Lightwarden Ruia
The Blinding Vale · boss 3 of 4
The once-respected Rootwarden Ruia could not defeat the Lightbloom on his own. His wounded pride led him to drawing power from the Lightbloom and using it to punish all others instead of aiding his allies.
Two forms with two rulebooks, and at 40% he uses both at once. Grievous Thrash does not expire — it comes off at full health or not at all.
A phase fight that ends by removing the phases. Moonkin form is ranged and about the floor; Bear form is melee and about stacking vulnerabilities. At 40% he drops both and channels Spirits of the Vale, casting every ability from both forms in a continuous flurry until he dies.
What actually kills you
Everything else is noise until these three are handled.
- Grievous Thrash left on someone. It stacks, and it only falls off when that player is fully healed — going into the final phase with stacks up is how groups lose it.
- Repeat hits from Pulverizing Strikes. Pulverized increases the damage the next one does, and the cones come out every second at several targets.
- Standing where Lightfire expires. Lightfire Beams emerge at the afflicted player's location, so that player needs to be away from everyone.
Your job
If you tank
- In Moonkin form his melee is replaced by Warden's Wrath at range, so the tank damage pattern changes completely between forms.
- Bear form adds Mangling Claws on top of everything else. That is the form to hold cooldowns for.
If you heal
- Grievous Thrash is a healing objective, not a heal-over-time to ride out. Full health is the only thing that removes it.
- The 40% phase is every mechanic at once. Whatever you are saving should be spent there.
If you DPS
- Spread for Pulverizing Strikes. Each marked target gets a cone, and overlapping cones mean overlapping Pulverized stacks.
- Run out with Lightfire before it expires. The beams appear where you are standing when it ends, not where you were when it landed.
How the fight goes
| Part | What to do |
|---|---|
| Step 1 | Moonkin form: Lightfire, Lightfall, and ranged attacks on the tank. |
| Step 2 | Bear form: Pulverizing Strikes cones and the stacking Grievous Thrash bleed. |
| Step 3 | At 40%, Haranir form and Spirits of the Vale — all four abilities on repeat until he is dead. |
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 Lightwarden Ruia can drop, from the Midnight Season 2 item database.
| Slot | Item |
|---|---|
| Chest | Taproot Ribs |
| Hands | Pulverizing Pads |
| Ring | Lightwarden's Bind |
| Trinket | Lightspire Core |
| Two-hand | Branch of Pride |
| Held in off-hand | Luminescent Sprout |
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 The Blinding Vale — the bonus roll guide explains what that changes, and the planner works it out per spec.