Dungeons & Raids of Cataclysm

[chaos5061]

From MMO Champion Cataclysm Dungeon Pages:
Blackrock-Caverns: http://www.mmo-champion.com/content/...ckrock-Caverns
Grim-Batol: http://www.mmo-champion.com/content/1608-Grim-Batol
Halls-of-Origination: http://www.mmo-champion.com/content/...of-Origination
The-Stonecore: http://www.mmo-champion.com/content/1057-The-Stonecore
Throne-of-Tides: http://www.mmo-champion.com/content/...hrone-of-Tides
Vortex-Pinnacle: http://www.mmo-champion.com/content/...ortex-Pinnacle
Lost-City-of-the-Tol-vir: http://www.mmo-champion.com/content/...of-the-Tol-vir

[chaos5061]

Raid Bosses Cataclysm Warning this might have changed. These are strats from beta.

Raid Bosses Cataclysm. Warning this might have changed. These are strats from beta.
From MMO Champion:
3 New raids have been added to the game: the Bastion of Twilight in the Twilight Highlands, Blackwing Descent in Blackrock Mountains, and the Throne of Four Winds in Uldum.

Throne of Four Winds:
Al'akir - Throne of Four Winds: http://www.mmo-champion.com/content/...-of-Four-Winds
Conclave of Four Winds - Throne of Four Winds: http://www.mmo-champion.com/content/...-of-Four-Winds

Bastion of Twilight:
Cho'gall - Bastion of Twilight: http://www.mmo-champion.com/content/...on-of-Twilight
Halfus Wyrmbreaker - Bastion of Twilight: http://www.mmo-champion.com/content/...on-of-Twilight
Valiona & Theralion - Bastion of Twilight: http://www.mmo-champion.com/content/...on-of-Twilight
Lady Sinestra - Bastion of Twilight: http://www.mmo-champion.com/content/...on-of-Twilight
Twilight Ascendant Council - Bastion of Twilight: http://www.mmo-champion.com/content/...on-of-Twilight

Blackwing Descent:
Atramedes - Blackwing Descent: http://www.mmo-champion.com/content/...ckwing-Descent
Chimaeron - Blackwing Descent: http://www.mmo-champion.com/content/...ckwing-Descent
Magmaw - Blackwing Descent: http://www.mmo-champion.com/content/...ckwing-Descent
Maloriak - Blackwing Descent: http://www.mmo-champion.com/content/...ckwing-Descent
Omnitron Defense System - Blackwing Descent: http://www.mmo-champion.com/content/...ckwing-Descent
Nefarian Onyxia - Blackwing Descent: http://www.mmo-champion.com/content/...ckwing-Descent

Baradin Hold (PVP)
Argaloth - Baradin Hold: http://www.mmo-champion.com/content/...h-Baradin-Hold

[chaos5061]

Vortex Pinnacle Pt. 1

From WowInsider:
Ahh, the Vortex Pinnacle, for whenever I want to go hit up an instance that involves jumping in cyclones (or tornadoes) that toss you from platform to platform.

This 5-man instance is the ... pinnacle of the Skywall complex in the Uldum zone. You can find it just southeast of the shores. Make sure you go the right direction or else you might end up in the Throne of the Four Winds raid instance. Oh, and you're going to need a flying mount. The forces of Al'Akir are waiting to storm Uldum and the rest of Azeroth. Our mission, if we choose to accept it, is to clear out the place and prevent them from really establishing a foothold on our lands.

At a glance, here's the gist of the instance.

* three boss encounters
* levels 82-84
* average item level 272 recommended (according to dungeon finder)



This instance has a fair share of elementals within it and any kind of crowd control that can assist with that will be a big plus to have in the group. Watch out for knockback effects, and make sure that you are facing a direction that is parallel to the platform you're standing on -- in other words, watch which way you're facing, or else you might get knocked off the ledge.

Trust me, I found out the hard way.

Grand Vizier Ertan

The Grand Vizier is the first boss who will be in your way. Big thing about this windbag is the fact that he has a bunch of mini-cyclones that whirl around him. You can call it the Cyclone Shield. He'll retract and expand it periodically throughout the fight. Don't stand too close to it or else you'll be zapped. Keep the Vizier centered, and make sure the group stays fairly close to each other in the middle.

The way I see it, your party has two ways to handle it. When the Cyclone Shield closes in on the Grand Vizier, the party can drop back to the outside and wait it out until it expands -- not a problem at all, and it certainly is a valid strategy. I don't recommend it, though. If your healer is Matt-like, you'll want to stay in and heal through it. Preserving healer mana and using some survival cooldowns during these stages is ideal. Not to mention it won't matter whether you stand inside or outside of the shield, as you'll still get zapped, regardless. If you're going to get zapped, you may as well DPS the boss anyway.

Once you're done, head up to the platform behind him and look for a tornado you can jump into. They look like this:

Note to Blizzard: Do away with flying mount taxis and just establish a chain of cyclones throughout all of Azeroth. You have not lived until you've traveled by cyclone.

Loot drops

Biting Wind (heroic)
Fallen Snow Shoulderguards (heroic)
Red Sky Pendant (heroic)
Stratosphere Belt (heroic)
Headcover of Fog (heroic)

[chaos5061]

Vortex Pinnacle Pt. 2

Altairus

Altairus is a type of dragon. Specifically, he is a storm dragon. Now what exactly does a storm dragon do? Like all dragons, they breathe. This particular dragon breathes frost damage in lieu of fire damage (Chilling Breath). Ergo, if you are not the tank, do not stand in front of Altairus. On heroic mode, he tosses in Lightning Blast.

As a storm dragon, Altairus has an affinity for the elements and can manipulate the wind around him. Depending on where you stand, you will either gain an Upwind of Altairus buff or a Downwind of Altairus debuff. Picture the room as a circular platform. Half the platform will be upwind or downwind. The group will want to stand in such a way that Altairus is facing away from the group but both the tank and the rest of the group can get that juicy upwind buff. Keep blasting away at the storm dragon and before you know it, you'll be looking for another tornado to whisk you away.

Oh, and before I forget, Altairus has a chance to drop the Reins of the Drake of the North Wind on both normal and heroic mode.

Loot drops

Skyshard Ring (heroic)
Amulet of Tender Breath (heroic)
Axe of the Eclipse (heroic)
Hail-Strung Belt (heroic)
Mantle of Bestilled Winds (heroic)

Asaad

Asaad is the final boss of the instance. He's a djinn. Watch out for his Chain Lightning. It'll chain onto five targets, so stay spread out.

Now, Asaad has an incredibly damaging ability called Supremacy of the Storm whereby the entire combat area gets struck by massive lightning. How does one survive this storm ability? Before Asaad calls upon the storm, he is going to channel a spell called Unstable Grounding Field. He is going to literally draw and connect three points anywhere in the immediate area. All you need to do is stand within the three points. If your party can do that, they'll be able to withstand the hit.

