It’s literally impossible to beat the mage tower. I’ve done around 100 tries and still nothing it’s too many adds spawning all at once and then the infernal a overlap even if I kill one another one spawns and wrecks the hell out of the npc it’s always spawned on top of Velen for some stupid reason. Several times I’ve gotten the first boss down with its million adds spawning all at once all casting some crap and not enough interrupts or heals before you get rocked. Once the first boss is down i had one infernal almost dead and out of nowhere 2 more spawned man is that all casting the knock off spell meanwhile gotta worry about being pushed out by the eyes and velen getting killed and wiping, then more and more adds spawning very suffocating mode. Geared towards the 2%? Cuz I haven’t seen squat with the skin other than 5-8 people on illidan. That challenge needs a serious rework, I get it it’s supposed to be a “challenge” but the way it’s set up it’s beyond stupid overlapping adds on top of adds not enough cds or interrupts or any of that crap man it’s annoying.
the Feral mage tower is easy if you wanna get the transmog and not the bear form
What build are you running, out of curiosity? I took a handful of tries a few months ago before I had some nice trinkets (windscar, granyths) and I didn’t get it done. However, when 10.0.7 hit, I put on the ring from Forbiddden Reach, leaned hard into a Moonfire-based build, and just kinda ran in a circle around the phase1 boss while pressing moonfire repeatedly on every new mob, interrupting Drain Life with Skull bash, and interrupting the 4 mobs with Incap Roar. I ended up doing it in like 4 tries (phase2 isn’t that bad if you rotate defensive CDs).
If you’re getting overwhelmed, perhaps switch your build to a super heavy Moonfire build and (just for fun/practice) see how long you can live if you press nothing but moonfire, Skull Bash (drain life), and Incap Roar (the 4 casters that come out simultaneously). Just repeatedly run in a circle around the caster boss nonstop and moonfire anything that isn’t dead. I think you’ll surprise yourself.
Post your build and maybe we can help you refine it. I did the MT back in Legion and again last week. I found the current instantiation much easier than it was when I did it in Legion (it got easier as the expansion went on though as gear improved, I finished it on the earlier side).
I played around with builds a little bit and found that putting points into all the arcane stuff so my moonfires were hammering made things pretty easy. Rush in and spam abilities till you hit like 5-6 stacks of the debuff. Drop out to let it fall off. Go back in when they drop off, spam moonfire in the meantime.
Moonfire each eye that pops up, one hit of an empowered one from GG proc will take it out, might take 2 hits from a regular moonfire. Use incap roar when the 4 adds spawn and are casting and just mangle/thrash them down, should die super fast. Moonfire spam on the big infernal and dance around a bit while still focusing the 1st boss.
Use Typhoon to interrupt the lifesteal so you don’t have to go in if your stacks are high.
I was able to finish phase 1 with only one infernal spawned without much difficulty. Then its just a matter of pop all your CDs, (pot, drums, incarn if its up, ROTS, etc) and burn the boss hard. Just drop moonfires on anything else that comes up while focusing boss, incap roar the 4 adds and thrash them down, dance around the infernal smash while moonfire dotting it.
As long as you catch all the reflective somthing casts so the boss doesn’t heal up off melees or immediately clear it with a Velen stun if you miss one, its not too deadly. Take the 2 charges of Survival Instincts talent in case you need a second round of CDs to finish off the last 1-3% after you get to 3 stacks.
Pretty much it. It takes a few runs to get the dodge mechanics down and get a feel for the timing, but I had 3 more Velen stuns up and available when I killed it this time around, so its extremely doable for the majority of players. Just stay patient, take note of what killed you and why, then try to fix it for next time.
Based on your comments, without seeing your build or anything else, I’d guess your biggest problem is DPS. You don’t get any extra infernals in the 2nd phase, just respawns of the ones from phase 1, so if you’ve got 3 infernals coming up, that means you were in phase 1 a really long time. Its possible to get out of phase 1 with just 1 infernal meaning that’s the only one you have to deal with through all of phase 2 also. Same with the 4 adds and eyes, those things should pretty much just melt and be a non-issue.
