Lady Deathwhisper



This is the 10 man Icecrown Citadel breakdown of Lady Deathwhisper boss fight strategy for the use of Cabal members.

Lady Deathwhisper
The lich Lady Deathwhisper is the Supreme Overseer of the Cult of the Damned and the second boss of the Icecrown Citadel raid. This encounter bears some similarity to M'uru in Sunwell Plateau. It hinges on quickly picking up the spawns and proper balance between DPS-ing Deathwhisper and killing the add-waves. Ranged DPS in particular need to switch their target frequently, and be highly aware of the general situation.

Strategy
Phase One

Lady Deathwhisper is protected by her Mana Shield, which converts damage taken to mana lost. Phase 2 starts as soon as she has taken enough damage to bring her mana to zero.

If Phase 1 takes longer than 7 minutes, there may not be enough time remaining to kill her in Phase 2 before she enrages.

After 5 seconds of combat and every 60 seconds thereafter three adds alternating left, then right spawn. The three gates on the left side of the room always spawn two Cult Fanatics and one Cult Adherent, the right side gates one Cult Fanatic and two Cult Adherents.

- Reanimated Fanatics (melee) are immune to physical damage.

- Reanimated Adherents (ranged) are immune to magical damage.

- Empowered Adherents have an uninterruptible AOE spell.

- Deformed Fanatics double their melee damage output.

These four special add types are the most dangerous, and must be killed as priority targets.

Adherents are caster mobs who spam deathchill bolt, put a cooldown increasing curse on random players, and sometimes shield themselves with a spell reflect shield. The shield (Shroud of the Occult) takes 50,000 damage to remove. While the shield is on them, typical silencing effects like Shield Bash do not work.

Fanatics have a high melee DPS output and a vicious cleave (melee DPS must take care to stand behind them). When buffed (as Deformed Fanatics), they double their damage output, and may also gain Vampiric Might, which is another 25% damage increase, plus a self heal for 3x the damage they cause. Deformed Fanatics should be kited, which is quite easy because their movement speed is halved.

Phase Two

After her shield is down, Lady Deathwhisper switches to a new set of abilities, she gets an aggro table (in effect her threat is reset) and also starts to melee and cast Frostbolt volley. No more Adherents or Fanatics spawn, instead Vengeful Spirits randomly spawn near players.

Her Frostbolt spell should be interrupted. Death and Decay continues as before. She stacks an ability called Touch of Insignificance on her tank. This reduces threat generation by 20% per stack (stacks to 5). She can be taunted.

Vengeful Spirits pick a random target and follow it for 10 seconds, they explode for 18,000 shadowfrost AoE damage when they catch up. It's possible to heal through this. A Vengeful Spirit can be kited it until it goes away.

Her enrage timer is 10 minutes.

Tanks
During phase one, tanks position themselves on the left and right hand sides of the room, to pick up adds as they spawn. Should a deformed fanatic be created tanks must communicate for MT to pick up the add and kite while ranged DPS it as a priority. Meanwhile the OT manages the remaining adds. Adherents can be gathered by Line of sight pulling, using the nearby walls.

Lady Deathwhisper gets an aggro table at the beginning of Phase 2, and so must be picked up quickly. Tanks need to switch taunts at 4 stacks (taunt rotation needs confirmation). She casts her Frostbolt spell, this can and must be interrupted.

Please give healers warning of the last stack before taunt switch so they can prepare to switch their heals focus.

DPS
The fight is commenced by damage done to Lady Deathwhisper. Shortly after the fight begins, adds will spawn on the left hand side of the room, then the right hand side. DPS will take down these adds, then switch back to the boss. Melee priority is to kill the Adherents, and Ranged priority is to kill the Fanatics.

It is possible for melee only to focus on the adds and have ranged switch should Lady Deathwhisper transform a Deformed Fanatic, or Reanimated Fanatic; however for Cabal we will be targeting the adds with our entire raid group to ensure they come down fast.

DPS need to be mindful of Death and Decay throughout the fight (both phases), this is a green cloud “void zone” on the ground.

Phase 2. As this commences give the MT a few seconds to gain aggro before unleashing your nukes. About 10 seconds into the fight heroism should be popped so ready your cooldowns/potions etc. This is a race to meet the enrage timer so blow everything as it is available.

You might see that you have aggro from a ghost following you. You can either kite this for 10 seconds, or eat the damage it does. Based on a 3 healer/5 dps set up I would recommend eating the damage, in a 2 healer/6 dps set up I would recommend kiting.

DPS should stay relatively spread out to minimise the number of people Death and Decay forms under, and the number of people who will be hit by the Vengeful Shades shadowfrost AoE.

Healers
During p1. keep heals on both tanks and heal AoE damage from death and decay, and single target damage from Shadowbolt as necessary. Assign one healer to tanks, with the second taking care of raid and assisting tanks when not healing raid. Be aware of which tank will be picking up boss in transition to p2. and have HoTs up prior to this.

p1. should be relatively simple to heal, so keep your cd’s for p2.

Phase 2. The MT/OT healer needs to be aware of the tank taunt switches, communication from tanks is essential. Raid damage is increased due to the constant varied damage from Death and Decay, with the added element of Vengeful Share AoE damage. Quick heals to those hit by the Vengeful Shade damage is essential in case a D&D spawns under them shortly after. Tanks and Melee will take a small amount of damage from the Frostbolt Volley.

Lady Deathwhisper
BOTH PHASES

Death and Decay

4500 Shadow damage inflicted every 1 sec to all targets in the affected area for 10 seconds.

Instant.

8 yd radius.

PHASE 1 ONLY

Animate Dead

Reanimates a Cult Adherent or a Cult Fanatic.

Dark Empowerment 200 yd range

Empowers the Adherents's spells, causing them to deal area damage and making them uninterruptable.

2 sec cast.

Dark Transformation

Transforms one random Cult Fanatic into a Deformed Fanatic, increasing damage dealt by 100%.

2.5 second cast.

Mana Barrier

Envelops the caster in a powerful barrier that continually replenishes any lost health, at the expense of the caster's mana.

Shadow Bolt

Inflicts 9,188 to 11,812 Shadow damage to an enemy

2 seconds cast.

PHASE 2 ONLY

Frostbolt 

40 yd range

Inflicts 37,000 Frost damage to an enemy and reduces its movement speed by 50% for 4 seconds.

2 sec cast.

Interruptable

Frostbolt Volley

Inflicts 10800 to 13200 Frost damage to nearby enemies, reducing their movement speed for 4 sec.

Instant.

Summon Vengeful Shade

Calls an unattackable Vengeful Shade that chases a player for a short time, casting Vengeful Blast upon catching them.


 * VENGEFUL SHADE


 * Vengeful Blast


 * Melee range


 * Inflicts 17370 to 18630 Shadowfrost damage to all enemies within 15 yards of the target.

Touch of Insignificance

Reduces the target's threat generation by 20%.

Instant.

Stacks to five.

Lasts 30 seconds.

Achievements
Full House

Defeat Lady Deathwhisper with at least five different types of Cultists active at the time of her demise  

Storming the Citadel

Defeat the first four bosses in Icecrown Citadel