Temple of the Jade Serpent Dungeon Guide

The Temple of the Jade Serpent was a celebrated dungeon in Mists of Pandaria. Now, a special version of this instance has been added to the Mythic Plus roster of WoW Dragonflight’s first season. Although fairly straightforward - and simplified in some respects compared to the original - it can still be a major challenge due to its complex boss fights and varied mobs with tricky abilities. Read this guide to learn how to clear this dungeon quickly and efficiently.

Dungeon Layout and Progress Order

The Temple of the Jade Serpent is found on the eastern shore of the Jade Forest region of Pandaria. Although there is a second map attached to this zone, it does not matter when it comes to the instance, which plays out on one map. There are no special dungeon-wide mechanics to speak of here. At the start, heroes can choose to go after Wise Mari or Lorewalker Stonestep as their first boss. However, both encounters will need to be resolved before the way to the final two bosses is opened. When that is done, heroes will need to defeat Liu Flameheart to press on to the final boss, the Sha of Doubt. For the purposes of this guide, we assume Wise Mari is chosen as the starting encounter.

Mobs before Wise Mari

Heroes spawn in the northwestern side of the dungeon, equally far away from either of the starting bosses. To reach Wise Mari, they will need to go left and follow the stairs towards his watery arena. Along the way, they will encounter three kinds of foes. Fallen Waterspeakers have two attacks, one aimed at a single random target and another hitting everyone in 60 yards. Corrupt Droplets constantly attack the entire party. While weak, they are numerous and cannot be interrupted. Corrupted Living Water creates a hazard around a random victim that damages everyone nearby and throws them into the air. Its other attack targets the entire party and deals damage over time, but it can be evaded by blocking line of light.

Interrupting Waterspeaker abilities (with interrupts or stuns) should be the priority whenever they are present in a group. The harm they do is both significant and difficult to avoid. Living Water is potentially deadlier, but its effects can be sidestepped if the party is paying attention. Droplets can be stunned and then destroyed, but they are a less urgent threat. Heroes can engage the first two groups encountered on this path at once. The remaining three will be easier to attack and defeat one by one, with the last set requiring particular care due to its two Waterspeakers. When they are down, the path to the first boss will be clear.

Wise Mari Boss Fight Tips

Wise Mari has access to Waterspeaker’s Hydrolance attack, still used on random targets. His Corrupted Geyser makes the waters pulse at regular intervals, damaging all heroes who are caught standing in the water and throwing them into the air. Corrupted Vortex inflicts a debuff on a random target, which erupts after six seconds, damaging nearby heroes and creating a damaging hazard that pulls affected adventurers towards its center. The enemy will also occasionally start to rotate in the middle of the room, firing jets of water with Wash Away. Anyone hit by those jets will take damage and get thrown back. This ability can easily prove deadly, especially in conjunction with Corrupted Geyser.

Nonetheless, this engagement is comparatively easy for those who do not lose track of those abilities:

• Heroes should take turns disrupting Hydrolance. It is worth noting that the boss has no ability focused on tanks specifically, so the tank should take the lead on those efforts;
• Corrupted Geyser is well-telegraphed by two harmless pulses that precede it, causing bubbles to appear in the water. This is a sign for heroes to get to the dry floor. It also pays to position close to such safe areas during the rest of the encounter;
• Whoever receives the Corrupted Vortex should hurry to place it somewhere out of the way, where other heroes are unlikely to run into it. Keep track of its position afterwards to avoid getting knocked inside the hazard. Anyone who ends up with the debuff or in the hazard should be prioritized by healers;
• During the Wash Away attack, the boss is too busy to use other abilities, so just concentrate on moving around the boss to escape the jets.

Mobs around Lorewalker Stonestep

After winning the first boss encounter, the adventurers will need to backtrack to the entrance and head the other way to find the other. Defeating Wise Mari gives access to a temporary speed buff that will help do so quickly. The big chamber around the next boss’ arena contains a great variety of enemies, including two recurring foes: the Haunting Sha and the Lesser Sha. The Haunting Sha uses a frontal beam attack, usually aimed at the tank but liable to clip or kill other heroes in its way, and a scream that frightens the entire party. Frightened heroes might run into and provoke other enemies, so care must be taken to prevent or swiftly dispel this effect. The Lesser Sha blow up when killed, so crowd control should be deployed to keep them away.

