Azta'rec Nemesis Boss Guide - Midnight Delves Season 2

By Paryah Updated: 2026/08/11

Azta'recAzta'recVenomfall DeepsThe Fabled achievement, offers a title, , to players who defeat the boss solo within the first week of Season 2.Where to Find Azta'rec in Midnight Season 2Azta'rec Introductory Quest ChainValeera Sanguinarnot requiredCorrosive Victory

Slithering Spoils

Fangs for the Memories

Azta'rec Nemesis Delve Strategy in Midnight Season 2Valeera Recommendations

Healer Valeera for Tank and DPS Specs

DPS Valeera for Healer Specs

Main Phase

Noxious Bile - A Frontal Cone that needs to be dodged leaving some puddles on the ground.

Void Toxin - A Magic Dispel that does high periodic damage, and reduces damage done by 40%.

Soul Extinction - An interruptable cast that will does around 2 million damage.

Venom Storm - Summons waves that need to be dodged.

Serpent's Strike (Tank only) - Does a tankbuster dealing high physical damage only against Tank specs.

Soul ExtinctionVoid ToxinIntermission

Sermon of Ula'tek - Telegraphs and then detonates 3 quadrants of the room after a short delay. This occurs multiple times in quick succession.
Players who are hit and survive are debuffed with Ula'tek's Mark

Echo of Ula'tek

Players who are hit and survive are debuffed with Ula'tek's Mark

Echo of Azta'rec(?? Only)

1st Intermission: 5 safe spot sequence

2nd Intermission: 6 safe spot sequence

3rd Intermission: 7 safe spot sequence

Azta'rec Rewards in Midnight Season 2uncappedHero MistcrestuncappedHero MistcrestMyth MistcrestCorrosive VictorySourceFangs for the MemoriesUseSourcePurging the PoisonSourceFabled Let Me Solo Him: Azta'recApophic PatagiaSourceMy Venomous NemesisApophic Soul CrusherSourceLet Me Solo Him: Azta'rec

Comments

Comment by Horus829

I see blizzard heard the feedback about the season 1 boss being a terribly designed encounter and thought the correct response was to make an even twitchier and tedious encounter, lovely.

Comment by Jadgel

Hmm, just killed him on ? difficulty and received 10 (capped) Veteran Crests instead of the 30 uncapped Hero Crests you mention in this article. Bugged?

Comment by IKEAshark

there is some sort of visual bug going on with his intermission every time he get to the last 3 the safe spots do not show

Comment by Yatomaru

i cant even get his door to open. i did both the new delves on t8 and the companion doesnt have a quest for me but his door wont open either

Comment by superfinder

Is there a specific Corrosive Codex power that is best for the boss fight?

Comment by robbiedehand

sooo how do you unlock ? i done up and includng lvl 11 delves and kiled ?

Comment by Xclnt

Base ond the "Midnight 12.1 Schedule info difficulty ? will be opened at 18.8.
Does that mean that Fabled achievment can be obtained 18.-25.? Because "first week" of the season is now (12.-18.)

I will be pissed if I'll wait week for it to open just and not getting A then...

Comment by Kaorhy

To open the door to his delve, you need to complete a delve lv7 with lives remaining + complete the quest Come with me (id 93024)

Comment by zaronar

Season 1 nemesis was easy even on ? But this one is a pain

Comment by Voodoodog

I would use this strategy for double "?" or even for single "?" difficulty.
Mark each quadrant with a world marker - Blue, Purple, Red, Yellow. I'd avoid Green since the whole room is kinda green.

Once his Sermon starts, move to each quadrant and quickly type the initial of each letter.
For example your chat may look like this:
r
y
b
r
p
r
b

Then read your chat back and repeat the pattern.

Comment by jeykama

I use a world marker setup that uses numbers based on how many pointy things each marker has. I just find numbers easier to remember quickly.1=Yellow Dot2=White Moon3 = Green Triangle4=Blue Square or Red XPlace them close to the center of the arena, one in each quadrant; then you can just recite the number order in your head or type in the chatbox whichever is easier to do on the fly.Also you can RUN THROUGH THE BOSS during the memory game do not be afraid of his poison puddle graphic.

Comment by TwilightImp

Not a fan of the green upon green upon green spell fx...makes it messier than it should be

Comment by Hranica

I'm soooooo cooked for this one, been bad at memory puzzles since the harry potter games

Comment by nkobra

Don't know if this has been changed since the guide was written but i just did this on ? and the intermission mechanic does get harder each time. Its starts with 3 waves at 90% health but then it's 4 at 60% and 5 at 30%, this caught me out since the guide only mentions the increase for ?
Edit: not sure why this is getting downvoted, I did it yesterday before season 2 started and like I said, the way the guide is worded caught me out so I was trying to give a heads-up. If it's been changed, that's fine.

