Emerald Nightmare Tanking Guide

• Positioning Tank near the center of the room, so that the raid can more easily avoid her dragon breath.

Stage 1: The Plagued Dreamer (Dragon phase)

• Tank Swap Run Away Damage Reduction When afflicted with Volatile Rot, run as far away from your raid as you can.
  • Ideally, run to a wall or designated Infested Ground dropping area. It deals less raid damage the further other people are to the afflicted tank, and the pools need to be out of everyone’s way.
  • Use a cooldown or active mitigation before Volatile Rot expires.
• Environmental Dangers Run out of Infested Breath before she finishes the cast. She aims it in a random direction.

Stage 2: Heart of the Swarm (Bug phase)

• Environmental Dangers Distance yourself from insects before they explode with Burst of Corruption.

• Positioning Tank near the center of the room, so that the raid can more easily avoid her dragon breath.
• Environmental Dangers Each application of plague damage applies a stack of Infested, which is a stacking DoT that doesn’t fall off until the phase change. Avoid unnecessary sources (Infested Breath, Infested Ground).

Stage 1: The Plagued Dreamer (Dragon phase)

• Tank Swap Run Away Damage Reduction When afflicted with Volatile Rot, run as far away from your raid as you can.
  • Ideally, run to a wall or designated Infested Ground dropping area. It deals less raid damage the further other people are to the afflicted tank, and the pools need to be out of everyone’s way.
  • Use a cooldown or active mitigation before Volatile Rot expires.
• Environmental Dangers Run out of Infested Breath before she finishes the cast. She aims it in a random direction.

Stage 2: Heart of the Swarm (Bug phase)

• Environmental Dangers Distance yourself from insects before they explode with Burst of Corruption.

• Positioning Tank near the center of the room, so that the raid can more easily avoid her dragon breath.
• Environmental Dangers Each application of plague damage applies a stack of Infested, which is a stacking DoT that doesn’t fall off until the phase change. Avoid unnecessary sources (Infested Breath, Infested Ground).
  • Interrupt Change Targets When the boss casts Infested Mind, anyone with more than 10 stacks of Infested will be mind-controlled. If possible, interrupt and attack the afflicted players to break the mind-control.
  • Tanks need to time their mind-controls so that they don’t happen at the same time. Stand in puddles to ensure you are mind-controlled at the right time.
  • Mind controls will often happen at the same time the other tank needs to run away from the raid. Use defensive cooldowns if you are running away because you’ll also have to tank the boss until the mind-control is broken on the other tank.

Stage 1: The Plagued Dreamer (Dragon phase)

• Tank Swap Run Away Damage Reduction When afflicted with Volatile Rot, run as far away from your raid as you can.
  • Ideally, run to a wall or designated Infested Ground dropping area. It deals less raid damage the further other people are to the afflicted tank, and the pools need to be out of everyone’s way.
  • Use a cooldown or active mitigation before Volatile Rot expires.
• Environmental Dangers Run out of Infested Breath before she finishes the cast. She aims it in a random direction.

Stage 2: Heart of the Swarm (Bug phase)

• Environmental Dangers Distance yourself from insects before they explode with Burst of Corruption.

• Infrequent but long-distance movement away from boss.
• Ranged defensive abilities are helpful for the tank debuff.
• Dangerous magical damage (plague), both burst and damage over time in heroic+.
• Vengeance
  • Cooldowns: Empower Wards for tank debuff, possibly with Soul Barrier for ranged damage reduction.
  • Talents that I used: Agonizing Flames, Feast of Souls, Felblade, Fracture (for off tanking), Concentrated Sigils, Fel Devastation (for mythic MC), Soul Barrier
  • Use Sigils, especially Chains (Silence if necessary, but it angers people), in mythic to interrupt MCs
• Brewmaster
  • Transcendence to return after dropping the tank debuff
  • Standard talent build (Eye of the Tiger, Chi Torpedo, Light Brewing, Black Ox Statue, Healing Elixir, Special Delivery, High Tolerance)

• Positioning Tank near the edge of the platforms, so that the raid has more space to manage their mechanics.
• Environmental Dangers Avoid eggs on the edge of the platforms, the small purple tornadoes, Twisting Shadows, and the green circles, Venomous Pool.