There are also numerous unique opponents. Two named monks, Xiang and Jiang, have jump attacks aimed at random victims. They can also throw torches to set adventurers on fire. Fortunately, this dangerous effect can be dispelled. The Talking Fish and the Songbird Queen (on higher ground just past the chamber) both can send targets to sleep, which is particularly dangerous since each is surrounded by Lesser Sha. On top of that, the fish shoots bubbles at random targets. Meanwhile, the bird can peck the tank for immediate and continuous harm and channel continuous Holy damage, which grows the longer heroes remain in the effect’s 6-yard radius. In both cases, preventing sleep and keeping the Lesser Sha at bay is crucial, while the bird’s channel should be carefully avoided.

Finally, adventurers will find the Golden Beetle, the Nodding Tiger, and Crybaby Hazen in the far corner. The Golden Beetle has the most fearsome powers and should be killed first. Its single-target attacks alternate between bleed effects and stacking maximum health debuffs. It can also create a shield that absorbs harm and explodes upon expiration or being broken, hurting all nearby heroes, unless it is dispelled earlier. Nodding Tiger has a random-target jump attack that causes bleeding and a gradual heal, whereas Crybaby Hazen shifts between spawning randomly-placed water hazards and lashing out with a rage that boosts his attack speed and damage. Their abilities should be disrupted until they can be dealt with as well.

The first Sha at the entrance and the monks can be avoided with the help of invisibility and teleportation. It is advisable to bypass those troublesome opponents in that way because fighting them will be pretty inefficient and the forces count for the Mythic Plus objective can be made up later. On the other hand, the rest of the mobs in the chamber should be hunted down before activating the scroll to start the boss encounter. The Talking Fish and the Songbird Queen will both be fought alongside the nearest Sha, ideally taking out the Haunting Sha before it can cause any problems with its scream. The last three unique foes have no other allies to assist them.

Lorewalker Stonestep Boss Fight Tips

Although tied to Lorewalker Stonestep, this battle is actually against two elementals called Peril and Strife. Whenever one of them is damaged, it receives stacks of Intensity, which strikes all heroes continuously and gives the elemental a damage buff. At ten stacks, the enemy becomes invulnerable to all forms of damage for fifteen seconds. If the elemental is ignored for three seconds, all Intensity stacks are removed, and it begins gaining Dissipation instead, reducing the harm it can do. Those stacks are cleared once it is hit again. Both opponents also keep attacking random targets.

Each elemental also has a unique power. Peril inflicts Hazardous Thoughts on a random target, slowing it down and causing ongoing harm. Similarly, but more insidiously, Strife gives a random hero Feeling of Superiority at the start of the encounter. It actually increases the victim’s healing and offensive power, but also hurts them over time. Added stacks increase the harm they suffer. The hero can pass this effect on to another teammate by stopping close to them. However, that replaces the original target’s buff with Feeling of Inferiority, which temporarily reduces their power and prevents them from receiving Feeling of Superiority again.

The key to this fight is coordination to manage the twin bosses’ stacks:

• Concentrate the entire party’s fire on one target at a time, and try to avoid cleaving them. Otherwise, there is a risk of making both of them immune, or at least extremely dangerous;
• Use single-target abilities whenever possible;
• The tank should keep both elementals focused on them. Although Dissipation may weaken the boss who is being currently ignored, concentrated attacks may still be dangerous;
• Switch between targets whenever their Intensity stacks get too high. Six is a good cut-off point, but they certainly should not be allowed to rise higher;
• Whoever has the Feeling of Superiority should use defensive abilities to mitigate the harm and delay passing it on. This character should also receive targetted healing. Eventually, though, it will need to be given to someone else who is in good shape to use it;
• Healers will need to stay on top of varying simultaneous sources of damage. They should keep track of active effects and time the use of their strongest abilities for when Intensity stacks are highest.

Mobs before and around Liu Flameheart

Following the elemental encounter, the party should push forward and then follow the rounded corridor towards the temple’s central hall. Along the way, they will encounter three patrolling mobs. First, there is a solitary Shambling Infester in a round chamber. While easy to avoid, it is worth fighting for the forces count, especially since it is not that dangerous. It has a lot of health, deals continuous damage in a frontal cone aimed at the tank, and spawns Lesser Sha. As long as the party avoids the cone and explosions, the creature can be overwhelmed easily enough.

