[Raid] KoC Classic tour: Blackwing Lair

[Piotyr]

The bosses continue to fall, and so the raids continue to press onward to more advanced content. The next step up in difficulty would be Blackwing Lair, which was actually the very first raid instance patched into the game after initial release (in patch 1.6).

Of course, they made a video trailer for the place:


As usual, anyone level 60 and over is welcome to come along, but the lower level you are the more careful you will need to be to avoid death. There are bosses in Blackwing Lair for which we'll absolutely need to pay attention to the mechanics, and the first boss in the entire instance may be the toughest to do.

Also, I hope these planned raids are enjoyable and fun, despite being pretty simple overall.

 

[Piotyr]

Also, from what I can gather, the attunement is still required to use the orb in Blackrock Spire to access Blackwing Lair.

To get attuned:

• Kill the Scarshield Quartermaster, a level 55 elite mob near the entrance to Blackrock Spire (outside the instance).
• Loot Blackhand's Command from him, and start the quest.
• Complete UBRS, and use the orb behind General Drakkisath.

That's the whole quest. I'm willing to help people do this run if they need it.

 

[Dave]

Guess I'll have to do this tonight.

 

[SpecialKO]

Real life is conspiring to keep me off when you guys go, but hopefully, I can make one of these soon.

 

[Piotyr]

Blackwing Lair

History/Background

• Blackwing Lair was opened to raids with patch 1.6, the first raid added into the game after initial release.
• All Tier 2 items, except the helms from Onyxia and the pants from Ragnaros, were moved from random raid drops to specific Blackwing Lair boss drops.
• At release, to progress past the three drakes required all tanks to make an Onyxia Scale Cloak, which was a leatherworking pattern (marking one of the few times leatherworking was absolutely essential) that required a drop off Onyxia (and she'd generally drop 2-3 scales for an entire 40-man raid, good luck farming for weeks to get enough for your whole raid), along with a Cindercloth cloak, which was actually a rare Tailoring BoE pattern. To clear Nefarian, every member of the raid needed a cloak (or to exploit pathing).
• To be fair, though, by the time Blackwing Lair was released, raids were farming Onyxia for months anyway and had plenty of cloaks at the ready.
• In patch 3.2, Blizzard made Onyxia a level 80 encounter, and thus removed the need for the Onyxia Scale Cloak in BWL.
• At initial release, the second boss, Vaelastrasz the Corrupt, was an infamous "guild killer". Defeating Vael required 40 raiders to be near perfect, and also required a good random application of Burning Adrenaline, so that a string of tanks or healers didn't all get it, which was an automatic wipe. Blizzard eventually nerfed the encounter weeks later, so that Burning Adrenaline on tanks was predictable, and the time between casts of BA were lengthened to allow for some leeway before the entire raid got wiped out.
• The theme for this raid was taking advantage of line of sight. Things like Shadow Flame, Flame Buffet, and everything Chromaggus did were only counterable by ducking behind corners when necessary and positioning bosses in such a way that healers weren't even in the path.
• No legendaries dropped specifically in Blackwing Lair, but Elementium drops from a specific mob type in Blackwing Lair were required to complete the Thunderfury legendary weapon.
• At level 80, I think the toughest encounters to handle will be the first two and Nefarian, just due to the logistics of the encounter. Perhaps Shadow Flame can be ignored now, but legions of drakonids and Burning Adrenaline can't be.

Bosses

• Razorgore the Untamed -- Health: 486,135
  
  Spoiler

  

  
  Background
  

  • This encounter is the first thing you see when entering Blackwing Lair. No trash, just this boss.
  • The encounter was and still is a very unique encounter, and the mechanics hold up very well, even at 80.
  • The encounter is started by pulling Grethok the Controller (65k HP), an orc controlling Razorgore with an orb.
  • At release, this encounter took some serious coordination, from the pull to a mind control mechanic to training 40 mobs around the room.
  • Razorgore drops Tier 2 bracers for all classes.