Comment by RanLive

Knocked this out a WW monk at 291 ilvl with Valeera at level 52.

For Valeera I went with her Bloodcrypt Toxin for poison, Corrosive Bilespear for the combat curio, and soul-cracking dreamcatcher for the utility.

Super important: Take Accursed Poison from the poison console. It will sometimes interrupt automatically for you and that helps you have to focus less on it or if you get both the add and boss up at the same time.

Make sure you slow or stop damage if the boss just did the venom waves and they're moving on the floor and you're about to go into intermission. Way easier to deal with once those are gone then trying to dodge those, grab the add, move, and mark it if you're using an addon.

Comment by Nexvix

Hey folks! Thought I'd share my experience with this on ? difficulty. I will detail everything I ended up doing to succeed and hopefully help you maximize your chances!

First off I had Valeera at lvl 80, though you could honestly probably do it with her at a way lower level. I honestly don't think her level mattered THAT much, but I could very well be wrong.

For Valeera's Kit I had the following setup from top to bottom - Healer - (Poisons) Poison of the Forgotten Master - (Combat Curio) Corrosive Bilespear - (Ultility Curio) Soul-Cracking Dreamcatcher.

I did it as a Prot Warrior 294 ilvl while using Accursed Poison from the Corrosive Codex. This has a CHANCE to inflict a debuff on the boss that automatically interrupts a spellcast and does damage. It's all RNG dependent but when it clutched, it REALLY clutched. I also did the full thing in prot stance and did not stance-dance at all.

Talents of Note - Second Wind for safety - Bounding Stride - Disrupting Shout. I believe these 3 were the game changers for me ESPECIALLY Disrupting Shout.

My buffs were - Flask of the Blood Knights - HQ Thalassian Phoenix Oil - Puffer Plate; which gives you 65 of your highest secondary stat - Light's Potential Potion - and of course Battle Shout.

I will also HIGHLY HIGHLY HIGHLY recommend the addon "Azta'rec Helper." I tried them all and this was easily the best with customizeable markers, keybinds, and a guiding voice to direct you to the next safe area. Hands-down the best. The drawback is that it sometimes won't read your starting position and direct you accordingly.

I also turned down the volume on everything except for the voice of the addons like DBM/BigWigs, and Azta'rec Helper. Hearing the boss voice lines does help, but not as much as you think. I would also go into settings of your Boss Mod addon of choice and turn off any irrelevant callouts. I only had Interrupt, Defensive Cooldown, and Puddle warnings on. Also a mouse-tracker and some sort of focus target macro will help. I have also seen people turning their contrast to 100 (50 default) to help better see which quadrant is safe/dangerous. I personally kept mine at 50 and found the low-light too distracting.

So with ALL of that out of the way, let me break down the fight!

So on pull I would Avatar, Demoralizing Shout, Shield Block, and spam Shield Slam to pool my rage while also Thunder Clapping. I would use Revenge SPARINGLY unless I was way over capped. This is simply because there is a TANK ONLY mechanic where you need to use defensive cooldowns. So I would spend my rage on Shield Block + Ignore Pain. With Valeera healing I could save my big CD's for messups. It's also important you stay on top of your interrupts. They wouldn't 1 shot me if I had a defensive up, but I have died several times to it.

I tanked him around the edges of the room for his frontal cone attack WHICH DROPS PUDDLES (about 3 per) and can 1 shot you after 3rd Simon. The puddles DO disappear over time but it takes a bit. He will also send rolling blobs across the floor randomly, so if your back is at a pool of goo, then keep on your toes. The blobs are fairly easy to dodge with generous hitboxes so you can squeeze between a couple if needed. After each Simon phase the blobs will increase in number every time they are summoned.

At 90, 60, and 30 percent health he will go to the center of the room and the Simon Says mechanic will begin, and he will do it 5, 6, 7, times respectively. Make Illidan proud and PREPARE for this. At 91%, 61%, and 31% I drug the boss to as close to the middle as I could to get ready for phase change. This was one of those keystone strats that made a huge difference. Being close to the boss in this phase is what will help the most imho. Less travel = More time to input simon commands.

He will also spawn an add ON TOP OF YOU at this point so the closer you are to him, the more you can cleave. THE BOSS TAKES 90% REDUCED DAMAGE during this time so it's very little cleave, but this is a game of inches. The add is CCable with stuns, and I would use it to try and space out the interrupts. I would ALWAYS blow Avatar and try to dps him as hard as I could here. You should only have to use a defensive ability once before simon is over, and an interrupt soon after. This is where Accursed Poison comes in handy. The interrupts CAN overlap between the two after Simon. In this case I would use Commanding Shout with the talent point put in it on the protection tree. I am unsure if Fear or other CC would work on it like Typhoon, but my money is on they do.

