The Venomous Abyss Raid Guide: All 8 Bosses (Midnight Season 2)

The Venomous Abyss is the Midnight Season 2 raid: eight bosses from Nek'zali the Soulcoiler to Ula'tek. Most Normal and Heroic wipes come from the same few mistakes: adds reaching their goal, missed soaks and bosses standing too close together. Learn one job per boss, fix your gear first and save Bloodlust for the right moment.

This guide gives the short version of every fight on Normal and Heroic, the jobs for tanks, healers and DPS, and when to use Bloodlust. It is current as of October 2026, during Midnight Season 2 (patch 12.1). Mythic tactics change often, so we leave them out. Check your own boss kills on the Raids tab of the RankSurge WoW stats page.

What is The Venomous Abyss and what does it drop?

The raid opened with Season 2 in the week of August 18, 2026, and Raid Finder opened in four wings over the following weeks, per Blizzard. It sits in the Vaults of Atal'Utek on the Coiled Isle. Loot rises as you go deeper, per Icy Veins:

The order below follows the Icy Veins boss list. Defeating Mythic Ula'tek drops the Primeval Skyfriend mount, and the first 200 guilds in the world to do it earn a Hall of Fame feat, per Blizzard.

How do you beat the first three bosses?

Nek'zali the Soulcoiler

Nek'zali gains Energy from Soulcoil Ignition and from Restless Amani adds reaching the Soulcoil Well. At 100 Energy the boss casts Uncoiled Rage, so the fight is a race. Break the adds' shields with magic damage (physical damage does not count), keep the boss near the glowing coffins so adds can be cleaved, and only dispel Essence Rend once the target reaches the edge of the room. During Possession Barrage the active tank walks away from the raid and nobody stands in between, per Icy Veins. Use Bloodlust when Phase 2 starts.

Entombed Sentinels

Split the raid into two groups, one per Sentinel, and keep the bosses at least 40 yards apart: if they get close they gain Ula'tek's Dominance and take 99% less damage. Kill each Venom Coagulation add quickly, step on Toxic Droplets, dispel Blighted Blood and swap tanks after each Intermission. In the Intermission, players with Helical Toxins collide so their stacks add up to exactly 4, per Icy Veins. Keep damage even on both bosses, because Vitriolic Stasis heals them to the same health.

The Lost Explorers

A three-boss council. Never stack all three within 30 yards (United Defense cuts their damage taken by 99%); keep two together and move First Mate Nama between them. Break crates to find Grab Fish and feed it to a boss before Mor'zahi finishes Empower, in the order Trader Gebbo, then Nama, then Scrollsage Iku. Run an interrupt rotation on Icebound Flames and keep melee bait for Shell Spin aimed at the edge, per Icy Veins. Use Bloodlust on the pull.

How do you beat Vashnik, Sszorak and The Twin Fangs?

Vashnik the Malignant

About every 90 seconds Vashnik casts Imbibe and empowers the two fountains he stands between. Tanks rotate fountains and never use the same one more than twice in a row. DPS kill adds before they reach the Malignant Cavity, in the order Burning Venoms, Clotting Venom, Shrouded Venoms. Players with Exploding Infection run far away; players with Siphoning Infection get others to stack on them, per Icy Veins. On Heroic, never kill two Burning Venoms at once.

Sszorak

Tanks aim Ravage away from the raid and swap around 6 stacks of Corroding Venom, while groups soak Mutilate (two groups on Heroic). Players with Venomous Surge drop Viscous Cysts on the markers opposite the active wind tunnels, one per marker. In Raging Crosswinds, pair up with someone whose wind pushes the other way. During Howling Maelstrom the boss takes 30% more damage from Dig In, so line up cooldowns with it, per Icy Veins.

The Twin Fangs

Vexhul and Ithraz have separate health, so kill them together. Everyone watches their Eternal Venom stacks: on Heroic, 10 stacks kills you. Tanks take all three Stone Breaker soak zones in order and swap after each set. DPS kill the three Spawn of Vexhul quickly. Ravenous Feast is three group soaks; each player soaks one, which removes a stack. The fight enrages after about 8 minutes, per Icy Veins. Use Bloodlust on the pull.

How do you beat The Coiled Altar and Ula'tek?

The Coiled Altar

Phase 1 is Zul'jan: collectors stack Coalesced Venom orbs away from the axes, tanks aim Sever through them and swap each cast, and at least 5 players soak Guillotine (two half-raid groups on Heroic). Phase 2 is Hex Lord Malacrass: break Veil of Twilight and interrupt Eternal Nightfall, collect Soul Fragments after Soul Sever and Gloombomb, and never let a Manifestation of Dread touch anyone. Save Bloodlust for the Intermission, when Soulbinding makes Zul'jan take 100% more damage. Phase 3 brings both bosses back, so keep them stacked for cleave, per Icy Veins.

Ula'tek

Carry eggs into Spectral Coils so they hatch, and never get hit by Caustic Waves while holding one or it spawns a Blightscale Viper. In Phase 2, break Grasping Fangs tethers two at a time and wait for the damage to stop between pairs. In Phase 3, complete every Serpent's Bite soak, kill the Blightscale Shriekers, and rotate left before each platform breaks. Use Bloodlust about 5 seconds before the Venomous Heart is exposed, which takes 100% more damage for 20 seconds, per Icy Veins.

When should you use Bloodlust on each boss?

How do you get ready before you pull?

• Fix your gear first: missing enchants and empty sockets cost damage and survival on every boss. Our guide to checking your WoW gear for missing enchants shows how to find them.
• Know your one job: soak, interrupt, collect or kite. Most of these fights fail because one assignment was empty.
• Use Mythic+ to catch up: a timed +10 gives Heroic-level loot and a Myth vault choice. See Mythic+ rating explained.
• Check the team: the Guild tab of the WoW stats page lists your guild with item level and Mythic+ rating, as explained in our guild roster guide.