The Nokhud Offensive Dungeon Guide

The Nokhud Offensive is an original dungeon added in WoW Dragonflight that appears in the expansion’s first Mythic Plus season rotation. It is distinguished by an expansive layout, inventive traversal mechanics, and many varied enemies. Many people are already calling it the best dungeon of the expansion. However, clearing it efficiently is not an easy task, especially for those who have not done it a few times already. Read this article to learn how to clear The Nokhud Offensive swiftly and smoothly.

Dungeon Overview and Route

Uniquely, The Nokhud Offensive takes place in an instanced version of the Ohn’ahran Plains. The usual NPCs are mostly absent in this instance and leaving the zone is impossible, but the entirety of its terrain remains accessible. Although the resulting dungeon is truly vast, the action is actually limited to four compact areas. Each hosts its own boss battle, in addition to clusters of enemy mobs. While there are flightmasters available, players are strongly advised to use Dragonriding to quickly get from one hotspot to another. They can do so even faster by taking advantage of stationary tornadoes that buff their Dragonriding skills, letting them move forward and upward faster.

The first three boss encounters are against Granyth, Raging Tempest, and Teera and Maruuk respectively. Adventurers can tackle them in any order. Each of those encounters can only be started after the heroes defeat certain lesser enemies nearby. Dragonriding allows players to drop in on the hostile mobs from any angle. The final boss, Balakar Khan, is impossible to reach until the others are defeated. Even after this condition is met, Dragonriding is disabled in his stronghold of Nokhudon Hold, meaning the party will need to land outside and proceed on foot or other mounts. In this guide, we assume players move from east to west, since this is the most time-effective route.

Mobs near Granyth

Players must defeat three Nokhud Lancemasters before they can fight Granyth. Lancemasters have several strong physical area-of-effect powers, one of which (Disruptive Shout) also interrupts spellcasting. Each Lancemaster is accompanied by several other mobs of different types. Such mobs make up a number of groups without Lancemasters that patrol the nearby area. Notable enemies include Hornsounders (who can buff allied damage), Warspears (with bleed-inducing attacks that cannot be interrupted), and Longbows (archers who remain stationary and shoot at random targets or launch area-of-effect barrages).

Players should stun Hornsounders before they buff and interrupt Disruptive Shout. Warspears are priority targets. Tanks should attempt to engage melee enemies near the Longbows to expose all enemies to cleave or area-of-effect attacks. They should point Lancemasters away from their allies to reduce harm done by their frontal strikes. Longbow area-of-effect attacks are telegraphed and can be avoided. In terms of strategy, heroes should land directly southeast of the boss’ spawn point in the middle of the area and take out the non-Lancemaster group there, then destroy the Lancemaster groups one by one. Other groups that stand farther away from where the boss will arrive could and should be avoided, as their numbers make fighting them inefficient.

Granyth Boss Fight Tips

Granyth has several recurring Nature attacks that harm every adventurer within reach. Shards of Stone causes unavoidable damage within 60 yards. Tectonic Stomp harms and knocks back everyone in 23 yards. Whenever the boss’ energy bar is full, he will activate Eruption. While it is active, every hero in the fight takes progressively larger damage every three seconds. A couple of seconds before Eruption, one of the three Dragonkiller Lances in the area is activated at random. Nearby heroes can interact with Lances to attack the proto-dragon, harming and stunning it and ending Eruption. However, Mythic Plus difficulty complicates matters by adding a Saboteur who can permanently disable Lances.

Lances are key to victory, and players should act accordingly:

• Move away quickly from the boss before range-limited effects. Melee attackers might be able to negate them with defensive abilities, but otherwise, sticking around is not worth it. Everyone should carefully maintain distance;
• There should be characters close to the Lances at all times, ready to activate them as soon as possible. They can also protect them from Saboteurs;
• Saboteurs are priority targets whenever they appear, as they can easily ensure a wipe if overlooked. Crowd control effects can delay them, but they should be taken out entirely, ideally when they can be cleaved together with the boss. Tanks should try positioning Granyth to enable such maneuvers;
• Healers should get ready to heal whenever Eruption nears activation, in case it cannot be shut down immediately.

Mobs near Raging Tempest

Four Stormsurge Totems must be broken to engage the Raging Tempest. They are located in four corners around the area with the initially-shielded boss. By themselves, Totems throw around Nature and Shadow damage. Named Stormcaller NPCs can strike all adventurers within 40 yards of the totem for extra damage using Totemic Overload. Their most dangerous companions are Stormspeakers, whose Tempest is a potentially devastating stacking area-of-effect damage-over-time debuff (which can be dispelled). Arcblades deal secondary damage to heroes near the initial target, making them dangerous in melee unless quickly stunned. Taking out totems is the key priority, followed by Stormspeakers.

