SwagVault MMO Blog

Wrath of the Lich King Dungeons: The Nexus (71-73) Boss Strategy and Guides

December 17, 2008 – 2:32 am
Posted by: Baltique

The Nexus is the other beginning dungeon, though tuned slightly harder than Utgarde keep, with a given recommendation of running it at level 71. In our experiences, level 70 is more than sufficient. The Nexus is a non-linear dungeon, meaning the various bosses can be done in any order, as long as they’re all done before you go after the final boss.

This dungeon, as with all dungeons and raids found in the Coldarra, follows the story of the Blue Dragonflight and their attempts to take magic away from the mortal races of Azeroth. Unlike Utgarde Keep, acquiring all of the quests for The Nexus prior to running the dungeon will take some time investment. To even get to the Coldarra (besides Warlock or Meeting Stone summons) is to run a series of quests at the Amber Ledge, directly across from the strait splitting the Coldarra from the mainland. Once you complete the end of the chain, you’ll be flown over to the Transitus Shield in Coldarra. Don’t get excited yet, because if you want the dungeon’s quests, you have more questing to do out here. Just complete the various chains available to you, just about all of them lead to a quest for The Nexus.

When you’re all done, you should end up with the following four quests:

Postponing the Inevitable – Archmage Berninand at Transitus Shield gives you an Interdimensional Refabricator to use near the rift in The Nexus to stall the interdimensional rift.

Quickening – Archmage Berinand at Transitus Shield asks you to collect 5 Arcane Splinters from the Crystalline Protectors in The Singing Grove inside The Nexus.

Prisoner of War – Raelorasz at Transitus Shield asks you to go into The Nexus to release Keristrasza from her icy imprisonment.

Have They No Shame – Librarian Serrah at Amber Ledge would like you to retrieve Berinand’s Research, a book in Hall of Stasis within The Nexus.
Boss Strategy and Guides:

The Nexus is an open plan dungeon; you can reach and defeat the bosses in any order, but Keristrasza is intended to be last.

When you enter the instance, you can proceed down the short corridor into the Axis of Alignment. You will see the red dragon, Keristrasza frozen in ice straight ahead.

1. Ormorok the Tree Shaper
2. Anomalus
3. Grand Magus Telestra
4. Keristrasza (Final)

1.Ormorok the Tree Shaper
Skills:

Trample – deals 2,500 area effect damage
Crystal Spikes – summons crystal spikes that radiate from Oromorok in all directions.
Shortly thereafter, they will erupt from the ground, dealing 3,000 damage and knocking
players in the air.
Spell Reflection – reflects spells, 2 second cast.
Frenzy – at 25% HP, Ormorok will increase his damage by 100%

Strategy:
The BOSS Ormorok is a huge colossus that can hit fairly hard, dealing roughly 2000 damage to a tank per hit. Throughout the fight he casts a crystal spike attack, that grows spikes out of the floor around him. In this phase you must quickly avoid them, or you will get thrown into the air and take damage from them and the fall. It is not that hard to sidestep them though, just be ready for it. Lastly, once you have him down to 25% health he will enrage, causing more damage per hit. Overall he is not a very difficult fight, as all you need to do is move slightly during each round of spikes.

The party is advised to scatter to avoid the Crystal Spikes’ explosion. Casters should watch
out for Spell Reflection. Other than that, this is a pretty easy boss.

2.Anomalus

Skills:
Create Rift – spawns a chaotic rift that will summon mobs and cast a chain lightning-type
spell that affects 3 targets for 320 arcane damage, each target getting a 50% reduced damage
on each jump.
Charge Rifts – charges the chaotic rifts and speeds up the summoning of mobs and increases
damage by 50%
Rift Shield – makes Anomalus invulnerable
Spark – deals arcane damage to a single target
Arcane Wraith – spawns from chaotic rifts and casts arcane missiles

Strategy:
Anomalus is an energy based boss that is found by venturing out among several floating platforms connected by walkways. In this area there are several energy rifts that you need to destroy or they continually summon in additional MOBs. These help prepare you for the boss fight, by learning what needs to be done with them.
You start the fight damaging Anomalus normally and eventually he’ll create a chaotic rift.
When he does, all DPS should focus on destroying the rift and the spawns. After destroying
them, focus all damage back to Anomalus and he will repeat this again a few times. When
he uses Rift Shield, everyone should finish off other spawns until the shield wears off.

Grand Magus Telestra
Skills – Phase 1:
You fight Telestra alone in this phase.
Firebomb – 2,000 fire damage spell that hits a target and everyone within 5 yards of the target
Ice Nova – 2,500 frost damage to everyone within 60 yards and stuns for 3 seconds
Gravity Well – pulls and pushes players away from Telestra and disables all skills except
instant cast spells for 6 seconds

Skills – Phase 2:
At 50% HP, she splits into three mirror images of herself.
Arcane Image – casts polymorph and has a 2 second area effect stun
Frost Image – casts blizzard which deals 1,000 frost damage every 2 seconds. Also casts
Ice Barb which deals 500 frost damage to a single target but deals triple damage to frozen
targets.
Fire Image – casts scorch for 1,500 fire damage to a single target and Fire Blast for 2,500
damage to a single target.

Strategy:

During phase 1, she doesn’t pose much of a threat. Her Frost Nova should be interrupted
when possible. Once she reaches 50% health, she disappears and 3 clones appear. Each clone has a different spell school, and can be CC’ed. The arcane version uses arcane explosion and polymorph, the frost one castes ice bolts and blizzard, lastly the fire one spams scorch. Kill all three as fast as you can. If you have CC leave the frost to last and control it and it seems to do the most damage, if not kill it first so you take the least damage.

The clones are dead, Telestra will reappear. You continue the fight as previously down to about 20% health at which point she does a huge damage AOE fire attack to everyone within casting range. It is best to time this to have cloth and leather wearers clear out of the range before dropping her to 20%. Once down below that, just continue to burn her down.

 

Keristrasza (Final)

Skills:
Intense Cold – aura effect that deals constant damage, reduces attack, cast and movement
speed. Effect stacks and can be broken by moving.
Crystal Chains – 1,750 frost damage to a single target and immobilizes target for 10 seconds.
Crystalfire Breath – 3,200 fire damage and debuff to frontal targets. Reduced movement by
25% and deals 1,000 damage every 2 seconds. Lasts 10 seconds.
Tail Sweep – 800 damage to targets at her back and deals knock back. 20 yard range.
Enrage – use when she is at low HP or if the group takes too long to kill her.

Strategy:
Now that all three bosses are dead you can return to the front foyer and activate the orbs around the frozen dragon and free Keristasza. She has two special abilities in the battle. The first is a tail attack that hits anyone in her rear arc for a lot of damage and sends them flying. Only the tank should be in front of Keristraza. The rest of the party should stand to her
sides, as being behind her gets you knocked back. The main trick to this fight is constantly
moving around to prevent the Intense Cold buff from stacking onto you. The entire group
needs to frequently shuffle about to get rid of that debuff, including the tank. If someone
doesn’t move for too long, they will become frozen entirely. Key to this fight is avoiding
that. The only player taking any serious damage in this fight should be the tank.