Bastion Stair
| Bastion Stair | |
|---|---|
| BS | |
 The Bastion Stair | |
| Location | Chaos Wastes |
| Race(s) | Chaos |
| Instance info | |
| Type | Dungeon |
| Advised level | 40 |
| Player limit | 6 |
The Bastion Stair
Bastion Stair is a dungeon located deep in the chaos wastes. Inhabited by demon and mortal alike, the fiends who inhabit this bloody fortress seek the blessings of their dark god Khorne through spilled blood and claimed skulls.
Bastion Stair is one of the hardest dungeons currently available in the game and awards players the Bloodlord Set, which includes DPS-focused Weapons and Armor.
Entering the Dungeon
If your guild is level 32 or higher, you can purchase an instant Teleport Scroll from either Sigmar's Hammer or The Viper Pit.
If you're too cool for scrolls and prefer to walk, follow these instructions:
- Order: Fly to Chaos Wastes, and follow the PvE road South. Then, go east to reach 64,000 / 60,000 and the Dungeon's entrance.
- Destro: Fly to Praag, and follow the PvE road North. Head to the Tomb of Deathsword PQ in the Northeast, and follow that small road further North to the Dungeon's entrance.
Dungeon Basics
- Similar to Gunbad, Bastion Stair has three distinct wings, each filled with unique bosses to fight and defeat.
- Influence in Bastion Stair, which grants Bloodlord items, is earned only upon killing the final boss of a wing. (It is no longer given out for boss kills along each wing.)
- This means that skipping optional bosses is highly recommended for those looking to optimize their run - just don't ask for The Blood God's opinion.
- Bloodlord Weapons can only be earned via Influence. Bloodlord Armor can be found from boss kills and earned via repeatable quests.
- Thanks to a 2022 Patch that heavily reduced Influence required, you can now earn your first Bloodlord Weapon after only two full runs of the Dungeon.
Bastion Stair Quests
Be sure to take the Blue Repeatable Quests in the first room of the Fortress, as these will give you free Bloodlord Armor pieces after completing 4 runs of the dungeon.
One of these quests will also grant the Stalwart Soulstone, which is used to purchase 7-day duration Best-in-slot Talismans that can be slotted into Sentinel or Triumphant rings.
Lore
"I saw a Stair, surrounded by pinnacles and columns and arches of blood and carven bone, circled by Daemons bound within black iron, brazen steps and hideous shrieking mouths.
All that could speak or gibber vomited forth the praises of Khorne and shrieked out songs of blood and death."
In Return of Reckoning, the Bastion Stair is a dungeon and Fortress of the Blood God Khorne that the forces of Order and Destruction both seek to conquer for their own purposes.
Within, the Knights of the Blazing Sun search for the fabled Spear of Myrmidia, but rumor has it their initial attempt has already fallen to ruin, and even now their Grandmaster is missing...
The forces of Chaos vie amongst themselves for control of the citadel, and the followers of Tzeentch now seek to weaken Khorne's hold and ever-growing power, as Tchar'zanek commands.
Wing Guides
For a list of Bastion Stair Guides, please see the sections below.
Video Guide
You can watch a full Video Guide of the Dungeon by clicking here.
Additionally, you can find a written guide with pictures listed below.
Important: Before you start the dungeon, it is highly recommended to turn your Graphics to High and Ability effects to: "Show All".
This way, you can properly see the boss mechanics and AOE.
Left Wing
First Boss: Borzhar Rageborn
Head down the stairs to find the first required boss of the left wing, Borzhar Rageborn.
Key Mechanics:
- Tanks: Most groups pull the boss out of the room and tank him just on the left of the room entrance.
- There are two banners in the room with this boss: The Banner of the Bloodherd and the Banner of Bloodlust.
- This boss will constantly spawn Bloodhord Gor adds unless the banner is destroyed. These don't do much damage, so usually you can just AOE them down while focusing the boss.
- This boss will do some AOE damage, so healers should be ready to heal through it.
Borzhar Rageborn drops the Bloodlord Amulet, which is a decent DPS jewelry piece but is not part of the Bloodlord Set.
With Borzhar defeated, you can now proceed through the hall at the bottom of the stairs. Onward!
Second Boss: Gahlvoth Darkrage
Gahlvoth Darkage is a towering Dragon Ogre with a pet bloodhound named Beastrip.
