Okay, after the first three bosses, which we have to do in order, we now have access to five bosses and we can choose what order to do them in. We will be tackling Spellblade Aluriel, as she offers a positioning and mechanics challenge, which we tend to be good at.
Overview: Aluriel is a single phase encounter that alternates between her three elemental masteries: Fire, Frost, and Arcane. These act as pseudo-phases as each element will alter her abilities. She's got four abilities: Mark, Replicate, Detonate, and Animate, and the phase she's in will change how these abilities work.
But basically, Mark is a debuff, Replicate marks additional players with the debuff, Detonate clears the debuff and leaves a void zone or other ground effect, and Animate summons an enchanted add which has varying abilities.
ABILITIES
Anti-tank attack (Annihilate): barrage of attacks on the tank plus a debuff. The damage is shared by a secondary target.
FROST PHASE
Mark of Frost: Debuff on random players that does an 8-yard AoE and stacks Frostbitten on the target. If two players with Mark of Frost come into contact with each other, it causes a raid-wide explosion for moderate damage and a transfer of Mark of Frost to the closest targets. The debuff prefers players who are not already Frostbitten.
Replicate: Mark of Frost: Causes additional targets to be branded by Mark of Frost.
Detonate: Mark of Frost: Clears all current Marks of Frost debuffs and leaves a void zone (Pool of Frost) at their location which does damage and a slow if you step in it.
Animate: Mark of Frost: Spawns adds (Icy Enchantments) from the void zones, [Heroic only -- they channel Frozen Tempest, which creates a dome of frost that damages anyone in the dome and pushes them back. Anyone who crosses the edge of the dome (in either direction) will be frozen in a block of ice that must be destroyed to free the player.]
FIRE PHASE
Searing Brand: Debuff on random players. A phantom line will appear between the boss and the marked players, and after a moment the boss will send out fiery phantoms that deal moderate damage and a knockback to everyone in that line including the marked player.
Replicate: Searing Brand: Causes additional targets to be branded with Searing Brand.
Detonate: Searing Brand: clears all Searing Brand debuffs and leaves a patch of Burning Ground at their location. If Burning Ground void zones touch, they will empower the subsequent adds.
Animate: Searing Brand: Spawns Fiery enchantments from the void zones. [Heroic only: These cast Pyroblast, a high damage nuke, which can be interrupted. They'll also buff each other with Bound in Flame.]
ARCANE PHASE
Arcane Orbs: spawn on several players, which pulse an 8 yard AoE.
Replicate: Arcane Orb: causes more Arcane Orbs to spawn.
Detonate: Arcane Orb: The orbs target a random player's location and fly into the air. Players will have a moment to escape the impact zone. The orbs will leave an Arcane Fog at this spot.
Animate: Arcane Orb: Spawns Arcane enchantements from the Arcane Fog zones. [Heroic only: These channel Armageddon, which inflict high raid-wide damage if not interrupted.]
STRATEGY
Start the fight on the staircase in the courtyard to give the raid the most space possible. Spellblade Aluriel will patrol around the square, so wait for her to come to us before engaging her.
The tanks should position Aluriel midway up the stairs and face her away from the raid. Both tanks should be ready for the anti-tank attack, Annihilate. Tanks have three seconds to face her away and stack together. At the end of these 3 seconds she'll begin a 4-second cast which does a lot of damage split between the two tanks.
FROST
Aluriel starts in the Frost phase. The raid should spread loosely so the players with Mark of Frost don't blow each other up. She'll Mark two players. We'll have a raid marker set up outside the raid group -- stand on either side of this. 15 seconds later she'll cast another Mark. We'll have a second set of markers set up for them.
Thirty seconds later, she'll detonate, clear the marks, and drop void zones where those players are. She'll animate the void zones which will spawn the icy enchantments. The raid should AoE down the enchantments.
The marked players will be gaining stacks of Frostbitten. When these stacks get too high, they will need to run together to detonate the mark, which will pass it to the nearest non-Frostbitten allies. The number of stacks to swap at is flexible. A good starting point is 8-9 stacks.
We'll have a list of players that the marks should be passed to to avoid confusion. Highly mobile classes, like hunters and mages, are good choices, but we will need to be flexible of course. When it's time to swap, these players should be closest to the Marked players to pick up the debuff.
--> Tanks stack on each other and face the boss away. Marked players run to a designated spot and stand apart, then wait till about 8-9 stacks, then run together to give the debuff to two different designated players.
FIRE
Aluriel will enter the fire phase a few moments after casting Animate: Mark of Frost. The ranged should fan out around the boss. She'll make people with Searing Brand which creates a line between her and the marked players. Stay away from the line.
Her Animate will raise Fiery Enchantment. Kill the adds as quickly as possible.
--> Spread 8 yards apart for the Searing Brand line. Stay out of the line. Don't overlap void zones. Kill the adds fast.
ARCANE
She'll summon Arcane orbs on players, stay out of the pulsing AoE. When she detonates them they will fly up in the air. Get away from the impact zones: damage is inversely proportional to distance from the impact.
Stack up right BEFORE detonation and move as a group to bait the orbs to land close together as this will clump up the adds. Use healing cooldowns.
Arcane Enchantments will spawn from the impact points.
