Raid Composition and Gear Preparation

An ideal Yogg-Saron (10) raid should be composed of one or two tanks, three or four healers, and the rest DPS classes. An ideal raid composition should contain at least one healer capable of dispelling offensively and should slightly favor ranged DPS classes.

Phase one hinges on raid coordination but phases two and three will put significant strain on players' gear. Healers and DPS classes will be hard pressed in phases two and three, and tanks may take serious spike damage.

Fight Overview

Yogg-Saron is a three phase fight and the entire encounter will take as long as 15 minutes to complete. Raid coordination is extremely important throughout the fight, and particularly important in phases one and two.

All players in the raid will start with 100 "Sanity" points (always visible as a debuff on your character and in your chat log) and this number will degenerate over time as players are targeted with various harmful abilities. In phase one the Sanity debuff is not significant, but in later phases it is necessary that all players constantly monitor their Sanity and keep it at a safe level.

Keepers of Ulduar (Difficulty Modes)

Before you start the encounter, you will need to talk to the Keepers of Ulduar (Thorim, Freya, Mimiron, Hodir) to activate their blessings. You can reach them quickly by porting to the Shattered Walkway and circling the area where you fought Auriaya. If you do not talk to the keepers of Ulduar, you will not gain their blessings and you will instead fight hard mode Yogg-Saron.

Mimiron - Talking to Mimiron will grant you Speed of Invention, increasing movement speed by 20% and damage done by 10%. It will also cause him to reduce the damage done by tentacles in phase two.

Thorim - Talking to Thorim will grant you Fury of the Storm, increasing health by 20% and damage done by 10%. It will also cause Thorim to cast Titanic Storm in phase three, allowing the raid to kill the Immortal Guardians of Yogg-Saron.

Freya - Talking to Freya will grant you Resilience of Nature, increasing healing received by 20% and damage done by 10%. It will also cause her to spawn Sanity Wells in phase two and three that allow raid members to regain Sanity.

Hodir - Talking to Hodir will grant you Fortitude of Frost, reducing damage taken by 20% and increasing damage done by 10%. It will also cause him to cast Hodir's Protective Gaze any time any raid member takes damage that would have otherwise killed him/her. Note that this ability has a cooldown.

Phase 1 - Guardians of Yogg-Saron

The first phase of the Yogg-Saron encounter is simple but very important to your success in the second and third phases. A poor transition from phase one to phase two can lead to the raid being too heavily burdened in phase two.

The raid will initially fight Sara (Yogg-Saron), who can be seen levitating over a pool in the middle of the room. Sara is still considered a friendly target and she can only be damaged by dragging Guardians of Yogg-Saron on top of her and 'detonating' them on her.

Three or four green clouds will slowly circle the room and Guardians of Yogg-Saron will periodically spawn from these clouds. They will spawn in singles and slowly at first, but as the phase progresses the adds will spawn progressively faster until the raid is overwhelmed. It is important to finish the phase quickly and efficiently.

Note that if a player walks into a cloud or even stands too close to the edge of a cloud, an extra Guardian will be spawned.

These enemies have the following abilities:

Sara's Anger - Sara periodically casts this ability on a random Guardian of Yogg-Saron, inflicting 12,500 shadow damage to it every 3 seconds, but increasing its physical damage done by 12,000 for 12 seconds. This buff can and should be removed by abilities such as a Hunter's Tranquilizing Shot or Rogue's Anesthetic Poison.

Dominate Mind - This instant cast ability is periodically used by Guardians of Yogg-Saron on a random player in the raid. The player will be mind controlled for 10 seconds and his/her Sanity will also be reduced by 4%. A mind controlled player can be a danger to the raid in many ways. He/she can worsen the flow of adds by running into a cloud and spawning an additional Guardian of Yogg-Saron, or complicate the phase in other ways (for example, he/she may cast Hand of Protection on a Guardian of Yogg-Saron). For this reason, any class with the ability to offensively dispel should consider it top priority. The mind control can also be removed with abilities such as Every Man for Himself, Cloak of Shadows, or Divine Shield, so this should be noted. Tanks should note that they will need to Taunt anything they were tanking prior to being targeted with a mind control, as the spell will wipe their threat completely.