Key Mechanics:
- If Beastrip is killed, the boss enrages and will kill everyone. To counter this, have the off-tank or a healer pull Beastrip just outside the room.
- This boss will call down lightning strikes on anyone near him. Once these finish, you will see an electric AOE on the floor - move away from this!
- After 4-5 AOE's are on the floor, the first to be summoned will begin to disappear. Your tank can follow a circular pattern here and repeat it.
- This boss has a knockback skill which your team should interrupt. When he begins to slowly raise his axe, use Taunt or an interrupt to prevent this. The window for this interrupt is very short.
This boss drops the Bloodlord Boots.
Third Boss: Azuk'Thul
Enter the fiery arena ahead of you to confront Azuk'Thul, the next boss.
Azuk'Thul has a very unique mechanic which your healers need to pay special attention to.
Key Mechanics:
- All: Watch out for the Curse of Khorne on this fight, which deals damage back to anyone who casts heal. Almost all heals will trigger this, so be especially careful of hots and small heals. Even non-healers can trigger this.
- Tank: Tank the boss near the platform he starts on, and as usual, keep him faced away from the group. This boss will cleave anyone in melee near him.
- Healers: Group heals work fine on this boss, but watch out for hots (health-over-time) as these will deal much more damage back to you and may kill you.
There appears to be a flaming skull mechanic in the caves surrounding this boss arena, but most groups do not do this and the exact mechanics are unsure. (Feel free to add them here if you know them!)
This boss drops the Bloodlord Gloves.
One more boss awaits in the left wing!
Fourth Boss: Thar'Ignan
The final boss of the Left Wing is the Doombull Thar'Ignan.
Key Mechanics:
- Tank: Hold this boss near the middle of the room where the crumbling floor and dirt meet. (This is important for the next mechanic.)
- For every 10% of HP the boss loses, he will send one of your party members flying to a location in the room and root them in place. Two champion adds will then spawn and try to kill them, so your party needs to quickly head to assist them, with the exception of whoever is tanking the boss.
- If your ally who is punted lands near the boss, move the boss away from that teammate (more on this with the healing mechanic below).
- Each time someone is punted in this way, they lose all aggro - so this can be a problem if your tank(s) are consistently unlucky and get punted repeatedly in this way.
- There is no cooldown on this punt and it's purely random, so the same person might get punted 5-6 times in a row.
- This boss will say "Me chops you in half, hurr!" before hitting your tank for a large amount of undefendable damage. This will happen throughout the fight, so just keep the tank near full HP to avoid having problems with it.
- If anything dies near this boss - be it an enemy add or an allied player - he will heal for a significant amount of health. Thankfully, he won't reset his punts if this happens.
If you have two tanks, make sure to keep both tanks near the top of the aggro charts (use the helpful aggrometer add-on to see this) just in case one or both end up getting punted and lose their aggro.
As with many other fights in Bastion Stair, this fight is a marathon, not a race, and shouldn't give you much trouble if you take it steady.
Once the boss is defeated, loot him to claim the two Bloodlord Shoulders that he drops!
With the boss dead, head back out the entrance and take a left to find a portal back to the main dungeon hub.
Right Wing
First boss: Urlf Daemonblessed
Head up the stairs to find the first boss, Urlf Daemonblessed, a Marauder of Chaos. Urlf's boss room has two skulls which will spawn on altars to either side of him once the fight begins.
Key Mechanics:
- Attack these skulls and destroy them, then burn him down. The skulls will respawn and the intended mechanic is to consistently destroy them again, but often this boss will bug and you can just DPS it down after blowing up the skulls one time.
- Stun: This boss will use “Throat Punch” to stun your top aggro member for 10 seconds at a time, which will reset their aggro fully. He will constantly make his way down the top aggro list, so be ready for him to hit the DPS while your tanks rebuild threat.
The fight is relatively easy, and drops the DPS-focused Bloodlord Jewelry piece, which is not part of the Bloodlord Set.
Second Boss: Garithex the Mountain
As you move forward you'll arrive at a giant symbol of Chaos bathed in crimson light. Here, head straight and then look to your left to find the next boss: Garithex the Mountain.
Garithex has three armor pieces that heavily reduce the damage he takes: The Helmet, Pauldron, and Gauntlet of Slaughter, which are located in a triangle formation around the room.
- The intended strategy is to split your DPS on each of the pieces and then destroy two or all three at once, allowing you to burst the boss for high damage immediately afterwards.
