Castle Nathria is World of Warcraft Shadowlands‘ first raid, and the massive Shriekwing stands as its gate-keeper. Prospective raiders will need to take this giant gargoyle down before pressing deeper into Castle Nathria. Below I will break down each of Shriekwing’s abilities in Castle Nathria, followed by a quick rundown of the encounter. This guide is tailored for the Normal version of the raid, but will work just as well for those using LFR (any differences will be noted).
Shriekwing Abiltities (Phase 1)
Earsplitting Shriek: Shriekwing inflicts 11380 Sonic damage to all players within her line of sight and an additional 2276 Sonic damage every 2 sec for 12 sec. Players also leave behind Sanguine Ichor at their location.
- This attack will go off twice per phase, and is a 6-second cast.
- Breaking line-of-sight with Shriekwing as she casts it allows you and your team to avoid the attack, so you’ll want to either run to a nearby pillar and put it between you and Shriekwing, or tank her near a pillar to make the move easier for everyone. Shriekwing will remain in place, so tanks can move too.
- Anyone hit by the attack will take significant damage, but that’s not what makes this ability sting. Anyone hit by Earsplitting Shriek will drop a Sanguine Ichor (A pool of ichor that inflicts 3414 Shadow damage every 1 sec to players who stand within it) at their feet, and these pools do not despawn.
- If too many people get hit by this you will find yourself short on safe places to not only stand, but will discover Phase 2 is immensely more difficult.
Echolocation: Shriekwing senses a player and descends on their location after 6 sec.
- This ability will mark several players who will then need to move towards the outside edges of the room.
- 8-seconds after the cast the marked players will be struck by Descent (Shriekwing inflicts 7967 Physical damage to all players within 5 yards), and a pool of Sanguine Ichor will appear at their feet.
- The Sanguine Ichor is why you need to move out towards the edge of the room. Prioritize areas where traffic is lowest.
- Another version of Descent, Deadly Descent, also exists. It can be dodged, but will still drop a pool of Sanguine Ichor.
Wave of Blood: Shriekwing inflicts 5690 Shadow damage to all enemies and an additional 1707 Shadow damage every 2 sec for 12 sec.
- This is the heal-check throughout the encounter. Healers should keep the raid healthy, and be sure to top off the tanks before it goes off to ensure they don’t get nuked if it happens to cast alongside Exsanguinating Bite.
Blind Swipe: Shriekwing inflicts 9104 Physical damage to players within a 12 yard frontal cone.
- Blind Swipe will target a random player, but it will not track them. Anyone in the cone can run out to avoid damage, but soaking it and following it up with burst heals is also a viable way to handle it.
- Ranged can sit 13+ meters away from the Shriekwing and never worry about this ability.
Exsanguinating Bite: Shriekwing inflicts 27313 Physical damage and afflicts the target with 10 applications of Exsanguinated.
- This is the tank-buster, and the Exsanguinated debuff will necessitate a tank-swap.
- Exsanquinated causes low damage every 1.5-seconds, increases physical damage by 5%, and decreases healing received by 10% per stack. Healers need to make sure the tanks are fully topped off before they are hit by Exsanguinating Bite.
- The tank that was not struck will need to taunt and take over as main tank.
- Every 1.5 seconds a stack of Exsanquinated will fall off, so the debuff as a whole only lasts 15 seconds.
Abilities (Phase 2)
Blood Shroud: Upon reaching 100 blood Shriekwing fades into the shadows and begins to prowl blindly about The Grand Walk. Players who come within 12 yards of Shriekwing are murdered.
- Throughout Phase 1, Shriekwing will gain “Blood” energy over time. At roughly the two-minute mark the boss will cast Blood Shroud and move into Phase 2.
- This attack is a one-hit kill. If you or anyone in your raid walks within 12-yards of Shriekwing they will die.
- Shriekwing will patrol the arena, weaving between the pillars. Keep your distance and maintain line-of-sight due to Earsplitting Shriek.
- Phase 2 ends after Shriekwing runs out of energy (which is after 40-seconds have elapsed). All Sanguine Ichor pools on the ground will be removed.
Earsplitting Shriek: Works the same as it did during Phase 1.
- You don’t need to hug the pillar to avoid this ability – just have something between you and the boss. Prioritize staying out of Shriekwing’s path (to avoid triggering Deadly Descent attacks), and maintain your distance due to Blood Shroud.
Echoing Sonar: Echoing shrieks inflict 7966 Sonic damage upon contact, horrifying for 4 sec and descends on that location after 6 sec.
- This ability is channeled over 6-seconds, and spawns little circles on the floor that bounce around the room.
- Touching one will fear your character for 2-seconds, followed up by Deadly Descent 3-seconds later. This will spawn a Sanguine Ichor on the ground.
Castle Nathria: Shriekwing Rundown
Shriekwing is simple in concept, but players failing to break line-of-sight during Earsplitting Shriek can lead to excessive strain being placed on your healers, and few safe areas to stand in. Additionally, players that fail to place their Sanguine Ichor at the edge of the arena during Descent will slowly lead to a wipe.
Finally, Phase 2 will require all players to simultaneously maintain their distance from Shriekwing while breaking line-of-sight to ensure Earsplitting Shriek doesn’t fill the room with Ichor. That, and players will need to avoid the rings spawned by Echoing Sonar, lest they find themselves feared within the deadly 12-yard ring of Blood Shroud.
To break it all down to bullet-points:
- Tanks should pull Shriekwing near a pillar, so everyone can more easily break line-of-sight during Earsplitting Shriek.
- I.E. break line-of-sight during Earsplitting Shriek!
- If you are targeted by Echolocation (you will have a red arrow over your head) run towards the outer edge of the arena where traffic is lowest to drop your Sanguine Inchors.
- Tanks need to swap and taunt after every Exsanguinating Bite.
- Once Shriekwing casts Blood Shroud and enters Phase 2 stay more than 12-yards away from her to avoid an instant death.
- Continue to break line-of-sight to avoid Earsplitting Shriek.
- Dodge the circles from Echoing Sonar to avoid not only the fear, but to prevent Deadly Descents from filling the room with Sanguine Ichors.
Follow those steps to defeat Shriekwing in World of Warcraft Shadowlands’ Castle Nathria raid.
