The Writhing Coil
Altar of Fangs · boss 2 of 3
In the feeding frenzy upon each other, there has been one Child of Ula'tek that has proved victorious over the rest of the brood. With every battle won, the twisting monstrosity known as the Writhing Coil only grows stronger.
A ball of snakes that has to be pulled apart. When Death Rattle ramps up, run out on your Vine Grip; that is what uncoils it and stops the damage.
Death Rattle is a stacking, climbing raid-wide hit that only ends when you interrupt it by uncoiling the boss. Orweyna's Vine Grip attaches everyone, and all attached players run a full 10 yards clear to Uncoil it, which itself deals a Nature burst; then burn the split snakes before they reform.
The spells that matter
The handful you actually react to. Hover for Blizzard's own text; click through for the full tooltip.
Vine Grip
Uncoil
Toxic Atrophy
Vindictive Onslaught
Tail Scythe
Spiteful Hunt
Undermining
What actually kills you
Everything else is noise until these three are handled.
- Standing still through Death Rattle. It stacks and adds applications every second, and only uncoiling the boss removes it.
- Not moving the full 10 yards on Vine Grip. Every attached player has to get 10 yards out or it won't Uncoil.
- Standing on a dying Uncoiled Writhe. Undermining deals Nature damage and knocks back anyone above it when it dies.
Your job
If you tank
- Tail Scythe is the heavy physical hit. Vindictive Onslaught adds Burrowing Charge through the ground and a Venom Jet cone; keep the cone off the group.
If you heal
- Death Rattle is a race, not a heal; the faster the group uncoils, the fewer stacks land. Uncoil itself also deals a Nature hit to everyone, so expect a spike as the relief arrives.
- Toxic Atrophy stacks a slow and a damage cut, three times in a row during Toxic Barrage and again from the split snakes. Survivable, but it slows the next uncoil.
If you DPS
- Damage into the Uncoiled Writhes carries over. The Coil reforms through Assimilation with the snakes' combined remaining health, so nothing you do while it's split is wasted.
- The Uncoiled Writhes can be crowd-controlled, and each fixates a player via Spiteful Hunt. Stop or CC the one hunting you rather than letting it reach you and apply Spiteful Venom.
How the fight goes
| Part | What to do |
|---|---|
| Step 1 | The Coil fights as one creature with Vindictive Onslaught, Tail Scythe and Synchronized Venom. |
| Step 2 | Death Rattle ramps up; Vine Grip goes out, and all attached players run 10 yards clear to Uncoil it. |
| Step 3 | It splits into Uncoiled Writhes. Burn and CC them; your damage persists when they cast Assimilation and reform. |
Higher keys
Heroic and Mythic
The journal publishes no key-level-specific text; higher keys scale health and damage. We would rather say that than invent a difference.
Loot
Everything The Writhing Coil can drop, from the Midnight Season 2 item database.
| Slot | Item |
|---|---|
| Neck | Strand of Warding Fangs |
| Shoulder | Snakeskin Spaulders |
| Chest | Aged Interwoven Scaleplate |
| Legs | Leggings of Entwined Serpents |
| Trinket | Knot of Writhing Serpents |
| Two-hand | Toxin-Coated Warstaff |
| Two-hand | Vile Writhefang Glaive |
| Held in off-hand | Nocuous Focal Fang |
Nothing matches that.
This boss drops a trinket. Trinket value varies enormously by spec — see the simulated trinket rankings.
Worth a bonus roll?
You cannot roll this boss on its own. A dungeon roll is against the whole instance, so this table is one part of a pool that includes every other boss in Altar of Fangs — the bonus roll guide explains what that changes, and the planner works it out per spec.