TheWoWDBUpdate 12/28/20: A lot of this info may now be out of date, so please take everything below with a grain of salt. I'm sure being in Shadowlands now makes this fight trivial with enough people.
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Be warned, this boss is super OP. When she casts Force and Verve, you WILL DIE. It does not give you any time to get under the shield and if you do somehow make it to one, the amount of damage the spell does will most likely kill you anyway. The shield is supposed to reduce damage by 70%, but I heard people dying (literally) left and right when under the shield. Be prepared for lots of running back (which thankfully is not far, but still).
I was even taking damage from something that I could not see. I didn't have agro on any of her adds and I was not getting hit by Song of the Empress. I was just taking huge damage for pretty much no reason and had actually died from it. Being a hunter, it's not like I was in melee range to be hit either.
*edit 1*
So, it has been brought to my attention that one of the possible offending issues is people dragging the adds under the shield with everyone (granted that you even made it). I don't remember seeing any adds under the shield, but I suppose it's possible... it still doesn't excuse the terribly OP abilities of this encounter.
*edit 2*
This fight has also been made even more difficult by the fact that it now introduces a debilitating lag that effects the entire raid group. Last run I did of this just a few days ago had a bunch of us making a comment of the nearly 1000+ms latency that would not go away. I had noticed it the last time this boss was up during the previous mantid invasion, but I thought it might just be my connection, I can confirm now that it was not just me. One raid member even said (mockingly) "Stop playing on dial-up and a potato", but shortly after nearly 95% of the 40 man raid wiped because of the absolute ridiculous Force and Verve, he comes back with "wtf is up with all this lag? I have a XX Gb connection" (I can't remember the specific number). So, blizz is obviously trolling us with this boss since when not in a raid group and there is a group killing this boss, there is no lag at all. I have confirmed this by flying near the boss while doing dailies as a raid group is in the process of attempting to kill it. Emphasis on 'attempting'.
Elite
Grand Empress Shek'zara
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In order to kill her on alts you must first:
Go to SW and talked to King (initial quest), loot Stormbreaker off the wall
Return to the chamber and activate the 4 consoles.At that point you can see the WQ show up and are able to return and kill her.
For Horde characters you need to talk to Valeera Sanguinar to see the King Anduin & Wrathion cutscene, then travel to Chamber of the Heart and do the console activation sequence.
Details
This roster comes from the current game client's data files, so it is not a complete list of every NPC in the game - older world NPCs that are no longer in the modern client are absent.
Boss Encounter
Grand Empress Shek'zara appears as a raid or dungeon boss. See the encounter page for its instance.
Abilities & Strategy
What the in-game dungeon journal describes for the Grand Empress Shek'zara encounter. Every ability links to its spell page.
Abilities & Strategy
Overview
Grand Empress Shek'zara uses her powerful voice and Zara'thik Swarmguard to overwhelm enemies.
Healers
- Seek protection inside of a Sound Barrier during Force and Verve.
- Avoid sound waves emitted during Song of the Empress.
Tanks
- Protect allies from Mantid summoned by Summon Swarmguard.
- Seek protection inside of a Sound Barrier during Force and Verve.
- Avoid sound waves emitted during Song of the Empress.
Damage Dealers
- Defeat waves of Mantid summoned by Summon Swarmguard.
- Seek protection inside of a Sound Barrier during Force and Verve.
- Avoid sound waves emitted during Song of the Empress.
3D Model
First-party render from the game files. Model © Blizzard Entertainment.
Drops in Azeroth
Loot the dungeon journal lists for the Grand Empress Shek'zara encounter.
What is shown is the loot the game's own dungeon journal lists for this encounter.
Community notes from Wowhead · 19 comments
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Level and Map Tracking
The game data tunes Grand Empress Shek'zara for level 50, Battle for Azeroth content.
What Each Drop Is
The Grand Empress Shek'zara encounter lists 5 items in the dungeon journal, item level 85. Equip slots covered: Legs, Head and Finger. Every piece binds when picked up, so none of it reaches the Auction House.
- Chitinous Conqueror's Legplates Legs (Plate), item level 85, requires level 50. Bind on Pickup. Stats: Strength or Intellect, Stamina, Haste and Mastery. A vendor pays 77g 19s for it.
- Greaves of Shattered Thoughts Legs (Mail), item level 85, requires level 50. Bind on Pickup. Stats: Agility or Intellect, Stamina, Mastery and Versatility. A vendor pays 80g 36s for it.
- Guise of the Voracious Prowler Head (Leather), item level 85, requires level 50. Bind on Pickup. Stats: Agility or Intellect and Stamina. A vendor pays 56g 3s for it.
- Loop of Abhorrent Celerity Finger, item level 85, requires level 50. Bind on Pickup. Stats: Stamina, Haste and Critical Strike. A vendor pays 49g 24s for it.
- Maniacal Speaker's Cover Head (Cloth), item level 85, requires level 50. Bind on Pickup. Stats: Intellect and Stamina. A vendor pays 59g 94s for it.
Read from the current game build's item data. Listed prices come from our latest US Auction House scan; a drop that binds when picked up never has one.