  Mechanics
  

  • Phase 1 - The Pull
    • Grethok the Controller -- Health: 64,750
      • Dominate Mind - Take control of a player for 15 seconds.
      • Polymorph - Turn a player into a sheep for 20 seconds.
      • Slow - Slow movement by 60% for 10 seconds.
      • Arcane Missiles - 200 arcane damage per second for 6 seconds.
      • Flanked by two Blackwing Guardsmen with 31,000 health each that attack in melee.
    • Raid - Phase 1
      • When Grethok is pulled, Razorgore will break control and head for the raid to kill everyone. Someone in the raid needs to quickly run up and use the orb Grethok was controlling to control Razorgore while the rest of the raid deals with Grethok and the guards.
      • Grethok will sound the alarm on initiation of combat, giving you about 45 seconds to deal with Razorgore, Grethok, and the two guards before phase 2 begins.
      • DO NOT attack or kill Razorgore at this phase, as if you do reduce his health to zero he'll cast a spell that kills everyone, and resets the encounter so nobody gets loot.
      • Kill Grethok first, because all of his abilities are designed to screw up the player trying to control the orb. If that player gets slowed or polymorphed, dispel immediately.
      • Phase 2 begins when the Blackwing Guard begins to enter the room from the four corners. They include 3 types of mobs: Death Talon Dragonspawn (45,780 HP), Blackwing Legionnaire (9,156 HP), and Blackwing Mage (7,326 HP)
  • Phase 2 - The Eggs
    • The Blackwing Guard
      • Dragonspawn: Melee, frontal cleave attack, 400% damage melee strike.
      • Legionnaire: Melee, frontal cleave attack, 400% damage melee strike.
      • Mage: Targeted fireball, AoE Arcane Explosion if you interrupt the fireball.
    • Razorgore the Untamed (controlled by player)
      • Destroy Egg - 3 second cast, 7 second cooldown. Destroys egg in front of Razorgore.
      • Fireball Volley - 1000 damage fireballs to every enemy in the room. Very effective at getting everyone's attention on Razorgore...which isn't what you want anyway.
      • Calm Dragonkin - Sleep target dragonkin for 30 seconds. So, usable on the dragonspawn, if you get bored as the controller (you won't).
    • Raid - Phase 2
      • The Blackwing guards will spawn from the four corners of the room, and continue to spawn until there are a total of 40 enemies in the room. If you kill them, more will spawn.
      • The most important things during this phase are Razorgore (if he dies, the raid dies) and the person controlling the orb (if he dies, Razorgore goes loose)
      • The orb will allow control of Razorgore for up to 90 seconds, if the player isn't interrupted or damaged during the process. Once the orb is used, a 60 second debuff is placed on that player preventing the orb from being used again. So as long as the player isn't interrupted enough to cut the control under 60 seconds, one player can control Razorgore for the entirety of phase 2.
      • However, the sole mission of the Blackwing guards is to kill either Razorgore or the controller player (that orb generates aggro like you wouldn't believe). So, the rest of the raid's job is as follows: Keep Razorgore alive until all the eggs are destroyed (there are about 50 eggs, and each takes 10 seconds to deal with), and keep the controller from being damaged and interrupted so that Razorgore won't break free and kill the raid.
      • At release, the typical strategy was to kill any mages that spawned (since they won't kite) and kite the rest around the room. Continue until all 40 enemies in the room are either legionnaires or dragonspawn. Use of speed enhancements for players or speed reduction for enemies was often helpful in setting up the kiting train.
      • This phase will continue until the controlling player uses Razorgore to destroy the last egg. At that point all Blackwing guards will empty out of the room, Razorgore will heal to full, and phase 3 begins.
  • Phase 3 - The Kill
    • Razorgore the Untamed (now hostile)
      • Immune to taunt
      • Fireball Volley - 1000 fire damage to all raid members
      • Conflagration - 3000 fire damage to current target, a 300 damage DoT for 10 seconds, and drops the target off the threat table
      • Cleave - Frontal AoE melee range attack
      • War Stomp - 10 yard range, 500 damage AoE stun for 5 seconds.
    • Raid - Phase 3
      • Razorgore will keep his threat list from phase 2, meaning the controller is by far at the top of it. With no taunt, good luck to the tanks for building threat quickly.
      • Alternative way to clear the threat from the controller player is to let that player eat a conflagrate. Not generally a good idea at level 60, but no problem at 80.
      • Without the use of taunt, the fight is mostly just throttling DPS so the tanks can maintain control until Razorgore is down.
• Vaelastrasz the Corrupt -- Health: 3,331,000
  
