% or after last wave of Forces of Nightmare are defeated, phase 2 starts.

Phase 2: Your Nightmare ends

In phase 2, you will only fight Cenarius and no adds will spawn. This is where you burn all your cooldowns and pop blood lust.

In this phase the boss will cast a spear on the tank and the more dmg the tank gets, the bigger size will a pool become that spawn underneath the tank.

The idea is to move the boss backwards every time a pool creates and use mitigation to reduce the damage which reduces the pool size.

Malfurion will still place cleansing ground and the boss, Cenarius will have some new abilities but still have the Creeping Nightmare debuff as well.

Malfurion will also be rooted and cannot help you, so this needs to be broken asap.

 

PHASE 1 – FORCES OF NIGHTMARE

You will fight Cenarius and the adds he summons in which 1 of them can be cleansed by Malfurion.
Cenarius summons adds 6 times before entering phase 2 (or if his health is at 30%).

Abilities and tactics for them

Cenarius

Has 4 abilities

Creeping Nightmares

A stacking debuff that everyone in the raid gets.
Does Shadow damage and increases Creeping Nightmare damage taken by 20%.

Tactic: Creeping Nightmares

This debuff can be removed in one way:
Standing on a Cleansed ground that Malfurion creates (see below for more info).
Malfurion creates a Cleansing ground when Cenarius summons adds (see below)

Nightmare Brambles

Summons Bramble circles on the ground that fixates a player.
If a player touches it, it will root the player and do Shadow damage every 2 seconds.

Tactic Nightmare Brambles

Move away from the raid and wait until all Bramble pools are done (done fixating you) then run back to position.

These Barmbles needs to be removed or they will be all over the platform.
Use any class cooldown that can step on them without getting rooted and also getting reduced damage.

Aura of Dread Thorns

Places an aura on himself and on nearby adds.
Normal/LFR: adds within 20y of Cenarius benefit from the aura.
Heroic/Mythic: adds within 30y of Cenarius benefit from the aura.

The Aura Reflects 50% of damage dealt back to the player.

Tactic: Aura of Dread Thorns

Tanks
One Tank on Cenarius
One Tank on adds. Tank the adds in the middle.

DPS
Do not attack boss when aura is on him.
Always kill adds before attacking boss.

Forces of Nightmare

Cenarius calls out forces of Nightmare to aid him.
There are 4 sets of adds and the boss summons 3 of them per time.
After 10 seconds, these adds become hostile (Nightmare adds).

When the boss summons these adds, you can choose to cleanse 1 of them by stacking on that add and Malfurion will place a Cleansing ground on that area (see Malfurion below).

Each of the four set of adds have their own abilities that differs if they are hostile or friendly. You need to see what fits your raid the most and also, what is required based on the fight progression (see Forces of Nightmare below).

The adds will spawn on specific locations. See figure below.

Top left side (Green): Tormented Souls (a big tree) that turns into Corrupted Wisps or Cleansed Wisps

Top Right side (Blue): Corrupted Sapling (small tree) that turns into a Nightmare Ancient or Cleansed Ancient.

Bottom left side (purple): Corrupted Emerald Egg that turns into a Rotten Drake or Cleansed Emerald Drake

Bottom Right side (Red): Corrupted Nature (butterflies) that turns into a Twisted Sister or cleansed Sister.

 

Malfurion Stormrage

Cleansing Ground

Cleanses the ground on the location with largest number of players near it.
Forces of Nightmare that are cleansed in it, transforms into Allies of Nature.
Players within 12 yards of the target have all stacks of Creeping Nightmares cleansed.

Cleansed Ground

Resets your Creeping Nightmare stacks.

The more players standing on the Cleansed ground, or when a player with stacks of Creeping Nightmares enters the Cleansed ground, the more it will shrink.  Cleansed or not Cleansed areas

Tactic: Cleansing ground

Plan ahead what add you want to cleans.
Entire raid stand near the add you want to cleanse. Do not stand on top of it because when the cleansing ground appears (green pool), it will decrease whenever a player enters it.

When you have 20-25 stacks of Creeping Nightmare
Move in and out from the Cleansing Ground (Green Pool) to reset your stacks of Creeping Nightmare

 

Forces of Nightmare – add abilities

Cenarius calls out forces of Nightmare to aid him.
There are 4 sets of adds and the boss summons 3 of them per time.
If these adds are not cleansed in time (with the help of Malfurion), they will become hostile. If cleansed in time they will become you allies.
You can only choose to cleanse one out of the 3 that the boss will summon.

