Naxxramas is one of the most famous World of Warcraft raids. It appeared in two WoW expansions, its bosses featured in Shadowlands pre-patch, and Kel’Thuzad was one of the main characters of the last patches storyline and boss of Sancrum of Domination. In WotLK Classic, players get another opportunity to complete the Naxxramas raid, so it’s time to remember the Naxx bosses list, raid tactics, loot tables, and all other moments.
WotLK Naxxramas Overview
The first time Naxxramas appeared in WoW Classic was at that time an unbelievably hard challenge (people that played classical Naxx still have nightmares about The Four Horsemen, for example). In Warth of the Lich King, when all Azeroth heroes went to the Northrend to defeat Lich King, classical raid moved to a new continent too and became the first big challenge for WotLK players.
The bigger part of Naxxramas content remained the same but with some cosmetic changes. New packs of mobs were added, some items disappeared from loot tables, Highlord Mograine was replaced by Baron Rivendare as one of the Horsemen, and some fights become easier. But in most cases, this is still the same Naxxramas you loved, but with enemies of 80-82 level, and higher item level loot.
WotLK Naxxramas Entrance
If you never played in WotLK before, you can ask: “How do I get to Naxxramas WotLK?” You can see the huge flying evil fortress in the sky of Dragonblight, high up above the city without any hint of how to enter the raid. But the answer is very simple, you just need to use a flying mount or flying form (for Druid comrades) and go to the center of the pyramid’s lower part. There you can find the entrance to one of the four first Naxxramas quarters.
If you can’t use flying mounts in Northrend, your teammates can summon you.
Raid Preparations and Pre-Raid Equip
Before you try the first WotLK raid, you should get suitable equipment to comply with a high level of enemies from Naxxramas. As usual, you can get pre-raid gear from crafting professions, after reputation leveling (including useful chants and other consumables), or from Heroic dungeons. In most cases, it will be better to mix all these ways.
There is no one general list. Of course, your gearing choice depends on your class, specialization, and gameplay preferences, because some of us like reputation daily routine while others most like Dungeon runs or crafting. But we have various guides which help you with all available options:
In the fight with Sapphiron players will face a lot of Frost damage, so in the WoW Classic, Frost Resistance gear was definitely necessary. In WotLK, it’s not a problem to complete a 10-people version of the boss without specific gear, and even a 25-people version doesn’t look very challenging. But if your guild just does first steps in PvE and you don’t want to risk, you can collect some specific items to make the fight an easy walk.
At first, you should know, that now Naxxramas Frost Resistance armor sets consist of only 3 pieces (in WoW Classic you should collect 8 pieces). Also, you can add to the set ring and use flasks or enchants.
There are 5 different quarters in Naxxramas, including the zone with two last bosses. Each quarter has several bosses, which you can see in the list below:
Feel free to start from the one from four lower quarters, but in this guide, we start from Arachnid. We hope, you didn’t have arachnophobia.
Arachnid Quarter
Anub’Rekhan
One of the easiest Naxx encounters:
From the start of the fight, all players should avoid Crypt Guards’ cleave attack. When every of adds dies, 10 Corpse Scarabs appear, so you should control them and blast as fast as you can;
When the boss takes one player on target, don’t stay on one line to avoid Impale damage;
Stay away from the boss during the Locust Swarm cast, while one of the tanks kites him.
Grand Widow Faerlina
The boss fight with quite interesting mechanics in following of what you should have Priests in your raid group:
Quick and easy boss fight with one really important mechanic:
Starting from 20-second of the fight Maexxna will cast Web Wrap every 40 seconds, to put 2 players in a cocoon near the western wall. Just place two RDD near that place to quickly free your teammates;
The tank should turn the boss out from the raid. No one except tanks should stay in front of Maexxna;
On HP 30% the boss goes in Frenzy. It will be better for you to wait for Web Spray cast and put Maexxna HP down to 30% after.
Because of Unbalancing Strike ability, even the best tanks can perform their role in the fight with Instructor Razuvious, so Priests Mind Control is a necessity;
The fight has two phases. First, you will be dealing with periodical waves of adds for 4 minutes, and after should kill the boss itself:
In Phase 1 you can separate your team between the Live side and Undead Side or face encounters in one place. Just blast all enemies as fast as you can;
In Phase 2 the boss will teleport between the Live side and Undead side until you dawn him to HP 30%. Just blast him down until you get too many Harvest Soul stacks (one stack in 15 seconds).
The Four Horsemen
One of the hardest bosses of WoW Classic. Still strong but not so overpowered:
Because of debuffs like Mark of Rivendare and Mark of Blaumeux you should check them on your character and run to another boss when you get too many stacks (after 3-4 stacks in most cases);
Lady Blaumeux and Sir Zeliek can be tanked by Shadow Priests or Balance Druids because these specs have good survivability and can heal themselves. But one real healer should control the situation, and players should stay away from bosses;
The dynamic boss fight in which your raid group will depend on mobility and reflexes:
Raid should make three camps. The main tank should turn the boss to one of the walls, off-tank, and melee DPS can stay behind the boss, range DPS and heal at a distance;
The main tank should move the boss every time Poison Cloud appears;
After Slime Spray is cast off-tank should taunt the add. DPSs should kill it;
The player with the Mutating Injection debuff should run away from the group to be dispelled. Note: after dispelling Poison Cloud appears.