  Spoiler

  

  
  Background
  

  • He may have over 3 million health at 100%, but the encounter begins with him at 30%, or 1 million life exactly.
  • This encounter was and still is the ultimate DPS race. At release, you had one hour a week to attempt Vael. If you failed, that was it for the week.
  • This encounter is directly after Razorgore, still with no trash in between. So, the first two encounters you have in BWL are both bosses. The first required insane coordination, the second was the ultimate gear/DPS check.
  • Vael killed raids. Raids wiped for months trying to get enough gear/DPS to meet the requirements, and even one screwup or bad randomness would mess up the attempt.
  • Definitely one of, if not the most intense fight in vanilla WoW.
  • Vaelastrasz the Corrupt drops Tier 2 belts for all classes.

  Mechanics
  

  • Vaelastrasz the Corrupt
    • Essence of the Red - Cast on the raid as the fight begins. Restores 500 mana, 50 energy, 20 rage and 20 runic power per second for 3 minutes (You have infinite resources...GO CRAZY!)
    • Fire Nova - 500 fire damage per second aura, existing throughout the fight. (Keep healers on toes...since you can spam AoE heals anyway)
    • Flame Breath - 3,500-4,500 fire damage in an AoE cone in front. (Keep Vael facing away from the raid)
    • Chain Cleave - Melee AoE frontal attack that spreads to all raid members within 10 yards of initial targets (stay away from the tank!)
    • Tail Whip - 1,000 damage to enemies directly behind Vael, plus knockback.
    • Burning Adrenaline - Cast every 15 seconds on a random mana user, every 45 seconds on his primary target, lasting 20 seconds. Damage done by the target increased by 100%. Attack speed of target increased by 100%. All skills and spells become instant cast. Reduces max health by 5% every second for 20 seconds. When target dies, it explodes for 5000 damage to everything within 20 yards of it.
    • Being a red dragon, Vael is immune to fire damage (Noooooooo!).
  • Raid
    • Ever wonder how much damage you could do with unlimited resources and no cast times? Well, here you go.
    • Burning Adrenaline will first be cast at 15 seconds into the fight, and it WILL kill its target (used to be able to get around it with +life skills or trinkets, but they fixed it so you can't now) after 20 seconds. So, the time you have in the fight depends on how many raid members you have. Multiply that number by 15 seconds, and there you go. So, if we have a 5-man raid on Sunday, we have 90 seconds to kill Vael.
    • After 3 minutes, Essence of the Red wears off, and resources mean something again. Usually, at level 60, that meant the fight was over due to the overwhelming fire damage taken.
    • You can very quickly pull threat when you get Burning Adrenaline, so you will still need to be careful to prevent the raid from getting Flame Breathed.
    • Other than that, the fight is all about unleashing the fury in a very short time.
• Broodlord Lashlayer -- Health: 916,025
  
  Spoiler

  

  
  Background
  

  • Just in case you were missing all that trash before the first two bosses, the lead-in to this one makes up for the lack of it with the Suppression Room.
  • The Suppression Room is a room full of three types of mobs:
    • Corrupted Whelps - 4,000 Health, immune to the element of their color (Red: Fire; Blue: Frost; Yellow: Arcane; Green: Nature). 3 minute respawn timer
    • Blackwing Taskmater - 50,000 Health, heals nearby whelps (so kill these guys first), 10 minute respawn timer.
    • Death Talon Hatcher - 88,000 Health dragonkin, stacks Growing Flames on the raid, which does 50 damage every 2 seconds per stack. 10 minute respawn timer.
  • In addition to the mobs, the Suppression Room was full of Suppression Traps that slowed the raid's movement by 80, and could only be countered by the rogue's Disarm Trap (thus marking the only time that skill was ever useful in raiding).
  • The Suppression Room fed right into Broodlord Lashlayer, so you had no time to rest and heal up between the room and the boss encounter.
  • To avoid re-aggroing things from the Suppression Room once the boss encounter started, he was generally pulled to the nearest corner alcove, out of the direct path of the suppression mobs.
  • Compared to Vael, though, this one was pretty simple, provided the raid kept moving.
  • Broodlord Lashlayer drops Tier 2 boots for all classes.

