07-18-2013, 10:15 AM
Council of Elders nutshell guide
Okay, we've all seen this in LFR. Four bosses, with one being "empowered" at a time. When a boss is empowered, it will gain a new offensive ability. It will also eventually do high raid-wide damage -- it acquires a dark energy bar that slowly fills; when full, the boss will start casting casting Dark Power which will deal increasing raid-wide damage every second.
A troll gets broken out of empowerment by receiving 25% of its total health in damage. When that happens, another one gets empowered. The old one will gain a 10% damage buff.
If a troll dies while empowered, no biggie, the empowerment jumps to another troll. If a troll dies while NOT empowered, then the currently empowered troll will stay empowered until it dies (25% damage is no longer enough). This can be a problem if it's at high health.
TROLL ABILITIES
1) Frost Kind Malakk
Regular abilities:
* Frigid Assault: Frost damage + debuff to tank. When the debuff reaches 15 stacks it sill stun the tank for 15 seconds, necessitating a TANK SWAP.
* Biting cold: random frost attack on a player + damage to everyone within 4 yards for 30 seconds.
Empowered ability:
* Biting cold becomes Frostbite: random frost attack that does damage AND applies 5 stacks of frostbite. This does damage to everyone within 4 yards according to the number of stacks. Stacks can be removed in 10-man by having people close by -- every player within 4 yards will cause the afflicted player to lose 2 stacks of the debuff. The debuff can't be reduced below 1 stack.
2) Kazra'jin
Regular abilities:
* Reckless Charge: he charges a player, damaging everyone in his path and knocking back everyone still at the target location.
Empowered abilities:
* Overload: after each Reckless Charge he'll cast overload, which will stun him for 20 seconds during which time he will REFLECT 50% of the damage he takes as nature damage.
3) Sul the Sandcrawler
Regular abilities:
* Sand Bolt: random Nature attack on a player and to all players within 5 yards. Ability can and should be interrupted
* Quicksand: creates a pool of sand at a random player's location. Does damage to players standing in it and applies a debuff called Ensnared, which reduces movement speed. At 5 stacks, player becomes Entrapped for 30 seconds.
Empowered abilities:
* Sandstorm: Every 40 seconds he'll cast sandstorm (twice per empowerment). This transforms every Quicksand into a Living Sand, a 92 elite add, which attacks players. When it dies it leaves behind a Quicksand pool.
4) High Priestess Mar'li
Regular abilities:
* Wrath of the Loa: random player Holy attack. Can and should be interrupted.
* Blessed Loa Spirit: Summons a Blessed Loa Spirit at her location, which runs towards the troll with lowest health. If it reaches him it will heal him for 10% of max health. If it's alive after 20 seconds it will jump straight to the target and heal him for 10%. It must be slowed, rooted, and killed.
Empowered abilities:
* Empowered wrath of the Loa: random player attack that does Shadow instead of Holy damage.
* Shadowed Loa Spirit: fixates on a random player. If it comes within 6 yards of that player that player will die. If the spirit is alive after 20 seconds it will jump to the targeted player and kill them. The spirit must be be slowed, rooted and killed.
STRATEGY
Main concerns
Positioning:
* Stay spread out 7 yards to reduce damage from Biting Cold and Sand Bolt. Melee can't spread as much so they will take more damage.
* Get out of the way of Kazra'jin's Reckless Charge.
* When Malakk is empowered, make sure 2 players are close to the player afflicted with Frostbite.
* Get away from Marli when she casts Shadowed Loa Spirit (except for the tank, who is never targeted by this).
Interrupting:
* Interrupt Sand Bolt, Wrath of the Loa (normal and empowered)
Dealing with the Living Sands:
* Quicksands will become more and more numerous as long as Sul is up, and when Sul casts Sandstorm they all become adds. These need to be picked up quickly by one of the tanks and AoE'd down -- that's a top priority. Get out of the pools as they die -- melee get out.
Tanking concerns:
* One tank will take High Priestess Mar'li and the other will take Sul the Sandcrawler. They will also need to alternate tanking Frost Kind Malakk so they never reach 15 stacks of his Frigid Assault debuff.
* When the Living Sands appear, the tank that is NOT currently tanking Malakk should pick them up.
Healing concerns:
* When a tank is tanking Malakk, expect higher tank damage.
* Expect lots of damage on the tank taking the Living Sands.
* If a boss reaches 100 dark energy while empowered, they will start casting dark power every second until empowerment is removed. Damage will increase by 10% after each cast -- raid-wide damage can quickly get out of control.
* When Kazra'jin is empowered, he'll cast Overload after each Reckless Charge. This will cause a 50% damage reflect onto players.
DPS concerns:
* Kill order: Blessed and Shadowed Loa Spirits > Living Sands > Empowered Boss.
* A note on Empowered bosses: bosses should be broken out before they reach 100 energy, but this is not a desperate, top priority situation. In particular, Kazra'jin's empowerment does a damage reflect so he can't be burned down during that. So we can spend some time damaging other bosses while one is empowered. The exception is Sul, whom we should break out quickly, before he can cast a second sandstorm.
--> burn Sul down while he's empowered.
--> Try killing Kazra'jin and Sul first. This will reduce the #times they get empowered, reducing the Overloads (damage reflect) and Sandstorms (sand adds) that we'll have to deal with.
--> Refrain from damaging Frost Kink Malakk. This means he'll never be the lowest-health boss, which means that the Blessed Loa Spirit will never heal him -- which can be a problem if Marli and Malakk are being tanked by the same tank.
--> Second strategy: Just burn Sul first. To do this, tank Sul next to the Malakk or Mar'li if they are empowered, focus on Sul, but try to break the empowerment through Cleaves and AoEs. Use bloodlust.
