Archaedas

Archaedas is a level 40 elite (47 Elite prior to Patch 2.3) boss who watches over Uldaman in the name of the mighty titans.

Archaedas is one of the ancient servants of the titans, a giant of stone crafted to guard the vault of Uldaman. To ensure he would always be vigilant, his creators sealed him in a stone shell that keeps him magically preserved in a timeless sleep. Any attempt to activate the keystone that opens the vault awakens him immediately. Should the creatures not speak the appropriate command words at once, Archaedas carries out his orders and destroys the invaders before returning to sleep once again. Sadly, the command words have been lost to the ages, so anyone who awakens him almost certainly finds himself engaged in battle. Archaedas stands 18 feet high and weighs 12,000 pounds. He can speak Dwarven and Titan fluently, but sees no need to do so except when commanding a statue to life. The stone cracks and shatters, and an immense giant with craggy features steps forth. It wears an ornate breastplate and wields a sword almost as tall as its frame, about the height of three sturdy humans.

Archaedas strikes with his massive greatsword at whoever released him, throwing stones (usually fragments of the ruins of Uldaman) only at opponents who can fly or otherwise elude him. He targets what he considers to be the most dangerous foe, usually the one who dealt him the most damage. He calls on other stone guardians as often as possible.

''Note: Archaedas uses the stone keeper model but is not referred to as one in lore. Instead he has been described as a stone watcher, a stone guardian, or a giant of stone. He has, however, been called a "Stonekeeper" in early previews, and a recent description, which may refer to his model name, or that he is a stone keeper. ''

Strategy
Group setup for the fight:
 * 1 tank
 * 1 main healer for the tank
 * 1 damage dealer for the adds he spawns (either rogue, hunter or a mage)
 * 1 support healer for the damage dealers

The last spot is best filled up by a mage or warlock. A party level of at least 40 is recommended, though the tank should (as always) be of higher level.

If you intend to farm this boss with a high level character, note that the altars require at least 3 players channeling simultaneously in order to activate them (as of patch 3.0.8 this is no longer true; the altars can be opened by a single player).

If a wipe occurs and you fail to kill Archaedas, all his minions will return to their former positions and turn back to stone. So does the boss himself, so you have to redo everything again.

Archaedas should be soloable by any well-equipped melee class from level 56 onwards. At level 60 he should be no problem, as long as the adds are dealt with quickly.

The strategies below are based on the original (level 47) Archaedas. Now that he has been lowered to level 40, following these should make the fight trivial; even a three-player party (tank, healer, DPS) at level 39-43 should have no problem dealing with him, as long as they know what they are doing.

Stage 1
Archaedas himself does not deal that much damage. A priest should have no problem keeping the tank alive through the first stages of the fight.

During the first stage, Archaedas will randomly awaken one of the small statues of the outer circle with a visible beam of light. These Earthen Guardians (~38, non-elite) have ~460 hp and must quickly be killed by the aforementioned damage dealer with backup from his support healer. The last spot player will help the tank get Archaedas' HP down. Usually when Archaedas' HP gets to 66%, he enters the second stage.

Stage 2
He will now summon the 6 guards (non-elite) of the inner circle at once. Best method to deal with them is to AoE-taunt them and have them Arcane Exploded (if using mage) or Hellfired (if using warlock; be aware that the priest must heal you frequently in this case) to death by the last spot player. If you don't have those classes, a druid using Barkskin and Hurricane plus help from hunters with Volley and Multi-Shot also works. To easily group up the mobs, have your healer and AoE classes stand at the center of the room and tank Archaedas off to the side. The 6 mobs will collapse on the healer at the same time, so AoE can start right away.

He will continue summoning mobs from the outer circle as well, deal with them as in the first stage. At the end of this stage (HP ~33%), the damage dealers should be at full mana. Archaedas will now enter the third stage.

