Imperator Mar'gok (Highmaul Raid) Strategy Guide

By Wowhead Updated: 2018/05/12

Imperator Mar'gokHighmaulImperator Mar'gokImperator Mar'gokEmpire's FallWarcraft LogsLoot and RewardsSeal of Tempered Fate Bonus RollsImperator Mar'gok

LFR (640)

Cloth: High Arcanist Leggings
Leather: Warmage's Legwraps
Mail: Gorian Royal Crown
Plate: Chestplate of Destructive Resonance
Neck: Chain of the Unbroken Lineage
Cape: Greatcloak of Impactful Pulses
Ring: Seal of Arcane Wrath
Trinket: none
Weapons: Imperator's Warstaff
Shield: Mirrorshield of Arcane Fortification

Normal, Heroic, Mythic (655, 670, 685)

Cloth: Robes of the Arcane Ultimatum
Leather: Nether Blast Leggings
Mail: Face Kickers
Plate: Uncrushable Shoulderplates
Neck: Reaver's Nose Ring, Choker of Violent Displacement
Cape: Force Nova Cloak
Ring: Shockwave Signet
Trinket: Mark of Rapid Replication, Quiescent Runestone, Evergaze Arcane Eidolon, Captive Micro-Aberration
Weapons: Gor'gah, High Blade of the Gorians, Staff of the Grand Imperator

Abrogator Stonelegendary questlineLegacy of the Sorcerer KingsMythic: Imperator's FallHighmaulBlackrock FoundryGlory of the Draenor RaiderGorestrider GronnlingImperator Mar'gokLineage of PowerHighmaulBlackrock FoundryMythic Draenor RaiderReturn to Table of ContentsNotable Trash MobsGuard Captain ThagOgron Mauler

Thag will use Ground Stomp and Brutal Cleave on nearby players, while Ogron Maulers have a powerful Deafening Roar, which deals heavy damage and interrupts spell-casting, with a 50-yard range.

One tank should tank Thag in place, while the other tank drags the Ogron Maulers away, and players should focus on killing one Ogron Mauler quickly to reduce raid damage.

Healers may need to use CDs to keep the raid alive while both Maulers are active, but should be careful to avoid casting during Deafening Roar.

After one Mauler is dead, kill the second Mauler, then kill Thag.

Alternatively, one tank could hold Thag and one Mauler at thefar end of the corridor, while the other tank brought the second Ogron back into the portal room, and the raid could kill it there while taking less damage. This runs the risk of the Thag/Mauler tank dying.

High Councilor Mal'grisCouncilor DaglatCouncilor GorlukCouncilor MagknorCouncilor Nouk

Mal'gris will bombard the raid with Unstable Tempest, which will acquire more and more targets as the fight continues.

Daglat teleports to a random enemy and casts Arcane Destruction, dealing heavy damage to players within 10 yards at the end of the cast. This damage can be avoided if players move away from Daglat during the cast.

Councilor Gorluk repeatedly casts Conjure Phantasmal Weapon, summoning Phantasmal Weapons that will melee random raid members unless tanked.

Councilor Magknor attacks the raid with Arcane Torrent, which repeatedly strikes the ground with powerful bolts of magic that deal damage to all players within 6 yards.

Councilor Nouk afflicts random targets with Time Stop, causing those targets to be periodically stunned until healers dispel the debuff.

The suggested kill order is Nouk > Mal'gris > Magknor > Daglat > Gorluk. The Phantasmal Weapons should be killed with incidental cleave and AoE abilities.

Return to Table of ContentsImperator Mar'gok Tips & StrategyPhase 1Arcane WrathBranded

The Branded debuff will expire after 4 seconds, dealing heavy damage to the player it just expired from, and will attempt to jump to another player within range.

Each time the ability jumps, it gains a stack, will deal more damage when it expires, and halves its jump range; the debuff will expire after 12 jumps or when no other players are close enough for it to make a successful jump.

Initially the debuff has a jump range of 200 yards, but by the time it reaches 5 stacks, it has a jump range of only 12.5 yards.

Players should force Branded to expire early by running away from the raid when they are affected with a Branded debuff of 5 stacks or more.

Arcane Aberration

Mar'gok will summon an Arcane Aberration that will pulse light AoE damage to nearby players.

