WoW: Blizzard Nerfs Mythic Coiled Altar Mid-Race to World First

Blizzard hotfixed Mythic Coiled Altar on August 27, cutting the boss’s shield absorption and its phase-three health bonuses after the Race to World First stalled for roughly a day on the encounter. Blizzard massively nerfed Mythic Coiled Altar for the Race to World First guilds after the top three guilds of Echo, Method and Liquid had been working on the boss for about a day, with Phase 2 proving very difficult. The changes went live mid-race, with none of the contending guilds having killed the boss on Mythic yet.

Raiders following the livestreams argued over whether the fix targets a real design flaw or just bails out three guilds stuck on the same wall:

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What Changed: Shield, Health Bonuses and Dreadmarch Frequency

The hotfix reduced Veil of Twilight’s shield by 20 percent, cut Malacrass’ phase-three bonus health to 19 percent from 35 percent, lowered Zul’jan’s phase-three bonus health to 156 percent from 160 percent, trimmed Spiteful Soulcoiler’s health, and made Mass Dreadmarch trigger less frequently. Every change lands on Mythic specifically, the difficulty the three lead guilds are actually fighting through this week.

The Veil of Twilight shield gates Malacrass’ raid-wide Eternal Nightfall cast, so a smaller absorb value gives raid groups more room to shatter it before the cast lands. The health trims apply to the boss’s final phase, where Zul’jan and Malacrass fight together after their Soulbinding intermission.

Method’s Best Sat at 27.1 Percent Before the Fix

Before the hotfix, progress on the boss was grinding. Method finished a session in the lead after hitting the enrage in Phase 2 and getting Malacrass down to 27.1 percent, a new best on pull 116. After hitting that wall, Method changed strategy, attempting to four-heal Phase 1 instead of using five healers.

Echo posted their own new best of 46.4 percent in Phase 2 on pull 61, an attempt that actually fell short of their previous best of 55.8 percent. That kind of regression is normal in a race where guilds constantly retool cooldown plans and healer counts between pulls rather than grinding the same setup for hours.

Second Nerf in Nine Days for the Same Boss

This isn’t the first time Blizzard has touched Coiled Altar. An earlier hotfix, issued around August 18 and 19, had already gutted the encounter’s hidden Intermission health modifiers on Normal and Heroic. That fix reduced both Increase Max Health modifiers by close to 100 percentage points at every difficulty, dropping Malacrass’ health bonus on Normal to 38 percent from 133 percent and on Heroic to 87 percent from 180 percent.

That same round of hotfixes also addressed outright bugs. Blizzard fixed an issue where the encounter would end unexpectedly and resolved a bug causing Hex Lord Malacrass and Zul’jan to regain too much health during their intermission. The Race to World First’s opening days had already been marked by lag and a bug that left groups stuck mid-fight, according to Icy Veins’ day one recap. A particularly problematic bug on Coiled Altar meant groups were just stuck and unable to continue, and Liquid grabbed two more Heroic bosses after the bug fixes and nerfs went in, ending on 7/8 Heroic.

Read also: WoW: Echo Kills Mythic Twin Fangs on Pull 19, Grabs Race to World First Lead

Liquid Chases a Fifth Straight World First

Team Liquid enters this fight as the favourite by pedigree. This is Liquid’s fourth consecutive Race to World First after wins in Nerub-ar Palace, Liberation of Undermine and Manaforge Omega. Coiled Altar sits as the penultimate boss in the eight-boss Venomous Abyss, with only Ula’tek standing behind it.

Blizzard Watch’s week one recap noted a wrinkle worth watching. Method took more time progressing on a boss further in, instead of running additional Normal, Heroic and Mythic splits like Echo and Team Liquid have been doing. That gearing gap could matter once the guilds clear past Coiled Altar and reach Ula’tek’s final phase. As of August 27, no guild had killed Mythic Coiled Altar; Method’s 27.1 percent stood as the closest verified attempt of the week.

Reported from

• Wowhead (via Seramate)
• Icy Veins
• Method
• Blizzard Entertainment