WoW Reviews & Guides

The Ruby Sanctum is the red dragonflight’s sanctum within the Chamber of Aspects beneath Wyrmrest Temple in Dragonblight. It is a raid dungeon with both 10 and 25-player normal and heroic modes.

The dungeon’s release was delayed until a week after patch 3.3.5 went live in the US, in an effort to make sure all players world-wide could access it at the same time, (with the exception of the U.S. servers down for 24 hour maintenance the day of it’s release.).

The Ruby Sanctum is an extension to the Wyrmrest Temple dragonflight Sanctum raids. Sacred grounds of the red dragons, the Ruby Sanctum was invaded by the Twilight dragonflight. It was released in patch 3.3.5 and it’s is very similar to the Obsidian Sanctum – both in its physical appearance and encounters. Three hills, guarded by mini-bosses overlook a central area, where the only real boss of the raid resides – in this case that’s Halion the Twilight Destroyer. His lieutenants are Baltharus the Warborn, General Zarithrian, and Saviana Ragefire.

All three of the mini-bosses, as well as Halion drop Emblem of Frost. Halion himself, the only boss with loot drops epic gear half a tier (7 item levels) higher than the ones in the Icecrown Citadel. New trinkets, amongst other things, await those strong enough to defeat the Twilight Destroyer in a place where he is equally able to fight in both the physical realm… and the twilight one.

Lore

When a clutch of twilight dragonflight eggs was discovered within the Obsidian Sanctum, Korialstrasz asked the Council of Six to send adventurers to destroy them. The deed was done quickly, and without fanfare or acknowledgment. At first all seemed quiet, but then all communication with the guardians in the Ruby Sanctum ceased. The guards stationed at the portal were slain, and the mystic stones shattered. The implications of the Ruby Sanctum being breached are dire, and little is known of the identity of the attackers, as the black dragonflight’s numbers in Northrend seem too limited to have pulled off such an attack. What power would dare to attack the stronghold of the red dragonflight, and how did they get past the guards undetected?

Encounters

The black dragonflight has assaulted the sanctum and is attempting to destroy it to facilitate Deathwing’s reemergence into Azeroth. Halion will be the primary encounter, along with three mini-encounters that must be completed prior to him. Unlike the Obsidian Sanctum, there are no progressive hard modes from leaving up some or all of the minibosses. Loot is comparable to that of the Lich King.

Quick Facts

Saviana Ragefire is a member of the Black dragonflight mini boss. She will appear in World of Warcraft as one of the three sub-bosses in the Ruby Sanctum encounter, which will be 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.

Strategy

Savianna is a pretty straightforward tank and spank, with only limited strategy needed. Savianna enrages every so often, aoeing the raid until removed. It is good to keep a hunter with Tranquilizing Shot to dispel the enrage. Also, Savianna will occasionally fly up over the raid, mark 2/5 (10/25-man) players, then use Conflagrate, dealing a fire DoT to the players and everyone around them. The marked players must separate themselves from the raid before Conflagrate hits them.

General Zarithrian is a member of the Black dragonflight mini boss. He will appear in World of Warcraft as one of the three sub-bosses in the Ruby Sanctum encounter, which will be 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.

Strategy

Zarithian has only two attacks. One is an aoe fear similar to the warrior’s Intimidating Shout. Because of this, players should stand in groups, with tremor totems to dispel the fear immediately. He also summons adds which have an aoe. This aoe can be interrupted, and the adds should be killed by an assigned group of players.

As he applies a sunder armor effect on the main tank that reduces armor by 20% per application you want to switch tanks every 2-3 stacks. The length of the debuff isnt very long and he doesnt apply it very often, and I do believe it can be avoided through dodge or parry (not sure, I just noticed that sometimes the stacks ran off my tank on the PTR sometimes without switching).

2 adds will spawn on either side of the area he is standing in the middle of. It is really easy to move him back a few steps and hold him kind of out of the way in the middle of the area and have the MT/OT just switch off every so often between add summons. DPS should just burn the adds as they appear because they don’t really have much in the way of health, but can get annoying if you let too many live.

Quick Facts

Baltharus the Warborn is a member of the Black dragonflight mini boss. He will appear in World of Warcraft as one of the three sub-bosses in the Ruby Sanctum encounter, which will be 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.

Strategy

Baltharus has two main abilities; a blast wave-type ability which will knock back melee, and an occasional split. The blast wave isn’t a very big deal, and can be easily healed through. The split, though, requires some extra strategy. You will need two or three tanks to tank Baltharus’ doubles, and the main Baltharus should be marked with a skull, so as not to be confused with the doubles. When Baltharus dies, his copies will too.

