Existence

Mistress Sassz'ine Tomb of Sargeras Raid Strategy Guide

This guide provides tips and strategies for defeating the Mistress Sassz'ine encounter on Normal Difficulty. Changes to the fight for Looking for Raid, Heroic and Mythic difficulties are listed below in their respective sections, including tips and strategies for dealing with the new mechanics introduced in these difficulties.



Loot Loot starts at 885 on LFR, 900 on Normal, 915 on Heroic, and 930 on Mythic.
Armor:

• Cloth:  Hundred-Fathom Veil [*] Leather:  Hide of the Abyssal Behemoth [*] Mail:  Azure Squallshaper's Helm [*] Plate:  Iron Ballast Sabatons [*] Cloak:  Shroud of the Drowned Adherent [*] Trinket:  Leviathan's Hunger,  Sea Star of the Depthmother,  Terror From Below,  Vial of Ceaseless Toxins

Relics:

• Blood:  Pungent Chum [*] Fel:  Mutated Nautilus [*] Frost:  Globe of Frothing Eddies [*] Storm:  Flawless Hurricane Pearl

This boss also drops Tier 20 leg tokens for all classes.
This boss has a low chance to drop  Abyss Worm, a recolor of the  Riddler's Mind-Worm. Quick Tips Overview – Handpicked to watch over the flooded passageways, Mistress Sassz'ine stands ready to retrieve the Tidestone from those foolish enough to enter her domain.

Damage Dealers – Slay Abyss Stalkers at the correct time to ensure that [Concealing Murk] is available for [Slicing Tornado] . Stand behind [Concealing Murk] to prevent being struck by [Slicing Tornado] . Bring [Befouling Ink] to Sarukel, The Unending Hunger when he opens his [Devouring Maw] . Healers – Stand behind [Concealing Murk] to prevent being struck by [Slicing Tornado] . Bring [Befouling Ink] to Sarukel, The Unending Hunger when he opens his [Devouring Maw] . Tanks – When afflicted with [Burden of Pain] , attempt to minimize Physical damage taken. Stand behind [Concealing Murk] to prevent being struck by [Slicing Tornado] .

Encounter Overview Mistress Sassz'ine is a three phase encounter which requires careful add management and excellent group positioning to deal with her various deadly abilities.

• Phase One consists of players using the Concealing Murk left behind by the Abyss Stalkers to dodge Slicing Tornadoes, whilst removing harmful debuffs by being shocked by jellyfish. [*] Phase Two requires players to dodge the lethal Crashing Waves whilst placing Befouling Ink near the Devouring Maw of Sarukel to drive him off. [*] Phase Three consists of a mixture of abilities from Phase One & Two. Players must kill off Mistress Sassz'ine quickly before her mechanics overwhelm the raid.

Mistress Sassz'ine has three abilities that she will use throughout all three phases. Burden of Pain Mistress Sassz'ine will infrequently cast Burden of Pain on the current tank.

• This is a debuff which causes the tank to take moderate shadow damage every second for 1 minute. [*] Whilst this debuff is active, any Physical damage that tank takes will be shared to all other players in the raid. [*] Tanks must taunt off each other when the Burden of Pain is applied, as the shared damage will quickly cause unsustainable damage to the raid.

From the Abyss Abyss Stalkers should be held by the tank with Burden of Pain. Mistress Sassz'ine will summon in three Abyss Stalkers each time she casts From the Abyss.

• The Abyss Stalkers need to be held by the tank with the Burden of Pain debuff. [*] This will not cause the Burden of Pain to trigger, as the melee attacks of the Abyss Stalkers deal shadow damage, not physical damage. [*] The Abyss Stalkers can be stunned, gripped, slowed and displaced. Other forms of "Hard CC" such as polymorphs do not work on these adds. [*] When the Abyss Stalkers die, they leave a patch of Concealing Murk on the ground which lasts for 20 seconds. [*] Concealing Murk will deal ticking damage and reduce the hit chance of players within it by 75%. [*] Players should avoid standing within the Concealing Murk as they become nearly useless due to the reduced hit chance. [*] The Concealing Murk is used to counter various mechanics throughout the fight. This will be covered later in the guide.

Hydra Shot Mistress Sassz'ine will mark a few targets in the raid and place an arrow towards them when she casts Hydra Shot.

