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Not to be confused with Halford Wyrmbane.
BossHalfus Wyrmbreaker
Image of Halfus Wyrmbreaker
Gender Male
Race Ettin (Giant)
Level ?? Boss
Reaction Alliance Horde
Location Wyrmbreaker's Rookery, Bastion of Twilight
Status Killable

Halfus Wyrmbreaker is the first boss of Bastion of Twilight, a raid instance in the Twilight Highlands. He can be found in the Wyrmbreaker's Rookery, overlooking a lava pit and facing his guardian, the Proto-Behemoth. He is considered a fairly easy fight.

Halfus was beaten along with the other bosses in the first week of Cataclysm's release, but the heroic modes proved more difficult. The world first kills came on Wednesday, 15 December 2010.

Background[]

Adventure Guide[]

Imbued with unnatural power and stamina by Cho'gall, the ettin Halfus Wyrmbreaker captures dragons for use as fodder in the Twilight's Hammer's rituals. To this end, he has enslaved a behemoth proto-dragon to aid him in hunting down his winged prey.

Abilities[]

Halfus Wyrmbreaker[]

Each week a random three of Halfus's five captured dragonkin awaken. Each awakened dragonkin empowers Halfus and his enslaved Proto-Behemoth with an ability. On Heroic difficulty, all five dragonkin awaken and empower Halfus and his enslaved Proto-Behemoth with all possible abilities.

  • Ability warrior decisivestrike Malevolent Strikes Tank Alert — Halfus's melee strikes wound his current target, reducing healing received by 6% for 30 sec. This effect stacks. This ability activates when the Slate Dragon awakens.
  • Ability warrior rampage Frenzied Assault — Halfus permanently increases his attack speed by 100%. This ability activates when the Nether Scion awakens.
  • Spell shadow shadowfury Shadow Nova Interruptible — Halfus unleashes dark magic, inflicting 22800 to 25200 Shadow damage and knocking back all enemies within 50000 yards. This ability activates when the Storm Rider awakens.
  • Proto-Behemoth — Halfus's enslaved proto-dragon flies nearby, raining down fire upon those who threaten his master. Like Halfus, awakened dragonkin empower the Proto-Behemoth with abilities.
    • Spell fire meteorstorm Fireball Barrage — The Proto-Behemoth fires rapid volleys of fireballs at random enemy targets. Each Fireball deals 20400 to 27600 Fire damage within 8 yards of impact. This ability activates when the Time Warden awakens.
    • Spell fire burnout Scorching Breath — The Proto-Behemoth unleashes waves of flame across the entire platform, dealing 8100 Fire damage to all enemies every 1 sec, for 8 sec. This ability activates when the Orphaned Emerald Whelps awaken.
    • Spell fire firebolt02 Fireball — The Proto-Behemoth lobs single fireballs at the location of a random player. When the fireball lands, it inflicts 20400 to 27600 Fire damage to players within 8 yards of the impact. This ability is only active when the Time Warden is dormant.
  • Ability warrior battleshout Furious Roar — When Halfus reaches 50% remaining health, he periodically emits a Furious Roar. This terrible roar inflicts 7600 to 8400 Physical damage to all players and knocks them to the ground, stunning them for 2 sec. Halfus roars three times in rapid succession.

Imprisoned Dragonkin[]

Halfus has imprisoned a Slate Dragon, a Nether Scion, a Storm Rider, a Time Warden, and a pack of Orphaned Emerald Whelps. They surround him on his platform, wearing bonds of servitude. If freed they will each turn on their master and weaken him, but Halfus then dominates the dragonkin and forces them to fight against the players. In Normal Difficulty three random dragonkin awaken each week, while the other two slumber. Only the awakened dragonkin may be freed.