Each of the four set of adds have their own abilities that differs if they are hostile or friendly.

If not cleansed (Forces of Nightmare)

Tormented Souls (a big tree) into Corrupted Wisps

Will turn into Corrupted Wisps if not cleansed that spawns from the sides of the room and travels to a player.

Ability – Destructive Nightmares
When Corrupted wisp reaches a player, it will do Shadow damage to enemies within 8 yards, then searches for a new player to attack.

Tactic Corrupted Wisps

Player target can kite them around until they are dead.
Kill all the Corrupted wisps before they reach the player targeted.

Corrupted Sapling (small tree) into A Nightmare Ancient

A Nightmare Ancient will spawn under the Corrupted Sapling if it is not cleansed.

Ability – Desiccating Stomp
Does very high shadow damage split among all enemies within 8 yards.
If no players take damage from it, it causes Desiccation which does high damage to all players.

Tactic: Nightmare Ancient

Tanks
One tank on boss and the other Tanks the Tree in the middle

Raid
All dps and healers stack on this add and nuke asap when it spawns.

Healers
Use AoE Heal

Corrupted Emerald Egg into a Rotten Drake

A rotten Drake will spawn from the egg if not cleansed.

Ability 1 – Rotten Breath
Faces a random player and does Shadow damage every 1 to enemies in front of the Drake for 4 sec. 

Ability 2 – Nightmare Buffet
At low health, it does Shadow Damage every 2 sec and increase shadow damage taken by 20%.

Tactic: Rotten Drake

Tanks
One tank on boss the other on adds (Drake)
Tank the Drake in the middle (atleast 20y normal or 30y Heroic/mythic).

Raid
Stand around the Drake in a circle

When the drake has low health, everyone nuke it down asap.
Healers use CD´s if needed.

Corrupted Nature (butterflies) into a Twisted Sister

Two Twisted Sister will spawn from the Corrupted Nature if not cleansed.

Ability 1 – Nightmare Javelin
Throws a Spear at a random player that does Shadow damage every 1 sec for 6 sec to enemies within 4 yards to that player.

Tactic
Move away from raid when you have this debuff
Dispell players with this debuff.

Ability 2 – Twisted Touch of life
Heals a wounded add and also healing over time. (Interruptible)

Tactic
Interupt, interrupt, interrupt.

Ability 3 – Scorned Touch
Does high Shadow damage and reduces movement speed by 30% that also spreads to other players within 8 yards.

Tactic
A circle will spawn around you to show the range.
Move away from raid to the outer corner when having this debuff. Preferably to the right side if possible.

 

If cleansed (Allies of Nature)

Tormented Souls (a big tree) into Wisps

Will turn into Wisps if cleansed.

Ability – Cleansing Detonate
Travels around and places small patches of Cleansing ground.
Cleansed Ground
Resets your Creeping Nightmare stacks.
The more players standing on the Cleansed ground, or when a player with stacks of Creeping Nightmares enters the Cleansed ground, the more it will shrink. 

Corrupted Sapling (small tree) into a Cleansed Ancient

A Cleansed Ancient will spawn from the Sapling if it is cleansed.

Ability – Replenishing Roots
Periodically cast Roots which refills mana to nearby allies.

Corrupted Emerald Egg into an Emerald Drake

Emerald Drake will spawn from the Egg if it is cleansed.

Ability – Ancient Dream
Grants the tank with increased healing and the next attack that would otherwise kill you will instead cause you to be healed for 50% of max health (this removes the Ancient Dream).

Corrupted Nature into a Redeemed Sister

A Redeemed Sister will spawn from the Corrupted Nature if it is cleansed.

Ability – Unbound Touch
Grants immunity to Shadow damage and movement impairing effects for 4 sec and increase movement speed by 75%.

 

PHASE 2 – YOUR NIGHTMARE ENDS

When Cenarius health is 30% or after last wave of Forces of Nightmare are defeated, phase 2 starts.
In this phase, you will only have Cenarius, no adds.
You will still have Malfurion helping you with the cleansing.
Big pools will create from time to time because of the ability Spear of Nightmare that hits the tank. The more damage the tank gets, the bigger pool.
The idea is to move the boss around the platform at this phase away from each pool.
Pop Blood lust/Time warp on this phase.

Positioning phase 2

Ranged
Stand in the middle of the platform

Melee
Stand next to the boss

Tank
Start tanking the boss on the outer platform and move the boss backwards every time he does Spear of Nightmare. (Remember to use Mitigation at Spear of nightmare to reduce the pool size that is created after each Spear).