• After 6 seconds, the marked players will be shot with an arrow which deals large physical damage split between all players between the fixated player and the boss. [*] Each player hit by the Hydra Shot also receives the Hydra Acid debuff, a dot which deals moderate damage every second over 6 seconds. [*] The Hydra Acid stacks and will stun any player who gains 2 stacks of it for 6 seconds.

Hydra Shot targets need to fan out around the boss, whilst the rest of the raid spreads evenly in the space between each of the marked targets and the boss.

• This will spread the damage to survivable levels, whilst ensuring that players are not hit by multiple Hydra Shots at once. [*] The Hydra Shot target is able to solo the ability if they use a large damage reduction or immunity. Blessing of Protection can also be placed on the marked target to allow them to solo the physical damage hit. [*] The Burden of Pain tank should avoid taking the Hydra Shot, as it deals physical damage which will be shared with the rest of the raid.

When Hydra Shot is cast, arrows will appear under Mistress Sassz'ine. Players targeted by Hydra Shot receive a green arrow above their head
Phase One: Ten Thousand Fangs Phase One consists of using the Concealing Murk left behind by the Abyss Stalkers to make gaps in lines of Slicing Tornados, allowing players to harmless pass through. Additionally, players will need to remove Consuming Hunger debuffs by standing within the Thundering Shock patches. This will spawn an add that players will need to quickly kill. Slicing Tornado Mistress Sassz'ine will summon a line of Slicing Tornadoes that stretch out across the encounter area and slowly move across it.

• Players hit by the Tornadoes will receive a 20 second hard hitting physical damage dot. [*] The Slicing Torndoes will slow down when they come into contact with the Concealing Murk left behind by the Abyss Stalkers. [*] Players want to get the Abyss Stalkers to low health and then wait for the Slicing Tornado to be cast. [*] Once the tornadoes appear, the Abyss Stalkers need to be killed and players should position the Concealing Murk between themselves and the Tornadoes. [*] The Slicing Tornadoes that come into contact with the Concealing Murk will become slowed, causing a gap to form in the wall of Slicing Tornadoes. [*] Players then need to quickly pass through this gap to avoid getting hit by the ability.

Slicing Tornadoes move from one side
of the room to the other.
If Slicing Tornadoes come into contact with
Concealing Murk left behind by the
Abyss Stalkers, they harmlessly despawn.
Consuming Hunger

• Mistress Sassz'ine will apply Consuming Hunger to a few players each time the ability is cast. [*] This is a permanent physical damage dot. The only way to remove the debuff is by standing within Thundering Shock patches that spawn throughout the phase. [*] Standing with a Thundering Shock patch will stun the player for 4 seconds, and cause them to take a burst of damage.[list] Players who do not have the Consuming Hunger debuff should actively avoid standing within any Thundering Shock patches, whilst debuffed players need to actively seek them out.

[*] The stun needs to be dispelled quickly by a healer so the player can work on killing the Razorjaw Waverunner add that spawns the moment the Consuming Hunger is removed. [*] The Razorjaw Waverunner will spam cast Water Blast, which deals a moderate amount of frost damage to a random player nearby. [*] This cast needs to be interrupted and all DPS should focus on killing the Waverunners as soon as possible. [*] The Waverunners can be stunned, gripped, slowed and displaced. Other forms of "Hard CC" such as polymorphs do not work on these adds. [/list] Stand within Thundering Shock patches
to remove Consuming Hunger. Razorjaw Waverunner will spam cast Water Blast, it must be interrupted.

Once Mistress Sassz'ine reaches 70% health she will transition into Phase Two. The raid may wish to hold off damage to ensure that no Consuming Hunger debuffs are present on players before going into Phase Two, as the Thundering Shock patches will not spawn past this point. Phase Two: Terrors of the Deep Phase Two requires players to dodge the lethal Crashing Waves whilst placing Befouling Ink near the Devouring Maw of Sarukel to drive him off. Mistress Sassz'ine has lost access to the Slicing Tornado, Thundering Shock and Consuming Hunger abilities.

