Halion

Halion
Title	<The Twilight Destroyer>
Gender	Male
Race	Twilight dragon (Dragonkin)
Level	?? Boss
Reaction	Alliance Horde
Location	Ruby Sanctum, Chamber of Aspects, Dragonblight
Status	Active
Ruby Sanctum
Saviana Ragefire; Baltharus the Warborn; General Zarithrian; Halion	(lore); (lore); (lore); (lore)
	Loot

For the staff with the same name, see [Halion, Staff of Forgotten Love].

Halion is a twilight dragon. He is the main boss of of the Ruby Sanctum, which was implemented in patch 3.3.5.

In order to shatter the Wyrmrest Accord and to crush those that would stand in the way of their master's reemergence into Azeroth, a powerful war party of the Black dragonflight; led by the fearsome twilight dragon Halion and his lieutenants Saviana Ragefire, Baltharus the Warborn and General Zarithrian; has launched an assault upon the Ruby Sanctum beneath Wyrmrest Temple.

Abilities

Phase 1

Cleave — Inflicts 75% weapon damage to an enemy and its nearest allies, affecting up to 10 targets.
Tail Lash — A sweeping tail strike hits all enemies behind the caster, inflicting 3063 to 3937 damage and stunning them for 2 sec.
Fiery Combustion — Engulfs an enemy target in flame, dealing 4000 Fire damage every 2 sec. Every time Fiery Combustion deals damage, it generates a Mark of Combustion charge on the target. When Combustion fades or is dispelled, it unleashes a patch of fire proportional in size to the number of charges present at the time. Either curse or magic removal may cleanse this affliction.
- Mark of Combustion — Builds Marks of Combustion on an enemy target. When Combustion fades or is dispelled, it creates an explosion and a patch of fire proportional in size to the number of Combustion charges present at the time. Either curse or magic removal may cleanse this affliction.
- Combustion — Deals 2625 to 3375 Fire damage to targets that remain within the explosion area.
Flame Breath 45 yd range — Inflicts 17500 to 22500 Fire damage to enemies in a cone in front of the caster. 2 second cast. 26250 to 33750 damage on 25-man.
Twilight Precision — Halion's insight into movement between phases allows him to deal unexpected strikes, increasing his chance to hit by 5% and reducing the enemies' chance to dodge his attacks by 20%.
Meteor Strike — Deals 18750 to 21250 Fire damage to enemies within 12 yards. Takes about 5 seconds to land, and shoots flames in four random directions upon landing.

Phase 2

Halion retains Cleave, Tail Lash, and Twilight Precision from phase 1.

Dark Breath — Inflicts 17500 to 22500 Shadow damage to enemies in a cone in front of the caster. 2 second cast. 26250 to 33750 damage on 25-man.
Dusk Shroud — An aura of twilight energy emanates from the caster, causing nearby enemies to suffer 3000 Shadow damage every 2 sec.
Twilight Cutter — Fires a beam of concentrated twilight energy, dealing massive (13875 to 16125) Shadow damage to any enemies that make contact with it. Fired from the orbs circling the room.
Soul Consumption — Engulfs an enemy target in dark energy, dealing 4000 Shadow damage every 2 sec. Every time Soul Consumption deals damage, it generates a Mark of Consumption charge on the target. When Consumption fades or is dispelled, it unleashes a dark explosion proportional to the number of charges present at the time. Either curse or magic removal may cleanse this affliction.
- Mark of Consumption — Builds Marks of Consumption on an enemy target. When Consumption fades or is dispelled, it creates an explosion and a patch of fire proportional in size to the number of Consumption charges present at the time. Either curse or magic removal may cleanse this affliction.
- Consumption — Deals 2625 to 3375 Shadow damage to targets that remain within the explosion area.

Phase 3

Halion retains all abilities from phase 1 and 2, but only uses them in the appropriate realm.

Twilight Division — Phases the caster, allowing him to exist and act simultaneously in both the material and Twilight realms.

Enrage

Halion enrages after 8 minutes in 10-man, 25-man, regular, and heroic modes.