See the screenshot below for clarity. Notice how the three points have been made. That point on the bottom is going to link up with the point near it completing the triangle, and that's your cue to enjoy the light show about to hit the platform.

Oh yes, and watch out for Grounding Field. It will redirect any spells targeted at anything standing within it. It looks like a dark, purple swirling void zone (the right side of the above screenshot).

On heroic, he has an additional ability called Static Cling, and it can be dispelled. The spell will root targets to the ground for 18 seconds, so be sure to get affected players free.

There is also a quest that involves taking out Asaad. Vengeance for Orsis can be picked up by Itesh right at the entrance.

Loot drops

Shadow of Perfect Bliss (heroic)
Lunar Halo (heroic)
Gloves of Haze (heroic)
Lightningflash (heroic)
Legguards of Winnowing Wind (heroic)
Billowing Cape (heroic)
Heart of Thunder (heroic)
Leggings of Iridescent Clouds (heroic)
Ring of Frozen Rain (heroic)
Captured Lightning (heroic)

That's Vortex Pinnacle, in a nutshell. Good luck!

[chaos5061]

The Stonecore Pt. 1

From WowInsider:
Adventurers will find the site of the Stonecore in Deepholm, wedged on the west side of the Temple of the Earth. A flying mount (or a crafty summon) will be needed to discover the entrance. Earthen Ring Shaman are attempting to maintain the World Pillar and prevent it from sustaining any further damage. This is the same instance where Deathwing acquired some armor upgrades. You can read more about the Stonecore from the official preview. For an idea of what to expect and strategies to employ, keep on reading.

At a glance, here's the gist of the instance.

* four boss encounters
* levels 82-84
* average item level 272 recommended (according to dungeon finder)



The first several trash packs in the Stonecore are just brutal on heroic. I suspect they're designed to be skill or gear checks for the group. Maximize the use of crowd control and focus fire as much as possible, and you won't have too many problems getting through them. After knocking out all the trash, you'll come across your first challenge.

It's a subterranean worm.

Corborus

This oversized worm has a painfully annoying ability called Dampening Wave. As a healer, be sure to remove that debuff from affected players because if it is active, it will absorb 4,000 healing on normal (15,000 on heroic mode). The first few times I engaged the worm, I struggled a bit because I didn't realize what type of effect this debuff had. Since the ability stacks, it made the situation increasingly worse.

Be sure to stay light on your feet and keep moving. Corborus will lock onto to a player's location and unload a Crystal Barrage. It spits crystals for a good 4 seconds and will hit anyone within 5 yards of it.

What kind of worm would Corborus be if he didn't burrow and surface a few times? In his second alternating phase, Corborus will burrow, and he'll continue digging through to different players. Keep moving, because the movement triggers flying debris which hurts and causes a knockback. The additional mobs that show up during this phase aren't a big deal.

Loot drops

Key to the Endless Chamber (heroic)
Phosphorescent Ring (heroic)
Fist of Pained Senses (heroic)
Cinnabar Shoulders (heroic)
Dolomite Adorned Gloves (heroic)

Slabhide

Slabhide's a stone-based dragon. You'll find him a little ways after the first boss when you've cleared the cavern. Once you get to a certain point, you'll discover that the path becomes sealed off. You'll need to backtrack for a bit, and then you'll see this dragon touch down, which triggers the start of the encounter.

This is another test of standing out of stuff.

Anyone not a tank needs to get clear of his face, since he'll dish out a Sand Blast that smokes anyone in front of him. At the same time, keep an eye on where you're standing, as he'll spontaneously cast Eruption summoning Lava Pools. Anyone 5 yards or closer will be affected and take damage from it.

Not only that, he'll then lift off and float just above the group while causing stalactites to fall from the ceiling. If you see a shadow, stand away from it, as it means you're about to get hit by a giant spike. Just look for openings. Keep repeating the tactics, and you should have no problem with Slabhide.

Loot drops

Rose Quartz Band (heroic)
Stalagmite Dragon (heroic)
Deep Delving Gloves (heroic)
Quicksilver Blade (heroic)
Hematite Plate Gloves (heroic)

[chaos5061]

The Stonecore Pt. 2

Ozruk

I'm ... not actually sure what Ozruk is. He seems to be a golem or a giant of some sort that's made out of stone. When my party engaged him, we figured out quickly that he has a knockback ability. Luckily for us, we were fighting him in a fairly narrow hallway, so it wasn't all that difficult for the tank to park him near a wall. If the tank got knocked around, he wouldn't go anywhere.

Unluckily for us, he has a few abilities that punish players for being a little too close to each other. For one, he'll face a player and activate a Ground Slam. You have about 3 seconds to run straight through and stand behind him so as to not get demolished (and this goes for the entire group, since it is an AoE ability). He'll also nail the group with a Shatter. It is completely avoidable. Casters must pay close attention when he activates his Elementium Bulwark, as it has a chance to reflect their spells back.

The tank and melee players will be taking additional damage due to his Elementium Spike Shield. Ease off a little bit when this ability is up.

Loot drops

Sword of the Bottomless Pit (heroic)
Pendant of the Lightless Grotto (heroic)
Tendrils of the Burrowing Dark (heroic)
Belt of the Ringworm (heroic)

High Priestess Azil

The High Priestess is the final boss of the instance. She won't be the only one, as her group of followers will sporadically stream in; they're really easy to kill, though. The secret is that she summons a Gravity Well that affects both friendly and enemy targets. Think of it as a swirling, void zone-looking thing on the ground. If you get chased by her followers, simply lead them into the Gravity Well and watch as it makes short work of them.

While dealing with her on the ground, the tank will get thoroughly handled and thrown around from her Force Grip. Players who can interrupt are strongly encouraged to interrupt that Force Grip.

Every once in a while, Azil will conjure an Energy Shield which triggers a knockback. She'll float in the air, and damage done to her will be greatly reduced. She'll also pull out a chunk of rock from the earth and just toss it at players. It will injure anyone within 5 yards. Just watch for the indicator on the ground and move away from it. Rinse, repeat and wipe hands on pants.

Loot drops

Leaden Despair (heroic)
Prophet's Scepter (heroic)
Slippers of the Twilight Prophet (heroic)
Darkling Staff (heroic)
Tear of Blood (heroic)
Book of Dark Prophecies (heroic)
Cowl of the Unseen World (heroic)
Elementium Fang (heroic)
Helm of Numberless Shadows (heroic)
Magnetite Mirror (heroic)

[chaos5061]

Blackrock Caverns Pt. 1

From WowInsider:
Blackrock Caverns (BRC) is likely to be your first Cataclysm dungeon; it's the equivalent of Hellfire Ramparts and Utgarde Keep. I can predict what'll happen to a good 90 percent of you zoning into the place, by the way:

1. Everyone zones in and buffs up -- silently, need I add?
2. The tank will pull the first mob pack without preamble, marking, or warning.
3. The DPS will start AoEing or targeting different mobs.
4. The healer will start a heal which will land fruitlessly on a tank who's died in less than 2 seconds.
5. Everyone will scramble out of the dungeon.
6. In a firestorm of threats and recrimination, someone will shoulder the blame for the near wipe and be kicked.

