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BossReliquary of Souls
Image of Reliquary of Souls
Race Devourer of souls (Uncategorized)
Level ?? Boss
Reaction Alliance Horde
Location Shrine of Lost Souls, Black Temple
Status Killable
Reliquary of Souls

In the game.

Reliquary of Souls tcg

Reliquary of Souls in the TCG.

Reliquary of Souls back tcg

Reliquary of Souls in the TCG back.

Reliquary of Souls (aka Reliquary of the Lost) is a boss in the Black Temple. This boss is a figure with three faces, representing the Essences of Anger, Desire, and Suffering respectively. The three have to be defeated one after the other. They all are DPS races, each with a different twist. It appears that it is some kind of soul vacuum.

Overview[]

The Reliquary of Souls manifests three different Essences over the course of the encounter, each of which applies unique effects that must be handled differently. First, the Essence of Suffering always strikes the nearest player and afflicts the raid with Essence of Suffering. Second, the Essence of Desire afflicts the raid with Essence of Desire. Finally, players must defeat the Essence of Anger which afflicts the raid with Essence of Anger.

Dps icon Damage Dealers[]

  • Avoid heavily damaging yourself during Essence of Desire.
  • Be aware of your threat while Seethe is active.

Healer icon Healers[]

  • Watch your mana during Essence of Suffering.
  • Quickly dispel Soul Drain.
  • Regenerate Mana from the Enslaved Souls during the Intermission stage.

Tank icon Tanks[]

  • While the Essence of Desire is active, be careful of Deaden.
  • Using a Taunt effect while the Essence of Anger is active will cause Seethe.
  • Face the Essence of Anger away from allies to avoid damage from Soul Scream.

Abilities[]

Stage One: Essence of Suffering[]

  • Spell shadow shadowfury Aura of Suffering Important — Healing effects reduced by 100%. Regeneration effects reduced by 100%. Armor reduced by 100%.
  • Ability fixated state red Fixate — Causes an enemy to become fixated, lasts 5.5 sec.
  • Spell shadow unholyfrenzy Frenzy — Physical damage dealt is increased by 25%. Attack speed increased by 50%.
  • Spell shadow teleport Soul Drain Magic Effect — Deals 4725 to 6077 damage every 3 sec. Drains 4725 to 6075 mana every 3 sec.

Intermission: Release Enslaved Souls[]

  • Enslaved Soul
    • Spell holy pureofheart Soul Release — Restores 30% of health and mana to targets within 10 yards.

Stage Two: Essence of Desire[]

  • Ability druid dreamstate Aura of Desire Important — Damage taken when damage dealt. Healing increased by 100%. Decreases maximum mana over time.
  • Spell shadow soulleech 1 Deaden Interruptible — Increase the damage taken by the target by 100% for 10 sec.
  • Spell arcane massdispel Spirit Shock Tank Alert — Deals 16650 to 19350 Shadow damage to the target, confusing them for 5 sec.
  • Spell arcane blast Rune Shield — Absorbs 100000 damage. Immune to spell interrupt effects. Increases attack speed by 100%. Increases casting speed by 100%.

Intermission: Release Enslaved Souls[]

  • Enslaved Soul
    • Spell holy pureofheart Soul Release — Restores 30% of health and mana to targets within 10 yards.

Stage Three: Essence of Anger[]

  • Ability warrior rampage Aura of Anger Important — Deals shadow damage over time. Increases damage dealt. Effects increase over time.
  • Ability druid challangingroar Seethe — Attack speed increased by 100% and causes players to increase threat generated by 200% for 10 sec.
    • Ability druid challangingroar Seethe — Increases threat generated by 200% for 10 sec.
  • Spell shadow coneofsilence Soul Scream Tank Alert — Deals 4725 to 6075 Shadow damage and burns 4375 to 5625 Mana to enemies in front of the caster.
  • Spell shadow demonictactics Spite — Focuses upon the target, making the target immune to damage for 6 sec, but dealing a large amount of damage after 6 sec.

Preparation[]

Raid composition:

  • 1 Warrior Tank (additional paladin tank useful in phase 3)
  • 6-7 healers (6 healers is better than 7)
  • 17-18 damage dealers including at least 2 (better 3) Rogues

Running the Gauntlet[]

In the corridor leading to the boss, mobs are on a 15 sec respawn timer, so the raid has to run through it fast. There is no safe place between the trash mobs and the boss. The raid must stay close together at all times. No totems must be dropped (else they aggro respawns). The raid should stop and AoE after one third of the distance, a second time after two thirds, and the last time on top of the ramp leading down to the boss. When nuking, AoE capable classes should do AoE, and point damage dealers should concentrate on the red ghosts first, these are the most dangerous type. It's best to continue moving after all red ghosts are dead, and just keep the larger blue and purple ones tanked - these two types don't deal substantial amounts of damage.

