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World of Warcraft: Dragonflight
Related
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Honkai: Star Rail - Every Playable Character's Age, Height, Path And Element
Quick Links
Dragonriding Is Important
Granyth Trash
Granyth
The Raging Tempest Trash
The Raging Tempest
Teera And Maruuk Trash
Teera And Maruuk
Balakar Khan Trash
Balakar Khan
The Nokhud Offensive is one of the main dungeons in World of Warcraft: Dragonflight, featured after the story of the Ohn’ahran Plains is completed. You will be asked to delve into an instanced version of the entire zone to participate in the broiling centaur wars.
Related: World Of Warcraft: Dragonflight - The Azure Vault Complete Dungeon Walkthrough
However, this dungeon is unique for a few different reasons. Unlike the vast majority of the other dungeons, which push you along a linear indoor gauntlet of enemies, this one is as big as the zone itself and showcases dragonriding to get around. It can be confusing, but this guide will teach you everything there is to know about The Nokhud Offensive.
Updated on 31 January 2023 by Alex Ferriday: With Mythic Plus being such a focus for Dragonflight, this guide has been updated to include Mythic Plus tips and strategies and now includes all trash enemies you will need to fight during a key.
Dragonriding Is Important
While there have been a few instances in WoW’s history that encompass big portions of zones, like Old Hillsbrad Foothills or The Culling of Stratholme, none are quite as massive as this. No longer will you be bound to your feet, but instead, you’ll be free to soar the skies of the dungeon on your dragonriding mount.
Although this freedom is confusing at first, you’ll still be given a clear indicator of where to go by way of wind vortexes in the sky. When your dragon enters one, you’ll be given a small boost to stay in the air, pushing you in the right direction.
Your dragonriding mount is also useful when it comes to dodging mob packs. For the majority of the zone, you can hop around key areas and avoid pulling useless trash packs as long as you’re careful, helping to move the dungeon along that much quicker.
Granyth Trash
Upon spawning into the dungeon at Maruukai, you’ll want to mount up and follow the wind vortexes to the east. It’s a rather short flight to the area of Battle of Spears, where Shikaar and Nokhud centaurs are waging war over control of the Dragonkiller Lances. Your objective here is to help the Shikaar take back all four Dragonkiller Lances. There are several tough packs guarding each one, along with others patrolling the areas in between.
On Fortified M+ weeks, you will want to land at the Eastern side of this section, and use Heroism/Bloodlust to defeat the large eight-mob patrol.
Enemy | Ability | Description | Strategy |
|---|---|---|---|
Nokhud Plainstomper x2 | War Stomp | It Stuns for three seconds and deals large Physical damage to all players in a radius. | Can be difficult to see with multiple enemies around, so play safe and move out a fair distance. |
Disruptive Shout | Cast that inflicts Physical damage interrupts spellcasts for six seconds. | Your priority interrupt, the cast time is long so you can wait until the very end for maximum downtime on this enemy. | |
Nokhud Warspear x6 | Swift Stab | Charges at the current aggro target, dealing Physical damage and applying an eight-second Bleed. | Nasty Bleed, so try to apply large heals to your Tank whilst this mob is alive. |
Pierce | Applies a stacking Bleed to the current target. | These mobs can be kited to prevent too many Bleed stacks from building up. | |
Nokhud Beastmaster x3 | Hunter's Mark | Marks a random player for their War Ohuna to focus. | Stunning this cast will prevent the War Ohuna from targeting a non-tank player, although it will be recast until successfully applied. |
Hunt Prey | Increases the damage of their War Ohuna by 200 percent. | Try to kill the War Ohuna before this becomes a problem, otherwise make sure to kite the bird if you are fixated. | |
War Ohuna x3 | None | N/A | The lowest health enemy in these packs, try to get rid of them quickly, so they cannot fixate onto a DPS or healer. |
| | |||
Nokhud Hornsounder x4 | Shoot | Fires at a random player, dealing low Physical damage. | Annoying random damage that has no real counterplay except crowd-controlling this enemy. |
Rally The Clan | Increases all nearby enemies' Physical damage by 50 percent for 12 seconds. | Use crowd control to prevent this cast from going off, else you can try your best to Soothe the Enrage effect from the enemies. | |
Nokhud Longbow x7 | Multi-Shot | Blasts all players in a frontal cone for low Physical damage. | Try to keep these enemies grouped up with the melees, to keep this cone aimed only towards the Tank. |
Rain of Arrows | Fires a barrage of arrows around themselves that inflicts Physical damage to players standing where they fall. | The arrows are indicated by small brown swirlies, so keep on the move once this cast has begun. | |
Shoot | Fires at a random player, dealing low Physical damage. | Annoying random damage that has no real counterplay except crowd-controlling this enemy. | |
Nokhud Lancemaster x3 | Cleaving Strikes | Auto attacks cleave, striking all players in a frontal radius. | Melee DPS should watch out for these enemies, and stay behind them at all times. |
Disruptive Shout | Cast that inflicts Physical damage interrupts spellcasts for six seconds. | Your priority interrupt, the cast time is long so you can wait until the very end for maximum downtime on this enemy. | |
War Stomp | It Stuns for three seconds and deals large Physical damage to all players in a radius. | Can be difficult to see with multiple enemies around, so play safe and move out a fair distance. | |
Granyth
Once all four Lances are back under the control of the Shikaar, Granyth will appear and land in the centre of the liberated Lances. His fight mostly consists of tanking and heal checks, but his Eruption mechanic is important.