The Concealing Murk left behind by the Abyss Stalkers plays no role in this phase, so the Abyss Stalkers should be killed off as soon as possible to lower damage going out onto the tanks.
Tanks will still need to taunt off one another for when Burden of Pain is applied, and players will need to help soak the damage of the Hydra Shot during this phase. Call Vellius Mistress Sassz'ine will cast Call Vellius, which will cause a large line of bubbling water to appear across the encounter area.

• A few seconds later Vellius will crash through this zone via Crashing Wave, dealing high frost damage and knocking back anyone within the line. [*] Players must move out of the large line of bubbling water to avoid taking the near fatal hit. [*] To help with this movement, players may want to save movement speed increases to guarantee they can move out of the way. This is also a perfect time for raid wide movement speed increases, such as stampeding roar.

Call Vellius will cause bubbles
to appear across the platform. Shortly afterwards Vellius will dive
across that area, dealing huge damage
to anyone caught.
Summon Ossunet and Beckon Sarukel Mistress Sassz'ine will frequently Summon Ossunet. This causes multiple patches of Befouling Ink to spawn in random locations of the encounter area.

• Any player who comes into contact with the Befouling Ink will absorb it, which leaves a 10 second debuff on them reducing their movement speed by 25% and inflicting moderate shadow damage every 2 seconds. [*] The Befouling Ink should be avoided by all players, until Mistress Sassz'ine casts Beckon Sarukel.

When Beckon Sarukel is cast, a large whale creature will appear at the side of the room and will cast Devouring Maw which pulls in players towards it, dealing frost damage to the entire raid every 2 seconds.

• If a player goes within 15 yards of the whale creature they will be instantly killed through Devour Whole. [*] The only way to get the whale creature to leave is by having players absorb Befouling Ink and to stand near the whale. This will cause the whale to remove the ink from the player. [*] Once the whale has removed three Befouling Inks he will flee the encounter area, only returning when Beckon Sarukel is cast again. [*] They should then move next to the whale creature to cause it to eat the Ink, forcing him to leave the encounter area. [*] All other players during this time must run against the "pull in" effect from Devouring Maw whilst healers use healing cooldowns to keep the raid healthy. [*] This must be achieved as soon as possible, as the "pull in" effect from Devouring Maw is very disruptive to player movement, which can cause substantial problems when dealing with other positioning based mechanics such as Hydra Shot and Call Vellius.

When Mistress Sassz'ine reaches ~30% health, Phase Three will begin.


When Summon Ossunet is cast, Befouling Ink patches
will spawn in random locations within the room. Shortly afterwards Beckon Sarukel is cast.
While Sarukel is active he will drag players towards him.
Get too close and you'll be instantly killed. If three players absorb a Befouling Ink patch and move towards Sarukel... He'll attempt to eat the players but instead get a face full of Ink. Once done three times, he'll leave the encounter area until the ability is recast.


Phase Three: Vast Oceans of Wrath Phase Three consists of a mixture of abilities from Phase One and Phase Two. No additional abilities have been added to this phase, instead the difficulty lies in dealing with both sets of mechanics whilst trying to kill the boss before damage overwhelms the raid.

In addition to Hydra Shot, Burden of Pain and the Abyss Stalkers summoned via From the Abyss, the raid will need to deal with 4 other abilities.
Players will still need to dodge the Crashing Wave that occurs when Call Vellius is cast.

• Movement speed increases should continue to be used on this ability to ensure that players can dodge it easily.

Befouling Ink will continue to spawn in the encounter area when Summon Ossunet is cast.

• Players should avoid these circles as much as possible. There is no Beckon Sarukel in phase three, so the Befouling Inks only serve to slow and deal damage to players. [*] If the raid finds itself low on room, players should begin to soak the Befouling Ink patches to free up space. Just ensure that no Call Vellius casts are due to come in, as the movement speed reduction will reduce players ability to dodge the Crashing Wave.

Slicing Tornados make a return from Phase One.

• This is dealt with identically to the first phase, by killing the Abyss Stalkers just as the tornadoes spawn. [*] This will cause their Concealing Murk to slow down some of the Tornadoes, allowing players to pass through harmlessly.

The final mechanic in this phase is the Consuming Hunger.

• This now acts as a pseudo enrage as these cannot be removed in phase three, as no Thundering Shock patches spawn. [*] Instead healers simply need to outheal the debuff whilst DPS kill off the boss before the healers can no longer keep up. [*] Players should ensure that they have DPS cooldowns going into Phase 3 as killing the boss quickly is the key to success. [*] If the raid is struggling to meet the damage requirement, using Bloodlust/Timewarp/Heroism in Phase 3 may help alleviate some of those issues.