  Mechanics
  

  • Broodlord Lashlayer
    • Blast Wave - 3000 fire damage to everything in a 20 yard radius, and knocks back 5 yards.
    • Cleave - AoE melee frontal attack. If you're not a tank, you shouldn't be standing in front of him.
    • Mortal Strike - 300% weapon damage and a 50% healing debuff on the tank.
    • Knock Away - Knocks back highest target on threat list, reducing threat to that player by 50%.
  • Raid
    • Like said above, fight him in a corner alcove, away from the suppression mobs.
    • At release, each knock away required tank switching to maintain control and threat. Probably not a problem at 80, for the most part.
    • Mortal Strike was a huge hit at release, which could crit an underdefensed tank for over 8,000. Tanks would all often use Flask of the Titans to get enough health to withstand it.
    • Besides that, the fight is pretty simple once you get there. Two thirds of the challenge is getting him pulled with an intact raid and getting him in the right spot.
• Firemaw -- Health: 999,300
  
  Spoiler

  

  
  Background
  

  • Firemaw is the first of three drakes that roam the hallways between the Suppression Room and Chromaggus' Lair.
  • This is the first encounter that makes use of the Shadow Flame mechanic, which is a breath attack. At release, if you did not have the Onyxia Scale Cloak and are hit by it, you'll take about 2,000 shadow damage per second for 10 seconds. So it was kind of a big deal. Since patch 3.2, the dot is no longer applied, so the cloak is no longer necessary.
  • Firemaw is often considered the toughest of the 3 drakes, as it is also the first of several encounters where you need to take advantage of line of sight to avoid stacking debuffs. It is possible to position him and the raid in such a way that healers are never in line of sight, and never get debuffed. At 80, though, not completely necessary.
  • Firemaw drops Tier 2 gloves for all classes.

  Mechanics
  

  • Firemaw
    • Shadow Flame - 4,000 - 5,000 Shadow Damage frontal cone AoE.
    • Flame Buffet - Stackable, non-dispellable debuff that does 150 Fire damage and increases damage done by Fire effects by 150 per stack. Hits all targets in line of sight. 20 second duration.
    • Wing Buffet - Knocks back current target, reducing threat by 50%.
    • Thrash - 3 attacks per attack.
  • Raid
    • Don't get hit by Shadow Flame if you can avoid it.
    • Tanks need to get Firemaw facing away from the raid so they can avoid Shadow Flame.
    • If Flame Buffet stacks too high, tanks can switch places and the debuffed tank can run out of sight until the debuff wears off.
    • Rest of raid needs to run out of sight if the debuff starts stacking too high. At 80, it may be possible to just burn him down before it stacks very high.
    • Firemaw is a black drake, so he takes half damage from fire attacks.
• Ebonroc -- Health: 999,300
  
  Spoiler

  

  
  Background
  

  • Ebonroc is the second of three drakes that roam the hallways between the Suppression Room and Chromaggus' Lair. Yes, he looks a lot like Firemaw. In fact, he behaves a lot like Firemaw too.
  • Ebonroc has just one ability that differs from Firemaw, as he has the same Wing Buffet and Shadow Flame abilities.
  • Line of sight doesn't affect the Ebonroc encounter at all, so no need to worry about specific positioning, as long as he's not shadow flaming the raid.
  • Ebonroc also drops Tier 2 gloves for all classes.

  Mechanics
  

  • Ebonroc
    • Shadow Flame - 4,000 - 5,000 Shadow Damage frontal cone AoE.
    • Wing Buffet - Knocks back current target, reducing threat by 50%.
    • Thrash - 3 attacks per attack.
    • Shadow of Ebonroc - Debuff cast on the main tank, resistable with Shadow resistance (and really, shadow resistance is handy for every Shadow Flame fight anyway). When debuffed, every time Ebonroc strikes you, he'll heal for 25,000 life. Debuff lasts 8 seconds and is not dispellable.
  • Raid
    • Don't get hit by Shadow Flame if you can avoid it.
    • Tanks need to get Ebonroc facing away from the raid so they can avoid Shadow Flame.
    • As soon as the tank gets debuffed with Shadow of Ebonroc, another tank should taunt off to avoid Ebonroc self-healing.
    • Ebonroc is a black drake, so he takes half damage from fire attacks.
• Flamegor -- Health: 999,300
  
