Blood Prince Council – Icecrown Citadel (25) - WotLK Classic

Author: Passion
Date: October 9, 2023
Updated: October 10, 2023
Expansion: WotLK Classic

Having been slain once already, this trio of Darkfallen royalty seeks revenge, imbued with the power of both the Lich King and the queen of the San’layn, Lana’thel.

This guide will offer a detailed, step-by-step tutorial on how to deal with the Blood Prince Council and their combined elemental mastery.

Keep an eye on your distance from other players, ideally maintaining 12 yards at all times.
Run away from the Ball of Inferno Flame when targeted.
- Try to direct it through ranged players as you do.
Avoid Shock Vortex.
Don’t let Kinetic Bombs hit the ground.

Avoid taking Dark Nucleus from the tank unless requested.

Dispel Glittering Sparks to avoid unnecessary damage.
- Mass Dispel works great if several players get hit.

Avoid taking Dark Nucleus from the tank unless requested.
Steer into the Ball of Inferno Flame when possible.
Move towards the back wall during Empowered Shock Vortex, spreading as much as possible.

Make sure you have sufficient stacks of Dark Resonance for Keleseth.
- Do not exceed 6 stacks.

Call out Empowered Shock Vortex casts.
Call out Conjure Empowered Flame casts.
Call out Phase transitions.
Call Glittering Sparks targets.

Abilities

Prince Valanar

Three Kinetic Bombs will float around the arena, exploding and knocking back the raid if they reach the ground. These can be juggled by dealing any damage to the bomb.

Every 20 seconds Valanar will summon a Shock Vortex next to a random player, lasting for 25 seconds. This will deal damage every second to everyone within 12 yards, as well as knocking them back.

While Valanar is the active boss, Shock Vortex will become Empowered Shock Vortex. This will create a smaller vortex at the feet of every player. These still deal damage but do not knock back. Players will need to remain 12 yards apart to avoid taking damage from more than one Empowered Shock Vortex at a time.

Prince Taldaram

Every 25 seconds, Taldaram will cast Glittering Sparks in a cone at a random player. This will deal a small amount of Fire damage, followed by a damage-over-time and slow for 8 seconds. This can and should be dispelled immediately, typically with a Mass Dispel.

Every 20 seconds, Taldaram will summon a Ball of Flame. This will chase a random non-melee player, dealing fire damage to everyone within 15 yards once it reaches its target.

While Taldaram is the active boss, Conjure Flame becomes Conjure Empowered Flame. This will summon a Ball of Inferno Flame, chasing a random player. As it travels, it will deal damage to players nearby every 0.3 seconds. Each tick of this damage will reduce the damage dealt on impact, allowing players to survive the colossal damage it would otherwise deal.

Prince Keleseth

Every 10 seconds, Keleseth will spawn a Dark Nucleus. This orb will attach itself to whoever last dealt direct damage to it, channeling Shadow Resonance into them. This will deal Shadow damage every 3 seconds but also grant the player a stacking reduction in Shadow damage taken.

The tank in charge of Keleseth will want to make sure they grab the Dark Nucleus as they spawn, stacking Dark Resonance for Keleseth’s active phase.

Keleseth does not auto-attack, instead, he will constantly cast Shadow Lance, dealing Shadow damage every 1.5 seconds.

While Keleseth is the active boss, Shadow Lance becomes Empowered Shadow Lance, dealing massive amounts of Shadow damage each cast. This damage will need to be mitigated with effective stacking of Shadow Resonance.

This debuff will affect the raid for the entire fight. Every time a player moves, they will receive stacks of Shadow Prison, dealing Shadow damage every second. After 10 seconds of being stationary, this debuff will reset to 0 stacks.

This debuff punishes unnecessary movement, making it vital that players position effectively and move only when necessary.

Raid Composition & Preparation

This fight has no specific class or spec requirements.

You will want 4-6 healers for this fight. There is constant raid damage, as well as multiple active tanks at any given time.

There are no strict requirements for DPS classes or specs here, you simply want a combination of good raid buffs and debuffs, as well as the best players you can muster.

Having at least 3 pet classes can be useful to juggle Kinetic Bombs, but is not mandatory.

You will need 2-3 tanks for this fight, depending on your strategy.

Heroic vs Normal

Shadow Prison will not be active on Normal.

The Pull

To best handle this fight, groups will want to pick spots ahead of time for both Keleseth and the other two Princes. The council can be done with either 2 or 3 tanks. One tank should be able to manage 2 Princes simultaneously, but having 3 does relieve some pressure on healers, as well as allowing for significantly simpler target swaps.

The Fight

This council fight consistently swaps which Prince is attackable, requiring your raid to focus on one target at a time. This target will swap every 45 seconds, marked by Invocation of Blood giving the Prince additional abilities.