Spider Phase

• Adds Watch Positioning When the boss retreats out of range, pick up Venomous Spiderlings. Upon death, each Venomous Spiderling drops a Venomous Pool. The add tank will need to drag the spiders away from the raid so that the pools are out of the way.
• Environmental Dangers Before the boss returns, run out of the giant green circle, Vile Ambush. It does less damage the further you are from it.

Roc (Bird) Phase

• Environmental Dangers During Gathering Clouds, you’ll be pushed toward the edge of the platform. Avoid any of the present environmental dangers (pools, tornadoes).
• Change Position Follow the boss as she flies to the next platform.
  • The boss tank should walk through a Shimmering Feather and use it to jump to the boss ASAP. When the rest of the raid arrives, use the Extra Action Button to stomp on the spiders and kill them.
  • Adds If not tanking the boss, pick up Venomous Spiderlings, which spawn as your raid traverses the web bridge between platforms. Remember to position them out of the way before they die.
• Tank Swap Magic Damage Reduction Cleave Taunt after Raking Talons, point the boss away from the raid.

• Positioning Tank near the edge of the platforms, so that the raid has more space to manage their mechanics.
• Environmental Dangers Avoid eggs on the edge of the platforms, the small purple tornadoes, Twisting Shadows, and the green circles, Venomous Pool.

Spider Phase

• Watch Positioning Web of Pain reflects the damage between the two tanks. Stay within 20 yards of your co-tank to keep the damage manageable.
• Environmental Dangers Adds Watch Positioning When the boss retreats to her web, run out of the giant green circle, Vile Ambush. It does less damage the further you are from it.
  • One tank should pick up Venomous Spiderlings. Upon death, each Venomous Spiderling drops a Venomous Pool. Drag the spiders away from the raid so that the pools are out of the way.
  • Remember that if the add tank goes beyond 20 yards from the boss tank, both will need to use cooldowns.

Roc (Bird) Phase

• Change Position Adds Follow the boss as she flies to the next platform.
  • The boss tank should walk through a Shimmering Feather and use it to jump to the boss ASAP. When the rest of the raid arrives, use the Extra Action Button to stomp on the spiders and kill them.
  • If not tanking the boss, pick up Venomous Spiderlings, which spawn as your raid traverses the web bridge between platforms. Remember to position them out of the way before they die.
• Tank Swap Magic Damage Reduction Cleave Taunt very quickly off your co-tank after they take the first Raking Talons, as she will cast another in a few seconds.
  • She will follow it up with a cleave, Razor Wing, which you can sidestep out of.

• Positioning Tank near the edge of the platforms, so that the raid has more space to manage their mechanics.
• Environmental Dangers Avoid eggs on the edge of the platforms, the small purple tornadoes, Twisting Shadows, and the green circles, Venomous Pool.

Spider Phase

• Watch Positioning Web of Pain reflects the damage between the two tanks. When adds aren’t up, stay within 20 yards of your co-tank to keep the damage manageable.
  • The web binding between the two tanks deals damage and knocks anyone back who crosses it, so keep your movement predictable for other players to avoid.
• Environmental Dangers Adds Watch Positioning When the boss retreats to her web, run out of the giant green circle, Vile Ambush. It does less damage the further you are from it.
  • One tank should pick up Venomous Spiderlings. Upon death, each Venomous Spiderling drops a Venomous Pool. Drag the spiders away from the raid and the boss so that the pools are out of the way.
  • If adds are too close to the boss, they will buff her damage significantly via Swarm. Pick them up quickly and position them far away.
  • Remember that if the add tank goes beyond 20 yards from the boss tank, both will need to use cooldowns.
  • Environmental Dangers Adds On the first platform, Vile Ambush will leave behind webbing on the ground, Tangled Webs, which will spawn additional Venomous Spiderlings if stepped on. Get out of the webs quickly and pick up any accidental spiders.
  • Adds On the third platform, Vile Ambush will spawn spider eggs. The raid may wish to hatch these spiders before she hatches all of them, so if that’s the case the tanks will need to walk over a few eggs while they are not tanking the boss.

Roc (Bird) Phase

• Change Position Adds Follow the boss as she flies to the next platform.
  • The boss tank should walk through a Shimmering Feather and use it to jump to the boss ASAP. When the rest of the raid arrives, use the Extra Action Button to stomp on the spiders and kill them.
  • If not tanking the boss, pick up Venomous Spiderlings, which spawn as your raid traverses the web bridge between platforms. Remember to position them out of the way before they die.
• Magic Damage Reduction On the second platform, the boss will rush to a random side of the area and cast Violent Winds. About half of the raid will need to help soak it to weaken the pushback and damage. Tanks will also need to alternate soaking each cast.
• Tank Swap Magic Damage Reduction Cleave Taunt very quickly off your co-tank after they take the first Raking Talons, as she will cast another in a few seconds.
  • She will follow it up with a cleave, Razor Wing, which you can sidestep out of.

