How to easily defeat Kurog Grimtotem in World of Warcraft: Dragonflight's Vault of the Incarnates raid

Once a prized pupil of the matriarch Magatha Grimtotem, Kurog Grimtotem is an elite World of Warcraft: Dragonflight raid boss who now serves the Elementalists and makes an appearance as a challenging encounter in the Vault of the Incarnates raid. Although regular raiders may have already encountered him, as of January 3, 2022, the Raid Finder opened Wing 2, bringing him to everyone else.

Alongside Sennarth and Dathea, Kurog waits on the Dragon Isles to see if you're worthy of overcoming his power. He drops the Chest tier pieces for all classes, so he’s definitely going to be a worthwhile challenge. Depending on where he is in his lair, his abilities will change. Here’s what you need to know about this foe.

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How to overcome Kurog Grimtotem in World of Warcraft: Dragonflight

It seems like most people have their own method of rotating around this room. It’s ultimately best to find out which order your tank is going to go in at. Depending on which altar you’re standing near in this World of Warcraft: Dragonflight boss fight, he’s going to give out stacks of an Elemental Dominance debuff: Fire, Frost, Storm, or Earth.

As you don’t want to gain too many of these at once, your raid is likely going to have its own rotation guide. For this World of Warcraft: Dragonflight guide, here's the order you’ll go through as you battle the Dragon Isles boss.

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Phase 1/Intermission

• Recommended Rotation: Frost (South), Fire (West), Storm (North), Earth (East), Fire (West)

You need to get to all four altars during Phase 1 of this World of Warcraft: Dragonflight boss, but there’s an intermission between the first two and the second two altars. Ideally, you’ll start at the Frost Altar, fighting the World of Warcraft: Dragonflight foe, until you get 19 stacks of Frost Dominance. You must then move to the Altar of Flame.

At the Fire Dominance Altar, Grimtotem can use Magma Burst to erupt magma under a few World of Warcraft: Dragonflight players. You’ll want to avoid stepping on any puddles that are created. Searing Carnage will also mark a few players and shoot a fire missile at them, which should occur every second for five seconds.

It’s highly recommended to have a healthy stack of both ranged and melee players. That way, whoever has the debuff can easily leave the group and safely endure their barrage of damage, while the group moves in the opposite direction.

At this point, the Intermission should occur, where you will have to fight a Frozen Destroyer/Blazing Fiend. You must defeat the Frozen Destroyer first to ensure that its Freezing Tempest doesn’t kill your players. When this ability goes off, stack up on the enemy.

Head to the Storm Altar next until you get 14 stacks of Storm Dominance. Spread out, so you don’t worsen the effects of Lightning Crash. This should also make dealing with Shocking Burst easier, as you'll want to be spread out for that as well in this World of Warcraft: Dragonflight boss battle.

The next stop is the Altar of Earth, where you will stay until Intermission 2. It’s recommended that you stay about 10 to 20 yards from the boss. He casts Erupting Bedrock, so you want to have as much time and space as possible to dodge it. When the ability comes, melee players will have to exit melee range, and return when the second ring pops up.

This is another phase where you want to be spread out, so Seismic Rupture doesn’t hit multiple people at once. When Intermission 2 triggers, you will have to fight another pair of elementals: Thundering Ravager/Tectonic Crusher.

In this add fight in World of Warcraft: Dragonflight, defeat the Thundering Ravager first. It deals a significant amount of raid damage, which is something you must avoid. This add can grab a player and channel damage into them, which means you will need to heal them throughout. The Tectonic Crusher is easier: simply have the other tank taunting the boss when the debuff feels too dangerous.

Kurog Grimtotem returns for the final phase of this World of Warcraft: Dragonflight battle, where the situation gets much worse. Mechanics from the previous areas will be triggered now, with all of the altars online at once. Just remember what you did before, and you can take this boss down.

You will also have to deal with Primal Attunement that deals Elemental damage every half second and can be stacked. It’s going to get ridiculous fast, so be sure to use plenty of heals while dealing damage in the final few moments.

Heroic changes

• Health and damage increases
• Primal Shift deals raid-wide damage and gives a deubff when Kurog activates an altar
• Molten Rupture is an attack to avoid
• Frigid Torrent hits incredibly hard, and also stuns. You can dispel that part, at least
• Absolute Zero freezes you if more than one person soaks
• Enveloping Earth is a healing absorb that takes place during the Altar of Stone
• Lightning Crash gives multiple players a debuff. It deals damage and gives a debuff
• Magma Flow is cast by the Blazing Fiend. It spawns adds to deal with

Depending on what difficulty you’re playing on, the gear that drops from this encounter will vary, ranging from 389 (Raid Finder) to Mythic (415). Here’s what you can pick up:

Loot table

• Imbued Qalashi Crusher: Two-Handed Weapon (Mace)
• Magatha’s Spiritual Sash: Waist (Cloth)
• Treacherous Totem Wraps: Hands (Leather)
• Surging-Song Conductors: Wrist (Mail)
• Scripture of Primal Devotion: Off-Hand
• Fist of the Grand Summoner: One-Handed Weapon (Fist)
• Kurog’s Thunderhooves: Feet (Plate)
• All-Totem of the Master: Trinket
• Controlled Current Technique: Trinket
• Mystic Amethyst Forgestone: Chest (Tier)
• Dreadful Amethyst Forgestone: Chest (Tier)
• Venerated Amethyst Forgestone: Chest (Tier)
• Zenith Amethyst Forgestone: Chest (Tier)

Kurog Grimtotem is a challenging World of Warcraft: Dragonflight boss, but he can certainly be overcome with a skilled team. Despite using plenty of special attacks and adds, with solid rotation and teamwork, you can best him and head deeper into the Vault of the Incarnates.