Dark Volley - This ability is periodically cast by Guardians, dealing about 10,000 to 15,000 shadow damage to targets within 35 yards and reducing their healing done by 25% for 10 seconds. This ability has a 1.5 second cast time and it can and should be interrupted when possible. Dark Volley is not particularly dangerous but it puts unnecessary strain on healers. Tanks that are dragging Guardians to Sara will also have a harder time doing this if the Guardian happens to be casting instead of following them. Tanks will need to drag Guardians to Sara because when they die they will cast Shadow Nova.

Shadow Nova - When a Guardian of Yogg-Saron is killed, they will use this instant cast "self-destruct" ability to deal about 10,000 to 15,000 shadow damage to anything within 15 yards. Sara is still considered a friendly target in phase one so the raid will need to use this ability to "kill" her by dragging Guardians over near her and then killing them by her.

The Pull

When Sara (Yogg-Saron) is engaged, the raid should run into the room and take up positions near the closest chain on the left of the room. A cloud will be automatically activated and a Guardian of Yogg-Saron will spawn shortly.

A player with a speed boost (for example, a Druid or Rogue using sprint) should run to a different cloud and touch it to activate a second add spawn. This will give the raid a small head start on the Guardians before they start spawning too quickly to be controlled.

Tanks should begin picking up Guardians of Yogg-Saron and bringing them to the raid to be damaged.

Positioning

There are four transparent blue chains located in Yogg-Saron's room. Clouds circle the room but they do not tend to move near these chains. For this reason, raid members should position themselves close to the chain on the left side of the room, shown in the picture above as a white circle. If a cloud begins to move in, players should adjust their positions accordingly. Tanks should drag Guardians to the rest of the raid here until they are sufficiently damaged, then drag them into the middle of the room near Sara.

One or two caster DPS classes should position themselves closer to the middle to be able to execute the Guardians from range. One or two healers should also position themselves in range of the middle area so tank healing can continue when tanks are bringing Guardians into the middle. This is shown in the picture above as two red circles.

Tanks should maneuver around clouds as they bring Guardians to the raid or to Sara in the middle.

Phase Strategy

It is very important that all members of the raid (including tanks) watch for incoming clouds and keep their distance from them. Touching a cloud will spawn an extra Guardian of Yogg-Saron that will further hinder the raid's progress. If multiple clouds are touched, the raid will be quickly overwhelmed. Obviously, the one cloud that is intentionally touched off at the start of the fight is an exception to this rule.

Tanks will need to pick up Guardians of Yogg-Saron and bring them to melee DPS so they can be damaged efficiently. When the guardians are damaged to a reasonable amount (anywhere from 30-70% health), the tanks will need to bring them to Sara (within 15 yards of her) and tank them there until they are executed by ranged DPS. When the Guardian dies it will explode, damaging Sara. This needs to be repeated until Sara reaches 1% health. In total, at least 8 Guardians will need to be dragged to Sara and detonated on her.

Meanwhile, the tanks will need to maneuver around clouds and make sure they don't trigger an additional spawn. Tanks should consider picking up speed boosts for this fight through enchants such as Tuskarr's Vitality or talents such as Pursuit of Justice.

The Guardians have relatively little health and they may randomly stop to cast Dark Volley on the raid group. Assist the tanks in bringing them to the middle by interrupting any casts they start. DPS classes, especially ranged, should be careful not to kill a Guardian before the tanks have brought it within 15 yards of Sara. The phase will not end until Sara reaches 1% health, so it is extremely important that a "detonation" is not missed.

