Carapace of N'Zoth - Ny'alotha Raid Strategy Guide

By FatbossTV Updated: 2020/03/13

Fury of N'ZothServant of N'ZothFury of N'Zoth

Il'gynothRa-denVexionaN'ZothCarapace of N'Zoth Loot

Shard of the Black Empire - The weapon always comes with the Twisted Appendage corruption effect, which increases your character's corruption by 35.

Shgla'yos, Astral Malignity - The weapon always comes with the Infinite Stars corruption effect, which increases your character's corruption by 50.

Tortured Fleshbeast Cuirass

Mirage-Weaver's Gauntlets

Lurker's Piercing Gaze

Pauldrons of Infinite Darkness

Corpuscular Leather Greaves

Helm of Actualized Visions

Spaulders of Miasmic Mycelia

Watcher's Scheming Girdle

Corporeal Supplicant's Trousers

Carapace of N'Zoth Loot GuideCarapace Quick Tips

Players need to keep their Sanity from dropping to 0, as otherwise they'll become permanently charmed!

Players who become Servants of N'zoth should be interrupted and killed as soon as possible.

Players can gain sanity by standing near Wrathion, or using their extra action button, during phases one and two.

Fury of N'Zoth

Tanks should taunt off of one another when their Black Scar debuff drops, usually after 2 Mandible Slam casts.

Players will passively lose Sanity due to the randomly applied Mental Decay debuffs.

Spread 10+ yards away from allies when afflicted with Madness Bomb.

Quickly damage through the Adaptive Membrane applied to the boss or his adds to gain the Fragment of Sanity that spawn.

Avoid the Growth-Covered Tentacle shadowy slam location and then kill the Horrific Hemorrhages!

Crowd control and then kill the Adaptive Antigen adds after the Growth-Covered Tentacle despawns.

Travel along a path together, clearing the Mycelial Cysts patches by damaging them.

Kill the Synthesis Growths along the path. Once all have been defeated, use the extra action button to return to the start and go along the other path.

Once both paths have been cleared of Synthesis Growths, jump down and engage the boss once again.

Move from the bosses Occipital Blast beam during this phase.

The boss now casts Eternal Darkness, dealing damage and removing sanity from all players.

Make sure to visit Wrathion during this phase to restore your sanity if it gets low.

Dodge the Thrashing Tentacle slam zones marked by shadows.

All players will be targeted by Insanity Bomb, make sure to spread!

Avoid killing the Nightmare Antigen adds during this phase until they have been given the Adaptive Membrane buff.

Wrathion does not assist the raid during this phase, making the Fragment of Sanity the only way to gain sanity back.

Carapace of N'Zoth - General MechanicSanity

Sanity will be drained throughout the fight through various mechanics.

Upon reaching 0 sanity, a player will receive the Gift of N'Zoth debuff which increases their damage and healing done by 100% for 20 seconds.

After these 20 seconds the player will be permanently charmed and become a Servant of N'Zoth, gaining 100% increased health.

Whilst charmed the player will cast Mental Decay which removes 15 sanity from a random target and applies a 12 second dot.

Players should avoid loosing sanity at all times throughout the fight, as becoming a Servant of N'Zoth leads to a certain death.

Any player who accidentally becomes a Servant of N'Zoth should be interrupted and killed as soon as possible, to reduce the number of Mental Decay casts they can execute.

All players start the fight with a full 100 Sanity.

Players must understand that regaining sanity once the Gift of N'Zoth debuff has applied will have no effect. It is certain at that point that you will become a Servant of N'Zoth.

As a result, all players should aim to regain their sanity before they reach this point ideally around the 10-15 sanity mark at the latest.

Carapace of N'Zoth Phase OneWrathion and Ashjra'kamas, Shroud of ResolveWrathion

Wrathion has an Anchor of Sanity aura which gives players who stand within it Sanity every few seconds.

Players within the aura are also given the Grace of the Black Prince debuff which increases their movement speed by 40% for 10 seconds. This helps players return back to the fight, as Wrathion is positioned quite far away.