Nether Scion
  • Spell arcane massdispel Nether Blindness — Upon being released the Nether Scion shrouds Halfus's eyes with a thick fog, impairing his vision and reducing his chance to hit, attack speed, and damage done by 25%.
  • Inv misc head dragon red Dragon's Vengeance — The Nether Scion curses Halfus as it dies, causing Halfus to take 100% increased damage. This effect stacks.
Orphaned Emerald Whelp
  • Ability creature poison 02 Atrophic Poison — Upon being released each Emerald Whelp poisons Halfus's Proto-Behemoth, reducing its damage dealt by 750. This effect stacks 8 times.
  • Inv misc head dragon red Dragon's Vengeance — The last of the Orphaned Emerald Whelps curses Halfus as it dies, causing Halfus to take 100% increased damage. This effect stacks.
Slate Dragon
  • Inv stone 08 Stone Grip — Upon being released the Slate Dragon afflicts Halfus with a creeping paralysis, causing him to occasionally petrify for 12 sec. While petrified, Halfus cannot move or attack and players inflict 100% more damage to Halfus.
  • Inv misc head dragon red Dragon's Vengeance — The Slate Dragon curses Halfus as it dies, causing Halfus to take 100% increased damage. This effect stacks.
Storm Rider
  • Ability druid cyclone Cyclone Winds — Upon being released the Storm Rider envelops Halfus in a cyclone, slowing his casting speed by 500%.
  • Inv misc head dragon red Dragon's Vengeance — The Storm Rider curses Halfus as it dies, causing Halfus to take 100% increased damage. This effect stacks.
Time Warden
  • Spell holy borrowedtime Time Dilation — Upon being released the Time Warden warps the flow of time around Halfus's Proto-Behemoth, reducing the velocity of its deadly fireballs.
  • Inv misc head dragon red Dragon's Vengeance — The Time Warden curses Halfus as it dies, causing Halfus to take 100% increased damage. This effect stacks.

Overview[]

Halfus Wyrmbreaker area

Halfus Wyrmbreaker and his proto-drake

Halfus Wyrmbreaker is a tank and spank fight with some interesting debuff mechanics added in. He has one add, the Proto-Behemoth, that will spit fireballs at raid members and do an AoE flame breath. It is best to ignore this drake and concentrate on killing Halfus, as it has a large health pool and its damage can be either dodged or healed through.

Four friendly drakes and a pack of whelps are imprisoned in the area where Wyrmbreaker is engaged, but in normal mode 2 are unavailable each week. When freed, each drake or whelp pack will put a debuff on Halfus or his Proto-Behemoth pet. It will initially attack Halfus and give him its debuff, but after a couple seconds, the boss emotes, "Halfus Wyrmbreaker binds the <drake type> to his will!" The drake or pack then becomes mind controlled and must be tanked (and possibly killed depending on your tactic for the week).

Below 50% he periodically casts an unavoidable AoE ability called Furious Roar which is a raid wide aoe and stun which hits for around 10,000 three times.

Drakes[]

The drake composition of the fight is selected per week and, like classic Nefarian, getting a difficult combination of adds might mean you have to wait until next week.

A drake being active means that Halfus has a buff that that drake can counter to some degree when it is released. A drake being unavailable (which only happens in Normal mode) means Halfus simply does not have that ability needing to be countered for the week. In heroic mode, Halfus has all abilities active, and you need to choose which abilities you want to counter (which drakes to release, and in which order).

The Nether Scion
Pre-fight, applies a frenzy buff to Halfus Wyrmbreaker (+100% attack speed). When freed, reduces his attack speed, hit chance and damage done.
The Time Warden
Gives Proto-Behemoth Fireball Barrage ability. When freed slows fireballs' flying speed.
The Slate Dragon
Gives Wyrmbreaker his Malevolent Strikes ability, which causes a stacking healing debuff. When freed periodically stuns Halfus for 12 seconds.
The Orphaned Emerald Whelps
Give Proto-Behemoth Scorching Breath ability. When freed, lowers the damage it does.
The Storm Rider
Gives Wyrmbreaker a Shadow Nova ability which deals AoE damage and knocks people back. When freed, reduces his cast speed, so it becomes possible to interrupt.

Strategy[]

Two tanks are recommended for Halfus Wyrmbreaker, as additional drakes have to be tanked and, if the Slate Dragon is active, his hits apply a debuff that reduces healing received by 4% to a max of 15 (90% of healing negated) and stacks up rather quickly. Halfus Wyrmbreaker is tauntable until his enrage.

Halfus Wyrmbreaker has a 6-minute(?) hard enrage timer.

Strategy will depend on the drake combination of the fight. Usually two drakes will be awaken at the same time and then taken down consecutively. Once they are dead, DPS will switch to the boss. Sometimes, the raid will have to deal with two mechanics:

- If the Slate Dragon is active, the boss will get Malevolent Strikes, a Mortal Strike-like ability. Tanks must switch Halfus every N stacks (usually about 10) of Malevolent Strikes: otherwise, the tank will become unhealable. If the off-tank is busy tanking the drakes, it is handy to use a bubble or Hand of Protection on the main tank on the first 15 stacks; then the tank will retaunt Halfus.