You just need to keep at it, It took me about 200 tries - but I got it.
No special build, no pots , no special gear ETC.
At some point you just get good at it cause you did it so many times.
One trick that did help a lot though is keeping as many orbs as possibly for Phase two - the orbs really help as they stun and Heal you to full. They also help delay eating those Annihilates. I ignore the infernals completely and just stay out of their smash. They eventually die off with little input from you - also one less thing to worry about and damage.
Build wise I will say the Rage of the sleeper is very good for the mage tower.
Just keep at it - you will get it trust me
Oh man you should see some people. Took other hundreds upon hundreds of tries.
Even saw 1 dude in the thousands, but that was back before the nerfs too it.
Just get some of the old gear like the seethe gaze trinket and dragonling, the gaze trinket nukes the infernals and the dragonling just does a good chunk of dmg.
The most frustrating part is the youtubers who say “It’s so easy. Easiest thing I’ve ever done”. It’s not. It’s very challenging for us normal players. I think they’re just flexing. It took me over 100 tries. Just keep trying.
It is very frustrating. Not all of us have the nerve to complete things like this. I’m really not as young as I used to be and this sort of solo challenge just feels like a slap in the face.
I really, really wouldn’t mind a consolation prize for those of us without the nerve to do this again and still have PTSD from the last time.
This sort of thing does separate people. Even if everyone doesn’t judge you for not being “good enough” at your class to acquire it you still have the constant reminder and regret.
I play games for fun and relaxation, not stress and competition.
I know it sounds too serious but at the end of the day we just want to feel at least satisfied with what we’ve purchased.
(no more mage tower anything, please)
Is it easier or Harder since shadowlands? I imagine its easier? with the DF talent trees. Altho I have no desire to go back in there to find out. One and done.
Here is my take for those struggling. Drop some gold buy some twink gear (items with the most sockets possible)/Agi Gems/Enchants and Consumables. The Higher your DPS is the quicker the fight, less mechanics you have to deal with…easier fight.
I dont want to be mean, but this feels like a troll post. The current mage tower is much easier than it has been. It is a pure mechanics and dps fight. You have to just do things right.
Run galactic guardian build. Get a couple DPS, on Proc on DMG trinkets.
Two moonfires should kill each eye.
Incap Roar the Netherspite adds when they begin to cast their channel.
Use your bash or typhoon on verris when he casts drain life.
Dont let your stacks go over 5.
Always be doing Damage. When you run out of the circle to clear debuffs, spam moonfire.
Ignore DPS to infernals.
Phase 2. You get no more eyes. Kite Kruul in a slow circle to avoid punts.
Do the same Nether Spite Mechanic.
DPS Focus the Boss.
Know what mitigation rotation you are using.
Stun or typhoon casts of annihilation to reset the cast and give your more self time to cast.
USE ORBS To give yourself breathing room and stun casts of annihilation.
The fight is designed for you to have just enough interrupts, knockbacks, and stuns to handle everything.
Watch the videos on the fight. Learn it. You have to progress it.
And what I mean by progress it, is learn it bit by bit. You seem like you are getting overwhelmed by the fight. You need to just master each little bit. Then go a little further each time. You arent going to beat Kruul, until you can get through Varris 90% of the time with 1-2 Infernals up.
There are some good tips in here, like focusing on a moonfire build, but I’ll throw mine out there that made a difference for me:
- Use DBM if you’re not already. It really helps with tracking the drain life, eye spawns, and the second boss’s casts. You should be able to play with the config to help you focus on the parts you are struggling with if DBM is throwing too much information at you.
- Don’t bother doing damage to the infernals, they kill themselves with their aoe. Just keep them at range and moonfire them a couple times. Once I realized I didn’t have to tank them it got a lot easier
- Take out the eyes quickly to reduce the number of knockbacks.
- Don’t bother doing melee damage to the boss in phase 1, just moonfire and take your time. Consider doing damage in moonkin form with heart of the wild in between adds.