Actually, that's not true. You can probably survive most of Blackrock Caverns with the usual Wrath "lawl AoE" approach to dungeoneering, mostly because lots of players will be arriving with ilevel 251+ gear before combat ratings take a digger at level 81. The process described above is a lot more reminiscent of what Throne of the Tides and subsequent dungeons were like in the beta. But ... well, just be aware that a certain amount of ugly death is in store for you with Cataclysm 5-mans and heroics if you play like a nitwit.

Most of the bosses in BRC drop ilevel 279 loot, so even players in heroic ICC gear are likely to find upgrades here.

Trash

Trash in BRC is generally unremarkable. Assuming you hit the place at level 80 with decent gear from Wrath, you have little to fear. Past 80, when combat ratings start to head down the road to Gonesville, you should still be fine, assuming you're not pulling like an idiot.

If you're a tank, be advised that there are one or two ranged mobs in every pull, but you'll have ample opportunities to use line of sight. Also ample will be the number of opportunities you'll have to yell at DPS who launch World War III on pulls you're line-of-sighting. You might as well macro it now.

One thing that does merit mention is a lovely fellow by the name of Raz the Crazed. He'll pop out of his cage after you defeat the first boss and then proceed to curb stomp a good portion of the instance's trash for you. Before you pull any seemingly nightmarish pack of mobs, wait for a moment. Odds are good that Raz is about to have his way with them.

Rom'ogg Bonecrusher

Rom'ogg Bonecrusher is a giant ogre pathing in a semi-circle around the second room you'll enter. You should clear most of the trash in this room before pulling him, as he'll otherwise aggro nearby mobs. Make sure that players have clear areas on all side to run away from him, as outranging his big AoE ability is a key portion of the fight.

If you've done Terestian Illhoof in Karazhan, then you already know the major "gimmick" to this fight. Periodically, Rom'ogg will pull the group to him, trap them with an ability called Chains of Woe, and start charging up a massive AoE called The Skullcracker. Remember Illhoof, where you had to target the chains in order to free a trapped player? It's the same deal here, except the chains trap everyone. You have to DPS through them in order to get out of range before the Skullcracker hits, because the AoE is an effective one-shot on just about every leveling player, despite Cataclysm health values. However, it's easy to "kill" the chains; once you do, run away. I think the range on the Skullcracker was around 10 to 20 yards when I did BRC, and no group had real difficulty with it. The chains don't have a lot of health.

That's really the only thing the group as a whole has to worry about. Tanks may want or need to blow a cooldown through Wounding Strike, depending on the quality of their gear, and healers will have to heal through Quake, another periodic (but largely inescapable) AoE ability.

Loot

* Inquisition Robes (heroic)
* Manacles of Pain (heroic)
* Shield of the Iron Maiden (heroic)
* Skullcracker Ring (heroic)
* Torturer's Mercy (heroic)

Corla, Herald of Twilight

Like Rom'ogg, the Corla encounter reuses a gimmick from Kara, and this time it's courtesy of our old pal Netherspite. Corla herself is kind of a pushover; she's a caster-type boss, and she doesn't have a lot of health. It's the adds that'll give you issues. Around Corla are three Twilight Zealots kept dormant by channeled beams that stack a buff on them called Evolution. Should Evolution reach 100, the Zealot in question is transformed into a Twilight Drakonid, which must be picked up immediately and tanked. If all three Zealots transform at the same time, your group's likely to encounter problems due to Corla's Aura of Acceleration. Until and unless you outgear the encounter, having to tank Corla and all three Zealots at once will typically result in a wipe.

The usual way of handling this boss in the beta was assigning two DPSers to hop in and out of the beams to keep two of the Zealots locked down while the tank grabbed Corla and waited for one of the Zealots to transform. From what I recall, you can't get out of combat until all three Zealots have become Drakonids, no matter what, so it's a matter of when you let them transform and not if.

For the DPSers hopping in and out of the beams, it's a very simple process. The Evolution buff decays quickly when you're not actually in the beams, so once you start getting close to around 70ish, just hop out and wait for it to fall off. Once you're back at zero, hop back in the beam. Your Evolution stacks will fall off much faster than it'll build on the Zealot. Lather, rinse, and repeat until you want one or both remaining Zealots to transform -- in which case, all you need to do is just move out of the beams permanently. Whatever you do, don't stay in the beam until Evolution stacks to 100; you, too, can be transformed into a Drakonid, and then your group members will be obliged to kill you. Either that, or you'll kill them.

The only other ability of note here is Corla's fear, which also deals around 30,000 shadow damage to its target. Annoying to heal through, but even if you're a DPSer who gets feared away from a beam you're supposed to be in, it shouldn't have any effect on the fight (assuming your healer keeps you up).

Loot

* Armbands of Change (heroic)
* Corla's Baton (heroic)
* Grace of the Herald (heroic)
* Renouncer's Cowl (heroic)
* Signet of Transformation (heroic)

[chaos5061]

Blackrock Caverns Pt. 2

Karsh Steelbender

This guy is pretty easy. Karsh starts with a buff called Quicksilver Armor, which renders him almost completely immune to damage. In order to make him vulnerable, your tank has to drag him through the flows of molten metal in the center of the room. (They come down from the ceiling to hit a grate below; you can't miss them.) For each second that Karsh is in that flow, he gets a stack of Superheated Quicksilver Armor, which increases his damage taken by 10 percent. (The Wowhead information here is, I believe, incorrect; I saw 10 percent per stack while doing BRC, although admittedly it might have changed since.)

The catch is that for each stack Karsh gets, he deals an increasing amount of fire damage to everyone in the group. Ideally, the tank keeps him in the metal flow only long enough for five or six stacks, then immediately drags him out. The stacks will wear off after a little while, obliging the tank to drag him through again. Karsh's only other notable ability is a cleave, so DPS and the healer should be careful to stay out from in front of him.

Loot

* Bracers of Cooled Anger (heroic)
* Burned Gatherings (heroic)
* Heat Wave Leggings (heroic)
* Quicksilver Amulet (unfortunately, only the heroic version of this appears to be in Wowhead right now)
* Steelbender's Masterpiece (heroic)

Beauty

As numerous players have noted, Beauty is undoubtedly the love interest of The Beast in Upper Blackrock Spire. Awww.

Beauty's surrounded by a number of pups, all of them named mobs. Fortunately for you, they pull separately from Beauty (as long as they're not right next to her at the time). But don't kill Runty. Believe me, you don't want to kill Runty. Beauty will berserk if Runty dies, so ... leave the little bastard alone.