So once the add is dead, things wash and repeat. The calmer you are, the more you breathe, the easier things get. You're not going to do a lot of damage, what's important is that you pick up Vareesa's red orbs for healing, Impending Victory if she's KO'd (this happened to me once on my kill), and try not to dump all your CD's into surviving. It's better to die, learn, and get back in there than blow 2 min CD's only to be caught out and frustrated.

The biggest issue is surviving Simon while juggling defensive CD's for the add, and possible interrupts. This takes a lot of practice to get down. In the end I was on pull 45 when I finally stepped on the snek. The biggest brain strat I have heard of is having a friend memorize the Simon order for you. Just hop in discord, stream, and leave the hard work to someone else! Once you get him down you get your achievements and your mount is dropped into your bag. Also, don't forget to loot him!

I hope this helps people going for this. I'm not the best player in the world, but I wanted to help others succeed and down this SOB! I wish you good RNG in your snek steppies. You got this!

Comment by RepoGamer

Ummm memory games. I cant remember what happened yesterday. I'm cooked.

Comment by Footzies

Im so happy they fixed the tank buster ability.. SARCASM detected

It hits for 1.5 MILLION dmg in ? about every 10 seconds or so... a tad overtuned dont you think?
You can use defensives once or twice, depending on how many you have on the tank you are playing, but then you simply die. Great mechanic

Comment by Yarv

Hey everyone, another cool nemesis boss completed. Rank 10176. I completed this as a demo lock with at 297.25 with Season 1 4 piece.

If you want a more broken down fight for how to do an encounter like this, I recommend Nexvix's comment in this thread. I will only give what I felt was successful from specifically a demo lock perspective to keep this short.

Talents: CoQAMrNP5kak+EBqLfUa3dMm+amxDMzMNbM2mZGzyAAAAAAAM2WmxMzwihhZ2mlWoZsYMGLzyMzMmBAmZMzMzMDmZmZGzMAAAjZmhhhlZMgB

My valeera was level 66 (as i had capped her to 60 from Season 1) and was set as healer (this is required imo for allowing us to get the healing which directs to our pet as well as dispelling the dot. We could do it with imp, but you don't want to. There's enough going on.
I ran Bloodcrypt Toxin as her poison, corrosove bilespear as the combat curo, and the soul-cracking dreamcatcher as the utility.

In my opinion, it is a HARD requirement to ensure you have the Accursed Poison for it auto-interrupting the boss or the clone. I wasted way too many attempts on not having it and had to grind corrosive souls as I didn't pick that one up early on. Without it, you either have to perfectly time a kick on the clone or chain it with coil and fears and you really don't have time to do that during sermon phases.

Sermons happen at 90%, 60%, and 30%. I used tyrant and cds on the first one at 90%, tyrant cds + combat potion at 60%, tyrant + cds + drums on the last set. If you can get past the last sermon and valeera and your pet are healthy, you should have it in the bag. Just focus and lock in.

Compared to Nulleus, I think this fight was harder only because of the sermon being so unforgiving and the requirement for the accursed poison.
Very fun and the way they currently have it where you can complete it in the first week rather than the first 4000 is perfect for everyone, like myself, who work fulltime and can't log in right as the servers come up.

Comment by ercarp

Completed Tier 2 today on a 298 Holy Paladin for the Fabled Vanquisher title (Rank #10354). The hardest part was the memory game considering I can barely remember what I had for breakfast this morning...

There's an addon called Azta'rec Helper - Boss Mod that I used to help with it. It was a bit bugged for me though as it kept getting the order wrong. I wiped so many times at 30% just because the addon messed up and told me to walk to my death. But eventually I guess I got lucky and it managed to keep it together.

- My Valeera was Level 48 or 49, and set to Damage Dealer.
- Poisons: Bloodcrypt Toxin
- Combat Curio: Corrosive Bilespear
- Utility Curio: Soul-Cracking Dreamcatcher
- Didn't use the "poison console" (or whatever it is) at all as I don't have any of them unlocked.

Once you have a good way of dealing with the memory game, it's just a matter of patience. My last attempt took me 11 minutes and in total the whole thing took less than 15 attempts.