Okay, we've all seen this in LFR. Four bosses, with one being "empowered" at a time. When a boss is empowered, it will gain a new offensive ability. It will also eventually do high raid-wide damage -- it acquires a dark energy bar that slowly fills; when full, the boss will start casting casting Dark Power which will deal increasing raid-wide damage every second.
A troll gets broken out of empowerment by receiving 25% of its total health in damage. When that happens, another one gets empowered. The old one will gain a 10% damage buff.
If a troll dies while empowered, no biggie, the empowerment jumps to another troll. If a troll dies while NOT empowered, then the currently empowered troll will stay empowered until it dies (25% damage is no longer enough). This can be a problem if it's at high health.
TROLL ABILITIES
1) Frost Kind Malakk
Regular abilities:
* Frigid Assault: Frost damage + debuff to tank. When the debuff reaches 15 stacks it sill stun the tank for 15 seconds, necessitating a TANK SWAP.
* Biting cold: random frost attack on a player + damage to everyone within 4 yards for 30 seconds.
Empowered ability:
* Biting cold becomes Frostbite: random frost attack that does damage AND applies 5 stacks of frostbite. This does damage to everyone within 4 yards according to the number of stacks. Stacks can be removed in 10-man by having people close by -- every player within 4 yards will cause the afflicted player to lose 2 stacks of the debuff. The debuff can't be reduced below 1 stack.
2) Kazra'jin
Regular abilities:
* Reckless Charge: he charges a player, damaging everyone in his path and knocking back everyone still at the target location.
Empowered abilities:
* Overload: after each Reckless Charge he'll cast overload, which will stun him for 20 seconds during which time he will REFLECT 50% of the damage he takes as nature damage.
3) Sul the Sandcrawler
Regular abilities:
* Sand Bolt: random Nature attack on a player and to all players within 5 yards. Ability can and should be interrupted
* Quicksand: creates a pool of sand at a random player's location. Does damage to players standing in it and applies a debuff called Ensnared, which reduces movement speed. At 5 stacks, player becomes Entrapped for 30 seconds.
Empowered abilities:
* Sandstorm: Every 40 seconds he'll cast sandstorm (twice per empowerment). This transforms every Quicksand into a Living Sand, a 92 elite add, which attacks players. When it dies it leaves behind a Quicksand pool.
4) High Priestess Mar'li
Regular abilities:
* Wrath of the Loa: random player Holy attack. Can and should be interrupted.
* Blessed Loa Spirit: Summons a Blessed Loa Spirit at her location, which runs towards the troll with lowest health. If it reaches him it will heal him for 10% of max health. If it's alive after 20 seconds it will jump straight to the target and heal him for 10%. It must be slowed, rooted, and killed.
Empowered abilities:
* Empowered wrath of the Loa: random player attack that does Shadow instead of Holy damage.
* Shadowed Loa Spirit: fixates on a random player. If it comes within 6 yards of that player that player will die. If the spirit is alive after 20 seconds it will jump to the targeted player and kill them. The spirit must be be slowed, rooted and killed.
STRATEGY
Main concerns
Positioning:
* Stay spread out 7 yards to reduce damage from Biting Cold and Sand Bolt. Melee can't spread as much so they will take more damage.
* Get out of the way of Kazra'jin's Reckless Charge.
* When Malakk is empowered, make sure 2 players are close to the player afflicted with Frostbite.
* Get away from Marli when she casts Shadowed Loa Spirit (except for the tank, who is never targeted by this).
Interrupting:
* Interrupt Sand Bolt, Wrath of the Loa (normal and empowered)
Dealing with the Living Sands:
* Quicksands will become more and more numerous as long as Sul is up, and when Sul casts Sandstorm they all become adds. These need to be picked up quickly by one of the tanks and AoE'd down -- that's a top priority. Get out of the pools as they die -- melee get out.
Tanking concerns:
* One tank will take High Priestess Mar'li and the other will take Sul the Sandcrawler. They will also need to alternate tanking Frost Kind Malakk so they never reach 15 stacks of his Frigid Assault debuff.
* When the Living Sands appear, the tank that is NOT currently tanking Malakk should pick them up.
Healing concerns:
* When a tank is tanking Malakk, expect higher tank damage.
* Expect lots of damage on the tank taking the Living Sands.
* If a boss reaches 100 dark energy while empowered, they will start casting dark power every second until empowerment is removed. Damage will increase by 10% after each cast -- raid-wide damage can quickly get out of control.
* When Kazra'jin is empowered, he'll cast Overload after each Reckless Charge. This will cause a 50% damage reflect onto players.
DPS concerns:
* Kill order: Blessed and Shadowed Loa Spirits > Living Sands > Empowered Boss.
* A note on Empowered bosses: bosses should be broken out before they reach 100 energy, but this is not a desperate, top priority situation. In particular, Kazra'jin's empowerment does a damage reflect so he can't be burned down during that. So we can spend some time damaging other bosses while one is empowered. The exception is Sul, whom we should break out quickly, before he can cast a second sandstorm.
--> burn Sul down while he's empowered.
--> Try killing Kazra'jin and Sul first. This will reduce the #times they get empowered, reducing the Overloads (damage reflect) and Sandstorms (sand adds) that we'll have to deal with.
--> Refrain from damaging Frost Kink Malakk. This means he'll never be the lowest-health boss, which means that the Blessed Loa Spirit will never heal him -- which can be a problem if Marli and Malakk are being tanked by the same tank.
--> Second strategy: Just burn Sul first. To do this, tank Sul next to the Malakk or Mar'li if they are empowered, focus on Sul, but try to break the empowerment through Cleaves and AoEs. Use bloodlust.