While tanks are busy bringing Guardians to the raid or to Sara, Feral Druids or Plate-wearing DPS classes can further stabilize the phase by picking up any additional Guardians and keeping them off the healers and weaker DPS classes until a tank can get them.

When Sara reaches 1% health, the green clouds will despawn and no additional Guardians will be spawned. Any remaining Guardians should be tanked away from the raid and killed separately, as they will still explode when killed. It is important to kill them quickly as the fight will soon transition to phase two and the raid will have new priorities.

Phase 2 - Brain and Tentacles

Yogg-Saron himself has 11 million hit points in 10-man mode. The second phase of the Yogg-Saron fight involves two "realms", one inside the brain and one outside the brain where phase one took place.

Throughout phase two Yogg-Saron will periodically spawn a set of portals allowing players to enter and attack him inside. Yogg-Saron's form in the outside realm will be protected by a barrier throughout phase two so he can only be damaged by players that teleport into his brain and attack him there.

One group needs to be formed containing ideally one healer and four DPS classes. This group will be the designated "brain group" and when portals are spawned they will enter them and fight inside the brain. Inside, players will face a small set of adds before engaging the brain and they will require at least one healer per group.

Once in the brain, players will have a short amount of time to work there before they must leave. After one minute, any players still inside the brain will be reduced to zero Sanity and permanently mind controlled.

Meanwhile, tentacles of three different types (Crushers, Constrictors, and Corrupters) will spawn on the outside and hinder the damage of all players in the raid, including players inside the brain realm. Crusher tentacles do heavy melee damage and inhibit the raid's damage when no player is in melee range. Constrictor tentacles grab random players to damage them and hold them in place. Corruptor tentacles cast random harmful spells on members of the raid. All tentacles on the outside become stunned when players inside Yogg-Saron engage the brain, and remain stunned until Yogg-Saron casts Induce Madness.

The Sanity debuff becomes very important in this phase as many abilities used by Yogg-Saron will steadily reduce it. If a player reaches 0 Sanity at any time in the fight, he/she will be mind controlled for the remainder of the fight. Players will have to periodically stand in "Sanity Wells", transparent green beams of light located against walls around the room, to keep their Sanity at a safe level.

These are some of the general abilities used in phase two:

Malady of the Mind - This ability is cast only outside the brain realm and it targets a random player. It inflicts about 5000 shadow damage, causes the target to run in horror for 4 seconds, and then jumps to any player within 10 yards. It also reduces the target's Sanity by 3%. This ability jumps from player to player, so anyone on the outside should spread out to minimize its effect. Players should also watch out for others that are hit with this ability and keep distance from them. Note that this ability cannot be dispelled nor can it be removed by abilities such as Every Man for Himself.

Brain Link - This ability is cast only outside the brain realm and it links two random players with a very obvious red beam. As long as these two players are more than 20 yards apart, they both suffer 3000 shadow damage and lose 2% Sanity every 1 second. Players afflicted with Brain Link should notify the raid and move toward each other quickly.

Induce Madness - This ability is cast only inside the brain realm and it reduces the Sanity of all players currently in the brain realm to 0. After portals are spawned the cast takes only one minute to complete. For this reason, it is very important that the brain group enters the brain portals quickly, deals damage to the boss quickly, and leaves quickly. If a player is still in the brain after one minute, his/her Sanity will be instantly reduced to zero. This will cause him/her to be permanently mind controlled for the remainder of the fight. Note that the mind control effect resulting from reaching zero Sanity cannot be dispelled in any way. If a player reaches zero Sanity, he/she should be killed to minimize his/her hindrance to the rest of the raid. Also note that an insane player killed by the raid cannot be resurrected mid fight or he/she will still be mind controlled.

Sanity Well - Sanity Wells are visible as green pillars of light located around the room against the walls. While standing in a Sanity Well, a player regains 20 Sanity every 2 seconds. DPS classes should note that their damage done is reduced by 50% while standing in a Sanity Well. All players in the raid should constantly monitor their Sanity level and make their way to a Sanity Well when they are running low.