Comment by mfsabbath

I just beat ? difficulty as an ilvl 289 arcane mage for the Fabled Let Me Solo Him: Azta'rec achievement.
I had Valeera at lvl 61, and using the following:
Combat Role: Healer
Poisons: Phantasmal Spore Toxin (in hindsight, I don't know if I ever really benefited from this, so I probably would've went with Poison of the Forgotten Master instead)
Combat Curio: Corrosive Bilespear (big damage)
Utility Curio: Soul-Cracking Dreamcatcher (increased damage to Elites that are interrupted )
Corrosive Codex: Accursed Poison

Some general tips for the fight:
- Pull him as far to the back of the room as you can (if ranged), or make him turn around immediately so he's facing the stairs (if melee). Within moments, the stairs become "lava" and he'll use Noxious Bile. One of the biggest things that made my encounters easier was getting him to face towards the stairs to drop Bile into the "lava". Bile will drop 4 pools of poison on the ground within/around the impacted area, so you're minimizing the impact he'll have on the rest of the zone if you get him to drop there. If you can't, try getting him to at least face away from the center of the zone. I primarily kept him by the stairs as opposed to the outer ring (more on that in a bit).
- Venom Storm summons globs of poison that travel across the arena. They spawn from the poisonous pools around the arena, hence why I position the boss by the stairs. If the pools come close/endanger you by the stairs, run out and run back in. Positioning is your #1 priority in this fight during all stages.
- Void Toxin I never had to worry about much, because Healer Valeera would cleanse me.
- Soul Extinction you MUST interrupt, or it's an insta-kill. If he's not afflicted by the Accursed Poison debuff: interrupt him. If he has the debuff, he'll get interrupted and it's one less mechanic for you to deal with in that moment.
- During Sermon of Ula'tek on ? mode, down the Echo ASAP! If you can kill the Echo relatively quickly the first sequence, you'll have plenty of time during the others because the sermons get longer with each phase. What helped me was putting down raid markers near the middle of the room so I could easily distinguish which quadrants were safe. My biggest hiccup this whole encounter was making sure I remembered the pattern. I found memorizing them in pairs of 3 helped me (Red, Blue, Red; Blue, Purple, Yellow; etc).
- Rinse and repeat!

For Mages... here's my loadout and some tips: C4DAche08tHz49KSVf7iKFnyuZGGLzMzswMDamxAAAwAAmZmmltlZAgYDAAwMzYbzyMmZxYMzMzMsxMzMzMAADAAwAMzAmBADzMD
He can't be CC'd, and there's no curses or buffs to dispell, so I didn't talent into Dragon's Breath/Supernova, Remove Curse, or Spellsteal. Some talents I chose otherwise were Temporal Realignment > Time Walk; 2 points into Improved Conjuration for Mirror Image cooldown; 2 points into Incantation of Swiftness for emergency mobility; Mana Confluence.
In the arcane tree, I removed Orb Barrage (as I didn't really cast it much since Arcane Missiles are now FAR superior to it as Sunfury) and put the talent into Mana Adept to help keep my mana up.
Tips:
- I spent about a minute at a time every 10% of his health pool. This helped me ensure I had Touch of the Magi and Arcane Surge up! I start the fight casting Touch, and it was up again by the time the first Sermon phase started. I also had Shadow Shard Sliver as my on-use trinket for some extra haste during those phases.
- Following the spell rotation sort of went out the door, as your primary concerns are making sure you interrupt Soul Extinction, and positioning! Your positioning is more imperative to your survival than trying to get one last cast off!
- I would manually run around the venom globs as opposed to using Blink/Shimmer, because I ended up Blinking right into them on several occasions.
- Save your Blink/Shimmer charges for when the Sermon phases happen. You'll need to get yourself into position ASAP! I also cast Mirror Image at the start of these phases to remove aggro from the Echo on me (and Valeera) so I can focus on positioning that I need to remember.
- If you forget the last one (maaaaaaybe two?) spots of Sermon, you can use Ice Cold to take most of the damage that would otherwise kill you. Pop a health potion if you get hit with Ice Cold!
- Rinse and repeat.
- I used Time Warp during the 3rd and final Sermon/Echo stage, because I wanted to make sure I had the Echo dead so I could focus more on positioning. If you can make it past that: congratulations, the fight is almost over!

Most importantly: TAKE YOUR TIME! You will want your cooldowns during the Sermon/Echo phase! It's okay to slow down your dps and just Arcane Barrage while on the run dodging frontals and globs.
Hope this helps!