--> Stay away from players with orbs, but stack up right before the boss casts detonation, then get out of the impending impact zones. Kill the adds.
Edited to remove heroic-only abilities.
Overview: Aluriel is a single phase encounter that alternates between her three elemental masteries: Fire, Frost, and Arcane. These act as pseudo-phases as each element will alter her abilities. She's got four abilities: Mark, Replicate, Detonate, and Animate, and the phase she's in will change how these abilities work.
But basically, Mark is a debuff, Replicate marks additional players with the debuff, Detonate clears the debuff and leaves a void zone or other ground effect, and Animate summons an enchanted add which has varying abilities.
ABILITIES
Anti-tank attack (Annihilate): barrage of attacks on the tank plus a debuff. The damage is shared by a secondary target.
FROST PHASE
Mark of Frost: Debuff on random players that does an 8-yard AoE and stacks Frostbitten on the target. If two players with Mark of Frost come into contact with each other, it causes a raid-wide explosion for moderate damage and a transfer of Mark of Frost to the closest targets. The debuff prefers players who are not already Frostbitten.
Replicate: Mark of Frost: Causes additional targets to be branded by Mark of Frost.
Detonate: Mark of Frost: Clears all current Marks of Frost debuffs and leaves a void zone (Pool of Frost) at their location which does damage and a slow if you step in it.
Animate: Mark of Frost: Spawns adds (Icy Enchantments) from the void zones, [Heroic only -- they channel Frozen Tempest, which creates a dome of frost that damages anyone in the dome and pushes them back. Anyone who crosses the edge of the dome (in either direction) will be frozen in a block of ice that must be destroyed to free the player.]
FIRE PHASE
Searing Brand: Debuff on random players. A phantom line will appear between the boss and the marked players, and after a moment the boss will send out fiery phantoms that deal moderate damage and a knockback to everyone in that line including the marked player.
Replicate: Searing Brand: Causes additional targets to be branded with Searing Brand.
Detonate: Searing Brand: clears all Searing Brand debuffs and leaves a patch of Burning Ground at their location. If Burning Ground void zones touch, they will empower the subsequent adds.
Animate: Searing Brand: Spawns Fiery enchantments from the void zones. [Heroic only: These cast Pyroblast, a high damage nuke, which can be interrupted. They'll also buff each other with Bound in Flame.]
ARCANE PHASE
Arcane Orbs: spawn on several players, which pulse an 8 yard AoE.
Replicate: Arcane Orb: causes more Arcane Orbs to spawn.
Detonate: Arcane Orb: The orbs target a random player's location and fly into the air. Players will have a moment to escape the impact zone. The orbs will leave an Arcane Fog at this spot.
Animate: Arcane Orb: Spawns Arcane enchantements from the Arcane Fog zones. [Heroic only: These channel Armageddon, which inflict high raid-wide damage if not interrupted.]
STRATEGY
Start the fight on the staircase in the courtyard to give the raid the most space possible. Spellblade Aluriel will patrol around the square, so wait for her to come to us before engaging her.
The tanks should position Aluriel midway up the stairs and face her away from the raid. Both tanks should be ready for the anti-tank attack, Annihilate. Tanks have three seconds to face her away and stack together. At the end of these 3 seconds she'll begin a 4-second cast which does a lot of damage split between the two tanks.
FROST
Aluriel starts in the Frost phase. The raid should spread loosely so the players with Mark of Frost don't blow each other up. She'll Mark two players. We'll have a raid marker set up outside the raid group -- stand on either side of this. 15 seconds later she'll cast another Mark. We'll have a second set of markers set up for them.
Thirty seconds later, she'll detonate, clear the marks, and drop void zones where those players are. She'll animate the void zones which will spawn the icy enchantments. The raid should AoE down the enchantments.
The marked players will be gaining stacks of Frostbitten. When these stacks get too high, they will need to run together to detonate the mark, which will pass it to the nearest non-Frostbitten allies. The number of stacks to swap at is flexible. A good starting point is 8-9 stacks.
We'll have a list of players that the marks should be passed to to avoid confusion. Highly mobile classes, like hunters and mages, are good choices, but we will need to be flexible of course. When it's time to swap, these players should be closest to the Marked players to pick up the debuff.
--> Tanks stack on each other and face the boss away. Marked players run to a designated spot and stand apart, then wait till about 8-9 stacks, then run together to give the debuff to two different designated players.
FIRE
Aluriel will enter the fire phase a few moments after casting Animate: Mark of Frost. The ranged should fan out around the boss. She'll make people with Searing Brand which creates a line between her and the marked players. Stay away from the line.
Her Animate will raise Fiery Enchantment. Kill the adds as quickly as possible.
--> Spread 8 yards apart for the Searing Brand line. Stay out of the line. Don't overlap void zones. Kill the adds fast.
ARCANE
She'll summon Arcane orbs on players, stay out of the pulsing AoE. When she detonates them they will fly up in the air. Get away from the impact zones: damage is inversely proportional to distance from the impact.
Stack up right BEFORE detonation and move as a group to bait the orbs to land close together as this will clump up the adds. Use healing cooldowns.
Arcane Enchantments will spawn from the impact points.
--> Stay away from players with orbs, but stack up right before the boss casts detonation, then get out of the impending impact zones. Kill the adds.
Edited to remove heroic-only abilities.
