Nefarian is the last boss in Blackwing Lair. He brings add waves, a fear, a tail swipe, and a call that turns each class against itself in turn.
Phase one: the adds
You start by fighting waves of drakonid adds before Nefarian lands. Two tanks hold them, the raid kills them down, and you manage threat and positioning while staying out of the way of the next spawn. Get through this with the raid healthy and cooldowns mostly unused, because phase two is the hard part.
Phase two: Nefarian and the class calls
When Nefarian lands, the class calls begin. Every so often he shouts a class call that affects everyone of that class at once. A few examples of what to expect:
- A warrior call that forces all warriors into Berserker Stance, which costs them defensive options for a few seconds. Tanks plan around it.
- A hunter call that makes their ranged weapons useless for a moment, so hunters swap to melee.
- A caster call that turns priests’ damage spells against the raid, so priests stop casting until it passes.
- A druid or mage call that shifts or polymorphs people out of what they were doing.
The whole raid has to know the call for their class and react in the same second. He also adds a fear and a tail swipe, so positioning stays tight: melee behind, ranged spread, nobody clumped where a fear sends them into adds.
What to drill before you go
- Every player knows their own class call and what to do when it lands. This is the fight, more than the damage.
- Tanks plan for the warrior call and the tail swipe.
- Healers spread for the fear and keep the tanks up through the class calls.
The short version
Phase one is a normal add fight, do not waste cooldowns there. Phase two is a reaction test where each class has to handle its own call without being told twice. A raid that has read their class call clears Nefarian. A raid that has not stands confused and wipes.