Strategy Summary
All Phases

• Tanks need to taunt when Burden of Pain is applied to reduce the shared damage going out onto the raid. [*] The Burden of Pain tank needs to avoid taking any Physical damage. [*] The Burden of Pain tank should tank the Abyss Stalkers, as the melee hits they do deal shadow damage. [*] Do not stand in the Concealing Murk that spawns from the corpses of the Abyss Stalkers. [*] Hydra Shot targets need to fan out around the boss, whilst the rest of the raid stands between the targets and the boss to help spread the damage. [*] Do not take more than two Hydra Shots at once, otherwise you will be stunned for 4 seconds. [*] The Burden of Pain tank should avoid taking the Hydra Shot, as it deals physical damage which will be shared with the rest of the raid.

Phase One: 100%-70% HP

• Abyss Stalkers need to die just as the Slicing Tornados spawn. [*] Stand behind the Concealing Murk that spawns from the corpse of the Abyss Stalkers to prevent being struck by a Slicing Tornado [*] Players afflicted with Consuming Hunger need to stand within a Thundering Shock patch to remove the debuff. [*] DPS need to interrupt and kill the Razorjaw Waverunners as soon as possible. [*] Players without the Consuming Hunger debuff should avoid the Thundering Shock patches.

Phase Two: 70%-~30% HP

• Avoid the Crashing Wave bubbling water line that spawns across the room when Call Vellius is cast. [*] Avoid coming into contact with and soaking the Befouling Ink that spawns around the room when Summon Ossunet is cast. [*] Run against the "pull in" from the Devouring Maw when Beckon Sarukel is cast. [*] Do not stand next to Sarukel otherwise it will cast Devour Whole on you. [*] Three players need to absorb Befouling Ink and bring it to Sarukel to stop his Devouring Maw cast.

Phase Three: ~30%-0% HP

• Abyss Stalkers need to die just as the Slicing Tornados spawn. [*] Stand behind the Concealing Murk that spawns from the corpse of the Abyss Stalkers to prevent being struck by a Slicing Tornado. [*] Avoid the Crashing Wave bubbling water line that spawns across the room when Call Vellius is cast. [*] Avoid coming into contact with and soaking the Befouling Ink that spawns around the room when Summon Ossunet is cast. [*] If running out of room, have players soak the Befouling Ink. Just ensure that Crashing Wave is not due to come in within 10 seconds. [*] Healers need to out-heal the damage from the Consuming Hunger debuff as it cannot be removed in this phase. [*] Kill the boss quickly before the damage from Consuming Hunger becomes too high.

Role Specific Responsibilities
Tanks All Phases

• Taunt when Burden of Pain is applied to reduce the shared damage going out onto the raid. [*] The Burden of Pain tank needs to avoid taking any Physical damage. [*] The Burden of Pain tank should tank the Abyss Stalkers, as the melee hits they do deal shadow damage. [*] Do not stand in the Concealing Murk that spawns from the corpses of the Abyss Stalkers. [*] The Burden of Pain tank should avoid taking the Hydra Shot, as it deals physical damage which will be shared with the rest of the raid.

Phase One

• Abyss Stalkers need to die in the middle of the room just as the Slicing Tornados spawn. [*] Stand behind the Concealing Murk that spawns from the corpse of the Abyss Stalkers to prevent being struck by a Slicing Tornado.

Phase Two

• Avoid the Crashing Wave bubbling water line that spawns across the room when Call Vellius is cast. [*] Avoid coming into contact with and soaking the Befouling Ink that spawns around the room when Summon Ossunet is cast. [*] Run against the "pull in" from the Devouring Maw when Beckon Sarukel is cast. [*] Do not stand next to Sarukel otherwise it will cast Devour Whole on you. [*] Tanks should not place the Befouling Ink near Sarukel, instead DPS/Healers should be doing that job.