Players should return to Wrathion during this phase if they fall below 20 sanity, as to ensure that they do not become a Servant of N'Zoth.

Wrathion can be found to the south of the encounter space. Stand near him to gain Sanity back!

Ashjra'kamas, Shroud of ResolveWrathion

Using this fully heals the player, makes them immune to sanity effects for a short while whilst also teleporting them to Wrathion's location.

This extra action button has a two minute cooldown, but can otherwise be used as often as the player wants.

During phase one, players should use this extra action button in the time between Growth-Covered Tentacle spawns if they need to restore their sanity.

Tanks should avoid using this ability whilst they are actively tanking the Fury of N'Zoth, as it will just follow you all the way over to Wrathion which will significantly disrupt raid output.

Fury of N'Zoth

During phase one he has four different abilities.

Mandible SlamMandible Slam

This deals a large burst of physical damage and also triggers Black Scar.

Black Scar deals a moderate burst of shadow damage but leaves a debuff which increases the damage you take from Black Scar by 100% and this can stack.

Tanks need taunt off of one another when their Black Scar stacks dropwhich is usually around 2 stacks.

Tanks should make sure that they have some form of damage reduction active when they take a Mandible Slam whilst they have a Black Scar debuff.

Mental DecayFury of N'ZothMental Decay

This debuff immediately drains 10 sanity from the player and then deals low shadow damage every second for 12 seconds.

This is an unavoidable source of sanity drain that is present throughout the encounter.

Raiders simply need to keep an eye on their Sanity and be ready to return to Wrathion if it gets too low.

Madness BombMadness Bomb

These debuffs do nothing over their duration. When they expire they explode, dealing a large burst of shadow damage and fearing all players within 10 yards of the afflicted player for 2 seconds.

Any player who wasn't targeted by the Madness Bomb will also lose 15 Sanity if they are hit by this explosion.

Players with this debuff should move away from others, as to reduce the chance that anyone loses Sanity from this particular mechanic.

Tanks should note that this can target you. Nearby players need to be aware of this as to make sure that they don't run into you whilst in melee range of the boss.

Move away from allies when afflicted with Madness Bomb!

Adaptive MembraneAdaptive Membrane

When targeting adds, this debuff is applied to all adds of the same name. As an example: all adds will gain this debuff if it is applied to them, rather than just one of those adds.

This applies a 12 second damage absorption shield on the target. Whilst the shield holds, the target is immune to crowd control and is unable to be slowed to below 60% of normal movement speeds.

If the shield is broken before it expires, all damage dealt to the shield is done to the target and a Fragment of Sanity will spawn nearby.

Fragment of Sanity are the only other way to regain Sanity during the encounter. Running into one will consume it and give the player 10 sanity. Fragment orbs only last 15 seconds.

If the Adaptive Membrane is applied to the boss, multiple Fragment of Sanity will spawn, rather than just the one that spawns from each add.

Breaking the Adaptive Membrane spawns Fragment of Sanity!

Adaptive Membrane

Removing shields from the adds is also a high priority because the crowd control immunity can be very disruptive.

Generally speaking, the Fragment of Sanity should be left for super low Sanity players or the tanks, as using the Shroud of Resolve extra action button is more disruptive for tanks than it is for other players.

Growth-Covered TentacleGrowth-Covered Tentacle

This tentacle will cast a large shadow on the ground before slamming into it, dealing lethal damage to anyone who is in the landing shadow.

All players must keep a close eye on the ground to be certain that they move from this shadow landing location.

Dodge the tentacle slam and then kill the Horrific Hemorrages!

Growth-Covered Tentacle

The tentacle has 6 Horrific Hemorrage adds on its back. Players should move to either side of the tentacle to then kill these adds as soon as possible.

We recommend that the Melee DPS, the boss and half the healers should place themselves on one side, whilst all Ranged DPS, the other tank and the other half of the healers work on the other side of the tentacle.