- It's also possible to simply pull the boss from one piece of armor to the next and AOE, but this method may take longer.
- These pieces of armor will heal if they get out of combat, so be sure to keep either your off-tank or minor dots rolling on the lowest piece while your DPS burn down the other two.
Rinse and repeat this process as the armor of Slaughter will eventually respawn itself, and you should have the boss down without too much difficulty.
Garithex drops the Bloodlord Boots.
Third Boss: Chorek the Unstoppable
With Garithex down, head back the way you came and take a left turn at the crossroads (on your mini-map, you should be heading West). You’ll find a door that leads into a large open room.
Head to the left and drop off the side, then clear all the adds nearby. Open the large grey door to begin the next boss fight with Chorek the Unstoppable.
This is a dual-boss fight, so if you have two tanks, split these two bosses away from each other.
Key Mechanics:
- Focus down the Rhinox, named Juggernaut, first. Your weakest tank should hold this boss as you kill it.
- Your main tank should start by holding Chorek, but mind his armor shred mechanic, which stacks and will eventually neutralize almost all armor your main tank has.
- If your main tank is dying to this, have your off-tank pick up aggro so that the main tank can wait for the debuff to fall off.
- Tanks: Hold Chorek near the fiery lit brazier nearby. This is done primarily to position you well for the next mechanic:
- At 80%, 60%, 40%, and 20%, the boss will spawn Fireborn Sprite adds that the tanks should pick up and the DPS should quickly AOE down. Be careful as failing to pick these up may result in your healers getting mobbed and quickly dying.
- If you're taking a lot of damage, use your tank Bellows morale to drop the boss and the sprite damage down to 50% during these sections.
This fight drops the Bloodlord Gloves.
Fourth Boss: Lord Slaurith
One boss remains in the right wing: Lord Slaurith. Open the gate to begin the fight.
Key Mechanics:
- Three colored circles will spawn and respawn on the floor throughout the fight. Each have unique helpful effects:
- The Purple Circle empowers your melee damage done to the boss if your allies stand in it.
- The white circle empowers your magic and ranged damage done to the boss if allies stand in it.
- The blue circle increases the strength of healing done by allies that stand in it.
- Many groups stack together on the Purple circle for this fight, but it can also be cleared by dividing up your party members to the circles that best benefit them. Feel free to use whichever style works for your team.
- Aggro on this boss is also unique from most fights, and is decided by the Bloodpulse that will spawn on one of the six members of your party. Once it spawns, whoever stands on the "Bloodpulse" named text will gain the aggro of the boss temporarily.
- Many groups simplify the Bloodpulse mechanic by stacking almost everyone together in the purple melee circle. When the Bloodpulse spawns, the tank steps to it and the rest of the group alternates behind the boss to safety.
As with many other fights in Bastion Stair, this fight is a marathon, not a race, and shouldn't give you much trouble if you take it steady. Once the boss is defeated, the right wing is complete! You'll gain the Bloodlord Belt from this boss.
Middle Wing
The Middle Wing is the final wing in Bastion Stair, and as you ascend the summit of the fortress, you'll encounter two bosses who both grant Influence.
This wing also contains a number of optional bosses, listed below.
First boss: Wrackspite (Optional)
Note: To skip this boss, simply hug the right wall and run through the room.
Wrackspite is an optional boss that most groups skip. Should you wish to kill him, his key mechanics are:
- Hold the boss in the middle of the room.
- If near the walls, he will enrage and hit your tank for upwards of 10,000+.
- DPS: focus down the statue adds as they come to life, and don't let them reach the boss.
- Tanks: Face the boss away from the group to protect from his cleave.
- Terror: This boss causes Terror, so healers won't be able to rez dead allies during this fight.
Wrackspite drops Bloodlord Boots.
Second Boss: Doomspike
Doomspike is the first required boss of the Middle Wing, and is either a dual-tank fight or can be handled by a geared solo tank.
Key Mechanics:
- This boss fight will spawn an additional sub-boss, Clawfang, a Fleshhound of Khorne and a very good boy.
- The two bosses must be kept within 10% Health of each other and burned down together.
- Tank the bosses near each other to avoid taking increased damage.
- Terror: This boss causes Terror, so healers won't be able to rez dead allies during this fight.
This boss drops the Bloodlord Jewelry piece, which can be useful for some characters but is not part of the Bloodlord Set.