Gluth
One more fight when the main thing you should do well is tanking:
Tanks should replace each other after certain Mortal Wound stacks and take the boss away from grates on the floor;
Rogues or Hunters should be patiently to remove Enrage buff from the boss;
Every 90 seconds Gluth will use Decimate to reduce the HP of all players and zombies to 5%. You should quickly protect or heal the tank and kill all zombies until they get to the boss.
Thaddius
In this encounter, you will deal with the boss himself and his minions Feugen and Stalagg:
In Phase 1 raid should separate into two groups to fight with Feugen and Stalagg at one time. They both should die at intervals of not more than 5 sec, otherwise, they will be resurrected;
During the fight with Thaddius in Phase 2, you should patiently check your polarity after the Polarity Shift cast. It will be better to separate the raid into two groups one more time. First for Positive Charge debuff and the second for Negative Charge. Double-check your polarity after cast, to stay in the crowd with the same debuff.
Plague Quarter
Noth the Plaguebringer
As it was before, the first boss of the quarter won’t provide you with challenging mechanics:
Phase 1 will last 110 seconds. During it just dispel Curse of the Plaguebringer, immediately re-establish the threat on Noth the Plaguebringer after Blink, and mass dispel Cripple debuff;
During the Phase 1 range DPS can stay at Heigan the Unclean platform to avoid Spell Disruption. All other players should make damage, running from the sectors where Eruption appears;
In Phase 2 keep dancing and running from Eruption. Range DPS should leave the platform to avoid Plague Cloud damage and keep making damage, while melee should only dance;
Healers should dispel Decrepit Fever from players and up their HP;
In both Phases, safe spots to avoid Eruptions will rotate in order 1-2-3-4-3-2-1-2 from left to the right if you stay in front of the boss platform.
Loatheb
After the dance party your Naxx adventures will continue in the company of Loatheb’s spores and rot:
Tank the boss in the center of a room. DPS camp should stay near one of the legs of Loatheb, and healers a bit further;
Every 20-sec spores will appear, so you should grip one yo the DPS camp. When you kill it, 5 players will get Fungal Creep buff. All of them should run to the opposite leg until the buff is activated;
Healers need to sweet in this fight because of AoE damage and Necrotic Aura cast after that you can heal in 17 seconds. Necrotic Aura will be cast every 20 seconds, so you will have only 3 seconds to up raid. You can precast until debuff falls off or use HoTs;
All other players should help healers with their abilities, Warlock stones, or heal pots.
Frostwyrm’s Lair
Sapphiron
The last enemy you will have between your raid and the famous lich. As it was in Classic, frost resistance gear will facilitate the work of your healers, but in WotLK, you can complete the encounter just by using more healers or Frost Resistance Aura or Frost Resistance Totem in combination with Paladins Aura Mastery:
During the fight try to stay in one camp to maximize AoE healing that will be helpful in this encounter;
After 45 seconds of Phase 1, Sapphiron will take off and cast Icebolt at 3 players, which will be frozen in place with Ice Block animation. You should use these players to avoid Frost Breath casts. Or you can use Mages Ice Block or Paladins Divine Shield. When Frost Breath ends, Phase 1 starts again.
Kel’Thuzad
The last boss of Naxxramas certainly can’t be an easy task:
In Phase 1 which lasts 3 minutes and 48 seconds, you will face almost infinite waves of adds. Range DPS should target Soul Weavers (knockback players) and Soldiers of the Frozen Wastes (makes a lot of AoE damage) and kill them as fast as possible. Tanks should be patiently to replace each other to avoid the high number of Mortal Wound from Unstoppable Abominations;
During Phase 1 you should stay in the center of the platform;
In Phase 2 try to spread to avoid the Frost Blast cast effect. Track Shadow Fissure, ability to not run into another player’s position;
Run away if you see Shadow Fissure at your feet, but don’t touch other players’ 10-yard zones;
Try to kick Frostbolt as much as possible to protect your tank from excessive damage; When the boss casts Chains of Kel’Thuzad to mind-control 3 random persons, try to control your teammates during the next 20 seconds.
WotLK Naxxramas Loot
Of course, we all love the painstaking raiding process, learning tactics, and dynamic boss fights. But loot is another point why everybody is interested in raiding.
Below you can find the full WotLK Naxx loot including WotLK Naxxramas BiS list items you can get and the T7 PvE set.
It’s all you need to know about Wrath of the Lich King first raid. Good luck in your adventures, and please don’t forget to rate our WotLK Naxxramas guide if this article was helpful for you.
