Level 70-80 Instances [WotLK]

Collection of guides for the Wrath of the Lich King instances, written by the wow-pro community.

Eric's Culling Of Stratholme Walkthrough and Guide

This instance is one of my favorite instances in Wrath of the lich King. Not only of the good drops, fast and easy, but most of all the awesome storyline. It can be a little hard to understand what to do when you get into the instance, that's why I've written this guide.
First of all, go to Caverns of time. It is located in Tanaris in Azeroth. You dont need the required quest too enter like the other ones. The easist way to get there is through the portal in Violet Citadel in Dalaran City.

LEVEL RANGE

  • Level 78 is minimum. With a single dps or healer, it can be done easily at level 78.

  • Level 80 is optimal. A level 80 tank is pretty much prefered, as it would be hard to tank for tanks below (maybe a protection specced warrior can go, though).

  • Level 80 (heroic) group of average geared with blues and a few epics.

  • Level 80 (heroic) timed Can be difficult without a well geared tank + healer, and some very good DPS, must be able to deal 2.500+ damage per second. If you reach it timed, you will get a brand new Bronze Drake epic flying mount!

QUEST

ACHIEVEMENTS

  • Heroic: The Culling of Strathholme
    Complete the Culling of Stratholme on heroic difficulty.

  • The Culling of Stratholme
    Complete the Culling of Stratholme on normal difficulty.

  • The Culling of Time
    Only possible on heroic difficulty, you must kill the extra boss which only shows up if you reach it and kill it before the time runs out (25 min.).

  • Zombiefest!

    Quite hard Archievement, if you wanna do this one, you can't reach it timed. So here is one way to do it:

    1. Just rush through the instance untill you reach Salramm the Fleshcrafter, kill him as slow as possible (minimum 6 minutes), the reason is, that the zombies won't respawn after the boss is killed, so take your time to kill him, so every zombie can respawn.
    2. Alright, first of all: DO NOT KILL ANY ZOMBIES YET, then you will wipe the archievement. Help Arthas killing the infinite dragonkins, and Chrono-lord Epoch.
    3. Now get ready, the tank needs to run with a offhealer (a DPS specced, healer-class which have to heal abit (+ DPS) to complete the archievement) back through the last part gathering all the zombies and kill them at last with AoE (almost impossible with warrior or druid tank). While the tank + offhealer is running and killing, the rest of the group must quickly kill as many zombies as possible in the next part (burning street). Have a plate DPS tanking if the group got attacked by any mobs (which is not zombies Eye)

THE WALK

  1. Go to Violet Citadel in Dalaran, and take the portal upstairs. If you aren't in Northrend with a cooldown on Hearthstone, do following:

    Alliance: Get to Ironforge. Fly to Menethil harbor and take the boat to Theramore Isle. Fly to Gadgetzan.

    Horde: Get to Thunderbluff. Fly to Gadgetzan.

  2. Then walk from 1 to 2.

  3. When your party is at the summoning stone, talk to the dragon just inside the cavern. Choose "take me to the masters lair", and then you go. When you arrived, walk from 1 to 2 (at the new map).

  4. Walk inside!

  5. Get the quest [80] [Dispelling Illusions] from Chromie. She provide you with Arcane Disruptor.
  6. Go outside the inn. You should now stay in a country like "Elwynn forest".
  7. Go to area 2. Right click on Arcane Disruptor when you are near these crates:

    You should now get 1/5 in this:

    In the top of your screen. Find all the crates and follow the red line up to the entrance of the instance. When you reach the area in fog (area 1) make sure to run on the road.
  8. When you reach the entrance of the instance turn in the quest at Chromie and get the follow up [80] [A Royal Escort]. Uther the lightbringer and Lady Jaina Proudmore will appear. They will talk to Arthas and then leave him. After that, Arthas will run into the city. Follow him.

THE INSTANCE
- I'm briefly going to explain where to find the bosses, and the easist way through the instance.

When you are inside the instance, Arthas will stop running and then it's up to you. Keep running from froms right to left until you're running into a wave of mobs, kill them (if you have trouble finding the place where the mobs is spawning, look at the white flag on your minimap). Then run back to right. At wave 5, Meathook will spawn instead of a normal wave.
MEATHOOK
This boss is not any hard fight, really. We will go on with "Tank 'n' Spank", means, that we just fight him to death with no strategy. Meathook will cast the folling spells:
  • Constricting Chains - Inflicts 1,000 (Heroic: 1,800) Physical damage every 1 second for 5 seconds. Stuns the target for 4 seconds.
  • Frenzy - Increases Meathook's damage by 10% for 30 seconds. Stacks up to 5 times.
  • Disease Expulsion - Inflicts 713 to 787 (Heroic: 1,710 to 1,890) Nature damage to nearby players, interrupt spellcasts for 4 seconds.
The group are gonna watch out for the chains/expulsions, if they hit the healer, it can be critical for the tank. The tank may die because he/she won't get healed for four seconds (you may escape with PvP trinkets or other spells that let you escape from stuns). So the healer is gonna make sure that the tank the tank is topped off. The tank + healer must be prepared to use cooldowns when the Meathook goes into a frenzy which will increase his damage by 50%.






SALRAMM THE FLESHCRAFTER
At wave ten, this boss will spawn instead of a normal wave. Like Meathook, Tank 'n' Spank is the way to go, this one is just easier. He got the following spells:
  • Curse of Twisted Flesh - Reduces the targets maximum HP by 25%, and inflicts 1500 damage every 3 seconds for 30 second.
  • Explode Ghoul - Salramm will explode a nearby corpse (typical from one of his allies), that inflict 3800 - 4200 (Heroic: 5700 - 6300) to all within 10 yards.
  • Steal Flesh - Salramm casts this on one of the party members, reducing the party members damage by 75% and increases Salramm with 75%.
  • Summon Ghouls - The boss will summon 2 ghoul minions, they are week, and doesn't hit hard.
  • Shadow Bolt - Salramm will cast Shadow Bolt many times during the fight. Shadow bolt hits for 3500 - 3800 (Heroic: 4950 - 6050) with 2.5 seconds castime.
Curse of Twisted Flesh won't be any problem to most heaers, they just gonna keeptracking on the one that is hit. When Salramm casts Steal Flesh, it can be critical if the healer is not focusing on healing max up the tank, as he/she will take very much damage. Neither Shadow Bolts will not hit for much, and can be reflect by a warrior tank.




When you're done killing all the waves, go to the north were you will find Arthas. Talk to him (accept his question when you right click) and follow him inside the house next to him. Some of the citzens inside the house will be transformed into dragonkins, and you'll have to kill them. Finally, when you've fighted you upstairs and trough the house, the third boss will spawn.
CHRONO-LORD EPOCH
Chrono-lord Epich is like the other bosses. Ofcourse he have some different spells:
  • Time Stop - Stuns everyone for 2 seconds.
  • Time wrap - Reduces the casting time/attack/movement speed of everyone in the room for 6 seconds.
  • Wounding Strike - Wounds the target, dealing 100% weapon damage, reducing healing effects by 25%, and 750 Physical damage every 1 sec for 4 sec.
Nothing special to worry abput in this fight, really (maybe Wounding Strike). Should be down in a few minutes by most groups.
When you're done with the boss, go click the bookshelfs behind him to get to the last part of the instance. Run down the stairs, and outside the house. If you're trying to do it timed (25 min), you'll have to speed up, and this part is a good place to do that. Let your tank run in the front pulling everything that attacks you, make sure the healer can heal it up.






MAL'GANIS
Continue Through the burning street untill you reach "King's Square". If you're doing it timed, don't go directly to Mal'Ganis, but run to the left, and you'll find Infinite Corruptor which is the extra boss that only exist on timed, that you'll have to kill if you wanna reach timed. The extra boss got nothing special, kill it as fast as possible.

The strategy for Mal'Ganis is... guess what? Tank 'n' Spank! Here is the spells:

  • Carrion Swarm - Inflicts 3,520 (Heroic: 6,510) Shadow damage to all enemies in front of the caster and an additional 380 to 420 Shadow damage every 3 seconds for 15 seconds.
  • Mind Blast - Inflicts 4,163 to 4,837 (Heroic: 8,325 to 9,675) Shadow damage to an enemy.
  • Sleep - Puts an enemy to asleep for 8 (Heroic: 10) seconds. Any damage done to the target will awaken it.
  • Vampiric Touch - Heals Mal'Ganis for the half the damage dealt by a melee attack.
Fairly easy fight, keep on tanking, healing and DPSing untill he is dead. Loot the chest and congratiolations with the epic drop!



HEROIC REWARDS

Plate

Weapons

Cloth

Mail

Leather

Miscellaneous

Good luck!

- Eric

© 2009 Copyrights www.wow-pro.com All Rights Reserved.

Eric's The Nexus guide

The Nexus is a 5-man instance located in Borean tundra (coldarra) in northrend. To get to Coldarra you will need to complete the quests in Amber ledge, if you start leveling in level 70 in borean tundra you will get to coldarra in the end of level 70 or level 71. There is alot of good quest in Coldarra. The Nexus will be one of the first instances you will meet in the new Northrend. The Nexus is very useful of the large amount of exp. and quest reward. When you have done the instance and complete the quests listen below, you will get around 5 superier item and alot of exp.

LEVEL RANGE

  • level 70 is minimum
  • level 71 is optimal, the mobs are 70-72
  • level 73 is maximum if you want get the best exp
  • level 76 is maximum or the quests will be grey

QUESTS
if you have completed all quests in Coldarra, skip this part

All these quests can be soloed in Coldarra And you will automatic get them if you quest through Coldarra.

GROUP

  • TANK: Quest gear or old level 70 epic is needed, minimum is 12000 hp.
  • DPS: Quest gear from northrend focused on haste rating, attack power, spell power etc.

  • HEALER: Same here, quest rewards (from northrend) can do it, at least 850 spell damage, and 9000-10000 mana (a bit lower if the healer is specced).
all unbuffed

Okay, now to the instance!

The Nexus

PART 1
Follow the red line at the map, until you reach the area marked with yellow. Grind you way right. Remember to loot the Crystalline Protector, Keeper, Tangler, Tender and Frayers. They will drop Arcane Splinter to [Quickening].

MOB LIST

  • Crystalline Protector
    Hp: 75000
    abilities:
    Crystal Chain = slow you and deal 900 damage.
    Shard spray = 1500 arcane damage.

    Strategies: if there are any other mobs kill these big trees last beacuse of the large amount of Hp.

  • Crystalline Frayer
    Hp: 3500
    abilities:
    Aura of Regeneration = heals other mobs by 4% hp and 2% mana every 2 second.
    Ensnare = deal 20% weapen damage to you and slow you by 60% for 5 seconds.
    Crystal Bloom = increases the mobs damage done by 2%.

    Strategies: kill these mobs fast, they deal 500 damage on plate. Thats pretty as they spawn 2-3 at time.

  • Crystalline Tender
    Hp: 37000
    abilities:
    Toughen Hide = increases the mobs armor by 3000 and the mobs magic resistance for 15 seconds.
    Tranquility = heals the mobs and other mobs by 1400 every 2 seconds for 10 seconds.
  • Crystalline Keeper
    Hp: 37000
    abilities:
    Crystal Bark = the mob makes a shield, dealing 200 damage every hit. also have a chance to slow you.
    Crystal Strike = the mob deal 120% weapen damage.

Keep following the red line and remember to turn right into Ormorok the tree-shaper (boss).
When you reach the boss buff up and be ready.


Hp: 192000
abilities:

  • Crystal Spikes = 3500 damage and a knockback to all around the boss.
  • Frenzy = the boss wll deal double damage.
  • Spell Reflaection = absord all spells. 4 charges.
  • Trample = 2000 damage to all nearby.