This pair of bosses must be defeated in order to progress further in the Wing.
Third Boss: Zekaraz the Bloodcaller (Optional)
Zekaraz the Bloodcaller is an optional boss that stands in your way as you ascend towards the summit of the Bastion Stair.
Note: At the time of writing, this boss can be skipped by sacrificing one team member while others pass the door. Simply rez your teammate afterward.
- This boss has a "Bloodrage" buff that will steadily increase his damage the longer the fight continues, up to a maximum of 400%.
- Move out of the Fire AOE he drops on the ground. (This attack is called "Field of Screams" in your combat log.)
- In indents in walls you can find skulls, which, when offered on the altar in the middle of the room, appease the bloodrage, for a time. Be careful, as only three skulls can be placed, despite there being four of them.
- Terror: This boss causes Terror, so healers won't be able to rez dead allies during this fight.
This boss drops the Bloordlord Gloves.
Fourth Boss: Kaarn the Vanquisher
Kaarn the Vanquisher is the final boss of the Left Wing, and as such will grant Influence once defeated.
Note: Some groups choose to save this boss for last, and fight Skull Lord Var'ithrok first, as there's a rare bug that may send you back to your capital city when exiting his arena.
Key Mechanics:
- Tank: Hold this boss on the platform you find him on. If he leaves this platform, his skin will turn to iron and he will take no damage.
- All: Make sure to avoid standing in the red Blood puddles this boss will periodically spawn. The tank can move the boss out of these.
- Healers: You can stand further back from the boss to avoid getting hit by his AOE cleaves. Melee DPS will take damage from these.
- Totems: this boss will spawn skull Totems which buff him. These appear on the platform above which has ramps leading up on the far left and right sides of the room.
You can either DPS him down and ignore the totems if your party is strong, or send one DPS (ideally a range DPS) to destroy them.
- Range DPS can still attack Kaarn from the stairs if he's pulled to a nearby corner.
This boss drops the Bloordlord Chestpiece.
This boss is considered the Final Boss of the Middle Wing, but not of the Dungeon, so note there's still one more boss to go afterward!
Final Boss: Skull Lord Var'ithrok
Skull Lord Var'ithrok is the Final Boss of the Bastion Stair, and behind him looms the Rift of Madness.
- Party Positioning:
Your party positioning is very important on this fight, so start by splitting up your DPS and Tanks into pairs. One tank and DPS stand in front of him, one tank and DPS (or just two DPS if solo tanking) stand behind him. Your healers both stand alone on the remaining two empty sides, parallel from each other.
You can see a visual example by hovering over or clicking this text.
Key Mechanics:
- Stay within the Ring of Fire once the fight begins.
- This boss will give one player an "Infectious Rage" buff which looks like the Bright Wizard's "Funnel Power" skill. DO NOT ATTACK if you have this buff, or you'll kill yourself and everyone around you!
- This boss will periodically punt those in front of him and then aggro anyone else left in the circle. Those punted should simply run back into the fire circle and keep attacking. If you have a second tank, they begin tanking once the other tank goes flying.
- The boss will spawn hounds that should be pulled off the healers and can be AOE'd down by your DPS. Keep these killed to avoid them piling up as the fight continues.
- Solo tanking: If you're solo tanking, have the DPS standing opposite the tank prepare an avoidance Morale 1 skill (like 100% parry) to mitigate damage while the Tank runs back from being punted.
- If you have trouble and your party members die, you can have remaining players run out of the fire circle and back towards the entrance ramp, and the boss will stop attacking and won't reset. You can have dead allies respawn and run back to rejoin the fight in this manner.
This fight is actually quite simple beyond the Infectious Rage buff, so as long as you take it slow, you should have no problem.
This boss drops the Bloordlord Helmet.
Once defeated, the Skull Lord is pulled back into the Rift, perhaps to be tormented by the Chaos gods for his failure, or perhaps to return even stronger to fight another day... or perhaps both?
Congratulations on clearing the Bastion Stair Dungeon!
Additional Tips
- There's a rare chance that you may get ported back to your capital city while exiting the Kaarn the Vanquisher fight. Some groups choose to defeat Vari'throk first, and then double back to Kaarn to avoid this.
- Bastion Stair is usually abbreviated as "BS" in the LFG channels when forming a group.
Special thanks to the <Gimle> Guild and Tothmonra for their help creating the video guide for this dungeon.
