10-10-2013, 10:50 AM
The Dark Shaman nutshell guide
This is the first fight in Orgrimmar proper. First, we'll have to clear ALL the trash. This is a pain but it has to be done because this is a wide-ranging fight that will use a lot of space, and an additional add could be a big problem. This means all the adds in the buildings (remember to do the blacksmith!), up the ramp, and behind the central building.
This is a twins-style fight. We'll kill the wolves first (they're easy) then will DPS the two shamans, Earthbraker Haromm and Wavebinder Kardris. Haromm is the larger, male orc while Kardris is the smaller, female orc. They share a health pool.
The fight becomes more difficult as the fight goes on, as the bosses gain new abilities as their health drops lower. At first, they have only one ability. But they each gain a new ability at 85%, 65%, and 50% health. At 25% health, they'll gain a buff that increases their damage and haste by 25%.
Earthbreaker Haromm's abilities
Haromm is the larger, male orc.
Basic ability: His basic ability is Froststorm Strike, which does frost damage to the tank and affects the tank with a stacking debuff which causes 25% increased damage taken for 30 seconds. This requires a TANK SWAP.
At 85% health: he gains Toxic Mist. This is an undispellable 30-sec DoT cast on random raid members every 3 seconds. With each tick, the player ALSO gains a stack of a debuff that increases their nature damage taken by 10%. The debuff wears off at the same time as the DoT. The damage goes through all immunities.
At 65% health: he gains Foul Stream, which he casts every 30 seconds. This targets an area on the ground in the shape of a long, wide line. This area is marked with a green effect. A few seconds later any players standing there will take high Nature damage.
At 50% health: he gains Ashen Wall. This summons a wall of stationary Ash Elementals which ATTACK players who are in their melee range for a high amount of damage. They can't be tanked or killed and they last indefinitely. This is cast every 30 seconds.
Wavebinder Kardris' abilities
Kardris is the smaller, female orc.
Basic ability: Froststorm Bolt. This is an uninterruptible nuke cast on the tank. Deals a lot of Frost damage.
At 85% health: she gains Toxic Stream. This summons a CLOUD that moves slowly around the area, damaging any players who are under it. It regularly creates TOXIC TORNADOES, which also move around the area, dealing damage to any players they touch and knocking them up slightly. This is cast every 30 seconds, and each cloud lasts for 90 seconds, so it eventually leads to spacial constraints. This abilitiy eventually acts as a soft enrage mechanic.
At 65% health: she gains Foul Geyser, which she casts every 30 seconds. She channels this for 8 seconds, dealing damage to any players around her and summoning many adds called FOUL SLIMES. The slime adds can be tanked, and they have an aura that constantly deals nature damage to anyone within 3 yards of them.
At 50% health: she gains Falling Ash, which she casts every 30 seconds. This ability targets a large area on the ground, marking it with a RED effect. About 15 seconds later a fiery projectile will land in this area, dealing LETHAL damage to anyone inside it, as well as a moderate amount of raid-wide fire damage.
The shape of the fight organized by boss' health
From 100 to 85% health:
Each tank takes one boss and one wolf, and tanks them facing away from the raid and from each other. The raid kills the wolves, then focuses on the bosses.
During this first phase the bosses only damage their tanks, and Haromm applies a debuff, requiring a tank switch.
From 85 to 65% health. The Toxic abilities: Toxic Mist DoT and Toxic Storm cloud and tornadoes
At 85% they acquire their first abilities:
* Toxic Mist (Haromm) (30-second DoT on random players): healers will have to respond.
* Toxic Storm (Kardris) (cloud and tornadoes): Players will have to avoid the tornadoes.
From 65% to 50% health. The Foul abilities: Foul Stream (the green line) and Foul Geyser (the slimes)
* Foul Stream (Haromm) (the green line on the ground): raid members must react quickly to the line of green on the ground. Note: Foul Stream targets a PLAYER for positioning -- the line appears between the boss and that player. If possible, that player should move around the boss so that the line points into a safe area, like a building.
