Kings’ Rest is a dungeon located in Zuldazar in the Battle for Azeroth expansion of World of Warcraft. It contains powerful enemies and mechanics that provide a good challenge for groups attempting it. Many players wonder if Kings’ Rest can be done on normal difficulty or if it requires higher difficulty modes.
Normal vs Heroic vs Mythic Difficulty
There are three main difficulty levels for dungeons in modern WoW: Normal, Heroic, and Mythic. Normal is the baseline difficulty designed for players who are new to max level content. Heroic increases enemy health and damage done slightly compared to Normal. Mythic adds additional mechanics to make the dungeon substantially harder compared to the lower difficulties.
Most dungeons open on Normal and Heroic difficulties immediately when players hit max level. Mythic difficulty and any special Mythic+ affixes are locked until the weekly reset after the dungeon is first completed on any difficulty.
Unlocking Kings’ Rest
To access Kings’ Rest, players must:
- Reach level 120 on at least one character
- Complete the Vol’dun leveling storyline
- Unlock World Quests in Zuldazar by becoming friendly with the 3 Kul Tiran factions
Once these steps are completed, Kings’ Rest will show up on the dungeon finder and meeting stones as a Normal and Heroic dungeon. There is no attunement or gear requirement to enter it on these difficulties.
Enemy Health and Damage in Kings’ Rest
The enemies in Kings’ Rest on Normal difficulty have around 1.5 million health for a standard trash mob. Bosses range from 3 million health for early bosses to around 5 million for final boss King Rastakhan. The dungeon is tuned around players having item level 315-325 gear when they first enter.
On Heroic difficulty, trash mobs have approximately 2.5 million health, while bosses range from 5-8 million health. Heroic is tuned for item level 330. Enemies do roughly 20% more damage compared to Normal difficulty.
Kings’ Rest Boss Mechanics on Normal
The bosses in Kings’ Rest have some additional mechanics on Normal compared to standard dungeon trash:
- Mchimba the Embalmer – Summons explosive totems that must be killed quickly.
- Council o’ Tribes – 2 mini-bosses are fought at the same time.
- Dazar, The First King – Summons spirit adds that must be cc’d or killed.
- King Rastakhan – Performs an AoE blast around him periodically.
These mechanics introduce some new challenges compared to trash packs but are designed to be handled by an organized group without too much difficulty. Each boss has a couple key mechanics that must be understood.
Is Kings’ Rest Doable on Normal Difficulty?
Kings’ Rest is absolutely designed to be completed by groups on Normal difficulty when they first reach level 120 and begin dungeoning. The enemy health and damage is tuned for starter gear, and the boss mechanics are relatively straightforward. Players may die if mechanics are ignored, but it should be very possible to progress through the full dungeon.
In fact, Kings’ Rest is one of the easier Mythic dungeons in Battle for Azeroth. The boss mechanics are not too punishing on Normal, and there are no extremely complex trash packs. As players improve their gear from Normal and Heroic dungeons, Kings’ Rest becomes fairly trivial outside of the later bosses.
Completing Kings’ Rest on Normal
Here are some tips for completing Kings’ Rest on Normal difficulty:
- Have a mix of AoE and single target DPS for trash and bosses.
- Interrupt dangerous enemy casts like Embalming Fluid or Gust Slash.
- Dispell debuffs like Purification Beam quickly.
- Stop dps on bosses at key health percentages to prevent extra add spawns.
- Stay stacked on Dazar to quickly cleave down adds.
- Save cooldowns for King Rastakhan to push through his immune phases quickly.
While there are some lethal mechanics, good communication, patience, and quick reactions will allow most groups to steadily progress through the dungeon by controlling adds and not overlapping dangerous boss abilities.
Gear Requirements for Kings’ Rest
The recommended item level to comfortably complete Kings’ Rest on Normal difficulty is:
- Tank: 315+
- Healer: 310+
- DPS: 305-310+
Tanks need to be a little more geared to handle boss damage and group larger packs of mobs. Healers need mana and throughput to keep the group alive through incidental boss damage. DPS mainly needs to meet the raw damage checks on bosses and priority add targets.
Running Kings’ Rest on Heroic
For groups looking for more of a challenge, Kings’ Rest on Heroic difficulty has the following differences:
- Enemies have about 50% more health and do 20% more damage.
- Many deadly boss mechanics one-shot players if handled incorrectly.
- Some new micro-mechanics are added to make fights more complex.
The step up to Heroic assumes players are more comfortable with the standard mechanics and ready to handle more dangerous incoming damage. Ideally groups should have 330+ item level gear before tackling Heroic Kings’ Rest.
Minimum Item Level for Kings’ Rest
The minimum item level required to queue for Kings’ Rest in the group finder is 300. However, players below 305 will likely struggle with low damage and survival. Getting to 315+ before attempting Normal is highly encouraged.
For Heroic, being below 325 will make the fights excessively long and dangerous. It is very difficult to complete at lower gear levels unless the group heavily outskills the content. Target 330+ before tackling Heroic Kings’ Rest.
Trash Packs in Kings’ Rest
Some particularly dangerous trash packs in Kings’ Rest to watch out for:
- King’s Rest Brute – High tank damage and knockback.
- Animated Guardian – Stuns players if not interrupted.
- Shadow-Borne Champion – Leaves behind a damaging pool when killed.
- King’s Rest Shadowcaster – Long devastating cast that must be kicked.
Good trash positioning and crowd control can help groups navigate these monsters without too much trouble. Tanks should kite brutish enemies away from the group as needed. Priests can Shackle Undead dangerous mobs. Interrupts should be used on clear telegraphed casts.
Mythic+ in Kings’ Rest
Once players fully outgear Heroic difficulty, Kings’ Rest becomes available as a Mythic+ dungeon. This adds a time limit and additional “affixes” each week to provide end-game level challenges.
Some examples of affixes in Kings’ Rest are:
- Necrotic – Stacking tank damage from enemies that must be kited.
- Bolstering – Killing an enemy buffs others, requiring careful priority.
- Sanguine – Pools of blood left behind that heal enemies.
Mythic+ pushes groups to refine their strategy and coordination in Kings’ Rest far beyond what is required in Normal and Heroic difficulties. It offers some of the biggest challenges currently available in player versus environment content and is where competitive groups push for meta Keystones and progression.
Conclusion
Kings’ Rest is designed to be accessible for Normal mode dungeon groups when they hit max level. While the enemies hit hard, the mechanics are straightforward to handle with proper preparation. Groups shouldn’t be afraid to jump into Kings’ Rest as soon as they meet the minimum item level requirements.
Transitioning to Heroic does assume more gear and experience handling deadly abilities. And Mythic+ takes things to the next level with tight time limits and affixes punishing each mistake. But Kings’ Rest offers a nice stepping stone into higher tier dungeon content when played at the appropriate difficulty.
