Shade of Aran

The Shade of Aran

Template:Karazhan

The Shade of Aran is a boss in the abandoned tower of Karazhan. He is the spirit of Nielas Aran, the father of Medivh, killed in a battle to contain the future Guardian when the power inside him awakened. How his spirit became trapped inside his son's tower is unknown.

He is a powerful mage, he uses [Frostbolt], [Fireball], [Arcane Missiles], [Arcane Explosion], [Blizzard], Flame Wreath, [Slow], [Mass Polymorph], [Pyroblast], AoE Counterspell, [Chains of Ice] and [Summon Water Elemental].

Basic Info

Aran is located in the Guardian's Library in Karazhan, which is a small, circular room approximately 45 yards in diameter, with one door that closes and locks as soon as the fight begins. He has ~900k HP and very low armor - melee DPS is brutally effective against him. He is completely untankable - he almost never melees, doesn't have a standard aggro list, and if he gets away from the center of his arena, he'll run right back.

In patch 2.0.7, a change was made that allowed Berthold the Doorman to teleport players to the Shade of Aran's room after the Shade's death.

All trash mobs from the Curator to the Shade of Aran, except for one pack outside Illhoof's door, are linked to the Shade of Aran and will stop respawning after you've killed him.

Spells and Abilities

All of Aran's basic spells have infinite range and are semi-randomly targeted. (He is intelligent and will keep nuking a target that's low on HP.) They can all be affected by Counterspell/Pummel/Earth Shock etc. If someone accidentally pulls Aran and you just zoned in at the start of the instance, he can still nuke you. It should be noted that Earth Shock is a poor substitute for other forms of interrupts and spell locks for this fight due to earth shock only being able to lock down the school for 2 seconds.

Aran has a weak melee attack that he will only use if all 3 spell trees (Fire/Frost/Arcane) are locked out by Counterspell-type abilities.
Immune to Mind Numbing Poison.

Basic Abilities

Frostbolt - 3 sec cast, ~ 4400 frost damage, also causes a slowing effect (lasts for about 4 sec, dispellable magic) if it hits a player.
Fireball - 3 sec cast, ~ 4400 fire damage.
Arcane Missiles - 5 sec channeled, 5x1500 arcane damage. (7500 total)
Chains of Ice - 10 second Root, does not break on damage. Dispellable magic. Most regular rootbreaking abilities like [Vanish] also work. Aran also tries this on totems.
Slow - Reduces movement and melee attack speed by a considerable amount for 10 seconds. Dispellable. He always casts this just before Arcane explosion. Druids can shapeshift to remove the effect, and Gnomes can use [Escape Artist]. As it is a Magic-type debuff, it can be dispelled.
AoE Counterspell - 10 yard radius AoE around Aran, occurs very often. Any caster in range is quickly rendered useless. Note that this will only interrupt; it doesn't silence, so casters can still use instant spells. People are free to stand next to Aran as long as they are not actively casting any spells.

Special Abilities

Every 30-35 seconds, Aran uses one of three special abilities: Arcane Explosion, Flame Wreath, or Blizzard. He never seems to use the same ability twice in a row. These special abilities cannot be interrupted or locked out by Counterspell-like abilities. For example, if you lock out a Fireball, he can't Fireball for 8 seconds, but he can still Flame Wreath.

Flame Wreath - 5 sec uninterruptible cast. Targets 3 random people in the raid. If there is no one close to them, nothing happens. If there are any other players near the target, it creates a circle of fire on the ground for 15 seconds. Anyone who crosses the Flame Wreath (moving in or out) will trigger a 3-4k Explosion that hits everyone in the room. It is important that everyone in the raid hold still as his Flame Wreath finishes casting, even if standing in a Blizzard. If you continue moving, it is possible to step across a wreath before it becomes visible on your screen. Pets do not trigger the effect (as of patch 2.1).

