Blood-Queen Lana'thel Encounter Guide: Strategy, Abilities, Loot (2024)

Last updated on Jan 01, 2024 at 12:00by Abide1 comment

Blood-Queen Lana'thel is most commonly the ninth boss encounter that playerswill face in Icecrown Citadel. This fight is a constant struggle to keep theBlood Queens vampiric abilities under control. Do not forget to be aware of thevarious Raid Buffs and Debuffs as you work to optimize yourRaid Composition for this encounter's mechanics!

• FOLLOW YOUR ASSIGNED BITE ORDER. You're not that guy pal.
• Save long, personal-DPS cooldowns for after you get theVampiric Bite.

• Coordinate raid-wide defensive cooldowns for eachBloodbolt Whirl every 2 minutes; ideally always having somethingup during this phase.
• This fight is fairly intensive healing-wise, be sure to manage your manaproperly and ask for externals such as Innervate often andearly.

• Make sure you are stacking together as both tanks, and standing as close aspossible to Blood-Queen Lana'thel.
• Quickly get back into starting position and stack with the other tank afterBloodbolt Whirl ends.
• Try to save as many personal defensive cooldowns as late into the fight aspossible, once most of the raid is bitten.

Before engaging the boss, have your ranged DPS and healers spread around theroom, ideally in pre-assigned positions. These players will need to memorizetheir positioning and be sure to return to their assigned spot whenever theyare forced to move.

The main mechanic of the Blood-Queen Lana'thel fight is theVampiric Bite. 15 seconds into the fight the Blood-Queen will chargea DPS player and Bite them, infecting them withEssence of the Blood Queen. This debuff lasts for 1 minute, and whenit expires the player will enter a Frenzied Bloodthirst, replacingyour action bar with 1 ability only, Vampiric Bite. This requires themto bite another player in the next 10 seconds, or become Mind Controlled for therest of the encounter. Players will then need to bite someone new 1 minute later,in addition to their first victim needing to bite someone. This quickly snowballsthe amount of bites rolling around in during the fight. Below is a table you canuse as a reference for how bites should roughly look.

These bites must be properly managed in order to meet the DPS check of thefight, as the buff grants 100% increased damage. Prioritize your highest DPSmembers early on, as you want them dealing 100% increased damage for as much ofthe fight as possible. To make these bite assignments automated and MUCHeasier to manage, we recommend using theFojji Bite Weakaura, which willautomatically display assignments for bites that will prioritize higher DPS classesfirst. The weakaura might not work perfectly depending on your composition andplayer skill levels, but it is very strongly recommended to use regardlessas it makes this fight significantly easier. This weakaura alone makes the fightthe easiest end-tier boss in the raid.

While the Blood-Queen Lana'thel fight only has 1 monster to tank, it doesstill require 2 tanks. The second tank will need to stack directly on top ofthe main-tank, as this places the Blood Mirror debuff on them,mirror the damage Lana'thel deals to her main tank unto the second tank. Inaddition, the second tank will frequently be hit by Delirious Slash,dealing 75% of normal weapon damage and causing the victim bleed for 7,000 to9,000 Physical damage every 3 seconds for 15 seconds total. This attack can notbe avoided, so be ready to quickly top the off-tank up as they will be takingmore damage than the main-tank.

Consistently throughout the fight until defeated, Blood-Queen Lana'thel willdamage the entire raid every 2 seconds with Shroud of Sorrow, dealing4,500 Shadow damage. In addition to this, she will constantly target random raidmembers with Twilight Bloodbolt, dealing 11,250 to 13,750 damage tothe target and all surrounding allies within 6 yards. This is the main reason wehave the ranged and healers spread out throughout the room, and will require themelee DPS to split up into 3 groups behind the boss.

Next, Blood-Queen Lana'thel will cast Pact of the Darkfallen every 30seconds, linking 3 players together with red beams. While these players arelinked to each other, they will be taking 2,500 Shadow damage a second as wellany nearby allies. To break this link, these 3 players must quickly stacktogether in the center of the room. This is the most ideal time to use movementspeed boosts such as Nitro Boosts.

Blood-Queen Lana'thel will also cast Swarming Shadows on arandom non-tank player every 30 seconds, dealing inflict 3,238 to 3,762 Shadowdamage every second for 6 seconds. With each tick of damage, the victim willalso spawn Swarming Shadows, patches of purple fire, beneath them.The target of this spell needs to quickly move to the outside walls and run alongside them until the debuff fades away. Be ready with a personal defensivecooldown as you may be out of range for some healers depending how far you go.

Lastly, every 2 minutes Blood-Queen Lana'thel will run to the center of theroom and fly into the air. Once she has taken off, she will castIncite Terror, fearing the entire raid for 4 seconds. The best way tohandle this mechanic is to simply have all Priests useFear Ward on themselves and time a Mass Dispel on asmuch of the raid as possible.

