World bosses and heroic raids: how to beat level 60 bosses

At level 60 the best part of an MMORPG begins — the endgame: raids, world bosses and a heroic mode where one wrong move costs your party the fight. In Zarhold, a card MMORPG you play in your browser, level 60 boss fights have been noticeably reworked over the past weeks: Heat of Battle, the Window to Heal, protection against being killed from full Health, and detailed How to beat guides for every boss. Here’s how it all works now and how to walk into heroic prepared. The basics of a run — the queue, roles, loot rolls — are covered in “Dungeons and raids in an MMORPG”.

The level 60 endgame: what awaits you

• 6 raids with 33 bosses between them. Before every boss there’s a wave of minions.
• 3 world boss battles — six world bosses in total: in one of the battles your party faces four at once.
• A party of five: a tank, a healer and three damage dealers.
• Two modes for every raid and world boss — normal and heroic.

You can’t enter a raid or a world boss alone: only through the queue, as a party or with your party as is. Queue up alone and world residents of the right roles fill the free slots. Every live player in the party must be level 60. The easiest way to gather people is right in chat: the “📣” button in World or Guild chat posts a group-finder card with slots by role, a timer and a Join button.

How a world boss differs from a raid

A raid is a long run: several bosses in a row, with a wave of minions before each one. If your group falls apart after the first boss, no problem — the remaining bosses will wait for you and another group.

A world boss is one big battle: a wave of minions and then the boss itself, and in one of the battles you fight four at once. You can see where a world boss is being fought right now from the Lookout in the capital — it’s a living map of the world.

Heroic mode

On a raid or world boss screen there’s a “🛡 Normal · ⚜ Heroic” switch. The mode is chosen by whoever queues the party (the leader, in a group), and every member sees it in the Ready window before answering.

What heroic changes:

• Heroic Might — an effect on every enemy: guards, bosses and their minions. Cleansing doesn’t remove it. Guards before bosses are twice as strong, and every boss has its own Might — it’s shown on the mode screen and in the combat log.
• Better rewards: boss epics are item level 232 instead of 226.
• Tier 1 regalia drop only in heroic: 12% from a regular raid boss, 20% from a final boss and 15% from a world boss — at most one per party. How they become class sets is covered in “Tier sets in an MMORPG”.
• A separate loot day: kill a boss on normal and it still has loot for you on heroic, and vice versa.

The entry screen shows a recommended item level — 220 for normal and 232 for heroic — next to your party’s average. It’s only advice: it doesn’t change how strong the enemies are. How to raise your item level is covered in the “Level 60 gear guide”.

Rules of level 60 boss fights

A boss fight is the same card duel on a shared board: your party against the boss and its retinue. But level 60 bosses follow shared rules worth knowing by heart.

1. No dying from full Health. Nobody at full Health falls during a single enemy turn — neither on normal nor on heroic.
2. The Window to Heal. If a boss turn took more than half of a hero’s Health, its next turn takes no more than 40% from that hero. On heroic the window is tighter: no more than 70% for raid bosses and 60% for world bosses. That’s the healer’s moment.
3. Abilities with cooldowns and warnings. A boss prepares its big moves in advance, and you can see it coming; a party-wide blow never lands two turns in a row.
4. Poisons and debuffs don’t stack up — the same trouble doesn’t pile on forever.
5. A boss shields itself at most once every three of its turns, and the shield matches its strength.
6. Control and a big hit never share a turn. If a boss stuns a hero, discards or locks their cards, it won’t hit at full force that turn.
7. Enrage. A dragged-out fight is dangerous: if it runs longer than it’s meant to, the enemy hits 18% harder every turn. Enrage can’t be reset.
8. The fallen stay down. A hero is out until the fight ends, and the fight is only lost when everyone has fallen. After a defeat you can restart the same fight with no penalty.

More on who a boss targets and how threat works is in the knowledge base: “Boss fights”.

Heat of Battle: two cards from turn 10

From their own 10th turn, everyone in a fight — heroes, world residents, enemies and bosses — draws two cards instead of one at the start of the turn. It’s one rule for every mode: expeditions and PvP alike. On turn 10 a banner appears above your deck, and the deck tooltip shows in advance how many turns are left.

Boss strength has been tuned to this pace. What it means for you:

• the first turns are the setup. The tank grabs the boss, the healer doesn’t waste big heals, damage dealers build up;
• from turn 10 it’s the climax. You have twice the cards, but so does the boss: keep an answer to its heavy turn in your hand;
• a healing class power heals the whole party on expeditions: the chosen ally as usual, everyone else a little. During Heat of Battle that’s gold.

Roles in a boss fight

• The tank holds the boss with Taunt. The ring around its button shows how many turns it still holds enemies and when it’s resting. Enemies carry a “hits …” marker showing who they’re hitting right now; it turns red if that isn’t the tank while there is a tank in the party.
• The healer lives by the Window to Heal: after a heavy blow the party gets a turn to recover.
• Damage dealers deal damage but don’t overtake the tank on threat while Taunt is resting — or the boss turns on them.