Cenarius

Cenarius has 4 abilities in this phase:

Creeping Nightmares

Corruption on the ground that does Shadow damage and increases Creeping Nightmare damage taken by 20% which also stacks.

Tactic: Creeping Nightmares

This debuff can be removed in one way:
Standing on a Cleansed ground that Malfurion creates

Spear of Nightmares

Does very High Physical damage and increase damage taken by 100% for 25 sec.
Nightmares spawn at the target location and the size of the area is increased based on the damage taken from Spear of Nightmares. This effect stacks.

Tactic: Spear of Nightmare

Tank
Start tanking the boss on the outer platform and move the boss backwards every time he does Spear of Nightmare to move out from the pool that spawns underneath you.

Use Mitigation at each Spear and tank swap after each spear.

The more damage the tank gets the bigger pool is created.

Nightmare Brambles

Summons Bramble circles on the ground that fixates a player.
If a player touches it, it will root the player and do Shadow damage every 2 seconds.

Tactic: Nightmare Brambles

Move away from the raid and wait until all Bramble pools are done (done fixating you) then run back to position.

These Barmbles needs to be removed or they will be all over the platform.
Use any class cooldown that can step on them without getting rooted and also getting reduced damage.

Entangling Nightmares

Cenarius roots Malfurion which stuns him and does Shadow Damage every 1 sec.

Tactic: Entangling Nightmares

Destroy the root on Malfurion.

 

What you should cleanse

It is always the same setup off adds that will spawn each time.
You need to see what fits your raid the most and also, what is required based on the fight progression. But this is the general approach according to me.

First Forces of Nightmare

  • Wisps (No)
  • Drake (Yes, cleanse the egg)
  • Tree (no)

The first Forces of Nightmare comes almost directly when you start the fight. Therefore, it doesn’t really matter what buff is best for the raid because you will not have many stacks of Creeping Nightmare debuff (so wisps allies are not that needed). You will not have lack of mana on healers because the fight just started (so Ancient Tree buff is not needed). You will not have loads of damage on tanks (so Emerald drake buff is not needed).

Therefore, at the first Forces of nightmare you need to think what adds are most troublesome if they turn hostile.

Wisps have little health and should be nuked down asap when they spawn. If you cleanse this you have to tank 2 big adds with abilities that damage the raid and tanks. So not a good choice.

The tree does damage in which you have to stack to share the damage and the tree needs to be tanked. This is not that hard. So not a good choice.

The Drake does targets a player and does breath on the player and players close by. Also the drake does loads of AoE damage when at low health. So this is the best choice to cleanse at start.

Second Forces of Nightmare

  • Wisps (No) but a good option if your raid have ti high stacks of debuff and need more cleansing.
  • Drake (No) but a good option if players can handle Twisted sister mechanics and have good dps.
  • Twisted Sister (Yes, cleanse)

At this stage your raid have more stacks but should still be able to cleanse it on the green pool that Malfurion creates. Also the wisps can be killed very fast if they turn hostile. (so cleansing wisps not needed).

Twisted sister has many abilities that damage the raid and some cannot be dispelled. Also she heals the adds and boss if not interrupted. If you cleanse it it will make you immune to Shadow damage which is the major damage in this fight. This is the best choice to cleanse.

The drake is a good option (see above), and it depends on the dps. If you have good dps and ppl can handle the mechanics that twisted sister does, then cleanse the drake egg and nuke the Twisted sister instead because it has lower health.

Third Forces of Nightmare

  • Tree (Yes, cleanse)
  • Sister (no)
  • Sister (no)

Best choice here is to cleanse the Tree because the raid takes a lot of damage and this will really help the healers when they get mana regen now. Also, the sister has abilities in which you need to spread and that will make everything more complicated when you have to stack on the tree (since you need to share the stomp damage) if it is hostile.

Just beware that many players will be affected by debuffs on this part and have to spread from each other.
Healers need to dispel.
Good to have players assigned to focus the interrupt on the sisters so they don’t heal adds and boss.

 

Cenarius: Detailed Guide of movement roles and what to cleanse

This is what I think is the best way. Remember, it also comes down to what is best for you, what raid setup you have and what is needed during the fight.

The positioning depends on what add you want to cleanse when the boss does Forces of Nightmare

He does Forces of Nightmare almoust directly at pull.

The adds that start spawning when the boss casts Forces of Nightmare are spawned on specific locations.

Top left side (Green): Tormented Souls (a big tree) that turns into Corrupted Wisps or Cleansed Wisps

Top Right side (Blue): Corrupted Sapling (small tree) that turns into a Nightmare Ancient or Cleansed Ancient.