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As of 4/9/07 a paladin bubble and rogue's Cloak of Shadows will still trigger this effect

As of 4/21/07 accepting a Soulstone resurrection will trigger this effect.

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Note: Snakes from a Hunter's Snake Trap will also trigger the Flame Wreath explosion.

Blizzard - 1700 damage per second, large AoE that moves slowly clockwise 360 degrees around the edge of his arena. Resembles a less damaging C'Thun dark glare. The Blizzard has a large area of effect and it covers one side of the room. You will be hit by the Blizzard if you are meleeing him and on the side it's traveling on. If you get affected by Blizzard (a debuff will appear), don't run clockwise with it as the effect slows you down, run counter-clockwise or run across the room through Aran. Patch 2.10 introduced a small blue cloud that indicates the head of the Blizzard, making it much more easily avoided, however, the Blizzard moves noticeably faster, while having a shorter duration.

Magnetic Pull / Super Arcane Explosion - Pulls everyone to the center of the room, Slows everyone, then starts a 10 second uninterruptible cast that deals 9,000-11,000 damage in a 20 yard radius (note that the room is only 45 yards in diameter and that means 22.5 yards in radius). If you start running as soon as you're pulled, you can avoid the AoE even while Slowed. Rogues using Cloak of Shadows can get rid of the slow. Aspect of Cheetah/Pack will also speed your run to the outside if you are delayed in the middle. Priests and paladins should keep an eye out for any slow reactions (or anyone in "Chains of Ice"), since the slowing effect can be dispelled. Druids can shift into or out of the form, while Warlocks can use Spellstone to lose the slow effect, and Gnomes can use Escape Artist to cancel it as well. Some classes can use their PvP trinkets to remove it. Warriors can use [Intervene] to quickly run to a raid member at the edge of the room.

Water Elementals

At 40% HP, the Shade of Aran summons 4 Elite Water Elementals. They have about 10,000 HP as of patch 2.1, and will despawn after 90 seconds. They shoot a constant stream of Waterbolts for 1000-2000~ damage. They can be banished and feared, and Fear is the main method of controlling them. Also if you have a warlock in your raid they can put up [Curse of Tongues] on the adds and it will increase their casting time by 60%.

A second option is taking a high aggro class, such as a warrior or druid, dressed up in frost resistance gear. Protection Tanks are obviously preferred as their damage is less critical on Aran than another class would be (and there's a spell damage reduction talent that complements this option nicely.) Since the Water Elementals use exclusively frost damage, a high frost resistance tank can make them a non factor relatively easily. This eliminates the need for a second warlock but one is absolutely crucial: asking a tank to maintain aggro on four adds is not suggested, but tanking two is certainly feasible.

Note: If the water elementals are ignored they will target healers first, due to healing aggro.

As of Patch 2.1, the Water Elementals have reduced hp. They are easily killed with a bit of focused dps.

Regenerate Mana

When the Shade of Aran gets down to 20% mana or less (about 30k), he will do an emote ("Surely you would not deny an old man a refreshing drink? No, I thought not."), [Polymorph] the entire raid (causing you to regain most if not all of your hp), conjure some water, and start drinking. After he drinks for 10 seconds he will start casting an AoE Pyroblast. If Aran is interrupted while drinking, he will simply Potion and Pyroblast. The Pyroblast does 7000-7500 damage. Two druids using [Tranquility] and independent heals can heal back the whole raid. Alternatively you can save a [Super Healing Potion] / [Healthstone] cooldown if you are expecting this event.

Note: A druid in Tree of Life form will not be polymorphed, so a raid can have him cast [Lifebloom] on as many people as he can in anticipation for the AoE Pyroblast. However, druids in other forms, such as [Cat Form], will be polymorphed and cannot shift out of it.

Note 2: If someone in your raid doesn't have enough HP buffed to survive the pyroblast, you can have a priest cast PW: Shield on them right when sheep breaks from Pyroblast, and it will absorb some of the damage and make sure they live. This probably also works with Fire Ward for Mages etc.

