Protection Warrior Mage Tower Tank Challenge Guide - Highlord Kruul - The War Within 11.2.7

By Nomeratur Updated: 2026/01/18

Talent Page Mage Tower Appearance Reward Tomb of SargerasWarrior - Titanic Onslaught Armor What is the Protection Warrior Mage Tower Challenge? - The Highlord's Return The Highlord’s Return

Surviving bursts of damage

Mitigating sustained damage

Dealing damage

Picking up spawning adds

Dodging knockbacks

Interrupting important casts

Dodging even more knockbacks

Never stop dodging

Prophet VelenInquisitor VarissSmoldering InfernalHighlord KruulHighlord Kruul Sample Kill Video Best Protection Warrior Gear Best Protection Warrior Stat Priority for Mage Tower Challenge

Sockets >>>>>>> Strength > Haste => Versatility > Critical Strike >= Mastery

NOTE:Best Protection Warrior Consumables and Enchants for Mage Tower ChallengePotion of Unbridled Fury

Type

Dragonflight Option

Best Option

Flask

Phial of Tepid Versatility

Greater Flask of the Undertow

Health Potion

Dreamwalker's Healing Potion

Refreshing Healing Potion

Damage Potion

Elemental Potion of Ultimate Power

Potion of Unbridled Fury

Drums

Feral Hide Drums

Weapon Rune

Howling Rune

Food

Fated Fortune Cookie

Slot

Best Enchant

Cheaper Version

Weapon (Single-Target Damage)

Weapon (Defense)

Helm

Cloak

Chest

Bracers

Belt

Legs

Boots

Plainsrunner's Breeze

Watcher's Loam

Ring

Devotion of Haste

Writ of Haste

Best Protection Warrior Trinkets for Mage Tower Challenge Chipped Soul PrismUnstable ArcanocrystalPocket-Sized Computation DeviceCyclotronic Blast

Trinket

Drop Location

Best Protection Warrior Talents

Storm Bolt adds a ranged stun, which is extremely helpful for locking down Inquisitor Variss during the first phase of the fight. Use it to counteract his Drain Life casts!

Shockwave and Intimidating Shout can be options if you feel you need even more AoE CC to deal with Variss and adds throughout the fight, but neither is necessary.

Sudden Death can help add a good chunk of single-target damage during both phases of the fight.

Spell Block helps with mitigating damage from Variss' Mind Rend casts.

Strategy & Walkthrough Cooldown OrderAnnihilateHoly WardIgnore PainTwisted ReflectionAnnihilate

No CD, just Shield Block & Ignore Pain, always.

No CD, just Shield Block & Ignore Pain. Can Demoralizing Shout if your health isn't topped or you're struggling to get out of a flame patch.

CC Kruul with Holy Ward to cancel his cast and heal up. Taking Annihilate with full health is always preferred. Demoralizing Shout if available, one of Rallying Cry or Last Stand if available. Shield Block & Ignore Pain.

Shield Wall. Rallying Cry or Last Stand if available. Keep applying CC with Holy Ward, Shockwave, and Intimidating Shout. Possible to kill before cast #4, should be the goal. Cheat Death trinkets and on-use defensive trinkets can work wonders for this hit. Shield Block & Ignore Pain, as always.

Probably have nothing left. Use what you have, try to chain all orbs you have left to delay this cast. Sweat.

No.

Stage 1: Inquisitor VarissNether HorrorThunder ClapGoblin Glider KitHoly WardNotable Enemies & Abilities

Inquisitor Variss
Aura of Decay - Inquisitor Variss surrounds himself with an aura. Standing in melee range of him causes you to gain a stacking debuff that reduces your maximum health by 10% per stack. You have to move in and out of the circle periodically. Jump in, deal damage until you have several stacks (5-7 is usually a good stopping point), interrupt, leave, let the debuff fall off, and repeat. Using focus macros can help with getting kicks and stuns onto Variss even while dealing with other enemies.

Mind Rend - Variss’ basic damage skill. It’s not all that dangerous on its own but in conjunction with everything else it can be nasty. It can't be Spell Reflected, but the damage reduction that Spell Reflection will provide against it still makes it worth using. This is okay to interrupt if your health is low, or if you have a crowd-control ability ready to cancel the next skill on this list, but not super dangerous most of the time.

