Netherspite Boss Guide: Karazhan World of Warcraft Raid Walkthrough

If you're looking for a World of Warcraft Karazhan Raid Guide for Netherspite, you've come to the right place!

Netherspite, along with Shade of Aran and Terestian Illhoof, is an optional boss. All three of these bosses may be completed in any order that the raid wishes. Often times the raid will kill Shade of Aran on the first run through, then come back for Netherspite and Terestian Illhoof the next day.

Netherspite is a giant, ghostly dragon and is one of the more difficult bosses in Karazhan. Make sure that your entire raid has appropriate consumables including food, elixir/flasks and potions.

Ideal Raid Composition:

2 Tanks (crit immune, class doesn't matter)

3 Healers

5 Good DPS

Having strong DPS is very important in this fight. Once you begin the encounter with Netherspite, a 9 minute enrage timer starts. When that timer reaches zero, he will kill the entire raid within 20 seconds. DPS is by far the most crucial element of this fight, besides making sure to stand in the beams. What beams? Alright then, let's get to some of the big nether dragon's abilities.

Netherspite alternates between two phases during the fight. He goes back and forth between them periodically. Let's go over them, and the strategy during each phase.

Portal Phase

This is the phase that Netherspite will be in when you first begin the fight. Three portals of three different colors will spawn in corners of the room. From these portals, beams of the appropriate color will reach towards the center of the room. If these beams come into contact with Netherspite, they will each give him buffs, like healing him or making him do more damage.

These beams have to be blocked by players standing in the beams. Players blocking a beam get a buff from it, however they each have both a good and bad effect and the buffs continue stacking over time, making the effect more and more extreme. Once the buff wears off of someone, they get a debuff called Nether Exhaustion which prevents them from standing in the same color beam for one minute and 30 seconds, and because of this two people will need to be assigned to each beam, taking turns in the beam each new portal phase.

Red Beam

If someone is standing in the red beam, they will automatically have Netherspite's aggro. Needless to say, the two tanks are the ones assigned to stand in the red beam. This is great, because it makes it very easy to tank him. As a note, while tanking Netherspite you will want to strafe in and out of the red beam for a second or two about once every 10 seconds. This will stop the buff from affecting you too much.

The red beam grants you additional health, defense and reduces the amount of damage you take. However, each additional application reduces your maximum health by 1,000. If the beam hits Netherspite, it reduces his damage taken by 1% for each application - something very major in this DPS race.

Green Beam

This is the healing beam. If it hits Netherspite he heals, so it is very important to not let him touch this one. Two, or even all three of your healers if they're bored or something, will alternate between standing in this beam.

The green beam will reduce the costs for casting spells and increase your +healing with each application, however it also reduces your mana.

Blue Beam

This is the DPS beam. You can have just about anything you'd like in it, though it is suggested that you have your two DPS which are best and most experienced alternate between standing in it. It increases damage done, however also increases damage taken from spells as well as reduces healing received. If it hits Netherspite, he gets a boost to his damage done.

People in the blue beam will keep taking damage from Netherspite's shadow aura, so your DPS standing in the beam should have high health as well. If you have trouble with DPS dying while taking the blue beam, you can use two DPS for each phase, each taking about 20 seconds in the beam.

Banish Phase

This phase lasts for around 30 seconds. Netherspite will go into a sudden rage and start using Netherbreath. However at this point, Netherspite becomes stationary and unable to move. His Netherbreath only has a range of 60 yards and his room is huge. As soon as the banish phase begins, everyone simply turns and runs towards the edge of the room. When around 5 seconds are left in the banish phase, the next red beam tank will start approaching Netherspite and preparing to pick up the red beam, while healers will make sure to stay in range to heal them.

Then Netherspite will switch back into his portal phase, summoning the three portals which may or may not be arranged in the same way. Your raid must immediately stand in the beams and begin DPS again.

That's about it. It's a challenging fight because of all the team strategy required, but once your raid gets it down, it's pretty easy. Here are a few tips and tricks:

- Netherspite is a dragon. Stay away from his head and tail, unless you're tanking him.

- Some shadow resistance can help, if your raid is having trouble. Your raid should have a priest's shadow resist buff if at all possible.

- Don't fret it if you can't down Netherspite on the first try, first week or even first month. Netherspite is the sort of boss where one or two substandard raid members can really spell failure, especially if your DPS isn't strong enough to beat the timer. Feel free to come back with better gear at a later date.

That's all for this World of Warcraft Karazhan Boss Guide for Netherspite! Check back for more World of Warcraft Raid Walkthroughs soon!