  Spoiler

  

  
  Background
  

  • Third verse, same as the first.
  • Flamegor has just one ability that differs from Firemaw and Ebonroc, as he has the same Wing Buffet and Shadow Flame abilities.
  • Line of sight doesn't affect the Flamegor encounter at all, so no need to worry about specific positioning, as long as he's not shadow flaming the raid.
  • Flamegor also drops Tier 2 gloves for all classes.

  Mechanics
  

  • Flamegor
    • Shadow Flame - 4,000 - 5,000 Shadow Damage frontal cone AoE.
    • Wing Buffet - Knocks back current target, reducing threat by 50%.
    • Thrash - 3 attacks per attack.
    • Frenzy - Self cast every 15 seconds, increases damage and attack speed by 100%, and causes a 500 damage Fire Nova to be cast every 5 seconds while frenzied. Can be tranquilized.
  • Raid
    • Don't get hit by Shadow Flame if you can avoid it.
    • Tanks need to get Flamegor facing away from the raid so they can avoid Shadow Flame.
    • If you can tranquilize the Frenzy, do so. Otherwise, just know that the tanks will take more damage, and the raid will get fire nova'd almost constantly.
    • Flamegor is a black drake, so he takes half damage from fire attacks.
• Chromaggus -- Health: 1,832,050
  
  Spoiler

  

  
  Background
  

  • Chromaggus was and still is the ultimate line-of-sight encounter in WoW.
  • Chromaggus was the first encounter with a random aspect, as each week he will randomly have two of five possible breath attacks. The unique thing about his breath attacks is that they are completely unavoidable unless you are out of line of sight.
  • Chromaggus other signature mechanic is a set of five debuffs, one of each kind (curse, magic, poison, disease, special). If a player has all five debuffs simultaneously, that player will permanently transform into an elite drakonoid that must be killed.
  • In addition, the debuffs are zone-wide, so you can't LoS them.
  • Chromaggus drops Tier 2 shoulders for all classes.

  Mechanics
  

  • Chromaggus
    • Five Breaths (of which he'll have two of them in the fight):
      • Red: Incinerate - 4,000 Fire damage
      • Green: Corrosive Acid - 875-1125 Nature damage every 3 seconds for 15 seconds. Reduces armor by 4,000.
      • Blue: Frost Burn - 1,400 damage, 1,400 mana drain, and attack/cast speed reduced by 80% for 15 seconds.
      • Black: Ignite Flesh - 700 Fire damage every 3 seconds for 1 minute. Stacks on each cast.
      • Bronze: Time Lapse - 6 second stun, maximum health reduced by 50% for 6 seconds. When it wears off, your maximum health returns to normal (and you are healed for that amount, so 50% of your health is healed from Time Lapse)
    • Five Brood Afflictions:
      • Red (Disease): 50 fire damage every 3 seconds, and if you die you heal Chromaggus.
      • Green (Poison): 250 nature damage every 5 seconds, healing reduced by 50%.
      • Blue (Magic): 50 mana and 1 health drained per second. Casting speed reduced by 50%. Movement reduced by 70%.
      • Black (Curse): Fire damage increased by 100% (bad one if you get the Red breath).
      • Bronze (Special): 4 second stun at random intervals for 10 minutes. Can be removed with Hourglass Sand, an item randomly dropped by trash in BWL.
    • Shimmer - Regularly during the fight, Chromaggus will change the school of magic he is vulnerable to. All other magic does half damage.
    • Frenzy - Increase attack speed by 150% for 8 seconds. Can be tranquilized.
    • Enrage - Used at 20% to increase attack speed by 50% and damage by 200.
  • Raid
    • Tank Chromaggus in a place where the raid can duck around a corner to avoid his breaths if needed. Usually the doorway to his room works well.
    • If one of the breaths is bronze (Time Lapse), everyone needs to get hit by it, or else Chromaggus will switch to an un-stunned target for 6 seconds. Not a good thing. Also, it will heal the whole raid after 6 seconds by 50% of their life, which at 80 is HUGE. Just make sure the tank is topped off before the breath, because he'll take 6 seconds of damage.
    • If one of the breaths is red (Incinerate), the black affliction needs to be decursed from the tank immediately upon application.
    • Decursing the afflictions is priority #1 in the fight, because if someone ends up with all 5 of them, not only is that raider out of the fight for the remainder, but he also turns into an elite drakonid that must be dealt with.
    • Chromaggus has a lot of HP, so the fight generally takes a long time, so taking advantage of line of sight on breaths (except Time Lapse!) is a handy tool.
• Nefarian -- Health: 2,165,150
  
