09-05-2013, 12:08 PM
Megaera is a 2-tank fight with NO hard or soft enrage timer. However, the fight does get harder toward the end, so mana constraints may act as a soft enrage.
Megaera is the hydra boss. As in LFR, we need to kill 7 heads in order to kill her. As in LFR, two heads will be active near the platform at any one time. Whenever a head is killed, two more heads of that color will pop up at the back of the cave -- these can't be damaged, but will continue damaging the raid. These heads don't go away -- their number continues to increase over the course of the raid.
BACK OF THE CAVE ABILITIES AND MECHANICS
Flaming Head: When at the back of the cave, the flaming heads cast Cinders. This does damage to a random player, and creates a fiery void zone when it's dispelled. The more flaming heads are up at the back of the cave, the more people get Cinders.
Frozen Head: These cast Torrent of Ice at a random raid member. This is a beam of ice that chases the player for 8 seconds, dealing frost damage at the point of impact and leaving behind icy void zones called Icy Ground. Standing in these does damage and slows your movement speed. The more Frozen Heads are up at the back of the cafe, the more people get targeted by Torrent of Ice.
Venomous Head: These cast Acid Raid. This shoots a ball of acid at the location of a random raid member which lands a few seconds later. When it lands it deals a lot of Nature damage to all raid members, but damage is lower the farther you are from the impact point. The more Venomous Heads are up at the back of the cave, the more players get targeted by Acid Rain.
Note: Interaction between Cinders and Torrent of Ice. If a player affected by the Cinders debuff RUNS OVER the icy ground created by the Frozen Head's torrent of ice, these icy void zones are dispelled. Conversely, the fiery void zone created by dispelling Cinders can be removed by making the beam of ice from Torrent of Ice touch it.
NEAR THE PLATFORM ABILITIES AND MECHANICS
Over the course of the fight, the heads near the platform will stack damage-increasing buffs on themselves:
* Hydra Frenzy. When a head is killed by the raid the remaining head gets a stack of Hydra Frenzy, which increases attack speed by 20% per stack. The only way to remove this buff is to kill it. This buff keeps you from repeatedly avoiding killing one of the heads (which we actually do in LFR, by never killing the blue head. Not possible in the 10-man).
* Elemental Blood of Megaera (Fire, Frost or Nature) is a non-removable buff. When a head respawns it gains a stack of Elemental Blood, which permantly increases the magic damage done by ALL the heads of that type (so both the one near the platform and the heads at the back of the cave) by 10% per stack. This buff makes the fight progressively harder.
ABILITIES
Each head at the front of the platform has a melee attack, a specific breath attack, and a specific stacking debuff.
* The breath attack is cast in a cone in front of the head. It casts debuff on the tank.
* The stacking debuffs require a TANK SWITCH.
--> The flaming head casts Ignite Flesh. This does fire damage and stacks a fire damage DoT on affected players.
--> The frozen head casts Arctic Freeze. This does frost damage and stacks a debuff that freezes affected players at 5 stacks.
--> The venomous head casts Rot Armor. This does nature damage and stacks a debuff that causes affected players to take 10% increased damage from ALL sources per stack.
Note: if nobody is in melee range the head will spam Megaera's Rage which will wipe the raid.
When a head is killed and two heads respawn, they go on a RAMPAGE (which does Fire, Frost, or Nature damage). During Rampage they do not melee and do NOT need to be tanked. The entire raid will take magic damage every second from EACH of the two heads. The damage inflicted is increased by 25% for each additional head of that type that is up at the back of the cave (so, if you have four flaming heads up at the back, Rampage damage will be increased by 100%). This leads to more and more damage from Rampage over the course of the fight.
STRATEGY
* The tanks will each pick up a head and will point it away from the raid.
* We will start by DPSing the Frozen Head
* After a head dies, we will stack up to survive Rampage.
* After Rampage we'll spread out again, and the tanks will each pick up a head. Tanks will need to perform a tank switch between these two heads (more on this below)
* DPS one of the remaining heads.
* Handle the abilities cast by the heads at the back of the cave:
o Players with Cinders must run over Icy Ground void zones if possible then be dispelled in a SAFE location away from the raid and out of the way.
o Players chased by Torrent of Ice must run from the beam of ice. They must not kite it through the raid. If possible, they should kite it over any fiery void zones to extinguish them.
o Everyone should move away from the impact location of Acid Rain to minimize damage taken. 15-20 yards is enough.
* Continue DPSing the heads one at a time.