This add should be picked up by the off-tank and dragged into melee to be killed quickly.

Mark of Chaos

Mark of Chaos is applied to the active tank, and requires a tank swap.

The debuffed tank must run far from the raid, as the detonation that occurs when Mark of Chaos expires has a 35-yard range and will deal fatal or near-fatal damage to any players within its area of effect.

Force Nova

Force Nova emanates out from Imperator Mar'gok and deals moderate to heavy damage to players as it passes through their position.

If a player is running in the same direction as the Force Nova, they will be struck multiple times and are likely to die; players should run through the Force Nova to reduce incoming damage.

Destructive Resonance

This creates a mine at a random ranged player's feet, which becomes active after only a few seconds and will persist for one minute.

Players must run out of Destructive Resonance to avoid triggering it, as detonating the Mine deals heavy raid-wide damage and will afflict the player who triggered it with a debuff that stuns them each time they take Arcane damage.

Destructive Resonance

Tanks affected by Mark of Chaos should try to move either to the alcoves on the outer edge of the encounter area, or to the opposite side of the room, to ensure no players are within 35 yards when the Mark detonates.

All DPS should kill the Aberrations when they spawn.

Return to Table of ContentsPhase 2Power of Displacement

The Branded: Displacement debuff prevents players from moving out of a ring only they can see. A player afflicted with 5 or more stacks of Branded: Displacement must move to one extreme edge of their ring, and the rest of the raid must watch their position and move in the opposite direction to help eradicate the ability.

The Displacing Arcane Aberration will knock players back when it dies, so melee must position themselves such that the Impactful Pulse will not push them into a bomb.

Mark of Chaos: Displacement will teleport the affected tank to a random player's location, and the tank must adjust their movement plan to ensure no players are struck by the detonation effect.

Force Nova: Displacement will push players back with it if they do not move through it, so players should run forward through the Nova. Use a speed boost or a personal damage-reduction cooldown if no speed boost is available.

Destructive Resonance: Displacement grows to double its size before expiring.

Return to Table of ContentsIntermission 1Gorian Warmage

These mages will Fixate on random players and cast Nether Blast at them, dealing heavy damage to that player and all players within a few yards.

The Fixated players should move out of the raid.

The raid should focus on killing one Warmage first, then the other, rather than splitting damage.

Volatile Anomaly adds will also spawn; they should be picked up by the tanks and held far from the Warmages so that they do not get buffed by Dominance Aura.

When a Volatile Anomaly dies, it Destabilizes, so players should stagger these adds' deaths so that this damage is spread out over several seconds, and healers should use raid CDs to keep the raid alive.

Return to Table of ContentsPhase 3Power of Fortification

The Branded: Fortification debuff will only reduce its jump range by one quarter, rather than one half. When Branded: Fortification's stacks get high, around 8-9 (25-31 yards), the affected player must run in one direction, while nearby raid members must run in the opposite direction, in order to cause the debuff to fizzle. The Arcane Wrath damage will be extremely high for the late jumps, so the affected players and the healers must be prepared to use CDs to prevent deaths.

The Fortified Arcane Aberration is immune to stuns and crowd-control effects and has a very high health pool.

Mark of Chaos: Fortification will root the tank in place. The tank must either preemptively move away from the raid just before Mark of Chaos: Fortification is cast, or must use certain movement abilities such as Heroic Leap during the debuff, to get away, or, the raid must run away from the affected tank to avoid dying to the detonation.

Force Nova: Fortification will occur three times over 16 seconds, instead of just once. Healers may require throughput CDs to heal through this damage.

Destructive Resonance: Fortification persists for two minutes instead of one.

Return to Table of ContentsIntermission 2

In addition to the Volatile Anomalies, tanks must also pick up the Gorian Reaver and be sure to point him away from the raid for Devastating Shockwave.

Tanks will also have to swap whenever the Gorian Reaver uses Kick to the Face.

Phase 4Power of Replication

The Branded: Replication debuff will jump to two players the first time it jumps. This creates additional strains on healers and means that two players must successfully run away from the raid to cause the debuff to fizzle without passing it to each other.

The Replicating Arcane Aberration will summon 7 Arcane Remnant when it dies. Tanks must be prepared to pick these extra adds up, and DPS must kill them.