Tentacles on the outside of the brain will spawn periodically throughout phase two and further hinder the raid. They will use these abilities:

Diminish Power - This is an ability that Crusher tentacles channel on the raid reducing damage done by 20% and stacking up to four times. Tanks should note that this ability is only channeled when no one is melee range of the tentacle, so it is important that the tanks stay in melee range of a Crusher whenever possible. This debuff will greatly hinder the raid's progress in both realms if it is allowed to be channeled.

Focused Anger - This is an ability applied to Crusher tentacles whenever they receive damage from any source. It is a stacking damage buff that increases the Crusher's damage and attack speed by 3% per stack, stacking up to 99 times. If the Crusher doesn't receive damage from any source within one second, the stack will fall off. Tanks should monitor the stack and run out of melee range if it happens to reach about 40 stacks. With a high number of stacks, the Crusher can instantly kill a tank. When the stacks drop off and reset, the tank can and should return to melee range again to prevent Diminish Power from being channeled.

Apathy - This is an ability periodically cast by Corruptor tentacles on a random member of the raid. It reduces the player's attack, casting, and movement speed by 60% for 20 seconds. Apathy will hinder the player's damage or healing and can hinder a member of the brain group from reaching his/her portal in time. This ability is considered a magic effect and it should be dispelled as soon as possible, by anyone capable.

Black Plague - This is another ability periodically cast by Corruptor tentacles on a random member of the raid. It applies a disease to the target lasting 24 seconds, stunning him/her for 2 seconds at 3 second intervals. Black Plague will hinder the player's damage or healing and can hinder a member of the brain group from reaching his/her portal in time. This ability is considered a disease effect and it should be dispelled as soon as possible, by anyone capable.

Curse of Doom - This is another ability periodically cast by Corruptor tentacles on a random member of the raid. It applies a curse lasting to the target and if it is not dispelled within 12 seconds, the target will suffer about 15,000 to 20,000 shadow damage. This ability is considered a curse effect and it should be dispelled as soon as possible, by anyone capable.

Draining Poison - This is another ability periodically cast by Corruptor tentacles on a random member of the raid. It applies a poison to the target lasting 18 seconds, inflicting about 3,000 nature damage to him/her every 3 seconds and draining 1400 Mana from him/her every 3 seconds. This ability is considered a poison effect and it should be dispelled as soon as possible, by anyone capable.

The Pull

When phase two begins, tentacles of all three types will burst from the ground and begin attacking and hindering the raid. It is likely that your raid will have at least one or two Guardians of Yogg-Saron remaining from phase one. If so, they should be killed quickly and safely away from the raid.

When all adds from phase one have been killed, the raid should immediately start attacking the tentacles. Tanks should run, one each, to any Crusher tentacles and tank them. DPS classes should immediately begin killing Constrictors tentacles, Crusher tentacles, and Corruptor tentacles in that order. Healers should heal any leftover damage from phase one.

Positioning

Positioning does not need to follow a strict pattern in phase two as long as the raid is sufficiently spread out. Tanks will need to head to the nearest Crushers to begin tanking them and the rest of the raid should follow suit. Everyone should be spread out in the same general area. However, DPS classes and healers should stay out of melee range of the Crusher tentacles. No player of any type, even tanks, should be standing near a Crusher when it has a large stack of Focused Anger debuffs.

Members of the brain group should note that the portals are always spawned close to Yogg-Saron's body. Caster DPS classes should take up positions as close as possible to a Sanity Well.

Throughout phase two, the entire raid should attempt to spread out sufficiently to prevent Malady of the Mind from jumping from player to player.

Phase Strategy

Phase two of the Yogg-Saron fight once again hinges on good raid coordination. It is important that the brain group quickly takes their portals in and out of the brain, and it is important that the group works efficiently inside the brain.