TANKING CONCERNS
* Tanks should stack with the raid during Rampage. The heads to not need to be tanked at this time.
* Shortly before Rampage ends the two tanks should each go to a head to get ready to tank. As soon as Rampage ends the heads will be ready to melee and cast their frontal cone breath attacks.
* The two tanks will need to SWITCH the heads they are tanking so that the debuffs do not stack too much. Option 1: Tanks switch after TWO stacks of the debuffs. If tanks do this they must use any abilities they can to cover the distance quickly (Roll, Heroic Leap). Option 2: Tanks switch after one head is dead, during the subsequent Rampage. If tanks do this they should use defensive cooldowns when taking the third breath. The head we're DPSing should be dead before a 4th breath occurs.
DEALING WITH BACK OF THE CAVE ABILITIES
Cinders: If you have Cinders, run over any existing Icy Ground void zones, then move to a safe location to be dispelled. Note that the damage of the Cinders DoT is really high, so healers might be forced to dispel affected players early to prevent them from dying. If you are affected by Cinders, be mindful of your own health to estimate how quickly you need to get to a quick spot for dispel.
Torrent of Ice: Be quick to run from the Torrent of Ice, since the damage inflicted at impact is quite high. Never run over other players or through the raid. If there are any fiery void zones in bad spots, kite the beam over them to extinguish them.
Acid Rain: The entire raid must move from the impact location of Acid Rain. Some classes can stay if they use magic damage-reducing abilities like Anti-Magic Shell or Cloak of Shadows.
DPS PRIORITY
This makes little difference. But note that the head that's alive when the other one is killed will gain a stack of Hydra Frenzy. So you must maintain a balance so that no head gets to have no more than TWO stacks of Hydra Frenzy.
HEALING CONCERNS
This is a healing-intensive fight. Damage starts out low, but it increases as the fight goes on. The periods of highest damage are during Rampage. At these times the raid should stack up and use healing and defensive cooldowns.
Raid members may need to move out of the healing group if they're targeted by Cinders or Torrent of Ice, and the entire raid may need to move to avoid Acid Rain.
BLOODLUST
Should be used later in the fight. E.g. during the last Rampage, because damage here is very intense.
THE KEY TO THE FIGHT
Is learning how to handle the abilities the heads cast from the back of the cave: Cinders, Acid Rain, and Torrent of Ice. Healers must become accustomed to the damage patterns and use their cooldowns accordingly.
Megaera is the hydra boss. As in LFR, we need to kill 7 heads in order to kill her. As in LFR, two heads will be active near the platform at any one time. Whenever a head is killed, two more heads of that color will pop up at the back of the cave -- these can't be damaged, but will continue damaging the raid. These heads don't go away -- their number continues to increase over the course of the raid.
BACK OF THE CAVE ABILITIES AND MECHANICS
Flaming Head: When at the back of the cave, the flaming heads cast Cinders. This does damage to a random player, and creates a fiery void zone when it's dispelled. The more flaming heads are up at the back of the cave, the more people get Cinders.
Frozen Head: These cast Torrent of Ice at a random raid member. This is a beam of ice that chases the player for 8 seconds, dealing frost damage at the point of impact and leaving behind icy void zones called Icy Ground. Standing in these does damage and slows your movement speed. The more Frozen Heads are up at the back of the cafe, the more people get targeted by Torrent of Ice.
Venomous Head: These cast Acid Raid. This shoots a ball of acid at the location of a random raid member which lands a few seconds later. When it lands it deals a lot of Nature damage to all raid members, but damage is lower the farther you are from the impact point. The more Venomous Heads are up at the back of the cave, the more players get targeted by Acid Rain.
Note: Interaction between Cinders and Torrent of Ice. If a player affected by the Cinders debuff RUNS OVER the icy ground created by the Frozen Head's torrent of ice, these icy void zones are dispelled. Conversely, the fiery void zone created by dispelling Cinders can be removed by making the beam of ice from Torrent of Ice touch it.
NEAR THE PLATFORM ABILITIES AND MECHANICS
Over the course of the fight, the heads near the platform will stack damage-increasing buffs on themselves:
* Hydra Frenzy. When a head is killed by the raid the remaining head gets a stack of Hydra Frenzy, which increases attack speed by 20% per stack. The only way to remove this buff is to kill it. This buff keeps you from repeatedly avoiding killing one of the heads (which we actually do in LFR, by never killing the blue head. Not possible in the 10-man).