    Strategy
    this boss is very simple and quiet easy. Let the tank pull. DPS' should try stay behind the boss, but not needed. The most important is to stay out of the Crystal Spike. You will see when he has casted it. A marked area with ice will apear and the tank will have to pull boss away from the area. The DPS' should follow. The boss will be down fast if all works well and he will drop one of those nice drops:
    Chiseled Stalagmite Pauldrons
    Greaves of the Blue Flight
    Drakonid Arm Blade

    PART 2
    Follow the red line back again and take the other way trough the passage. You should now stay at the entrance of The Rift. Grind you way up to the platforms at the right side. You will have to fight these mobs:

    MOB LIST

    • Chaotic Rift
      Hp: 16000
      Strategies: its very important to kill these mob FIRST. Chaotic Rift spawn often Crazed Mana-Wraith, if you dont kill Chaotic Rift, it will not stop spawning!
    • Crazed Mana-Wraith
      Hp 5500
    • Crazed Mana-Surge
      Hp 37000
      abilities:
      Mana burn = reduce a mana user with 1000 mana and deal a lamount of damage.
      Arcane Nova = 900 damage to all nearby.

    When your are at the first platform - go to the next. You should see Anomalus (boss).


    Hp: 192000
    abilities:

    • Spark = 2000 damage
    • Create Rift = Anomalus summons a Chaotic Rift
    • Rift Shield = Anomalus is immune to damage and channel the Chaotic Rifts
    • Charge Rifts = Anomalus improve attack range

    • Strategy
    The most important with this boss is to kill the Chaotic Rifts when he spawn them. When this happens, the tank will need to keep tanking Anomalus and the healer keep healing the tank. The DPS' will have to kill the Chaotic Rift three man (its pretty easy because of the low Hp). Anomalus not hit very hard so he is okay easy to tank.
    He will drop one of these rewards:

Gauntlets of Serpent Scales
Cleated Ice Boots
Tome of the Lore Keepers

When you have done the boss go to the edge of the platform and right click on Interdimensional Refabricator. You should now have completed [Postponing the inevitable].

PART 3

Now follow the red line back again and take the line to left. Grind you way until you have pased The rift and are inside at the palace again.

MOB LIST

  • Steward
    Hp: 37000
    abilities:
    Arcane Torrent: silence all in 10 yards for 4 seconds.
    Spellbreaker = reduce the damage done by spells by 75% and deal 100% weapen damage for 6 seconds.

  • Mage Hunter Initiate

    Hp: 37000
    abilities:
    Drain Mana = drain 100 over 5 seconds.
    Magic Burn = deal 1000 damage and 280 damage every 3 second for 21 seconds.
    Renew = heals a mob for 60 every 3 second for 15 seconds.

  • Mage Hunter Ascendant
    Hp: 37000
    abilities:
    Arcane explosion = 250 damage to all around Mage Hunter Ascendant.
    Aura of Arcane Haste = the mobs cast speed increased by 15% increase the nobs spell damage by 150.
    Rain of Fire = 168 damage per 3 seconds in 9 seconds in a marked area.
    Polymorth = transform you intoa sheep, the sheep cant attack for 8 seconds. break if damaged.
    Immolation Trap = a trap that deal 1000 damage over 10 seconds if you step on the trap.
    Frostbolt = inflict a little amount of damage and slow you for 4 seconds.
    Freezing Trap = freeze you for up to 20 seconds if you step on the trap. break if damaged.
    Fireball = 1200 fire damage. 3 seconds castime.
    Cone of Cold = inflict a little amount of damage and reduce your movement speed with 50% for 8 seconds.
    Arcane Trap = 2200 damage if you step on the trap.
  • Mage Slayer
    Hp: 37000
    abilities:
    Draw Magic = decrease the healing done by 225 of all players around Mage Slayer. also increase Mage Slayers damamge dealt by 50%.
    Spell Lock = Silence you for 4 seconds.
    Strategies: warlock can banish these mobs, its a nice help especially on heroic, these mobs hits 5000... get sure to catch on of them!

Fight you way down to the boss. NOTE: Kill the patrol that patrols at the passage.
When you have killed tha patrol and cleared the passage buff up and get ready for boss.


Hp: 124000
Mana: 49000
abilities:

  • Firebomb = 1800 damage and you will jump around.
  • Ice Nova = 2400 frost damage and 3 seconds stun to all within 60 yards.

Strategy:
I dont use any strategy here, if you got any just leave a comment. This boss can be a little hard so its important to kill her fast. Sometimes she will cast Firebomb. You will be throwed to the air and back again a few times. Its not hit pretty much (around 100 damage per "jump") but it confuse a bit. Grand Magus Telestras Hp goes down fast if the DPS' got the recommended gear. She will drop one of these:

Insulating Bindings
Wand of Shimmering Scales
Belt of Draconic Runes

Quote:
he strategy for Grand Magus Telestra is depending on your group setup. I usualy just have the tank tanking her were she stands and dps nuking her at start. When she split either you Crowd Control or nuke the frost one first (The blizzard hurts and healer will get out of mana quickly) then the fire one and last arcane. If your healer at this point is running low on mana. Don't kill last add just keep the arcane part tanked / CCd and let healer regain enough mana to make it through the fight.
this is just one of the endless stream of tactics for her and I don't say this is the best just that it never failed me before.
- Andre

PART 4
Follow the line back and take the other way down at the tunnel. As Alliance you will meet Horde-enemies. As Horde you will meet Alliance-enemies.


MOB LIST

  • Horde/alliance beserker
    Hp: 37000
    abilities:
    Bloodlust = icreases the mobs attack speed by 30% for 30 seconds.
    Frenzy = increase a casters attack speed by 15%. can stack.
    War stomp = normal damage plus 23 damage to all around the mob. knocking players back.
  • Horde/Alliance Cleric
    Hp: 37000
    abilities:
    Shadow word: Death = 1000 damage.
    Flash heal = Heal a mob by 400.
    Power word: Shield = absord damage up to 30 seconds.
  • Horde/Alliance Ranger
    Hp: 37000 abilities:
    Incendiary Shot = 1000 fire damage plus 200 fire damage every 3 second for 12 seconds. 1 second cast time.
  • Horde/Alliance Commander (only exist in normal mode)
    Hp: 74000 abilities:
    Battle Shout = increase other mobs attack power.
    Charge = charge a player, inflict normal damage plus 75 and stun for 2 seconds. Whirlwind = double damage to around the mob.
    Strategies: there isnt any here, but kill him last.

COMMANDER STOUTBEARD / COMMANDER KOLURG (only exist in heroic)
Hp: 337000
abilities:

  • Battle Shout = increase other mobs attack power.
  • Charge = charge a player, inflict normal damage plus 75 and stun for 2 seconds.
  • Whirlwind = double damage to around the mob.
  • Frightening Shout = feared for 6 seconds.
Strategy: Just kill the other mobs around him, and kill the boss last.
he will drop one of these:
Emblem of Heroism
Cleric's Linen Shoes
Grips of Sculptured Icicles
Opposed Stasis Leggings
Cloak of the Enemy

When you have cleared the area remember to lot this:

for quest [Have They No Shame?]

PART 5
Follow the red line to the last boss. You will only have to fight a few mobs.


Hp: 245000
Abilities:

  • Crystal Chains = 1600 damage and stunned for 10 seconds.
  • Crystalfire Breath = 2800 damage, slow you for 25% and dealing 5000 damage over 10 seconds.
  • Enrage = increase the mobs damage by 10% and 30% faster attack speed.
  • Intense Cold = deal damage over time and slow your attack speed.
  • Tail Sweep = 700 damage and knocking you back.

Strategy:
Well, this boss is more different than the ther bosses. The boss is frozen in ice and you can realese it if you press at one of the orbs. The tank will need to jump all the time and maybe the melee DPS' too. Intense cold start to deal 100-200 damage, but if you dont move (jump) that can easy get up and reach 9000-10000 damage. Its a hard boss and if you dont got the req. here you will wipe.
When you have killed the boss, the boss will drop one of these:
Band of Glittering Permafrost
Glacier Sharpened Vileblade
Attuned Crystalline Boots

[Prisoner of War]you will automatic get this quest completed when you killed the boss.

Hope you enjoy my guide Smiling

you can also see:
Eric's Magtheridon's Lair guide

...'**Eric**'...

[/]

Felix's Utgarde Keep Guide

First of all, we start of with some quests you can get, and some links:

Alliance

Disarmament: http://www.wowhead.com/?quest=13205
You have to get 5 Vrykul Weapons in Utgarde Keep, don't be scared, there are enough for the whole group.

Into Utgarde!: http://www.wowhead.com/?quest=11252
For this one you only have to kill the last boss: Ingvar the Plunderer.

Horde

A Score to Settle: http://www.wowhead.com/?quest=11272
You have to kill the first boss, Prince Keleseth, to complete this quest

Disarmament: http://www.wowhead.com/?quest=13206
Works the same as the Alliance quest, but it's NOT a neutral quest, you have to get it somewhere else.

Ingvar Must Die: http://www.wowhead.com/?quest=11262
Same objective as Into Utgarde! for the Alliance.

Neutral

Proof of Demise: Ingvar the Plunderer: http://www.wowhead.com/?quest=13245
This is the Daily Heroic for Utgarde Keep.

Now off with the first boss, Prince Keleseth!

Prince Keleseth

Drops
Dragon Stabler's Gauntlets
Reinforced Velvet Helm
Keleseth's Blade of Evocation

Abilities

Health: 192,200 HP

* Shadow Bolt: Deals 2975 to 4025 shadow damage. Has a 40 yard range and 2 second cast time. (Deals 5950 to 8050 shadow damage on Heroic.)
* Raises 5 undead skeletons with approximately 7,000 HP. They will cast Decrepify (Reduce strength by 100 and movement speed by 30%) on their target. All methods of undead CC work on them. Once they have all been killed, they will respawn.
* Casts Frost Tomb. Immobilizes the target for 20 seconds and causes 400 damage per second. Frost Tombs have roughly 7,000 HP and can be DPSed. Mages can Blink out of the prison, and it is immune to Frost damage.

Strategy

It is important to mind the random Frost Tomb applied to players, these can be burnt down and should be if your party is low on healing. A Frost Tomb does approximately 8000 damage which leaves most level 70’s either dead or very close to it. In addition to Frost Tombs, the prince will summon 5 skeletons which can be crowd controlled, make sure they are grouped up when they die because they will be resurrected periodically throughout the fight and it’s easier to control them if they’re in a group.

If the entire group stands directly in front of the tank then the skeletons and ice blocks will stay in the same place - this means the tank can maintain agro on skeletons with their AOE move and both the tank and melee can easily take down ice blocks without having to move.

Paladin Tanks are arguably the best suited tank for this, as they can bubble out of the Frost Tomb and use specific UD killing moves like Holy wrath to easily pick up the skeleton adds. This boss is relatively easy, however should not be underestimated. Challenging shout/roar is useful when the adds spawn.


On to Skarvald the Constructor and Dalronn the Controller!

Skarvald the Constructor and Dalronn the Controller

Drops

Skarvald's Dragonskin Habergeon
Arm Blade of Augelmir
Chestplate of the Northern Lights

Abilities

Skarvald the Constructor:

Health: 96,100 HP

* Charge: Charges an enemy, inflicting 35% of the caster's normal damage and stuns the opponent for 2 sec.
* Stone Strike: Inflicts 100% of normal weapon damage and knocks back the enemy.

Dalronn the Controller:

Health: 96,100 HP

* Debilitate: Debilitates the target, lowering melee attack, spell casting, movement, and ranged attack speeds by 50%. Deals 750 Shadow damage every 2 sec sec. for 8 sec.
* Shadowbolt: Hurls a bolt of dark magic at an enemy, inflicting 2700 to 3300 Shadow damage.

Strategy

Kill Order

One school of thought is that they should both die at roughly the same time. This strategy involves DPSing Skarvald down to 10%, kill Dalronn, and then finish off Skarvald. This is because Skarvald will randomly charge players, and when his spirit spawns it will do the same, usually towards the healer. Since the spirit has no aggro table, he may stay on the healer until the fight finishes.

Another is that with his casting times Dalronn is by far the easier of the pair to heal through and really doesn't have an aggro table anyway. This strategy involves having the tank build aggro on both bosses, but all DPS goes onto Dalronn. Once he dies you ignore his spirit and focus all attention on Skarvald.

There are no strategies that involve killing Skarvald first, unless you plan to wipe.

Positioning and Distance

* If the group stays on top of the tank Skarvald will not charge and the tank can continue to maintain aggro.

One way to kill the pair is to position the entire group inside Skarvald's minimum intercept range. This eliminates the complications introduced by his charging and turns the fight into a standard tank and spank.

