Vault of the Incarnates is the opening raid for World of Warcraft: Dragonflight. Adventurers pursue the first antagonist of the expansion, Raszageth, the Storm-Eater, as she conducts a ritual to release her Incarnate siblings from the Titan prison. Raszageth and her Primalist army believe in true freedom through primordial chaos, starting with permanently eliminating the Aspects.
Raiders have to prepare for eight grueling fights against masters of the elements. As far as opening raids go, Vault of the Incarnates is excellent, with a few memorable encounters that will leave players challenged and satisfied.
8 Terros
Terros is a gigantic earth elemental stuck between two worlds. The boss is an exhaustive damage race and healing check from start to end, as Terros barely gives the raid time to breathe with non-stop mechanics. Additionally, your raid needs to stack and move together since you’ll have to soak and line up pillars.
After a set amount of time, Terros pummels the ground and corrupts one quadrant of the arena. Thus, your raid needs to finish the encounter before you run out of space. While fun at first, Terros is a heavily scripted encounter that you’ll get tired of quickly.
7 Eranog, Primal Commander
Primal Commander Eranog is the first boss to test would-be adventurers. First, your raid team will take him on an expansive circular arena, where he’ll rapidly deny space with his abilities. Then, Eranog summons his loyal army to drop pools of lava while he separates the raid with earth spikes. You must always be aware of your position, or else you’ll get slapped by his cleave and area-of-effect (AoE) burst.
Eranog’s intermission phase serves to check your raid’s damage and coordination. Although entirely scripted, the overlapping mechanics and constant repositioning create a fluid encounter. Eranog serves as an excellent introduction to the theme and feel of the raid.
6 Dathea, Ascended
Previously part of the Primal Council, Dathea begged Raszageth for a fraction of her power, granting her ferocious mastery of storm and wind. Conductive Mark is the most dangerous mechanic of the encounter, as uncoordinated groups could spread the debuff and wipe the raid. Do your best not to panic when Dathea pushes, pulls, and displaces all the raid members.
Dathea further tests the raid’s mettle when she splits it in half with her add (additional enemies) phase. She is notorious for overrunning groups with her stacking abilities, especially when playing around with the random nature of Conductive Mark. The best classes for this fight are those who have instant cast times, attacks, or pets.
5 Broodkeeper Diurna
Guardian of the Primalist Clutchwarrer, Broodkeeper Diurna is the penultimate boss of the raid. Diurna requires the raid to split in half, one group to deal with her while the other grabs the adds pouring into the arena. The boss group has the vital task of baiting her lasers to destroy the eggs before they hatch and overwhelm the raid.
It's a delicate dance between the split raid as Diurna can empower the adds when they're close to each other. So you'll have to strike fast and adapt on the fly as you move around the encounter. The only issue with this encounter is that it is extremely scripted because—from egg timers to add spawns—everything happens on a precise timer.
4 The Primal Council
For the Primal Council encounter, your raid will be fighting four elemental masters at once. These Primalists are a master of their chosen elements and use their talents simultaneously to create one of the most hectic fights of the raid. Of course, their individual abilities are already dangerous, but the real head-scratcher is interacting with the other mechanics to save your life.
A basic rundown of the fight is to carefully place earth pillars, so you can use them to clear electric marks off the raid. Then, you can clear off these pillars with a meteor axe that requires the raid to stack; afterward, you can use the scorched earth to prevent freezing into a block of ice. It sounds simple in writing, but everyone who's participated in this encounter knows that plans don't matter once the panic sets in.
3 Kurog Grimtotem, The Grand Summoner
Kurog Grimtotem is the Primalist leader who freed Raszageth from her eternal prison, kicking off the events of Dragonflight. Kurog arena is split into four equal sections representing elements—taking him to any of the quadrants changes his attack patterns and mechanics. The raid has a limited amount of time in each region before he hits a soft enrage time and starts dealing ramping AoE damage.
Kurog's intermission phase summons two dangerous adds based on the last two elemental regions. Additionally, fighting him on the heroic or mythic difficult increases the number of mechanics per quadrant. His unique gimmick, multiple mechanics, and sense of freedom of where to rotate him make Kurog a replayable boss.
2 Raszageth, The Storm-Eater
Raszageth is the main antagonist of Dragonflight and the final boss of the Vault of the Incarnates raid. Prepare for a brutal and exhausting battle that lasts three boss phases and two intermissions. Raszageth fiercely manipulates storm and lightning to decimate and displace the raid constantly. Therefore, movement, positioning, and coordination are essential, as a single mishandled mechanic can punish the whole group.
Furthermore, the Storm-Eater tests the raid's damage and heal throughout. For example, Stormsurge protects her with a massive shield while dealing ramping raid damage. Raszageth is an unforgiving slugfest where everyone has to play perfectly, and every raid member who doesn't can get kicked back to Valdrakken.
1 Sennarth, The Cold Breath
Sennarth's arena steps away from the dreary caverns and into an icy cave with a spiraling staircase. Your raid has to simultaneously deal with the slippery terrain while chasing Sennarth to the top. Along the way, she'll cover the floor with ice puddles, sticky webs, and attempt to pull the whole raid to their doom.
Sennarth also sends her army of spiders that wear down adventurers with their raid-wide damage. If you meet Sennarth at the top of her arena, you'll have to deal with her mechanics while dodging her attempts to push you off. The Cold Breath is a visually striking encounter, paired with a unique arena where everyone in the raid has to fight for their lives.
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