However, Beauty herself is a pretty simple fight. She will charge the player furthest away from her occasionally, knock the tank and any melee DPS away from her, set random players on fire, and she has an AoE fear. There's nothing you can do to counter any of these abilities, so you just have to tank, heal, and DPS through it. The only thing you can really do to increase survivability on this fight is to make sure that trash outside the room is completely cleared before you start, to prevent any possibility that a feared player will aggro nearby mobs. Apart from that, tank her and spank her.

Loot

* Beauty's Chew Toy (heroic)
* Beauty's Favorite Bone (heroic)
* Beauty's Plate (heroic)
* Beauty's Silken Ribbon (heroic)
* Kibble (heroic)

Ascendant Lord Obsidius

Before you pull the Ascendant Lord, wait a moment; your old buddy Raz the Crazed will eliminate most of the earthen mobs accompanying him, but sadly, he'll die in the process. RIP, Raz; you will be dearly missed right around the time players start the trash-fest that is Grim Batol.

After Raz's efforts, Obsidius will be left with two adds. While Obsidius himself has to be tanked, it's how you control the adds that's really the key to the fight. Both channel a healing debuff that will, over time, reduce healing taken by the target to zero. It goes without saying that they can't be on the tank for any real length of time. However, both are very easily kiteable and can also be crowd-controlled, so two DPSers should be assigned to keep them locked down for the length of the fight. The Shadows can't be stunned, feared, or even damaged much, but they can be rooted, snared, and/or slowed. Even if they get loose and start beating on the DPS assigned to control them, their damage is pathetic, so don't worry if you have to take a couple of hits.

The only real quirk to this fight is that Obsidius periodically switches places with one of his adds; when this happens, he drops aggro (if you've done the Twin Emperors in Ahn'Qiraj-40, you've seen this mechanic before). The tank has to pick him up again as quickly as possible, and DPS need to find their targets and get them locked down again. As long as the group is reasonably fast about switching targets, you shouldn't encounter any real trouble with this.

Loot

* Amber Messenger (heroic)
* Carrier Wave Pendant (heroic)
* Clutches of Dying Light (heroic)
* Crepuscular Shield (heroic)
* Kyrstel Mantle (heroic)
* Raz's Pauldrons (heroic)
* Sandshift Relic (heroic)
* Twitching Shadows (heroic)
* Willowy Crown (heroic)
* Witching Hourglass (heroic)

[chaos5061]

Halls of Origination Pt. 1

From WowInsider:

Halls of Origination, a 5-man instance located in Uldum, seems larger and scarier than it actually is. However, it's easy to get the hang of things, and you'll spent most of your dungeoneering time on boss encounters. Trash is pretty thin on the ground.

Halls of Origination bosses drop ilevel 333 loot, which puts it around the pre-heroic blue level. You'll want a lot of this stuff before you start queuing for heroics.

Halls of Origination is basically just seven boss encounters. The only advice I can give you is to kill the big guy in any given pull first, and don't be shy about crowd-controlling the others. Additionally, stay well behind the tank in the hallway before you go outside to Earthrager Ptah. The hall has a series of spawning mob packs (akin to the hallway after the second boss in Halls of Lightning) that will charge and stun the closest person. Ideally, you want this to be your tank. Just as ideally, you do not want to unleash hell on these mobs while your tank is sitting there stunned. But that probably won't happen. Do I sound bitter?

Temple Guardian Anhuur

Anhuur himself is not a tough boss, but the encounter itself can be challenging if your group doesn't coordinate before the event starts. Anhuur should be tanked and spanked on the platform you'll find him, and his only real ability of note is a health drain that as far as I'm aware can't be interrupted. However, twice during the fight, he'll go immune to all damage and start channeling Reverberating Hymn.

"Big deal," you say, "300 damage per second is nothing." Well, no. The problem is, it stacks -- and you can't interrupt it until you've dealt with Anhuur's damage shield. How do you get it off him? By dropping down in to the pit on either side of him and clicking the switches that power the shield. You'll find one on each side of him, so you should assign players to go to the left and right. While down in the pit, you'll also be attacked by pit vipers, which can put a poison DoT on you. The damage is a nuisance, but it's not dangerous unless you let Reverberating Hymn keep stacking ... and stacking ... and stacking. Obviously, time is of the essence.

Once both switches are clicked off, Anhuur is vulnerable again, and someone needs to interrupt Reverberating Hymn as quickly as possible. Once that's done, he goes back to being a tank-and-spank until he puts up the shield again. Simply repeat the process described here, and voila -- dead boss.

Loot

* Anhuur's Hymnal (heroic)
* Awakening Footfalls (heroic)
* Belt of Petrified Tears (heroic)
* Darkhowl Amulet (heroic)
* Poison Fang Bracers (heroic)

Earthrager Ptah

And you thought you'd never have to see Marrowgar again. Fortunately, Marrowgar's Egyptian-themed cousin is just as easy as he is. Ptah is really just a basic tank-and-spank with a Stay Out of Bad element and a brief add phase. The only caution you'll need to exercise is keeping any melee DPS well away from the tank, as Ptah can chain a nasty cleave to them. If Quicksand spawns under you, run out.

At 50 percent, Ptah will disappear and summon adds, although only two are elites. Have the tank pick them up (DPS not going wild and crazy on them as soon as they spawn helps with this), and the group simply kills them. When they're dead, Ptah will reappear, and unless your entire group dies one by one to Quicksand, the fight should be in the bag.

As an aside, you can conduct the entire fight from the back of one of the neutral camels nearby if you want.

Loot

* Breastplate of the Risen Land (heroic)
* Bulwark of the Primordial Mound (heroic)
* Mouth of the Earth (heroic)
* Soul Releaser (heroic)
* Underworld Cord (heroic)

Anraphet

Half the trouble with Anraphet is simply getting to him in the first place. When Brann Bronzebeard unlocks the door for you, you'll have to fight your way to four different elemental bosses in order to get Anraphet to spawn. In practice, you can edge around most of the trogg mob packs, but you'll have to kill at least a few. The elemental bosses are basic tank-and-spanks plus Stay Out of Bad, nothing special.

Anraphet himself is considerably tougher, mostly because he deals a lot of damage to both the tank and group. Before you pull him, he'll activate Destruction Protocol to get rid of any remaining troggs, so at least you don't have to worry about them.

He will spawn Alpha Beams on a random player; run out as quickly as possible. He will use Crumbling Ruin, but unfortunately I don't remember whether this is solely on the tank or on the rest of the group as well. However, the genuinely dangerous ability is Omega Stance. There is no way to prevent or avoid the damage from this ability, and everyone in the group will take 40,000 damage by the time Anraphet finishes channeling. If you have a damage reduction or survivability cooldown, pop it to help your healer out, as he/she will otherwise be going nuts healing through the total 200,000 damage to the whole group. If you can survive Omega Stance (I think he typically cast it twice in the average group I had on the beta), you should be fine.

