WoW TBC Arena

Fathom-Lord Karathress Strategy — Serpentshrine Cavern

Phase 2 · Serpentshrine Cavern · 4 tanks, 5 healers, rest dps

A council fight: Karathress plus three advisors (a priest, a hunter, and an enhancement-shaman type), each buffing him as they live. Kill order and add tanking are everything, as Karathress gets stronger with each advisor's death but you remove their abilities.

Fight phases

  1. 1

    Advisors

    Tank all four apart. Kill order: Sharkkis (hunter — pets/traps) → Tidalvess (shaman — totems, poison) → Caribdis (priest — heals, water spouts). Karathress powers up with each kill.

  2. 2

    Karathress solo

    With the advisors down, tank the empowered Karathress and burn him.

By role

Tanks

Four tanks, one per mob. Interrupt/kill Caribdis's heals; move out of totems on Tidalvess. Karathress's tank braces for the power-ups.

Healers

Spread for the priest's water spouts. Each advisor death spikes Karathress's damage — shift healing to his tank as the fight progresses.

DPS

Follow the kill order exactly. Kill Sharkkis's pet, interrupt Caribdis. Save cooldowns for the empowered Karathress phase.

Common mistakes

  • ✕Killing advisors out of order and leaving the most disruptive alive.
  • ✕Ignoring totems / water spouts.
Next: Morogrim Tidewalker →

Strategy summarized from community knowledge (WoWWiki / Wowhead) and rewritten for this guide. Position diagrams are original.