- Author: Nevermore
- Date: May 12, 2022
- Expansion: TBC Classic
Brutallus
Brutallus, the Pit Lord, is the second boss we encounter in the Sunwell Plateau raid. We encounter this malicious demon shortly after our battle with Kalecgos, witnessing him murdering Madrigosa before our very own eyes.
Brutallus may seem simple, due to his low number of abilities and the fact that there’s only one phase, but do not be deceived. This fight is a massive gear & DPS check which used to be seen as the biggest gatekeeper of the Sunwell Plateau raid, stopping raids with insufficient raid DPS right there. Your raid will need to come prepared, with everyone — and DPS players in particular — bringing their A game.
This guide will offer a detailed, step-by-step tutorial on how to put an end to the vile Pit Lord, and survive the hellish flames that he unleashes upon the world.
Role Summaries
- Everyone should have potions, elixirs and flasks appropriate for their role in this fight — it is a very tight DPS race
- Quickly move to your designated spot at the start of the fight — if you don’t, the tank will die to Meteor Slash
- Immediately move to the designated spot if you get afflicted by Burn
- Make sure you never get close to other players while afflicted by Burn, as you will spread it to all players within 2 yards
- There’s a good chance that your raid will wipe if even just 1 person dies, so be careful, use defensive cooldowns & Master Healthstone when necessary to survive, particularly during Burn
- Paladins, Mages, Rogues: You can remove Burn with Divine Shield, Ice Block & Cloak of Shadows
- Warriors: Keep Demoralizing Shout and Thunder Clap up on Brutallus at all times
- Always stay at the designated spot, either behind Brutallus or on his side, and never near a tank
- If you ever get hit by Meteor Slash or if Brutallus parries your attacks, that means you’re standing at the wrong spot
- You don’t have to move anywhere if you get Burn, but make sure you’re not within 2 yards of other players
- Use your cooldowns when your raid uses Heroism / Bloodlust for maximum damage output
- Watch your threat — you will wipe the raid if you get aggro
- People can die very quickly here which will likely cause your raid to wipe — you must stay focused for the full 6 minutes
- Burn deals increasing damage, with the last 10 seconds dealing 3200 damage per second — healers responsible for raid healing will need to pump heals into players afflicted by it at this time
- Tank healers need to pay attention; your tanks will swap when Brutallus uses Stomp, so start healing the other tank there
- Use Super Mana Potions and Dark Runes as much as you can — this fight is long and taxing on your mana
- Use all of the avoidance / mitigation gear you can for this fight — Brutallus hits incredibly hard
- Quickly move Brutallus to the designated position at the start of the fight, and then never move from your spot
- When Brutallus uses Stomp on the current tank, the off-tank must taunt him right away
- Use defensive cooldowns to survive if Brutallus happens to cast Burn on you — Stomp will remove it, so you have to survive until then
Abilities
Brutallus is a 1 phase encounter with only 3 abilities to worry about. The fight is fairly simple when it comes to the tactics of it but it adds difficulty by having a 6-minute timer until Enrage happens, combined with a very large boss health pool.
Although displaying a low number of abilities, each of them can be devastating if not dealt with properly. Failing to properly manage his abilities, will result in a very fast wipe.
Raid Composition & Preparation
The Pull
There is a Sunblade Protector robot enemy patrolling the path up to Kalecgos. After defeating it, your raid can resurrect the dead, buff up and regenerate mana, in preparation for your first battle in the Sunwell Plateau. Don’t forget to equip your Arcane Resistance gear!
You can pull Brutallus either from the position directly in front of him, as shown in the first picture above, or from the position to his right, as shown in the second picture. The first position makes the pull itself slightly easier, while the second makes positioning after the pull a bit easier — it’s up to your raid to decide which one you’ll want to go for.
If you’ve decided on the first position, the tank should engage Brutallus by simply running into him. For the second position, a Hunter should pull using Misdirection on the tank, allowing Brutallus to move into the position you want to tank him in.
After your tank has engaged Brutallus, make sure that he positions himself accordingly and all of your raid group assembles in their designated spots.
The Fight
As soon as the fight begins, you will want to place your group as fast as possible in the designated zones shown above. You can play around with the designated zones and change them depending on which side you decide to engage Brutallus. Overall, the designated spots will not change very much, only the position of the groups themselves can be subjected to changes as you desire.
The fight itself is mechanically easy, but it does present itself with a few challenging gimmicks, being counted as a DPS check with a 6-minute timer. Brutallus has only one phase that consists of three main abilities. The fight will prove itself to be extremely demanding for your Healers and Tanks. Brutallus hits very hard, using Meteor Slash every 10 seconds, pushing both the tanks and the healers to perform at their utmost best.
Due to Meteor Slash, an ability which deals damage split between all players who get hit and causes them to take increased Fire damage for 20 seconds, your group will be forced to split into 3 smaller groups. Tanks, ranged damage dealers, and healers will form two large groups and melee damage dealers must stay on Brutallus’s side at all times. This is due to the damage-splitting aspect of the ability, without proper stacking, your tank will die in a single cast of Meteor Slash.
Brutallus will place a debuff called Burn on a random target every 20 seconds, that does ramping damage over 60 seconds. This debuff constitutes the harder part of the encounter, as it deals incredibly high damage (particularly during the last 10 seconds) and will spread to other players within 2 yards of the original player, complicating positioning. You will need to designate a specific spot for players afflicted by Burn to move to, as they cannot stay with the rest of the raid and take Meteor Slash, as they will die to the increased Fire damage debuff — so targeted players must quickly move to the assigned spot.
Paladins, Mages and Rogues can remove Burn with Divine Shield, Ice Block & Cloak of Shadows respectively. Given that Burn will be the overwhelming majority of your raid’s incoming damage in this fight, this will be an incredibly fortunate thing for you, if these classes get targeted.
Tanks will require to communicate properly due to Stomp. Brutallus will cast it on the current tank, dealing high damage, reduces their armor by 50% for 10 seconds and removes the Burn debuff if present. The tank that’s not currently tanking Brutallus needs to always be ready to taunt immediately after Brutallus uses Stomp, or there’s a high chance that you’ll lose a tank and thus wipe.
The off-tank can taunt Brutallus if they are afflicted by Burn when Stomp‘s cooldown is nearly over, as removing it will make things a lot easier for them — but this is a very risky move that must be communicated ahead of time, so your healers are aware of the need to heal them ASAP.
Beyond this explanation of Brutallus’ 3 abilities, there’s not much to say about this fight. It’s all about positioning well to deal with Meteor Slash, moving to the designated Burn spot if you get targeted, tanks taunting Brutallus when the other tank gets hit by Stomp. Your DPS players and healers will need to perform at the peak of their ability here, in order to beat the 6 minute Enrage timer and keep people alive for 6 minutes, respectively.
One crucial optimization you can make is to save your raid’s Heroism / Bloodlust casts until your DPS players have access to their cooldowns again. Wait until the tanks to build a solid threat lead, then use your first set of Heroism / Bloodlust + personal cooldowns. Then, wait 2-3 minutes for people to have their cooldowns again, and use the next set of Heroism / Bloodlust. This small optimization will improve your DPS by a small bit, possibly making the difference between a kill at 5:55 or a wipe at 6:15.
Congratulations on defeating the Pit Lord! You can take a breath — one of the most significant roadblocks is now out of the way, and your raid can proceed further into the Plateau!