Difficulty | Mechanic | Description |
|---|---|---|
All | Eruption | A channelled ability that is used once Granyth reaches 100 energy. It will deal a set amount of damage to all players every three seconds. |
All | Tectonic Stomp | Granyth rampages to deal a set amount of damage and knock away any player within 20 yards. |
All | Shards of Stone | Granyth does a set amount of unavoidable damage to all players within 60 yards. |
Mythic / Mythic+ | Nokhud Saboteur | An add that spawns randomly and ignores players to attempt to disable one of the Dragonkiller Lances around the boss arena. |
Once all four Lances are back under the control of the Shikaar, Granyth will appear and land in the centre of the liberated Lances. His fight mostly consists of tanking and heal checks, but his Eruption mechanic is important.
When Granyth reaches full energy, he will begin to cast Eruption, which deals continuous damage to the entire party the longer it’s channelled. This will wipe the party if it’s not properly dealt with. As soon as he begins his cast, run to one of the Dragonkiller Lances and instruct a Shikaar Lancer to fire at Granyth. Doing this will stun him for five seconds and deal a portion of his maximum health.
However, you must remember that the Dragonkiller Lance takes time to recharge, and using one while Eruption isn’t up can cost you. Keep in mind that Nokhud Saboteurswill attempt to dismantle the Lances on Mythic difficulty and have to be killed to keep them safe.
Loot
Slot | Name | Relevant Classes |
|---|---|---|
Weapon | Death Knight, Paladin, Warrior | |
Head | Rogue, Druid, Monk, Demon Hunter | |
Shoulder | Mage, Warlock, Priest | |
Wrist | Hunter, Shaman, Evoker | |
Legs | Warrior, Paladin, Death Knight | |
Trinket | Tanks |
The Raging Tempest Trash
Upon Granyth’s defeat, mount up and find the swirling vortexes once again to the south. Here, you’ll follow along an ascending path to reach your next key area, the Ohn’iri Springs.
The mechanics of dealing with the mobs here follow in the same vein as before. Four totems are attempting to summon the boss, and you’ll have to dispatch each mob pack standing on top of the totem.
Once again, there will be patrols of mobs in between each totem. However, instead of avoiding all of them, you’ll want to take out the packs that circle the centre of the boss arena, as they can assist the boss during the fight.