Once all Horrific Hemorrage adds have died, the tentacle will retreat and the boss will take damage equal to 1.25% of his maximum health per hemorrage killed.

If a Horrific Hemorrage isn't killed within 1 minute it will explode and deal high shadow damage to the entire raid.

Horrific Hemorrhage

This area then explodes, dealing high damage to anyone within the point of impact. A add then spawns from this patch.

The adds will still spawn even if players are hit by the fluid. Players should actively avoid standing on either side of the tentacle so that these zones are never an issue.

Nightmare Antibody

This does a small initial burst of shadow damage and applies a 4 second long debuff which reduces haste and movement speed by 3% per stacks.

The tanks on either side of the tentacle should aim to pick up these adds as soon as possible.

The adds gain stacks of Adaptive Antigen over time. Each stack increases their damage done by 10% and prevents them from being slowed below 10% of their normal movement speed.

All DPS should focus on killing the Horrific Hemorrhage, as to reduce the overall amount of s that spawn.

As soon as the Horrific Hemorrhages are dead, all DPS should then focus on killing the s as soon as possible.

Adaptive Antigen adds spawn from the red zones spawned by the Horrific Hemorrhages!

The raid should avoid transitioning into phase two whilst a Growth-Covered Tentacle is active, as they'll have to deal with that before moving on with the rest of the fight putting them behind significantly.

Carapace of N'Zoth Phase Two

Players should not immediately follow the boss, instead they should wait until Wrathion clears the path from goo.

Once done, all players should move down the path and into the chamber where phase two takes place.

Players with less than 100 sanity will immediately have all of their sanity returned to them as soon as phase two begins.

Synthesis GrowthFury of N'Zoth

He is immune to all incoming damage and will not directly engage the raid.

Synthesis Growth enemies line the walls of the paths that can be found on either side of the chamber.

Each growth is channelling Synthesis, healiung the boss for a small amount every 2 seconds whilst providing the boss his damage immunity and healing reduction immunity.

The raids goal is to kill all of these Synthesis Growths as soon as possible. The quicker it is done, the less the boss will heal.

Kill all Synthesis Growths as soon as possible!

Mycelial CystsMycelial Cyst

These enemies act very much the same way as the Amorphous Cyst enemies found during the G'huun encounter in Uldir.

They have a Mycelial Growth aura around them which deals low ticking damage whilst slowing movement speeds by 75%.

As the cysts take damage, the range of the aura reduces, until it reaches 1hp when it becomes its smallest.

The cysts cannot be killed and will also slowly heal over time due to their Regenerative Mass passive.

Damage the Mycelial Cysts to create safe ground to stand on.

Mycelial Cyst

The raid should also kill all Synthesis Growths as they go.

During this time, the raid will still be targeted by Mental Decay, Madness Bomb and adds will occasionally gain the Adaptive Membrane.

These abilities should be dealt with in the same way as phase one, by either spreading with the bomb or focusing the adds with the membrane buff.

The raid will also be targeted by a new ability: Eternal Darkness. This just deals a flat burst of damage and drains 10 sanity from each player in the raid.

Once a path has been completely cleared of all Synthesis Growths, the raid should use their extra action button to return to the entrance of the room and gain sanity back from Wrathion.

After reaching full sanity, the raid should then head up the other path and repeat the process.

Once both paths have been cleared of all Synthesis Growths, the Fury of N'Zoth will become active and the raid should begin to fight him once again.

If this process is done in a timely manner, the boss shouldn't have more than 56-57% health once all growths are defeated.

The raid should jump down from their path and fight him there, as the Fury of N'Zoth gains 100% extra damage done when he is stood within a Mycelial Growth aura.

These teams will split up at the beginning and each clear their own path, with one group going left and another group going right.

This makes the phase go by quicker, however it can lead to low sanity levels as you do not gain sanity back until you use your cape after clearing the path.

It also requires more coordination, which could end up slow disorganised groups.

Your raid team may want to try out both different strategies for this phase to see which suits them best. Both of them work and both will lead to a kill if done correctly.

