Melidrussa is a room-management fight: Hailburst litters the floor with Hailbomb mines, and Chillstorm first pulls the group in and then knocks everyone back, so a badly positioned knockback into a mine is what actually kills keys. At 66 and 33 percent she summons Infused Whelps and, in Mythic+, wraps herself in a Frost Overload absorb that pulses stacking party damage until the shield is broken, which turns each phase transition into a burst check.
Kick list: Frigid Shard
Melidrussa unleashes a frost wave that hits every player and launches Hailbombs at them. Each Hailbomb is a mine that stays on the floor, explodes on contact for heavy Nature damage in 4 yards, knocks the victim upward, and cuts their haste by 50 percent for 20 seconds.
Bait the Hailbombs close together near the edge of the room so the center stays clear, and never walk into one for the rest of the fight.
A frost storm forms at a player's location and pulls everyone toward the Storm's Eye, ticking party-wide Frost damage; players inside the eye take 100 percent increased Frost damage. After 7 seconds the storm explodes, hitting the whole group and pushing everyone away.
Get out of the center immediately, then pre-position so the final knockback cannot push you into a Hailbomb; healers should have the group topped before the explosion.
Melidrussa launches a shard of ice that deals very heavy Physical damage to her current target. It is an interruptible cast and sits at the top of the dungeon's interrupt list.
Assign kicks and interrupt this cast every single time; if it slips through, the tank uses a defensive before impact.
At 66 and 33 percent health, Melidrussa calls a swarm of Infused Whelps into the fight. The whelps beat on their target and stack Cold Claws with every hit until they are killed.
The tank picks up every whelp immediately and stacks them on the boss so the group can cleave them down fast.
Infused Whelps attack with frost-infused claws and stack a Magic affliction on their target. At 20 applications the victim is Frozen Solid, a 5 second stun.
Kill the whelps before stacks climb, and dispel any player whose stacks are running toward the freeze.
In Mythic+, at each whelp phase Melidrussa encases herself in an Ice Bulwark that absorbs 10 percent of her maximum health. While the shield holds she pulses Frost damage into the whole party every 1.5 seconds, and each pulse stacks a 5 percent increased-damage-taken effect, so the ramp becomes lethal quickly.
Pool damage before 66 and 33 percent and break the Ice Bulwark instantly; healers commit a cooldown to the pulses while it is up.
Gather every Infused Whelp the moment they spawn and stack them on Melidrussa for cleave, and call the Frigid Shard kick if your assigned interrupter is on cooldown.
Plan a cooldown for each Chillstorm explosion and for the Frost Overload pulses, and dispel Cold Claws stacks before anyone gets frozen.
Bait Hailbombs together near the room edge, then burst the whelps and the Ice Bulwark the instant each Awaken Whelps phase starts.
Check where the Hailbombs are before every Chillstorm ends; the explosion knockback into a mine is the number one death on this boss.
Tyrannical: The Ice Bulwark absorb scales with her larger health pool and the Frost Overload pulses stack toward lethal much sooner, so save Bloodlust or major cooldowns for the 66 percent overlap and treat every shield break as an immediate priority.
Sources: Wowhead - Ruby Life Pools Dungeon Overview (Midnight Season 2 Mythic+) · Warcraft Wiki - Ruby Life Pools · Icy Veins - Ruby Life Pools Dungeon Guide · Wowhead - Ruby Life Pools zone page