Mark of Chaos: Replication will create 8 Orbs of Chaos around the tank when it expires. These Orbs will move in straight lines, dealing extremely heavy damage to any players who come in contact with them.

Force Nova: Replication will cause each player affected by Force Nova to reflect damage to allies within 4 yards. Healing cooldowns will be needed to heal the melee DPS through this effect, while ranged DPS should spread out to avoid friendly fire.

Destructive Resonance: Replication will create two additional Destructive Resonances when it is triggered or expires naturally.

Return to Table of ContentsTank Responsibilities

Run far away from the raid when afflicted by Mark of Chaos; use movement speed-boosting abilities to assist in getting 35 yards away

Taunt Mar'gok when the other tank is afflicted by Mark of Chaos

Tank swap again about halfway between Mark of Chaos casts, to avoid stacking Accelerated Assault too highly

When not tanking Mar'gok, taunt Arcane Aberrations and pull them into the melee DPS group

During Intermission 1, taunt Volatile Anomalies and tank them far from the Gorian Warmages

In Phase 3, you may not be able to move with Mark of Chaos: Fortification; call for the raid to run away from you

During Intermission 2, tanks swaps will be required for the Gorian Reaver's Crush Armor/Kick to the Face mechanics

In Phase 4, avoid running through your own Orbs of Chaos when returning from Mark of Chaos: Replication

In Phase 4, after the Replicating Arcane Aberration dies, pick up the 7 Arcane Remnants that spawn

Return to Table of ContentsDamage-Dealer Responsibilities

Kill Arcane Aberrations as quickly as possible

Avoid standing in, passing through, or being knocked back into Destructive Resonance

If you are afflicted by Branded, Branded: Displacement, Branded: Fortification, or Branded: Replication, check the number of stacks on your debuff and run away from the raid if it is 5 or higher

Use a damage-reduction cooldown if affected by any form of Branded

Move forward through Force Nova to reduce damage taken

During Intermissions, melee DPS should focus on killing Gorian Warmages and ranged DPS should focus on Volatile Anomalies and the Gorian Reaver

Interrupt the Gorian Warmages' Nether Blast whenever possible

Move out of the path of Orbs of Chaos

Return to Table of ContentsHealer Responsibilities

Strong single-target healing is needed on players affected by Arcane Wrath (after Branded expires), on players Fixated by Gorian Warmages, and on tanks

Raidwide AoE healing will be necessary during Force Nova

Raid CDs should be used to survive Volatile Anomaly's Destabilize and the Phase 2, 3, and 4 Force Novas

Avoid standing in, passing through, or being knocked back into Destructive Resonance

If you are afflicted by Branded, Branded: Displacement, Branded: Fortification, or Branded: Replication, check the number of stacks on your debuff and run away from the raid if it is 5 or higher

Use a damage-reduction cooldown if affected by any form of Branded

Move out of the path of Orbs of Chaos

Return to Table of ContentsWhen to Use Bloodlust/Heroism/Time WarpBloodlustHeroismTime WarpBloodlustHeroismTime WarpLooking For Raid DifficultyDestructive ResonanceReturn to Table of ContentsMythic DifficultyMethod's Mythic Imperator Mar'gok GuideReturn to Table of ContentsHighmaul Raid Guides

Highmaul Raid Overview

Kargath Bladefist Strategy Guide

The Butcher Strategy Guide

Tectus Strategy Guide

Brackenspore Strategy Guide

Twin Ogron Strategy Guide

Ko'ragh Strategy Guide

Imperator Mar'gok Strategy Guide

Return to Table of ContentsAbout the Author:Restoration Shaman@healiocentrichealiocentric ... a blog that revolves around healingReturn to Table of Contents

Comments

Comment by Gunslinger

"Imperator" is the Latin word for Emperor, the title bestowed under the Roman Empire. It is pronounced "im-pair-AH-tor". And, being Latin and all, the name of this mob is backwards: it is Caesar Imperator, not Imperator Caesar.

Comment by 1409782

Guide said to stay still on Force Nova, that's incorrect. Running directly through will greatly decrease the damage your raid takes from that specific ability. On phase 3 this comes really handy to deal with the incoming damage.

Comment by Dayani

Just updated this to fix an error with my Arcane Wrath/Branding description, since they changed its behaviour since Beta. It now starts at 1 stack and counts up to 12, rather than starting from 12 and counting down. Please double-check the stack recommendations above and make sure your raid understands :) -- Dayani

Comment by KoopaFett

Great Guide thank you for taking the time to make this!

