High Priest Venoxis

High Priest Venoxis is the high priest of Hethiss, the snake god, and usually the second boss of Zul'Gurub. He starts the fight as a troll priest backed by four cobras, healing and blasting the raid with holy magic, then turns into a giant serpent at half health and fills the ground with poison clouds. His venom sac is also wanted at Cenarion Hold in Silithus, tying Zul'Gurub to the Ruins of Ahn'Qiraj.

Background

Venoxis is one of the five high priests the trolls sent into Zul'Gurub to stop Hakkar the Soulflayer. Each was a champion of a loa, an animal god of the trolls, and each was turned by the Blood God and made to feed him power. Venoxis serves Hethiss, the snake. While he lives he grants Hakkar the Aspect of Venoxis, a poison bolt volley that stacks damage on the raid. The Zandalar Tribe on Yojamba Isle want him dead along with the others; see Gurubashi Empire.

He holds a temple courtyard near the center of the city, with a campfire and four Razzashi Cobras at his side.

Abilities

Troll form (100% to 50%). Venoxis fights as a holy priest:

• Holy Wrath: a bolt that jumps between nearby players, growing 30% stronger with each jump. With many players close to him it can wipe a raid.
• Holy Nova: holy damage around him that also heals him and his cobras.
• Holy Fire: a heavy fire hit with a burn afterward.
• Renew on himself or his snakes, and Dispel Magic to strip debuffs from them.

His four cobras poison in melee and spit venom that knocks players back.

Serpent form (50% to death). At half health he becomes a huge snake, loses his priest spells and hits much harder:

• Poison Cloud: a cloud on the ground beneath him that deals 500 damage per second to anyone in it.
• Venom Spit: a stacking poison spat at a random player within 30 yards.
• From 25%, Summon Parasitic Serpent, small snakes that charge players and infest them.

Strategy

Raids clear the whole courtyard first, since they need the room. An off-tank pulls the cobras while the main tank takes Venoxis; mages, druids and hunters crowd-control three snakes while the raid kills the fourth, then the rest one at a time.

In the first phase, the key is to keep only a few players near Venoxis, so that Holy Wrath has nobody to jump to. Players either stand in melee or at long range, never in between. Some raids drained his mana with warlocks, a hunter's Viper Sting and priests' Mana Burn before the melee moved in; others simply kept heals on the tank and ranged attackers out of his reach. Priests dispel his Renew.

At 50% everyone backs away. In serpent form the tank's job is to step out of each poison cloud the moment it lands; Venoxis raises his hands before he casts it. Melee can return after the first cloud. Healers cure the tank's poisons once he's out of the cloud, and the raid finishes him quickly with ranged damage. Warcraft Wiki's notes say the fight was strengthened in patch 1.9 but remained one of the easier priests.

Loot

Drop chances are from our database (patch 1.12).

The [Fang of Venoxis] is a dagger and the [Runed Bloodstained Hauberk] a mail chest. Like all the high priests, he drops Primal Hakkari items such as the [Primal Hakkari Bindings] and [Primal Hakkari Sash], which the Zandalar on Yojamba Isle exchange for class set pieces.

Quests

• A Collection of Heads: Exzhal on Yojamba Isle wants the [Channeler's Head] of Venoxis and the four other high priests.
• [[forever:quest:9023]]: [[forever:npc:16091]] at Cenarion Hold asks for the [[forever:item:22216]] and the [[forever:item:22217]] from the Ruins of Ahn'Qiraj. It was added with patch 1.9 and rewards a choice of weapon, such as the [[forever:item:22347]] or [[forever:item:22378]].

Later history

In Cataclysm, Jin'do's shade and Zanzil the Outcast brought Venoxis back to life as Hakkar's servant. He sent serpents against the towns of Stranglethorn and was killed again as a boss of the five-player Zul'Gurub in patch 4.1.

Sources

• High Priest Venoxis - Warcraft Wiki
• High Priest Venoxis (Classic) - Warcraft Wiki