Lord Pythas

Lord Pythas is the toughest of the four Fanglords who rule the Druids of the Fang in the Wailing Caverns. Once a warrior in Naralex's personal guard, he mixes heavy melee blows with a druid's spells, and he never fights alone.

Background

The druid Naralex led a group of followers into the caves under The Barrens to heal the land with the power of the Emerald Dream. Pythas was among them: a seasoned fighter who had served as one of Naralex's guards. When Naralex was caught in the Emerald Nightmare and its corruption seeped into the caverns, Pythas was one of the followers whose minds broke. He joined the Druids of the Fang and became one of their four leaders, the Fanglords.

Later Blizzard material adds that his old name was Aryn, that he was a childhood friend of Naralex, and that he learned druidism quickly without ever giving up his skill with weapons. That mix shows in the fight: Pythas hits like a warrior and casts like a druid.

Abilities

• Thunderclap: a burst of nature damage around him that slows the attack and movement speed of everyone nearby. Melee players feel it most.
• Lightning Bolt: a nature bolt against his current target.
• Druid's Slumber: sleeps a player until they take damage. A slept tank means Pythas turns to the next person on his threat list.
• Healing Touch: a heal on himself or an ally. Interrupt it.

He also hits hard in melee and has the most health of the Fanglords.

Strategy

Pythas waits deep in the caves with two elite guards: a Druid of the Fang and a Deviate Shambler.

• Deal with the guards first. A mage can polymorph the druid, a hunter's pet or an off-tank can hold the shambler, and the tank picks up Pythas.
• If the guards are left alone, the druid will sleep and heal while the shambler beats on the group. Many groups kill the druid before anything else.
• Interrupt Healing Touch and keep the tank awake. A dispel or a hit from a party member wakes a slept player.
• Melee players should expect to be slowed by Thunderclap; the healer should plan for heavier damage on the tank than in the other Fanglord fights.

Pythas can occasionally walk into the ground and get stuck because of a pathing bug. The game then counts him as dead for the Naralex event, but he can't be looted.

Loot

Stinging Viper poisons its target on hit. Armor of the Fang is the chest piece of the Embrace of the Viper leather set, whose other parts drop from the other Fanglords and from a quest.

Quests

• Leaders of the Fang: Nara Wildmane in Thunder Bluff asks for the dream gems of all four Fanglords: Pythas, Lady Anacondra, Lord Cobrahn and Lord Serpentis. The reward is a choice of [Crescent Staff] or [Wingblade].

With all four Fanglords dead, the Disciple of Naralex at the dungeon entrance can begin the ritual to wake Naralex, which ends in the fight with Mutanus the Devourer.

Later history

Patch 4.1.0 moved Pythas to a new area of the caverns, the Pit of Fangs. The 1.12 encounter returned with World of Warcraft Classic in 2019.

Sources

• Lord Pythas, Warcraft Wiki
• Wailing Caverns, Warcraft Wiki
• WoWDB NPC, loot and quest data for patch 1.12