Comment by 1410439

great boss great dinamics

Comment by lilanarchist

This boss is no joke. Everyone is required to know what to do because one false move and everyone is screwed. Practice makes perfect though so good luck raiders!

Comment by battyone

Few tips from my normal kill last night that worked fairly well:

Keep the boss centered in the room, handle Mark of Chaos as outlined below.
Ranged and healers stack out on the outer circle, starting by the right side of the throne (in cast range of boss when he comes down) and move to the left each time a Destructive Resonance comes out. For phases 1,3,4 you can stand immediately to the left of it, for phase 2 move further out since it will double in size.
Players who have Branded need to move back and right, to get the furthest away from the stacked raid, generally this only will mater after the 4th stack (7th stack during phase 3).
If your DPS is right, the Destructive Resonance by the door will fade away as the adds come out for intermissions 1 and 2. This will leave you plenty of space to move away from players with the fixate but still be close enough to have a mass dispell take care of slows
Save Bloodlust/Heroism/Time Warp/etc for 2nd intermission when the big add comes out
Tank the 2nd intermission Gorian Reaver on top of the first Gorian Warmage that you will be killing, careful to keep the frontal cleave off of melee so that you can cleave off of the Gorian Reaver.
Run through the Force Nova to minimize damage taken, just be sure to be spread out during phase 4 so you don't chain AOE onto other players
Use along with other raid-wide damage and healing cooldowns (e.g. Aura Mastery) when you are killing the Volatile Anomaly so that you minimze raid-wide damage taken from their AoE explosion.

Handling Mark of Chaos:
Phases 1/2/4: Run away from the raid. For Phase 2 in particular turn left about 120 degrees and run and you will be far enough from the raid and other tank to be safe.
Phase 3: All melee/tank without debuff/etc run out to where ranged is, from the middle of the room to the outer ring is further than the range on the AoE damage.

When I do this on heroic this week, and when I go into mythic I will update with more information. GL HF everyone! :D

Comment by Lahkesis

I love this boss, the mechanic is very interesting and the arcane resonance is for you make always look where you walk

Comment by Risuoksa

This boss is fun for reals

Comment by haru88

This boss is quite bit interesting, thankfully we got this guide =P <3

Comment by MarshallDTeach

Do Arcane Remnants deal damage when they die?

Comment by cyanraider

This boss is basically 12 to 13 minutes of having all raid members being on their toes....

I find that a lot of raids wipe because they couldn't stagger the Volatile Anomaly damage in the two intermission phases correctly. There's a rather painless method for completely nullifying this mechanic this in both Normal and Heroic mode.

Minimum Raid Gear Requirements: slightly above or around the ordinary Normal or Heroics standards.
Class Requirements: 3 tanks, (need at least 1 Monk tank)
7 healers (need at least 1 Monk healer)
20 DPS (at least 2 Warlocks)

The mechanics in most phases will be similar if not identical to the guide battyone has provided. Take down the Arcane Aberrations ASAP, move away from the Destructive Resonances, leave everyone else around you when you are stacked with Branded.... etc...

Phase 1: Tank boss in center, ranged DPS and healers group up on the rim of the circle moving slightly to the side as a group every time a Destructive Resonance is placed. Move away from the group after 5 stacks of Branded.

Phase 2: Same as Phase 1, keep going in circles. Move away from the group after 5 stacks of Branded.

Intermission 1: Make sure no DPS nor Tank even TOUCH the Volatile Anomalies. The Monk tank starts kiting all the Volatile Anomalies around the outer rim of the room for the remainder of the raid. Everyone else other than the Monk tank should be able to take down the two Gorian Warmages in 1 minute relatively easily.

Phase 3: This phase is complete chaos as raid HP will be going up and down like a rollercoaster. The monk healer move to stand with the melee DPS.(I will explain the reason shortly.) Same as in Phase 1 and Phase 2, ranged and healers continue going in circles around the boss who will be tanked in the center.
This is the most important part of the raid, where the pressure on the healers and tank will be highest, one mistake from a tank and this will result in a wipe.

