Deathbringer Saurfang Encounter Guide: Strategy, Abilities, Loot (2024)

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

Deathbringer Saurfang is the fourth boss of Icecrown Citadel; and the finalboss in The Lower Spire, the first wing of the raid. Do not forget to beaware of the various Raid Buffs and Debuffs as you work to optimize yourRaid Composition for this encounter's mechanics!

• Ranged DPS should spread out to prevent Blood Nova from hittingmore than 1 person at a time.
• Be ready with all forms of CC, especially knock-backs and slows, against theBlood Beasts.

• Coordinate a rotation of personal and raid-wide defensive spells on targetsaffected by Mark of the Fallen Champion.
• Stack with the melee DPS so the ranged DPS have more room to spreadaround and kite any loose Blood Beasts.

• Save defensive cooldowns for when Saurfangs Blood Power reaches60% and higher.
• As this fight is a tank swap, it is recommended to hit cap and use yourclasses glyph of taunt to ensure your taunts always land.
• If you are off-tanking and adds are getting close to the raid, you can tauntthem and run away.

The main focus of this fight is managing Deathbringer SaurfangsBlood Power, and preventing him from gaining any extra fromunnecessary damage. His abilities are quite deadly, improperly handling themeven once can and usually will lead to a wipe.

The main mechanic of this fight is dealing with Blood Power.Deathbringer Saurfang gains Blood Power whenever he deals damagewith Blood Nova, Rune of Blood, Boiling Blood, andany damage dealt by his summoned Blood Beasts. Unlike early versionsof the boss, Saurfang does not generate Blood Power from his own meleeattacks, or by damage dealt from Mark of the Fallen Champion. Tanks willwant to use personal defensive cooldowns while Saurfang is above 60% BloodPower.

Two tanks are required for this fight, and need to instantly taunt off ofeach other when Saurfang uses Rune of Blood. If this is not done quickenough, he will heal back a ton of HP, almost certainly causing a wipe.

Ranged player should spread around the room to prevent the Blood Novafrom hitting multiple targets, as this will quickly boost SaurfangsBlood Power. Healers should be aware of any Boiling Blooddebuffs, especially when Saurfang has a high amount of Blood Nova, oron targets afflicted by Mark of the Fallen Champion at the same time.

Every 45 seconds Saurfang will call in 5 Blood Beasts around him.These will activate after 2 seconds and run towards their highest threat target.Melee DPS must avoid AoEing right as these adds spawn in, or risk pulling aggroand dying. Use any available slows, stuns, knock-backs and so-on to keep thesebeasts away from the raid. They must not ever attack anyone, as they will 1-shotanyone, and generate a ton of Blood Power for Saurfang himself. It'sworth noting that these beasts have the Resistant Skin buff, preventingyou from being able to AoE them; they must be single target prioritized aboveeverything else.

Lastly, the main mechanic that will cause wipes for you is theMark of the Fallen Champion. When Deathbringer Saurfang reaches 100%Blood Power, he will cast a Mark of the Fallen Champion on arandom, non-tank player and reset his Blood Power back to 0. Thisplayer will take 6,175 to 6,825 Physical damage when Saurfang performs a meleeattack on the tank. This debuff lasts for the rest of the fight, greatlyincreasing Saurfangs damage output, and thus his Blood Power gains.

This mechanic acts as a severe DPS check, as the raid will quickly becomeoverwhelmed by these marks by the 4th or 5th. Any player affected by this markthat dies will heal the boss for 20% of his maximum health, instantly causing awipe.

The easiest way to deal with the Mark of the Fallen Champion is byutilizing a Holy Paladins Beacon of Light, and with 2Holy Paladins, this mechanic is all but trivialized. Have your Holy Paladinplace their beacon on the first mark and continue healing the tank. If you havea second Holy Paladin, they will Beacon of Light the second markand heal the third. If you do not have a second Holy Paladin, have healers assignedto marks 2 and 3.