Loot

* Alpha Bracers (heroic)
* Anraphet's Regalia (heroic)
* Boots of Crumbling Ruin (heroic)
* Mantle of Soft Shadows (heroic)
* Omega Breastplate (heroic)

[chaos5061]

Halls of Origination Pt. 2

Isiset

If you've done the Trial of the Champion 5-man and gotten Eadric the Pure at any point (why am I asking this? of course you have), you already know the major gimmick for this fight: Supernova. When she starts casting it, turn your character away immediately to avoid the damage and disorient effect. Apart from that, she'll split herself into adds at 60 and 30 percent, each with a different ability. In practice, it makes little difference which you kill first, but if you want to make things easiest on your healer, I'd advise killing the Astral Rain first. Whichever add you kill, Isiset will lose its ability when she reappears, and the Astral Rain has a Starfall-like ability that does damage to the whole group. However, if you have mostly caster DPS, you may want to kill the Veil of Sky instead, as Isiset will otherwise retain the ability to reflect magic damage back to attackers. Whichever you choose, you'll have the opportunity to kill another add at 30 percent, but the most important thing to do is make sure you're facing away from Supernova.

Loot

* Armguards of Unearthly Light (heroic)
* Blood of Isiset (heroic)
* Legwraps of Astral Rain (heroic)
* Nova Band (heroic)
* Ring of Blinding Stars (heroic)

Ammunae

On the beta, it was common for groups to bum rush this boss and ignore his accompanying abilities, which did respectable damage but were healable as long as no one consulted the healer about that strategy prior to pulling. Technically, this is an add fight, and you should be getting used to the idea of killing the seed pods that Ammunae will spawn, as they're more of a threat on heroic. They will not only heal him but also spawn an add if left alone, so ... kill them. They don't have a lot of health.

Ammunae will frequently select random targets for Consume Life Energy, which will raise the player above the ground in a strangling animation and keep them incapacitated for a few seconds. As far as I'm aware, there's no way to avoid this, so it just has to be healed through. This gives him 10 life energy each time, and when he has enough energy, he'll use an ability called Rampant Growth that will simultaneously do 27,000 damage to the group and spawn adds from any seed pod that hasn't yet been killed. Naturally, you don't want many, or ideally any, of them up. Kill seed pods, heal through Consume Life Energy, and make sure people are above 27,000 health at all times (which shouldn't be tough, given Cataclysm health pools).

Loot

* Band of Life Energy (heroic)
* Bloodpetal Mantle (heroic)
* Robes of Rampant Growth (heroic)
* Seedling Pod (heroic)
* Slashing Thorns (heroic)

Setesh

Setesh himself isn't too tough. As a matter of fact, he isn't even really tankable. His only ability of note is Chaos Bolt, which he'll cast at random players and which can't be avoided. As such, threat is pretty much a non-concern on him, so DPS players can just unload on him and not worry about watching Omen.

However, the adds that Setesh summons can easily wipe your group if people aren't paying attention. Every 30 seconds, a void portal will open and two types of adds will emerge: the Void Seeker and the Void Sentinel. Void Sentinels must be tanked. Void Seekers can also be picked up, but the group has to keep an eye on them; they will periodically channel an Anti-Magic Prison (it's a big purple bubble and pretty unmistakable) on a player, which will render him/her immune to all healing. If this gets channeled on the tank and it's not interrupted, you'll have a dead tank and a pack of loose adds in short order. It goes without saying that having multiple Void Seekers up at once isn't a good idea. From what I recall, a void portal once opened will continue to spawn adds and can't be eliminated, so the fight is basically a DPS race.

Some groups I had on the beta killed adds and others just kept them tanked while DPS killed Setesh. Use your best judgment as to what your group's DPS can handle. If you're going to ignore adds, DPS should keep an eye out for any Anti-Magic Prisons channeled on a tank who may not have an interrupt off cooldown at the time. This can't be over-stressed, as this was a frequent cause of wipes in any situation with two or more Void Seekers up at the same time.

Loot

* Chaotic Wrappings (heroic)
* Helm of Setesh (heroic)
* Helm of the Typhonic Beast (heroic)
* Hieroglyphic Vest (heroic)
* Scepter of Power (heroic)

Rajh

In my opinion, Rajh is one of the more badass-looking bosses in the game, but you're here for his loot and not because he's pretty. Right. Well, he'll put you through your paces before you get a crack at anything good. As you might expect of the "Construct of the Sun," you'll be seeing a lot of fire damage on this fight.

He has an ability similar to the warrior's Heroic Leap in Inferno Leap; this appears to be randomly targeted, so you'll just have to heal through it. However, you can limit group damage by spreading out so he can't hit more than one person at a time. He summons a Sun Orb that functions a bit like Al'ar's DIve Bomb ability, but there's no warning given of which person it'll land on. Again, it has to be healed through, although I've seen some information stating that the summon can be interrupted (I had assumed on the beta that it wasn't). Either way, it's another reason to stay spread out. Add/s called Solar Winds roam the room for the duration of the fight (like the tornados you see on the eagle phase of the Zul'jin fight); avoid them as much as possible, because they do fire damage and a knockback to anyone they hit.

The neatest aspect of this fight is actually a random buff called Blessing of the Sun, which hugely increases a random player's size and damage output (done the Terokk fight? Same deal here). If you get this, pop your cooldowns and go for broke.

Loot

* Band of Rays (heroic)
* Blade of the Burning Sun (heroic)
* Fingers of Light (heroic)
* Hekatic Slippers (heroic)
* Left Eye of Rajh (heroic)
* Legguards of Noon (heroic)
* Red Beam Cord (heroic)
* Right Eye of Rajh (heroic)
* Solar Wind Cloak (heroic)
* Sun Strike (heroic)

[chaos5061]

Grim Batol Pt. 1

From WowInsider: http://wow.joystiq.com/2010/12/08/ca...de-grim-batol/

For some reason, I got Grim Batol more than any other dungeon in the Cataclysm beta. I would guess it was a popular place to go for ilevel 333 blues before setting foot in heroics, and chronologically, it's also the last normal dungeon you're likely to encounter.

There's an interesting quirk to the trash in Grim Batol. After a short clear (I would estimate the dungeon's first three "real" pulls, excepting the trogg mobs you'll swat in the antechamber), you'll have the opportunity to free red drakes who have been trapped. The drakes will thank you with a flight over most of the instance, and you can rain fire down on the heads of all the non-boss mobs you see.

A good group that coordinates the bombing will weaken or even eliminate a number of mobs. A bad group that puts in a half-assed effort will find itself with a number of full-strength mob packs standing between it and good loot.

Don't be bad.