Comment by Ylze

Done as 290 Mistweaver monk (no S2 Tierset, 4set from S1, 295 S1 Weapon).
Valeera lvl 36, DPS
Soulthirst Poison
Corrosive Bilespear
Soul-crackling Dreamcatcher

Talents:
C4QAQnG51S19isUJoJoTeJ/IKDAAAAAAAghxyMLjZx2MmZsYsZZGmtZmtllZGLMmmxMgBDYMzMzwshZYWmJAAAAACwitZWmtZGQAAMAMDYMwiMmBA

Rank #15199

Hardest part is obviously memory game but I was tanking insane amount of damage, you need to rotate every CD and don't be scared to use them, just don't leave yourself in position that you don't have anything.

Delay Thunder Focus Tea if you know you will need healing in a moment, consider this 30s healing cooldown.
Remember to play Diffuse Magic to dispell yourself using Fortifying Brew as it let's you dispell yourself off global coldown (your normal dispell is on GCD and it can be very risky).

Focus Echo on the intermission, have Thunder Focus Tea to dmg it fast, you will need to kill him with Touch of Death as fast as possible or Valeera won't be able to interupt oneshot skill from both.

GLHF

Comment by lillies0705

So, my two cents on the fight as 6000-something person who killed it.

Void Toxin/Soul Extinction (aka Dispell and Interrupt) - nothing much to say. Just click your button in time. Learning his phrases for each ability helps.
Sermon/Echo of Ula'tek (aka memory game) - also nothing much to say. Do yourself a favor and get a helper addon. I personally used (creatively named) Azta'rec-Helper. Others are available. There are ways to do memory game without them (mostly by using marks one way or another), but addons make your life way easier.

Now, funnily enough, the important thing in the fight isn't memory game, but what you do between them. Or rather, because of how important the memory game is, it is even more important to make your life easier during it.
So, by default you should stand somewhere closer to the edge of the arena making sure boss faces outwards. (But don't stand too close because otherwise Venom Storm poison puddles can spawn right on top of you.) This ensures that there will be no poison pools (from his frontal cast) in the center of the arena. This makes memory game and Venom Storm dodges much easier.
When Venom Storm happens if you are above 60% you can more or less ignore it, because there is a lot of space between puddles. From 60% you will have to prioritize dodges over your rotation. Also, remember the frontal. If it is happening soon don't move too much to make sure it lands outwards. Once its happened you are free to run around as much as you want.
Now the most important thing is last few % before each memory game. You will have to do three things at the same time. (On top of your rotation of course.) (1) You want to reposition closer to the center because otherwise you can easily miss first safe zone with unlucky spawn. (2) But remember the frontal and do the repositioning after his cast and still make sure he faces outwards. (3) Also, track his Venom Storm CD. You don't want it to go off right before memory game. Game and dodges at the same time are very hard. So you will have to either stop dps or pop CDs to transition him when no puddles are moving through the center.
If you do everything correctly memory game becomes a piece of cake. Just do your rotation on the add while going where addon tells you to go. Nothing to dodge, no pools of poison to avoid

Comment by frothnslosh

I’m having trouble as a 294 ilvl shaman who recently returned to the game. Getting two shot with his melees. Running Valeera as healer as lvl 31.

Any tips? Been reading most of the guides was curious how much kiting I should be doing

Comment by Dizang

Did tier 2 and earned fabled vanquisher on ilvl 292 survival hunter

I have midnight season 1 4 set, so here are the talents, just basic single target build:
C8PAD57yiELKEty14ekTDtZEqMWgBmxoxyAYmgNjZmxMWGAAAAAAmZmZmhZMmxMYMNDAAAwAgZssNzMLMzMzYmxAwM2AjxM2MAA

Trinkets:
Algethar puzzle box
solarflare prism
aka nothing special, damage trinkets

Enchants:
whatever is top dps at the time of you attempting this
I use leech as tertiary

My 2 cents:
use a ferocity pet for bloodlust, turn growl off, YOU NEED TO TANK THE BOSS. I lusted on pull. could be better to lust after intermission 2 or 3, Idk. Lust on pull worked for me. There aren't really dps checks besides killing the add DURING the memory game. So you can save your cds for that if you want, I did not need to.

Have Valeera on healer. It's a requirement due to the magic dot he puts on you, and the insane amount of unavoidable damage you take via melees.

Play this fight top down. I find that for survival hunter, due to the way that boomstick and wildfire bomb are cones, I hold right click and micromanage my camera as I am moving. This way, your character is moving with your camera. You won't miss boomstick shots as you'll be turning on a dime, whilst also seeing the entire arena. I'm sure this is helpful for any melee spec but I had to learn it due to boomstick constraints. There are a lot of moving pieces.