Enemy | Ability | Description | Strategy |
|---|---|---|---|
Stormcaller x4 | Stormbolt | Cast that fires a bolt of Nature damage at a random player. | Interrupt as many of these as possible, as they deal exceptionally high damage on Fortified M+ weeks. |
Totemic Overload | Overloads a nearby Stormsurge Totem, dealing Nature damage to all players. | Nuke down the Stormsurge Totem to prevent this cast from chunking your group. | |
Primalist Arcblade x5 | Arcing Strike | Hits the Tank for Nature damage and causes 25 percent of it to be replicated to the closest nearby player within six yards. | Try not to be standing close to the Tank when this mob is alive. |
Stormsurge Totem x4 | Stormsurge | Upon death, deals high Nature damage to players within six yards and leaves behind a pool of lightning, which deals light ticking damage. | Don't stand on the totem when it is killed. |
Surge of Power | Releases multiple balls of lightning, which deal low Nature damage to players but provide a stacking five percent damage and healing buff. | Pick up these balls to help you bring down these packs a bit faster. It is also good practice for the upcoming boss. | |
Primalist Thunderbeast x1 | Chain Lightning | Fires a bolt of lightning at a random player, which bounces to another if they are within ten yards. | Stay spread out when this cast is coming in, to prevent multiple people from being hit by its effect. |
Thunderstrike | Cast that deals high Nature damage to all players. | Interrupt this every time, as you do not want to be taking avoidable damage during these packs. | |
Thunder Clap | Slams nearby players for Nature damage and reduces their movement speed by 30 percent for ten seconds. | Stay well away from this enemy or run out of melee range once you see this cast begin. | |
Primalist Stormshield x3 | Stormshield | Applies a 25 percent health shield to itself, which explodes for Nature damage if it is allowed to expire. | This shield should naturally be destroyed from cleaving, but otherwise, you can Purge it off without triggering the explosion. |
Lightning Cudgel | Passive that causes this mob's melee attacks to deal additional Nature damage. | Keep these enemies stunned to lower the damage your Tank will be taking. | |
Primal Gust x4 | Swirling Gusts | A 100 percent health shield. | Purging these shields will allow you to instantly kill these enemies. |
Primalist Stormspeaker x3 | Tempest | Channels a storm that applies a stacking Nature DoT to all players. | Interrupt this immediately, as this can easily prove fatal if left unchecked. |
Stormbolt | Cast that fires a bolt of Nature damage at a random player. | Interrupt as many of these as possible, as they deal exceptionally high damage on Fortified M+ weeks. | |
Summon Squall | Spawns an Unstable Squall to aid them. | Try to stun them out of this cast to reduce the number of enemies. | |
Unstable Squall x3 | Surge | Deals Nature damage to the Tank and reduces their maximum health by ten percent. | These mobs have low health so try to cleave them down quickly. |
Violent Dispersion | Deals low Nature damage to all players when killed. | Not usually something to worry about. |
The Raging Tempest
Difficulty | Mechanic | Description |
|---|---|---|
All | Uncontrollable Energy | The Raging Tempest conjures orbs around the boss arena. Running into these orbs will hurt the party, but also increase their damage and healing by five percent for 18 seconds, which can stack. |
All | Electrical Storm | Upon reaching 100 energy, The Raging Tempest will deal a set amount of damage to all players every half a second for 15 seconds. |
All | Lightning Strike | The Raging Tempest will deal a set amount of damage to any player within 15 yards. |
All | Energy Surge | The Raging Tempest empowers itself, granting it 100 percent increased attack speed for eight seconds and dealing more damage. |
All | Wind Burst | If there are no players within melee range, The Raging Tempest will deal increased damage to its target. |
All | The Raging Tempest | If any player is standing directly beneath The Raging Tempest, they take a set amount of damage every second until they move. |
After the totems have been dealt with, The Raging Tempest will spawn in the centre of the arena, just as Granyth did. He is a strong healing check, so be prepared to use your cooldowns to stay alive.
When The Raging Tempest reachesfull energy, be sure to pop any defensive cooldowns that you may have to soak up the unavoidable damage from Electrical Storm and assist your healer.
If you’re tanking, you have to stay as close to the boss as you can. While it might be tempting to run out of melee range when the boss uses Energy Surge, if you do, it will immediately begin to use Wind Burst, making you take much more damage than you would otherwise.
You can also run yourself into the lightning orbs around the arena for a temporary boost in damage and healing. Keep in mind that you’ll take damage at the same time, so take care not to stack too many at once.
Finally, don’t stack right on top of the boss. If you do, you’ll take unnecessary damage and jeopardize the team by pulling the healer’s attention away from the rest of the fight.
Loot
Slot | Name | Relevant Classes |
|---|---|---|
Weapon | Druid, Mage, Priest, Warlock, Shaman | |
Weapon | Death Knight, Paladin, Warrior | |
Wrist | Warrior, Paladin, Death Knight | |
Ring | All | |
Trinket | Rogue, Hunter, Shaman, Druid, Demon Hunter |
Related: World of Warcraft: Dragonflight - Algeth'ar Academy Complete Dungeon Walkthrough
Teera And Maruuk Trash
After The Raging Tempest is downed, hop on your mount and seek the wind vortexes to the east. You can ride them to The Eternal Kurgans, where packs of necromancers are standing on each of the burial mounds.
There will be four main mob packs that you’ll have to defeat to progress to the boss. Your goal here is to farm up to 94 percent M+ trash count, as you should only plan to kill two more trash enemies after this section. Therefore, you will take a few of the patrolling packs surrounding the burial mounds.