The other way is to tank the bosses right next to each other so the melee cannot be intercepted, but place the ranged DPS and healers as far away as possible. When Skarvald intercepts one of the ranged characters he will immediately re-aggro the tank (assuming the tank is top threat) and the time he spends running back to the tank is time he won't spend causing damage.

Time for Ingvar the Plunderer, Last boss!

Ingvar the Plunderer

Drops

Holistic Patchwork Breeches
Ingvar's Monolithic Cleaver
Overlaid Chain Spaulders

Abilities

Health: 120,015 HP (phase 1); 120,015 HP (phase 2)

Phase 1

* Staggering Roar: 2188-2812 damage to all enemies within 60 yards, interrupting any spells being cast for 6 sec. 2s cast, 2s cooldown
* Smash: 13125-16875 physical damage to all enemies within a 10 yard cone in front of the caster. 3s cast, 2s cooldown. This can be easily avoided by stepping left or right, and when the casting is over, move back in front of Ingvar.
* Cleave: Inflicts 150% of normal melee damage to an enemy and its nearest ally.
* Enrage: Increases attack speed by 5% and size by 5% per cast. Stacks up to 50 times.

Phase 2: Resurrection by Annhylde the Caller

* Dreadful Roar: 3063-3937 shadow damage to all enemies within 60 yards, interrupting any spells being cast for 8 seconds. In addition, targets will take 5% more shadow damage. This effect can stack up to 40 times. 2s cast, 2s cooldown
* Woe Strike: Deals 200% of normal melee damage and inflicts the target a curse known as Woe Strike. Any direct healing the target receives while afflicted with Woe Strike deals 1313-1687 Shadow damage to the healer. This effect lasts for 20 seconds or until the curse is dispelled.
* Dark Smash: Deals 8750-11250 Shadow damage to all enemies within a 10 yard cone in front of the caster. In addition, deals 1750 to 2250 Shadow damage to all enemies, knocking them down for 2 seconds. 3s cast, 2s cooldown. See "Smash" to avoid it's damage.
* Shadow Axe: Throws your Shadow Axe at a random target. The axe will arrive at the target and spin in place for 10 sec, dealing 1750 to 2250 damage per second to all nearby enemies.

Heroic
Same abilities as normal but now Dark Smash affects an area around the caster.

Strategy

Tanking Tactics

* Tank Ingvar so that he is facing away from the group if possible.
* Tank Ingvar near a pillar.
* When Ingvar casts (Dark) Smash you can avoid the effect by either dodging the effect in the middle of his animation (he jumps) or by LOSing Ingvar with a pillar.
# It is critical for the tank to move out of the 10 yards range in time (should be no problem since both abilities have a 3 second cast).
# Run directly away from any melee class behind him so that you don't accidentally turn him towards them (his (Dark) Smash is a cone and will most likely kill them instantly).
* When Ingvar the Damned (Phase 2) throws his axe move Ingvar away from it so it doesn't kill the melee.

Melee DPS Tactics

* It is essential that any melee class apart from the tank stays behind him.
* When he casts Smash (Phase 1) move back to make sure you're not hit by it accidentally.
* When Ingvar throws his axe (Phase 2) make sure you don't stand in the whirling axe. It will kill you.
* When he casts Dark Smash (Phase 2) use a pillar to LOS Ingvar to reduce or negate the shadow damage.
* Be ready to run.
* Plant DoT effects - poison, Rip, tear, Mangle, bleed effects, Seal of Corruption, etc - anything that keeps hitting while running is helpful.
* Don't expect high damage output.

Ranged DPS and Healing Tactics

* Make sure you stand at least far enough away you don't accidentally eat a (Dark) Smash.
* (non-healers) When Ingvar casts Dark Smash (Phase 2) LOS him with a pillar to reduce or avoid the shadow damage.
* (healers) When Ingvar casts Dark Smash (Phase 2) your ability to LOS him with a pillar is directly proportional to your ability to keep the tank alive if you get knocked down out of LOS. LOS your tank at your own risk.
* If Ingvar throws his axe at you, don't stand in the Magical Axe of Whirly-Doom effect. It will kill you.
* When Ingvar casts his roar stop casting. If you don't you'll be eating an 8 second school lock-out (enemy casting bars work wonders).

Pet Classes

* When Ingvar casts Smash or Dark Smash call your pet back to you. If the pet gets smashed it will eat the huge hit and probably die, as well as deal significant damage to the rest of the group.
* Never under any circumstances should uncontrollable Guardian-type pets be used. They tend to get (Dark) Smashed and kill the group (I'm looking at you Army of the Dead!)

General Advice

* Save and use any CD's for the beginning of phase 2 when Ingvar's damage output is higher and he deals shadow damage.
* Melee DPS should have ~9000 health.
* After killing Ingvar the 1st time, he will be resurrected. This cannot be prevented and it marks the beginning of Phase 2. Between the two phases, you cannot eat or drink - Be ready to bandage, Innervate, click the lightwell, get the tank a new healthstone, etc at this time.
* Melee pets normally would try to attack from behind. However, if the pet is killed frequently by the Smash/Dark Smash, it should be called back when the boss is casting Smash/Dark Smash, or kept by their owner's side.
* Shadowfiend, elementals, and all similar moves, should be used straight away during phase 2.
* Low DPS groups or any group that loses one or two members during the fight will likely see healers and caster go OOM due to the boss's substantial damage. Shadow priests' Vampiric Touch/Vampiric Embrace can be unbelievably useful as it helps keep the ranged dpsers life at a manageable level.

Group Composition Tips

* Shadow resistance is extremely helpful for this encounter. Including a class that can provide it should be a top priority.
* More than 1 melee DPS can make for a difficult fight.
* Any class that can provide off-healing can greatly ease the burden on the primary healer's mana pool.
* Priests are very helpful for this encounter - lightwell can really make this encounter smoother. Casters, healers, and ranged dps can stay near the lightwell for the duration of the fight, allowing the healer to concentrate on keeping the tank alive.

That was it ^^ Hope for you you had some nice drops Smiling.

Here are some quotes of the bosses:

Prince Keleseth

On Aggro : Your blood is mine
Summoning Skeletons: Aranal, lidel! Their fate shall be yours!
Casting Frost Tomb : Not so fast.
Upon death : I join... the night.

Skarvald the Constructor and Dalronn the Controller

On Aggro (Skarvald) : Dalronn! See if you can muster the nerve to join my attack!
In reply (Dalronn) : By all means, don't assess the situation, you halfwit! Just jump into the fray!
(Dalronn is killed first) Dalronn's death : See... you... soon.
In reply (Skarvald) : Pagh! What sort of necromancer lets death stop him? I knew you were worthless!
(Skarvald is killed first) Skarvald's death: Not... over... yet.
In reply (Dalronn) : Skarvald, you incompetent slug! Return and make yourself useful!
Skarvald's death : A warrior's death.
Dalronn's death : There's no... greater... glory.

Ingvar the Plunderer

At the start of the encounter : I'll paint my face with your blood!
When killed for the first time : My life for the... death god!
When resurrected : I return! A second chance to carve out your skull!
Killing a player : Mjul orm agn gjor!
When killed for the second time: No! I can do... better! I can...

Well, that was it, hope you enjoyed it ^^

Guide to Drak'Tharon Keep

Drak'Tharon Keep is a 5 man instance for players 74-76 located in the northwestern section of Grizzly Hills. As you know, this is an instance guide that will explain the instance.

Table of Contents
1.Who to Bring
2.Quests
3.Mobs/Bosses
4.Strategies on Each Boss

1.Who to Bring
You'll want the same thing, tank, healer, 3 dps. However, make sure that these dps can crowd control! I can't stress enough how much crowd control is needed in this instance. The mobs are mostly human, undead, and beasts, so almost any CC will do. At least have a hunter in the group for their flexible CC.

2.Quests
[75]Cleansing Drak'Tharon Obtained from Image of Drakuru. The prerequisite is [75]Voices From the Dust.

Drakuru wants you to use Drakuru's Elixir at his brazier inside Drak'Tharon. Using Drakuru's Elixir there will require 5 Enduring Mojo.

Description
The time be here at last, good friend.

Drak'Tharon soon be cleansed of them foul undead and restored to her noble purpose. My soul will be havin' peace, and in return for your help, the keep's most valuable treasures be yours, mon!

Da keep rises up into a sacred ziggurat. Once ya be reachin' its top, ya must summon me a final time, and I'll perform the ritual.

Alas, mon, my summonin' will again be comin' at a cost. Ya must collect the mojo from the survivors in the keep.

Rewards
Shroud of Temptation

Enticing Sabatons

Shackles of Dark Whispers

Shoulders of the Seducer

[74]Search and Rescue The prerequisite is [74]Seared Scourge.

Mack at Granite Springs wants you to go into Drak'Tharon and find out what became of Kurzel.

Description
Orc women... they just don't lissen - hic. Know what I mean, ?

Kurzel's been with us fer years. You'd think she'd get a feel fer how we do things by now. Lure the fools in fer the dangerous work, then reap the rewards when it's safe. What's so hard to understand?

Not her though... impatient green-skin goes off and takes matters into her own hands. Probably dead by now, but I'd feel horrible if we didn't follow after her, and I'm in no shape to do it myself - hic.

So whatdya say, pal?

Rewards

Kurzel's Angst

Kurzel's Rage

Kurzel's Warband

[74]Head Games This is the follow up of [74]Search and Rescue.

Kurzel wants you to use Kurzel's Blouse Scrap at the corpse of Novos the Summoner, then take the Ichor-Stained Cloth to Mack.
Ichor-Stained Cloth
Provided Item:
Kurzel's Blouse Scrap

Description
Too lazy for their own good.... Wait! I know how to teach 'em!

Here, , take this. Dip it in the remains of that annoying lich over there and return it to Mack back at the camp.

Once the boys have stewed in their guilt for a while I'll show up and let them off the hook.

They'll learn not to let a lady wander off alone!

Rewards
Shameful Cuffs

Scorned Bands

Accused Wristguards

Disavowed Bracers

3.Mobs/Bosses
Bosses:

Trollgore, 76 elite

Novos the Summoner, 76 elite

King Dred, 76 elite

The Prophet Tharon'ja, 76 elite

Mobs
Crystal Handler These mobs will do a spell called Flash of Darkness that will do 1527-1773 on normal and 2960-3440 on heroic.

Darkweb Hatchling These are small spiders, they aren't dangerous individually but they are dangerous in groups.

Darkweb Recluse These mobs cast a poison spit that does damage and puts a DOT on the target. They will also cast encasing webs that roots the target and slows you by 100%.

Drakkari Bat
Just like the Darkweb Hatchlings, these are dangerous in a group or a "colony."

Drakkari Commander They will cast a battle shout which increases their attack power, will go into a frenzy increasing attack speed and damage, and also do a whirlwind.

Drakkari Guardian They will use hamstring which slows you, shield bash which will interrupt casting, and will also heal. Make sure that the heal is disrupted by a counterspell, shield bash, etc.

Drakkari Gutripper They will cast a debuff that reduces stamina by 15% for 6 seconds.

Drakkari Raptor Mount All they do is some good damage that needs to be healed through.

Drakkari Scytheclaw They will cast rend which does damage over time.

Drakkari Shaman Casts lightning bolt, a heal, and chain heal. Make sure that the heal and chain heal is disrupted, especially the chain heal. It will heal any trolls in the same group as the shaman.

Fetid Troll Corpse They are very annoying in large groups.

Flesheating Ghoul These will go into a frenzy increasing attack speed and damage, and will also use pierce armor which will decrease your total armor.

Ghoul Tormentor These use cleave which does damage in a frontal cone. Make sure all melee dps are in the back of him. They also do an attack named fresh rot, which will damage you then put a DOT on you.

Hulking Corpse These have no special attacks, but they do a lot of damage. Your healer needs to heal through this.

Risen Drakkari Bat Rider They will use curse of blood that will increase damage taken, and they will also use impale which is a DOT.

Risen Drakkari Death Knight They use deafening roar which silences, and also does physical damage.

Risen Drakkari Handler They will use hooked net which is a root, backhand which is a stun, and shoot.

Risen Drakkari Soul Mage They use shadow blast which does shadow damage and knocks them back, blood siphon which steals health, and void zone which casts shadow damage. YOU MUST MOVE OUT OF THESE!!!