Phase Three

• Abyss Stalkers need to die in the middle of the room just as the Slicing Tornados spawn. [*] Stand behind the Concealing Murk that spawns from the corpse of the Abyss Stalkers to prevent being struck by a Slicing Tornado. [*] Avoid the Crashing Wave bubbling water line that spawns across the room when Call Vellius is cast. [*] Avoid coming into contact with and soaking the Befouling Ink that spawns around the room when Summon Ossunet is cast. [*] Save large damage reductions towards the end of the phase, as healers are likely to be strained at this point due to the large raid wide damage.

Healers All Phases

• Do not stand in the Concealing Murk that spawns from the corpses of the Abyss Stalkers. [*] Hydra Shot targets need to fan out around the boss, whilst the rest of the raid stands between the targets and the boss to help spread the damage. [*] Do not take more than two Hydra Shots at once, otherwise you will be stunned for 4 seconds.

Phase One

• Players afflicted with Consuming Hunger need to stand within a Thundering Shock patch to remove the debuff, whilst other players should avoid the Thundering Shock patches. [*] Players afflicted with Consuming Hunger will take prolonged ticking damage, healers should focus on keeping them topped up. [*] Dispel the players who are stunned by the Thundering Shock patches.

Phase Two

• Avoid the Crashing Wave bubbling water line that spawns across the room when Call Vellius is cast. [*] Avoid coming into contact with and soaking the Befouling Ink that spawns around the room when Summon Ossunet is cast. [*] Run against the "pull in" from the Devouring Maw when Beckon Sarukel is cast. [*] Do not stand next to Sarukel other wise it will cast Devour Whole on you. [*] Three players need to absorb Befouling Ink and bring it to Sarukel to stop his Devouring Maw cast. [*] Be prepared to heal up the raid wide ticking damage when Devouring Maw is cast. You may wish to assign healing cooldowns to cover each cast.

Phase Three

• Stand behind the Concealing Murk that spawns from the corpse of the Abyss Stalkers to prevent being struck by a Slicing Tornado. [*] Avoid the Crashing Wave bubbling water line that spawns across the room when Call Vellius is cast. [*] Avoid coming into contact with and soaking the Befouling Ink that spawns around the room when Summon Ossunet is cast. [*] The raid will take ever increasing damage as players are unable to remove Consuming Hunger during this phase. Prepare for this by ensuring you have healing cooldowns available towards the end of the fight.

DPS All Phases

• Do not stand in the Concealing Murk that spawns from the corpses of the Abyss Stalkers. [*] Hydra Shot targets need to fan out around the boss, whilst the rest of the raid stands between the targets and the boss to help spread the damage. [*] Do not take more than two Hydra Shots at once, otherwise you will be stunned for 4 seconds.

Phase One

• Abyss Stalkers need to die in the middle of the room just as the Slicing Tornados spawn, not before this point. [*] Stand behind the Concealing Murk that spawns from the corpse of the Abyss Stalkers to prevent being struck by a Slicing Tornado. [*] Players afflicted with Consuming Hunger need to stand within a Thundering Shock patch to remove the debuff, whilst other players should avoid the Thundering Shock patches. [*] Interrupt and kill the Razorjaw Waverunners as soon as possible.

Phase Two

• Avoid the Crashing Wave bubbling water line that spawns across the room when Call Vellius is cast. [*] Avoid coming into contact with and soaking the Befouling Ink that spawns around the room when Summon Ossunet is cast. [*] Run against the "pull in" from the Devouring Maw when Beckon Sarukel is cast. [*] Do not stand next to Sarukel other wise it will cast Devour Whole on you. [*] Three players need to absorb Befouling Ink and bring it to Sarukel to stop his Devouring Maw cast. [*] Abyss Stalkers should be killed as soon as possible, as you do not need to use the Concealing Murk for any ability in this phase.

Phase Three

• Abyss Stalkers need to die in the middle of the room just as the Slicing Tornados spawn, not before this point. [*] Stand behind the Concealing Murk that spawns from the corpse of the Abyss Stalkers to prevent being struck by a Slicing Tornado. [*] Avoid the Crashing Wave bubbling water line that spawns across the room when Call Vellius is cast. [*] Avoid coming into contact with and soaking the Befouling Ink that spawns around the room when Summon Ossunet is cast. [*] If running out of room, have players soak the Befouling Ink. Just ensure that Crashing Wave is not due to come in within 10 seconds. [*] Save personal survival cooldowns for the later stages of this phase, as the raid will be taking ever increasing damage from the irremovable Consuming Hunger debuffs. [*] Use DPS cooldowns to ensure the boss dies before the healers are overwhelmed by the raid damage.