* Foul Geyser (Kardris) (the channel + slimes): This is the MOST DIFFICULT mechanic in the entire fight. Foul Geyser does damage to nearby players when it is being channeled, so melee must get away from Kardris during the cast. The cast summons slimes. The slimes cannot be tanked in melee range due to their damaging 3-yard aura. They must be kited or killed. Ranged should go ALL OUT on these guys. Melee must move away from them, and can use whatever abilities they can reasonably use without getting too close. The slimes don't all spawn at once so some can be killed before others appear. Healers should pay attention to the health of the melee players and use cooldowns if needed. If we choose to kite them, we can use a tank who can reliably generate threat at range, or a ranged DPS.
From 50% to 25% health. The Ash abilities: Ashen Wall (wall of elementals) and Falling Ash (big red circle)
* Ashen Wall (Haromm): Players will need to get away from the walls. Haromm will summon these adds at his location, so he should be tanked around the edges of the arena.
* Falling Ash (Kardris): Get out of the big red circle. You have 15 seconds, which is plenty of time. When the projectile lands the entire raid will take moderate fire damage, so healers must respond to this. Use a defensive cooldown whenever this happens.
From 25% to 0%. The bosses buff themselves.
At 25% boss damage increases by 25%. This will be the hardest point of the fight because we'll have little space due to the Ashen Walls and Toxic Storms, plus the red circles we need to run out of, and low on mana. Use defensive cooldowns here. But otherwise, same strategy.
Bloodlust should be used at the start of the fight OR at 25%.
SUMMARY
Tanks:
* The two tanks will pick up the bosses and their mounts at he start, one tank for each boss + wolf. Face them away from the raid.
* Swap the bosses regularly
* Tank the bosses together so the raid can cleave them.
* Move the bosses away from Ashen Walls
Healers:
* Heal the damage done to random raid members by Toxic Mist. Beware that damage ramps up as the DoT nears the end of its duration
* Heal the unavoidable raid damage from Falling Ash
* Use Defensive raid cooldowns when the bosses drop below 25%
DPS:
* Focus on the wolves first, then the bosses
* Cleave and multi-Dot whenever it's a DPS gain, as the bosses share health.
* When Foul Slimes appear ranged players should kill them immediately
* If necessary, an assigned ranged DPS must kite the slimes until they are killed.
Everyone:
* Move out of areas affected by Foul Stream (the green line) and Falling Ash (the red circle)
* Move away from the Ashen Walls
* Don't stand under the clouds or come into contact with the tornadoes
* Get away from Wavebinder Kardris when he channels Foul Geyser -- melee must get out.
Strategy
Most of the bosses' abilities are purely reactive in nature, so the raid will need to learn to react properly while damaging the bosses.
Strategy 1: Bosses tanked close together by two tanks. The bosses are tanked together at all times, near the outer edge of the fighting area. The tanks will need to swap regularly due to Haromm's debuff. Ranged stand in the center of the fighting area. This positioning will allow players to cleave the bosses, increasing raid DPS. Once Ashen Wall (the line of elementals) starts being used, the bosses will need to be moved whenever a wall is created at their location.
The main issue with keeping the bosses together is handling the walls and the slimes. The tornadoes and the red circle are fairly easy to avoid even when we're all together. Walls can be handled by having Haromm's tank back himself close to a wall, in which case the Ashen Wall will spawn in a less problematic place (I am assuming it will spawn running along the wall but have not gotten this confirmed).
Strategy 2: Splitting the shaman. This strategy requires three tanks. The bosses are tanked apart, with one tank holding Kardris while the other two swap Haromm back and forth.
A) Kardris in the open area, while two tanks hold Haromm up on the ramp, near the door to the Cleft of Shadows, swapping him back and forth, and gradually moving him down the ramp. Haromm should die around the bottom of the ramp.
B) Haromm is in the open area with his two tanks, while Kardris is tanked up the ramp near the door to the Cleft of Shadows.
In either A or B, melee stays on Haromm and deals with the green line, the ashen walls, and the damage-debuff, while ranged stays on Kardris and handles the tornadoes, slimes, red circle + meteor.