Risen Drakkari Warrior They use crush armor which decreases your armor rating by 10% for 30 seconds, and ghost strike which does physical damage.

Risen Shadowcaster These cast shadowbolt.

Scourge Brute Does a knockdown, will use mortal strike which reduces healing to the target, and uses dark weapon which does shadow damage.

Scourge Reanimator Casts cripple which reduces movement speed and strength by 50%, uses frostbolt which does frost damage and slows the target, and does unholy frenzy which increases the mobs around him's attack speed by 35%, but will also do shadow damage to it.

Wretched Belcher Does an AOE DOT, does bile vomit which is a disease and does nature damage, it can be dispelled, and will do cleave which means all melee dps needs to be on the sides or in the back.

4.Strategies on Each Boss
The first boss is Trollgore. He will do an AOE that kills the trolls attacking him, and does damage to any player in range. Also, he will do corpse explosion on the dead trolls that will do damage also. Make sure the healer is able to survive - Trollgore deals out a lot of party wide damage, and the tank is going to get hit hard. He will do a cannibalize that increases his damage, and the DPS needs to burn him down before it stacks to high. Although he isn't extremely hard with a good healer, you need to have good dps also. Once you defeat Trollgore you are onto Novos!

The second boss is Novos the Summoner. When you engage Novos, he will put up an arcane shield that makes him invulnerable and will do damage to anyone standing in it. When he does put this up, he will call several undead down the stairs in the middle. Most of them are non elite, and are very easy to AOE down. Sometimes there will be a risen shadowcaster that will not come into melee, or a hulking corpse that needs to be kept off anyone other than the tank due to his high damage. This keeps going on until four crystal handlers spawn from the stairs that you must kill to deactivate Novos' shield. Once this is done, Novos is not much of a threat, but make sure all the undead that spawned are dead. He will cast frostbolt, arcane blast, blizzard, and a spell called wrath of misery, which he casts on a random person. This painful spell will do shadow damage every 2 seconds for 8 seconds. Stay out of his blizzard. He isn't that tough. When he is dead, make sure you use the Kurzel's Blouse Scrap on his remains to complete the quest [74]Head Games. Onwards!

The 3rd boss is an optional one and can be avoided by moving around his pen, but I advise not too. King Dred is the boss you are about to kill. He hits moderately hard and casts DOT bleeds on the tank. When you see the emote, "King Dred lashes out wildly," be prepared for his special abilities. He uses mangling slash, which does damage and increases the damage taken from his bleeds with grievous bite. This bleed move can wipe you because it deals a lot of damage and if the tank does not become fully healed they will keep taking damage. He uses piercing slash to deal damage and reduce armor by 75%, and this ups his damage. Make sure you look for the "Raise his claw menacingly" thing. This gives you a warning he's about to attack three times. The healer needs to be prepared so that they can heal through it. He also uses an AOE fear to all enemies within 35 yards of this huge devilsaur. Be aware of adds around the pen, and pull him as far away as you can. If you have a shaman in your group they should put a tremor totem down to help with the fear. Once you kill him, we're heading to the final boss!

The 4th and final boss is The Prophet Tharon'ja. A few times throughout this fight, he transforms the entire group into skeletons which have a new set of skills. This includes touch of life, which steals health, bone armor which absorbs damage for ten seconds, taunt, and slaying strike, which does a good amount of damage. The tank should still have his attention despite the transformation. Everyone else should use slaying strike, including the healer. The prophet also drops poison clouds throughout the area, as soon as you see one by you get away, no matter what you were doing at the time. If you take damage use touch of life. After a while the prophet will turn everyone back into their flesh forms, and will stun you for a few seconds, which is another reason to stay out of poison clouds. I know that I've been stunned by this before, and then a poison cloud dropped right by me. Tharon'ja also uses an eye beam that hits a random person for shadow damage until you're at 50% hp. as well as using shadow voley and lightning breath. Pay close attention and soon the prophet will die. Right behind the Prophet is Drakuru's Brazier, which by now you should have the Enduring Mojo to summon him. Watch the cool script between Arthas and Drakuru, then head home.

-End-

-Kostada

Please post anything you see wrong in the guide. I will repair it.

Halls of Lightning

Introduction


The purpose of this guide is to provide a short, easy-to-use overview of Halls of Lightning (HoL). It is not intended to cover every aspect of the instance (at least in this first phase). It is intended to be something you can use while in the instance and quickly and easily share with your fellows who are not familiar with it. Thus I have tried to make short, specific statements that do not require a lot of explanation. My thought is these could be easily copied into a chat message or easily explained using vent.

This is my first guide. I also want to let you know I am not an experienced WOW player. I am an occasional player. Most of the information in this guide came from researching what others said about HoL. It seems that nobody likes to do HoL. I felt making this guide and consolidating some of the information I found in my research would make it a lot easier for others. Hopefully you will find this valuable. I will add pictures later but intend to get it in place as quickly as possible.

About HoL


HoL is designed for a level 79-80 group in normal mode. It can be done with 1 or 2 players at a lower level if they are reasonably well geared. My lowest level group had a 76, 77, 79 and 2 80's. The 80s were a weak tank with no Epics (me as a DK not defense maxed) and the decent Druid Healer but he was a fairly new 80 (only a few Epics). It is possible to enter the instance at level 75 but most of the mobs are level 79 so I would say the minimum level to contribute to the party is level 76.

Quests

Both

I have not confirmed or completed all of these quests. These fist two are part of a very long quest chain starting with They Took Our Men . It will provide a lot of reputaion with Sons Of Hodir and if you are below level 80 it provides a lot of XP and some nice pre-naxx gear.

Daily from Dalaran

Walkthrough

Group Composition Normal


  1. Tank - 490 Def 20k Health
  2. Healer - Druid is probably best for HoT but that may be more opinion then fact.
  3. Off Tank/DPS - 400+ Def 11k health
  4. DPS or DPS/CC (Total DPS for group in the 4k range)
  5. DPS

I suspect this group might be considered a little controversial. Here is my reasoning for the Off Tank/DPS. Things tend to get a little crazy with these fights. When you fight General Bjarngrim he moves a lot and there is knock back, the same is true of several of the fights. In some of the other fights there are occasionally straggelers that get away. The Off Tank/DPS (I am thinking a DK, Pally or DPS Warrior) can take any straggelers or if the Main Tank gets wiped and you are close to finishing the boss you might be able to still kill him if there is an off tank. In additon, with there being a lot of movement in this your healer needs to be able to have instant heals or HoT's. Otherwise they will be getting interrupted too often. I suggest a Druid for that but, even more so make certain you have a good healer. They need to know their craft well to keep you alive.

Group Composition Heroic


  1. Tank - 535 Def 22k Health(can substitute resilience if you know what you are doing and can be non-critable with sufficient perry/dodge/block values)
  2. Healer
  3. Off Tank/DPS
  4. DPS or DPS/CC
  5. DPS

The Heroic group is pretty standard. The CC helps in this instance and the off tank can help also, but I believe that helps in many instances.

Where


Halls of Lightning is part of the Ulduar dungeon hub in Storm Peaks. The meeting stone is at 43.7, 26.2. There is a flight point and repair area right there. The graveyard is also close by but I am certain you will not need that:-).

Halls of Lightning


The first set of mobs are positioned around a circle. You can choose to go either left or right it does not matter. Do watch where General Bjarngrim is walking to and from. He walks over about 1/2 the circle. You need to start thinking about where you want to take him down. Unless you are looking for the achievement Lightning Struck on Heroic Mode you want to take him when he is not buffed.

These first groups of mobs are pretty easy. Typical Tank and spank. You should be able to pull some of the walkers solo and the groups are no more than 3 or 4. Easy for a typical group(if they are not easy for you, perhaps you should reconsider your run).

General Bjarngrim

At 2 points in the circle he gets an electrical buff called Charge Up that adds 30% to his damage output. If you are not on heroic mode you need to wait for the debuff of this. In heroic mode you can get the achievement Lightning Struck if you kill him while he is buffed.

Normal Mode:

  • Level - 80
  • Health - 221,561

Heroic Mode

  • Level - 82
  • Health - 323,544

His 2 adds can be cc'd

General Bjarngrim is a warrior with 3 stances and he switches these a few times during the fight:

The Fight against General Bjarngrim

Kill or CC the Stormforged Lieutenants first they heal him and throw a debuff on you that only takes affect if you move. If you get the debuff from the Lieutenants do not move. They do about 1,500 in damage if you move.

The General also throws a knock back on occasion. I believe you can not be knocked off the platform but would not bet my group getting wiped on it. With that in mind the tank needs to either stay towards center of platform or fight the General with his back against the wall. Melee DPS needs to stand behind General other than that it is a traditional Tank and Spank.

Drops

Normal Mode

Heroic

The Iron Crucible

The next room is filled with Slags. This was actually pretty fun. The best way to do this is have the tank lead the way and run to the other side of the room by the stairs. Have the party get on the stairs and then kill what you have collected. The reason is these guys respawn very fast and do not stop spawning until you kill Volkhan.

There are some things you can apparently destroy in the room to get them to stop spawning but I have never done this. The Slags have a debuff of Melt Armor and do a Blast Wave for about 2500 damage to nearby enemies.

There are some additional trash mobs to fight on the way up to Volkhan. The only ones that can be a little tough are the Unbound Firestorm's. They have Afterburn which increases their Critical Hit Chance to 50%. So your tanks can get a nasty critical hit if you are not careful. Just pull carefully and you will be fine.

Volkhan

Volkhan is a typical Tank and Spank except for one item. Every 20% of his health he will go to his anvil and cast Temper. This will create several Molten Golem's. The Molten Golems do not hit that hard but if you try to kill them they will instead become frozen. Then when Volkhan casts Shattering Stomp they will explode for about 5,000 damage. Because of this you should tank Volkhan at the bottom of the steps and let all the casters stay at top of steps.

Normal Mode

  • Level - 80
  • Health – 269,783

Heroic Mode

  • Level - 82
  • Health – 388,253

The Fight against Volkhan

I suggest simply ignoring the adds in this fight, telling casters not do do their AoE attacks, and brunign him down as fast as you can. However if you prefer you can have your off tank take the golems into a corner and keep them all there (they do not hit very hard unless they explode). The last option is to have your tank move Volkhan up and down the stairs and around the room. The golems are slow and will struggle to keep up.

Quests

Achievements

Drops

Normal Mode

Heroic

Hall of Watchers

After you defeat Volkhan go through the door into the Hall of Watchers. You will see Vrykul against the walls. They are like statues and will only awake after you have passed each section. I suggest sending a caster or healer to lead this and have the tank stay with the main group. Typically only 3 – 4 spawn and they are not that tough to get through. The only issues here with the Titanium Thunderer's and Siegebreakers is that they have an AoE fear attack but even with that it has never caused us many issues.

Ionar

Ionar is definitely going to be a fight for most groups. About every 25% of his health he casts Disperse. Ionar also has his normal attack Ball Lightning (which you can avoid if you stay out of the way) and a debuff called Static Overload. Static Overload does about 1,300 damage over 10 seconds but once it completes it does about 2,500 damage to all surrounding enemies (i.e. your party members). So if you have this debuff when you run stay away from the rest of your party. It has an 8 yard range so you just need to be a little ways away. Static Overload does stack so be careful.

Normal Mode

  • Level – 80
  • Health – 325,852

Heroic Mode

  • Level – 82
  • Health – 431,392

The Fight against Ionar

In general the group needs to stay spread out with the Tank keeping Ionar farily high up the stairs. The debuff Static Overload can push a lot of damage when it finishes and it is best to get good spacing in the group.

When fighting Ionar he will disperse into sparks of energy about every 25% of his health that hit hard and can’t be attacked (don't even try to attack them, it does not good.). When this happens the entire party needs to run. You will run down the stairs and past the two large pillars up against the wall. You need to get that far away as they will follow you about 50 yards. Anyone who has the debuff Static Overload needs to remember to stay away from the others (the Tank will almost certainly have it and the healer is likely to have it).

Once the sparks disappear the tank needs to pull Ionar back up the stairs again so that the group has room to run away from the sparks. The casters need to try and avoid the ball’s of lightning and any melee DPS needs to attack from behind when possible to avoid these also. They hit for over 2k each so they are bearable but it will put a lot of stress on your healer that is not necessary.

