The Council of Tribes
Kings' Rest · boss 3 of 4
There was once a time when no single emperor could rule Zandalar. After a period of civil war, the heads of three families formed an uneasy coalition and tried to rule the empire together. Though they did not often agree, there was peace in Zandalar. Briefly.
Three councillors in sequence, and the dead ones keep coming back for a single cast. Stack to split the charge, spread for the lightning.
You face Kula, then Aka'ali, then Zanazal, but each defeated councillor periodically returns to fire one ability and leaves again, so the mechanics never fully stop, they arrive out of order. Stack to split Barrel Through, spread for Arc Lightning.
The spells that matter
The handful you actually react to. Hover for Blizzard's own text; click through for the full tooltip.
Barrel Through
Debilitating Backhand
Whirling Axes
Severing Axe
Arc Lightning
Poison Nova
Call of the Elements
What actually kills you
Everything else is noise until these three are handled.
- Barrel Through taken alone. Aka'ali's charge splits its damage among everyone hit, so one player eating it solo is one player dead.
- Arc Lightning taken stacked. It chains from its target to nearby players, the exact opposite of the charge, so spread for it.
- Forgetting a defeated councillor. One you killed moments ago reappears to cast a single ability, and that off-tempo cast is what catches groups.
Your job
If you tank
- Debilitating Backhand knocks you back and applies Shattered Defenses, raising your Physical damage taken. Aka'ali's kit is all Physical, so those stacks compound.
- Whirling Axes knocks players back and leaves two axes spinning on the floor that hurt on contact; mind where the knockback throws you relative to them.
If you heal
- Severing Axe is a bleed on random players that overlaps everything else, chip damage that adds up rather than a burst.
- Poison Nova sits on the whole group for its full duration; Zanazal's is the sustained-damage phase.
If you DPS
- Call of the Elements drops three totems: Explosive (raid damage), Torrent (Frost plus knockback), Thundering (interrupts everyone). Kill Thundering first if you need a cast to land.
- Stack to split Barrel Through, then spread again immediately; it is a formation for one cast, not a default.
How the fight goes
| Part | What to do |
|---|---|
| Step 1 | Kula the Butcher: Whirling Axes and Severing Axe. |
| Step 2 | Aka'ali the Conqueror: Barrel Through wants you stacked to split it; Debilitating Backhand stacks Physical vulnerability on the tank. |
| Step 3 | Zanazal the Wise: Arc Lightning wants you spread; Call of the Elements adds three totems that each need a different answer. |
| Step 4 | Throughout: every councillor already killed keeps rejoining to fire one ability, so expect earlier mechanics to reappear out of sequence. |
Higher keys
Heroic and Mythic
The journal marks only that Kings' Rest is Heroic and Mythic only (not available in Normal); it publishes no key-level-specific text. Higher keys scale health and damage. We would rather say that than invent a difference.
Loot
Everything The Council of Tribes can drop, from the Midnight Season 2 item database.
| Slot | Item |
|---|---|
| Waist | Girdle of Pestilent Purification |
| Feet | Boots of the Headlong Conqueror |
| Feet | Sandals of Wise Voodoo |
| Wrist | Kula's Butchering Wristwraps |
| One-hand | Crackling Jade Kilij |
| One-hand | Jeweled Dagger of Subjugation |
| Back | Cloak of the Restless Tribes |
| Ranged | Crossbow of Forgotten Majesty |
Nothing matches that.
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 Kings' Rest — the bonus roll guide explains what that changes, and the planner works it out per spec.