Strategy

Preparation

The fight requires at least two tanks. It is advantageous to have a balanced mix of ranged and melee DPS.

It takes place in two places, the physical and the twilight realm. During Phase 1 everyone is in the physical realm. At 75%, Halion shifts to the twilight realm and opens a permanent portal so the raid can follow for Phase 2. At 50%, the Dragon is present in both realms at the same time. During Phase 3, the raid must split and maintain balanced DPS in both realms.

Like many dragons, Halion has a frontal cone breath attack, a tail swipe and a cleave. The tail swipe stuns. He retains these abilities over all three phases. Unlike many dragons, he does not use fear and can be taunted.

Heroism/Bloodlust

Heroism/Bloodlust is best used in Phase 2, unless there is good coordination, communication and more than 1 Shaman in the raid during phase 3, otherwise, it quite possible that one realm will rapidly outdo the other realm, resulting in the realm that used heroism/bloodlust to stop DPS while the other realm catches up, wasting the buff.

Phase 1: Physical realm

A few seconds after the pull, a circle of flames appears around the boss, closing off any players not in the stage. In the physical realms, two special effects must be taken care of.

Mark of Combustion is a debuff which is put on a random player. It gains one stack every few seconds and expires after 10 (?) stacks. When it expires or is dispelled, it places a circular AoE centered on the player the diameter of which depends on the number of stacks (more stacks = larger). This AoE deals damage to players in it, and also knocks away players inside when it forms.

In order to deal with Mark of Combustion, affected players must run towards the outer edge of the battle area and be dispelled there quickly. Failing to react fast means a larger or badly positoined AoE, which usually hampers melee DPS.

The second effect in the physical realm are random fireballs, which fall from the sky and hit for AoE fire damage, leaving a patch of flame where it hit, plus four flames going in different directions. The location where the fireball hits is indicated by a hellfire graphic. Players must move away from the point of impact and the residual flames.

Phase 2: Twilight realm

After the dragon has vanished to the twilight realm, it's important that a tank enters the portal first, other classes die too fast when alone. The rest of the raid should follow quickly, the tank should pull the dragon away from the entrance point, else the raid may die from breath. It is usually a good idea to leave a healer and a tank in the physical realm in preparation of phase 3. These two just wait out phase 2.

In the twilight realm, Mark of Combustion is replaced by Mark of Consumption, which behaves quite similar, but pulls players into its AoE instead of knocking them away.

The fireballs are replaced by Shadow Cutter. Two shadow orbs circle clockwise around the outer edge of the area opposite to each other. Every 20 seconds, a beam connects the orbs for 10 seconds. This beam (= Shadow Cutter) deals very high damage to everybody who touches it. All players (including the tank) must move on a circular path to avoid this beam.

Shadow Cutter Positioning

One possible positioning is to tank the boss in the center of the area. The tank waits until an orb is near his right side, and then strafes to the left, so that the orb stays right of the tank. If the beam appears, it should be in the area right of the tank, up to 45° away from the tank. This creates a "safe" area between halion's head and the beam on the other side of Halion, that is to the left of the tank. Players in that area just have to move away from Halion's head (to avoid breath/cleave), the beam actually moves away from them. Confusion may still happen, due to Mark of Combustion.

Alternate Shadow Cutter Positioning

An alternate strategy is to tank Halion so that the shadow orbs line up lengthwise with Halion's body, and to have the entire raid (excluding the tank) stand on Halion's left side. As the shadow orbs rotate, the tank strafes in a circular pattern clockwise, keeping the shadow orbs and the cutters lined up lengthwise with Halion's body. The rest of the raid rotates clockwise accordingly to stay on his left side. Ideally the raid would position themselves near the left front paw of Halion, in order to maximize reaction time when the rotation begins and avoid Halion's tail swipe. Be careful not to get hit by Dark Breath. Of course, continue to watch for the Consumption AoE.

