Mr.WoW Gold - WoW Arena Guides - Obsidian Sanctum Guide
Obsidian Sanctum Guide
Sartharion
While being an old fight Sartharion still requires the raid to have moderate movement skills and situational awareness, especially when attempting 3 drakes. Sartharion is most frequently done with no drakes alive, or all three drakes. While 1 or 2 drakes can also be done it seems almost silly not to just do all 3 and get the whole shebang out of the way.
No Drakes
Sartharion has all the abilities you would expect from a dragon: tail whip, a frontal Cleave, and a cone fire breath. Keeping Sartharion faced away from the raid with his tail out of the way is key here. The best spot I have personally found for the tank to stand is on the eastern tip of the island. That way Sartharion faces out toward the lava, his tail is towards the lava on the other side, and the DPS can spread out along his side while the tank can avoid the Lava Wave with just a few steps.
Sartharion has several unique abilities that make the fight a little bit more difficult, and fun. Throughout the fight Sartharion will summon Fire Elementals. They do not hit hard initially and should be picked up by an off tank. However if they are not killed and they manage to hit a Lava Wave they will enrage, gain more health and hit very hard. Killing the Fire Elementals at regular intervals and having your off tank drag them out of the Flame Waves is key. Lava waves will also be summoned throughout the fight. You will receive an emote about the wave, and then a wall of lava will sweep over the island. The waves can either move left to right or right to left. Each wave will have a safe spot that players will need to get to. If the wave moves left to right (looking in from the entrance of the room) there will be two openings on each end of the Lava Wave. If the wave sweeps right to left there will only be one opening in the center.
Between avoiding Lava Walls, and killing Fire Elementals all DPS should be on Sartharion. Getting up as many DoTs as possible makes this fight go much faster. Avoid the Lava Waves, kill off the Fire Elementals regularly, and keep Sartharion from turning to the raid and you will easily win this boss fight.
Three Drakes
Doing Sartharion with three drakes up means he will continue to do all his normal abilities discussed above plus the drakes will now join the fight in intervals, buffing Sartharion and debuffing the raid. Void Zones will now appear throughout the fight and will one shot a player and should be avoided at all costs. The most viable tank for this fight is a Death Knight as they have the most cool downs. A priest healing the main tank is also a good idea as they can lend their wings or pain suppression as extra cool downs for the tank.
Will of Sartharion - Increases Sartharion’s health and those of the other drakes by 25%
Twilight Revenge - Increases Sartharion’s physical damage and attack speed by 25% every time a drake dies
Berserk - When Sartharion reaches 35% health while at least one of the drakes are alive, he will berserk, increasing his attack speed by 150% and damage done by 500% for 5 minutes.
Three Drakes Zerg
A recently developed and commonly used strategy (by well geared groups) is the zerg method. The zerg strategy requires little skill, a large amount of DPS, and may be made impossible to do by Blizzard at a future date. It is largely controversial as some consider it cheating, especially those who completed three drakes the way it was intended.
This strategy will require 1 tank, 1 healer and 8 DPS (10 man) with more healers being used for 25 man. A feral druid or another class that can DPS but still taunt is also required here. Players will need excellent gear, and need to come with all available buffs (flasks, food, etc). Heavy melee here is a plus. The main tank will grab Sartharion and pull him into position while the DPS goes all out, blowing all cool downs. If there are any Rogues or Hunters in the raid they should use their abilities to help the MT keep aggro. The MT should grab all the adds that he can, including Tenebron when he first lands. Once Sartharion reaches 25% the Druid, or another class with a taunt ability should taunt Tenebron off the MT as he will enrage and kill your MT quickly. Tenebron should then be kited by the OT back to the instance portal. All that is left is to continue burning Sarth down. It will be a close call, don’t be distracted by Shadron if he lands, just continue to DPS.
Notable Loot
While most the loot available in the Obsidian Sanctum is outdated there are still a few noteworthy pieces, including some cool mounts.
10 Player
Reins of the Black Drake - 3 Drake Only
Title: <Name> of the Nightfall - 3 Drake Only
25 Player
Fury of the Five Flights - Amazing DPS trinket that will probably not be replaced until your guild reaches ToC 25 man.
Illustration of the Dragon Soul - Great trinket for caster DPS and healers a like
Reins of the Twilight Drake - 3 Drake Kill Only
Title: Twilight Vanquisher <Name> - 3 Drake Only
Achievements
Besting the Black Dragonflight (10 & 25) - Simply defeat Sartharion normally to gain this achievement.
Gonna Go When the Volcano Blows (10 & 25) - This achievement requires the player to not be hit by Lava Strike during the fight. Not an achievement that your entire raid will get at once. Keep an eye on the sky and try to anticipate the spot where the meteor will drop. Also never stand in the same spot for more than a few seconds. When the raid comes together to dodge Lava Waves take a spot in the back away from everyone else. Around 10% Sarth will incite a meteor shower of sorts for around 5 seconds, try to move further away from him and concentrate on dodging the meteors until the shower is over. There is a good chance you will get this achievement by sheer luck. I would not suggest doing this achievement while leaving the drakes alive.
Less Is More (10 & 25) - Requires your raid to defeat Sartharion and the Twilight Drakes with fewer than 9 raid members or fewer than 21 players on 25 man. This achievement is easily done by a well geared group. Dropping DPS instead of healers or tanks is advised. Simply take out all the drakes, and then move on to Sartharion and kill him with your normal strategy and this achievement is yours.
The Twilight Zone (10 & 25) - Requires your raid to kill Sartharion while all three Twilight Drakes are still alive. Considered one of the hardest fights in the game this achievement may take awhile to get while using a normal strategy. But keep your cool and keep trying and it will be yours. Or use the zerg method and make it that much easier.