For the memory game:
I did not use the addon. Idk how it works. I simply put down COLORED markers in each room quadrant (NOT MOON OR SKULL, THEY LOOK TOO MUCH ALIKE AND ARE COLORLESS, YOUR BRAIN WILL APPRECIATE COLORS! DO NOT USE TRIANGLE AS THE ENTIRE ARENA IS COVERED IN GREEN! IT WILL BLEND IN!). I spoke each color out loud. "red, red blue, red blue orange, red blue orange purple, red blue orange purple red" for example. Another thing that helped me in certain configurations was remembering my starting point, and then what directions I had to take to get the ending point. For example, "I start at orange, then go clockwise back to orange, then purple." Random stuff like that. It takes practice. It's okay to fail this mechanic and wipe.

The add needs to die during the memory game. They WILL cast the death spell at the same time if left alive too long. Here's what I did. my rotation is muscle memory. The add will almost always be in melee with you. Just do your rotation as you move around the memory game. Don't think about your rotation though, just let your fingers go through it. You have two jobs during the memory game, memorize the pattern, and then interrupt (and kill) the add. Killing the add is almost entirely passive for you. Only thing you have to do is pay attention to the cast, however, his cast is scripted. For example, the add almost always did the cast after the first 'invisible' wave in intermission 1.

You can get out of jail "free" on a few intermission waves if you turtle, however, you do get a massive debuff on you that stacks the amount of nature damage you take (we're talking 1500% at 3 stacks). This should be a last resort during or after intermission 3. It makes the fight far less forgiving.

Other random tips:
- Specifically in intermission one, there is a chance that you interrupt the add during the memory game, and then aztarec comes out of the intermission casting immediately. You will not have your interrupt back. You will need to turtle. There is nothing you can do besides that.
- There is a lot of bull#$%^ "RNG" things in this fight (such as above). However, you can guide the rng a bit. You want to keep the giant cone frontal out of the center of the room. I tanked him on the outskirts of the arena facing the venom pools until he was near 90/60/30 % health, as these are the intermissions. If you are not NEAR the middle of the arena when intermission starts, you likely will not make it to safe zone so bear that in mind. This is the safest place for the moving globs of venom as well, as it is easy to get sandwiched if you are in the middle of the arena.
- He ALWAYS intermissions at 90/60/30, no matter what, even if he's casting, he will stop and intermission at those health percentages. That means you can control his timings if you are smart with how you dps. With that being said, picture this, he's at 92% health, he just casted the venom glob ability and the entire arena is covered in moving one shot globs. You wanna stop dps until those clear, as you will die if that overlaps with the intermission. That's how you guide out his AI and RNG.
- There will be times where he just melees you to death. It happens. He crits for 400k, not much you can do. Curse Blizzard's name and go again.
- The venom globs or whatever they are called move in a straight line. You do not need to worry about them changing trajectory. Just make out a safe spot in your head and you'll be good, don't overthink this.

Good luck! Totally doable.

Comment by HawkJackson

Yeah no thanks. to this buggy mess, I already have a job,

Comment by YandereChan

Did it today as 291 holy Paladin with S1 4 Set Boni

I used the addon which is already recommended from many players in the comments.

In Intermission I only focused on surviving the memory game and stunned the add. Valeera did some dps to it in the meantime. Use your bubble! It can avoid lots of trouble !

I just facetanked the Boss and healed myself and spammed my Judgement, nothing more.

Beware of the puddles on the ground, sometimes the waves will bug into it and you won't see it and die because of it.

Just be calm, heal yourself and play the boss. No need to hurry or overextend your damange, Valeera will do most of it.

I used wings for the add phase, and lust on phase 3 with the add.

Fight took me about 16 mins. Good luck!

Valeera: Lvl 50 with spear and dreamcather as curiosities (rank 1 and rank 2). I also used the curse from the altar which should interrupt from time to time.

Comment by Auror

Azta'rec (Nemesis) – Holy Paladin Lightsmith Guide

My Talents (Holy Paladin – Lightsmith):

CEEAzbn3egSOtoSwvPw1U1vTLAAAALAwMAADWGzMzMjZmZBGDLjtZmFjmYYwMMmtMAMAsB2YZmZAQAAzMbbL2mZYjNGYbGYGzwAwMDAzYMaA

Companion Setup:
• Valera DPS (Level 65)
• Bloodcrypt Toxin
• Ourobic or Corrosive (better than Essence Trap)
• Soul‑Cracking Dreamcatcher

Required Addon: SnakeSays
This addon is essential for Azta'rec’s color‑memory mechanic.

SnakeSays Setup:
• Place 4 flares matching the addon’s colors
• Use Blue as your South anchor
• Increase addon volume so color calls are clearly audible
• Disable loud boss mod sounds (BigWigs/DBM) for Echo of Ultek to reduce audio clutter

Fight Strategy

Pre‑Movement Timing:
Azta'rec is all about reaching the center BEFORE the color phase begins.
You need to learn how fast your class can reach the middle and when to start moving at 90% / 60% / 30% boss HP.