• Long distance movement
• Frequent add pickup
• Dealing burst AoE damage
• Burst magic damage, magic DoTs
• Vengeance: can Infernal Strike and glide over most of the webs, reducing spiders during platform transitions.
  • Talents I used in normal/heroic: Agonizing Flames, Fallout, Felblade, Soul Rending, Sigil of Chains, Fel Devastation, Soul Barrier (for adds and Raking Talons)
  • Talents I used in mythic: Agonizing Flames, Burning Alive (for big add packs), Felblade, Soul Rending, Quickened Sigils, Fel Devastation, Nether Bond or Soul Barrier
  • Cooldowns
    • Big spider packs need cooldowns, I had a rotation of Fiery Brand (with Burning Alive) + Fel Devastation, Metamorphosis, Soul Barrier (if talented), and Empower Wards.
    • Bird phase cooldowns: Most of her big attacks are magical (Raking Talons and Violet Winds), so I used Empower Wards frequently, and rotated Fiery Brand and Nether Bond / Soul Barrier. I had an especially hard time surviving Violent Winds since it often pushed me out of Soul Cleave range, which is where Nether Bond on my co-tank came in handy.
• Brewmaster: statue!
  • Place transcendence on the rock island if you have to cross the bridge.
  • Important Talents: Black Ox Statue for tanking spiders. Place it where you want to tank spiders, and at the end of the web bridge to pick up any that spawn as the raid runs over. Rushing Jade Wind for picking up stray spiders and holding them.
  • Ironskin Brew is usually enough for Raking Talons and Violent Winds, though if you’re struggling with Violent Winds then Diffuse Magic is a solid choice

Phase 1: The Ruined Ground

• Adds Physical Damage Reduction Tank Dominator Tentacles.
  • They channel Nightmarish Fury onto the tank, which deals heavy physical damage.
  • Avoid Ground Slam (brown earthy projection).
• Adds Cleave Tank Swap Environmental Dangers Tank Nightmare Horror (extra large adds) when they spawn.
  • Face them toward a wall so your raid doesn’t get hit by Eye of Fate.
  • Tank swap at 2 to 3 stacks of Eye of Fate.
  • Shift the adds when pools of Nightmare Corruption form under its feet.

Phase 2: The Heart of Corruption

• There is nothing to tank. Pop your damage dealing cooldowns (if you have them) and go to town.
• Run away If you are targeted with Cursed Blood, run to the edge of the chamber, spread apart from others, before the debuff ends.
• Leave the chamber before Dark Reconstitution ends.

Phase 1: The Ruined Ground

• Adds Physical Damage Reduction Tank Dominator Tentacles.
  • They channel Nightmarish Fury onto the tank, which deals heavy physical damage. This increases physical damage inflicted, so the longer they’re alive the harder this will hit.
  • Avoid Ground Slam (brown earthy projection).
• Adds Cleave Tank Swap Environmental Dangers Tank Nightmare Horror (extra large adds) when they spawn.
  • Face them toward a wall so your raid doesn’t get hit by Eye of Fate.
  • Tank swap at 2 to 3 stacks of Eye of Fate.
  • Shift the adds when pools of Nightmare Corruption form under its feet.

Phase 2: The Heart of Corruption

• There is nothing to tank. Pop your damage dealing cooldowns (if you have them) and go to town.
• Run away If you are targeted with Cursed Blood, run to the edge of the chamber, spread apart from others, before the debuff ends.
• Leave the chamber before Dark Reconstitution ends.

Phase 1: The Ruined Ground

• Adds Physical Damage Reduction Tank Dominator Tentacles.
  • They channel Nightmarish Fury onto the tank, which deals heavy physical damage. This increases physical damage inflicted, so the longer they’re alive the harder this will hit.
  • Avoid Ground Slam (brown earthy projection).
• Adds Cleave Tank Swap Environmental Dangers Tank Nightmare Horror (extra large adds) when they spawn.
  • Face them toward a wall so your raid doesn’t get hit by Eye of Fate.
  • Tank swap at 2 stacks of Eye of Fate.
  • Shift the adds when pools of Nightmare Corruption form under its feet.
• When ooze adds explode, they debuff everyone in the raid with Nightmare Explosion. Use cooldowns when more than one is popped at the same time.
• When pillars of red light (Death Blossom) appear around the battlefield, stand in one to soak it. All pillars must be soaked.