Looking For Raid Difficulty Aside from Looking for Raid abilities dealing less damage than Normal Mode difficulties, there has been a mechanical change to make the fight easier.

On Looking For Raid difficulty, Mistress Sassz'ine will not cast the Hydra Shot ability.

• This allows players to move more independently of one another, as they no longer have to worry about sharing the damage of the Hydra Shot.

Heroic Difficulty Interrupt the Dark Depths cast to prevent Abyss Stalkers from blinking around the room. Aside from Heroic abilities dealing more damage than Normal abilities, there is a mechanical change applied to the encounter to make the fight harder.

• The Abyss Stalkers spawned via From the Abyss will now also cast Dark Depths. [*] This interruptible short cast will cause them to teleport to a random raid member and hit them with Jaws from the Deep. [*] Jaws from the Deep will deal a moderate burst of shadow damage as well as apply a shadow damage dot for 4 seconds. [*] The Dark Depth cast causes issues, as it will cause the Abyss Stalkers to spread out. This will increase the time they take to die, and may cause them to die in locations that are not ideal for the Slicing Tornadoes. [*] The cast should be interrupted as much as possible. Additionally, the raid may wish to stun the Abyss Stalkers when they are on low HP to ensure that they die in the desired location for the Slicing Tornadoes.

Mythic Difficulty Aside from Mythic abilities dealing more damage than Heroic abilities, there are mechanical changes applied to the encounter to make the fight more difficult. All Phases
Delicious Bufferfish: Mistress Sassz'ine has substantially more health on Mythic in comparison to Heroic difficulty. To counteract this, Delicious Bufferfish have been added to the encounter.

• 5 Delicious Bufferfish will spawn around the encounter area shortly into the fight. A player can run on top of the Delicious Bufferfish to pick it up. [*] Doing so gives the player a 3% damage dealt increase or for healers restores 450 mana every second. These effects increase every second up to 50 stacks. [*] Taking any damage whilst holding a Delicious Bufferfish will cause it to drop to the ground, and the player is unable to pick up any Delicious Bufferfish for 2 minutes.

Players want to hold on to the Delicious Bufferfish for as long as possible, by avoiding damage at all costs.

• Tanks need to be extra careful with the Burden of Pain, as the shared damage aspect of the ability will cause the Delicious Bufferfish to drop. [*] Shortly after reaching 50 stacks, a red circle will spawn around any Delicious Bufferfish and the players holding them. [*] 6 seconds later a Dread Shark will appear and instantly kill any Delicious Bufferfish and players within 8 yards. [*] As soon as the red circle appears, players need to take damage to drop the Delicious Bufferfish on the ground. [*] Once the Delicious Bufferfish is on the ground, players need to move at least 8 yards away from that location to avoid the Dread Sharks instant-kill attack.

Shortly after the Delicious Bufferfish have been eaten, a new set of Delicious Bufferfish will respawn.

• The raid needs to assign people to each set of Delicious Bufferfish, prioritising the best DPS and the healers who need the mana the most. Tanks should never take a Delicious Bufferfish as they will lose the buff as soon as they take damage. [*] The Abyss Stalkers Dark Depths cast must be interrupted or stunned throughout the fight, as they may teleport to a player with a Delicious Bufferfish and force them to drop it.

Phase One

• The Razorjaw Waverunners that spawn when Consuming Hunger is removed now buff one another with Murloc Mash. [*] This increases the damage and casting speed of all other murlocs within 15 yards by 75%. [*] Players afflicted by Consuming Hunger want to try and stand in Thundering Shock patches that are spread 15 yards or more apart. [*] Any Razorjaw Waverunners that are close to one another should be stunned and killed off as soon as possible. It is possible to use displacement spells to also spread them apart.

Phase Two

• To stop the Devouring Maw cast, Players will now need to bring five Befouling Ink patches to Sarukel instead of three. [*] Players holding onto Delicious Bufferfish should avoid doing this job, as the Befouling Ink dots are likely to remove the Delicious Bufferfish from the player.

Phase Three There has been no significant changes to Phase Three on Mythic difficulty.