* Elemental Blood of Megaera (Fire, Frost or Nature) is a non-removable buff. When a head respawns it gains a stack of Elemental Blood, which permantly increases the magic damage done by ALL the heads of that type (so both the one near the platform and the heads at the back of the cave) by 10% per stack. This buff makes the fight progressively harder.
ABILITIES
Each head at the front of the platform has a melee attack, a specific breath attack, and a specific stacking debuff.
* The breath attack is cast in a cone in front of the head. It casts debuff on the tank.
* The stacking debuffs require a TANK SWITCH.
--> The flaming head casts Ignite Flesh. This does fire damage and stacks a fire damage DoT on affected players.
--> The frozen head casts Arctic Freeze. This does frost damage and stacks a debuff that freezes affected players at 5 stacks.
--> The venomous head casts Rot Armor. This does nature damage and stacks a debuff that causes affected players to take 10% increased damage from ALL sources per stack.
Note: if nobody is in melee range the head will spam Megaera's Rage which will wipe the raid.
When a head is killed and two heads respawn, they go on a RAMPAGE (which does Fire, Frost, or Nature damage). During Rampage they do not melee and do NOT need to be tanked. The entire raid will take magic damage every second from EACH of the two heads. The damage inflicted is increased by 25% for each additional head of that type that is up at the back of the cave (so, if you have four flaming heads up at the back, Rampage damage will be increased by 100%). This leads to more and more damage from Rampage over the course of the fight.
STRATEGY
* The tanks will each pick up a head and will point it away from the raid.
* We will start by DPSing the Frozen Head
* After a head dies, we will stack up to survive Rampage.
* After Rampage we'll spread out again, and the tanks will each pick up a head. Tanks will need to perform a tank switch between these two heads (more on this below)
* DPS one of the remaining heads.
* Handle the abilities cast by the heads at the back of the cave:
o Players with Cinders must run over Icy Ground void zones if possible then be dispelled in a SAFE location away from the raid and out of the way.
o Players chased by Torrent of Ice must run from the beam of ice. They must not kite it through the raid. If possible, they should kite it over any fiery void zones to extinguish them.
o Everyone should move away from the impact location of Acid Rain to minimize damage taken. 15-20 yards is enough.
* Continue DPSing the heads one at a time.
TANKING CONCERNS
* Tanks should stack with the raid during Rampage. The heads to not need to be tanked at this time.
* Shortly before Rampage ends the two tanks should each go to a head to get ready to tank. As soon as Rampage ends the heads will be ready to melee and cast their frontal cone breath attacks.
* The two tanks will need to SWITCH the heads they are tanking so that the debuffs do not stack too much. Option 1: Tanks switch after TWO stacks of the debuffs. If tanks do this they must use any abilities they can to cover the distance quickly (Roll, Heroic Leap). Option 2: Tanks switch after one head is dead, during the subsequent Rampage. If tanks do this they should use defensive cooldowns when taking the third breath. The head we're DPSing should be dead before a 4th breath occurs.
DEALING WITH BACK OF THE CAVE ABILITIES
Cinders: If you have Cinders, run over any existing Icy Ground void zones, then move to a safe location to be dispelled. Note that the damage of the Cinders DoT is really high, so healers might be forced to dispel affected players early to prevent them from dying. If you are affected by Cinders, be mindful of your own health to estimate how quickly you need to get to a quick spot for dispel.
Torrent of Ice: Be quick to run from the Torrent of Ice, since the damage inflicted at impact is quite high. Never run over other players or through the raid. If there are any fiery void zones in bad spots, kite the beam over them to extinguish them.
Acid Rain: The entire raid must move from the impact location of Acid Rain. Some classes can stay if they use magic damage-reducing abilities like Anti-Magic Shell or Cloak of Shadows.
DPS PRIORITY
This makes little difference. But note that the head that's alive when the other one is killed will gain a stack of Hydra Frenzy. So you must maintain a balance so that no head gets to have no more than TWO stacks of Hydra Frenzy.
HEALING CONCERNS
This is a healing-intensive fight. Damage starts out low, but it increases as the fight goes on. The periods of highest damage are during Rampage. At these times the raid should stack up and use healing and defensive cooldowns.
Raid members may need to move out of the healing group if they're targeted by Cinders or Torrent of Ice, and the entire raid may need to move to avoid Acid Rain.
BLOODLUST
Should be used later in the fight. E.g. during the last Rampage, because damage here is very intense.
THE KEY TO THE FIGHT
Is learning how to handle the abilities the heads cast from the back of the cave: Cinders, Acid Rain, and Torrent of Ice. Healers must become accustomed to the damage patterns and use their cooldowns accordingly.