The next patrol goes up and down a narrow corridor and consists of a Depraved Mistweaver and a Sha-Touched Guardian: both enemy types that show up around the boss arena. The Guardian’s basic attack reduces the healing received by its target (probably the tank). He can also hit and stun everyone within six yards, so the party should try and spread out when facing this opponent, or else stop him by stunning. However, the Mistweaver is the bigger threat. In addition to hurting a target over time, she can place an effect that harms everyone around the target after 5 seconds and also absorbs all healing they receive for the next 15 seconds. Interrupting this spell or lifting it as a curse before it goes off should be a top priority.

In the central hall, those two enemy types are joined by the Haunting Sha, Lesser Sha, and Minions of Doubt. The latter possesses an area attack with an added effect that debuffs the offensive and healing power of everyone it hits. It also packs a heavy punch that tanks (and healers) should prepare to mitigate. There are five groups in the area, and it makes most sense to defeat one group after the other. The central group should be attacked together with the nearby patrolling Shambling Infester. Once again, players should take care to avoid attracting other foes due to being scared by the Haunting Sha. Otherwise, Mistweavers remain priority targets.

Liu Flameheart Boss Fight Tips

The fight with Liu Flameheart consists of three stages. In the first stage, Liu fights by herself, cycling through three attacks in rapid succession. Serpent Strike hits the tank with immediate and continuous Fire damage. Afterwards, Serpent Kick hits everyone within 8 yards. It is followed by Serpent Waves, shockwaves that burn adventurers in all four directions around her, following a cross-like pattern. When down to 70% health, Liu empowers each of those abilities. Jade Serpent Strike receives a healing absorption effect, Jade Serpent Kick knocks back its victims, and Jade Serpent Waves leave burning hazards on the floor.

Reducing the boss to 30% health leads to a more drastic change. Liu withdraws and summons Yu’lon the Jade Serpent to fight on in her stead. Previous abilities no longer apply. The Jade Serpent has a powerful frontal Jade Fire Breath attack that affects targets within 40 yards. Furthermore, she hurls fireballs at random targets with Jade Fire, burning all heroes near the target when they land and leaving a persistent fire hazard. While those powers are fairly straightforward, they are also extremely potent.

Avoiding or mitigating damage is essential for success:

• Make sure to sidestep the waves, the frontal breath, and any hazards created during the fight. Any of those effects can mean the end for flimsier heroes;
• Healers must take special care to assist the tank when the Jade Serpent Strike is in play. The best healing abilities should be saved up for this moment to cancel out the impact of absorption;
• Tanks should try and push Liu against a wall, neutralizing one of the waves;
• The tank is likely to take the brunt of most attacks. They should try and mitigate the harm they take, especially when Jade Serpent Strike is being used, and avoid additional sources of damage;
• Yu’lon’s frontal breath is aimed at the tank, so they should try and aim it away from the rest of the party.

Mobs before Sha of Doubt

The way to the final encounter is guarded by three familiar mobs that the heroes will have to fight all at once: a Mistweaver, a Waterspeaker, and a Guardian. They should be taken out in that order. Players will have to avoid the Guardian’s and the Waterspeaker’s area attacks while concentrating fire on the Mistweaver. They should also make sure to keep disrupting the Mistweaver’s and the Waterspeaker’s spells. Once this pack is down for the count, nothing will stand between the party and the end boss of this dungeon.

Sha of Doubt Boss Fight Tips

The Sha of Doubt afflicts two random targets with Wither Will, which deals damage over time. The Touch of Nothingness, which can also be placed on two targets at a time, harms all party members every second and a half. Every 70 seconds, the enemy will retreat to the middle of the arena, become virtually invulnerable through Bounds of Reality, and summon a Figment of Doubt for each hero. Figments will attack their respective heroes and gather energy. If the energy bar is filled, the Figments will disappear and the Sha will regain 10% of its health while damaging every adventurer. This can be prevented by killing the Figments. Either way, the boss will be attackable again once they are gone.

Victory against the last boss of the dungeon requires flexibility:

• Healers must be ready to keep topping up the party;
• Nothingness and Wither Will should be dispelled whenever possible, but the second victim of Wither Will requires special attention from the healer until the dispel is ready again;
• Move close together during the Bounds of Reality phase. That way, the Figments can be crowd controlled and cleaved down quickly, preventing the boss from healing. The tank should help corral the Figments, so they are all in range for this assault;
• Personal defensive abilities should be deployed in response to Wither Will (if it cannot be dispelled) and during Bounds of Reality. In case the Figments are not removed fast enough, everyone must be prepared to take the resulting damage.