General Umbriss

This fight, especially on heroic, is a bit of a gear check for your healer. The most important thing to remember about General Umbriss is a charge attack called Blitz. He will select random ranged party members for this, announce it, and shortly afterwards, charge them. From what I recall, this is huge damage on normal and insta-death on heroic. If you're the target, be sure to strafe from your current position as quickly as possible. If you're anyone else, make sure you're not in the way or so close to the attack area that you're likely to absorb it, either. If you've done Icehowl, you know the mechanic.

Healers need to watch for Bleeding Wound and get the tank above 90 percent as quickly as possible. Melee DPS and tanks should be on the lookout for Ground Siege and get out from around him as he casts.

The other thing you'll have to worry about is Umbriss' summoning of trogg mobs and his enrage effect past 30 percent. Burn the troggs down as quickly as possible because they have a stacking bleed debuff; ranged DPSers who can snare/root/kite them are the best at dealing with them, as their damage builds quickly on melee. As far as I remember, they don't really need to be tanked, and it may even be counterproductive to tank them, given how much damage the tank's already taking from Umbriss. On heroic, kiting them becomes more of a priority due to an "exploding" mob that'll spawn among them and how much damage they do.

Once Umbriss enrages at 30 percent, pop your cooldowns and go for broke.

Loot:
Cursed Skardyn Vest (heroic)
Modgud's Blade (heroic)
Skardyn's Grace (heroic)
Umbriss Band (heroic)
Wildhammer Riding Helm (heroic)
Forgemaster Throngus

The most problematic aspect of the Throngus fight is that he paths through several pulls' worth of trash. If you don't see him as you emerge from the hallway after Umbriss, you're gambling that he'll aggro in the middle of the first mob pack (a distinct possibility while a group's in pre-heroic greens and blues and not killing very quickly). He's a large, ettin-type mob, so he's pretty easy to see even at a distance; use your best judgment as to when the first mob pack can be safely pulled.

Throngus is considerably easier than Umbriss and is basically the latter-day version of the first boss in Halls of Lightning. Periodically, he will swap to a new weapon, which will change how your group deals with him. Fortunately for you, this is announced, so it's never a surprise. If he dual wields swords, tank damage is about to skyrocket, particularly if the RNG's not on your side and he procs a few extra attacks. This would be a good time for tanks to pop a survivability cooldown on heroic. If he slaps on a shield, he'll summon archers who rain fire arrows down on the party, and the DPS will need to move behind him to do any damage at all. However, tank damage is negligible in this period. The most dangerous weapon is the mace because Throngus' damage will increase by 300 percent. Yes, you read that right. However, his speed will decrease by 70 percent for the interim. The tank, needless to say, has some kite work to get done here, but as long as you're running around at your normal speed, it should be almost impossible to get hit.

The only other thing you need to worry about is staying out of cave-in, so if you see rubble coming down on you, move out.

Loot:
Belt of the Forgemaster (heroic)
Dark Iron Chain Boots (heroic)
Ring of Dun Algaz (heroic)
Throngus's Finger (heroic)
Wand of Untainted Power (heroic)
Drahga Shadowburner

This is a two-phase (well, technically three-phase, but the last phase is identical to the first) fight. Drahga is a caster-type boss who doesn't have a lot of health, but he does have a few tricks that'll compensate for it.

What you need to be worried about most is an ability called Invocation of Flame. Drahga will put a flame patch on the ground. The flame patch will summon an Invoked Flaming Spirit (it looks like one of the new, fancier fire elementals) that will focus on a random player and start moving toward him/her slowly. Should it reach the player, it'll explode for 50,000 damage plus a fire DoT. As soon as an Invoked Flaming Spirit appears, all DPS needs to switch to it immediately (unless you're a melee player and you've been targeted), unless you want to make your healer miserable. At level 84 to 85, which is around the time you'll be doing normal Grim Batol, every player should have the health pool to survive this if the Spirit isn't DPSed quickly enough, but healing 250,000+ damage on five players is ugly. Additionally, the Spirit's reaching a player on heroic is an insta-kill.

Once you've DPSed Drahga down to a certain point (I don't recall the health percentage, but it was sub-50 percent with my last Grim Batol group), he'll summon and mount Valiona, a Twilight Drake. Drahga himself will be immune to damage for the time that he's perched on Valiona's back, so it's the drake's abilities you'll be dealing with for a bit. Her two abilities are Shredding Swipe and Valiona's Flame. The former deals 100 percent weapon damage to the tank and leaves a void patch on the ground, so tanks will need to be vigilant for this. The latter is a frontal cone breath attack, so keep Valiona turned away from the group as well. Once Valiona is DPSed down to around 20 percent, he/she (I honestly can't remember which it is) will take off and leave Drahga to his fate. Drahga doesn't have any new abilities in phase 3, so just burn him down.

Loot:

Azureborne Cloak (heroic)
Crimsonborne Bracers (heroic)
Earthshape Pauldrons (heroic)
Red Scale Boots (heroic)
Windwalker Blade (heroic)

[chaos5061]

Grim Batol Pt. 2

Erudax
Before you start this fight, pump the brightness on your monitor. You'll need to get to a safe spot on this fight quickly at least twice, and it can be a little tough to see if your screen's dark.

Erudax's most dangerous ability is Shadow Gale. This is a huge storm of shadow damage covering the entire room barring one fairly small circle -- the "eye of the storm," as it were. You will have 5 seconds from the start of the Shadow Gale cast to find and get to it. It looks like a small black circle with a light purple spell animation around it, and it will usually spawn close to a player. You will need to stay there for the duration of the storm, because anyone out in it will take a stacking amount of shadow damage. Even on normal, it's a huge amount of damage and difficult to heal through. However, there's a nice bonus to Shadow Gale; while Erudax is channeling it, he's unable to attack, so if you get to the eye on time, you've got a small window for free DPS.

During the beta, I found the eye tough to see as a tank if it spawned close to/behind Erudax, due to the size of his hitbox and his ability to cover even more of the screen with his cast animation and spell effects. What worked for me was using creative camera angles while the cast was approaching. Then again, I also play with a giant bear ass blocking even more of the screen, so this is perhaps less of a problem for other tanking classes. The circle wasn't tough to see while healing from range.

Erudax's three other abilities are Enfeebling Blow, Summon Faceless Corruptor, and Binding Shadows. Enfeebling Blow will knock the tank away and place a debuff increasing damage taken. However, the debuff wears off quickly, and the easiest way to deal with it is to wait for Erudax to catch up to you after the knockback; by the time he reaches you, it's usually off. As such, don't tank him with your back to a wall. The Faceless Corruptors summoned (on normal it'll only be one at a time) can't really be tanked. They'll attempt to hatch eggs which will spawn adds (bad) and also attempt to heal Erudax (also bad). DPS should switch to them immediately to keep either from happening. Finally, Binding Shadows is a randomly-targeted attack that will siphon life from the target and root anyone within 8 yards of them. While you'll want to spread out a bit to keep that from happening, don't spread out too much, or finding the Shadow Gale "eye" will be more difficult.