Baltharus the Warborn is located on the cliff to the left; the way to him is blocked by a few Charscale wyrms.
Two (25-player: 3) tanks are needed for this fight. At 50% (25-player: 75%, 50%, and 25%) Baltharus will summon a clone of himself. During the split, nearby players will suffer damage and be knocked away and stunned, so move just before his health reaches any of the aforementioned percentages.

The second tank (and third) should pick up the split copies as fast as possible to prevent the healers from getting threat. DPS should focus on the original Baltharus, as the other clones will de-spawn once he is dead.

During the fight, Baltharus will occasionally perform a whirlwind-move; DPS and nearby players must move away immediately.

Quick Facts

Halion is a twilight dragon. He appears in World of Warcraft as the final encounter 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.

Halion has three phases, in which the raid must switch between the physical realm and the shadow realm.

Phase 1

A few seconds after being engaged, Halion summons a wall of flame in a circle around him, closing off any players not in the stage.

Halion has a frontal cone breath attack. Like most dragon bosses, he has a tail swipe and cleave. He also summons fireballs, which fall from the sky and hit a large area with fire damage, leaving a patch of flame where it hit, as well as four flames going in four directions out of the fire patch. The location where the fireball will hit is indicated by a hellfire graphic. Any player under it must move out before the fireball hits. All players must move away from the flames that spread from the patch.

He also puts a debuff on random players called Mark of Combustion (not to be confuse with Mark of Consumption in phase 2) . When the debuff ends or when it is removed, a patch forms under the player’s feet that deals damage to players in it and players will be pushed away from the patch. Players afflicted have to move to the edge of the stage then get the debuff removed, before running back to the raid. The size of the patch depends on how long it took to dispel it.

This phase ends when halion reaches 75%.

Phase 2

Halion shifts to the shadow realm, and summons a portal which players can use to enter as well. In the shadow realm, Halion still has his breath. Mark of Consumption, not Combustion, does shadow damage instead of fire damage, and the Mark of Consumption acts like Mark of Combustion but is a pull instead of a knockback.

Also, two shadow orbs circle around the edges of the stage. Every once in a while, a death beam will come out of the two, connecting them and dealing enough damage to instantly kill any player in the beam. The players (including the tank) must rotate to avoid damage by the death beam.

This phase ends at 50%.

Phase 3

Halion exists in both realms, and the raid must split into two; one fights him in the twilight realm, which should consist mostly of melee, and the other fights him in the physical realm, which should consist mostly of ranged. This is because it is easier for melee to navigate in the twilight realm without fireballs making them have to go to ranged, and ranged have an easier time navigating in the physical realm where there are no death beams which require them to stop DPS to keep moving and not get hit.

The other change is that during this phase, Halion recieves a buff called Corporeality. This is determined by a percentage shown at the top of the screen which begins at 50%. Depending on the value of this, Halion will take and deal more damage in one realm and deal and take less damage in the other. There are no damage differences to either realm whilst it remains at 50%.

Damaging Halion in the Physical realm will cause him to phase further into the Twilight realm, lowering his corporeality and works vise versa when damaged in the Twilight Realm. The 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 will begin to rapidly regenerate health.

Below is a table listing the stat differences depending on Halion’s corporeality percentage.

The sacred Chamber of the Aspects beneath Wyrmrest Temple has seen kingdoms and armies rise and fall throughout history. For over ten millennia, the dragonflights’ five sanctums have remained hallowed ground for dragonkind, undamaged by the chaos of the Demon Soul’s creation and protected from the ravages of the Scourge thanks to a rare instance of cooperation between members of all five dragonflights. The red dragonflight, dedicated to the preservation of all life on Azeroth, has been at the heart of a tentative partnership between dragonflights, known as the Wyrmrest Accord, which the red dragons have guided from their sacred Ruby Sanctum. Draconic unity, at least in the face of grave danger, seems a real possibility.

And yet, suspicion has gnawed at all of the dragons of the Wyrmrest Accord from the moment of its creation. Immediately following the events that sparked the Nexus War, the leader of the red dragons, Alexstrasza the Life-Binder, instructed her children to scour the accord for any further evidence of danger from within. The red dragonflight swiftly uncovered the location of a clutch of twilight dragon eggs, the twisted creations of Deathwing the Destroyer, hidden away in the black dragonflight’s Obsidian Sanctum.

