WoW TBC Arena

Reliquary of Souls Strategy — Black Temple

Phase 3 · Black Temple · 2 tanks, 5-6 healers, rest dps

A three-phase fight against the three Essences of the Reliquary, back to back with no break. Essence of Suffering is a threat/aura tank check, Essence of Desire punishes healing and damage with Spirit Shock and Rune Shield, and Essence of Anger is a burn against a Soul Drain enrage.

Fight phases

  1. 1

    Essence of Suffering

    Frenzy and Aura of Suffering pressure the tank and raid; Fixate targets a random player who must run. A DPS-race-lite phase into phase two.

  2. 2

    Essence of Desire

    Deaden (reduces healing), Spirit Shock (interrupts + damages casters/healers), and Rune Shield reflect. Rune Shield means the raid must stop DPS when it's up. The hardest phase.

  3. 3

    Essence of Anger

    Soul Scream and Spite; a Seethe/Soul Drain soft-enrage. Pure burn — kill it before it wipes the raid.

By role

Tanks

Suffering hits the tank hard under Frenzy — cooldowns and a possible swap. Desire and Anger are less about the tank and more about raid execution; hold them steady and centered.

Healers

Desire is a healer's nightmare: Deaden cuts your throughput, Spirit Shock interrupts and damages you, and you must pre-position for both. There's no mana break between essences, so plan regen across all three.

DPS

In Desire, stop attacking when Rune Shield is up (it reflects). Interrupt/avoid Spirit Shock. In Anger, unload everything — it's a straight burn against the enrage.

Common mistakes

  • ✕DPSing through Desire's Rune Shield and killing yourselves.
  • ✕Running out of mana before Anger because there's no break between phases.
Next: Mother Shahraz →

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