  Spoiler

  

  
  Background
  

  • At release, this was an encounter where every single raid member would need an Onyxia Scale Cloak, or they weren't worth bringing along.
  • In patch 3.2, when Blizzard reworked Onyxia to a level 80 raid encounter, they also removed all Shadow Flame DoTs from all BWL encounters, removing the need for the Onyxia Scale Cloak.
  • This encounter also has a bit of randomness to it, as during phase 1 you will get 2 of 5 colors of drakonids (plus chromatic drakonids).
  • This was also a unique encounter, as it encouraged class balancing in the raid due to a class call mechanic that would sabotage one particular class at a time.
  • To begin the encounter, a player must speak to Nefarian on his throne in human form. When the conversation is complete, he yells "Let the Games Begin!" to the raid, and phase 1 begins with the drakonids pouring out of two doors.
  • Nefarian drops Tier 2 chests for all classes.

  Mechanics
  

  • Phase 1 - Let the Games Begin!
    • Drakonids (two of five, plus Chromatic)
      • Chromatic Drakonid - 24,000 Health - AoE frontal cone of fire for 2,000 damage. 50% resists to all magic schools.
      • Red Drakonid - 15,000 Health - Stacking DoT for 300 damage per second per stack. Immune to fire.
      • Blue Drakonid - 15,000 Health - AoE frontal cone of frost for 100 damage + 1,000 mana drain + 100% attack speed reduction. Immune to frost.
      • Green Drakonid - 15,000 Health - Stuns. Immune to Nature damage.
      • Black Drakonid - 15,000 Health - AoE frontal cone of fire for 1,000 damage. 50% resistance to fire and shadow.
      • Bronze Drakonid - 15,000 Health - AoE frontal cone of arcane for 1,000 damage + 50% reduced cast speed + 33% reduced attack speed. Immune to arcane damage.
    • Nefarian (human)
      • Immune to damage, so don't bother.
      • Shadowbolt - 1,000 shadow damage to random raid member
      • Mind control - Takes control of random raid member for 20 seconds. Try not to kill them.
      • Fear - Random target runs in fear for 5 seconds. Dispellable.
    • Raid - Phase 1
      • In general, tanks and melee are near the entrances trying to keep the drakonids together for AoE. The drakonids will continually spawn until the raid has killed 42 of them.
      • AoE of course will only work if the drakonids are vulnerable to it. So if you get reds, fire is useless, blues-ice, green-nature, bronze-arcane.
      • Don't bother attacking Nefarian, but healers will need to watch for shadow bolts, mind controls and fears.
      • Try to keep the drakonids together as closely as possible, because it'll matter for phase 3.
      • Phase 2 begins when 42 drakonids have been killed (of any type). Then the drakonids will stop spawning (although any drakonids still alive at 42 will still need to be dealt with). Nefarian will disappear, transform into a dragon, and shortly land, casting a particularly nasty Shadow Flame on the entire zone.
  • Phase 2 - Nefarian (dragon)
    • Nefarian
      • Shadow Flame (first) - Before he lands, he'll breathe Shadow Flame on the entire area. Hits raid for 1,000 shadow damage.
      • Shadow Flame (subsequent) - When in combat, he'll shadow flame in a cone in front of him, 4,000-5,000 shadow damage to targets in front.
      • Cleave - AoE melee attack to all targets in front (seriously, if you are not currently tanking him, do not stand in front of him
      • Tail Lash - 1,000 AoE damage to targets directly behind him, near his tail (so don't stand directly behind him either, genius).
      • Bellowing Roar - AoE fear for 4 seconds, 35 yard range, cast every 30 seconds (stance dance!..or fear ward I guess).
      • Veil of Shadow - Curse on main target, reducing healing by 75%, decursable (and you should).
      • Class calls!
        • "Death Knights, get over here!" - Mass Death Grip - Casts Death Grip on the entire raid.