Phase 2: The Heart of Corruption

• There is nothing to tank. Pop your damage dealing cooldowns (if you have them) and go to town.
• Run away If you are targeted with Cursed Blood, run to the edge of the chamber, spread apart from others, before the debuff ends.
• Stand out of the red ground cover, Nightmare Corruption.
• Leave the chamber before Dark Reconstitution ends.

• Helpful to deal burst AoE damage.
• Dps cooldowns for the heart phase.
• Long distance movement for frequent target switches.
• Vengeance
  • Cooldowns: 1st Eye of Fate – Empower Wards, 2nd – Fiery Brand, 3rd – Empower Wards + Meta + Soul Barrier
  • Talents that I used: Agonizing Flames, Feast of Souls, Felblade, Feed the Demon, Sigil of Chains, Fel Devastation, Soul Barrier
• Brewmaster
  • Cooldowns: Ironskin Brew for everything, though the second Eye of Fate will bring you pretty low, you’ll probably get an Ox orb or two to recover
  • Talents: Niuzao for the heart phase
  • Transcendence near the second Destructor Tentacle spawn point so you can get there quickly after the heart phase

• Positioning Tank by the wall so that your raid has room to manage their mechanics.
• Tank Swap Damage Reduction Taunt swap such that one tank gets Overwhelm and the other tank gets Rend Flesh. These abilities are alternated.
• Damage Reduction At 30% health, Ursoc will enrage, dealing significantly more damage (Blood Frenzy).

• Positioning Tank by the wall so that your raid has room to manage their mechanics.
• Tank Swap Damage Reduction Taunt swap such that one tank gets a max of 2 stacks of Overwhelm and the other tank gets Rend Flesh. These abilities are alternated.
  • Taunt when your cotank gains Overwhelm or Rend Flesh.
  • Taunt when your Overwhelm or Rend Flesh expires.
  • You should never have both debuffs at the same time.
• Damage Reduction At 30% health, Ursoc will enrage, dealing significantly more damage (Blood Frenzy).

• Positioning Tank by the wall so that your raid has room to manage their mechanics. After each Roaring Cacophony, shift the boss along the wall to get out of range of Miasma and Nightmarish Cacophony (roughly 20 yards).
• Tank Swap Damage Reduction Taunt swap such that one tank gets a max of 2 stacks of Overwhelm and the other tank gets Rend Flesh. These abilities are alternated.
  • Taunt when your cotank gains Overwhelm or Rend Flesh.
  • Taunt when your Overwhelm or Rend Flesh expires.
  • You should never have both debuffs at the same time.
• Damage Reduction Mitigate the damage of raid mechanics that deal damage to everyone, Roaring Cacophony and Barreling Impact.
• Damage Reduction At 30% health, Ursoc will enrage, dealing significantly more damage (Blood Frenzy).

• Positioning Tank by the wall so that your raid has room to manage their mechanics. After each Roaring Cacophony, shift the boss along the wall to get out of range of Miasma and Nightmarish Cacophony (roughly 20 yards).
• Positioning Adds Pick up Nightmare Image adds (giant shadowy bears) spawn after each Roaring Cacophony.
  • When they die, they will drop another Miasma, requiring more repositioning.
• Tank Swap Damage Reduction Taunt swap such that one tank gets a max of 2 stacks of Overwhelm and the other tank gets Rend Flesh. These abilities are alternated.
  • Taunt when your cotank gains Overwhelm or Rend Flesh.
  • Taunt when your Overwhelm or Rend Flesh expires.
  • You should never have both debuffs at the same time.
• Damage Reduction Mitigate the damage of raid mechanics that deal damage to everyone, Roaring Cacophony and Barreling Impact.
• Damage Reduction At 30% health, Ursoc will enrage, dealing significantly more damage (Blood Frenzy).