Normal Mode

Heroic

Thundering Overlook

After killing Ionar you can go west through the room and clear the way to Loken. You only need to kill enough to get to him. Pull carefully and you will have no issues. If you can interrupt the electro Shock from the Stormfury revenant's that would be ideal.

You now enter the last room prior to fighting Loken there are several types of mobs here but nothing too difficult if you pull carefully. The Stormforged Giants doa Thunderstorm attack that can hit for 3K plus in damage. Interrupt that if you can.

Loken

Loken is why most people hate HoL. With Arc Lightning at 3.5k, Lighting Nova at 12k plus, Pulsing Shockwave that does more damage the further you are away from him and 8k critical hits he is a tough fight.

First of all the entire party will be taking damage from Loken during the entire fight. This is from his aura. The closer you are to him the less damage you will take so... stack close to Loken. If you get hit with Arc Lightning it can do a lot of damage to the other party members (about 8k). So step a away from the party (but not Loken if you can) if you get that debuff.

Normal Mode

  • Level – 80
  • Health – 390,990

Heroic Mode

  • Level – 82
  • Health – 512,278

The Fight against Loken

The tank needs to pull Loken to the white circle. I like to just run him up and down the white line. There are 3 keys to this fight:

  1. When you see him about to cast Lightning Nova RUN – He will lean to the side and a ball of lightning will start to appear in his hands you have about 4 seconds from the start of the cast. Get out of there it hurts a lot (to the tune of 12K plus in damage).
  2. Stay near Loken. - The further away you are the more his Aura hurts. When you are close it can do as little as 400 damage a tick. When you get far away it can do 2k a tick or more.
  3. If you get the Arc Lightning debuff try to step away from the rest of the group but stay near enough to Loken to not increase your damage from his aura too much.

Tankspot suggests the following (but I found it easier to run him up and down the white line).

  1. Tank pulls him to the circle of light in front of this throne (everyone stacks). DPS him.
  2. He starts to cast the nova. Everyone heads south. Run until you're near the top of the first set of stairs.
  3. Everyone restacks. Loken will run to the tank. DPS him until he starts to cast the nova again.
  4. Run to the edge of the circular platform under the floating planet.
  5. Everyone restacks. Loken will run to the tank. DPS him until he starts to cast the nova again.
  6. This time, run around the edge of the circle until you feel you are far enough.
  7. Everyone restacks. Loken will run to the tank. DPS him until he starts to cast the nova again.
  8. If he still isn't dead, continue this cycle around the planet.

If you have a really great healer you can just stand there and take the damage. Usually this requires everyone to stack on the tank and stay put no matter what. The healer needs to be well geared and very good. I have only seen a Shamen and a Druid do this, not certain if other healing classes could. If you can do this it makes the fight very easy and you are likely to get Timely Death as you will burn him down in no time or you will wipe.

Some adds that can really help in this fight.

  • Nature Resist
  • Group heals
  • DK anti-magic shell

Drops

Normal Mode

Heroic

Quests

Achievements

  • Timely Death – Kill Loken in Heroic Mode in under 2 minutes

Thanks to Tankspot, worldofstrats.com and a couple of youtube.com videos I watched.

Quests For Level 70-80 WotLK Dungeons

Quests For Level 70-80 WotLK Dungeons

Introduction

This guide provides (when finished) all the quests available for the new dungeons from 70 to 80 and shows where and how to get them. It is NOT a guide for the instances themself, just for the quests that need to be done there, so don't expect any answers to "How do I beat Boss XYZ?".

If you think I missed something or if something is wrong, please add a constructive comment.

Status
The guide is still in development. It contains all quests known to me, but it still misses some prerequisites and in-depth guides.

How to read the guide

  • The numbers before the instance indicate the [RecomendedLevelRange (LowestLevelAtWhichItCanBeEntered)] and are taken from wowwiki.
  • The numbers before the Quests are the minimum Level for that quest.
  • You can get one Daily Heroic quest per day from Archmage Lan'dalock in front of The Violet Hold, Dalaran which requires you, to get an item from the last boss of a certain dungeon.

Dungeons

  1. Utgarde Keep [70-72 (65)]
    General Info
    Utgarde Keep is located at the center of the Howling Fjord.

    Alliance

    • [68] Disarmament (Dungeon)

      Starts and ends at: Defender Mordun (located at (59,48) in Wyrmskull Village, Howling Fjord)
      Objectives: Steal 5 Vrykul Weapons (there are enough for 5 players all around the dungeon)

    • [68] Into Utgarde! (Dungeon)
    Horde

    The first two quests start at Dark Ranger Marrah who spawns at the beginning of the instance, when you enter it.
    All quests end at High Executor Anselm who is located in Vengeance Landing, Howling Fjord.

    • [68] Disarmament (Dungeon)

      Objectives: Steal 5 Vrykul Weapons (there are enough for 5 players all around the dungeon)

    • [68] Ingvar Must Die! (Dungeon)

      Objectives: Kill Ingvar the Plunderer (last boss) and loot Ingvars Head

    • War is hell (Solo)
      • [68] Reports from the Field (Solo)
        • [68] The Windrunner Fleet (Solo)
          • [68] Ambushed! (Solo)
            • [68] Guide Our Sights (Solo)
              • [68] Landing the Killing Blow (Solo)
                • [68] Report to Anselm (Solo)
                  • [68] A Score to Settle (Dungeon)

                    Objectives: Kill Prince Keleseth (first boss)

    Daily Heroic
    • [80] Proof of Demise: Ingvar the Plunderer

  2. The Nexus [70-72 (65)]
    Both
    • [70] Have They No Shame? (Dungeon)

    • [70]Reading the Meters (Solo)
      • [70] Postponing the Inevitable (Dungeon)

      • [70]Puzzling (Solo) Started by: Scintillating Fragment an item dropped by Coldarra Spellbinders
        Several quests later:
        • Prisoner of War (Dungeon)

      • [70] Secrets of the Ancients (Solo)
        • [70] Quickening (Dungeon)
    Daily Heroic
    • [80] Proof of Demise: Keristrasza

  3. Azjol-Nerub [72-74 (67)]
    Both
    • [72] Death to the Traitor King (Dungeon)
    • [72] Don't Forget the Eggs! (Dungeon)
    Daily Heroic
    • [80] Proof of Demise: Anub'arak

  4. Ahn'kahet: The Old Kingdom [73-75 (68)]
    Both
    • [73] Funky Fungi (Dungeon)
    • [73] The Faceless Ones (Dungeon)
    Daily Heroic
    • [80] Proof of Demise: Herald Volazj
    • [80] All Things in Good Time Given by: Kilix the Unraveler (outside the instance)

  5. Drak'Tharon Keep [74-76 (69)]
    Both
    • [73] Cleansing Drak'Tharon (Dungeon)
    • Head Games
    • Search and Rescue
    Daily Heroic
    • Proof of Demise: The Prophet Tharon'ja

  6. The Violet Hold [75-77 (70)]
    Both
    • [75] Discretion is Key (Solo)
      • [75] Containment (Dungeon)
    Daily Heroic
    • [80] Proof of Demise: Cyanigosa

  7. Gundrak [76-78 (71)]
    Both
    • For Posterity (Dungeon)
    • Gal'darah Must Pay (Dungeon)
    • One of a Kind (Dungeon)
    Daily Heroic
    • [80] Proof of Demise: Gal'darah

  8. Halls of Stone [77-79 (72)]
    Both
    • [?] Halls of Stone (Dungeon)
    Daily Heroic
    • [80] Proof of Demise: Sjonnir The Ironshaper

  9. Halls of Lightning [80 (75)]
    Both
    • [80] Diametrically Opposed
    • [80] Whatever it Takes!
    Daily Dungeon
    • [80] Timear Foresees Titanium Vanguards in your Future!
    Daily Heroic
    • [80] Proof of Demise: Loken

  10. The Oculus [80 (75)]
    Both
    • [80] The Struggle Persists
      • [80] A Unified Front
        • [80] Mage-Lord Urom
          • [80] A Wing and a Prayer
    Daily Dungeon
    • [80] Timear Foresees Centrifuge Constructs in your Future!
    Daily Heroic
    • [80] Proof of Demise: Ley-Guardian Eregos

  11. Caverns of Time: Culling of Stratholme [80 (75)]
    Both
    • [80] A Royal Escort
    • [80] Dispelling Illusions
    Daily Dungeon
    • [80] Timear Foresees Infinite Agents in your Future!
    Daily Heroic
    • [80] Proof of Demise: Mal'Ganis

  12. Utgarde Pinnacle [80 (75)]
    Both
    Both quests are available from Brigg Smallshanks, inside Utgarde Pinnacle
    • [80] Junk in My Trunk
    • [80] Vengeance Be Mine!
    Daily Dungeon
    • [80] Timear Foresees Ymirjar Berserkers in your Future!
    Daily Heroic
    • [80] Proof of Demise: King Ymiron

Residentevil's Drak'Tharon Keep Instance Guide

     Drak'Tharon is where Arthas remained while searching for the Runeblade, Frostmourne. Situated in the midst of the Grizzly Hills, it is also where Mal'ganis encountered and informed Arthas of his impending death. Since that time, it has been taken over by the Drakkari Undead Trolls, responsible for raids and attacks on the Grizzlemaw Furbolgs.

INDEX-

  
  

  
  

Pre-Quests, Quests, and Rewards

  
  

     Available from Level 74, and designed for five men (on normal or heroic), this is an instance that is both exciting and very challenging. The presence of countless dinosaurs, undead trolls and, to top it all, the Dinosaur King, means that this is a fine example of the quality of new instances introduced in the new expansion pack.

     There are 2 quests in Drak'tharon Keep you want to do while you are there. Both factions are eligible for these – First - Search and Rescue (which has only one pre-quest) and Second - Cleansing Drak’Tharon (which is the last in a string of eight). I listed and linked both of the full chains below. On a side note, if you haven’t been to this location questing before there are quests you have to pick up and complete for these 2 strings to become available. They are the only 2 quests in the camp and they are fairly easy to knock out, unlike the drawn out second quest chain. If you are here around level 74 the rewards are nice upgrades to what you may have picked up from UK or Nexus and are worth the questing.

First Quest Chain:
     *Starts with – Mack Fearsen in Granite Springs (16.7, 48.3)

     Seared Scourge
     Search and Rescue
     Head Games

Second Quest Chain:
     *Starts with – Drakuru in Granite Springs (16.5, 47.9)

     Truce?
     Vial of Visions
     Subject to Interpretation
     Sacrifices Must be Made
     Hearts of the Ancients
     My Heart is in your Hands
     Voices from the Dust
     Cleansing Drak’Tharon

Quest Rewards:
     Rewards from: Search and Rescue

     Kurzel’s Rage
     Kurzel’s Angst
     Kurzel’s Warband

     Rewards from: Head Games

     Shameful Cuffs
     Scorned Bands
     Accused Wristguards
     Disavowed Bracers

     Rewards from: Cleansing Drak'Tharon

     Enticing Sabatons
     Shoulders of the Seducer
     Shackles of Dark Whispers
     Shroud of Temptation

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Instance Mobs

  
  

     Crystal Handler- Level 75-81 (Elite). HP 21,270 - 41,704. MP 7,981 - 8,979.
          o Abilities – Flash of Darkness, Flash of Darkness(H)

     Darkweb Hatchling- Level 74-80. HP 8,740 – 12,600.
          o Abilities – Melee Only

     Darkweb Recluse- Level 70-81 (Elite). HP 64,165 – 244,510.
          o Abilities – Encasing Web, Poison Spit, Poison Spit(H)

     Drakkari Bat- Level 75-80. HP 5,318 – 12,600.
          o Abilities – Melee Only

     Drakkari Commander- Level 75-81 (Elite). HP 42,540 – 65,165.
          o Abilities – Battle Shout, Frenzy, Whirl Wind, Whirl Wind(H), Whirl Wind, Whirl Wind(H)

     Drakkari Guardian- Level 75-81 (Elite). HP 42,540 – 65,165.
          o Abilities – Chain Heal, Hamstring, Heal, Lightning Bolt, Shield Bash,

