Raid boss guidesThe Venomous Abyss
Midnight Season 2 encounter guide

The Coiled Altar

A four-stage council fight against the possessed Zul'jan and Hex Lord Malacrass: first Zul'jan's venom globules are stacked and destroyed with tank frontals, then Malacrass's fixating spirits get the same treatment, and after an intermission where intercepted spirits must never heal Zul'jan, the final phase runs both kits at once - and both bosses must die at nearly the same time.

Before the pull

Set the encounter assignments before pull

  • Special notes: no immunities; Venomfang is the poison dispel; Wail of Terror (the Soulcoiler add's fear) and Eternal Nightfall are the interrupts.
  • Assign globule and ghost duty: who picks up green orbs in Phase 1, and where stacked globules and kited Manifestations get lined up for the tank frontal.
  • Split the raid into two corner groups for Guillotine - the axe must hit at least five players or it deals massive raid-wide damage, and Widow's Kiss erupts 50 yards after.
  • Hold DPS cooldowns for the intermission: Soulbinding makes Zul'jan take 100 percent increased damage for 35 seconds.
  • Brief the finish: when either boss dies the other enrages, gaining 100 percent increased damage every 5 seconds - the kill must land together, so plan the damage split for the last percent.
Fight flow

Resolve the encounter in this order

  1. 01

    Phase 1 - Zul'jan's globules

    Assigned players pick up the green Coalesced Venom orbs, carry the 5 second pulsing debuff away from the raid, and drop the orbs in front of the boss when it falls off. The tank aims Sever, the frontal cone, through the stacked globules to destroy them - only a few at a time, because each destruction stacks a DoT on the raid.

  2. 02

    Phase 1 - axes and poison

    Two groups soak Guillotine in their corners (five or more players in the hit), run out of the Widow's Kiss eruption after, dodge the spinning Axegrinder axes and growing green puddles, and healers dispel Venomfang poison on cooldown.

  3. 03

    Phase 2 - Malacrass's spirits

    Zul'jan falls at the transition and Malacrass knocks everyone back - do not get shoved off the platform. Dreadmarch mind-controls players who walk toward the edge: damage them free before they jump. Fixated players kite their Manifestation of Dread in front of the boss and LOOK at it to halt it, then the tank frontal Soul Sever destroys the stacked ghosts.

  4. 04

    Phase 2 - souls and shields

    Soul Sever and Gloombomb each scatter three Souls their owner must collect within 15 seconds or die. Run Gloombomb out, explode, collect. When Eternal Nightfall casts, burn through the boss shield, then kick the cast, and nuke plus interrupt the Soulcoiler add's fear immediately.

  5. 05

    Intermission - starve the heal

    Malacrass goes immune and channels Soulbinding into Zul'jan, who takes 100 percent increased damage for 35 seconds. Pour cooldowns into Zul'jan while carefully intercepting the green spirits walking toward him - they explode when touched, and any spirit that reaches him heals him.

  6. 06

    Final phase - everything, evenly

    Both kits run at once: tank frontals clear globules and ghosts, Guillotine corners continue, Gloombombs and souls continue, shields still get broken and kicked. Kill both bosses within moments of each other - the survivor's enrage grows by 100 percent every 5 seconds.

Mechanics

What each mechanic asks of you

Coalesced Venom and Sever

Orb carriers and tanks

Carry green orbs out, drop them at the boss's front, and destroy small batches with the Sever frontal - the post-destruction DoT stacks, so pace it.

Failure: Uncollected globules pulse the raid forever, and a greedy multi-globule Sever stacks the Venom Rupture DoT lethally.

Guillotine and Widow's Kiss

Corner soak groups

Five or more players split each axe in the assigned corner, then sprint out of the 50 yard eruption.

Failure: A thin soak is massive raid damage; standing in the Kiss afterward doubles the bill.

Dreadmarch and Manifestation of Dread

Everyone

DPS mind-controlled players free before they reach the edge; fixated players kite ghosts to the boss's front and stare at them to freeze them for the Soul Sever cleanup.

Failure: An MC'd player walks off the platform, and an unfrozen ghost reaching its target mind-controls them too.