The fight will begin with Prince Valanar being empowered and will have looped back to him after around 2 minutes.

Prince Valanar

Kinetic Bombs are a constant threat from Valanar. These will be created roughly every 30 seconds, with the first spawning 18 seconds into the fight. Each Kinetic Bomb will drift down from the sky, exploding when it hits the ground. This deals heavy Physical damage as well as knocking back everyone within 50 yards of the explosion. Kinetic Bombs are “juggled” by damaging them, so a player should always be assigned to juggle the Kinetic Bombs. This role is typically covered by a Hunter, as they can use both instant shots and their pet to juggle effectively. Alternatively, you could have three dedicated pets targeting Kinetic Bombs at all times. As long as these pets are kept alive, they will passively juggle the bombs with no interaction needed.

Valanar will also cast a Shock Vortex every 20 or so seconds. These will deal heavy Physical damage every second to everyone within 12 yards, as well as knocking them back. Players will need to be constantly mindful to avoid these, and tanks may have to reposition the boss if one is too close to them or the melee stack.

While empowered by Invocation of Blood, Shock Vortex will become Empowered Shock Vortex. This causes him to create a vortex on top of every player, dealing medium Physical damage to every player and knocking them back. Empowered Shock Vortex has a 4-second cast time, giving players a decent amount of time to quickly scatter and spread 12 yards away from each other. It is important that all players spread effectively to avoid taking multiple hits from Empowered Shock Vortex. Melee will also need to scatter from the boss, running towards the wall opposite the ranged.

Prince Taldaram

Every 25 seconds, Taldaram will target a random player with a cone of Glittering Sparks, dealing a small amount of upfront Fire damage, followed by a slow and damage-over-time for 8 seconds. This can be dispelled, or Mass Dispelled in the case of several players being hit. Your group should ideally be decently spread to avoid this hitting more targets than necessary.

Roughly every 20-30 seconds, Taldaram will Conjure Flame, launching a Ball of Flame after a random non-melee player. Once it reaches them it will explode, dealing heavy Fire damage to everyone within 15 yards.

While empowered by Invocation of Blood, Conjure Flame will become Empowered Conjure Flame. This launches a Ball of Inferno Flame after a player, dealing massive Fire damage on impact to everyone within 15 yards. As the Ball of Inferno Flame travels, it will burn any player nearby with Empowered Flare. Each time it burns someone, the explosion damage will be reduced. For this reason, it is important that the Ball of Inferno Flame travels close to as many players as possible, otherwise surviving the explosion will be impossible. Melee players should attempt to adjust to make sure the ball passes right by their stack, and ranged players may want to shuffle into the path as necessary.

Prince Keleseth

Keleseth is entirely a caster, foregoing auto attacks for Shadow Lance spam. This deals heavy Shadow damage to his current target every 1.5 seconds. Some groups may opt to tank Keleseth with a Warlock, but for most groups, this will be unnecessary.

Every 10 seconds, Keleseth will spawn a Dark Nucleus. These orbs will attach themselves to the last player to directly attack them, channeling Shadow Resonance on them. This deals a small amount of Shadow damage every 3 seconds but grants the target 35% reduced Shadow damage taken. Multiple Dark Nucleus can channel on the same target, stacking Shadow Resonance, but they will slowly die over the course of the fight.

For this reason, Keleseth’s tank will want to grab all currently available Dark Nucleus to stay alive when Keleseth becomes empowered. You want to aim for 6 or fewer stacks of Dark Resonance, as any more than that can cause the ticking damage over time to become overwhelming, negating the benefits of Dark Resonance.

Keleseth will also debuff the entire raid with Shadow Prison. This causes all players to take Shadow damage for every second they move, stacking infinitely. After standing still for 10 seconds, stacks will be reset. This adds constant pressure to the raid, in addition to punishing poor positioning and movement. Make sure that all movement is deliberate and considered!

While empowered by Invocation of Blood, Shadow Lance will become Empowered Shadow Lance, dealing colossal Shadow damage each cast. This damage is made manageable by stacking Dark Resonance, making Keleseth by far the simplest of the trio. The Keleseth phase has the least to keep track of in general, making it the preferred time for Bloodlust.

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

Players fail to spread for Empowered Shock Vortex.
Players fail to soak Ball of Inferno Flame.
Glittering Sparks is not dispelled.
Too many, or too few stacks of Dark Resonance.
Poor positioning, forcing more movement for Shadow Prison.
Someone drops the Kinetic Bomb.

Congratulations on defeating the Blood Prince Council! Proceed up the curving ramps, taking you to the Blood-Queen herself.

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.