The Ironsong Tribe

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A SHAMAN’S GUIDE TO ONYXIA
So you are headed to Onyxia and don’t want to pee in your pants, or skirt infront of all of your guildmates… have no fear Akora’s Shaman’s guide to Onyxia is here.

I have braved the scorching flames, the deadly claws, the powerful tail swipe and the fury of the whelpling caves, and have died more times than I have lived, but alas Akora has magics that allow her to share her Onyxia related advice for Shamans and all Ironsongers.

Onyxia is a very different instance from most. It consists of four single pulls of Dragonkin, Then into Onyxia’s lair! This instance can be completed in under an hour by an experienced and prepared group. (note: Ironsong results may vary until we learn the fight – a learning curve must be experienced, and each participant must fully understand his/her role in the fight before we can be victorious)

BE A BOY SCOUT AND COME PREPARED
MacGyver wouldn’t leave home with out his pocket knife and duct tape, and like wise, you will need your Drakesfire Amulet and some mana potions. I would also recommend being on Ironsong Teamspeak and having the CT Raid Assist mod. The CT Raid Assist mod does many helpful things like announce the start of each phase, lets you heal anyone in the raid, etc. You should come with of 5-10 major mana potions, and a stack of 20 heavy runecloth bandages. Three to five greater fire resistance potions taken before the fight (not all at once silly!) would also be beneficial. Additionally 3-5 food that buffs your Intellect, Mana Regeration, Spirit & Stamina is also smart to eat before the fight.

Please see this post to learn about getting your Drakesfire Amulet otherwise known as your key to large repair bills, I mean your Key to Onyxia. Ironsong is having scheduled runs to help guildmates complete the Onyxia Key Quest.
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If you have nice fire resistant gear that would be beneficial but don’t sacrifice too much mana/stamina. Your Drakefire Epaulets, Tidal Loop Ring, ElderMagus Pendant, Royal Seal of Thelandis (Shaman Trinket) and some of the Earthfury are smart choices. Your Drakesfire Amulet is not required to be worn to gain entrance into Onyxia’s Lair, just in your inventory.

TAKIN’ OUT THE TRASH MOBS – ALL FOUR OF THEM!
The four dragonkin pulls are easy, think of them as equivalent to General Drakkisath of Upper Black Rock Spire, but this time we can have up to 40 people DPS-ing on them.
Initially we need to let the Main Tank (MT) build up some aggro and don’t attack until the order is given. The trick with them is to attack at ranged, because these dragonkin have a nasty AOE and only let Kosath or MT melee them. We should use our lightning bolts and possibly shocks to DPS them down. (note the Shock range puts you close to the outer edge of the AOE so be careful) Also healing the MT is a good idea for these fights, especially if you are in the MT’s group (duh). Also placing a grace of air and mana regeneration totems are good for our ranged and spell casting group mates.

UH, SHOULDN’T THIS BOSS FIGHT BE OVER?
The Onyxia is a long, long fight, did I mention it was long. I’d say around 20 minutes.
The fight comes in three distinct phases. Phase 1, Phase 2, and you guessed it Phase 3 (you should have rolled a Mage! You Intellect fiend!).

PHASE ONE – THE ENTRANCE
Phase one is easy. Its all about the entrance, aggro management and slow steady DPS.
Arguably the most important part about phase one is the entrance into Onyxia’s lair and getting to you assigned positions. We all must enter the lair at roughly the same time, and not get too close to the whelp caves in the Southwest (SW) & Southeast (SE) corners. (Resist your urge to hug the walls – if you do you will most likely pull the whelps out of the cave and cause the raid to wipe) The MT will lead the charge into her lair with the rest of the raid a few steps behind. Your initial position will be in the Northwest or Northeast corner with twenty of your closest friends all bunched up together. (Usually some scheme is used like Odd numbered groups to the left [NW], and Even numbered groups to the right [NE] corner.) Remember your Phase #1 position because it will likely also be your Phase #3 position.

PHASE ONE CONTINUED – SLOW AND STEADY
After a smooth entrance the MT & possibly the MA will engage Onyxia at the North Central part of the cave with his supporting DPS & healing in the NE & NW corners next to him. The MT/MA will solo DPS Onyxia for a two minutes or so to build up aggro (no one else will be DPS Onyxia). Trust me you don’t want Aggro from her, unless you like repair bills. During the time the MT/MA is solo DPS-ing Onyxia, healers & Shaman heal the MT/MA, others sit and prepare to be bored. Shamans should drop Mana Regeneration Totems for the healers in their groups. Even if the MT/MA is not in your group heal the MT & MA during this stage.

When the MT gives the order for all to DPS Onyxia, all should attack her expect for healers (as a Shaman we are considered a healer for this fight). Shamans drop a Grace of Air Totem for our Hunter & Rogue friends, Stoneskin and keep your mana regen totems up. (consider the Aggro reducing totem if you feel your group needs it) Shamans can also melee her from the side (never from the front or the rear) if you have your healing and totem duties covered. But once someone in your group needs healing, please back off attacking of Onyxia and heal your group. The MT will allow the raid to DPS her for a minute or two then call for the raid DPS to stop to allow him to re-build up some more aggro. If someone besides the MT/MA gets aggro, more than likely we wipe. During the raid DPS downtime, heal the MT/MA keep your Mana totems up, and regen mana.