     Drakkari Gutripper- Level 75-81 (Elite). HP 41,128 – 65,165.
          o Abilities – Gut Rip

     Drakkari Raptor Mount- Level 75-81. HP 15,952 – 26,066.
          o Abilities – Melee Only

     Drakkari Scytheclaw- Level 74-81 (Elite). HP 41,128 – 65,165.
          o Abilities – Rend

     Drakkari Shaman- Level 71-81 (Elite). HP 44,044 – 65,165. MP 12,243.
          o Abilities – Chain Heal, Heal, Lightning Bolt, Lightning Bolt(H)

     Fetid Troll Corpse- Level 74-80. HP 2,056 – 3,780.
          o Abilities – Melee Only

     Flesheating Ghoul- Level 70-81 (Elite). HP 42,540 – 65,165.
          o Abilities – Frenzy, Pierce Armor

     Ghoul Tormentor- Level 72-81 (Elite). HP 38,440 – 65,165.
          o Abilities – Cleave, Flesh Rot, Flesh Rot(H)

     Hulking Corpse- Level 74-81 (Elite). HP 12,338 - 26,066.
     o Abilities – Melee Only

     Risen Drakkari Bat Rider- Level 75-81 (Elite). HP 42,540 – 65,165.
          o Abilities – Curse of Blood, Curse of Blood(H), Impale

     Risen Drakkari Death Knight- Level 71-81 (Elite). HP 44,004 – 104,264. MP 3,643 – 4,081.
          o Abilities – Deafening Roar, Deafening Roar(H), Fear, Icy Touch, Icy Touch(H)

     Risen Drakkari Handler- Level 70-81 (Elite). HP 42,540 – 65,165.
          o Abilities – Back Hand, Hooked Net, Shoot, Shoot(H)

     Risen Drakkari Soul Mage- Level 74-81 (Elite). HP 41,128 – 65,165. MP 3,466 – 4081.
          o Abilities – Blood Siphon, Blood Siphon(H), Heal, Knock Down, Shadow Bolt, Shadow Bolt(H), Shadow Void, Shadow Void(H)

     Risen Drakkari Warrior- Level 69-81 (Elite). HP 41,128 – 65,165.
          o Abilities – Crush Armor, Ghost Strike, Heal

     Risen Shadowcaster- Level 74-81. HP 1,645 – 3,128. MP 7,809 – 8,979.
          o Abilities – Shadow Bolt, Shadow Bolt(H)

     Scourge Brute- Level 76-81 (Elite). HP 44,004 – 65,165.
          o Abilities – Heal, Knock Down, Mortal Strike

     Scourge Reanimator- Level 74-81 (Elite). HP 41,128 – 65,165. MP 3,466 – 4,081.
          o Abilities – Cripple, Frost Bolt, Frost Bolt(H), Unholy Frenzy

     Wretched Belcher- Level 74-81 (Elite). HP 51,410 – 130,330.
          o Abilities – Bile Vomit, Bile Vomit(H), Cleave, Disease Cloud

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Instance Bosses

  
  

Trollgore

     Level - 74 – 82 (Elite Boss)
     HP – 244,510 – 431,392

Abilities:

     • Consume – Shadow Damage
     • Consume – (Heroic) Shadow Damage
     • Corpse Explode – Nature Damage
     • Corpse Explode – (Heroic) Nature Damage
     • Crush – Physical Damage
     • Infected Wound – Nature Damage

Strategy:

     This is fairly up front when it comes to instance boss fights, The tank not only needs to hold the mob but at times in the fight he must be prepared to move the fight to another spot in order to minimize the AoE damage.

     As you are engaging Trollgore waves of troll will converge on him, they will all die fairly quickly. After Trollgore finishes off the trolls, the tank needs to move the fight away from the troll corpses. If you don’t he has an AoE spell that will explode the corpses. This attack will cause Nature Damage to all in the 5 yard radius of the corpses when it explodes.

     Another major part of Trollgore’s attack arsenal is the consume ability. This is another AoE that that will cause shadow damage to all affected. This particular attack will give him a damage buff and add 2% (5% in Heroic Mode) damage increase to the damage he is dealing. Bloodworms can cause this attack to stack up extremely fast so if you have any Death Knights in you group you may want to forego the use of them.

     Nevertheless you can deal with consume a couples of ways. Your first option is to simply ignore it and burn down the mob as fast as possible. If you have good dps (mages preferably) he will go down quick and the consume effect will be a distant memory. The other option is to have anyone who is not directly involved in hand to hand combat to break line of sight before he casts consume. This should greatly reduce the stack rate.

     On another note if you face Trollgore in the heroic mode the consume effect stack to 10 and as I said before the damage affects from 2% to 5% so if you have a Death Knight in the group, don’t let them use their bloodworms or they will end up giving Trollgore a 50% damage buff…..

Acheivement - Consumption Junction The goal of this acheivement is to kill Trollgore before his consmue builds a 10 stack. The best way to do this is to pay attention to group placement and LoS (Line of Sight) as well as keeping up what stack number you are on. If you break LoS then it will go down if you stay in his LoS it will continue to build up. Here are some positions to put people during the fight. We used the pillar down and to the left of the stairs right up beside the wall of the stairs. Have your tank keep him in there, put your heals in the center of the room in the LoS of the Tank but out of LoS of the boss. You will need to put at least one DPS on adds. If your other 2 DPS are a melee, they will need to attack in 10 second bursts then run behind the pillar to keep Consume from stacking up. When we did this Acheivemnt we used Ventrillo to communicate but one of the guild mates found this macro on a message board and it is a good substitute if you don’t have Ventrillo. All the tank has to do is hit this macro right after The comsume debuff goes up by one this will giive the DPS 10 secs of attack and then tell them to get out of LoS.

          /sw 10
          /script Stopwatch_Play();
          /rw === Cast consume, safe for 10 secs! ===
          /in 10 /rw === Back out now! ===

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Novos the Summoner

     Level - 75 – 82 (Elite Boss)
     HP – 244,510 – 404,430
     MP – 4,169

Abilities:

     • Arcane Blast – Arcane Damage
     • Arcane Blast – (Heroic) Arcane Damage
     • Arcane Field – Arcane Damage; 1,665-1,935 every 1 second.
     • Blizzard – Frost Damage
     • Blizzard – (Heroic) Frost Damage
     • Frostbolt – Frost Damage; 2,313-2,687
     • Frostbolt – (Heroic) Frost Damage; 4,625-5,375
     • Summon Minions – Shadow Damage
     • Wrath of Misery – Shadow Damage; 1,619-1,881 every 2 seconds.
     • Wrath of Misery – (Heroic) Shadow Damage; 2,590-3,010 every 2 seconds.

Strategy:

     Right from the jump Novos the Summoner bubbles up with an invincibility shield that protects him from all damage so don’t bother going at him. The group also needs to stay clear of Novos because he will cast a void area on the ground around him so if anyone step in the zone they will receive nominal damage. While protected under the shield he summons adds. Most of the adds are non-elites but periodically he will summon elite adds. The group can burn down the non-elites with out having the tank initiate the fight with each one and that will give tank a chance to jump on the elite adds as soon as they appear. Priests can cast Shackle undead to help to control this onslaught of adds.

     There a random amount of non-elites and there are four elite adds. Once the adds are dead Novos will drop the bubble and the void area will dissipate. Then he is fair game for the whole group to fire at will. Novos has NO aggro list so it is a free for all for the dps classes.

     During the fight with him he has a few things to look for. First, he spawns some undead that have small amounts of hp and will die quickly with most AoE spells. Second, pay attention to where he spawns the blizzards in the room and stay clear of them. There is no pattern to watch for, they are totally random placements. Lastly he will cast frost bolts that will target different party members in the group so healers need to keep an eye on the casters HP too.

Achievement – Oh Novos! This achievement is kind of simple to get the goal is to kill all the adds without letting them off the steps. So the best approach I have found is to position the off tank and dps at the top of the steps, Heals in the middle and the main tank and other dps at the bottom and kill them as the come. If you didn’t let any touch the area off the steps and you kill him without dying you will get it.

     Additional Notes:

     Make sure to use Kurzel’s Blouse Cloth that you got from the quest Head Games after you kill Novos the Summoner. Use it on his corpse and you will get Ichor-Stained Cloth and a complete message. Otherwise, his corpse will disappear and you'll have to wait until next time you run the instance to complete the quest.

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King Dred

     Level - 76 – 82 (Elite Boss)
     HP – 220,020 – 431,392

Abilities:

     • Bellowing Roar – Physical Damage
     • Fearsom Roar - Physical Damage
     • Fearsome Roar – (Heroic) Physical Damage
     • Greivous Bite – Physical Damage; 8,000 to start then 1,050-1,250 every 2 seconds.
     • Mangling Slash – Physical Damage
     • Piercing Slash – Physical Damage
     • Raptor Call – Physical Damage

Strategy:

     King Dred is a giant devilsaur. He is a bull devilsaur that watches over a pen full of raptors. Before the boss fight starts you need to clear the other raptors in the pen.

     King Dred on the regular mode is fairly simple if your healer keeps the tanks health topped off because All of King Dred's abilities are single target damage to the tank also It will be a help if all of the trash is cleared before the boss fight starts, if not when you are feared you will be sent running into more adds.

     King Dred has two different roars he'll use occasionally during the fight. Fearsome Roar will debuff players and reduce the damage they deal. Bellowing Roar is an AoE fear effect. Using anti-fear method to keep the tank from getting feared is helpful.

     Watch him closely and when King Dred "raises his claw menacingly!" the tank is about to get hit by three attacks in a row and will be hit with three different debuffs which stacked together are almost always fatal. Have your tank use some cooldowns to reduce the damage done. If King Dred uses Grievous bite the target will keep getting bleed damage until the victim is healed to full health and if you don’t top them off to stop the bleed King Dred will drop Mangling slash which increases bleed damage suffered by 175%. Another attack in his arsenal is Piercing slash which reduces armor by 75%.

     I have done this one 4 times now and can’t help but notice that having a death knight using army of the dead makes this a very easy encounter.

Achievement - Better Off Dred If you are in the heroic mode of the instance than you can try for the achievement for killing 6 out of the 7 raptors while fighting King Dred. The easiest way to do it is to pull the first raptor, burn him down, heal and mana up then pull the 3 pack of them and when their health is down pull King Dred and finish off that 3 pack and single pull the last 3. Good Luck it is an intense fight.

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The Prophet Tharon’ja

     Level - 76 – 82 (Elite Boss)
     HP – 275,025 – 512,278
     MP – 3,643 - 4,169

Abilities:

     • Curse of Life - Shadow Damage; 709–791 every 3 seconds
     • Curse of Life – (Heroic) Shadow Damage; 2,363-2637 every 3 seconds.
     • Decay Flesh – Shadow Damage
     • Eye Beam – Nature Damage
     • Eye Beam - (Heroic) Nature Damage
     • Lightning Breath – Nature Damage; 1,388-1,612
     • Lightning Breath – (Heroic) Nature Damage; 2,775-3,225
     • Poison Cloud – Nature Damage (AoE)
     • Poison Cloud – (Heroic) Nature Damage (AoE)
     • Rain of Fire – Fire Damage (AoE)
     • Rain of Fire – (Heroic) Fire Damage (AoE)
     • Return Flesh – Shadow Damage
     • Shadow Volley – Shadow Damage; 1,665 to 1,935 (AoE)
     • Shadow Volley – (Heroic) Shadow Damage; 3,885-4,515 (AoE)

Strategy:

     The final boss of DTK is a skeletal wind serpent named Tharon'ja. The first thing to remember about this fight is obviously that the group members stay out of the poison clouds or raining fire.

     Tharon'ja will occasionally hit the party with decay flesh. This will turn all the players into skeletons while restoring the flesh to Tharon'ja. At this point, players loose their normal abilities and are given four abilities to use.

          • Slaying Strike
          • Taunt
          • Bone Armor
          • Touch of Life

     From this point the fight is fairly simple. Players for the most part just click these four buttons and come out fine even on heroic. Use bone armor and touch of life to keep your health high since the healer won't be able to heal during this time. Spam slaying strike to inflict damage and generally ignore taunt to let the tank keep aggro. Use taunt only if it’s really needed.