The red dragons were already taxed, battling against the Scourge and the blue dragonflight, and dared not move openly against the Obsidian Sanctum for fear that they’d lose even more allies. Instead, Alexstrasza’s consort Korialstrasz whispered of the twilight eggs to his allies among Dalaran’s Council of Six. It was a short time – mere moments in the lifespan of dragonkind – before mortal heroes raided the Obsidian Sanctum, defeated Sartharion, destroyed the eggs, and dealt a substantial blow to the twilight brood. The strike went without acknowledgement, mention, or retribution.

Now, an eerie quiet has settled over Wyrmrest Temple. Draconic guards stationed outside of the Life-Binder’s Ruby Sanctum have vanished. The stones of the portal leading into the sanctum’s chambers are cracked. The tang of dying fires hangs in the air around the antechamber, and the red dragons dedicated to watching over the sanctuary of the Life-Binder have not responded to the mystic messages of their brothers and sisters.

The absence of guardians and the weakening of the structure are enough cause for immense concern among the members of the accord, but far worse is the implication that the Ruby Sanctum, which contains a clutch of red dragon eggs and the future of the red dragonflight, might have been breached. The battle against Northrend’s Scourge rages on, claiming more casualties every day, and the forces of life stand to lose one of their most important footholds if the red dragonflight is crippled and its sanctum destroyed.

These developments demand an immediate response, but the dragons of the Wyrmrest Accord are wracked with questions. Next to nothing is known about who might be responsible for the assault on the Ruby Sanctum: the black dragonflight is not known for forgiveness or patience, but its numbers in Northrend are surely limited. What force would be powerful or daring enough to assail the stronghold of these ancient wyrms? How could such an enemy sneak by the temple’s guardians undetected? Surely an approaching air or ground force would have been caught by Wyrmrest Temple’s defenders.

For the moment, the members of the accord and their allies must assume the worst scenario that they can conceive of: that all life within the Ruby Sanctum rests on the precipice of extinction, and only immediate intervention will prevent the red dragonflight from being decimated. They’ll find that the truth is far worse.

The black dragonflight has assaulted the sanctum and is attempting to destroy it to facilitate Deathwing’s  reemergence into Azeroth. Halion will be the primary encounter, along with three mini-encounters that must be completed prior to him. Unlike the Obsidian Sanctum, there are no progressive hard modes from leaving up some or all of the minibosses. Loot is comparable to that of the Lich King.

The Ruby Sanctum, an all-new 10- and 25-player raid dungeon featuring normal and Heroic difficulties, has been added! Players will find the dungeon entrance below Wyrmrest Temple in Dragonblight. Please note due to the way this patch is being applied in all regions, this dungeon will not immediately be available in North America.

The Ruby Sanctum is an extension to the Wyrmrest Temple dragonflight Sanctum raids. Sacred grounds of the red dragons, the Ruby Sanctum was invaded by the Twilight dragonflight. It was released in patch 3.3.5 and it’s is very similar to the Obsidian Sanctum – both in its physical appearance and encounters. Three hills, guarded by mini-bosses overlook a central area, where the only real boss of the raid resides – in this case that’s Halion the Twilight Destroyer. His lieutenants are Baltharus the Warborn, General Zarithrian, and Saviana Ragefire.

All three of the mini-bosses, as well as Halion drop Emblem of Frost. Halion himself, the only boss with loot drops epic gear half a tier (7 item levels) higher than the ones in the Icecrown Citadel. New trinkets, amongst other things, await those strong enough to defeat the Twilight Destroyer in a place where he is equally able to fight in both the physical realm… and the twilight one.

Quick Facts

As we prepare for the public testing phase of minor content patch 3.3.3, some players might come across information regarding upcoming content that isn’t yet available. To avoid any confusion, we’d like to tell you about an exciting new raid dungeon we are working on for content patch 3.3.5.

The Ruby Sanctum

A powerful war party of the Black Dragonflight, led by the fearsome Twilight dragon, Halion, have launched an assault upon the Ruby Sanctum beneath Wyrmrest Temple. By destroying the sanctum, the Black Dragonflight look to crush those that would stand in the way of their master’s reemergence into Azeroth and to ultimately shatter the Wyrmrest Accord – the sacred bond that unites the dragonflights.

The battle that is to come will surely deal a crippling blow to the Red Dragonflight, however, it is up to you to stop this unprecedented offensive and defend the Ruby Sanctum. First you must face the assault of Halion’s servants, Saviana Ragefire, Baltharus the Warborn, and General Zarithrian, before squaring off against Halion the Twilight Destroyer, a new and deadly force in this realm.

The Ruby Sanctum will feature 10- and 25-player content, Heroic difficulties and all-new rewards! Stay tuned for more information as we get closer to its release.