Upon reaching the top of the ramp, it's safest to wait for one repop of the last group, kill them, and then engage RoS fully rezzed, buffed and coordinated. The boss becomes active 15 seconds after the first person steps on the ramp.

Phase 1: Essence of Suffering[]

Aura of Suffering TCG

Essence of Suffering.

This phase is characterized by two things - healing is impossible, and aggro can be easily controlled. Beyond that, Soul Drain must be dispelled immediately.

Tank switching[]

Fixate TCG

Fixate.

Since no healing is possible, tanks must be rotated. To facilitate this EoS should move as little as possible. The red circle on the ground marks EoS' melee range. The current tank should stand in the center of EoS, only if a change is due the new tank moves into the current tank, and the current tank takes one step back. Tanks can usually stay for several fixates and should switch only after their health is low (~15%), or if an enrage is due.

High block value is desirable for all players planning to tank in this phase.

Enrage[]

Best suited for enrage tanking are rogues with Spell shadow shadowward [Evasion] available (incidentally evasion and the enrage have exactly the same duration). With normal DPS, three enrages can be expected, thus three rogues should be pre-designated. They must step in and take a fixate as in the normal tank rotation, and hit evasion as soon as EoS enrages.

The rogue must not use Ability vanish [Vanish] after the enrage is over, but rather hand over aggro as described above. If the current tank dies or somehow removes himself from the combat (e.g. with a paladin bubble), EoS switches to normal aggro mechanics (which is very bad).

With good dodge/parry gear, one rogue can tank a whole cycle (all non-enraged fixates plus one enrage).

Healing[]

Normal healing cannot take place during this phase. The only abilities which help are Spell holy sealofsacrifice [Blessing of Sacrifice], Spell holy powerwordshield [Power Word: Shield] and Spell holy painsupression [Pain Suppression]. Priests should spam PW:S freely, it's also a good idea to cast it on the enrage tank 15 sec before the enrage, so that the weakened soul debuff has worn off and a second shield can be cast during enrage. The safest method to deal with Soul Drain is to have two priests hit Spell arcane massdispel [Mass Dispel] every time it happens.

Alternate tanking rotation[]

The whole raid (except the three rogues) stand on the boss. When a player gets fixated, he moves outside the group (but not far, so that the boss doesn't move), thus another player gets fixated next. When an enrage is near, everyone moves out from under the boss except the current fixated person and a rogue moves in. The raid moves back in when less than five seconds of enrage remain, so that the next fixate after the enrage is taken by somebody else again.

Ghost interphase[]

After EoS is defeated, it goes back into the Reliquary. At that point, several ghosts spawn and head towards the raid. To maximize the health and mana gain, the raid should all stand on one spot. It's a good idea to use mana intensive abilities (such as making mana gems or summoning new demons) at the beginning of the ghost phase so that the players can start the next phase with full mana.

Phase 2: Essence of Desire[]

Aura of Desire TCG

Essence of Desire.

This phase is all about spell steal/interrupt/reflect, beyond healing through the massive damage the raid deals to itself (from the aura). Since EoD deals only low amounts of melee damage, rage generation can be a problem. Therefore the tank should not use abilities like Demo Shout or Thunderclap. Warlocks should keep Spell shadow curseoftounges [Curse of Tongues] up, and a rogue should use Spell nature nullifydisease [Numbing Poison]. Paladins in caster groups should use Spell holy mindsooth [Concentration Aura]. Similarly, put Spell nature skinofearth [Earth Shield] on casters to reduce spell interruption by damage.

Spell handling[]

  • The main tank must use Ability warrior shieldreflection [Spell Reflection] on Deaden (the first time after about 30 seconds)
  • Two rogues should set up a Spirit Shock interrupt routine so that it doesn't hit the MT. Using two rogues has the advantage that they each know that the next Shock is due when their Kick becomes available again
  • It's best to Spell arcane arcane02 [Spellsteal] the Rune Shield, but that incurs the danger of a not interruptable Spirit Shock (if the mage is slow), so having a Felhunter eat it is safer (because the Felhunter is always on the boss)

Healing[]

This phase is very healing intensive. Since all damage dealers take 50% of their damage done, raid healers are very busy. Particularly after a spell reflected Deaden is up, damage dealers must be careful not to kill themselves.

Tips[]

  • If the raid gets near 0% mana and a kill is within reach, priests can use Spell frost windwalkon [Inner Focus] to cast one last spell (e.g. Spell arcane massdispel [Mass Dispel] the shield), yielding a few precious extra seconds to kill it for the melee damage dealers
  • Resummoning felhunters during this phase resets their mana to 100% so even though the raid is drained they may still have mana (depending only on how long they have been in the fight)
  • Players can restore their mana pools by dying and rezzing (Spell shaman improvedreincarnation [Reincarnation], Spell shadow soulgem [Soulstone], or Spell nature reincarnation [Rebirth]).

