Maloriak Raid Guide

Author: Passion
Date: May 30, 2024
Updated: June 1, 2024
Expansion: Cataclysm

Blackwing Descent Guide

Blackwing Descent Loot

Magmaw

Omnotron Defense System

Once the human Malory, now Maloriak was fused with a dragonspawn in a cruel experiment courtesy of Nefarian. Maloriak may not be quite as bright as he once was, but he makes up for that with his madness.

(You can reference the Maloriak Loot list if you want to see all of the boss drops.)

Add Abilities

Small adds that spawn periodically throughout the fight that can be dealt with a variety of ways. There are 18 total Aberrations that spawn during the encounter.

Large adds that spawn when Maloriak reaches 25% health. They have considerable health pools and apply a stacking bleed debuff on their target.

Aberrations and Prime Subjects that wander within 10 yards of Maloriak or each other receive a stacking buff that reduces the damage they take and increases the damage they deal by 20%. This makes large packs of adds both immortal and untankable.

Maloriak Base Abilities

Deals a large amount of arcane damage to the entire raid unless it is interrupted. All casts of this must be interrupted.

Maloriak buffs himself with a Heal over Time effect that can be stolen with Spellsteal or Dispelled.

A cast that if left uninterrupted will summon three Aberrations. You should let three total casts of Release Aberrations go off between each Green Phase, or they will become difficult to tank/kite due to high stacks of Growth Catalyst. The interrupter should communicate with the off-tank responsible for managing the adds to ensure that he is ready and able to pickup 3 additional adds.

Red Vial

Deals massive fire in a cone in front of Maloriak. This damage is split between all players that it hits, so it is essential to stack up to avoid player deaths to this mechanic.

A debuff applied to a random raid member, dealing fire damage over time and increasing their fire damage taken. Having this debuff will make taking any damage from Scorching Blast fatal, so the affected player(s) should leave the stack to avoid death. Taking magic damage with this debuff will increase the damage it deals.

Blue Vial

Freezes a random player in a block of ice dealing AoE damage in a small radius around them. The ice is attackable and must be promptly killed to release the affected player. Upon death, the ice deals AoE damage once more, so players should make sure that they are greater than 10 yards away from the ice when it dies.

Creates a Ring of Frost on a random raid member that must be moved out of. Several of these will be placed throughout a phase, so be ready to make room for displaced players to maintain your spread.

Green Vial

Increases damage taken by all adds, Maloriak and players by 100%. It also cancels the effect of Growth Catalyst. Use this opportunity to kill all existing Aberrations. Players must be careful not to die during this window as they will be taking increased damage taken

Black Vial (Heroic Only)

Maloriak deals massive damage in a frontal cone, preventing affected players from receiving any healing for 1.5 seconds. Use a large damage reduction cooldown such as Shield Wall or Pain Suppression to survive this. Ensure that Maloriak is not facing the raid during the Black Vial phase to ensure that only the main tank is hit by this ability. Maloriak is untauntable during the Black Vial, meaning you cannot tank swap to deal with this mechanic.

Maloriak summons five small black oozes that use Dark Sludge. These adds must be picked up by the off-tank.

Creates a small void zone on a random player dealing heavy Shadow damage.

Phase 2

Maloriak creates a wall of fire in front of him, burning players that stand in it. From the moment that Maloriak begins his Magma Jets cast, the main tank has 2 seconds to move away before Maloriak sets the area in front of him ablaze. Once Maloriak is finished with Magma Jets, the tank should shimmy Maloriak to the left or the right.

Maloriak summons an ice orb that moves slowly across the room. If the orb makes contact with a player it will do damage and knock them back. Avoid these at all costs.

Unavoidable nature damage to the entire raid every second for 10 seconds. This must be healed through and mitigated with cooldowns such as Aura Mastery.

Raid Composition & Preparation

You will want to balance your healers and DPS here. The more healers you bring, the harder Phase 2 will be.

There are no preferred DPS classes or specializations for this fight.

You will need at least 2 tanks for this. One for the boss and one for the adds.

Strategy

Phase 1

Maloriaks abilities shift depending on what vials are in the cauldron. The vials thrown are consistent, with the first two being either Red or Blue, and the third being Green.

Maloriak will consistently cast Arcane Storms, which needs to be interrupted immediately. Never let a cast of this go through!

A large focus in this fight is add management. During the Red and Blue Phases, Maloriak will channel Release Aberrations. This can be interrupted, and if it finishes casting it will summon 3 Aberrations. Maloriak can only summon a maximum of 18 Aberrations during the fight, and if there are any left in his reserve by the time he reaches 25% health, he will summon all of them at once.

To deal with this, you want to occasionally let Maloriak finish a cast of Release Aberrations. This allows you to stagger the rate the adds spawn and more easily handle them. The adds should always be tanked away from Maloriak, and outside of the Green Phase and Debilitating Slime, players should not worry about killing them.

During the Red Phase, Maloriak will use Scorching Blast. Players will need to stack on the target to split the damage. A random player will also be debuffed with Consuming Flames, and this player wants to not stack for Scorching Blast, as they will die to it.

During the Blue Phase, Maloriak will freeze random players. These players will need to be broken out, preferably by ranged DPS players. Players will also need to move out of Ring of Frost.

During the Green Phase, any Aberrations will be vulnerable to damage. This makes this the perfect time to clear the adds. Ideally by this point the tank will have as many adds as they can handle, likely at most 9 adds.

Once Maloriak reaches 25% health, he will enter Phase 2.

Phase 2

When Phase 2 begins, Maloriak will summon whatever adds he has left in his reserve. It is vital to enter Phase 2 having killed all 18 Aberrations. He will also summon two Prime Subjects. These adds hit nearly as hard as the boss does, and cannot be taunted. As they also have Growth Catalyst, it is vital that they are kept away from Maloriak. The goal now is to burn Maloriak down, not to kill the adds.

Maloriak will also cast Magma Jets. To avoid this players will need to stay spread and run away from the boss whenever he begins channeling. Maloriak will also cast Acid Nova, which needs to be healed through. Finally, Maloriak summons a frozen sphere that will float around the room, dealing massive damage and knocking players back if hit. Avoid it at all costs.

About the Author

Passion

I love MMOs of all shades, especially the nitty gritty numbers parts of them. You might recognize me from the Shadow Priest discord, otherwise I play a little bit of everything, especially games with support roles available.