How to Beat Ulgrax the Devourer in WoW: The War Within

Ulgrax the Devourer is the first boss your raid group will encounter in WoW‘s Nerub-ar Palace, and while his mechanics are fairly simple there’s still room for instant-kills if you aren’t prepared. So whether you’re dipping your toes into raid finder, or pushing Heroic with a guild, here’s how to beat Ulgrax the Devourer in World of Warcraft: The War Within.

How to beat Phase 1 of Ulgrax the Devourer in Nerub-ar Palace

As the first raid boss in WoW: The War Within, Ulgrax isn’t too complicated to start out with. Tanks will need to swap after he casts Brutal Crush, as it has a large healing reduction debuff that needs to drop off. Meanwhile, Healers will want to watch out for the Raid-wide damage from Venomous Lash and the spike from the tank-buster. Damage-Dealers will need to avoid the webs he spews, which will end up covering a lot of the arena. He will also occaisionally cast Digestive Acid on several players, which deals damage over time and an area-of-effect burst when it ends, but the good news is that this also dissolves any webs caught in the area too. Use this to keep the area around the boss as clear as possible but try not to catch your allies in the blast.

The other big mechanic to watch out for is called Carnivorous Contest, where Ulgrax will mark a member of your WoW raid, before dealing damage to them and anyone nearby and pulling them towards him. Anyone pulled too close is killed instantly, but you can soak the damage and dilute the strength of his pull by gathering more players around the marked target. Get enough nearby and the damage and pull will be negligible.

How to beat Phase 2 of Ulgrax the Devourer in Nerub-ar Palace

Keep an eye on the energy bar underneath Ulgrax’s health, when it hits 0 he will switch to his second phase. He’ll begin by jumping to the center of the arena, which you’ll want to avoid in order to reduce damage but don’t get so far away that the knockback effect of this attack sends you flying off the platform.

From there, he will begin summoning beetles that must be killed quickly, while your WoW group avoids Ulgrax charging across the arena. You’ll know where he’s going to charge from from the large portals that appear, so make sure to stay out of the way of their path. Once he’s all tuckered out from his run, Ulgrax will return to the arena and begin casting raid-wide damage until he is fed. You’ll need everyone in your raid to grab the beetle carcasses from the mobs you’ve just killed, then run up to the boss and hit the extra action button to feed it to him. Each beetle fed restores some of his energy, and at 100% he will return to phase 1. Repeat until Ulgrax is defeated and your loot is obtained!

If you enjoyed this guide or found it useful, feel free to check out some of Siliconera’s other guides on How to Use the Catalyst to upgrade armor to tier sets, or How to get Rewards from the Great Vault.

World of Warcraft and The War Within expansion are immediately available on PC and Mac.