Souls on a 15 second clock

Debuffed players

Soul Sever and Gloombomb each spawn three Souls - their owner collects all three within 15 seconds.

Failure: Missing the collection timer is a death, mid-progression, to a mechanic with a generous clock.

Eternal Nightfall and the Soulcoiler add

DPS and kickers

Break the boss shield, kick Eternal Nightfall, and interrupt the Soulcoiler add's 5 second fear the moment it spawns.

Failure: An uninterrupted Nightfall is raid-wide damage through the dodge pattern; the fear chains into every other mechanic.

Soulbinding intercepts

Assigned interceptors

Touch the green spirits before they reach Zul'jan - each one explodes on the interceptor, so spread the job across healthy players.

Failure: Spirits reaching the boss heal away the entire 35 second burn window.

Encounter Journal

The Coiled Altar's actual abilities

The named boss spells, their individual sub-abilities, and the response for each. Ability names with known spell IDs open their own WoW-God spell pages.

Noxious Ground pulses damage for 8 seconds and hits the active tank harder.

Raid response: Tanks rotate mitigation; everyone else stays off the marked ground.

Venom rain forms globules that pulse until picked up; the carrier pulses AoE for 5 seconds, and the globule reforms where dropped.

Raid response: Assigned carriers collect, walk out, and stage the globules in front of the boss for Sever.

Venom Rupture

Phase 1

Each destroyed globule deals stacking DoT damage to the raid.

Raid response: Destroy a few globules per Sever, never the whole stockpile at once.

An axe thrown at a player splits damage among those nearby (five minimum), raises Guillotine damage taken for 1.7 minutes, then erupts in a 50 yard explosion.

Raid response: Corner groups soak on rotation so the 1.7 minute debuff alternates, then everyone clears the eruption.

Venomfang and Axegrinder

Phase 1

A poison debuff, and thrown axes that spin around the arena.

Raid response: Dispel the poison quickly; track the axes while handling everything else.

DreadmarchPhase 2

Mind-controlled players march toward the edge and jump unless damage breaks the control.

Raid response: Instant target swap - the MC'd player IS the priority target.

Soul SeverPhase 2

The tank frontal that destroys Manifestation spirits and spawns 3 Souls the tank must collect in 15 seconds.

Raid response: Aim through the frozen ghost stack, then collect calmly - 15 seconds is enough when you move immediately.

GloombombPhases 2 and 4

Debuffed players explode after 5 seconds and must collect the 3 Souls they scatter within 15 seconds.

Raid response: Run out, detonate away from the raid, sweep up your Souls.

Eternal NightfallPhases 2 and 4

A raid-wide channel behind a boss shield, cast while swirlies fall.

Raid response: Break the shield, kick the cast, keep dodging throughout.

Soulbinding

Intermission

Malacrass goes immune and heals Zul'jan, who takes 100 percent increased damage for 35 seconds while spirits fixate toward him and explode when touched - or heal him if they arrive.

Raid response: Full cooldowns into Zul'jan; assigned players intercept every spirit early and spread the explosions.

Soulbind

Final phase

When either boss dies, the survivor enrages and gains 100 percent increased damage every 5 seconds.

Raid response: Hold the health bars together and pre-plan the simultaneous kill.

Role plan

Your job in the pull

Tanks

Taunt after frontals, and aim every frontal deliberately: Sever through staged globules in Phase 1, Soul Sever through frozen ghosts in Phase 2, both jobs at once in the final phase. Collect your Souls the moment they spawn.

Healers

Dispel Venomfang, use cooldowns when globule batches are destroyed, and treat the intermission as a damage event - interceptors are taking planned explosions while the raid burns Zul'jan.

DPS

Free mind-controlled players instantly, nuke and kick the Soulcoiler add, break Nightfall shields, and save real cooldowns for the 35 second intermission window. At the end, watch both health bars, not your meter.

Everyone

Look at your fixating ghost to freeze it, never touch a spirit you were not assigned, and know your corner for Guillotine before the pull.

Video guide

Watch The Coiled Altar guides

Review available video breakdowns alongside the written assignments.

Live data

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