Bottom left side (purple): Corrupted Emerald Egg that turns into a Rotten Drake or Cleansed Emerald Drake

Bottom Right side (Red): Corrupted Nature (butterflies) that turns into a Twisted Sister or cleansed Sister.

At pull – First Forces of Nightmare

The first setup of adds are:

* Wisps
* Drake – will be cleansed
* Tree

Tanks
Bring the boss to bottom left side (diamond), in order to cleanse the egg first.
When adds come, tank them in the middle because of the boss aura that reflects damage.

Ranged dps
* Stand close to boss at Forces of Nightmare. but beware so you don’t stand on top of the egg because when Malfurion cleanses, it a green pool will spawn and the more players are touching it, there more it shrinks. And you need it to be untouched at start.
* When adds come Stack on the tree to share the damage from stomp.
* Nuke the wisps fast and then attack the tree.

Healers
Stand close to boss at Forces of Nightmare. but beware so you don’t stand on top of the egg because when Malfurion cleanses it, a green pool will spawn and the more players are touching it, there more it shrinks. And you need it to be untouched at start.  

Melee
* Stand next to boss but beware so you don’t stand on top of the egg because when Malfurion cleanses it, a green pool will spawn and the more players are touching it, there more it shrinks. And you need it to be untouched at start.
* When adds come Stack on the tree to share the damage from stomp.
* Nuke the wisps fast and then attack the tree.  

Raid
Move away from raid with Brambles and do not run between boss and adds with it.
Have dedicated players to run on the Bramble pools to remove them (players that can take damage and immune to root, for example Divine Shield).  

After 20-25 stacks of Creeping Nightmare debuff, run in and out from the green pool (cleansed ground).  

 

Second Forces of Nightmare

The second setup of adds are:

* Wisps
* Drake
* Twisted Sister – Will be cleansed

Tanks
Bring the boss to bottom right side (red), in order to cleanse the Butterflies first.
When adds come, tank them in the middle because of the boss aura that reflects damage.

When Drake comes from bottom right side (diamond), one tank picks it up and tanks it in the middle.

Dps

Stand close to boss when he casts Forces of Nightmare in order to cleanse that add on red.

When adds spawn
Stand in the middle in a circle around the drake.
Focus the wisps first then attack the drake.

Raid
Move away from raid with Brambles and do not run between boss and adds with it.
Have dedicated players to run on the Bramble pools to remove them.
Use the buff from cleansed sister (that gives immunity to Shadow damage) to remove the Bramble pools.

After 20-25 stacks of Creeping Nightmare debuff, run in and out from the green pool (cleansed ground).  

 

Third forces of nightmare

This part doesn’t doesn’t always happen because the dps will maybe take down the boss to 30% which starts phase 2. But, if it happens:

The third setup of adds are:

* Sister
* Sister
* Tree – will be cleansed, in order to regen mana for healers.

Tanks
Move the boss to Top right side (blue)

Other tank, move to red to pick up the 2 Sisters and tank them in the middle.

Raid
After 20-25 stacks of Creeping Nightmare debuff, run in and out from the green pool (cleansed ground).  

Ranged dps
Stay spread around the 2 sisters.
Nuke them one by one.
Interrupt: Twisted Touch of Life (this heals adds and boss).
Make sure you are not close to anyone else if u get the debuff Scorned Touch or Javelin.

Melee
Stay spread around the 2 sisters.
Nuke them one by one.
Interrupt: Twisted Touch of Life (this heals adds and boss).
Move out and away from raid when you get the debuff Scorned Tourch.

Healers
Stand near the Tree so you get mana regen.
Dispell players with Nightmare Javelin.

The boss summons forces 6 times before phase 2 (or when he has 30% HP). 

PHASE 2

Tank
Start tanking boss on an outer corner.
When he does spear, use mitigation to reduce damage from it.
Tank swap at each spear.
Move away from the pool that is created underneath you and tank boss just next to the pool.
Walk backwards and alongside the outer wall at each spear/pool.

Raid
Move away from raid with Brambles and do not run between boss and adds with it.
Have dedicated players to run on the Bramble pools to remove them.

After 20-25 stacks of Creeping Nightmare debuff, run in and out from the green pool (cleansed ground).  

Ranged
Stand in the middle.
Ranged dps nuke the roots on Malfurion when he gets it.

Melee
Stand next to boss, not behind. This way you can avoid the pools easier.
Dps the roots on Malfurion when he gets it.

 

27 Sep 2016