The rest of the raid should spread out and dispose of tentacles outside quickly while minimizing raid damage through dispels. A tank should always be near a Crusher and ready to run out of melee range when focused anger begins to stack too high. Caster DPS classes should consider killing Crusher tentacles, which have 400k hit points, to be top priority. Crusher tentacles do heavy melee damage and since tanks will need to back out of melee range, melee DPS should not be nearby. Melee DPS classes should focus on killing Constrictor and Corruptor tentacles instead.

Constrictor tentacles will periodically grab a random raid member and continue holding them and damaging them until killed or until the player is killed. If a member of the brain group happens to be grabbed just as Yogg-Saron spawns portals into his brain, he/she may not escape until it is too late to enter the portal. For this reason, melee DPS classes should consider killing them to be top priority. Note that many offensive and healing spells can still be cast while gripped by a Constrictor, so the player being constricted can usually still help the raid by killing the tentacle, healing himself, or healing other raid members. Also note that players can free themselves with abilities such as Divine Shield or free other players with abilities such as Hand of Protection. The tentacle will also be automatically killed.

Corruptor tentacles will periodically afflict random raid members with the harmful effects listed earlier. Corruptor tentacles are low priority for all types of DPS classes and should be killed last of all the three types. However, classes capable of dispelling magic, poison, disease, or curse effects should do so at all times.

Portals and tentacles will continue spawning throughout phase two so the raid only needs to repeat the same basic strategy until Yogg-Saron reaches 30% health.

Meanwhile, it is very important that all members of the raid monitor their Sanity debuff throughout phase two and keep it at a safe level by using Sanity Wells.

When Yogg-Saron's brain reaches 30% health, the magical shield will be removed from his body and phase three will begin.

Phase 3 - Yogg-Saron

For the final phase of the fight, Yogg-Saron's magical shield is removed and the raid is free to damage him through normal methods.

Yogg-Saron will periodically summon Immortal Guardians to attack the raid. When first spawned these enemies are capable of dealing extreme spike damage even to tanks. As they are damaged and their health is reduced, they will also deal progressively less damage.

Yogg-Saron will also periodically cast Lunatic Gaze throughout this phase.

Lunatic Gaze - This ability lasts 4 seconds, inflicting about 3000 to 5000 shadow damage per second to any player facing Yogg-Saron. It also reduces the player's Sanity by 4% every second, while active. All players in the raid need to be turned away from Yogg-Saron while this ability is active.

Empowering Shadows - Yogg-Saron will periodically place this ability on a random Immortal Guardian throughout the phase. It will heal any mobs within 20 yards of the Guardian for 11,500 per second, lasting 20 seconds. Tanks need to keep all mobs separate in phase three to prevent this ability from causing too much healing.

Positioning

Once again, positioning is very simple in phase three. It is not essential to the raid's survival to spread out in this phase, so the raid should simply gather near the closest Sanity Well to facilitate Sanity refills.

Tanks should keep Immortal Guardians separate from each other and separate from Yogg-Saron to prevent excessive healing from Empowering Shadows.

When Yogg-Saron is in the process of casting Lunatic Gaze, all raid members should position themselves with their backs to him.

Phase Strategy

Tanks should immediately pick up Immortal Guardians when they spawn and if necessary, use cooldowns to help ensure their own survival. An Immortal Guardian at full health can hit for as much as 20,000 damage on a plate tank. DPS classes should prioritize killing Immortal Guardians to keep the raid from getting overwhelmed.

Whenever the raid is clear of Immortal Guardians and Yogg-Saron is not in the process of casting Lunatic Gaze, he should be attacked as often as possible. Tanks should keep Immortal Guardians separate from each other and away from Yogg-Saron to prevent excessive healing from Empowering Shadows.

Again, it is very important that all members of the raid monitor their Sanity debuff throughout phase three and keep it at a safe level by using Sanity Wells.

The raid will need to repeat this basic strategy until Yogg-Saron is killed.

 

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