If you start moving too late (for example, stuck in a corner at 90%), the mechanic becomes almost impossible.

Example: As a Holy Paladin with Divine Steed, my safe timing was around 91%.
Your timing depends on your mobility and DPS speed.

Control Your Damage:
If you're ahead of the rolling balls and close to mind game, STOP DPS!
Pushing the boss too fast causes overlapping mechanics and wipes.

Memory Phase Movement:
During the color‑click mechanic:
• Stay mostly inside mid circle
• Keep movement minimal to reduce mistakes

Handling Adds:
When the add spawns:
• Use any stun you have
• Ignore DPSing it during movement - I was not able to focus on both i am simple man
• Kill it AFTER the memory phase

If things go bad, use defensives and finish the add after the mind mechanic.

Critical Points:
• SnakeSays installed and increase volume of add-on in settings loud
• Pre‑movement into the center before each color phase
• Listen carefully to announce color calls
• Click the correct quadrant based on your flare layout

Master these and Azta'rec becomes consistent instead of chaotic.

Comment by JustAGirlTX

I'm not having an issue with the damage, but I am having a HUGE issue seeing where the quadrants are. Is there a way to bring the camera view out more? Even top down it's hard to see and all that green makes it blend too much. This is what kills me :( I just need to see more of the floor.

Comment by Kerathras

I love how everyone is posting their specs, gear and builds as if that has anything to do with it, lol. The only thing with this boss fight on double ? is whether or not you’re capable of handling the memory game while also dealing with the Echo mob. If you could barely handle the memory game without the added distraction on normal mode, like me, do yourself a favor and save yourself a ton of time and frustration and don’t even bother with the hard mode.

Comment by ommNiCruiser

Didn't realise that my memory was that bad, the fight wasn't too bad though. At least its easier seeing the red heals on a green floor. Valeera as healer lvl 38, and me as Arms Warrior ilvl 288. I didn't use an add-on felt like it would be cheating myself, I enjoy the fight because its challenging.

Comment by jadrianz

Another color coded fight that makes it twice as difficult if not more for colorblind people, especially ones with a red/green deficiency. WTF?

Comment by erro3

Completed double-? as a 287 resto druid.
Corrosive: Ula'tek's Gift
Valeera lvl 61, DPS, Bloodcrypt Toxin, 3/4 Corrosive Bilespear, 2/4 Soul-Cracking Dreamcatcher.
UI: Elvui party frames with Blizz's basic click casting set up. DBM, Aztarec Helper, Blizz's Boss Abilities Timer
Talents: CkGADBD3hSPCL9Y9gz68WcKvMMMmZZMjZmZmthhBjZz2MAAAAAAAAAAYzQjZGTzAGzCzMzwwAAAAAgBMAzAWWGLYamZbAAACYhxYGmxmBNDAmZAADA
Put down raid markers for each quadrant.

Took about 12.5min on kill and around 30 attempts. No flask, no pots, no extra food. Very basic gear enchants, no weapon enchant.
What wiped me the most besides intermission? Derping on the moving slime waves or pulling aggro.

Tried to keep all hots on Valeera as much as possible - Lifebloom, Regrowth, 2 Rejuvs and wild growth here and there. For the most part this was enough and very comfortable. Swiftmend if things got a little crazy. Never used Tranquility. Ironbark and hots on Valeera during intermission so I could pay more attention to moving for pattern rather than healing. Mana was not an issue.

To start, put up symbiotic relationship, ping Valeera to be near the boss, put up hots then ping the boss and she will attack. Outside of a moonfire to get Ula'tek's Gift going, don't DPS from 100->90% so she can establish good aggro. Once you get past the first pattern sequence, then you can start convoking the boss and not get aggro. This is pretty much the main dps I did besides some occasional dots. Overall on my kill I did 10.7mil dmg with 4.5mil dmg coming from Corrosive Uta'lek's Gift. It's really just a heal + dodge things fight, Valeera carries as DPS.

I used Convoke on the add during intermission once I was comfortable with the pattern dodging. Coming out of the intermission is the most dangerous part. The add was always still up for me, so I tried to help DPS more when I didn't have to dodge the pattern. Sometimes you can get a double curse on you because of the add. If you're lucky you'll be able to dispel both together, if not, you'll have to spam heal yourself until dispel comes off CD. If there is a double soul extinction cast from boss+add, use typhoon to interrupt the add (this was rare issue for me).