The advantages of this strategy are that it is immediately obvious to all raid members when where they need to move- if they aren't staying on Halion's left side, they are doing it wrong. One disadvantage is that the tank may have to rotate unexpectedly in order to correctly align with the orbs when they first appear, and non-tanks may get hit by Dark Breath if they aren't paying attention. This strategy is probably more useful to higher DPS compositions because the need for repeated rotation by all raid members can put a dent in the raid's damage output, particularly for ranged. Although there is an enrage timer, this fight is not a DPS race, so with proper execution, this phase should go smoothly.

Dead characters appear in the physical realm, so it's rather difficult to battle rez them. If all characters die in the twilight realm, characters still alive in the normal realm are still in combat, but can not be attacked by Halion. To end the encounter, they either must enter the twilight realm and die, or get out of combat using some ability (like [Feign Death], [Vanish], [Divine Intervention]).

Phase 3: Both realms

At the start of Phase 3, two portals appear in the twilight realm which lead back to the physical realm. If no tank was left behind, the tank must use that portal first.

Until the end of combat, Halion exists in both realms, and the raid must split in two. The encounter mechanics in both realms remain the same, that is Shadow Cutter in the twilight and Fireballs in the physical. When a Fireball spawns on the melee group it may force them to move out of melee range, while the constant movement required by Shadow Cutter hampers ranged DPS more than melee. For this reason, it's a good idea to keep all melee in the shadow, while all ranged move to physical.

The new element in Phase 3 is that Halion receives a buff called Corporeality. It starts at 50%, and it's advantageous to keep it close to 50%. It changes when Halion takes more damage in one realm than in the other. 100% corporality means that Halion is present only in the realm player is in, 0% means he's only in the other realm. When he takes more damage in one realm, he moves towards the realm where he takes less. Depending on the value of Corporality, Halion also deals and takes more damage in one realm than the other. Changes to corporeality are signified by the warning: "Your (or your companion's) efforts have forced Halion further <into/out of> the <Twilight/Physical> realm!" If no damage is dealt in one realm, Halion rapidly regenerates health.

The following table summarizes the stat differences depending on corporeality:

Corporeality		Percentage
Corporeality		0%	10%	20%	30%	40%	50%	60%	70%	80%	90%	100%
Player's Realm	Damage Taken	-100%	-80%	-50%	-30%	-15%	0%	+20%	+50%	+100%	+200%	+400%
Player's Realm	Damage Dealt	-70%	-50%	-30%	-20%	-10%	0%	+15%	+30%	+60%	+100%	+200%
Opposite Realm	Damage Taken	+400%	+200%	+100%	+50%	+20%	0%	-15%	-30%	-50%	-80%	-100%
Opposite Realm	Damage Dealt	+200%	+100%	+60%	+30%	+15%	0%	-10%	-20%	-30%	-50%	-70%

As an example, if Halion had way too much DPS on him in the Physical realm, his corporeality might be down to 20% in that realm. This means Halion takes 50% less damage and deals 30% less damage in the Physical realm. However in the Twilight realm, Halion's corporeality is 80% and he takes double damage and deals 60% more damage. The problem is the increase of damage dealt by Halion, tanks die too quickly if Corporality is too far from 50%.

If DPS in both realms is fairly balanced, the corporeality buff does the fine-tuning by itself, since in the realm where less damage is dealt, the damage taken is increased. Stopping DPS in either realm should never be necessary.

DPS numbers of individual players should be used when determining who goes where, rather than splitting the DPS 50/50 between both realms.

Heroic Mode Changes

In phase 1, Fireballs cause a blast wave upon landing. Fireballs also spawns a Living Inferno and some Living Embers on 25-man. The zones that appear after a Combustion put a dot on anyone inside them that does increasing damage per stack rather than flat damage.

In phase 2, four shadow orbs circle the stage instead of two, so that players can be caught behind or in front of Halion during a Death Beam, and therefore get hit by a tail swipe, cleave, or dark breath. The zones that appear after a Consumption put a slow on anyone stood in them - the slow lasts for 2 seconds and is applied every 1 second, so it can't easily be removed except by Hand of Freedom - this will cause difficulties running from the cutter unless the zones are placed very carefully.