If you don't kill him after his first Mass Polymorph, he will not polymorph you again, he will just drink potion and continue fighting.

Shadows of Aran

If you don't kill him in 15(?) minutes, he will call Shadows of Aran which will wipe you.

Known Bugs

Fixed in 2.1.

Strategies

Raid DPS must stay high in order to prevent Aran from running out of mana and Enraging. Full out DPS is the best strategy if you have the DPS. You will be able to bridge the gap on DPS by making sure all healers have a dot on the boss and max dot him. DPS hybrids should be on max DPS if they are not a primary healer. The idea is to kill him before he Pyroblasts the raid, though it can be easily survived. DPS is the key.
If you do not have the DPS to kill him before enrage (if you got past Curator, more like this means your people doing interrupts are slacking and letting him spend too much mana), then your raid can easily survive Aran's "enrage", just make sure everyone has over 7500hp, and watch both his health and mana to be sure that you don't get an enrage while elementals are up. If you are not going to kill him before his enrage, it is better to stop DPS and control the fight, letting him poly/pyro at about 42% life, then resuming DPS after getting healed back up from that.
When recovering from a pyroblast, use your group heals - aggro is not an issue in this fight. Two druids casting barkskin and tranquility can get the raid back up very quickly, even if they're not primary healers (switch to healing gear in-hand while sheeped). Paladins can bubble through the pyroblast (there's just barely time to cast it after the sheep wears off) and start healing (or whatever) immediately.
Only interrupt Fireball and Frostbolt, and only near the end of casting. Since he only expends mana at the end of the cast you're basically keeping his mana high and he's in casting form for 2s for some free hits. This means you do NOT want to lock out Arcane Missiles as he spends the mana upfront and takes 5s to cast it fully. 5s without him casting something else and he's already blown the mana plus you save an interrupt cooldown.
Under the circumstances that Frostbolt, Fireball, and Arcane Missiles are on cooldown due to interrupts he WILL melee very fast for 2400 crushing on leather.
It is useful to have assigned interrupts; E.G. Counterspell and Earth Shock on Fireball, Shield Bash and Kick on Frostbolts. This efficiently utilizes the interrupts by lowering the chance that they are wasted and ensuring that at least 2/3 casts are interrupted.
Counterspells (Pummel, Kick etc.) should try as much as possible to interrupt Fire and Frost spells right before they finish casting. If you interrupt a spell right as it starts, he'll just start casting another. Waiting to interrupt causes him to waste more time without doing damage, and also prevents him from running out of mana and Enraging. Earth Shock on 6 sec cooldown and 2 second tree lock is not enough. He will resume casting in that tree very shortly and before the cooldown on earth shock is up. Its best to have the shaman focus on DPS/healing and assist with shocks when they can.
Now that the normal game interface allows you to see "enemy castbar" is it vital to use against this boss to have a few seconds of warning as to what he will use.
Healing on Aran's target must be extremely fast, especially when he's casting arcane missiles, 5-7k nukes can kill people very quickly.
Dealing with Arcane Explosion is easy - even if you are Slowed the whole time, 10 seconds is more than enough time to get away from it. In order to maximize raid DPS, meleers can stay in and melee for 5-6 seconds while he casts. As long as someone dispels Slow off them, it only takes 3 seconds to run out. Gnomes' Escape Artist racial ability also works against his slow.
Blizzards are a horrible threat to ranged DPS, standing still in a Blizzard you'll take probably 13k damage before it moves off you. The easiest way to deal with Blizzard is to move to the center, the only place that doesn't get hit with the Blizzard. Unfortunately, this means you're exposed to Counterspell for at least 10 seconds, and you're clumped up for Flame Wreaths.
Flame Wreath can wipe a raid in a matter of seconds. The best way to handle Flame Wreath is to prevent it altogether. Stay spread out any time you're not dodging Blizzards, so even if he does cast it there's a chance it won't stick. When it does occur, just stay away from Flame Wreath.
It is possible (and recommended especially for priests and other rather low-hp classes) to have an imp stand in the middle of the room set to "stay," giving the blood pact aura to the whole room.
It is recommended that mages have Frost Ward on them all the time.