Once flying in the air, Blood-Queen Lana'thel will start to channelBloodbolt Whirl for 6 seconds, sending out a devastating barrageof Bloodbolt Whirl at half of the raid at random every 2 secondsfor the whole 6 second duration. It is crucial to have multiple raid-widedefensive cooldowns available for this entire 6-8 second window, as the damagedealt during this phase will easily be what wipes you. It is important to notethat Bloodbolt Whirl splashes the damage to any nearby allies,requiring the raid to spread out as even 2 people being stacked will causedeaths. Once the Bloodbolt Whirl channel ends,Blood-Queen Lana'thel will land and the normal begining mechanics willcontinue.

The only ability that Blood-Queen Lana'thel gains on Heroic difficultyis Presence of the Darkfallen, which increases the power ofShroud of Sorrow by 5% for every unique Vampiric Bite thatis currently out. Towards the end of the fight, this will ramp the raid-wideShroud of Sorrow damage up from 4,500 Shadow damage every 2 seconds, to8,100 Shadow damage every 2 seconds, assuming everyone with aVampiric Bite remains alive. This is a massive increase in healingoutput required later on in the fight, especially during the Air Phase. Make sureeveryone is aware of the defensive cooldown rotation and players should be readywith their own personal cooldowns to help survive.

• Blood Mirror — 100% of damage done to you is dealt to thelinked source.
• Bloodbolt Whirl — Summons a maelstrom ofBloodbolt Whirl.
• Delirious Slash — Inflicts 75% of weapon damage to an enemyand causes it to bleed for 7,000 to 9,000 damage per application every 3 secondsfor 15 seconds.
• Incite Terror — Strikes fear into enemies, causing them toflee in terror for up to 4 seconds.
• Pact of the Darkfallen — Deals growing Shadow damage to youand nearby non-linked allies. This effect expires when all linked targets arewithin 5 yards of each other.
• Shroud of Sorrow — An aura of sorrow and despair emanatesfrom the caster, inflicting 4,500 Shadow damage every 2 seconds to nearbyenemies.
• Swarming Shadows — A swarming void consumes the target,causing a mass of shadows to appear beneath the target every 0.5 seconds.
• Twilight Bloodbolt — Hurls a bolt of dark blood at thetarget, dealing 11250 to 13750 damage to the target and surrounding allieswithin 6 yards.
• Vampiric Bite — Deals 10,175 to 11,825 damage to the target,granting them the Essence of the Blood Queen.

Icecrown Citadel bosses have 4 varying difficulties that they can beengaged on, with each difficulty dropping geared tailored to match its'challenges. Below you can find a list of gear dropped on each and everydifficulty for this boss encounter.

Item	Type/Slot
Cowl of Malefic Repose	Cloth Head
Collar of Haughty Disdain	Neck
Shoulderpads of the Searing Kiss	Leather Shoulder
Chestguard of Siphoned Elements	Mail Chest
Throatrender Handguards	Plate Hands
Veincrusher Gauntlets	Plate Hands
Tightening Waistband	Plate Waist
Ivory-Inlaid Leggings	Leather Legs
Seal of the Twilight Queen	Ring
Bloodsipper	One-Hand
Lana'thel's Bloody Nail	Wand
Stakethrower	Gun

Item	Type/Slot
Cowl of Malefic Repose	Cloth Head
Collar of Haughty Disdain	Neck
Shoulderpads of the Searing Kiss	Leather Shoulder
Chestguard of Siphoned Elements	Mail Chest
Throatrender Handguards	Plate Hands
Veincrusher Gauntlets	Plate Hands
Tightening Waistband	Plate Waist
Ivory-Inlaid Leggings	Leather Legs
Seal of the Twilight Queen	Ring
Bloodsipper	One-Hand
Lana'thel's Bloody Nail	Wand
Stakethrower	Gun
Conqueror's Mark of Sanctification	Set Token
Protector's Mark of Sanctification	Set Token
Vanquisher's Mark of Sanctification	Set Token

Item	Type/Slot
Blood Queen's Crimson Choker	Neck
Lana'thel's Chain of Flagellation	Neck
Bauble of True Blood	Trinket
Bloodfall	Polearm
Dying Light	Staff
Icecrown Glacial Wall	Shield
Conqueror's Mark of Sanctification	Set Token
Protector's Mark of Sanctification	Set Token
Vanquisher's Mark of Sanctification	Set Token

Item	Type/Slot
Blood Queen's Crimson Choker	Neck
Lana'thel's Chain of Flagellation	Neck
Bauble of True Blood	Trinket
Bloodfall	Polearm
Dying Light	Staff
Icecrown Glacial Wall	Shield
Conqueror's Mark of Sanctification	Set Token
Protector's Mark of Sanctification	Set Token
Vanquisher's Mark of Sanctification	Set Token

Achievement	Description
Once Bitten, Twice Shy (25 player)	Defeat Blood-Queen Lana'thel once as a vampire and again without becominga vampire in 25-player mode.

Blood-Queen Lana'thel is just one of the twelve encounters present in theIcecrown Citadel raid of Wrath of the Lich King. If you would like tolearn more about the others, please see our other pages for the raid below.