After clearing all growths on a path, use the extra action button and then go up the other path!

Occipital BlastFury of N'ZothMandible SlamMental DecayMadness BombAdaptive MembraneEternal Darkness

On top of this, he will also occasionally use Occipital Blast. This is a large frontal beam faced at the location of a random player.

This beam has a long charge up time, allowing all players to easily side step out of the cast and dodge the ability.

If anyone is hit by the blast, they will lose 40 Sanity and take a large burst of shadow damage.

To make dodging this ability easier, players should stay near the boss as much as they can.

The boss uses this very quickly after activating in this phase. Players returning from Wrathion may want to wait until the blast has ended before moving close to him.

Move out of the Occipital Blast beam!

The boss will retreat further into the Carapace of N'zoth and Wrathion will not be accessible during phase three.

All players will also gain all their sanity back for free upon this transition.

Carapace of N'Zoth Phase ThreeFury of N'Zoth

The boss has maintained access to all of his phase two abilities, however Madness Bomb has now been changed into Insanity Bomb.

Insanity Bomb

This debuff acts the same as Madness Bomb, except it is now applied to the entire raid and the sanity punishment is increased to 15,
up from 10.

Additionally, each bomb will spawn 1 Nightmare Antigen add nearby when it expires.

This results in a whole bunch of adds spawning at once. These adds will be spread around the room as players also need to spread to not hit others with their Insanity Bomb debuff.

Players should immediately head back towards the boss as to help the adds funnel together so that the tanks can pick them up.

All players are afflicted with Insanity Bomb!

Adaptive Membrane

To do this easily, after the tank has collected the adds, he should drag them away from the raid whilst somebody crowd controls them.

As soon as they gain the debuff, the adds can be tanked underneath the boss and cleaved down, supplying the raid with multiple Fragment of Sanity orbs.

This may not be necessary on normal or heroic difficulty, as you may just be able to kill the boss before Sanity becomes much of an issue.

Thrashing TentacleThrashing Tentacle

These will each mark a shadow on the ground before slamming into that area, dealing lethal damage to anyone hit.

Players need to find the safe spot between the shadows to avoid getting hit.

Do be aware that other mechanics can occur at the same time as Thrashing Tentacles, such as the Insanity Bomb. This overlap severely reduces the safe space available to spread into.

Avoid standing within the shadows when the Thrashing Tentacles slam down!

Heroic DifficultyAdaptive MembraneAdaptive Membrane

It now grants interrupt immunity to targets. It also makes it so the target cannot be reduced below 100% normal movement speed, up from 60%.

This doesn't change the strategy used for the encounter all that much, its just stops players from interrupting Gaze of Madness adds when they have Adaptive Membrane.

Growth-Covered Tentacle

This add does not need to be tanked and will simply spam cast Breed Madness.

This interruptible channel deals ever increasing shadow damage over 9 seconds to randomly selected players.

If the cast is interrupted, or when it ends, the add triggers a Maddening Eruption.

This eruption deals moderate shadow damage to the raid and drains 5 sanity from all players.

Each eruption also buffs the add with Deepening Madness, increasing its damage done by 5%. This can stack.

Do not interrupt the Breed Madness cast unless somebody is about to die!

Interrupting its cast only serves to remove more sanity from the raid, which could cause players to run low.

Instead the raid should ideally nuke the add down as soon as possible as to kill it before the damage from Breed Madness gets too high.

Healers should spot heal the players targeted by the Breed Madness, and the add should be interrupted if the healers cannot keep up.

The Fury of N'Zoth should be tanked next to the add as to allow passive cleave to splash onto it.

Upon death, the Gaze of Madness deals damage to the Fury of N'Zoth equal to 3% of the bosses max hp.

Move from the Infinite Darkness zone as a raid.

Infinite DarknessInfinite Darkness

This zone grows quickly over time until it covers a large area of the encounter space.

Players who stand within the zone take a large amount of ticking damage, quickly killing anybody who linger in it for too long.