I found DBM sound queues very helpful so that I did not have to look at timers much. Also used the Aztarec Helper addon. Sound queues also helped snap me out of tunnel vision keeping hots on Valeera.

I put a countdown on the frontal cone to give me a heads up to get back near the boss and position it properly. But honestly, as long as you don't purposefully stand in the puddles it makes, you can seemingly briefly run over the puddles and be fine. If it comes between dodging a wave blob or running over a puddle, the puddle won't kill you, but the cone and blobs will.

Don't forget to keep an eye on the 90%, 60%, 30% health marks. I put the focus frame with boss hp% right next to my healing bars. If you are out kiting pools on the edge, you probably won't make it to the middle in time unless you manage to Tiger Dash. So once you start getting really close, like 91%, start moving to the middle.

If you pull aggro, be prepared to focus heal yourself potentially the rest of the fight. Sometimes Valeera would get aggro back and sometimes not. The damage I took was VERY spiky. I was constantly using swiftmend, barkskin, ironbark on myself when I had aggro. Almost managed to beat the fight one time like this, but it's much less stressful if you let Valeera DPS tank.

Comment by erro3

Turn up CONTRAST in your graphics if you need a little more help with the colors.

Comment by mazejaker

I can't even see the quadrants during sermon so how the hell am I supposed to remember them during echo? They are practically invisible.

Comment by emptyrivers

Priests, you can cheese this fight super hard with Dominate Mind! the add on ? difficulty can be mind controlled, and it will cast its big nukes at the boss, doing far more damage than you or valeera ever could. I did this in like 3 tries as holy priest at around 285 ilvl.

Try a macro like this to make it mindless to keep the add dominated:

#showtooltip
/cast Dominate Mind;Smite
/petattack

Comment by Elfephant

There is now an add-on that's extremely helpful and customizable for the memory game. Curseforge link here.

It has multiple options, but personally i turned on audio queues, and the arrow on screen and followed what it said. I did this as a disc priest 08/24/26, with proper positioning and being near the center when the boss phases helps a lot.

It's important to note that you need to rotate yourself (or camera) so you face the boss in the center after every initial wave goes off. When the memory game starts you can face any direction you'd like.

Boss Phases at 90%, 60% and 30% so you can control when the push happens. If you're struggling with waves make sure to time it to go off when they're not up.

Comment by Norkis

anyone knows if this give some crests or rewards if I repeat the ? weekly?

Comment by mestar99

You can check if you've killed the ? boss on a particular character for the uncapped crests by running this macro to check the associated hidden quest

/run print(C_QuestLog.IsQuestFlaggedCompleted(96434))

Comment by Miaya44

Blizzard's Temu Nemesis system bringing delves overall quality down via bad mechanic design.

Not a single nemesis fight has been good. None. Don't care what WoWshill says.

Guides can't make something this bad not suck, no matter how well they're written-up.

The fight was "challenging" enough with the big wave attacks were telegraphed. Would of been fine for the single ? tier, but no. Blizzard still on their wannabe Fromsoft arc just had to add a bad gimmick. This time it's a memory game. Just awful, spiteful, design. So, just like with Ky'vesha it's full apathy mode with this for me. This character doesn't exist as far as I'm concerned.

Comment by Nekolicious

I was really worried about the "memory game" -- but it's OK, I got killed endlessly before I even reached it. YET ANOTHER UNFINISHABLE NEMESIS! I think the longest I lasted was 30 seconds using a Blood Death Knight with Valeera at level 70 doing Healing.

GIVE UP HOPE ALL YE WHO ENTER! If you are a casual gamer or someone who isn't into spending 3.76 centuries trying to figure out what is going on then don't even bother wasting your time with this one. I liked the fight against Ky'veza better - she just whacks you dead so much more efficiently and quickly. If one is going to be needlessly slaughtered and butchered in a miserable quest, make it quick and painless.

Suggestion: Go in naked to save money on repairs. You won't need armour because you're going to die no matter what you wear or do. Also, I found "Soft Foam Sword" was about as effective as my iLevel 305 weapon.

The good news ... Blizzard is being consistent in creating miserable, forsaken, awful, depressing, and crappy nemesis quests. The bad news ... another one is probably coming in season 3.

Comment by LooKnifed

Cleared ? difficulty. The most difficult part was the memory game. As others have already commented, put raid markers in each quadrant. My solution without needing to type each zone was to use a speech to text software (e.g. Google Translate). Once the first telegraph is complete you can read off the safe zones for the Echo pattern. Clear the speech to text prompt right after the pattern complete to avoid confusion.

Azta'rec Nemesis Boss Guide - Midnight Delves Season 2

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