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Waycrest Manor is a very open dungeon (especially now that Blizzard has literally opened all doors!). In general, groups will want to get the Sisters out of the way first as they are the hardest boss here, which means going left first. Expect many different routes here, with some massive pulls!
In terms of healing checks, the dungeon is very front loaded, with the Heartsbane Triad and the Soulbound Goliath being the biggest challenges.
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I recommend that your group has access to the following dispels:
CursePurgeDiseaseSoothePoisonYou should make sure to pick Improved Detox
From the first room, "The Grand Foyer", There are 2 doors to get to the Ballroom, downstairs and upstairs.
There is already a choice between taking the bottom left door or the top left door to get to the Ballroom.
In the Grand Foyer, there are multiple Soul Essence spamming Scar Soul. These can target anybody, and bad luck could mean someone getting instant. Help with Interrupts and CC here.
Upstairs, there is a roaming Heartsbane Runeweaver. Their casts are much more dangerous. Etch leaves a nasty debuff, while Runic Mark will deal damage to close friends when it expires or is dispelled. Not that you can also pull them from downstairs, just be careful not to pull them by mistake as they are a dangerous enemy
In the ballroom, you get to fight the Thistle Acolyte and their Blight Toad. The Acolytes have two interruptible casts Drain Essence and Infected Thorn. Both leave a dispellable debuff, and neither it too threatening if the Acolytes are not free casting. The toads will explode on death with Toad Blight.
The killer here! Expect lots of damage, most of it kinda random from the casts. Your team should focus their interrupts on the "main" sister, since those casts will be a menace. Be ready to rotate your cooldowns to catch up on group damage.
Through the fight, the sisters will keep casting at random targets which constitute the core of the damage taken. You will phase every 50% between the sisters in the following order:
Sister Solena > Sister Malady > Sister Briar and repeat.
Consider that the empowered sister will only cast their main spell at the tank. If they are comfortable handling the incoming damage, it can be better value to spend the interrupts on the non-empowered sisters that are spamming on random targets!
A healing reduction aura. It makes this phase more dangerous as the regular damage will be harder to heal.
A charm. Your group will need to drop the target down to 50% for them to be freed. Be ready to dispel and heal them up as soon as it is over.
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Sister Solena Aura of Apathy makes the phase slightly harder, since the regular damage from the others' bolts will be harder to heal. Consider Absorbs cooldowns in this phase as they are not impacted by healing reduction.
A healing reduction aura. It makes this phase more dangerous as the regular damage will be harder to heal.
A charm. Your group will need to drop the target down to 50% for them to be freed. Be ready to dispel and heal them up as soon as it is over.
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The main ability during this phase is Unstable Runic Mark. It is nothing too dangerous in general.
Jagged Nettles is the real danger here. There is a lot of damage going on, and being able to top off someone while keeping the group afloat can be a challenge. Concentrate your single target tools on the target.
Try to keep your melee uptime high to use your maintenance healing to its fullest. Using your interrupt as often as possible is also important to reduce the incoming damage.
The path from Heartsbane Triad to the Soulbound Goliath
The fist part is made of a corridor, before getting out to the Manor courtyard.
You will meet Bewitched Captains, Enthralled Guards and Runic Disciples there. The captains will apply a lot of pressure to the tank with their Focused Stikes. Keep an eye on them. The guards have a frontal Shadow Cleave and a defensive buff Spirited Defense that can be interrupted or purged. The runic disciples have two cast, a standard random target spam Runic Bolt and an annoying silence Spellbind. This is the most important interrupt as it targets you, creating all sort of issues. Other than, help your team control the mobs as best as possible
The Jagged Hounds will only hit the tank and then more with Thorned Claw. The Thornguards bring another tank buster with Tearing Strike, which leaves a heavy dispellable bleed. They will also Enrage and Shatter when they die. That's all for the tank troubles. Now there are also Coven Thornshaper, they can create Uproot that deny some space, they can also use Infected Thorn, and finally they also have a heal Effigy Reconstruction. Coordinate your interrupts on them. Especially their last cast, Soul Fetish can easily buff the hounds and the thornguard to kill your tank if the cast goes through. Help controlling the thornshaper, and check your tank defensives to support them when they need and all should be fine.