• Survive very heavy sustained and burst physical damage
• Single target
• Death protection can be especially helpful
• Most complexity comes from timing your taunt swaps and monitoring debuffs, so consider talent choices that simplify your rotation so that you can focus on everything else.
• If possible, save healing for Rend Flesh, damage reduction for Overwhelm (especially the second Overwhelm stack).
• Be stingy on active mitigation, prioritizing damage reduction AM for Overwhelms. It can be easy to panic at low health and use AM, but you’ll regret it later if you don’t have anything for Overwhelm later.
• Vengeance
  • Defenses: Save Demon Spikes for Overwhelm and Barreling Impact. Use Soul Cleave for Rend Flesh. Fiery Brand while moving in heroic+.
  • Talents I used (prioritizing simplicity): Agonizing Flames, Feast of Souls, Felblade, Feed the Demon, Concentrated Sigils, Blade Turning, Last Resort
• Brewmaster
  • Defenses: Ironskin Brew for Overwhelms and the melee/tank soaked Barreling Impact. Usually an Overwhelm comes right after the Barreling Impact so save Purify for after that. Save ox orbs for Rend Flesh if possible, and save brews for Overwhelms.
  • Talents: Light Brewing, High Tolerance

• This fight includes Ysondre, one dragon on the ground, and one dragon inactive in the air. Besides Ysondre, the dragons change every week. Ysondre is always grounded, but the other two swap partway through the fight, each with a few different abilities.
• Positioning Each tank will pull one dragon and position on opposite sides of the room, each with half the raid.
• Cleave Face the bosses away from the raid so your allies don’t get hit with Corrupted Breath.
• Tank Swap When each tank reaches about 6-8 stacks of any Mark of <Dragon> debuff they must trade dragons. The tanks should stay with their half of the raid, only the dragons should change.
  • You will need to perform a similar tank swap maneuver when a new dragon lands.
  • Time your swaps soon after adds die or after the dragon breaths so that you don’t need to worry about those mechanics as the dragons move.
  • You absolutely must swap dragons before you reach 10 stacks of any single Mark of <Dragon> debuff to avoid Slumbering Nightmare.
• Adds Pick up any adds that spawn.
  • Shades of Taerar have a dragon breath as well.
• Stand in Nightmare Bloom, the pillar of reddish light, if it spawns near you.
• Environmental Dangers Stay out of any other things that look dangerous, like green clouds (Seeping Fog) and purple swirls (Gloom)

• This fight includes Ysondre, one dragon on the ground, and one dragon attacking from the air. Besides Ysondre, the dragons change every week. Ysondre is always grounded, but the other two swap partway through the fight, each with a few different abilities.
• Positioning Each tank will pull one dragon and position on opposite sides of the room, each with half the raid.
• Cleave Face the bosses away from the raid so your allies don’t get hit with Corrupted Breath.
• Tank Swap When each tank reaches about 6-8 stacks of any Mark of <Dragon> debuff they must trade dragons. The tanks should stay with their half of the raid, only the dragons should change.
  • You will need to perform a similar tank swap maneuver when a new dragon lands.
  • Time your swaps soon after adds die or after the dragon breaths so that you don’t need to worry about those mechanics as the dragons move.
  • You absolutely must swap dragons before you reach 10 stacks of any single Mark of <Dragon> debuff to avoid Slumbering Nightmare.
• Adds Pick up any adds that spawn.
  • Shades of Taerar have a dragon breath as well.
  • Dread Horrors, which come from unsoaked Nightmare Bloom, reduce damage dealt.
• Stand in Nightmare Bloom, the pillar of reddish light, if it spawns near you.
• Environmental Dangers Stay out of any other things that look dangerous, like green clouds (Seeping Fog), purple swirls (Gloom), and giant exploding mushrooms that spawn from dead adds.
• Damage Reduction If Taerar is in the air, he will cast Bellowing Roar, which fears everyone for 3 seconds. Use cooldowns and top yourself off beforehand.