Drain Life - A critical spell. Variss will substantially heal himself if he is allowed to channel this, so it must be interrupted as quickly as possible, either via conventional interrupt or stun/CC.

Tormenting Eye

Inquisitive Stare - Very simple skill, but potentially lethal. If you are not facing the eyeball as the cast ends, you will be knocked back. Don’t let that happen.

Smoldering Infernal

Fel Resonation - The Smoldering Infernals constantly lose health, dealing AoE fire damage. This means they aren’t a priority damage target, but you will need to watch out for their other skill. They stop casting this once their health is low, so be ready to give them a few taps of AoE to bring them down for a little while.

Smash - The Smoldering Infernals’ main ability is a large knockback cone. It has an obvious graphic, but the cast is fairly quick, and once multiple infernals are active, they can stagger out so that dodging one after another is difficult. This is one of the hardest mechanics of the encounter. You must remain vigilant. Don’t get punted off the platform! Be ready to use Charge, Heroic Leap, or a glider if you are hit!

Nether Horror

Psytalons - These little guys aren’t very dangerous on their own, but they will zoom directly toward Velen when they spawn, so be sure to gather them all up immediately, and quickly AoE them down during the periods where you are out of melee range of Inquisitor Variss.

Stage 2: Highlord KruulNotable Enemies & Abilities

Highlord Kruul
Annihilate - This is Kruul’s big nuke. It deals a large amount of physical damage and increases your damage taken for the rest of the fight. If you stun or CC Kruul to disrupt his cast, he will attempt to cast it again immediately afterward. This is a large burst damage skill, but not the most deadly part of phase 2 if you manage cooldowns effectively. Be sure to cover each cast with Shield Block, Ignore Pain, and from stack 2 onward, a defensive cooldown such as Demoralizing Shout, Last Stand, Rallying Cry, or Shield Wall. As you reach stacks 3 and 4, this will become increasingly lethal. You should try to kill Kruul before reaching stack 5. That's usually a killer.

Netherstomp - This is Kruul’s other big, dangerous nuke. He will instantly leap onto you, leaving a puddle that slows you and deals an enormous amount of fire damage while you are in it. Be ready to use cooldowns and use Heroic Leap or Charge to get out quickly as needed. Try not to leave these in the area immediately around Prophet Velen. You don't want a nasty fire pool on top of your healing spheres.

Twisted Reflection - Kruul’s critical spell. Interrupting or using Spell Reflection on this is absolutely necessary. If he successfully casts this on you, he will heal with every auto-attack, which will quickly fill his health pool back up. If you reflect it on him, the same applies, but for you! If you miss an interrupt and reflect on this, try to CC and kite as quickly as you can to pick up one of Velen's orbs, which will remove the debuff. Reflecting this debuff will provide a ton of self-healing, making the final phase much easier to handle, but it will also give him an !! ENORMOUS, VERY DISTRACTING GREEN GLOW WHILE THE DEBUFF IS ACTIVE !! This can make seeing anything going on around the boss for the rest of the fight a bit difficult, so interrupting is a potential option. Reflecting will make the second phase much easier from a defensive perspective, you basically just need to use cooldowns effectively on Annihilate and your health pool should be close to topped off for the rest of the fight. Using focus macros can help with getting interrupts/reflects on Kruul even if you are dealing with other enemies.
Be warned that Nether Horror auto-attacks count as spell casts, so when you are attempting to reflect Kruul's cast, be sure your reflect won't get consumed by a Nether Horror hit instead. Kiting, Shockwave, Intimidating Shout, or simply killing them will all work to ensure the little guys won't waste your Spell Reflection.

NetherstompSmoldering Infernal

Nether Horror

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Comments

Comment by Kisses

To be honest I cannot even get through phase 1, because I have not enough damage, spawning 4 immortals and then just dying to knock or to small adds (: whoever designed that challenge really made it not easy for warirors. Worst one so far, and I am at the end of tower overwhelming.

Protection Warrior Mage Tower Tank Challenge Guide - Highlord Kruul - The War Within 11.2.7

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