        • "Druids and your silly shapeshifting. Let's see it in action!" - Involuntary Transformation - All druids stuck in cat form for 20 seconds (which at release basically rendered all druids useless, since cat form was terrible).
        • "Hunters and your annoying pea-shooters!" - Sunder Weapon - All hunters have their ranged weapon immediately broken (so if you are a hunter, bring spares!).
        • "Mages too? You should be more careful when you play with magic..." - Wild Polymorph - All mages transformed into a giraffe or cow for 20 seconds.
        • "Priests! If you're going to keep healing like that, we might as well make it a little more interesting!" - Corrupted Healing - All heals cast a debuff on the healing target for 50 damage per second for 20 seconds, stacking up to 50 times.
        • "Paladins, I've heard you have many lives. Show me." - Siphon Blessing - All Paladins within range cast Blessing of Protection on Nefarian, making him immune to damage for 8 seconds.
        • "Rogues? Stop hiding and face me!" - Mass Teleport - All rogues are teleported directly in front of Nefarian and rooted there for 10 seconds (this is a bad thing due to breaths and cleave)
        • "Shamans, show me what your totems can do!" - Corrupted Totems - Shamans drop more powerful versions of their totems to buff Nefarian and/or cause damage to the raid.
        • "Warriors, I know you can hit harder than that! Let's see it!" - All Warriors forced into Berserker stance for 20 seconds, increasing damage taken by 30% (at the time, all tanks were warriors, so the main tank was screwed here)
        • "Warlocks, you shouldn't be playing with magic you don't understand. See what happens?" - Summon Infernals - All warlocks summon 2 infernals that run through and damage the raid.
    • Raid - Phase 2
      • As soon as Nefarian lands, the tank needs to control him and face him away from the raid to avoid further shadow flames. If rogues are in the raid and he uses a rogue class call, Nefarian needs to be turned away from them so he doesn't kill them immediately.
      • Hunters, it's a good idea to bring a spare bow, even if it's terrible. You can equip it just prior to the class call so that one breaks instead of your nice bow.
      • Priests, don't heal during class calls (obviously).
      • Death Knight is the only class call that will affect the whole raid even if no DKs are in the raid. Move away from him after he casts mass death grip.
      • The fear every 30 seconds is annoying, and if at least the main tank can avoid it, it will make the whole fight much more controlled.
      • Also, decurse the tank immediately when he gets Veil of Shadow.
      • This phase will continue until Nefarian hits 20% life. Then Nefarian will raise every one of the drakonids you killed as 6,000 health Bone Constructs that hit very hard in melee and should be AoE'd down immediately. Then finish off Nefarian the rest of the way, dealing with all the abilities.

 

[Shakey]

Hopefully I can find time to get attuned this week, not sure though. If I can, I'll be there.

 

[Dei]

If anyone can make Onyxia Scale cloaks, it's not a bad thing to have, but you don't *need* it. I do recall wall humping to avoid shadowflame on my alt at 60. Also, just throwing this out there, if anyone is a hunter... bring a spare ranged weapon, just in case.

 

[SpecialKO]

If anyone can make Onyxia Scale cloaks, it's not a bad thing to have, but you don't *need* it.

This. It's cute to have, but it's really not necessary, especially for melee classes with tons of stamina. Squishies may want to be a bit more circumspect.

 

[Piotyr]

Yeah, there's no way to feasibly get them anymore. It won't be necessary now, it just was when the content was new and relevant.

 

[Baerdog]

I should be at this raid just like all the others.

 

[Piotyr]

Posted info on Razorgore the Untamed, which may be the toughest encounter we face.

Although, we almost 2-manned it last night, so I'm more optimistic about it today. Maybe Vaelastrasz will be the toughest.