The last few marks as you are finishing the fight can be cheesed in a few waysto make this encounter much easier. The recommended method isSoulstone or Rebirth your non-Holy Paladins, andhave them cast Divine Intervention on marks number 4 and 5. Theplayers with the mark must remain in the immunity for the remainder of the fight,but this removes the mechanic entirely.

Lastly, at 30% health Deathbringer Saurfang will gain Frenzy,granting him 30% increased attack speed. This will further increase hisBlood Power gains, as well as greatly increase the damage dealt to theMark of the Fallen Champion players. You will want to save all majoroffensive cooldowns for this point and burn down the boss quickly before youbecome overwhelmed.

• Blood Link — Saurfang gains Blood Power fromdamage he inflicts with abilities and summoned creatures.
• Blood Nova — Blood explodes outward from a random enemytarget, inflicting 9,500 to 10,500 Physical damage to nearby enemies.
• Boiling Blood — Boils the blood of an enemy, inflicting5,000 Physical damage every 3 sec for 15 sec.
• Call Blood Beast — Saurfang calls forth a pair ofBlood Beasts.
• Frenzy — Saurfang goes into a frenzy, increasing his attackspeed by 30%.
• Mark of the Fallen Champion — Deathbringer Saurfang's meleeattacks splash to the target, inflicting additional Physical damage. If thetarget dies while under this effect Saurfang is healed for 20% of his totalhealth.
• Rune of Blood — Leeches 5,950 to 8,050 health from an enemytarget and heals Saurfang for 10 times that amount.

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

Item	Type/Slot
Thaumaturge's Crackling Cowl	Cloth Helm
Soulcleave Pendant	Neck
Blade-Scored Carapace	Plate Chest
Hauberk of a Thousand Cuts	Mail Chest
Gargoyle Spit Bracers	Plate Wrist
Scourge Stranglers	Leather Hands
Deathforged Legplates	Plate Legs
Leggings of Unrelenting Blood	Leather Legs
Icecrown Spire Sandals	Cloth Feet
Saurfang's Cold-Forged Band	Ring
Mag'hari Chieftain's Staff	Staff
Ramaladni's Blade of Culling	Two-Hand Axe

Item	Type/Slot
Thaumaturge's Crackling Cowl	Cloth Helm
Soulcleave Pendant	Neck
Blade-Scored Carapace	Plate Chest
Hauberk of a Thousand Cuts	Mail Chest
Gargoyle Spit Bracers	Plate Wrist
Scourge Stranglers	Leather Hands
Deathforged Legplates	Plate Legs
Leggings of Unrelenting Blood	Leather Legs
Icecrown Spire Sandals	Cloth Feet
Saurfang's Cold-Forged Band	Ring
Mag'hari Chieftain's Staff	Staff
Ramaladni's Blade of Culling	Two-Hand Axe
Conqueror's Mark of Sanctification	Set Token
Protector's Mark of Sanctification	Set Token
Vanquisher's Mark of Sanctification	Set Token

Item	Type/Slot
Greatcloak of the Turned Champion	Back
Toskk's Maximized Wristguards	Leather Wrist
Belt of the Blood Nova	Mail Waist
Deathbringer's Will	Trinket
Bloodvenom Blade	One-Hand Sword
Conqueror's Mark of Sanctification	Set Token
Protector's Mark of Sanctification	Set Token
Vanquisher's Mark of Sanctification	Set Token

Item	Type/Slot
Greatcloak of the Turned Champion	Back
Toskk's Maximized Wristguards	Leather Wrist
Belt of the Blood Nova	Mail Waist
Deathbringer's Will	Trinket
Bloodvenom Blade	One-Hand Sword
Conqueror's Mark of Sanctification	Set Token
Protector's Mark of Sanctification	Set Token
Vanquisher's Mark of Sanctification	Set Token

Achievement	Description
I've Gone and Made a Mess (10 player)	Defeat the Deathbringer before Mark of the Fallen Champion is cast threetimes in 10-player mode.
I've Gone and Made a Mess (25 player)	Defeat the Deathbringer before Mark of the Fallen Champion is cast fivetimes in 25-player mode.

Deathbringer Saurfang 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.