Introduction
Hey everyone, and welcome to the Darkheart Thicket M+ guide for season 3 of Dragonflight! In this article I’ll be covering the abilities of all the trash mobs and bosses throughout the dungeon, as well as how I recommend you deal with them. I will also be including a recommended, PUG friendly route via the Mythic Dungeon Tools addon for anyone interested.
A bit about me, my name is Tactyks and I am an avid M+ player, achieving every 0.1% M+ title that has existed as well as competing in The Great Push in season 4 of Shadowlands. I also create M+ and Raid guide content on my YouTube and Twitch channels, so be sure to stop by and say hi!
Video Guide
Archdruid Glaidalis Trash
Frenzied Nightclaw
- Grievous Rip targets a random ranged player, use a defensive if targeted and heal the player above 90% to remove the bleed effect
Mindshattered Screecher
- Use an interrupt or CC to stop every cast of Unnerving Screech
Festerhide Grizzly
- This mob is immune to CC
- Maddening Roar gets more dangerous as you gain stacks of the debuff, use defensives once you start to gain stacks
- Use CCs to keep Spew Corruption fixates away from the targeted players and passively cleave them down, these will disappear when the Grizzly dies
Crazed Razorbeak
- This mob is immune to CC
- Tanks point the Propelling Charge line charge away from the group, ideally into a wall to reduce distance traveled, and move out of the effect
Dreadsoul Ruiner
- Despair targets the tank and applies a stacking magic debuff to them, interrupt as many as possible and dispel if any go off
- Star Shower spawns multiple avoidable swirlies, interrupt or use a CC to stop the cast
Dreadsoul Poisoner
- Nightmare Toxin targets a random player, loosely spread to avoid cleaving and use a poison dispel to remove the effect
Archdruid Glaidalis Boss Fight
Grievous Leap will always jump to the furthest player, so you can force the Grievous Tear debuff onto a player that has defensives available. Healers be sure to top them as quickly as possible to remove the bleed before it gets out of hand.
Primal Rampage locks on to the tanks location, though it is possible to avoid it once the charge has begun. I recommend always facing the boss towards the outer wall and having the rest of the group be behind the boss to avoid them being hit by this ability.
Will occasionally spawn 2 Nightmare Abomination adds that fixate on random players, leaving Nightfall puddles in their path. Use things like stuns, slows, and knockbacks to stop them from reaching their target and spreading puddles, then just cleave them down with the boss.
Oakheart Trash
Rotheart Dryad
- Poison Spear targets a random player, dispel the Poison DoT if possible
- Throw Spear targets a random player but is not particularly dangerous
- Note that these mobs will also occasionally leap backwards out of melee range, so try and move with them or use things like grips and knockbacks to keep them in one spot
Vilethorn Blossom
- Root Burst spawns under a random player, move out of the swirly
Rotheart Keeper
- Corrupted Infusion constantly heals any Vilethorn Blossoms so focus this mob down first
- Vile Mushrooms are spawned near random players, stay away from them once they are fully grown
Nightmare Dweller
- Tormenting Eye targets a random player, interrupt or use a CC on the channel before it ends
Oakheart Boss Fight
Make sure everyone is topped for the Shattered Earth hit and use a defensive if needed. Also beware of the knockback attached to this effect.
Avoid the Strangling Roots on the ground and move towards the tank if you get aggro on the Vilethorn Sapling adds which spawn from these puddles after Uproot is cast. If you have a way to clear roots such as, Blessing of Freedom or druid shapeshift, you can use these to clear the Strangling Roots entirely and reduce the amount of adds spawning.
Tanks point the Nightmare Breath away from the rest of the party. This follows tank players so you can’t sidestep it, however it has a 25yd range so it is possible to leap backwards and avoid it entirely if you are a spec that has enough mobility.
Crushing Grip is a nasty tank buster that you should defensive every time it happens.
Dresaron Trash
Note that this section assumes you do not take the side path towards the Shade of Xavius boss room as none of that trash is pulled in our recommended route. We will discuss these trash mobs in a later part of the guide.
