We’ve covered plenty of new content surrounding the 20th Anniversary patch, but it seems Blizzard changed a lot of things in older expansions as well! The usual undocumented changes with every patch sometimes fly under the radar. However, this time we have master soloer Durendil finding all the small and big differences to boss encounters and trash from all three raids!
The Durendil-Approved List of Changes
In case the name sounds familiar but you’re not sure from where, Durendil soloed not only Tindral Sageswift, but also Raszageth and Sarkareth World First back in Dragonflight Season 4! There really isn’t a better person to document what’s changed, as Durendil regularly checks and pushes what can be done solo in the game.
He has compiled two lists for the Shadowlands changes, one for War Within max level characters and one for lower level and undergeared characters. You can find the big lists of everything in the reddit post below, but here are the most interesting and biggest changes. Generally all the mechanics you had to keep an eye out for have been either removed or made much easier, so you can ignore most of them now if you don’t have very basic gear.
Castle Nathria
- Xy’mox’s traps don’t stun and spirits don’t spawn so no mind control.
- Kael’Thas no longer requires you to have a healing ability or bandages!
Sanctum of Domination
- We get an actual dog, Arfus in fact, helping us on the Kel’Thuzad! This is definitely a reference to Kel’s cat, Mr. Bigglesworth, who apparently got a new nemesis. Arfus helps us out with the adds so that Kel doesn’t despawn when we go into the phylactery room. The fight also got some damage nerfs.
- Adds no longer drag you off the platform on Eye of the Jailer.
- Sylvanas has fewer bumping off the platform and she will now always trigger her phase transitions, regardless of whether you get her down too low in phase 2. Before she would become unkillable and just get stuck that way if you rushed the DPS.
Sepulcher of the First Ones
- Only one bomb spawns in the first set for Halondrus.
- Rygelon had three separate player kill abilities removed or nerfed, from the 7-stack orbs to massive bang! It won’t bang you to death anymore!
- Azeroth now heals herself during the Jailer encounter, so he won’t automatically kill her at some point. The tank debuff from phase 1 was also removed, as was the mind control in phase 2, and more !
Abilities You Still Need to Watch Out For
But just documenting the changes wasn’t helpful enough for Durendil, as he also put together a list of the abilities and bosses you need to look out for after the nerfs! Here he is in his own words:
Nathria
- Council of blood : Dancing fever still one-shots you if you don’t jump.
Sanctum
- Remnant of Ner’zhul : Grasp of malice (cones) still bump you to your death
- Kel’thuzad : if you don’t know the fight, in phase 2 you have to go on the phylactery, use and extra action button, hit the soul in the middle and, once it’s immune, get out by going on the circle at one edge of the room and using the extra action button again. Note that once outside, you can’t get back in for around 30 seconds.
- Sylvanas : You still need to change platform when she casts Raze. For low-level players, Veil of Darkness’s healing absorb is overturned if not dodged in phase 2.
Sepulcher
- Vigilant Guardian : Do not stand underneath the rolling robot at spawn.
- Prototype Pantheon : Pinning volley still stuns you if not dodged.
- Halondrus : Still spawns 3 bombs on the second set; requires you to stagger the bombs to get only 1 explosion.
- Anduin : If you are undergeared, the Lich King still has a nasty tank debuff, so you’ll take decently high damage. If you are undergeared, also remember to clear your debuff in phase 3 by touching the middle.
- Rygelon : If adds hit the boss, you’ll take massive damage. His tank debuff can deals high damage if you cannot immune/absorb it or use defensives. If undergeared, Massive bang still does high damage if failed, so do the mechanic or use a defensive (you’ll need one for shatter sphere too).
- Lords of dread : Horrifying shadows still permanently stuns you; if undergeared, make sure to focus and kill Kin’tessa before the Among us phase, or you will wipe (use cooldowns during damage amp phase).
- The Jailer : bombs can still bump you in a hole. You still need to explode in a hole to spawn a pillar and avoid the mind control. If undergeared, in phase 3, you need heal the healing absorb to avoid the MC (or phase him before he casts it).
The Whole Thing
And here’s the entire list of everything. There’s a whole lot more to check out below. And if you found it helpful, definitely go to the thread and thank Durendil!