Deathbringer Saurfang

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

Formerly Dranosh Saurfang, son of High Overlord Saurfang. Dranosh fell at the Wrathgate, eventually being revived by the Lich King. Reborn as Deathbringer Saurfang, he awaits the players as they disembark their gunships.

This guide will offer a detailed, step-by-step tutorial on how to deal with Deathbringer Saurfang and the Lich King’s corruption.

Always stay 12 yards away from each other unless in melee range.
Never root Blood Beasts, but make sure to CC them.
Mitigate damage where possible.

Prioritize Blood Beasts over everything else.

Focus on your assigned Mark of the Fallen Champion.
Rotate defensive cooldowns at high Blood Power, or during Frenzy.

Avoid aggroing Blood Beasts
- Make sure you CC them though!
Focus fire Blood Beasts that are within range.

Avoid aggroing Blood Beasts
- Make sure you CC them though!
Mitigate damage as much as possible, even if it is non-lethal.
Make sure you never miss a taunt swap.

Call Blood Beast spawns.
Call high Blood Power.
Call Mark of the Fallen Champion targets and healers.

Abilities

Blood Power is Saurfang’s unique resource, granting him 1% bonus damage for every point of Blood Power he has, up to a maximum of 100. This is generated whenever Saurfang deals damage, based on the amount of damage dealt.

Once Saurfang reaches 100 Blood Power, he will cast Mark of the Fallen Champion, resetting his Blood Power to 0. This debuff will target a random non-tank, causing any melee attack Saurfang does to also splash onto that player.

If a player under the effects of Mark of the Fallen Champion dies, Saurfang will be healed for 20% of his maximum health.

Every 20 seconds, Saurfang will cast Rune of Blood on the current tank. This will increase the damage he deals to them significantly, as well as healing Saurfang for 1000% of that damage.

Every 15 seconds Saurfang will cast Boiling Blood, placing a damage-over-time effect on 3 random non-tank players, lasting for 15 seconds. This damage will generate Blood Power for Saurfang.

Every 20 seconds, Saurfang will cast Blood Nova on a random ranged player, dealing heavy Physical damage to the player and anyone within 12 yards of them. This damage is increased by Blood Power, as well as generates Blood Power.

Every 40 seconds, Saurfang will summon 5 Blood Beasts around himself. These will target players based on threat, and rush towards them. Blood Beasts deal very high damage, and should never be face tanked.

Blood Beasts are vulnerable to crowd control, but if they are rooted they will swing at the closest player indiscriminately. After being alive for 10 seconds, Blood Beasts will gain Scent of Blood, drastically increasing their damage dealt, as well as slowing the raid.

These adds are also virtually immune to AoE damage, taking 95% reduced damage thanks to Resistant Skin.

Once Saurfang reaches 30% Health, he will gain 30% Attack Speed for the rest of the fight.

Raid Composition & Preparation

This fight has no specific class or spec requirements, and as long as your group can survive.

You will want 3-6 Healers for this fight, with Paladins being particularly high value. Remember though, this fight only gets worse the longer it lasts, and fewer healers means more DPS.

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.

You will need 2 tanks for this fight to survive Rune of Blood.

Normal vs Heroic

On Normal difficulty, Blood Beasts will no longer generate Blood Power when attacking. Additionally, players dying to Mark of the Fallen Champion will only heal Saurfang for 5% of his maximum health instead of 20%.

The Pull

Positioning is key for this fight. The raid will need to be spread out, ensuring that Blood Nova only ever hits one target at a time. As is now standard for mechanics like these, a portion of the raid will need to be outside of melee range to avoid this hitting the melee stack.

The Fight

Saurfang deals massive amounts of damage with every swing, constantly increasing as his Blood Power increases. Blood Power is increased when Saurfang deals damage, and mitigating his damage will cause him to generate less Blood Power, making for an easier fight. Saurfang will also cast Rune of Blood on the current tank every 20 seconds, necessitating consistent tank swaps to avoid Saurfang healing or generating too much Blood Power.

Every 15 seconds, Saurfang will debuff 3 random non-tanks with Boiling Blood, dealing damage every 3 seconds. This scales with his Blood Power, and generates more. Using cooldowns to reduce or negate this damage can go a long way.

Once he has reached 100% increased damage, he will spend his Blood Power to cast Mark of the Fallen Champion on a random player. This causes all of Saurfang’s hits to splash a portion of damage to that target, healing him for 20% Health if they die. This damage will need to be constantly healed, with Beacon of Light from a Holy Paladin being especially useful. Ideally, every Mark of the Fallen Champion should have a designated healer, with that player being their priority.

Finally, every 40 seconds Saurfang will summon 5 Blood Beasts on top of him. These will immediately run towards whoever draws aggro on them, usually healers. Blood Beasts do very high damage, as well as filling Saurfang’s Blood Power. To handle these effectively, make sure there are slows such as Frost Traps and Earthbind Totems on top of Saurfang whenever they spawn.

A common method of with Blood Beasts is to park a Holy Paladin at max range with Righteous Fury active, with a knockback class such as Elemental Shaman or Balance Druid between. This should cause all Blood Beasts to immediately aggro the Holy Paladin, being slowed on the boss, and then knocked back into the slow before they ever have a chance to reach their target. Blood Beasts are also susceptible to other crowd control, but make sure not to root them. If rooted, they will attack the nearest enemy, ignoring threat.

Blood Beasts should be immediately focused down by all ranged DPS. Melee will generally ignore Blood Beasts unless you are able to keep one chain-stunned in the melee stack. You will need to hard swap to them in either situation, as their buff Resistant Skin renders them virtually immune to AoE damage. If a Blood Beast is not killed within 10 seconds, it will cast Scent of Blood, massively increasing its damage and slowing the raid.

It is also important that Death Knights do not cast Army of the Dead during the fight. The ghouls will taunt the Blood Beasts, giving Saurfang easy Blood Power.

Finally, once Saurfang reaches 30% Health, he will use Frenzy, increasing his Attack Speed by 30%. This puts a lot more pressure on the raid, especially as a handful of Mark of the Fallen Champion casts are guaranteed to have happened by now. Cast Bloodlust and burn the boss hard without neglecting Blood Beasts. If a Marked player dies now, it could heal Saurfang past 30%, leaving you with a very long Frenzy Phase.

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

Tanking Blood Beasts.
Stacking for Blood Nova.
Splash damage from Mark of the Fallen Champion.
Basic swings from Saurfang.

Congratulations on defeating Deathbringer Saurfang! Continue past him to leave the linear section of the raid, next boss is up to you.

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.