• This fight includes Ysondre, one dragon on the ground, and two dragons attacking from the air. Ysondre is always grounded, but the other three swap partway through the fight, each with a few different abilities.
• Positioning Each tank will pull one dragon and position on opposite sides of the room, each with half the raid.
• Cleave Face the bosses away from the raid so your allies don’t get hit with Corrupted Breath. They also have Tail Lash, knocking back any players who step behind them.
• Tank Swap When each tank reaches about 6-8 stacks of any Mark of <Dragon> debuff they must trade dragons. The tanks should stay with their half of the raid, only the dragons should change.
  • You will need to perform a similar tank swap maneuver when a new dragon lands.
  • Time your swaps soon after adds die or after the dragon breaths so that you don’t need to worry about those mechanics as the dragons move.
  • You absolutely must swap dragons before you reach 10 stacks of any single Mark of <Dragon> debuff to avoid Slumbering Nightmare.
• Adds Pick up any adds that spawn.
  • Shades of Taerar have a dragon breath as well.
  • Dread Horrors, which come from unsoaked Nightmare Bloom, reduce damage dealt.
• Stand in Nightmare Bloom, the pillar of reddish light, if it spawns near you.
• Environmental Dangers Stay out of any other things that look dangerous, like green clouds (Seeping Fog), purple swirls (Gloom), and giant exploding mushrooms that spawn from dead adds.
• Damage Reduction If Taerar is in the air, he will cast Bellowing Roar, which fears everyone for 3 seconds. Use cooldowns and top yourself off beforehand.
• In Mythic, one of the four portals around the room will open up and a small team will need to enter it. However, a tank is not needed for this.

• Taunt swapping requires some long-distance movement, but not much small scale movement the rest of the fight.
• Most complexity comes from timing your dragon swaps, so consider talent choices that simplify your rotation so that you can focus on everything else.
• Not much damage on the tanks, but as the raid is separated, you have fewer healers and self healing comes in handy.
• Vengeance
  • Talents: Abyssal Strike (taunt swap), Feast of Souls (healing), Sigil of Chains (group up the adds)
• Brewmaster
  • Talents: Chi Torpedo (taunt swap), Gift of the Mists (healing), Black Ox Statue (add pickup)

Stage One: Forces of Nightmare!

• Positioning One tank will hold the boss near the edge of the room, while the the other tank handles the adds which will be held near the center so that they don’t get buffed by Thorns.
• Watch Boss Buffs When tanking Cenarius, be aware of Aura of Dread Thorns. You should still attack the boss, but be aware that the more damage you do the more you’ll take.
• Adds Various adds will spawn in each of the four corners of the room, though not all at once. They also take a while to activate.
  • Wisps: Don’t need to be tanked.
  • Dragon: Environmental Danger Breath in a random direction and hit the tank very hard.
  • Twisted Sister:  Interrupt Twisted Touch of Life must be interrupted.
  • Nightmare Ancient:  Positioning Tanked near others to help soak Stomp.

Phase 2: Your Nightmare Ends!

• Tank Swap Physical Damage Reduction Change Position Swap after each Spear of Nightmares. Use your strongest physical damage reduction tools for Spear of Nightmares.
  • Spear of Nightmares also drops a pool of Nightmares, the size of which is depends on how much you reduced Spear of Nightmares.
  • Shift the boss over to get out of the pool of Nightmares, but be conservative with space.

Stage One: Forces of Nightmare!

• Positioning One tank will hold the boss near the edge of the room, while the the other tank handles the adds which will be held near the center so that they don’t get buffed by Thorns.
• Watch Boss Buffs When tanking Cenarius, be aware of Aura of Dread Thorns. You should still attack the boss, but be aware that the more damage you do the more you’ll take.
• Clear Creeping Nightmares by briefly stepping in green flowers, Cleansed Ground, that appear at the beginning of each wave. Tanks only need to clear their stacks about once per wave.
• Adds Various adds will spawn in each of the four corners of the room, though not all at once. They also take a while to activate.
  • Wisps: Don’t need to be tanked.
  • Dragon: Environmental Danger Breath in a random direction and hit the tank very hard.
  • Twisted Sister:  Interrupt Twisted Touch of Life must be interrupted. If you get Scorned Touch, melee should position themselves outside of your circle.
  • Nightmare Ancient:  Positioning Tanked near others to help soak Stomp.

Phase 2: Your Nightmare Ends!

• Tank Swap Physical Damage Reduction Change Position Swap after each Spear of Nightmares. Use your strongest physical damage reduction tools for Spear of Nightmares.
  • Spear of Nightmares also drops a pool of Nightmares, the size of which is depends on how much you reduced Spear of Nightmares.
  • Shift the boss over to get out of the pool of Nightmares, but be conservative with space.
• Continue to reset Creeping Nightmares by stepping on Cleansed Ground when not tanking.
• Quickly pull Cenarius stand inside Cleansed Ground as he will consume it.

Stage One: Forces of Nightmare!