Matron Bryndle is a mini-boss in front of the Soulbound Goliath. Thorned Barrage is a heavy Tank Buster in the form of a channel and a DOT. Splinter Spike should be easy to dodge. Nothing too bad here. The whole court is a lot on the tank, just make sure that you support them appropriately.
Soulbound Goliath is a relatively simple encounter, where the tank decides the tempo.
The most important thing as a healer is to know ahead of time at what number of stacks the tank will get the boss into the fire. Even in PUG, you want to ask them. The damage during Burning Brush is pretty intense, and you will need to be ready for this.
The other dangerous ability here is Soul Thorns and you will need to provide some snap ST healing to help your teammate!
For some time after Burning Brush, the Goliath melee attacks have additional fire damage
This fight can have a different pattern depending on the tank you work with and the number of stacks they can handle. In general, it is a better path to work with them and support them, so that you maybe you can use Chi-ji every Burning Brush. if this is not possible, you will want to use Revival on your group defensives on the second one. You will use SG every time as well.
Other than that, be ready to put out some some ST burst to counter the damage from Soul Thorns, it is a great time to use TFT + Enveloping Mists or Life Cocoon or . Other than that, keep your damage up to kill it as soon as possible!
The Banquet Hall consists in a room surrounded by a corridor. Both have a different set of mobs.
Infected Peasant will create some random damage on the group with Withering Glob. Likewise, the Gorestained Piglet will only Snout Smack, so mostly cute. The Devouring Maggot are what you will want to keep a look at here. They cast Spit, but those that have the Parasitic buff can cast Infest, which leaves a dot on the target and can spawn more maggots. Use CC to keep them from casting it and control the mess.
Pallid Gorger jump at the furthest target with Ravaging Leap and apply a bleed in a little area, always have someone bait it away, ideally someone with a bleed dispel on hand. They also have a tank frontal Retch. Banquet Steward will cast Dinner Bell, which is very annoying, and will force you to move. Both the stewards and the Waycrest Reveler have a Tank Buster (again), respectively Meaty Rampage and Punch.
A boss that cannot move. Mostly not a healer boss, the main difficulty is the damage to adds. You will be able to show your mastery of controls here!
Raal opens with a Rotten Expulsion and Tenderize before starting a strict 45 seconds loop revolving around Call Servants. The main challenge is that Raal creates more slimes at the same time, which creates a tight movement and DPS check. Here you will want to plan your controls to make sure you keep the adds from getting swallowed.
Damage-wise, it will be spotty as there is no unavoidable damage but lots of avoidable damage! The best way you can help is by using your DPS and controls here.
Tips coming soon, dont hesitate to suggest yours!
There is an assortment of enemies we detailed previously, none too major. But also some new enemies and a mini-boss.
Let's go through the new enemies before we talk about Matron Alma.
Marked Sister and Coven Diviner are two dangerous mobs. The sister will add some magic damage to their melee attacks with Darkened Blade, they also have access to Runic Mark and Soul Fetish. The Diviner also have Soul Fetish, as well as Soul Bolt, and a combo with Fragment Soul and Consume Fragments. Simply dispel Fragment Soul asap to keep the Consume under control.
Dread Mark will apply Lingering Dread after 6 seconds. This is AOE burst damage you need to heal through. She also has Decaying Touch which she cast on the tank, and Ruinous Volley is a priority interrupt. There is a lot of healing there, be on your toes, and do not wait to commit cooldowns.
The Heartsbane Soulcharmer are dangerous casters. In addition to Soul Bolt, they cast the priority interrupt Soul Volley, as well as Warding Candles, which will force you to move the mob around to take them off it (and they are casters, so help however you can)
This is mostly an execution fight, with low unavoidable damage. Spot healing can become intensive and make it a mana drain.
Not much here outside of pure mechanics.
This is just a stair case to get to Gorak Tul.
The Gloom Horrors will cast Shadow Claw on the tank, and jump at the furthest enemy with Dark Leap, applying a debuff to everybody close. Make sure someone baits it consciously and keep them alive.
Tips coming soon, dont hesitate to suggest yours!
A relatively straightforward boss, where you do not have this much to do, so you will definitely use the vials of Alchemical Fire to perma-kill the Deathtouched Slavers. Just embrace the role and make sure your DPS have full uptime on the boss!
As long as the Deahtouched Slavers are properly interrupted, this should be a peaceful fight, with only Dread Essence to really be concerned about. Be ready to react if Death Lens or Darkened Lightning go through.
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