Dragonriding enables players to pick their battles here. Totem groups are all isolated from each other and can be defeated without other mobs getting involved. Adventurers should start by defeating the southeastern group, then fly to the boss arena and pull the two unrelated packs there, which consist of Gusts and Thunderbeasts respectively. The latter have Chain Lightning strikes which can be mitigated by breaking up potential chains. Apart from that and their slowing claps, these creatures should not pose much of a challenge, letting heroes move on to the remaining totems. Stormshields with their spell interruption Shield Bash strikes and damage absorption Stormshield defenses are best avoided completely, along with adjacent mobs.

Raging Tempest Fight Tips

This boss starts with its energy bar half-full. Whenever the bar fills up, it activates a 15-second Electrical Storm, damaging each character in every half-second. Each character also gets targetted by Lightning Strike, which can hit nearby heroes as well. The boss spawns lightning orbs that heroes can claim, taking damage but also buffing their damage and healing. Mythic Plus difficulty causes Lightning Strikes to overload nearby orbs, destroying them and damaging nearby heroes further. Additionally, the Raging Tempest constantly damages heroes positioned underneath it, buffs its damage and speed with Energy Surge, and turns weapon damage into Nature damage done to its active target using Wind Burst when the hero is not in melee.

Defeating the Raging Tempest is mainly an exercise in careful positioning:

• The tank will want to stay in melee whenever possible to negate Wind Burst. Fortunately, the boss has a large melee range, and can be engaged without standing under it and taking passive damage;
• Heroes should keep away from each other, especially when Lightning Strike is activated. Otherwise, there is a risk their effects will overlap, causing greater damage to everyone involved;
• Ideally, all adventurers who can take a hit should collect orbs, spreading out their damage among the party and removing potential overload targets. The buffs stack, but collecting them with one hero is hazardous;
• Healers must have their healing cooldowns ready in time for the Electrical Storm;
• Energy Surge could and should be dispelled at every opportunity, before it lets the boss take out the tank.

Mobs near Teera and Maruuk

The encounter with Teera and Maruuk is gated behind the four Soul Harvesters. Those named NPCs are priority targets due to their frustrating abilities. They can cause Shadow damage to everyone in a 30-yard radius, consume souls of downed allies for healing and Shadow damage buffs, and use Shatter Soul. The latter ability harms the target and lands a significant damage debuff until they retrieve their soul from the ground. Ukhel Deathspeakers are the second priority threat, with a curse debuff and an area-of-effect Shadow attack that also buffs their undead minions. Willcrushers can Dominate enemies if not interrupted. Beastcallers summon reinforcements and buff damage by feasting on their allies, while Corruptors throw around Shadow bombs.

There are quite a few other mobs in the area, but they are fairly straightforward. So long as the dangers mentioned above are addressed promptly, clearing out the trash should not be difficult. Convenient positioning and relative weakness makes the mobs in this area ideal for reaching the Enemy Forces Mythic Plus objective. Killing everyone should be worthwhile. An optimal route would be to advance in clockwise order, beginning with the northeastern groups. Experienced parties can handle two non-Soulharvester groups at a time. After beating the final Soulharvester in the northwest, heroes can activate the bosses and beat the last northwestern group while they talk.

Teera and Maruuk Boss Fight Tips

This encounter consists of two bosses. They have a shared health pool and separate energy bars. Teera’s energy bar starts off half-full. Once it is filled, she targets four random non-tank party members with Gale Arrow, which deals Nature damage and spawns four Gale Tornadoes. Those hazards move around the boss arena, damaging and knocking back adventurers before returning to where they were spawned. Maruuk’s energy bar is initially empty. When it fills up, he uses Earthsplitter, which breaks up the earth in the direction of the players, dealing area-of-effect Physical damage.

Each boss has several other abilities. Teera moves around the arena using Spirit Leap and fires with Quick Shot at random heroes, causing unavoidable single-target damage. Repel lets her push adventurers away from Maruuk. It is followed shortly by Guardian Wind, which pushes them further if not interrupted. Maruuk has Brutalize, a simple but devastating single-target Physical attack aimed at tanks. Frightful Roar inflicts both Shadow damage and the fear effect on characters inside 15 yards of Maruuk. On Mythic difficulty and higher, both bosses grow gradually stronger when more than 20 yards away from each other.