Enemy | Ability | Description | Strategy |
|---|---|---|---|
Soulharvesters x4 | Harvest Soul | Harvests the souls of dead enemies around them, empowering the damage of all their abilities for each one that has died. | These enemies should be your priority target, but they also have the most health. Try to nuke them down along with the rest of the pack to prevent them from getting too many stacks. |
Death Bolt Volley | Cast that deals Shadow damage to all players. | Interrupt this. | |
Shatter Soul | Shatters three random players' souls, reducing their damage done by 30 percent until they have recollected them. | Your soul will land in a random spot nearby and glow white, so run over to it as quickly as possible. | |
Ukhel Deathspeaker x7 | Grasp of the Dead | Applies a Curse on two random players, that deals Shadow damage and roots them after six seconds. | Either Decurse this or use spells such as Tiger's Lust to cleanse the root. |
Chant of the Dead | Long cast that deals Shadow damage to players, increases the damage dealt, and reduces damage taken of nearby enemies in a ten-yard radius. | Try to drag the other enemies away from this cast, as otherwise, they can scale out of control with the buff. It is also possible to Soothe the Enrage effect. | |
Risen Warrior x9 | Mortal Strike | Deals Physical damage to the current target and reduces healing taken by 30 percent for six seconds. | A good time to start kiting, or try to stun the mob to prevent this from being applied. |
Risen Mystic x8 | Swift Wind | Increases the Haste of nearby enemies for ten seconds. | Apply hard crowd control to prevent this from going off, or Purge it from the enemies. |
Desecrated Ohuna x5 | Rotting Wind | It Inflicts high Shadow damage in a frontal cone, which also reduces healing received by 20 percent for ten seconds. | Dodge to the side, but can be quite difficult to see the white reticule among the packs of enemies. |
Ukhel Corruptor x7 | Death Bolt | Cast that deals Shadow damage to a random player. | Interrupt this as much as possible, to reduce the group's damage taken. |
Necrotic Eruption | Long channel that causes multiple necrotic orbs to spawn at player locations. These explode for high Shadow damage. | Stay on the move or stun the mob out of this cast. There is a small delay between the green orbs appearing and the explosion, so you should have time to dodge. |
Teera And Maruuk
Difficulty | Mechanic | Description |
|---|---|---|
Mythic / Mythic+ | Ancestral Bond | If Teera and Maruuk are separated by more than ten yards, they each enrage to deal an increasing ten percent damage increase every second until they’re reunited. |
All | Gale Arrow | Once Teera reaches 100 energy, she deals a set amount of damage to every player and causes four tornadoes to spawn at their locations, which roam around the battlefield and deal further damage and knockback. |
All | Repel / Guardian Wind | Teera uses the wind to push the party back from Maruuk. |
All | Quick Shot | Teera deals a set amount of damage to a random player. |
All | Spirit Leap | Teera bounds away to another location. |
All | Earthsplitter | Once Maruuk reaches 100 energy, he deals high damage in a straight line to his target after a small delay. |
Mythic / Mythic+ | Aftershock | The ground that was affected by Earthsplitter continues to deal damage for another five seconds and slows anyone in its path by 30 percent. |
All | Frightful Roar | Maruuk deals a set amount of damage to anyone within 15 yards and fears them for five seconds. |
All | Brutalize | Maruuk deals a high amount of damage to his current target. |
Once all the main necromancer packs have been dealt with, Teera and Maruuk spawn at the back of The Eternal Kurgans and fight in tandem to bring the party down.
This fight requires all members to constantly be on the move. Gale Arrow and Earthsplitter deal more than enough damage to wipe anyone that’s standing still, and you’ll have to navigate around the wandering tornadoes while the tank must face Maruuk away from the rest of the party to negate Earthsplitter from hitting anyone else.
Teera and Maruuk are particularly brutal on Mythic difficulty. With their Ancestral Bond mechanic, you have to strive to keep the two of them as close together as you can. However, the fears from Frightful Roar, the knockback from Guardian Wind, and the constant jumping from Spirit Leap tend to make managing this difficult.
Loot
Slot | Name | Relevant Classes |
|---|---|---|
Weapon | Hunter | |
Neck | All | |
Chest | Rogue, Druid, Monk, Demon Hunter | |
Trinket | Mage, Druid, Warlock, Priest, Evoker | |
Trinket | Warrior, Death Knight, Paladin | |
Trinket | Healers |
Balakar Khan Trash
After Teera and Maruuk are redeemed, take to the skies one last time and head north toNokhudon Hold, where the final boss awaits. You’ll want to land at the Southwe Western edge of the hold, as this allows you to skip nearly all the trash mobs on your way to the final boss.
