Lord Rhyolith is one of those raid bosses with an entirely unique mechanic that you either really love or hate with every fiber of your being. He's an ancient fire elemental encased in a rocky shell that makes him near-impervious to damage. Players have to steer him around by hitting his giant feet, and guide him into erupting volcanoes to melt away his armor, all the while dealing with lava fissures, ground-shattering stomps and numerous fiery adds. Eventually he shakes all his armor off, freaks out, and brutally murders the raid (unless you can finish him off first).

Frost DKs are quite well-suited for this fight! We can be effective drivers (who are generally melee), but we can also contribute effectively to add control, if necessary. And get ready to wear out your Anti-Magic Shell button, because we'll be using it a LOT in this fight.


Your special class/spec responsibilities:
• If driving: AMS/Pillar of Frost the stomps/knockbacks
• If driving: DO NOT Howling Blast since it hits both legs!
• If on adds: AoE Fragments, ranged DPS or AMS/melee Sparks
• Burn phase: Use defensive cooldowns because OMFG WTF

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These legs were made for smashing

The most challenging mechanic in this fight is learning how to effectively "drive" Lord Rhyolith around his platform, and how to smoothly direct him into the various active volcanoes that pop up. As a melee DPS, this will likely be your job.

It's an extremely simple concept - DPS his left foot to make him turn left, DPS his right foot to turn him right. The real challenge is coordinating these steering actions between multiple people, so that he's not being turned in different directions at once, and so that he doesn't get turned excessively and veer out of control.

Perhaps the most important fact for the driving team to learn is that they don't have to DPS the entire time. It is often better to simply let Rhyolith walk in a somewhat straight line, and lightly DPS the inside foot to keep him going in a gradual circle. Of course, the drivers should be ready to DPS either foot hard at a moment's notice to adjust Rhyolith's course, to steer him towards volcanoes that appear off his intended path.

One person should be designated as the primary driver, who coordinates the steering, and calls out when Rhyolith should be turned a certain way, and how hard to turn him. It's not an easy job - in addition to DPSing Rhyolith's feet, this person also has to be able to keep an eye on the entire battlefield to spot new volcanoes and decisively and quickly determine how to proceed.

As for the feet, we usually put two of our three melee on the inside foot, and have the driver DPS the outside foot, for a number of reasons:

• Having separate foot assignments eliminates that awful confusion when everyone switches to a foot, then everyone stops, then everyone starts again, etc. It's like when you meet someone in the hall and do the timeless back-and-forth, step-left-nope-step-right dance.

• It is disastrous to have Rhyolith reach the rim of the platform, so it's easy to be overcautious and end up overturning Rhyolith toward the inside. Having one DPS permanently on the outer foot allows that person to balance out and correct overzealous steering.

• On the other hand, while overturning Rhyolith toward the inside is undesirable, overturning him toward the outside can be fatal, so that's why the two DPS on the inside with only one on the outside.

• The driver is on the outside because it's easier to get a wide-angle perspective to see faraway volcanoes, and to have more time to dodge eruption lines.

• The driver is also on the outside because they are the ones who will first realize that Rhyolith is turned too far inside (which happens a lot) and they can immediately counter this by DPSing the outer foot HARD. Conversely, if Rhyo is being turned too far outside (which shouldn't happen, since there are two DPS on the inside foot) all the driver has to do to correct this is stop DPSing entirely, or switch to the inside foot for a few seconds.

Finally, DO NOT HOWLING BLAST THE FEET. The splash damage will hit the other foot, and counteract whatever turning you are trying to do. Use your Rime procs on Icy Touches instead.

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Dealing with Rhyolith's adds

If your raid is melee-heavy, you may be assigned to add duty, which is a much simpler job...sort of.

There are two types of adds in this fight - Fragments of Rhyolith (little adds, multiples spawn at once) and Sparks of Rhyolith (big adds, one spawn at a time).

The Fragments have to be killed within 30 seconds of spawning, or else they explode, dealing damage equal to their remaining health to a random raid member. They have 115k health and should go down quite quickly. Don't blast them all right away as soon as they show up, as you don't want all five pounding on you, but tanking one or two isn't too bad as you burn them down.

Sometimes the Fragments are dicks and spawn away from the ranged group. If this happens, do your best to grab them and pull them back away from the driving team - Howling Blast and then run, use your taunts, etc.

The Sparks of Rhyolith constantly pulse fire damage, so as soon as they show up get the hell away! They need to be tanked, so let the tank grab them and pull them away from everyone. DPS them as hard as you can with your ranged abilities - throw up diseases with Outbreak, drop a Death & Decay, spam Howling Blasts, and dump your runic power with Death Coils. Unlike other melee classes, we can still do pretty decent damage from afar, so take advantage of this fact!

However, if the Sparks aren't going down fast enough, we may have to bite the bullet and wade into melee to finish it off. ONLY DO THIS if you are near full health, the healers are prepared for the extra burden, and - this is crucial - Anti-Magic Shell is up. Without AMS's protection, you will basically die in a heartbeat. Get in there, crush the Spark as best you can while AMS is active, and get out as soon as it fades. AMS should be off cooldown every time a new Spark spawns.

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Army of the Dead

DON'T Army on the pull, as it would be a complete waste (and may even be harmful, if your ghouls nom the wrong leg?). When Rhyolith hits 25% health he loses his armor and falls to the ground for a few seconds - this is the perfect time to cast Army, as your tank be running over to taunt and establish aggro. If you DPS hard before they've grabbed Rhyolith, you're dead! So use this time to get your ghouls out.

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Defensive Cooldowns


If you're steering, Rhyolith will frequently stomp the ground, dealing moderate fire damage to the entire raid and knocking back anyone in melee range. Use Anti-Magic Shell every chance you can to reduce this predictable damage.

If you're on adds, use your AMS when you've got multiple Fragments on you, or to protect yourself if you have to melee Sparks.

Save your other defensive cooldowns (and try to ensure AMS is available) for the burn phase, as Rhyolith flips out and deals an absurd amount of damage to the entire raid. Reducing this damage, even by a slight amount, is extremely beneficial.


We spend all fight demolishing this big brute's legs, but he has only hand-related goodies for us! Lord Rhyolith can drop Earthcrack Bracers and Fireskin Gauntlets.