04Halion, the Twilight Destroyer
Ruby Sanctum3 phases2 realmsCorporeality
Halion is the real fight. It has three phases, and the raid is split between two realms: the Physical Realm and the Twilight Realm. Both halves have to hit the boss evenly. The whole plan fits in one line: stay out of the front and the back of the dragon, dispel at the edge, dodge the beam, and keep the two realms even.
100% to 75%Phase 1: Physical RealmFiery Combustion and Meteor Strike. Dispel at the edge, and step around the fire.
75% to 50%Phase 2: Twilight RealmA portal opens. One tank and one healer stay outside, the rest go in. Soul Consumption, Dusk Shroud and the Twilight Cutter.
50% to 0%Phase 3: both realmsHalf the raid goes back out. Both realms hit Halion at once, and Corporeality has to stay balanced.
Every phaseCleave, breath and tailA frontal cleave, a breath (fire in the Physical Realm, shadow in the Twilight Realm), and a tail lash behind him that stuns for two seconds. The tank faces him away from the raid, everyone else stands on the sides. Melee stay at maximum melee range at all times, whatever the class: standing in front of him means eating the cleave and, if the breath lands on you at the same time, it can be a straight kill.
Every phaseTwilight PrecisionHe is 5% more likely to hit and your dodge chance is 20% lower. Tanks and healers have less room for mistakes than on the other bosses.
Phase 1Fiery CombustionA debuff on a random player that ticks every two seconds for 30 seconds and stacks. The explosion grows with the stacks, so the player runs to the edge of the room and gets dispelled there (Cleanse, Dispel Magic, Mass Dispel, Cleanse Spirit or Remove Curse).
Phase 1Meteor StrikeMarks a spot under a random player. It lands after about five seconds and leaves fire in an X for about 30 seconds. Keep the group together, and cross through Halion instead of running around the fire.
HeroicLiving InfernoOn heroic the meteor also spawns a big add (the Inferno) that cannot be taunted, plus a wave of small adds (the embers). The big add hitting near the small ones gives them a large damage boost, so the whole point is to split them apart: a Hunter sends the Inferno to the main tank with Misdirection, since it can never be taunted, and the Protection Paladin off-tank picks up whatever small adds are left over. Ranged damage dealers stay single-target on the Inferno; a Balance Druid never Hurricanes here. The only ranged AoE comes from the Shadow Priest, who Mind Sears the small adds toward the raid so the melee can cleave them, then Fades the instant they arrive so the off-tank can take them cleanly. Rogues put Tricks of the Trade on the off-tank so he picks up threat on the small adds fast.
Phase 2Soul ConsumptionThe shadow version of Fiery Combustion: edge of the room, dispel. On heroic the circle it leaves also pulls in anyone standing nearby and slows them by 80%, so a Retribution Paladin pre-casts Hand of Freedom on the target before he is dispelled, never after: cast in that order and the slow never lands at all. A constant Dusk Shroud ticks on the whole group, so healers are busy the whole phase.
Phase 2Twilight CutterOrbs at the edge of the room connect after a quiet period and sweep a beam across the room for about ten seconds in each 30-second cycle. It is worth about 14,000 damage every second on 25-player: if it touches you, you are dead. Rotate the boss and the group away from it. The sources we checked describe four orbs on heroic instead of two.
Phase 3CorporealityHalion exists in both realms, and the damage the two groups do decides how much of him is in each. Keep the balance around 40% to 60%: too much damage in one realm and he hits harder there, and at the extremes he deals and takes 400% extra damage in that realm. An empty realm lets him heal quickly, so nobody abandons their realm. On heroic the meteor keeps spawning the Inferno and its embers exactly like phase 1, which is why the outside group is bigger in phase 3: it needs the people to kill the adds, in the order Inferno, then embers, then Halion.
Tanks
One tank in each realm in phase 3. Build threat before the fire starts (Death Knights, spam Icy Touch), face him away from the raid, and watch parry haste: the whole raid should be expertise capped, because every parry lets Halion swing again early, and his basic attacks already hit for 30,000 or more on a well-geared tank.
Healers
The tank and the Dusk Shroud are your work. Pre-cast before each breath, and stay flexible during the Cutter phases, because you will be moving. The inside tank needs real cooldown coverage: a Discipline Priest keeps Pain Suppression for him, and at least two Paladins split Hand of Sacrifice and Aura Mastery between them so one is always available.
Damage dealers
Do your damage evenly. The raid leader needs both realms within a few percent of each other, so listen for the callout and slow down or speed up when he asks. This is a slow fight: there is no reason to rush any part of it.