The raid should move away from the Infinite Darkness zone in a single direction as a unit, as to make sure that all players remain in range of the boss and healers.

Healers should look to use cooldowns for each Infinite Darkness cast, as the zone damage combined with the initial damage from the cast leads to extremely high raid damage.

The zone will despawn before the boss casts Infinite Darkness again.

Mythic Difficulty Guide Writers Note: This boss was not tested publicly on mythic difficulty on the PTR. Therefore the changes listed below are gathered only from the Dungeon Journal.Adaptive MembraneAdaptive Membrane

In addition to its usual effects, the effect of granting immunity to sanity draining effects and reducing incoming healing by 75% has been added.

Additionally, the spell can now target players. It is unclear how a player is supposed to break their own shield. Perhaps by taking damage, such as a hit from the Growth-Covered Tentacle.

When removed, the debuff can spawn a Fragment of Sanity like usual, or a Shard of Sanity.

Shard of Sanity is a much larger orb and when soaked it grants 10 sanity to all players within 20 yards of it.

Whenever a Shard of Sanity spawns, all players should stand nearby just to gain the sanity when it is soaked.

WrathionSynthesis Growth

In additional to this change, each time a Synthesis Growth is killed, 2 Nightmare Antigens spawn.

Players will have to make sure that the antigens are dealt with throughout the fight, crowd controlling them and then killing them when they have Adaptive Membrane applied to them.

If this isn't done correctly, players are very likely to run out of sanity, as Wrathion is not here to help.

Mycelial CystMycelial Cyst

Upon reaching 1 health they gain a protective Reactive Mass layer for 18 seconds which prevents targeting.

Once this layer is removed, the cyst casts Regenerative Explosion, dealing high damage to all players within 15 yards whilst healing itself back to full.

The raid will need to stagger the rate in which they kill the cysts, as to ensure that there is always a safe space to stand.

Mycelial Cyst

This leads me to believe that the cysts could be covering the majority of the encounter space during this phase.

Combine this with the addition of the Reactive Mass shield, this is going to cause a lot of positioning obstacles that the raid will have to find a way to conquer.

Mythic DifficultyMythic Carapace Strategy Guide

There are a few mythic changes worth mentioning. Adaptive Membrane now applies to players as well as enemies, making it an important mechanic in the last phase to maintain the raids sanity.

In Phase 1, the raid will have to deal simultaneously with Gaze of Madness and Horrific Hemorrhages, rather than the two mechanics alternating. While this makes Phase 1 a little more difficult, it also means that the phase is shorter than its Heroic counterpart.

Starting in the second phase, players will lose the ability to activate their cloak to restore their sanity, making Shard of Sanity the only source of Sanity restoration. Mycelial Cysts in Phase 2 and 3 start a 10 second timer from the time they take any damage before they become shielded and players are unable to target them for 20 seconds. After the immunity duration is over, Mycelial Cysts will cast Regenerative Expulsion, healing to full health and dealing damage to nearby enemies.

Mythic Carapace Guide

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Comments

Comment by Xenostrigger

video is at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fNtf7BgDjqg

Comment by Ryawy

For Blood DKs, Anti-Magic Shell can be used to negate a stack of Black Scar from Mandible Slam.

Comment by Alaarrin

There is a misstake the black scar need to be swap when at 3 stack otherwise the stack dont have enough time to drop.

Comment by jaghead

Does the level of your cloak matter during raids?

Comment by Pisky

Is the cloak still required for the last two bosses of Ny'alotha in 9.0.1 Shadowlands pre-patch? I mean, it still should be because of the boss abilities, but the tooltip now lacks any corruption or sanity drain resistances.

Also, is the raid overall easier or harder in the pre-patch?

Comment by PownyRyda

If the portal doesn't spawn for you at the end of the bridge, you probably don't have Ashjra'kamas, Shroud of Resolve equipped. Just equip it now, jump down to death, and walk back up. The portal only spawned for me after I killed all mobs on the bridge leading up to the portal.

Carapace of N'Zoth - Ny'alotha Raid Strategy Guide

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