Each of the three bosses has distinct preparation steps and one mechanic that causes most wipes — the sections below cover each in full.
Before pulling Gerdo, locate and deactivate all Arcane Beacons in the courtyard. The process is two steps: kill the Duskwatch Sentry guarding each beacon, then right-click the beacon itself to deactivate it. Killing the Sentry alone is not enough — the beacon must be manually disabled or it summons a wave of Vigilant Duskwatch adds when the boss fight begins. Slow, stun, and CC any Sentries that start patrolling toward beacon posts before the group is ready to handle them.
If the group includes a Rogue or an Alchemist, interact with the Flask of the Solemn Night before the pull to poison the boss. This kills Gerdo instantly when he reaches 25% health rather than triggering his enrage, saving a significant chunk of fight time on high Mythic+ keys.
During the fight, Gerdo casts Resonant Slash: a simultaneous frontal and rear cone that deals damage and stuns anyone caught in either direction. Rotate to avoid both cones. Streetsweeper targets a random player's position and fires a beam across the room; move out of the beam path as it forms.
Arcane Lockdown applies three stacks at once, each slowing movement by 30% and dealing ticking damage. Each jump removes one stack; jump three times quickly to shed all three rather than dispelling one at a time. Without a flask, Gerdo hits 25% health and instead drains the flask himself, gaining 30% haste and 30% increased damage done for the remainder of the fight.
Talixae cannot be pulled until all four emissaries flanking her are dead; each buffs the others and the boss while alive. To separate them without pulling all four at once, kill a Felbound Enforcer near one emissary; the emissary will walk over to investigate the corpse, separating itself from the group. Repeat with each Enforcer to clear the emissaries one at a time.
Various class, profession, and race abilities interact with objects scattered around the area, triggering emissaries to move independently and awarding player buffs. Experiment with interactable objects if the group has multiple classes; the exact combination available changes per run, but each successful interaction removes one emissary from the cluster and grants a buff such as increased damage or healing.
The critical mechanic is Infernal Eruption: when Talixae begins casting it, the entire group must stack together. The eruption spawns a fire pool at each player's feet and summons one Blazing Imp per player. Interrupt the imps and kill them quickly; leaving them alive stacks up and causes a wipe.
Assign two melee players to interrupt Withering Soul in rotation. Each cast reduces the entire group's maximum health and movement speed by 10% and the debuff stacks; after two or three uninterrupted casts the stack becomes lethal. Withering Soul is also dispellable, but an interrupt takes priority since it prevents the stack from applying at all.
After defeating Talixae, the door to Melandrus is locked until the group identifies and kills a disguised spy hidden among the nobles. Speak to all five Chatty Rumormongers scattered through the post-boss area; each provides one physical clue about the spy: gender, vest color, sleeve length, gloves, cloak, and belt item. Cross-reference the five clues against the nobles in the area and accuse the matching one.
The spy's possible appearance traits are:
The spy's belt may hold: nothing, a book, a coin purse, or potion vials.
A correct accusation transforms the spy into Gerenth the Vile, a mini-boss who drops the key to Melandrus's chamber when killed. Demon Hunters who have spoken to all five Rumormongers can activate Spectral Sight to instantly identify which noble is the spy, bypassing the manual deduction step, but the five-clue conversations are still required before Spectral Sight works.
Melandrus opens with Blade Surge, charging toward the furthest player and dealing damage in a five-yard area at the endpoint. Crucially, a persistent image of the boss spawns at each charge destination. Have a ranged player bait early Blade Surges toward one corner of the room; this clusters the images away from the main fight area before the dangerous abilities begin.
Piercing Gale fires damage lines from Melandrus and all active images simultaneously; the combined coverage can fill most of the room. Slicing Maelstrom deals raid-wide AoE damage and deals extra damage to anyone within seven yards of Melandrus or any image. When Maelstrom activates, spread away from both the boss and all images. With images clustered to one side from early Blade Surge baiting, the remaining half of the room stays safe.
Enveloping Winds summons cloud traps across the floor that stun any player who touches them for four seconds. Move through gaps between clouds during Maelstrom rather than standing still in one spot.
Kill the Duskwatch Sentry standing near each beacon, then right-click the Arcane Beacon to deactivate it. Both steps are required: killing the Sentry alone leaves the beacon active and it summons adds when Gerdo is pulled.
A Rogue (using Distract on the flask) or an Alchemist can interact with the Flask of the Solemn Night near Gerdo before the pull, poisoning it. When Gerdo reaches 25% health he runs to drink the flask and dies instantly instead of triggering his enrage. On high Mythic+ keys this skip saves 20-30 seconds of fight time.
Talk to all five Chatty Rumormongers after killing Talixae. Each gives one physical clue about the spy's appearance. Combine the five clues to identify the matching noble among the crowd, then interact with that noble to accuse them. A correct accusation triggers the Gerenth the Vile mini-boss fight; killing Gerenth drops the key to Melandrus's room.
Demon Hunters cannot skip the spy mechanic entirely but can speed it up significantly. After speaking to all five Chatty Rumormongers, activate Spectral Sight to instantly highlight the spy visually without working through the clue logic manually. The five conversations are still required before Spectral Sight identifies the target.
Groups spread out during Infernal Eruption instead of stacking, which places fire pools across the arena and summons multiple un-interrupted Blazing Imps simultaneously. The correct response is a full group stack so fire pools overlap in one spot and the imps spawn in a manageable cluster. Any imp that casts its interrupt-able ability while the group is occupied with spread pools compounds the damage intake rapidly.
Melandrus spawns a permanent copy of himself at each Blade Surge charge destination. These images do not die; they cast Piercing Gale lines and contribute to Slicing Maelstrom damage. Bait the first several charges toward one corner to cluster images before Maelstrom begins, keeping the rest of the room clear for the AoE phase.
Arcane Lockdown is dispellable, but each jump removes one stack; jump three times in rapid succession to shed all three stacks instantly. This is faster than waiting for a dispel and requires no healer global cooldown.
Court of Stars was part of the Dragonflight Mythic+ pool as a returning Legion dungeon. Check the current Season 1 Midnight Mythic+ pool for whether it has been included in the active rotation, as the eight-dungeon pool rotates between seasons.
Court of Stars rewards groups that do the preparation work: beacons cleared, flask poisoned, emissaries separated, and Blade Surge baited before Maelstrom. The three bosses are mechanical rather than gear-intensive; knowing what to do during Infernal Eruption and keeping images clustered for Melandrus account for most of the difficulty at higher key levels.
The video guide below covers the same mechanics in a shorter visual format. If you'd prefer to run the dungeon with an experienced team on any key level, browse our Mythic+ dungeon carry catalog for available runs.
Last reviewed 2026-06-18 against Patch 12.0.5 Lingering Shadows — Maintained by WowCarry's WoW team.