• The popular strategy for mythic Cenarius uses three tanks, one picks up the dragons and two handle the taunt swaps on the boss and other adds.
  • It is possible to two tank this, one tank on dragons and the other uses dps taunt swaps to manage tank debuffs.
• Dragon tank: Pick up the dragons as they spawn (1st & 3rd waves)
  • Tank them on the far side of the room from the rest of the raid.
  • They do a lot of damage, especially when both are up, but that’s about it.
  • Continue to clear Creeping Nightmares, but time it after the breaths so you don’t risk the dragons breathing on the raid while you’re running around.
  • See “Notes” tab for more details.
• Cleave Tank Swap Nightmare Blast
  • If 2 tanking the boss, swap at 2 stacks (assuming you only get 4 total before progressing to Phase 2).
  • If single tanking the boss, with strong cooldowns you can take all 4 before progressing to Phase 2.
• Positioning Of the two tanks on the boss, one will hold the boss near the edge of the room, while the the other tank picks up and carries the non-dragon adds to the boss.
• Watch Boss Buffs When tanking Cenarius, be aware of Aura of Dread Thorns. You should still attack the boss, but be aware that the more damage you do the more you’ll take.
• Clear Creeping Nightmares by briefly stepping in green flowers, Cleansed Ground, that appear at the beginning of each wave. Tanks only need to clear their stacks about once per wave.
• Adds Various adds will spawn in each of the four corners of the room, though not all at once. They also take a while to activate.
  • Wisps: Don’t need to be tanked.
  • Twisted Sister:  Interrupt Twisted Touch of Life must be interrupted. If you get Scorned Touch, melee should position themselves outside of your circle.
  • Nightmare Ancient:  Positioning Tanked near others to help soak Stomp.

Phase 2: Your Nightmare Ends!

• Tank Swap Physical Damage Reduction Change Position Swap after each Spear of Nightmares. Use your strongest physical damage reduction tools for Spear of Nightmares.
  • Spear of Nightmares also drops a pool of Nightmares, the size of which is depends on how much you reduced Spear of Nightmares.
  • Shift the boss over to get out of the pool of Nightmares, but be conservative with space.
• Continue to reset Creeping Nightmares by stepping on Cleansed Ground when not tanking.
• Quickly pull Cenarius stand inside Cleansed Ground as he will consume it.
• Change Position Avoid the waves of ghostly adds (Beasts of Nightmare) that appear at random sides of the room and march across it, similar to Cordana in Vault of the Wardens, except they’re always visible. 

• Normal/Heroic
  • Grips (Deathgrip, Gorefiend’s Grasp, Sigil of Chains) are especially helpful for add management.
  • Adds spawn in far corners of the room, so long range threat is useful.
  • The add tank should have high mobility to quickly pick up adds as they spawn and run to Cleansed Ground.
  • Vengeance
    • Especially good at add management since it requires a lot of long-distance movement.
    • Talents I used: Abyssal Strike, Burning Alive, Felblade, Soul Rending, Sigil of Chains, Fel Devastation, Soul Barrier
    • Cooldowns: Fiery Brand (with Burning Alive) at the beginning of each wave. For Nightmare Spear, a rotation and combination of Soul Barrier (with many Soul Fragments), Fiery Brand, Demon Spikes, and trinkets.
  • Brewmaster
    • Transcendence to move around quickly. I dropped it & my statue in the middle of the room to position the adds quickly.
    • Talents: Black Ox Statue (to help pick up adds)
• Tanking dragons on mythic
  • Focus on self healing (since you’ll probably just have one full time healer paying attention to you)
  • Your dps doesn’t matter at all on the dragons. The only time you’ll care about dps is for the first 30s or so that you’re on the boss.
  • Long distance movement is helpful for picking up dragons and getting your DoT cleansed
  • Time active mitigation around the breath (where you don’t need it) and DoT stacks.
  • Big defensive cooldown moments: when the second dragon spawns, after the first Nightmare Spear where everyone has to move
  • Brewmaster: Chi Torpedo (long distance movement), Gift of the Mists (for healing), Healing Elixir, Niuzao (if you can send him to attack the boss), Elusive Dance (to give your one healer a break in damage)
  • Vengeance: Abyssal Strike (long distance movement), Burning Alive (when the second dragon spawns, damage intake is very risky), Soul Barrier (to counter the DoT at high stacks)

• At the beginning of each phase, one tank will be randomly selected to enter the Dream. They will have different responsibilities, and should use cooldowns liberally as they reset once exiting the Dream.
• Environmental Danger Use physical damage reduction while inside the giant pink circles, Crushing Shadows. Run out of small pink swirls, Unfathomable Reality.

