Three councilors fight you one at a time, and defeated councilors keep returning briefly to reuse one signature ability, so the mechanics stack up as the fight goes on. Keys die to an uninterrupted Poison Nova, an unsoaked Barrel Through, and above all to the Explosive Totem from Call of the Elements finishing its Explode cast.
Kick list: Poison Nova
Kula the Butcher spins, damaging and knocking back players within 10 yards, then sends whirling axes patrolling the room that damage and knock back anyone they touch.
Run out of the initial spin and then track the patrolling axes for the rest of the fight, because they keep moving and clipping one applies a nasty damage-over-time effect.
Kula throws an axe at a random player for a large Physical hit plus a heavy Physical damage-over-time effect for 8 seconds.
The targeted player presses a major defensive on impact, and the healer spot-heals them through the full duration of the bleed-style effect.
Aka'ali the Conqueror charges a targeted player and deals massive armor-ignoring Physical damage that splits among all players within 7 yards of the impact.
The whole party stacks on the targeted player before the charge lands so the hit is split five ways. Soaking it with fewer players is how people get one-shot.
Aka'ali backhands her current target for huge Physical damage, knocks them back, and applies Shattered Defenses, which increases Physical damage taken by 200 percent.
The tank mitigates the hit, then kites Aka'ali and refuses every melee until Shattered Defenses expires. Taking a melee with the debuff up is death.
Zanazal the Wise casts a burst of poisonous gas that deals Nature damage to the whole party every 2 seconds for 12 seconds.
Interrupt this cast every single time. It is the top kick priority of the fight, and letting it complete while totems are alive usually ends the key.
Zanazal strikes a player with a lightning bolt that arcs to other players, dealing heavy Nature damage to everyone struck.
Spread when Zanazal is active so the arcs hit as few players as possible, and healers respond fast because the damage comes in spikes.
Zanazal summons reinforced elemental totems, including an Explosive Totem whose Explode cast deals fatal Fire damage to the whole party, a Torrent Totem that knocks players back, and a Thundering Totem that locks out player casts for 4 seconds.
Everyone swaps to the Explosive Totem instantly and kills it before Explode finishes, then cleans up the Torrent and Thundering Totems.
After Debilitating Backhand lands, kite Aka'ali until Shattered Defenses falls off, and during totem phases drag Zanazal onto the Explosive Totem so the party cleaves both.
Spot-heal Severing Axe targets through the full duration, and expect party-wide spike healing during Arc Lightning and any Poison Nova that slips through.
Keep a kick ready for Poison Nova at all times, and dump every bit of burst into the Explosive Totem the moment Call of the Elements resolves.
Defeated councilors return periodically to reuse one ability, so keep dodging patrolling Whirling Axes and be ready to stack for Barrel Through even after Kula and Aka'ali are dead.
Tyrannical: Weeks Barrel Through and the Explode cast reach one-shot territory, so a missed stack or a slow totem swap is unrecoverable. The fight is long because all three councilors keep interjecting, so budget defensives and healer cooldowns for the Zanazal phase where the overlaps are worst.
Sources: Wowhead - Kings' Rest Dungeon Overview - Midnight Season 2 Mythic+ (updated 2026-08-11) · Warcraft Wiki - Kings' Rest (encounter list) · Icy Veins - King's Rest Dungeon Guide (updated for Season 2, 2026-08-11) · Wowhead - Kings' Rest zone page (dungeon journal reference)