In all phases, the void zones from combustion/consumption appear and affect both the Twilight and Physical realms, not just one. This gives the raid less space in both realms to move around, and is mostly an issue in Phase 3. A single misplaced zone in phase 3 can very easily cause a wipe.

Quotes

Aggro

Your world teeters on the brink of annihilation. You will ALL bear witness to the coming of a new age of DESTRUCTION!

Creates Fireball

The heavens burn!

Phase 2

You will find only suffering within the realm of twilight! Enter if you dare!

Spheres Pulse

Beware the shadow!

Phase 3

I am the light and the darkness! Cower, mortals, before the herald of Deathwing!

Berserk

Not good enough.

Death

Relish this victory, mortals, for it will be your last! This world will burn with the master's return!

Loot

10-player mode

10 man	Type	Description	Slot	10-player heroic
[Abduction's Cover]	Cloak	Healer	Back	Abduction's Cover (heroic)
[Baltharus' Gift]	Necklace	Phys. DPS	Neck	Baltharus' Gift (heroic)
[Boots of Divided Being]	Mail	Caster	Feet	Boots of Divided Being (heroic)
[Bracers of the Heir]	Plate	Melee DPS	Wrist	Bracers of the Heir (heroic)
[Changeling Gloves]	Leather	Caster	Hands	Changeling Gloves (heroic)
[Gloaming Sark]	Leather	Phys. DPS	Chest	Gloaming Sark (heroic)
[Misbegotten Belt]	Cloth	Spell DPS	Waist	Misbegotten Belt (heroic)
[Saviana's Tribute]	Ring	Spell DPS	Finger	Saviana's Tribute (heroic)
[Scion's Treads]	Plate	Tank	Feet	Scion's Treads (heroic)
[Surrogate Belt]	Plate	Healer	Waist	Surrogate Belt (heroic)
[Twilight Scale Shoulders]	Mail	Phys. DPS	Shoulder	Twilight Scale Shoulders (heroic)
[Zarithrian's Offering]	Ring	Melee DPS	Finger	Zarithrian's Offering (heroic)

25-player mode

25 man	Type	Description	Slot	25-player heroic
[Apocalypse's Advance]	Plate	Melee DPS	Feet	Apocalypse's Advance (heroic)
[Bracers of Fiery Night]	Cloth	Caster	Wrist	Bracers of Fiery Night (heroic)
[Charred Twilight Scale]	Trinket	Caster DPS	Trinket	Charred Twilight Scale (heroic)
[Cloak of Burning Dusk]	Cloak	Caster	Back	Cloak of Burning Dusk (heroic)
[Foreshadow Steps]	Plate	Healer	Feet	Foreshadow Steps (heroic)
[Glowing Twilight Scale]	Trinket	Healer	Trinket	Glowing Twilight Scale (heroic)
[Penumbra Pendant]	Necklace	Melee DPS	Neck	Penumbra Pendant (heroic)
[Petrified Twilight Scale]	Trinket	Tank	Trinket	Petrified Twilight Scale (heroic)
[Phaseshifter's Bracers]	Leather	Caster	Wrist	Phaseshifter's Bracers (heroic)
[Returning Footfalls]	Mail	Physical DPS	Feet	Returning Footfalls (heroic)
[Ring of Phased Regeneration]	Ring	Healer	Finger	Ring of Phased Regeneration (heroic)
[Sharpened Twilight Scale]	Trinket	Physical DPS	Trinket	Sharpened Twilight Scale (heroic)
[Signet of Twilight]	Ring	Physical DPS	Finger	Signet of Twilight (heroic)
[Split Shape Belt]	Mail	Caster	Waist	Split Shape Belt (heroic)
[Treads of Impending Resurrection]	Plate	Tank	Feet	Treads of Impending Resurrection (heroic)
[Umbrage Armbands]	Leather	Physical DPS	Wrist	Umbrage Armbands (heroic)