Phase 1: The Descent Into Madness

• Tank Swap Run Away Magic Damage Reduction Taunt at 3 to 4 stacks of Darkening Soul. When not tanking, distance yourself from the raid and call for a dispel, and use some sort of damage reduction.
• Dreaming Tank:
  • Adds Cleave Taunt the Corruption Horror. Tank it near the boss, but be careful not to face it toward others.
  • While the Corruption Horror is alive, you cannot easily dispel Darkening Soul, so keep tank swapping to a minimum during that period.
• Awake Tank: Primarily on the boss.
  • While the Corruption Horror is up, you’ll have to take higher stacks of Darkening Soul. You can still swap tanks, but you should take the boss back as soon as you are done getting dispelled.

Phase 2: From the Shadows

• Dreaming Tank:
  • Tank Swap Taunt Xavius when he gains the Nightmare Infusion buff.
• Awake Tank: Primarily on the boss.
  • Environmental Danger Stay out of the extra large pink/white circle, Meteor.
• Tank Swap Swap after 3 to 4 stacks of Blackening Soul. This debuff must be dispelled by a healer, and leaves Blackened once it’s removed.
  • Physical Damage Reduction If you have to swap when Blackened is still debuffing you, you’ll take much more physical damage and should use a cooldown or active mitigation.

Phase 3: World of Darkness

• Change Position Drag Xavius onto tentacles (which can’t be tanked) so your raid can cleave onto them.
• Tank Swap Continue to swap at 3 to 4 stacks of Blackening Soul.
• Stand in the extra large pink/white circle to help soak Meteor.

• In mythic, instead of randomly selecting players to enter the dream, Ysera drops pillars of green light. Standing in one will put you in the dream, and leaving one unsoaked will spawn big adds. Both tanks will probably enter the dream in the first or second waves.
• Environmental Danger Use physical damage reduction while inside the giant pink circles, Crushing Shadows. Run out of small pink swirls, Unfathomable Reality.

Phase 1: The Descent Into Madness

• Tank Swap Run Away Magic Damage Reduction Taunt at 3 to 4 stacks of Darkening Soul. When not tanking, distance yourself from the raid and call for a dispel, and use some sort of damage reduction.
• Dreaming Tank:
  • Adds Cleave Taunt the Corruption Horror. Tank it near the boss, but be careful not to face it toward others.
  • While the Corruption Horror is alive, you cannot easily dispel Darkening Soul, so keep tank swapping to a minimum during that period.
• Awake Tank: Primarily on the boss.
  • While the Corruption Horror is up, you’ll have to take higher stacks of Darkening Soul. You can still swap tanks, but you should take the boss back as soon as you are done getting dispelled.

Phase 2: From the Shadows

• Dreaming Tank:
  • Tank Swap Taunt Xavius when he gains the Nightmare Infusion buff.
• Awake Tank: Primarily on the boss.
  • Environmental Danger Stay out of the extra large pink/white circle, Meteor.
• Tank Swap Swap after 3 to 4 stacks of Blackening Soul. This debuff must be dispelled by a healer, and leaves Blackened once it’s removed.
  • Physical Damage Reduction If you have to swap when Blackened is still debuffing you, you’ll take much more physical damage and should use a cooldown or active mitigation.

Phase 3: World of Darkness

• Change Position Drag Xavius onto tentacles (which can’t be tanked) so your raid can cleave onto them.
• Tank Swap Continue to swap at 3 to 4 stacks of Blackening Soul.
• Stand in the extra large pink/white circle to help soak Meteor.

• Heavy magic damage over time.
• Heavy physical damage in later phases.
• Vengeance
  • Important talents: Soul Barrier (for the DoT debuffs)
  • Cooldowns: Keep high uptime on Demon Spikes, use Soul Barrier around 2-3 stacks of the DoT. Fiery Brand / Meta when tanking both the add and the boss.
• Brewmaster
  • Talents: Nothing exceptionally necessary here, I just used my standard (Eye of the Tiger, Chi Torpedo, Light Brewing, Black Ox Statue, Healing Elixir, Special Delivery, High Tolerance)
  • Cooldowns: Fortifying Brew if you have the add and the boss in phase 1.
  • Transcendence on the boss, to get back quickly after dispelling the debuff and when you exit the dream.