General Vezax Strategy Guide – Ulduar (10)

Ulduar (10) Raid Guide

Flame Leviathan

The Iron Assembly

Hodir

Mimiron

Algalon the Observer

Ulduar (10) Loot

Ignis the Furnace Master

Kologarn

Freya

General Vezax

Ulduar Achievement Guide

Razorscale

XT-002 Deconstructor

Auriaya

Thorim

Yogg-Saron

The commander and general of Yogg-Sarons faceless ones, General Vezax stands as the final barrier between any invaders and the old god’s prison. So corrupted by Yogg-Sarons presence that even the room he resides in defies any expectation.

This guide will offer a detailed, step-by-step tutorial on how to deal with General Vezax and the despair that surrounds him.

Role Summaries

Abilities

General Vezax

Aura of Despair

The primary mechanic of this fight, Aura of Despair reduces melee attack speed by 20% and prevents a large portion of mana recovery available to players. This does not include all forms of mana recovery.

Current testing on the PTR shows that the following spells do work for mana recovery:

• Shaman
  • Improved Stormstrike
  • Water Shield
  • Shamanistic Rage
• Paladin
  • Spiritual Attunement
  • Judgements of the Wise
  • Blessing of Sanctuary
• Druid
  • Improved Leader of the Pack
  • Lifebloom
• Hunter
  • Aspect of the Viper
  • Thrill of the Hunt
• Priest
  • Rapture
  • Hymn of Hope (Only the temporary mana granted, not the mana restoration!)

The following spells and abilities do *not* work for mana recovery:

• Priest
  • Dispersion
  • Shadowfiend
• Mage
  • Evocation
• Warlock
  • Life Tap
• Druid
  • Innervate
  • Revitalize
• Paladin
  • Judgement of Wisdom
• Shared
  • Replenishment

Saronite Vapors

Every 30 seconds Vezax will spawn a Saronite Vapors that will drift around. Destroying this crystal will leave a puddle on the ground that can be stood in to restore mana. Standing in this puddle will also deal stacking damage to everyone in it.

Properly handling these crystals and puddles is the key to overcoming Aura of Despair, as this is the primary source of mana recovery for most of the raid.

Shadow Crash

Vezax fires a missile toward a random player, prioritizing ranged players. On impact, this deals high Shadow damage to everyone within 10 yards.

The area of impact also leaves a puddle behind that will give anyone standing it in increased magic damage, increased cast speed, reduced mana costs, and reduced healing done. Ranged DPS should always try to stand in this when possible, but Healers will need to avoid it.

Mark of the Faceless

Vezax applies a debuff to a random player, draining the health of all nearby players every second for 10 seconds, and healing himself massively for each tick of health drained.

Players will want to make sure they do not drain health from anyone else when debuffed with this, requiring everyone nearby to do their part in outranging the spell.

Searing Flames

Vezax deals heavy Fire damage to all players, reducing their armor by 75%. This spell is interruptable and making sure no cast gets off is key to succeeding in this fight.

Surge of Darkness

Vezax gains significantly higher physical damage but moves significantly slower for 10 seconds. This is a tankbuster mechanic and will require most tanks to kite the boss to avoid taking any buffed hits.

Saronite Animus (Hard Mode)

Saronite Barrier

If Hard Mode is activated, Vezax will gain Saronite Barrier as long as the Saronite Animus is alive. This reduces damage dealt to Vezax by 99%, effectively making him invincible until the Animus is dealt with.

Profound Darkness

The Animus will consistently deal a small amount of Shadow damage to all players, applying a stacking debuff that increases their Shadow damage taken for each stack. With significantly reduced mana during this fight, this puts a very effective timer on the raid to kill the Animus.

Raid Composition & Preparation

Hard Mode

Hard Mode for Vezax can be a large barrier, requiring the raid to not kill any Saronite Vapors, instead letting 6 of them be active at the same time. Once all 6 are spawned, they will create a Saronite Animus, a secondary boss that you will have to fight alongside Vezax.

The Animus will have to be dealt with before you can go back to fighting Vezax, as he will be almost entirely immune to damage while it is alive.

This does not significantly change the mechanics of the fight, but it does drastically affect the raids access to mana over the course of the fight.

Completing this encounter on Hard Mode will add the following loot to the drop table

• Aesuga, Hand of the Ardent Champion
• Drape of the Faceless General
• Leggings of Profound Darkness
• Tortured Earth
• Void Sabre

The Pull

Before engaging Vezax, make sure the entire room is cleared of trash mobs. Players will want to start the fight loosely spread to make the initial casts of Shadow Crash and Mark of the Faceless as easy as possible.

Healers will want to try to position themselves close to melee, drastically reducing their chances of being targeted by either Shadow Crash or Mark of the Faceless.

The Fight

This fight has no extra phases, so outside of Hard Mode, this fight will effectively be the same the entire way through.

Melee players will want to have an interrupt rotation, making sure that Searing Flames never finishes a cast. This is vital to the encounter and one stray cast could be the difference between a kill and a wipe.

Tanks have relatively little to worry about, with their primary focus being on Surge of Darkness. When this is cast, tanks can either try to kite the boss, but this can have issues with the general positioning of the rest of the raid, or they can use defensives to tank through the damage.

The main bulk of this encounter happens at range, placing almost all of the burden on ranged players. Ranged DPS will want to be spread, generally, to avoid Mark of the Faceless and Shadow Crash killing the players around them. This becomes a bit more difficult when you add in the two puddles, from Shadow Crash and Saronite Vapors. Ranged players will want to stand in these puddles to either deal maximum damage or maintain their mana.

Because of these two stacking mechanics, players will need to be on their toes at all times to avoid being hit by both Shadow Crash and Mark of the Faceless. This responsibility falls on everyone, so make sure you are all awake!

Here are some of the main things that can typically go wrong in this fight:

• Players fail to avoid Shadow Crash or Mark of the Faceless
• Players stay in Saronite Vapors for too long, killing them
• Searing Flames is not interrupted, wiping the raid
• Tanks die to the Surge of Darkness damage increase
• Healers mismanage their mana, running out of mana before the fight is finished

Achievements

• Shadowdodger (10 player)
  • Defeat Vezax without any raid member being hit by Shadow Crash. This requires every player in the raid to be on their toes at all times to make sure they do not get hit.
• I Love the Smell of Saronite in the Morning (10 player)
  • Defeat Vezax on Hard Mode, by killing the Saronite Animus first.

Congratulations on defeating General Vezax! Proceed through the hallway behind him, activating the final teleporter before you come face to face with the old god himself, Yogg-Saron.