Phase one is not mana intensive and your goal is to have a near full pool of mana when phase two starts. This off and & on DPS will continue until Onyxia is down to 65-68% of her health this is when phase two and the fun begins. Once Onyxia gets down to 70%-75% health let your totems expire. No Totems in Phase #2.

PHASE #2 DPS HO!
Phase two is about bringing as much DPS to Onyxia as possible as fast as we can. In phase two Onyxia is not grounded as in phase one, but flies around her lair, and thus only ranged attacks will harm her.

Groups #1-6 are the Onyxia DPS teams groups #7 & #8 are usually responsible for containing the occasional whelpling uprisings. If you are in groups #7 & #8 your only duty is to keep your group alive. Groups 7 & 8 (the whelpling duty groups) will consist probably of a warrior, mage, Hunter, random class and healer <insert Shaman>. Be aware of your mage’s health it will spike as he AOE’s the whelplings.

If you are not in groups #7 & #8 your job is to heal the raid and provide DPS. Onyxia flies very high over the raid in this phase and often your lightning bolt is the only form of ranged DPS that will work here (no Flame Shock – it will be resisted). I would burn your mana down to 30%-50% and always hold a reserve for healing. Often times groups #7 & #8 will need spot heals especially when the whelps come. If you are in the group w/ the MT or MA, I would hold a higher mana reserve (70%-90%) because if we lose our MT we will probably wipe. Luckily the MT does not get abused much in this phase.

Onyxia randomly hits a target for 2K of damage fairly often. Just watch the raid members heath and heal it. If you get hit with this, please bandage it, not heal it via spells. Occasionally she does a deep breath, which is really bad it does 1K-4K of damage to a large area in the form of an AOE flame breath. When this happens all need to run to the West/East central sides of the cave to try to avoid it. If we experience a deep breath it diminishes our chances to have a successful raid. Reasons for deep breath are debatable with the two most common theories, being not enough DPS, or the raid member positioning being too close together.
But historically I have not dropped totems in phase two.

PHASE #3 SURVIVOR (AND DON’T GET VOTED OUT BY LOSING ALL OF YOUR HEALTH)
Phase three is very chaotic. You need to return to your phase one positions, when she is around 39-40% health. If you are on the opposite side of the cave from your phase one position, don’t worry about it just go to the nearest Northern corner.

When Onyxia lands she will fear the raid, no not break the fear. Do not use tremor totems, do not use the break fear trinket, just be afraid and run back to your position after the fear (usually 3 sec) wears off. The reasoning for this is if anyone but the MT pulls aggro it is bad for the raid.

For added excitement the cracks in the floor will also shoot lava flames from time to time, so try to minimize your movements and don’t stand on the cracks. She will fear the raid from time to time, if the ground shakes, this is your sign to drop a tremor totem. Whelps also occasionally come out in phase #3 others will need to deal with them, we Shamans should be focusing on our healing and on our MT/MA health. Please note, don’t stand near the whelp cave, you can get feared into them and this will more than likely cause a wipe. That is why it is critical to stand in the Northern half of the cave.

The raid will DPS, us Shamans will only heal. If someone else takes aggro from the MT, it’s bad for the raid and will diminish our chances of success. If you run out of mana, bandage if you can, you may melee Onyxia, but stay away from her head and tail, and only melee her from the sides. No shocks in phase #3. Drop Tremor, Mana/Fire Resist totems, & Grace of Air. Exception if you are in the MT/MA group drop a Fire Resist totem. Shamans should always be monitoring the MT/MA health regardless of your group assignment first tossing them heals when you can. But also keep on eye on your group’s health and healing your group occasionally.

Your group members should try to be healing self sufficient with potions and bandages. Use bandages on your self and others when you can. It’s ok and expected that you will lose group members to death, tribal council etc, the success of the raid is judged by how long we can keep the MT and his group up. You will drain all of your mana, you will need to drink mana potions, you will need to bandage. Try to avoid healing yourself via spells, use bandages on yourself and save the mana for a heal on someone distant to you. We will lose raid members to death (so don’t feel that you are failing as a healer if this happens), and if group #1 loses healers you will need to pick up the healing on the MT/MA. If the MT/MA falls we wipe. Just survive and victory will be ours.

Victory Party
If we survive epic loot will be ours. (And a grand Parade on our first Victory not to be missed! Merrina has already been an Onyxia Grand Marshall in a parade!)

Onyxia usually drops two epics and her head which is redeemable for an epic item, at participating quest givers.

Here is a listing of the Shamanistic loot:
Helmet of the Ten Storms
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Dragonslayer’s Signet
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Shard of the Scale
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Shapperion Drape
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Onyxia’s Scale can be used by Merrina to make this
Onyxia Scale Cloak
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There is additional loot that can have Shaman uses that I did not list.
An excellent guide. I played a shaman against Onyxia a fair number of times and I can think of nothing to add to this. Well done ::Claps::

Guest

Its a good post for any class to read just as a play by play of the battle to come.