Pandemonius

Pandemonius is the first boss of the Mana-Tombs in Auchindoun. He is a gigantic armor-plated void lord.

Attacks and abilities

 * Deals entirely shadow damage, meaning shadow protection is helpful.
 * Melee (Heroic): Melees for up to 5.6k shadow damage. That's 3000 DPS at 120 SR. Can be dodged, miss, parried or even be blocked (partial and full), but armor does nothing.
 * [[Image:Spell Shadow DeathCoil.png|32px]] Void Blast: Deals 1663 to 2137 shadow damage and knocks back players in a 40 yard radius of the boss every second for five seconds. It is important to note the tank will be hit multiple times if the tank is backed by a wall and is forced to stay within range. The ability cannot be avoided through line of sight, but can be out-ranged and resisted.
 * [[Image:Spell Shadow AntiShadow.png|32px]] Dark Shell: After a 1 second casting time, Pandemonius will become ghostly, similar to the Banish effect. While active, all spells cast at it will be reflected, and melee attackers take 800-1000 damage per hit (1600 in Heroic). Hunter shots, wands, and DOTs applied before Dark Shell are not reflected and continue to deal damage. The ability is announced by raid warning.

Strategy
Clear the first room before engaging. Any Ethereals left alive will aggro along with Pandemonius.

The person holding aggro may use any combination of anchoring and kiting. When anchoring, tank in the center of the room. Put your back to the big hunk of stone in the middle, as the boss does a knockback. It is also advisable to have your healer secure himself behind a wall or object so he doesn't get knocked so far back that he can't reach the tank in time to heal.

Pandemonius has near the average running speed. By kiting him, especially after knockback, you waste his melee damage. Kiting will also buy valuable seconds after the tank dies. He will shoot a volley of shadow bolts (Void Blast) out toward the party. Frost mages can Ice Block out of this. 63+ Warriors with a shield equipped and sufficient rage can use Spell Reflection to reflect this damage back to him. He will rear back a bit and expand his arms right before he volleys. This attack occurs with knockback and he seems to "follow up" with additional shadow bolts if you receive the knockback. Having everyone stand with their backs to a wall to avoid knockback seems to seriously reduce the damage taken from Void Blast.


 * If you have a Shaman in the group, keep Grounding Totem up as much as possible. It will actually eat all 5 of the shadow bolts, making the fight incredibly easy.
 * Combat Pets can be hit by shadow bolts instead of your party members.
 * The snakes from a Snake Trap can be hit by shadow bolts instead of your party members. However, this requires the hunter to come close to lay the trap, or for the tank to move over it, and should mainly be used when healing is an issue.

Dark Shell interferes with DPS by reflecting spells and damaging melee. Anyone that is surprised by it stands to prolong the fight with their death, or doom everyone by wasting healer mana. By enabling the "Show Enemy Cast Bar" option of Interface Settings, every player has an improved chance to see the Shell coming.


 * The Hunter is the ideal counter to Dark Shell. Arrows and bullets are not reflected, so their DPS is constant through the fight. Ranged DPS casters should use their wands, as this damage is also not reflected.

Note: Pandemonius's attacks are not blockable (2.1), do not use Shield block or Holy shield, work with non-blocking aggro generation (e.g. Exorcism as a Paladin).

Heroic
He does not gain any new abilities on Heroic difficulty, but his melee now inflicts ~3500-5000 shadow damage, and the damage shield will reflect ~1500-1700 per swing against melee attackers. Each of the 5 Void Bolts can hit for 5000 Shadow damage.

As a tank make sure you build as much threat as you possible at the start, as you will not be able to build threat during Darkshell, while the healer will continue to gain threat through healing.

This is an EXTREMELY mana-intensive fight that demands high DPS, fast heals, and as much resistance and stamina as you can spare. The tank is recommended to have 200 or more SR. If you are still having trouble after many attempts, start an off-healer as DPS and have them switch to healing as the main-healer runs out of mana. The MH can then melee or use a wand as mana returns.

Avoid using effects on the tank that will reflect damage to the boss during Dark Shell, such as Thorns or Retribution Aura. While tanking make sure you stop your auto-attacks right away on Dark Shell, Paladins be aware that Reckoning can result in some hefty burst if you are not reacting fast enough.

Since Dark Shell is often used shortly after the knockback, a working strategy is to kite Pandemonius after naturally gaining some distance from said knockback. Accomplish this by tanking with your back to the middle of the room, and after you have been knocked back, keep running until you reach the opposite wall of the room. Make sure the Healer and DPS are positioned at the same angle as Tank to circumvent range issues associated with the knockback. Druid tanks can use this time to Shapeshift and Innervate the healer.

As of 2.1 his damage has been nerfed considerably. It can still be a strain on the healer if he is alone though, so make sure no one gets unnecessary damage from the shield.

useful note on SR : since there's no physical damage, the tank can build a cheap resist set from misc armor types, down to and including cloth. At this point he will probably look quite comical, which may provide added entertainment value. Alternately, try to find a decent robe, as this will preserve some modicum of dignity and maybe even provide neat screenshots.

Quotes
Aggro: Killing a player: Death:
 * I will feed on your soul.
 * So... full of life!
 * Do not... resist.
 * Yes! I am... empowered!
 * More... I must have more!
 * To the void... once... more..