The Dragon Soul is a raid instance, introduced in World of Warcraft Patch 4.3. The encounters can be performed in 10-man difficulty, 25-man difficulty and LFR difficulty (25 player, with less damage and health for the bosses). The 10 and 25-man difficulties also have an unlockable heroic mode setting. This raid represents Tier 13, in terms of progression, and it is intended to be the final raiding tier of the Cataclysm expansion.

The entrance to the Dragon Soul is located in the Caverns of Time instance hub.

The raid instance houses 8 boss encounters (although the final two are both against Deathwing, so there are technically only 7 bosses). All of the encounters (except for the final one) take place at or around Wyrmrest Temple, in Dragonblight.

Currently, we offer you the following strategy guides:

Each of the bosses in the raid (except for the final three) is preceded by a number of trash packs, for which we have written a specific trash guide.

The bosses have a chance to drop:

epic raw gems;

Chaos Orb (only in LFR, not all bosses);

Essence of Destruction (does not drop in LFR difficulty), which is needed to craft the item level 397 gear introduced with Patch 4.3;

item level 384 in LFR difficulty (390 for the encounters with Deathwing);

item level 397 in Normal 10-man and 25-man difficulties (403 for the encounters with Deathwing);

item level 410 in Heroic 10-man and 25-man difficulties (416 for the encounters with Deathwing).

In addition, the Dragon Soul raid can bring you the following mounts:

Finally, in addition to all this loot, many parts of the legendary quest chain for the Fangs of the Father take place here as well. For more information about this quest line, please refer to our Fangs of the Father guide.

For all loot added in Patch 4.3, we will put together a gear listing, just as we have for Patch 4.2.

Dragonblight

As you enter the instance, you are faced with a number of trash packs followed by the first boss encounter of the instance, Morchok. This boss is meant to serve as an entry to the raid, and we feel that the fight is not very challenging.

Maws of Go'rath and Shu'ma

After defeating Morchok, you will reach Wyrmrest Temple (and gain access to various vendors present there, including two who can repair your gear). From here, you have a choice between two bosses: Warlord Zon'ozz and Yor'sahj the Unsleeping. To reach Zon'ozz you should use the drake located to the West, while Yor'sahj is accessed using the Eastern drake.

Eye of Eternity

Once both Zon'ozz and Yor'sahj have been defeated, you will be able to face the fourth boss encounter of the raid, the much more challenging Hagara the Stormbinder. This boss is located in the Eye of Eternity (in Coldarra, in the Borean Tundra), the place where you previous (in Wrath of the Lich King) defeated Malygos the Spellweaver, the leader of the Blue Dragonflight, at the time. Access to the Eye of Eternity is made easy by means of a portal found at Wyrmrest Temple.

At the Pursuit of Deathwing

Once Hagara is dead, the second part of the raid, a veritable assault on Deathwing, is set to begin. Your first task will be to defend Wyrmrest Temple against the assault of Ultraxion, the 5th boss encounter of the instance. This is gear check type of encounter with very straightforward mechanics and a strict DPS requirement.

After defeating Ultraxion, your raid will board the gunship "The Skyfire", in an attempt to assault Deathwing in the air. However, before you can do so, you will have to defend the gunship against Deathwing's final lieutenant, Warmaster Blackhorn, in an encounter where you will have to deal with many different types of adds, among other abilities.

With Blackhorn disposed of, your raid can parachute down onto Deathwing's back, which constitutes the penultimate encounter of the raid: Spine of Deathwing.

The Maelstrom

Assuming your raid overcomes even this challenge and manages to remove Deathwing's armor plating, you will have the opportunity to finally kill him, in the last encounter of the raid, Madness of Deathwing, which takes place at the Maelstrom.