Stage 3
The boss summons two golems (Vault Warders, lvl 45 Elite) which will come running from the outside of the room. They should be taunted to attack the tank at once and all healing should focus on the tank once he has aggro. If you have them, Hunter and Warlock pets can be used to offtank the warders. This ensures that the adds are tanked immediately, keeping them from getting a quick kill on your healer. It also spreads out the damage, which is useful if your healer is getting low on mana.

The elite golems despawn as Archaedas dies, so this third stage should be done as quickly as possible, which is why one wants the Mage at the beginning of the last stage. As soon as he is able to do so get the warrior to Execute Archaedas also. Burn Archaedas down fast, leaving the golems alone.

Alternate Fight Location
Follow the above, just try this to make the fight a bit easier.

Here's the strategy: the three fastest people stay downstairs and activate the pillar that wakes Archaedas. The other two members are upstairs in the room where you just killed the 4 golems. The three wake Archaedas, then run upstairs to join the other two in that room. Follow the strategy given in the above sections for the fight. One party member can take care of the non-elites that trickle in (easy one-shot kills for a mage). Killing him is possible with a party that is lower than you might think, provided that you have a good healer. Often a group can kill Archaedas before the elites even make it up to the fight.

[WARNING!]

This alternate fight spot may not work anymore, as it causes the non-elites and elite adds to instantly spawn the moment he walks out of his room. Try at your own risk.

Alternative Strategy (If a Less Functional Group is on Hand)
This actually has worked before, so don't sneeze at it — Archaedas himself is not the most difficult boss that you will ever see — in fact, he doesn't even require a true "tank" (Warrior, Paladin, Feral Druid). It is actually possible for a Beast Mastery specced hunter's pet to tank Archaedas, with the hunter healing with Mend Pet. While this certainly can be a mana drain, it frees up the other four group members to focus solely on the spawns after Archaedas drops down to 66%. It is a lot easier than it sounds, provided the Hunter has a good pet — the best part about this is that the other party members don't have to be as high, provided the hunter is around 47-48.

Additional Strategy (for high dps groups)
Archaedas truly isn't that strong, and it's quite easy to beat him with a simple group. It has been done with a shaman, paladin and a druid. Rather than healing, the druid simply tanked him using Frenzied Regeneration near the start of the fight, while everyone focused fire on him. No time was wasted on anything else. Once he's defeated, all the others despawn instantly, so its an easy fight. I think that I did go into normal form and use Regrowth once, but that's it. Also the levels were me(44), shaman(41), pally (43). Also confirmed to be easy with a combat swords rogue(42), feral druid that healed(44), and a fury warrior that tanked(52).

First make sure your group has enough DPS to focus Archaedas and finish him in under 1 min. If you decide to do this strategy make sure you tank waits to use AOE aggro generation abilities until Archaedas hits about 50% hp that way the adds don't aggro the squishy party members. If your group can't manage enough DPS to drop him into stage 2 before or just as he finishes summoning the add in stage 1, your tank will have a great deal of trouble at stage 3. Also, it is helpful to save your short cooldown abilities as you near the end of stage 2 so that as soon as stage 3 begins you can pop them to finish him off, this can help save the tank at the most painful part. Also, if Archaedas is below ~20% and your tank is about to die, don't panic, just keep your rezzer alive and blow all remaining cooldowns to finish him asap. It is fine if a group member dies as long as it wasn't your rezzer and Archaedas dies. Once he dies then you can laugh as everything else despawns without having to be killed.

Additional Notes
There are 40 statues around the outer circle. There seems to be a bug when you don't manage to bring Archaedas down to 66% in appropriate time (say until 15 guards have been summoned). Then he would summon his 6 inner guards and the elite golems at once, meaning a certain wipe to the party and leaving the event bugged after your death (usually you can restart the event after a wipe by activating the altar).

Trivia

 * If all the adds in the room are summoned by Archaedas he will enter a soft enrage once he can summon no more. This is an odd mechanic seeing as most groups of appropriate level would be killed or have killed Archaedas before this happens.

Quotes

 * Aggro
 * yell


 * Summon
 * yell
 * yell


 * Killing A Player
 * yell