Loot:
Bracers of Umbral Mending (heroic)
Circle of Bone (heroic)
Corrupted Egg Shell (heroic)
Crown of Enfeebled Bodies (heroic)
Gale of Shadows (heroic)
Mace of Transformed Bone (heroic)
Mark of Khardros (heroic)
Staff of Siphoned Essences (heroic)
Vest of Misshapen Hides (heroic)
Wild Hammer (heroic)

[chaos5061]

The Stonecore Tankspot

From Tankspot:

papapaint said:
Hello, and welcome to Tankspot's Cataclysm Dungeon Guide. My name is Papapaint, and in this video I will be discussing the entirety of the Stonecore dungeon. Additional guides for single bosses within the instance are also available, so be sure to look for those if you're looking for information on a specific encounter.

Stonecore is the instance located in the Deepholm Zone, and is intended for players level 82 and above. There is a quest chain that players can immediately start upon zoning in and speaking to the NPC just to the left of the entrance. There is also another quest resulting from the Earthen Mother quest chain in Deepholm, so there is quite a lot of experience to be had from this single dungeon.

The difficulty is ramped up from Wrath of the Lich King dungeons, and this is clear during the very first trash packs. As you chase Millhouse Manastorm down the hallway, you will engage multiple packs of enemies. I strongly recommend DPSing down the Force of Earth first, as it has a particularly devastating AoE, and then Millhouse Manastorm. As long as Millhouse is engaged in combat, he will be casting AoE frostbolts, fearing single targets, and stunning your group with shadowfury, so be sure to spread out.

At the end of this chase, Millhouse will begin casting Impending Doom, summoning a large group of mobs to help him defend the Stonecore. As you approach him, a giant Worm will come bursting out of the side of the cave, launching Millhouse and his pals off into the distance.

Corborus is the first boss encounter of Stonecore. He has 3 key abilities, as well as a brief add phase. The first of these abilities is Dampening Wave. This spell deals a minor amount of shadow damage, and places a debuff on players absorbing the next 4,000 healing done. This can either be simply healed off the player or dispelled, whichever you prefer.

The second ability is Crystal Barrage. Corborus will target a player and begin vomiting little pink crystals on their location, dealing roughly 10,000 to 15,000 damage over 5 seconds. This is easily healed through, but a player can also simply move out of the affected area to negate all incoming damage entirely.

At 50%, Corborus will burrow and begin summoning Rock Borers. These adds deal ignorable damage, and only have 7k hp, so they are fairly easy to AoE down on the move--and you will be on the move. While burrowed, Corborus will pick a path for casting Thrashing Charge, an ability that deals a significant amount of damage and knocks anyone hit very far away. It is easy to avoid, however, by simply looking for the rumbling dusty earth--like most dangerous looking things in World of Warcraft, your best bet is to not stand on it.

Overall, it is a fairly simple, but enjoyable, encounter that promises to be difficult on heroic.

In the hallway following Corborus, you will encounter Crystalspawn Giants. They have an ability called quake, which deals a significant amount of damage to all players. You can avoid this, however, by jumping and being airborne during the end of his cast.

After a couple more trash packs, you will encounter Slabhide. Before engaging Slabhide in combat, you and your group will need to run a very simple gauntlet, dodging falling stalactites. If you see a black circle on the ground, avoid it.

Slabhide is the second boss encounter in The Stonecore. Still a student in Dragon School, Slabhide does NOT have a tail whip, and his frontal cone breath is fairly wimpy and has an extremely narrow area of effect. While engaged, he will frequently cast Eruption, which causes an area of the ground to rumble and explode, creating a magma pool. Any players on the affected area when it explodes will take roughly 10,000 fire damage, and any players standing in the magma pool will suffer 5,000 fire damage every second.

Shortly into the fight, Slabhide will fly into the air and begin calling down stalactites. If a player is hit by a falling stalactite, they will take around 15,000 damage and be knocked back from the impact. To avoid this, don't stand in black circles on the ground. After landing, these fallen stalactites will serve to block line of sight, so positioning is important for everyone.

This is an interesting encounter with quite a lot of movement. To recap: don't stand in lava circles, don't stand in black circles, and you should escape this encounter mostly unscathed.

The next hallway features two mobs of note: Stonecore Sentries and Stonecore Rift Conjurers. Stonecore Sentries need to be taken out immediately, or they will run around and alert the other mobs in the area of your arrival. Stonecore Rift Conjurers should be your next targets, as they summon waves of imps that can quickly get out of hand if not dealt with quickly.

Down the hallway you will encounter Ozruk. Ozruk is the third boss of The Stonecore. He has one ability that can immediately kill a player: shatter. This deals more damage the closer you are to Ozruk, so run away as he casts it.

He also has an ability called "Ground Slam". Ozruk will rear back and then beat the snot out of anyone within 8 yards of the impact point. This ability will also interrupt all spellcasting, so either stand at max range or be sure not to cast as he completes the Ground Slam.

Caster DPS needs to watch out for Elementium Bulwark, which gives Ozruk a 20% chance to reflect any spells targeting him.

Overall, Ozruk is the simplest encounter in The Stonecore. A little awareness goes a long way, so be sure to watch out for Ground Slam, Shatter, and Elementium Bulwark!

The final boss of the Stonecore is High Priestess Azil, and she presents players with an excellent challenge.

She begins the fight with an energy shield around her, reducing all incoming damage by 75%. Frequently throughout the fight, she will Force Grip her primary aggro target, rending them unable to act and slamming them against the ground multiple times, dealing around 15-20 thousand damage every impact. She will also summon giant void zones, which explode to create gravity wells. The Gravity Wells will deal more damage based on how close to the center players are, so if you somehow miss seeing the giant blue circle, get out of it ASAP.

During the fight, she will summon waves of Devout Followers. The tank should pick up as many of these as possible, particularly if a player is afflicted by Curse of Blood. Curse of Blood causes players to take an extra 1,000 physical damage on every hit, which adds up pretty quickly with swarms of adds.

Speaking of swarms of adds, Azil will occasionally re-shield herself, dealing around 10,000 arcane damage to everyone within 5 yards and knocking them back, then fly up to her altar. While up here, she will summon 3 giant rocks and fling them at your group one by one. If this weren't enough, she summons roughly one to two bazillion Devout Followers to attack your party.

Don't stand in void zones, let the tank pick up the adds, and avoid giant flying boulders, and this fight should give you very little trouble.

Thanks for watching this guide, and feel free to add comments on Youtube or on the official thread on Tankspot. If you want to learn more about Cataclysm encounters, including raids, then subscribe to the Zam Official channel on youtube.

[chaos5061]

Blackrock Caverns TankSpot

From TankSpot:

Hello and welcome to TankSpot's Guide to Blackrock Caverns! My name is Aliena, and in this video I'll show you all you need to know about the new five-man instance released with Cataclysm.