     Tharon'ja will eventually decide to return flesh to the players. The fight will continue with players alternating between normal and decayed states. Make sure everyone is using Touch of Life and bone Armor every time their cooldown is up while in the decayed state and business as usual in the flesh state until he is dead.

This if my first guide so I hope someone found it useful......

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Shadow Legacy's guide to Halls of Stone

In this guide you will find out how to complete the Halls of Stone instance, or find out about something you did not know about things in this instance.


Table of Contents
  1. Introduction
  2. Quests
  3. Maiden of Grief
  4. Krystallus
  5. Tribunal of Ages
  6. Sjonnir The Ironshaper
  7. Achievements
Introduction
Halls of stone or HoS as its commonly called, is located in the titan vault of Ulduar at the top of the zone of Storm Peaks. Halls of Stone is like most Northrend instances it is a 5-man with a lockout period that last till 11:59 pst on heroic mode. The mobs in this instance are easy but can cause a lot of damage if pulled incorrectly.


Quests
Their isn't many quests in for this zone, the one listed is to activate the Tribunal of Ages which we will get to later.
Halls of Stone


Maiden of Grief
There is a few tricks to kill this boss very easy. First you want to have the tank keep her where she is while healers stay near the stairs.

Every so ofter she'll cast Storm of Grief which is a giant black circle that forms on the floor much like a void zone. The tank will want to move here away from these and everyone in the circle should immediately get out of it or it will do a lot of damage.

Additionally she will cast Shock of Sorrow which is a group wide stun that lasts 10 seconds and does a couple thousand shadow damage. After this the tank will want to taunt because it acts as a aggro wipe.
This fight is mainly a tank and spank and should be easy to most groups.



Krystallus

This is a fight that is slimier to Gruul the Dragonkiller. One of his main abilities is Ground slam which knocks everyone in the raid back. After this knock back he will turn everyone to stone and then shatter them doing damage to the player and anyone around the player.

Next is a ground spike which is just as it sounds a giant spike comes under a player and does damage to them, i am not sure at this moment if it also knocks you in the air. Lastly he has boulder toss which hits a player for very little damage(around 3-4k on cloth). Like the Maiden of Grief he is mostly a tank and spank.



Tribunal of Ages

After a few mobs you will come to Brann Bronzebeard who is your key to the next "boss". It is best to clear the room after his little camp first before you talk to him to insure safe passage. If everyone in the group has completed Halls of Stone just simply talk to him to move on. If someone has not finished the quest remember to get them to pick it up before you talk to Brann because it wont be available once you talk to him.

Once you made it into the room with the three giant heads the fight will begin. This fight consists of keeping Brann alive from the attacking dwarfs. These will come in waves with decreasing time between them. Other than the attackers you will have to worry about the faces on the walls, because they will each do a different type of attack. The first face which is on the right of the entrance of the room, will fire Bolt of the Tribunal with will target a random player and deal 500 arcane damage to them, this will fire every about three seconds.

After a few more waves the next head will activate which is the one on the left of the room. This face will fire Dark matter which looks like a shadowy orb and a random player causing a debuff that increases damage taken by 50% on normal and 100% on heroic.

After a few more waves the last face will activate. This face does Searing Gaze which targets a random spot on the floor near a player and cause near 500 damage per second on normal and near 2000 damage per second on heroic for 10 seconds.

Once the waves stops you have completed this boss and the quest. You can stay for some lore at this point or talk to Brann who will tell you to meet him near the entrance of the instance. This boss can get very complicated at sometimes and very painful if all thee faces target the same person.



Sjonnir The Ironshaper
Once you talked to Brann and walked back to near the beginning of the instance talk to him again and he will open the door that you might have noticed at the beginning that was shut. Inside you will find the final boss of Halls of Stone Sjonnir The Ironshaper.

At the start of the fight Brann will run behind the boss and try to access the panel.
Sjonnir starts with a buff on him that has a 50% chance to cause 1000 damage on normal or 3000 damage on heroic to any attacker. It is recommended this is despelled or spellstealed off of him. Next he does Lightning ring which does around 1000 damage to anyone close to him. Lastly he does a chain lightning which does around 1000-2000 damage to a player and arcs up to 3 nearby players.

Throughout this fight troggs and blobbs spawn in the forges on the sides of the platform. These dont pose that big of a threat, though they can be offtanked by near any melee class. Near the end of the fight Brann will join in the fight and help kill Sjonnir.



Achievements

Here is a list of Achievements for everyone.
Halls of Stone
Heroic: Halls of stone
Good Grief
Brann Spankin' new
Abuse the Ooze


I hope you all enjoyed this guide. Please leave a comment if you find something wrong i will be glad to fix it. Also pictures are coming soon for some reason my computer messes up when i put a picture in.

Edits: Spaced out the guide a little so its more readable. still couldn't get the pictures in. More to come soon

Shinke's The Oculus Guide


The Oculus is a high level 5 man dungeon located within the Nexus. It is unique in the way it allows each player to control flying drakes with specific roles (tanking, healing, damage dealing) to complete the dungeon.

Special thanks to Eric for his Eric's The Nexus Guide, in which format I will try to follow. And hey, who'd ever thought I release a guide on my birthday?


Table of Contents
  1. Level Range
  2. Quests
  3. Group
  4. Part 1
  5. Part 2
  6. Part 3
  7. Part 4
  8. Drakos the Interrogator
  9. Varos Cloudstrider
  10. Mage-Lord Urom
  11. Ley-Guardian Eregos


Level Range
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It is often thought that Oculus, even on normal mode, is for level 80 only. I beg to differ.
*75 - Lowest you can enter. Do NOT run the instance at this level though!
*76 - If you have all 80s and one 76 DPS you should be okay.
*77 - Once again with 80s you can run this.
*78 - Lowest level I recommend running as.
*79 - Perfect level for running!
*80 Normal - Often referred to as the only level you can run as.
*80 Heroic - Can be difficult without a geared tank and healer.


Quests
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There are 5 quests you can do on normal mode (4 quests and daily). 1 Daily Heroic.

Normal Mode Quests
*A Unified Front
*A Wing and a Prayer
*Mage-Lord Urom
*The Struggle Persists
*Timear Foresees Centrifuge Constructs in your Future!(Daily Dungeon)

Heroic Mode Quests
*Proof of Demise: Ley-Guardian Eregos

Onto Business..
If you are planning on running Oculus for the first time, check the Daily Dungeon quest giver and see if he has Timear Foresees Centrifuge Constructs in your Future!(Daily Dungeon). If not, That's okay.

Fly to Coldarra. Find Raelorasz right next to the flight path. Accept The Struggle Persists. Note - There is no pre-req to pick up this quest.
The other 3 quests are completed inside the Oculus. I'll cover them as we go along.



Group
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*Tank: Without throwing specifics out, a tank should be in 80 blues and/or Raid Loot.

*DPS: The gear you hit level 80 should work fine, but you may want to try some other heroics if you want to perform the 1337DEEEEEPS.

*Healer: Same as tank, should be in 80 blues / raid loot.

Alright, I think we got everything covered, zone in!



PART 1: DEFEATING DRAKOS AND GETTING YOUR DRAKE
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When you first zone in, you'll see quite a few trash mobs standing in your way. These should go down easy, but can hit you hard if you're not tanking.
You may want to go slow through here your first time.

Once you have defeated trash, you'll see a portal. Take it. Now standing in front of you is Drakos the Interrogator.

HP: Normal - 325k Heroic - 431k
Drakos has 2 abilities.
*Magic Pull - Will pull everyone to him.
*Thundering Stomp- Does Damage and knocks you into the air.

Strategy
This boss is easy for everyone but the healer. Tank him in the middle of the ring. DPS and healer must avoid the magic orbs flying around. They have the potential to wipe your group.
Good job! Now to get your drake.....
Drake info
The dragons are used to fly from platform to platform, as the whole instance is more a huge space of floating platforms. And you need the dragons abilities to fight the dragons of the blue dragonflight flying around there.
There are only 3 to choose from:
Green, Red and Bronze, all with 2 unique abilities.
But once you get to the a platform, you hop off your dragon and fight some trash, except for the last boss, for whom you need to ride those dragons. It does not matter what class takes what drake, as long as you are able to use it correctly.

Red (officially called the Ruby Drake) - This is the tank drake. Read your special abilities carefully, because you will be tested on the last boss!

Green (Emerald Drake) - The healing drake. For this, just keep a stack of 5 poisons on your target and make sure to cast your healing spell when needed.

Bronze (I forgot the official name) - The DPS drake. Basically you're spamming ability #1 on targets.

NOTE: All classes get a new special ability when you get to the last boss, I will cover that then.



PART 2: THOSE DAMNED MONSTERS!
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Make sure you have turned in the first quest of course, and get the follow up.

Now we get to a special point, where we kill those damn constructs.

Fly around the platforms until you find a construct. Get off your drake, and make sure your group does the same. Kill it. Repeat until you've killed all 10 constructs.

Now you're headed to the second boss. Varos Cloudstrider. Before engaging combat, make sure you and your party defeat all the mobs around the ring, as Varos can summon them into the ring and kill you.

Varos Cloudstrider
HP: Same as Drakos.
Ablilities:
*Amplify Magic - Self explanatory, he allows you to take more damage from his spells.
*Call Azure Ring Captain - If you've defeated all the mobs around the ring, he shouldn't do this.
*Energize Cores - He hurls bolts of lighting at his cores, which will attack you.

STRATEGY
This mob can be a pain to defeat. You must make sure to stay out of the lightning when he casts Energize Cores. This may mean you have to run around quite a bit. If you wipe, try again. Like I said, he is a difficult boss to down.

When you down him, the original quest giver will show up on the platform. Turn in the quest, get the follow up.



PART 3: THE ANNOYING MAGE-LORD UROM!
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Fly up a bit, to an outer ring where Mage-Lord Urom is. Get off your drake, and get ready for the most annoying fight of your life. Well MY life.
When you attack, he will run away and summon mobs to attack you. Down them, and continue to the next platform.
He will do the same thing, down them, go to next platform.
Finally, after 3 or 4 platforms (not sure) you are able to face him in the center ring.

Mage-Lord Urom
HP: Same as first 2 bosses.
Mana: 61k Normal, 83k Heroic.
Abilities:
*Frostbomb - Urom throws a bomb, hitting its target with the highest aggro which inflicts damage and drops a frost zone on the ground. This zone deals frost damage per second and reduces the movement speed by 35%. Lasts 1 minute.
*Time Bomb - Deals 3.800 to 4.200 arcane damage to a random player, and after 6 seconds, deals zone damage to nearby equal to the health missing of the target afflicted by the debuff.
*Empowered Arcane Explosion - Urom teleports in the center of the oculus and starts to cast a powerful AoE during 8 seconds. This spell inflict 9.000 arcane damage, is not interruptible but only deals damage when in line of sight.

Yes, these abilities are hard to avoid, unless you know how to.

STRATEGY
The tank will kite him around the ring in a circle. He will throw bombs on the ground, like hunter's traps, avoid them. When he teleports to the center of the ring, stand behind one of the pillar/rocks so you are not hit by his deadly blow.
He will do this time and time again, just make sure you know what you're doing and he'll go down.

Once down, the original quest giver appears again. Turn in quest, get followup.



PART 4: LEY-GUARDIAN EREGOS!
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Your drake should have a new ability now.
Fly up to a platform AROUND the center ring. DO NOT get too close to Eregos.
Stay on your drake for this fight. It is by far the hardest and most confusing fight.

Ley-Guardian Eregos
HP: 2997k Normal, 3875k Heroic!!!!
Abilities:
*Arcane Barrage - inflicts damage to a target.
*Arcane Volley - inflicts damage to a target.
*Enrage Assault - Eregos becomes epic badass and kicks your ass.
*Planar Shift - This means run away! Charges will kill you.

Strategy- THIS IS A VERY HARD FIGHT!!!! PAY ATTENTION!!!
Eregos has two repeating phases. During the first phase he'll DPS as normal while spawning little whelps to attack you. The ruby tank's damage ability is like C'thun's Eye Beam - it bounces from target to target and increases in damage each bounce. So the whelps should be naturally taken care of by the tank, since he'll be DPSing the whole time anyway. The tank should also be using his evasion ability whenever it's up. Amber drakes should be stacking charges and DPSing. Since you'll most likely have 2 or 3 amber drakes, it's a good idea to establish a rotation for time stop so you can keep Eregos frozen as long as possible. Occasionally Eregos will enrage. It isn't a particularly nasty enrage, but if you have a time stop free USE IT! You won't immediately wipe if you don't, though. Green drakes should be healing like normal. Also keep up a stack of 5 poisons on him.