- If the Storm Rider is active, Halfus will cast a Shadow Nova that *must* be interrupted (very hard unless the Storm Rider is released, see below). If it is not interrupted, the raid will take about 30k damage per member and suffer a knockback, making the encounter unhealable. Halfus will almost always Cast shadow nova During the 3rd stun tick of Furious Roar, while it is possible for the raid to eat this nova without too much concern if healers are keeping up it will make your healer more comfortable to interrupt and the best way to do that is to either have a mage blink the last stun and counter spell or it is possible for any other interrupt to be used at the last bit of the cast but is a little more risky.

Choosing which drakes to release can be tricky. The raid should take several considerations into account:

  • The Storm Rider should always be released if active. The Shadow Nova will then become interruptable as its cast time rises from 0.25 seconds to 1.5 seconds.
  • If the Slate Dragon and the Nether Scion are active, the Nether Scion has to be released. Otherwise, Malevolent Strikes will stack up very quickly.
  • If the Time Warden is active, it is usually desirable to free him in order to make the Fireball Barrage slower and easier to dodge, thus avoiding a lot of raid damage.

Solo strategy[]

In ten-player mode, it's generally not worth it to deal with the mechanics of the encounter. Just blow Halfus up.

Loot[]

Item Type
Inv stave 2h grimbatolraid d 01 [Malevolence] (H) Agility staff
Inv bracer robe raidmage i 01 [Bracers of the Bronze Flight] (H) Caster cloth bracers
Inv chest cloth raidpriest i 01 [Robes of the Burning Acolyte] (H) Spirit cloth robes
Inv boot leatherraidrogue i 01 [Storm Rider's Boots] (H) Agility leather boots
Inv helmet raidshaman i 01 [Helm of the Nether Scion] (H) Spirit mail helm
Inv glove mail raidhunter i 01 [Proto-Handler's Gauntlets] (H) Agility mail gloves
Inv shoulder plate raidwarrior i 01 [Pauldrons of the Great Ettin] (H) DPS plate shoulders
Inv bracer plate raidwarrior i 01 [Bracers of Impossible Strength] (H) Tank plate bracers
Inv pants plate raidpaladin i 01 [Legguards of the Emerald Brood] (H) Spirit plate leggings
Inv misc book 16 [Book of Binding Will] (H) DPS caster off-hand
Inv misc cat trinket01 [Essence of the Cyclone] (H) Agility trinket
Inv misc necklacea7 [Wyrmbreaker's Amulet] (H) Spirit necklace
Inv chest chain 10 [Chest of the Forlorn Vanquisher] Armor token (heroic only)
Inv chest chain 10 [Chest of the Forlorn Conqueror] Armor token (heroic only)
Inv chest chain 10 [Chest of the Forlorn Protector] Armor token (heroic only)

Related achievements[]

Quotes[]

Intro
Cho'gall yells: Halfus! Hear me! (The Master calls, the Master wants) Protect our secrets, Halfus. Destroy the intruders. (Murder for His glory. Murder for His hunger.)
Aggro
Cho'gall will have your heads! ALL OF THEM!
Killing a player
  • The burden of the damned falls upon you!
  • The wyrms will eat well tonight!
Death
Cho'gall yells: Flesh and sinew, weak but proud. Dare they part the Master's shroud? They stumble fumble groping blind, Finding fate and chaos intertwined.
Unused quotes
  • Beasts! Strike at our enemies.
  • Dragons to my side!
  • Drakes! Your master calls for you!
  • Whelps! Wash over our enemies as a swarm of death!

Notes[]

World first heroic kill on 25-man achieved 15.12.2010 by Tsunami of Frostmourne US.

Videos[]

10-man Heroic[]

25-man Heroic[]

10-man Normal[]

25-man Normal[]

Patch changes[]

  • Cataclysm Patch 4.0.6 (2011-02-08):
    • Shadow Nova is now cast less frequently in 10-player modes to account for fewer available interrupts there.
    • The captured drakes in this encounter now apply Dragon's Vengeance when they are killed instead of when they are freed. To account for this change, the health and damage of the drakes has been reduced, and the damage bonus gained from Dragon's Vengeance has been increased.
  • Cataclysm Patch 4.0.3a (2010-11-23): Added.

External links[]

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