Ghost interphase[]

Once Essence of Desire returns to the Reliquary, the ghosts appear once more and refill the raid's mana and health.

Phase 3: Essence of Anger[]

Aura of Anger TCG

Essence of Anger.

The initial Seethe buff on the boss can be removed with Inv shield 05 [Shield Slam]. To avoid further Seethes, the tank must never lose aggro. Nonetheless, all raid members initially have the Seethe debuff and must therefore be very careful not to draw aggro.

Tanking[]

Since the tank is regularly affected by Soul Scream, and the damage by rage burn is higher than that from mana burn, a paladin tank is a good alternative to a warrior tank in this phase.

EoA should be tanked facing away from the raid. Threat generation is crucial. The tanks must spam all his abilities to keep rage (or mana) low. If a Soul Scream is near and a warrior tank has excess rage, he must stance dance to reduce the rage, even though this hurts aggro buildup.

DPS[]

Damage dealers must be very careful while they have the Seethe debuff. After the second scream (at about 20 seconds), everybody should use all DPS cooldowns (and Ability shaman heroism [Heroism]/Spell nature bloodlust [Bloodlust]), Hunters should use Ability hunter misdirection [Misdirection], and everybody should go all-out (still trying not to draw aggro).

Healing[]

About two healers should be on the tank, and four (preferably shamans and/or priests) on the raid. While the Aura damage is low, healers may even DPS a little if they have excess mana. Players afflicted by Spite must be topped up before they take the nature damage, and then immediately topped up again before the Aura kills them.

Alternate Strategy[]

The seethe (de)buff increases aggro generation by 200% for 10 seconds. If an off-tank initially pulls EoA and the main tank taunts after 1–2 seconds, the MTs aggro generation is increased substantially. As in the normal scenario, the raid must be very careful at start, but can start all-out DPS a little earlier (at about 12–15 seconds).

Soloing[]

The most dangerous phase by far is the Essence of Desire (phase 2) as going all-out on DPS can and will lead to the player killing himself. Any pets available should be allowed to do as much damage as possible, while the player eases back some on DPS and uses any damage-mitigating or healing abilities to prevent a self-kill. It is a somewhat-tricky balance between doing enough damage to win the DPS race but not so much as to kill oneself.

Loot[]

Loot

Quotes[]

Essence of Suffering[]

Aggro
Don't leave me alone!
Freed
Pain and suffering are all that await you!
Recap
I don't want to go back!
Killing a player
  • Look at what you made me do.
  • I didn't ask for this!
Enrage
The pain is only beginning!
Death
Now what do I do?!

Essence of Desire[]

Aggro
You can have anything you desire... for a price.
Special
Be careful what you wish for.
Recap
I'll be waiting.
Killing a player
  • Fulfillment is at hand.
  • Yes, you'll stay with us now.
  • Your reach exceeds your grasp.
Death
I won't be far!

Essence of Anger[]

Aggro
Beware: I live!
Soul Scream
So foolish!
Special
On your knees!
Recap
I won't be ignored.
Killing a player
  • <Maniacal cackle>
  • Enough, no more!
Death
Beware, coward!

In Hearthstone[]

Hearthstone This section contains information exclusive to Hearthstone and is considered non-canon.
  • The Reliquary of Souls appears as a legendary priest minion in the Ashes of Outland expansion of Hearthstone. Its flavor text reads: "These three represent Anger, Desire, and Suffering. Much like raid night guild chat."
  • The main Reliquary of Souls card depicts Essence of Suffering, while its Prime form depicts Essence of Anger.

Notes and trivia[]

  • The Scourge employed a similar monster known as the Devourer of Souls.
  • Arcane spec mages excel on this fight, -40% threat from talents, 100% interrupt resist and mana reset to 100% after every phase they can make the most of the superior dps offered by the spec while going oom should not be a problem
  • Windfury Totem in the MT's group helps significantly with threat generation in phases 2 and 3.
  • Essence of Anger strongly resembles Sinistar, a boss from the old arcade game Sinistar. His quotes "Beware: I live!" and "Beware, coward!" are taken from Sinistar's quotes.
  • Essence of Desire is voiced by Erin Fitzgerald.[1]
  • Essence of Grief is voiced by Spike Spencer.[2]
  • Essence of Anger is voiced by Marc Graue.

Speculation[]

Questionmark-medium
This article or section includes speculation, observations or opinions possibly supported by lore or by Blizzard officials. It should not be taken as representing official lore.

During the invasion of Outland, Illidan Stormrage traveled to Auchindoun and used a device to siphon the souls of dead draenei there in order to power a massive portal to Argus.[3] While the Reliquary of Souls is never mentioned to play a role in Illidan's plan, it may have had something to do with it given the shared nature of souls.

Gallery[]

Patch changes[]

See also[]

TCG cards:

References[]

External links[]

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