Hatespawn Whelpling
- Spawned by touching any of the eggs that are in this area. These mobs don’t do anything besides melee the tank, so just be aware if anyone accidentally spawns them
Hatespawn Slime
- Dreadburst triggers on death, use a defensive if killing a lot of these mobs at the same time
Bloodtainted Fury
- This mob is immune to CC
- Blood Bomb spawns under a random player, move out of the swirly
- Tanks point the Blood Assault line charge away from the group, ideally into a wall to reduce distance traveled, and move out of the effect
- Be aware of the add spawns on death from Dispersion
Bloodtainted Burster
- Be sure to interrupt or CC every cast of Blood Metamorphosis
- Bloodbolt targets a random player, use any spare interrupts on this
Dresaron Boss Fight
Breath of Corruption is another frontal towards the tank, however this one locks into place, so tanks face the boss away from your group and move to the side when this cast starts.
Save speed boosts for the Down Draft pushback to avoid being sent out of range or through Nightmare Eggs.
Loosely spread after each Down Draft to avoid being cleaved by the puddle spawned by Earthshaking Roar on a single random player. It may also be good to defensive the cast itself as it deals a decent chunk of damage.
Shade of Xavius Trash
Dreadfire Imp
- Dread Inferno targets a random player, interrupt or use a CC on the cast and move out of the group if a cast is successful
- Firebolt targets a random player, this is the lowest priority interrupt in this area
Taintheart Summoner
- Curse of Isolation targets a random player, interrupt or use a CC on the cast and use a curse dispel if a cast is successful
- Shadow Bolt targets a random player, use any spare interrupts on this
Taintheart Stalker
- Dark Hunt targets two random players, use a personal if this overlaps with other damage events
Tormented Bloodseeker
- Darksoul Bite targets the tank, be aware if you have multiple of these disease DoTs on you and either dispel them or use a defensive
Taintheart Deadeye
- Tanks try to stay in melee range at all times as this prevents the mob from casting Scorching Shot. If this does go out use a magic dispel on the DoT
- Tanks watch for the Shadow Decoy cast and get aggro on the add that spawns
Shade of Xavius Boss Fight
Healers dispel the magic DoT from Festering Rip as fast as possible.
Use a defensive if targeted by Feed the Weak.
If debuffed with Growing Paranoia stay away from the rest of your party for 20s, otherwise you are feared for 5s.
If targeted by Nightmare Bolt, note that you will also be debuffed with Waking Nightmare, so stack in melee for the next 20s to avoid being silenced and pacified.
When the boss reaches 50% hp he will begin casting Apocalyptic Nightmare. Use a defensive on this large initial hit, then avoid the swirlies that will spawn for the remainder of the fight. Tanks will also want to try and make sure the boss isn’t hit by swirlies either, as each one causes him to gain a stacking 10s damage buff in Apocalyptic Empowerment.
Darkheart Thicket Mythic+ Dungeon Route
To start, like in a lot of other dungeons, I like to do a big pull with all CDs and bloodlust. Ranged DPS will want to be careful here as they are going to be targeted by Grievous Rip, so it can be good to pop defensives on pull here as well. Once pull 2 is defeated, make sure you jump up the rock on top of the tree branch, not through the centre of it, allowing you to avoid falling near and aggroing G12 (clip included in video guide). After killing pull 3 and 4, you’ll need to use either a warlock gate, shroud, or invis pots to get past the double Festerhide Grizzly pull. When you do this, make sure you run to the right and hug the invisible wall to be out of aggro range when your invisibility fades.
Making your way past Archdruid Glaidalis, the goal of most of the pulls in this area is to only have 1 Rotheart Dryad at a time. This means for pull 7, it’s better to focus down both the Dryad in G22 before adding in G23. Note that for pull 8, G26 has a pretty long patrol, so you may have to add it in later on. To save time, it can also be smart to dodge the Vile Mushrooms by moving closer to Oakheart’s room, as opposed to moving around in a circle where you initially pull pack G24.
Moving beyond Oakheart, for pull 12 I recommend killing the first pack of Hatespawn Slimes before adding in G36, as their on-death explosion is already quite dangerous with just a single group. Also, a reminder to be aware of the eggs in this area, as touching them will spawn a Hatespawn Whelpling that needs to be tanked.
In the final area leading up to the Shade of Xavius, feel free to group together pulls 14 and 15 if you have enough interrupts, otherwise it can be hard to move pack G38. Tanks beware of pull 16 as the Tormented Bloodseekers are exceptionally dangerous, feel free to kite after gaining aggro initially and running through your defensives.