Loot

Shade of Aran Loot
Boots of the Incorrupt Item Level 32Disenchants into: Not disenchantable Binds when picked up Cloth Feet 3 Armor +2 Intellect +4 Stamina +4 Versatility Durability 80 / 80 Requires Level 27 Sell Price: 3 67 Boots of the Infernal Coven Item Level 32Disenchants into: Not disenchantable Binds when picked up Cloth Feet 3 Armor +2 Intellect +4 Stamina +3 Versatility Durability 80 / 80 Requires Level 27 Sell Price: 3 40 81 Drape of the Dark Reavers Item Level 32Disenchants into: Not disenchantable Binds when picked up Back 3 Armor +2 Agility +3 Stamina +2 Critical Strike Requires Level 27 Sell Price: 5 99 78 Aran's Soothing Sapphire Item Level 32Disenchants into: Not disenchantable Binds when picked up Held In Off-hand +5 Intellect +3 Stamina +2 Versatility Requires Level 27 Sell Price: 6 94 87 Pauldrons of the Justice-Seeker Item Level 32Disenchants into: Not disenchantable Binds when picked up Plate Shoulder 10 Armor +2 Strength or Intellect +4 Stamina +3 Critical Strike +2 Versatility Durability 100 / 100 Requires Level 27 Sell Price: 5 86 26 Mantle of the Mind Flayer Item Level 32Disenchants into: Not disenchantable Binds when picked up Cloth Shoulder 3 Armor +3 Intellect +5 Stamina +3 Haste Durability 100 / 100 Requires Level 27 Sell Price: 3 44 83 Pendant of the Violet Eye Item Level 32Disenchants into: Not disenchantable Binds when picked up Unique-Equipped Trinket +3 Intellect Use: Each spell cast within 20 seconds will grant a stacking bonus of 52 Spirit. Expires after 20 sec. Abilities with no mana cost will not trigger this trinket. (2 Min Cooldown) Requires Level 27 Sell Price: 9 11 60 Rapscallion Boots Item Level 32Disenchants into: Not disenchantable Binds when picked up Leather Feet 4 Armor +4 Agility or Intellect +2 Stamina +3 Critical Strike Durability 80 / 80 Requires Level 27 Sell Price: 4 24 39 Tirisfal Wand of Ascendancy Item Level 32Disenchants into: Not disenchantable Binds when picked up Wand Ranged Speed 2.00 1 – 2 Shadow Damage (0.8 damage per second) +10 Intellect +3 Stamina +2 Critical Strike Durability 75 / 75 Requires Level 27 Sell Price: 8 61 72 Steelspine Faceguard Item Level 32Disenchants into: Not disenchantable Binds when picked up Mail Head 8 Armor +3 Agility or Intellect +5 Stamina +22 Hit +4 Critical Strike +3 Haste Durability 100 / 100 Requires Level 27 Sell Price: 5 13 18 Shermanar Great-Ring Item Level 32Disenchants into: Not disenchantable Binds when picked up Unique Finger +3 Stamina +3 Dodge +1 Versatility Requires Level 27 Sell Price: 6 2 56 Saberclaw Talisman Item Level 32Disenchants into: Not disenchantable Binds when picked up Neck +2 Agility +4 Stamina Requires Level 27 Sell Price: 8 83 55 Formula: Enchant Weapon - Sunfire Binds when picked up Use: Teaches you how to permanently enchant a melee weapon to increase fire and arcane spell power by 50. Requires a level 35 or higher item. Requires Outland Enchanting (75) Sell Price: 1 50