Whoever wants to fully master the depths must also defeat Zekvir in World of Warcraft. We will show you how to do that.
The depths are the new challenge for solo fans in World of Warcraft: The War Within. There are a total of 11 different levels, where the difficulty increases significantly. But there is another challenge, the boss Zekvor. He is waiting in his own depth and can be defeated by you to earn more rewards and collect plenty of achievements.
Who is Zekvir? Zekvir is the creature that continually asserts his influence in the depths. He is a subordinate of Xal’atath. In most depths you can see Zekvir enhancing various mob groups. Occasionally, he also suddenly appears to attack you – but then disappears again.
In fact, Zekvir is the “boss” of the current season that you can defeat. He is thus considered the final challenge for all depth fans.
Where can you find Zekvir? You can find Zekvir in Azj-Kahet. There he has his own depth, in which you can challenge him. You can find the entrance at the coordinates 33 / 77 in the city of threads. You start the fight by simply initiating his depth.
How do you unlock Zekvir? Zekvir comes in two different difficulty levels that are not precisely specified by Blizzard. The first level is “?” and you unlock it as soon as you successfully complete a depth of level 8. The second level “??” is unlocked when you successfully complete a depth of level 10.
Defeating Zekvir – Here’s how
Defeating Zekvir is not so easy – at least most of the time. Due to various balancing issues, it was possible for a few days to kill the boss without much effort. However, Blizzard is continuously working on rebalancing to make the challenge roughly equal for all classes. So don’t get discouraged if some people brag about how they “easily took down” Zekvir – it might have happened at a time when the difficulty was simply bugged.
Zekvir is designed to be an exciting and challenging fight to master. This can take several attempts. So don’t get discouraged if you don’t succeed with Zekvir immediately. Try to improve yourself and your gear – even the level of Brann can have a significant impact. Brann not only grows with his level, but your gear affects him as well – the higher your item level, the stronger Brann becomes.
Tips for Zekvir on “?” difficulty
On the ? difficulty, Zekvir has 90 million health points. The fight only ends when you completely defeat him. If you already have Brann at a high level and use him as a DPS, the fight ends at 5% of his health points – as Brann can simply execute him and thus end the fight early.
The fight against Zekvir follows a pattern, and it is essential to memorize the order of his abilities and counter each ability accordingly. Almost every one of Zekvir’s abilities is deadly or extremely punishing.
- Claw Slasher is a classic “frontal” that is cast on a player or Brann. Dodge at all costs, a single hit can be deadly.
- Net of the Angler throws a hook on characters in a straight line and pulls them to Zekvir, which usually ends fatally.
- Net Horror summons a net cocoon that hatches after 15 seconds. Save your big damage cooldowns for this net and destroy it as quickly as possible! If the net survives, a mob with double the health points of the net will hatch from it. Damage already dealt will be accounted for, however. The add casts a spell that can stun players for a long time. The adds always have the highest priority.
- Weakened Saliva should be interrupted. The spell slows all characters and inflicts a very strong damage-over-time effect. The debuff is a magic effect and can be dispelled accordingly. It is also removed by spells that remove slows (for example, Blessing of Freedom or Fading).
- Terrifying Roar is a spell around Zekvir that places all characters in fear and inflicts damage. Just step out of the target area before the spell finishes.
The basic strategy is to keep Zekvir constantly in the center of the room and immediately switch to the summoned nets as soon as they appear. For this, you should use your big cooldowns. Meanwhile, you need to actively dodge the other boss abilities and keep yourself alive with self-healing or clever “aggro ping-pong” with Brann. Weakened Saliva should be interrupted every time or the debuff should be removed immediately.
A high level of life steal can make a significant difference in this fight, as well as a talent specialization that clearly focuses on single-target damage.
Tips for Zek’vir on “??” difficulty
On the ?? difficulty, Zekvir has about 200 million health points – more than double. Accordingly, the fight will take longer. Good gear and a nearly max-level Brann Bronzebart are recommended here.
There are the following changes to the fight:
- Almost all of Zekvir’s abilities have a significantly reduced casting time, so you have to react much faster.
- The summoned net and the resulting add have significantly more health points.
- The debuff from Weakened Saliva does much more damage.
- The new ability Regenerating Armor heals Zekvir for 20 million HP if not interrupted.
- Additionally, starting at 60% remaining health points, a new fight phase begins, with even more mechanics occurring.
- Endless Spikes creates void portals in the room. These portals create areas that you must not touch.
- Blood-Filled Armor replaces the old healing spell. If this spell is not interrupted, Zekvir heals himself for 50 million HP.
- His fear spell turns into Eternal Terror. If you are hit by it, the fear effect is permanent and does not end until you die.
The fight against Zekvir is truly tough. You need fast reactions and a good class understanding. We recommend trying this fight only with an item level of 615 or higher, and your Brann should also be close to level 60. If you don’t know how to best equip Brann, we have explained that in more detail in this guide.
Note that luck plays a certain role as well. If Brann Bronzebart is permanently put in fear or absorbs every attack with his face, he can be defeated extremely quickly. This makes the fight even more difficult.
Have you already defeated Zekvir? If so, did you do it at a time when balancing was still totally messed up, and can you now unjustly boast about the achievement? Or are you still struggling with the nasty creature that just won’t die?