Blackrock Caverns is located in Blackrock Mountains, a little ways down from Blackrock Spire. You're faced with five bosses in this instance. The first boss awaits you just a little way after starting the instance, in the Chamber of Incineration. His name is Rom'ogg Bonecrusher and he's a big old level 82 elite ogre. Make sure to clear the room of trash before you engage him!

Rom'ogg puts a mortal strike ability on your tank that reduces healing effects by 25% and also has a quake ability he uses on everyone in melee range, but the damage on that is low so you don't have to worry about it much. His signature ability is The Skullcracker - Rom'ogg will periodically pull every party member into melee range, put something called Chains of Woe on them and channels his Skullcracker ability.

To avoid it, your DPS needs to kill the Chains of Woe and everyone needs to move about 15 yards away before his channel ends. Everyone remaining in close range will get hit and potentially die.

After you defeat Rom'ogg, you release Raz the Crazed. Don't worry, he's on your side and he'll help you clean out a big part of the trash to come. Let Raz run ahead and clear whatever trash is left.

The second boss awaits you a little ways down from the bridge in the Halls of Awakening, her name is Corla, Herald of Twilight. She's also a level 82 Elite and comes with a twist. As you approach her, you'll see that she has two minions. As soon as you engage her in combat, the dragon overhead will channel a beam to those two stationary minions, giving them a buff. When their buff reaches 100 stacks, they turn into enemy dragons that will join in the fight. To avoid this, have two of your party members interrupt the beams.

They'll take the stacks instead, so make sure not to let it stack up to 100. If you have to, cycle people in and out. Corla herself doesn't do very much. She has a dispellable fear that she'll place on a random party member and an aura that buffs the minions should you let them evolve into dragons - but again, the point is not to let that happen.

Raz will help you clear some trash on the way to the third boss again, but quite a few trash packs await after Corla. Eventually you'll reach a fiery hallway with frozen slimes - this is the Twilight Forge, where you fight Karsh Steelbender. Before engaging Karsh, clean out the fire elementals one by one. They hurt and apply a stacking fire resistance debuff, not something you want up during the fight. The slimes can be completely ignored.

To fight Karsh, you have to use the environment to your advantage. After engaging him, everyone should run to the middle ring around his forge (not the grid, occasionally fire will spout of it during the battle). You'll notice he has a buff called Obsidian Armor, making him virtually invulnerable unless you drag him over the center of the forge, melting his armor in the process.

Don't keep him in the center for too long though - 5 seconds is a good medium to shoot for - since for every second he spends in the center, he'll apply stacking AoE fire damage to everyone in your party. Do a little dance with him, 5 seconds in the fire, 5 seconds out of it, rinse repeat, and he's an easy opponent.

Again quite a bit of trash after Karsh, but eventually you'll reach an optional boss in a side hallway called Beauty's Lair. Vanilla WoW players will catch the reference in this fight. Beauty comes with 4 adds called Buster, Lucky, Spot and Runty. Runty is hiding all the way in the back of the Lair, and for good reason! Don't attempt to kill him, as this greatly enrages Beauty. You'll regret it.

The other three adds can be pulled ahead of the battle though, and once you take them out you're left with Beauty. She hits fairly hard and has a Berserker Charge, that knocks the target back and inflicts damage. She also has an AoE fear, so if you have tremor totems or fear wards, this is a good battle to use them. She throws out some fireballs that you should move out of, but it's a very easy fight if you leave Runty alone.

The last boss is a little ways out from Beauty, located in the Scar of the Worldbreaker. His name is Ascendant Lord Obsidius, and while all that sounds intimidating, he's really all bark and no bite. Have someone kite them around, as they inflict a mortal strike ability. If your tank tanks all three, you won't really be able to heal him. They don't deal much damage, but occasionally Obsidius will change places with one of his minions, resetting the threat table in the process.

Alternatively, you can share threat by having your DPS keep high threat on the minions and having them pull them off your tank when he needs a heal. This really depends on how geared and organized your group is. Lastly, Obsidius has a debuff called Twilight Corruption - this is a magic dot and can be dispelled.

After he dies, you've completed Blackrock Caverns. Congratulations!

[chaos5061]

Argaloth TankSpot Guide

From TankSpot:

What's up everybody, Lore here from TankSpot with a quick guide to the Argaloth encounter in Baradin Hold, the instance you get access to for winning the Tol Barad PVP battle.

Argaloth is a pretty simple encounter, which is to be expected. Now any Sunwell veterans out there should pretty much immediately recognize that Argaloth looks an awful lot like Brutallus, and his appearance is not the only similarity. His main ability is a Meteor Slash that's very similar to what Brutallus did way back in the Burning Crusade - it hits everyone in a cone in front of him, and splits the damage between everyone it hits. It also debuffs everyone to increase Fire damage taken by 100%, which essentially means the second Meteor Slash hits twice as hard. So, the proper way to deal with it is to split the raid into two roughly equal groups. Each group should stand near their tank to make sure they get hit by the Meteor Slash. As soon as one group gets hit, the other group's tank should taunt so that the Fire damage debuff can fall off. This makes a simple back and forth rotation between the two groups. Get hit by Meteor Slash, the other tank taunts, your group gets topped off, and as soon as the other group gets hit, your tank taunts and you repeat the process.

While that's going on there will also be a fairly dangerous Damage over Time effect being applied to the raid. This needs to be dispelled as quickly as possible to not only stop the damage from going out, but also give you time to top off your group inbetween Meteor Slashes. We found Mass Dispel to be a huge help here, and our priests actually chose to glyph for it to help out a little more.

Now, every third of his health (so at 66% and 33%), he'll begin to channel something called Fel Firestorm. When this happens, everyone needs to spread out immediately. He starts throwing a whole bunch of fireballs out at everyone which do a little bit of damage when they land but also leave a patch of fire on the ground. The fire lasts until the Firestorm phase ends, so everyone needs to be careful not to box themselves in with nowhere to go. It's also important to make sure that, even though you do need to spread out, you don't go too far and end up out of range of your healers, because you are taking damage. That said, once you get an idea of how it works, it's really not that hard to deal with. As soon as he's done channeling Fel Firestorm, the fires should disappear, and your two groups can just fall back into position. One thing to note is that there does appear to be a little bit of a glitch and sometimes not all of the fire disappears, but it's not a big deal; you can just work around it.

The last little trick Argaloth picked up from Brutallus is his Enrage timer - you've got 5 minutes from the pull until he goes berserk and just starts killing everybody. We were able to take him down with a bunch of pretty fresh 85's and a handful of Heroic dungeon gear, but we... cut it pretty close.

Thank you very much for watching this video! Keep an eye on Tankspot.com for even more encounter guides coming very soon, as well as more information on Argaloth or any other boss. My name is Lore, and I'll catch you guys later.