You only need to kill the two mini-bosses preceding Balakar Khan, as they will pull along with him. Once either has died they will empower the other with increased Physical damage and Haste, so try to bring them down at a similar time, and watch out for Balara accidentally pulling the boss with their charge.
Enemy | Ability | Description | Strategy |
|---|---|---|---|
Batak x1 | Bloodcurdling Shout | Cast that deals large Shadow damage to and fears all players for six seconds. | It is imperative to interrupt this, or else you risk ninja pulling extra packs or even the boss itself. |
Broad Stomp | Smashes the ground in a frontal cone, dealing large Physical damage. | Just dodge to the side. | |
Balara x1 | Vehement Charge | Charges towards a random player, dealing large Physical damage and knocking back any players caught. | Keep an eye on the direction this mob is facing, and try to bait this charge into the nearby wall, or anywhere else that is well away from Balakar Khan. |
Ravaging Spear | Throws a spear at a random player's location, dealing Physical damage to any player standing in the blast. | Easy enough to dodge, the reticule is not particularly large. |
Balakar Khan
Difficulty | Mechanic | Description |
|---|---|---|
Phase One | ||
All | Iron Spear | Balakar Khan throws his spear at a player, dealing a set amount of damage to them and surrounding players before knocking them back. |
All | Iron Stampede | Balakar Khan charges with his spear, dealing damage to anyone in his path and knocking them back. |
All | Rending Strike | Balakar Khan deals a set amount of damage and inflicts a bleed for a tick of damage every second for ten seconds, and increases the damage of Savage Strike by 500 percent. |
All | Savage Strike | Balakar Khan deals a set amount of damage to his current target. |
Intermission | ||
| | ||
All | Nokhud Stormcaster | Four Stormcasters channel Storm Bolts that deal a set amount of damage. |
All | Stormwinds | Winds emanate from Balakar Khan’s position to deal damage every half a second and push players away. |
All | Lightning | Lightning strikes random spots on the ground for a set amount of damage. |
Phase Two | ||
All | Static Spear | Balakar Khan throws his spear at a player, dealing damage to them and the surrounding players. It then deals damage to the entire party and pulls them to the spear’s location. |
All | Iron Stampede | Balakar Khan charges with his spear, dealing damage to anyone in his path and knocking them back. |
All | Conductive Strike | Balakar Khan deals a set amount of damage and inflicts a bleed for a tick of damage every second for ten seconds, and increases the damage of Thunder Strike by 500 percent. |
All | Thunder Strike | Balakar Khan deals a set amount of damage to his current target. |
All | Lightning | Lightning strikes random spots on the ground for a set amount of damage. |
Once you’ve cleared the two mini-bosses, Balakar Khan proves to put up quite the fight, testing everyone in the party with several heal checks, damage soaks, and mobility challenges.
For the first phase, you’ll have to watch out for Iron Spear and the resulting Iron Stampede. So long as you stay away from where the spear lands, you should be able to avoid the high damage.
The tank and the healer will both have to be wary of Rending Strike and Savage Strike, as they can deal a surprising amount of the tank’s maximum health when used together. Be sure to keep on your defensive cooldowns when this happens.
When Balakar Khan reaches half health, he will become immune and begin to empower himself. During this time, strong winds will push the party back and lightning will strike from the sky. Take down all four Nokhud Stormcasters quickly to activate the next phase.
For the second phase, Balakar Khan gains empowered abilities. His spear will now pull the entire party to its location when it lands, making Iron Stampede much more of a threat, requiring you to get out of the way. Along with this, the lightning remains in effect for the rest of the fight.
You can position the Static Spear behind the rocks at the Western edge of the arena. This will cause Balakar Khan to run into them, keeping your group safe from his charge.
Conductive Strike and Thunder Strike operate the same way as Rending Strike and Savage Strike, but they deal much more damage. Keep an eye out for these abilities to be able to soak the damage when you need to.
Loot
Slot | Name | Description |
|---|---|---|
Weapon | Druid, Mage, Priest, Warlock, Evoker, Shaman | |
Weapon | Demon Hunter, Rogue, Druid, Shaman | |
Shoulder | Warrior, Paladin, Death Knight | |
Chest | Mage, Warlock, Priest | |
Legs | Rogue, Druid, Monk, Demon Hunter | |
Feet | Hunter, Shaman, Evoker |
Next: World of Warcraft: Dragonflight - Where To Find All Dragon Glyphs
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