The game checks the “tank” and “healer” roles against your active talent branch: if the branch gives no Taunt or party healing, you see it right away when choosing your role, and you can switch branch with one button without spending points. World residents in your party play by the same rules: first they shield and heal whoever the boss is aiming at, and a party never gets two identical resident damage dealers.

How to beat guides: an atlas of boss abilities

The most useful addition for anyone heading into heroic is the How to beat guide for every level 60 boss. In the game they’re in the Atlas’s How to beat tab and in the window by each boss; on the website — in the knowledge base section “How to beat”.

What’s in a guide:

• what the boss does and when — abilities, their cooldowns, the turn of the first one, who they hit;
• “up to N per hit” — the most that reaches a hero in a single hit, even if the card shows a bigger number. Separately — how much the tank and everyone else take over a whole boss turn;
• normal and heroic — numbers for both;
• step-by-step Tactics — who holds the boss, when to heal the party, what to do on the dangerous turn;
• What helps — the boss atlas shows which grenade shuts down the boss’s main mechanic.

At the top of the section there’s a “How to read the guide” note, which also explains hit caps, the Window to Heal and shields.

Level 60 boss loot

• Each boss once a day. Kill a boss and its loot is back after the daily reset at 03:00 Moscow time. The other raid bosses keep their loot, and minion waves always drop loot.
• Experience and gold for a boss arrive the moment it falls.
• Only epics and better: 3–5 items from every boss, epic item level 226 on normal and 232 on heroic.
• Legendaries. The final bosses of five raids and each of the six world bosses drop a legendary with a separate roll — 0.8% per kill. World residents never take a legendary: it goes to a live player or to no one. All legendaries are item level 280.
• Tier 1 regalia — heroic only (see above).
• Recipe scrolls and rare materials — including those for legendary forging. How forging works is covered in “Profession levelling”.

On a boss you’ve already killed today you’re still welcome: you help your friends, just without loot of your own. The game shows this in advance — on the location screen and in the Ready window. What drops from each boss and how likely it is can be found in the Item Atlas, and how to read the chances is explained in “Where does it drop?”.

Where to practise and how to track progress

• The Portal of Memories at the Gate of Expeditions — a fight with a raid boss you’ve already beaten, with a party of world residents. No loot, no experience and no ranking records: pure practice for your deck and lineup.
• [Battle Chronicles](/hroniki) — fight reports with damage, healing and damage taken. Every boss has leaderboards of the best damage dealers, tanks and healers with a 0–100 score: you can see how the strongest play and compare your own fight.
• [Records](/rekordy) — the fastest clears of dungeons, raids and world bosses.

Getting ready for heroic: a checklist

1. Clear normal mode first. Its 226 epics bring your party’s average closer to the 232 recommended for heroic.
2. Check your talent branch for your role: a tank needs Taunt, a healer needs party healing.
3. Read How to beat for the bosses you’re facing: dangerous turns, “up to N per hit”, tactics and What helps.
4. Bring consumables: you can use one of each kind per fight — details in the knowledge base: “Consumables in combat”.
5. Gather a live group with “📣” in chat or within your guild. Heroic is a test for a coordinated party.
6. Don’t drag the fight out: enrage doesn’t forgive slowness, and Heat of Battle demands an answer in hand.

World bosses and heroic FAQ

Can I clear a raid or world boss solo?

You can’t enter alone: only through the queue, as a party or with your party as is. If you queue alone, world residents of the right roles fill the free slots.

How is heroic mode different from normal?

Every enemy gets Heroic Might: guards are twice as strong, and each boss has its own Might, shown on the mode screen. In return, boss epics are item level 232 instead of 226, Tier 1 regalia drop only here, and heroic has its own loot day.

How often can I get loot from a boss?

Once a day from each boss, separately on normal and heroic. The reset is the same for everyone — 03:00 Moscow time. Minion waves always drop loot.

Where do legendary items come from?

From the final bosses of five raids and from each of the six world bosses — a separate 0.8% roll per kill — and also from crafting, achievements and the pass. All legendaries are item level 280.

What is Heat of Battle?

A rule for every fight: from their own 10th turn, everyone — heroes, residents and enemies — draws two cards instead of one at the start of the turn. A banner above your deck warns you in advance.

Where can I see a boss’s abilities?

In the game — in the Atlas’s How to beat tab and in the window by the boss; on the website — in the knowledge base’s How to beat section. You’ll find hits by turn, damage on normal and heroic, phases and tactics.

The bottom line

Level 60 boss fights in Zarhold are fairer than they look after your first defeat: nobody dies from full Health in one turn, a heavy hit leaves a Window to Heal, and every dangerous move is spelled out in the How to beat guide. The rest is your deck, your turn order and how well your party works together. Gather your five, check the Atlas and open Zarhold — the world bosses are waiting.