- Focus the boss and write macro to use skull bash on focus if you’re struggling with target switching
- Save as many CD’s as you can for phase 2, keep your health high with frenzied regen, and try to keep at least 2 healing orbs available when phase 2 starts. Between berserk, rage of the sleeper, barkskin, survival instincts, and the healing orbs, you should be able to survive the hard hits in phase 2.
- Gear helps some but I was able to manage with gear from quests, it wasn’t easy though.
Even if you don’t succeed, the encounter is just good practice for high key mythics as a tank. It teaches a lot about interrupting, proper positioning, and timing defensive cooldowns. It’s an extremely frustrating challenge but it feels good when you finally finish it.
I’ve only tried it about 30-40 times. I’ve had 10-12 <6% attempts. What made me stop was every one of those close attempts was trashed due to pure (bad) luck, like adds spawning on top of me and insta-knock back, or going for an orb and the add spawning between me and orbs, or jumping 4-6 times and still not getting over the bar.
It stopped being a skill check and was just RNG stopping me. Not cool or fun.
I could not do this for the life of me but finally did in dragon flight. Only special gear I had was pod trinket. Definitely doable now in dragon flight. Save orbs till end. I YouTubed a guide for build and got it in a couple days after only being able to get past first phase pre dragon flight. Good luck bud
For me it was more about dmg than defense. I took as many dmg talents as I could and used dmg trinkets. The other thing is to really manage cooldowns, and even manage spawns. What helped me was timing the infernals dying then pushing to the second boss phase right after, so they stay down a little while you focus the boss. Also save as many interrupting orbs for the second phase as you can. And you HAVE to interrupt every heal, no matter what.
I couldn’t get it down in SL either. Got really close (like 3%-5% wipe) but the effort to get there was immense and burned me out. I was really struggling to get into P2 with less than 3 infernals, even my good attempts I typically had 3. Haven’t made a DF attempt, but very optimistic with the talent tree and some potential from DF trinkets and items as well as the older gear I’ve already collected like the pod trinket.
[Edit] I’m curious to see if Untamed Savagery (Thrash +25 range) with 2 pt Astral Influence (all abilities +6 yd range) gives bears the range to stay outside the P1 pool and still thrash maintain, which was the Legion strat.
Unnecessary now with how much healing we can do. You can just go in and get 6-7 stacks of the debuff while melee’ing and mauling Varizz and then run out and drop debuff for little adds and rinse and repeat.
Lot faster this way
Good to know. I plan on making some attempts while waiting for 10.1
I’ll play around with a few specs based on the feedback in this thread.
i understand your frustration 
but i kinda beat it in like 7 tries on guardian druid. Do note that i tried this boss before on my DH and monk like maybe 10 times before (long time ago), after that i gave up. Later, out of boredom i was checking out some runs on youtube and the other day i decided to main druid on 10.1, so i leveled a druid from 1 to 70 in 2 days.
Next day, went to do some emerald nightmare runs to get the seed trinket from the first boss and also made a macro to auto starfire the eyes, got some cheap food, enchants and vers elixir from DF expac. That’s it, 5-7 tries and boom, done.
Just know your rotations and enemy rotations. Ignore the infernals, move clockwise around them, use starfire macro to auto starfire the eyes when they spawn, they only need like 1-2 beams. Guardian druid is the easiest to do MT with compared to DH and Monk tanks.
Do you guys think its worth it to make a full dreadful crafted gear setup or just go at it with DF gear?
Im about to start attempts at this tomorrow on my day off.
I did the feral and balance challenges in legion - not the guardian one. I did do the tank challenge in legion on my paladin - so was familiar with the fight
I did it in normal DF gear, and before I had all the primal gear upgrades. It took probably 50 tries, and it can be frustrating even when familiar with the mechanics from legion
Biggest thing I found that helped me was saving all the orbs for P2, and being proactive with them - having all your damage cds and drums up for P2, and transitioning well - making sure you push the phase change with no infernals active
Like I said it can be frustrating, but once you have enough tries in to where you are getting to P2 easily and cleanly it goes quickly from then. Guardian has never been a spec I played much but I did want the skin so decided to put the effort in
All having the DBM add on for Mage Tower helps a ton