 

[Shegokigo]

Shame you all aren't on Muradin we did a AQ/BC tour the other night. SSC --> Tk --> Mag --> BT --> AQ40 in a total of 2 hours I think?

Best of luck on your run though!

 

[Dave]

No, too bad YOU aren't on Ghostlands!

(Even though I really, REALLY wish it were a PvP server sometimes.)

 

[Shegokigo]

I alone wouldn't have done those raids. I meant the group of people I know on Muradin/

 

[Piotyr]

Posted info on Vaelastrasz the Corrupt too. If you have never done that fight, it's easily one of the top 5 most memorable fights in vanilla WoW. It could be trouble for a light raid at 80, too, considering a raid member will die every 15 seconds.

 

[SpecialKO]

Posted info on Vaelastrasz the Corrupt too. If you have never done that fight, it's easily one of the top 5 most memorable fights in vanilla WoW. It could be trouble for a light raid at 80, too, considering a raid member will die every 15 seconds.

Important to note that only Mana users and the current tank get hit by BA (and the tank only at 45 seconds).

Just did him with my other guild. 2 Warrs, 2 Pallies, 1 DK. Raid did 40k DPS, killed him in 25 seconds. Didn't even have time to get hit by BA. Admittedly, the lowest-geared person there was my DK, who is 3k whgs.

 

[Piotyr]

Info posted on Broodlord Lashlayer, arguably the simplest encounter in BWL, as long as the raid can handle the suppression room.

 

[Shegokigo]

Suppression room is still bugged. Rogues can't disable the traps.

 

[Dei]

Suppression room can be brute forced, but I don't know if you can do it with a 4 man raid, even at 80.

 

[Shegokigo]

It's very dooable with 4. My brother and I have done it with 3 with little issue. Just have to be geared.

 

[SpecialKO]

Can totally be forced if people are well-geared (average 245+). Not sure about 200-232.

 

[Dave]

My tank just made 80. I'm not geared at all.

In fact, I need to start working on that.

 

[Piotyr]

Firemaw, Ebonroc, and Flamegor information added. They're all very similar, with only Firemaw having an ability annoying enough to make use of the room to get out of line of sight regularly. Even then, at 80 it may be possible to burn him down before flame buffet stacks too high on anyone.

 

[Piotyr]

Added information on Chromaggus, a hugely annoying, long encounter.

Hopefully not quite as long at 80.

 

[Piotyr]

Nefarian information added, so now all boss info is up. Turns out Blizzard added a DK class call when Wrath shipped. They think of everything.

 

[Piotyr]

I have learned that since Blizzard made Onyxia a level 80 encounter, they completely removed the DoT effect of the Shadow Flame mechanic, thus negating the need for the Onyxia Scale Cloak on all encounters, even Nefarian.

Handy, that.

 

[Piotyr]

Also, if anyone wanted to attend and didn't get attuned yet and can't seem to find anyone to help them get attuned, let me know and I'll help.

 

[Dei]

You can summon into the instance too, if you have a warlock (I don't know if you would or not though)

 

[Baerdog]

Also, if anyone wanted to attend and didn't get attuned yet and can't seem to find anyone to help them get attuned, let me know and I'll help.

Are you going to be around later tonight? I'm going to try to tear myself away from Minecraft long enough to do the attunement and the phase 2 elemental invasion stuff.

 

[Piotyr]

Also, if anyone wanted to attend and didn't get attuned yet and can't seem to find anyone to help them get attuned, let me know and I'll help.

Are you going to be around later tonight? I'm going to try to tear myself away from Minecraft long enough to do the attunement and the phase 2 elemental invasion stuff.[/QUOTE]

I can be, absolutely. Probably after 9pm or so when I put my son to bed.

 

[Baerdog]

Sounds good to me. That'll give me time to get home from kung fu and eat.

 

[Piotyr]

Ready and waiting, and we even have a warlock, so if you didn't get attuned, we can summon you in anyway.

 

[Shakey]

Ugh, connection issues. I'm not going to fight with it, so I'm out.

 

[Piotyr]

Razorgore is down, so maybe it'll be better now.

 

[Shakey]

I doubt it, it was pretty bad before I even got in.