Eregos' second phase is when he goes incorporeal. When he does this he'll summon big, pink floating orbs that will follow party members around in the air, and explode for big damage should they get close enough. Just run away from them, and when they disappear, go back to DPSing Eregos. Repeat the process until he's downed.

WOW THAT WAS A LOT TO WRITE!

Congratulations, you've defeated The Oculus. On one of the mini-platforms next to where Eregos was, find a chest. That's your loot from him.
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I WILL ADD LOOT AND MORE DETAILS/PICS LATER! THIS IS JUST A HARD COPY FOR PEOPLE THAT WANT THE STRATEGY AND WALKTHROUGH!

Thanks once again, to Eric. Also thanks to WoWhead for the list of boss abilities. Comments, questions, concerns, errors, please comment!

Thalcorn's Guide to Azjol-Nerub (72-75) (Heroic 80)

Welcome!
Hello and Welcome to Thalcorn's Guide to Azjol-Nerub! This guide will explain to you the whole instance including boss encounters, loot and much more. Azjol-Nerub is intended for players of levels 72-75 or level 80 on heroic difficulty. This is also my first guide so constructive critiscism is welcome but please be nice! Smiling
Table of Contents
  1. Introduction
  2. Raid Slang
  3. Quests
  4. Getting There
  5. The Instance
  6. Krik'thir the Gatewatcher
  7. Hadronox
  8. Anub'arak

Introduction

Azjol-Nerub is a 5 man instance for the 72-75 level range (80 for heroic) that is situated in the nerubian empire, in Dragonblight. The actual instance is mostly under Scourge control, under leadership of Anub'arak, but pockets of Nerubian resistance still stand. The nerubians are fighting a losing war against the Scourge.

The instance consists of 3 bosses which are:

Loot from each boss can be seen at the links above. There are NO HEROIC ONLY bosses in this instance.

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Raid Slang

This section just covers some basic Raid Slang I may use throughout this guide:

  • Mobs = Monsters that you attack in the instance, not a boss.
  • Adds = Additional monsters to help or accompany a boss in a battle.
  • DPS = Damage characters in the group who just concentrate on dealing damage.
  • Hearth/HS = Hearthstone.
  • "Tank and Spank" = Literally what it says, the tank takes the boss and the dps attack it as normal.

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Quests

Azjol-Nerub has a few quests that are to be completed inside the instance:

Heroic Daily:

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Getting There

Azjol-Nerub is located North West of Star's Rest in Dragonblight. Once you are there, there will be several holes in the ground you must jump down into to get the the stone and the instance. Ahn Kahet: The Old Kingdom is also located here and shares the same summoning stone as Azjol-Nerub. Azjol Nerub is the instance next to the stone whereas Ahn Kahet is the instance down some stairs and through a portal in a different room.


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The Instance


First of all like any instance, BUFF UP! Buffs are vital to a group's success. Without buffs, an instance can seem impossible to do. Blizzard made buffs for a reason and this is why!

As soon as you enter the instance, go down the winding path killing a few trash mobs on the way, until you come to a dark room with Krik'thir the Gatewatcher inside at the back.


- - - BOSS ENCOUNTER - - -

Krik'thir the Gatewatcher

    Health: 164,500 Normal, 345,088 Heroic
    Mana: 46,854 Normal, 54,960 Heroic
    Level: 73 or 82 (Elite)

This boss is said to be one of the hardest heroic bosses in the game, from discussion on this WoWhead Page.

The first thing to notice is 3 different groups of mobs in front of Krik'thir. It's not necessary in a specific orrder to attack them though. I, myself, normally pull then group on the left first and kill them. You only have to pull once, because after the first group is dead, the other groups will come in a wave formation.

Marking these groups is crucial to this fight. Here are the mobs that can be found in the groups:

Each group will contain a "miniboss" or Watcher in this case, and 2 adds. The tactic to taking down each group is to always take down or Crowd Control the Anub'ar Skirmisher first because their Backstab ability can hit very hard on DPS and Healers and also their charge can focus on a random party member for 10 seconds, possibly killing your healer and potentially, your entire group. You can then move onto the Watcher in the group and finish the rest off. After each group, there is a short time period until the next group so its a great time to eat and drink before combat continues.

After all groups are down, it's time to take down the main boss, Krik'thir the Gatewatcher.

The fight may begin by the boss running straight at your party or it may need a pull in some cases. Whatever you do, pull and tank the boss to the middle of the room so the group can all stay close and together during the fight.

During the fight, Krik'thir will summon Skittering Swarmers that have low health and can be easily AoE'd or DPSed in a short space of time. These are to be killed to prevent a wipe in the group.

Now and again through the fight, Krik'thir will cast Curse of Fatigue and Mind Flay on a random party member. This slows down movement, attack, and casting speed and also deals shadow damage. It can be removed like any normal curse.

After getting Krik'thir down to 20% Health, he will cast Frenzy on himself, increasing his attack speed by 50% for 12 seconds. All you should do at this point is to full dps him and carry on killing any swarmers. If all goes well, you should down him with ease!

Normal Mode Loot

Heroic Mode Loot

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- - - END OF BOSS ENCOUNTER - - -

After the boss is down, time to re-buff, heal and ressurect party members if needed. Now is a good time to do all of this before moving on to the next part of the instance.

Now Krik'thir is dead, walk through the newly opened door activated by the boss' death which should be situated behind him.

After going through the gate, walk down off the bridge to the right onto the web and and turn around 180 degrees.

This is a main room for another boss encounter coming up. The first thing you should notice is a group of 3 Nerubian mobs.

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- - - BOSS ENCOUNTER - - -
Hadronox

    Health: 154,230 Normal, 431,392 Heroic
    Mana: None
    Level: 74 or 82 (Elite)

Many people describe this boss as "the gauntlet, but with a twist". More discussion on the boss at this WoWHead Page.

Firstly, you should of spotted the group of mobs in front of you. The main mob to take note in this group is the Anub'ar Crusher. When pulling the group, tank this mob and kill the other 2 adds first before killing the crusher.

When this first group is engaged, you should see another two groups appear behind them, identical to the group you just killed. Make sure you kite the first group back a bit away from the other 2 otherwise its a potential wipe. Bad times!

A small observation will be the ability to see Hadronox below the floor fighting other mobs. He will move up to your floor shortly after killing these groups.

After the first group, take out the other 2 groups one at a time until all three are down.

Now begins the timed gauntlet event. Waves of non-elite spiders will spawn from the 3 doors located a little above the main room, and will then head down to fight Hadronox. After clearing the main room, it is recommended to just stay in it, kill the occasional non-elites that will attack you instead of the boss, and wait for Hadronox to make his way to you.

When Hadronox appears in your room, all doors will be webbed shut, preventing more adds spawning. DO NOT ATTACK the boss just yet, otherwise it will be extremely hard to survive it as he heals himself ALOT! Just be patient and wait until all the mobs attacking Hadronox die.

Now all the adds are dead, get the tank to move in if the boss hasnt already come to your group yet.

In short, Hadronox is a "tank and spank" boss. This means just tanking and killing him with your DPS group members until he dies. However he can cast some spells that should be noted.

The spell Acid Clouds is particularly dangerous and could wipe your group if not careful enough. These clouds will be seen in green around the boss so just kite him away from the clouds so your melee do not die too easily from them.

Another spell he casts on a party member is Leech Poison. This spell will need to be de-cursed by a mage or even a shaman's Poison Cleansing Totem, otherwise the boss will heal if someone with the curse dies during the fight, becoming a potential wipe.

The other spells arent too much of a problem if your healer can actually heal the instance, they are jsut damaging spells and can just be healed through with ease.

If you just tank and spank and watch out for the noted abilities, Hadronox will be easy in the final fight stage and you will kill him easily!

Normal Mode Loot

Heroic Mode Loot


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- - - END OF BOSS ENCOUNTER - - -



Congrats! 2 bosses down, just the 1 to go! AFter finishing this boss, head right and follow the path winding to the right until you come to another room on a web and a lot of mobs below you.

Don't be scared of the mobs below, they are extremely easy to kill, its just a great opportunity to have an AoE fest! Smiling

Walk down the web and turn left and you should fall through a hole in the web, taking you down to the level of the mobs. Just AoE the mobs, they will die very quickly!

After the AoE fest is over and the mobs are dead, look ahead to the left and there should be another hole in the ground. Don't worry about hitting anything on the way down, it is set so you will definately not die from this jump.

Jump through the hole and you will end up in a lake at the bottom. Come out of the lake and look for an opening around and meet up with everyone else. Go through the gate and you will see a long walkway, a boss on a platform and also two guard mobs as shown below:



The guard mobs aren't shown there, that picture is just in front of them. But these guard mobs can be a pain sometimes. Concentrate on killing one as fast as you can before moving onto the other. It can be hard to kill them for the first time but you'll get it soon.

After these are down, you can engage the boss when you are ready.

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- - - BOSS ENCOUNTER - - -

Anub'arak





    Health: 205,640 Normal, 512,278 Heroic
    Mana: None
    Level: 69 or 82 (Elite)

Additional discussion relating to this boss can be found on this WoWHead Page.

Ok, this is it, the last boss here! And also a pain when it comes to fighting him the first time and if you group sucks a bit.

Firstly, this fight starts off like a "tank and spank" fight. So, the tank should pick up the boss straight away and DPS should just attack it like normal. This is phase 1.

At 66% of his health, he will enter phase 2. Phase 2 consists of the boss burrowing underground and the group now having to fight incoming mobs/adds as well as dodging his spike attacks

The first adds are 2 small non-elites and are easily killable. But watch out for the larger, elite adds who run down the web walkway to the platform. The tank should pick these up as soon as possible, tank them with all othe radds and dps should attack them and kill them.

Also, while the boss is underground, he will randomly shoot up a pike to the surface and can hit around ~8k on clothies which can seriously damage your group in the fight. You can tell where he will spike up at by looking at the ground for moving brown rocks shaking. As soon as you see this, run away from it. This means melee and ranged because he will attack near any party member at random. You will have around 2 seconds to move in time so be quick!

After a while, phase 2 will end and he will surface again. The fight from here on in is just the same but repeated. The Phase switching intervals are at:

  • 66% Health
  • 50% Health
  • 33% Health

His abilities are as follows:

  • Locust Swarm: Slows movement speed by 40%.
  • Carrion Beetles: Summons 2 Carrion Beetles every second for 4 sec.
  • Pound: Rears up and smashes down on all enemies in front of the caster within 15 yards, dealing 9425 to 10575 damage and pounding them into the floor for 6 sec.
  • Impale: Spikes occasionally shoot up from the ground, knocking players up in the air and causing damage.
  • Burrowing Underground
  • Various Nerubian Assassin, Darter, and Guardian mobs spawn and must be killed. Mobs spawn faster as the fight progresses.

On heroic mode, he will summon twice as many elite adds than normal mode so watch out for more adds. Also, non-tanks really need to be careful of the Impale spell because it really can kill you if your healer is busty with other people and you get hit by it. Tanks are protected a bit more for obvious reasons such as more HP and armor.

Sticking to these tactics, it is possible to down him in an easy fashion. It may not be first time but you will get him over time.

Normal Mode Loot

Heroic Mode Loot


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- - - END OF BOSS ENCOUNTER - - -



Congratulations, you have finished Azjol-Nerub! You can now either port out of here from a mage, hearthstone or just follow the path from the platform for a quick exit as you cannot get back the way you came!

As said at the start, constructive critiscism will be allowed as this is my first guide but please do not be rude or abusive towards this guide or myself! I tried my hardest to get this right as it stands at the moment and a lot of time and effort has gone into it like all guides on wow-pro.com!

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I hope you enjoyed this guide!

Good Luck!



Thalcorn, Server Anachronos EU
Malcorn - Level 80 Draenei Death Knight (Tank)
Thalcorn - Level 72 Human Paladin (DPS)

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