Overall, this is a relatively easy fight, so long as players do not lose track of the dangers:

• Tanks must do everything feasible to keep the bosses close together. That both blocks their damage buff on separation mechanic and exposes them to cleave attacks, which are particularly effective thanks to their shared health and damage. Whenever Spirit Leap is used, the tank should scramble to bring Maruuk to Teera;
• Gale Arrow gives players a few seconds in which to react. They should move as far away from the bosses as they can to keep the tornadoes out of the way;
• Similarly, Earthsplitter’s activation is delayed by two seconds, giving players a chance to get out of the way of the fissures or else activate Physical protection;
• Frightful Roar can badly disrupt the party’s battle plan, so players should be prepared to either run away from it or counter it with anti anti-fear abilities;
• Healers must keep all their allies at least above half health to avoid sudden deaths caused by random attack abilities. Players who do find themselves below half health should activate their own defensive powers;
• Guardian Wind can be interrupted, and the pushback effect could be negated using gap-closing abilities.

Mobs near Balakar Khan

As already mentioned, heroes cannot simply drop in on Balakar Khan’s location to begin the boss fight due to a damaging storm effect that prevents flight. They have to go through or around the mobs in the way. Nokhud Warspears make another appearance here. Other noteworthy foes start with Thunderfists, whose random Storm Shock effect combines immediate and gradual damage. Houndsmen inflict unavoidable damage with their ranged attacks and mark targets for hounds to pursue, adding damage per hound. Defenders induce fear and cause Shadow damage. The last two mobs on the way to Balakar Khan are mini-bosses, Batak and Balara. Batak stomps the ground in a cone, while Balara chucks spears and charges the heroes.

After clearing up the previous area, there should be no need to fight most mobs for the sake of the Enemy Forces counter. Nor is it necessary to defeat any of them to fight Balakar Khan. They are not especially dangerous, but fighting them is a drain on time and resources. Most foes can be avoided by jumping over gaps in fences on either left or right from the forced landing area. With stealth, the mini-bosses can be evaded as well. If players choose to fight instead, interrupting the previously mentioned abilities is key to victory over most mobs. If Batak or Balara outlives the other mini-boss, the survivor gets a damage and speed buff, so beating them roughly simultaneously is preferred.

Balakar Khan Boss Fight Tips

The fight with Balakar Khan consists of two phases, broken up by an intermission. In the first phase, the boss throws his Iron Spear at random targets, damaging and knocking back everyone nearby. This is followed by the Iron Stampede, in which the Khan tramples everyone between him and his spear, doing more damage and knocking them away. Additionally, he uses Rending Strikes and Savage Strikes. The former induce bleeding and make the latter much more damaging. The occasional Upheaval knocks back and damages every adventurer near a random target. On Mythic difficulty and higher, Upheaval also sets off localized Quakes that cause area-of-effect damage

Upon reaching the 60% health threshold, Balakar Khan temporarily retreats, leaving the fight to his four Nokhud Stormcaster allies. While they are up, all characters will receive a steady uptick of damage from the Stormwinds effect. They also target random enemies with stormbolts. Once they are defeated, Balakar Khan returns with some updated powers. Conductive Strikes cause Nature damage both immediately and over time, and multiplies the harm caused by the Thunder Strikes melee attack. Static Spear improves upon Iron Spear with greater Nature damage causes and the ability to drag nearby heroes closer to it. Finally, the Crackling Upheaval simply switches Upheaval’s damage to Nature.

After all the effort required to reach Balakar Khan, the boss himself is comparatively simple. However, players should not get complacent while dealing with this opponent:

• The Stormcaster interlude should be resolved as fast as possible to lift Stormwinds. Various crowd control powers can interrupt Storm Bolt attacks. Afterwards, they should be put down, ideally by bringing them close together and using cleave abilities;
• Threatened characters should activate defensive or mitigation abilities just before Rending/Conductive Strikes are landed, helping them withstand the punishment;
• Conductive Strikes could and should be dispelled as fast as possible, before their effects can be exploited by lesser foes;
• By staying near walls during the fight, characters can ensure Balakar Khan does not get far away from them during Stampedes, extending the timeframe in which they can attack him. That would also make it easier for heroes to escape the victim’s Static Spear pull;
• Healers should be ready for mass healing by the start of the intermission;
• In general, make sure to avoid elemental pools that appear around the intermission or later.