The raid leader should coordinate and arrange raid-wide heals and damage reduction spells for Force Novas in this phase as the three pulses can bring all raid member's HP dangerously low.
The tank currently not tanking the boss needs to pick up the Arcane Aberration the moment it spawns. ALL DPS immediately switch targets to take down the Arcane Aberration ASAP. At the same time the Arcane Aberration spawns, the tank currently tanking the boss will needs to drag the boss to the opposite side of the grouped-up ranged DPS and Healers as that tank will be the one hit with the Mark of Chaos. Once the Mark of Chaos is set on that tank, the other tank should taunt the boss back to the center of the room.
Once the "Mark of Chaos" tank moves away from the rest of the raid and long out of range of the rest of the healers, the monk healer that is positioned within the melee group is responsible for healing the "Mark of Chaos" tank. The reason why a monk healer is specified is because for some reason, monk healers are classified as melee and WILL NEVER HAVE A DESTRUCTIVE RESONANCE PLACED UNDER THE PLAYER.
The monk tank that is kiting the Volatile Anomalies needs be careful not to trigger Destructive Resonances and to take note of the Mark of Chaos whenever it is about to explode.
Move away from the group after 8 stacks of Branded. Pop personal cooldowns after the 6th or 7th stack.

Intermission 2: The monk tank that was kiting the Volatile Anomalies since the Intermission 1 continues to do so while picking up all the Volatile Anomalies that spawn in this Intermission. The rest of the raid should group up near one of the Gorian Warmages. There will be around a 5 second space between the Gorian Warmage spawn and the Gorian Reaver spawn so DPS can use this time to bring down the Gorian Warmage a bit. The moment the Gorian Reaver spawns, the tanks (not the monk tank kiting) should pick it up near the center of the room and away from the Gorian Warmages, then all DPS should proceed to switch targets and take down the Gorian Reaver ASAP as they hit rather hard. Once the Gorian Reaver is down, then take down JUST ONE of the Gorian Warmages as the that is approximately all the time you will have until the Intermission is over (Unless your raid has a ridiculously high DPS). Ignore the other Gorian Warmage.

Phase 4: This phase is actually LESS of a pain and less chaotic than Phase 3. There are however, a couple of things to note. Boss is tanked in the center of the room and all ranged DPS and healers are spread out.

Monk tank continue kiting the volatile anomalies around the room.
All ranged DPS and healers should spread out across the room and take note to move whenever a Destructive Resonance is placed.
Take down the first Arcane Aberration that spawns and the raid can choose to either kill the 7 Arcane Remnant that spawns (I have no idea whether they explode when they die or not, never took that chance) or have the monk tank kiting pick them up as well. Warlocks then banish all the remaining Arcane Aberrations that spawn. (Arcane Aberrations will continue to do raid-wide AoE damage when banished, however the damage will be less than if it wasn't banished. I've also heard rumors that the Arcane Aberrations won't do AoE damage if IMMEDIATELY banished after spawning, but I've never seen that succeed before.)
Once the boss is in the center of the room, this is the ideal time to pop Bloodlust.
The most important and possibly the leading reason to a raid wipe in Phase 4 is the failure of the melee DPS backing off the boss and spreading out when Force Nova is cast. The raid leader should remind all melee DPS to back away from the boss when it is casting Force Nova.
Keep in mind that in this Phase, one Gorian Warmage is still alive and kicking so the player that is Fixated needs to move away from anyone else around him.
Move away from the group after 5 stacks of Branded.

If done correctly, the monk tank kiting should take minimal to no damage from the Volatile Anomalies for the entirety of the fight. It's a good idea to have at least one healer constantly taking note of his health for if he falls, then the ALL the Volatile Anomalies will scatter inevitably resulting in a wipe.
I have used this method to kill the boss in both normal and heroic mode. If there are any questions or comments, feel free to leave them below~~ :)

Comment by 500171

Initially the debuff has a jump range of 200 yards, but by the time it reaches 5 stacks, it has a jump range of only 7 yards.

At 5 stacks debuff jumps to 12.5 yards?

1 stack - 200 yards
2 stack - 100 yards
3 stack - 50 yards
4 stack - 25 yards
5 stack - 12,5 yards
6 stack - 6,25 yards
....

Comment by shadosan

This boss is the devil incarnate. Thanks for the infos!

Imperator Mar'gok (Highmaul Raid) Strategy Guide

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