WoW The War Within - The Dawnbreaker Dungeon Guide Season 1

The War Within Season 1 has just started, and players are rushing to start completing Mythic+ dungeons as well as the new Nerub-ar Palace raid, and higher difficulty Delves. This time around, Blizzard has introduced a lot of options for the community to choose from should they wish to gear up and get the very best loot for their characters. 

With that in mind, we will take a look at one of the newest dungeons added to WoW so you can have a better understanding of what you're getting yourself into. This guide should lay down a solid baseline of what to expect in The Dawnbreaker. 

The War Within The Dawnbreaker Dungeon

This new WoW dungeon is located in Hallowfall at Tenir's Ascent at /way 54.7 62.7. The instance features some interesting design choices as you will be taking flight in an airship and defeat a total of 3 bosses:

• Speaker Shadowcrown
• Anub'ikkaj
• Rasha'nan

NOTE: The instance requires Skyriding, so make sure that you have maxed out your Skyriding tree. 

As you enter the instance, you will need to fight your way to board the Dawnbreaker ship, which will then propel you to the skies where you will have to mount up and board neighboring ships and blow them up before the first boss appears on the main ship you boarded. 

Speaker Shadowcrown Trash Guide

Before you get to the first boss, here are some tips as to how to deal with the trash:

• Nightfall Shadowmages are a high-priority target as their Ensnaring Shadows needs to be interrupted.
• Nightfall Ritualists are also annoying to deal with as Tormenting Ray deals a lot of damage. Keep in mind that dispelling the Stygian Seed DoT creates an AoE zone that deals damage and knocks players away.
• Nightfall Commanders need to be kicked when casting Abyssal Howl. Tanks should also pay attention to the Tainted Slash stacking bleed. 
• Sureki Webmages can deal a lot of damage to tanks due to their Web Bolt and players should be mindful of Bursting Cocoon. 

Speaker Shadowcrown Guide

This boss summons spikes which when destroyed deal heavy damage to your party. 

• Your party should coordinate and keep a solid kick rotation for Shadow Bolt as tanks and healers might become overwhelmed. 
• Watch out for Collapsing Darkness as you will need to space out from the boss and avoid unnecessary damage (the ability prioritizes Ranged players).
• Obsidian Beam deals heavy Shadow damage so avoid it at all costs. 
• Burning Shadows is a powerful DoT that can also apply to all other members of a Heal Absorb so be extra careful. 
• At 50% boss health, you will be able to mount up and fly away from the massive Darkness Comes sphere until it detonates. The Obsidian Beam ability will now spawn 4 beams instead of 3.
• At 0% boss health, the boss casts another Darkness Comes so you can make your way to the next area. 

Anub'ikkaj Trash Guide

Before you get to the second boss, you will need to take down 3 mini-bosses before dealing with the boss itself. Keep in mind that the boss has the same abilities as the three mini-bosses just slightly stronger. 

Anub'ikkaj Mini-Bosses

Ixkreten the Unbreakable

• Terrifying Slam targets the tank, and the big AoE circle knocks back and fears players standing in the circle. Make sure to position yourself to hit a wall to reduce the distance you fly so you can reach the boss ASAP.

Ascendant Vis'coxria

• Shadowy Decay has an annoying party-wide Shadow DoT that healers need to be aware of at all times. 

Deathscreamer Iken'tak

• Dark Orb targets a random player and sends out an orb in a straight line. Try to position yourself so that the orb travels as far away as possible to minimize the damage dealt. 

Here are some tips for the other trash mobs as you make your way toward Anub'ikkaj:

• Nightfall Darkcasters have Tormenting Beam which should be kicked or CC'ed.
• Nightfall Tacticians have a powerful Tactician's Rage enrage which can be kited or dispelled (soothe mechanic). Watch out for the frontal Black Edge as well.

Anub'ikkaj Guide

The boss patrols around the area so take care while you kill the mini-bosses. You should wait for a good opportunity to engage him on a relatively straight hill where you can more easily deal with his mechanics. 

• Dark Orb has the same mechanic as the Deathscreamer Iken'tak fight. Distance = less damage. The orb will always target the furthest player so you can position either at the top or the bottom of the hill. 
• Shadowy Decay deals more damage and lasts longer, so healers should keep the party topped up. Use defensive cooldowns as well. 
• Terrifying Slam follows the same principle as the mini-boss. Position yourself to avoid unnecessary travel time and for your melee to maintain uptime. 
• Animate Shadows summons adds you need to deal with. Make sure to cleave them together with the boss and kick Congealed Darkness when possible.

Rasha'nan Trash Guide

Before you get to the third boss you will need to deal with a mini-boss on the ship you originally boarded.

Nightfall Dark Architect

• Tormenting Eruption is similar to Tormenting Ray although now it targets two players so make sure to spread out. 
• You can also try to interrupt Night Bolt when possible. 
• At 75,50, and 25% health the mini-boss will use Usher Reinforcements which summons 3 Nightfall mobs, however, they deal 80% less damage and have 70% less health.

Rasha'nan Guide

The boss has two phases - at 64% boss health, and the fight ends at 60% boss health. The boss stays in one place, so tanks should always be in melee distance. 

Phase 1

• The Arathi will help you take down the boss to 64% as 3 Arathi Bombs will occasionally drop which you can interact with and bring to the boss. Make sure to do this as the bombs explode after 20 seconds, resulting in a wipe. Be mindful of the constant ticking damage from carrying a bomb. It is best for DPS to use the bombs as the tank and healer will be preoccupied with other abilities. 
• Rolling Acid targets a random player shooting a wave across the platform, so make sure to position yourself away from the group and save cooldowns as you are always hit. 
• Erosive Spray is a party-wide DoT that stacks so save your big cooldowns for it. 

Phase 2

• Once the boss reaches 64% health, you will again be able to mount up and fly as you will need to soak up radiant light from golden orbs the boss drops as you follow it to the next location. 
• As you land on the platform, make sure to immediately interrupt Acidic Eruption.
• The boss keeps the same abilities from Phase 1, but you will no longer have bombs to aid in taking it down. 
• Spinneret's Strands debuffs two players by also creating web strands on the floor dealing damage so you will need to break the tether and be prepared to take some party-wide damage. Make sure to drop the webs away from the group. 
• Rolling Acid removes the webbing and instead leaves smaller Acid Pools. 

And that covers everything you need to know about this new World of Warcraft dungeon. Best of luck on your runs and may the RNG Gods bless you with some gear upgrades.