The Writhing Coil
Altar of Fangs · boss 2 of 3
In the feeding frenzy upon each other, there has been one Child of Ula'tek that has proved victorious over the rest of the brood. With every battle won, the twisting monstrosity known as the Writhing Coil only grows stronger.
A ball of snakes that has to be pulled apart. When Death Rattle starts, run away from it on your vine — that is what splits it.
Death Rattle is a stacking raid-wide bleed with no cap and no natural end. Orweyna hands out Vine Grip so you can end it: everyone attached runs 10 yards out, the Coil uncoils, and the damage stops.
What actually kills you
Everything else is noise until these three are handled.
- Standing still through Death Rattle. It stacks and climbs every second, and nothing removes it except uncoiling the boss.
- Not moving far enough. It takes attached players moving a full 10 yards away — half-hearted is the same as not moving.
- Standing on a dying snake. Undermining knocks you back off the ground where it died.
Your job
If you tank
- Tail Scythe is the heavy physical hit. Vindictive Onslaught adds a burrow through the ground and a venom cone — keep the cone off the group.
If you heal
- Death Rattle is the danger, and it is a race rather than a heal — the faster the group uncoils, the less there is to top up.
- Toxic Atrophy stacks a slow and a damage cut on everyone, three times in a row during Toxic Barrage. It is survivable; it just makes the next uncoil slower.
If you DPS
- Damage into the snakes is not wasted. When they reassemble, the Coil comes back with whatever health the snakes had left — so everything you do while it is split carries over.
- The Uncoiled Writhes can be crowd-controlled, and each one fixates a player. Stopping the one chasing you is usually better than kiting it.
How the fight goes
| Part | What to do |
|---|---|
| Step 1 | The Coil fights as one creature, working through Vindictive Onslaught and Tail Scythe. |
| Step 2 | Death Rattle begins. Vine Grip goes out — run 10 yards clear to Uncoil it. |
| Step 3 | Split into Uncoiled Writhes. Burn them; the damage persists when they reform through Assimilation. |
Higher keys
Heroic and Mythic
The encounter journal publishes no difficulty-specific text for this fight. We would rather say that than invent a difference.
Loot
Everything The Writhing Coil can drop, from the Midnight Season 2 item database.
| Slot | Item |
|---|---|
| Neck | Strand of Warding Fangs |
| Shoulder | Snakeskin Spaulders |
| Chest | Aged Interwoven Scaleplate |
| Legs | Leggings of Entwined Serpents |
| Trinket | Knot of Writhing Serpents |
| Two-hand | Toxin-Coated Warstaff |
| Two-hand | Vile Writhefang Glaive |
| Held in off-hand | Nocuous Focal Fang |
Nothing matches that.
This boss drops a trinket. Trinket value varies enormously by spec — see the simulated trinket rankings.
Worth a bonus roll?
You cannot roll this boss on its own. A dungeon roll is against the whole instance, so this table is one part of a pool that includes every other boss in Altar of Fangs — the bonus roll guide explains what that changes, and the planner works it out per spec.