C) Haromm is tanked INSIDE the throne room by two tanks. A healer or two healers go in there with the two tanks to keep them up. The third tank handles Kardris and moves her around the open area in a large circle. The tanks handle the green line, ashen walls, and damage-debuff (which is more manageable since there are so few targets). All DPS stays outside on Kardris, and handles the tornadoes, slimes, and red circle + meteor.
The splitting of the dark shaman is particularly recommended for heroic mode, when there are additional mechanics (iron prison, one-shot-debuff), but it is an optional strategy for normal mode or flex mode with regular mechanics.
Learning the fight
We'll need to learn how to reach to all the different abilities during the fight. Many of the abilities are purely reactive -- we just need to get away from the green line, the red circles, the tornadoes. We'll need to learn how to deal with other abilities, like the cloud, tornadoes, and the wall.
The next important piece of the fight is to learn how to handle the Foul Slimes. We'll need to work the kinks out of this -- having ranged kill them and kite if necessary.
If we want to practice on one ability in particular, we can stop DPSing the bosses and simply work on that ability. For example, we can hold the bosses at 60% and just work on slimes, without having to worry about the Ashen Wall or Falling Ash which appear at 50%.
This is the first fight in Orgrimmar proper. First, we'll have to clear ALL the trash. This is a pain but it has to be done because this is a wide-ranging fight that will use a lot of space, and an additional add could be a big problem. This means all the adds in the buildings (remember to do the blacksmith!), up the ramp, and behind the central building.
This is a twins-style fight. We'll kill the wolves first (they're easy) then will DPS the two shamans, Earthbraker Haromm and Wavebinder Kardris. Haromm is the larger, male orc while Kardris is the smaller, female orc. They share a health pool.
The fight becomes more difficult as the fight goes on, as the bosses gain new abilities as their health drops lower. At first, they have only one ability. But they each gain a new ability at 85%, 65%, and 50% health. At 25% health, they'll gain a buff that increases their damage and haste by 25%.
Earthbreaker Haromm's abilities
Haromm is the larger, male orc.
Basic ability: His basic ability is Froststorm Strike, which does frost damage to the tank and affects the tank with a stacking debuff which causes 25% increased damage taken for 30 seconds. This requires a TANK SWAP.
At 85% health: he gains Toxic Mist. This is an undispellable 30-sec DoT cast on random raid members every 3 seconds. With each tick, the player ALSO gains a stack of a debuff that increases their nature damage taken by 10%. The debuff wears off at the same time as the DoT. The damage goes through all immunities.
At 65% health: he gains Foul Stream, which he casts every 30 seconds. This targets an area on the ground in the shape of a long, wide line. This area is marked with a green effect. A few seconds later any players standing there will take high Nature damage.
At 50% health: he gains Ashen Wall. This summons a wall of stationary Ash Elementals which ATTACK players who are in their melee range for a high amount of damage. They can't be tanked or killed and they last indefinitely. This is cast every 30 seconds.
Wavebinder Kardris' abilities
Kardris is the smaller, female orc.
Basic ability: Froststorm Bolt. This is an uninterruptible nuke cast on the tank. Deals a lot of Frost damage.
At 85% health: she gains Toxic Stream. This summons a CLOUD that moves slowly around the area, damaging any players who are under it. It regularly creates TOXIC TORNADOES, which also move around the area, dealing damage to any players they touch and knocking them up slightly. This is cast every 30 seconds, and each cloud lasts for 90 seconds, so it eventually leads to spacial constraints. This abilitiy eventually acts as a soft enrage mechanic.
At 65% health: she gains Foul Geyser, which she casts every 30 seconds. She channels this for 8 seconds, dealing damage to any players around her and summoning many adds called FOUL SLIMES. The slime adds can be tanked, and they have an aura that constantly deals nature damage to anyone within 3 yards of them.
At 50% health: she gains Falling Ash, which she casts every 30 seconds. This ability targets a large area on the ground, marking it with a RED effect. About 15 seconds later a fiery projectile will land in this area, dealing LETHAL damage to anyone inside it, as well as a moderate amount of raid-wide fire damage.
The shape of the fight organized by boss' health
From 100 to 85% health:
Each tank takes one boss and one wolf, and tanks them facing away from the raid and from each other. The raid kills the wolves, then focuses on the bosses.
During this first phase the bosses only damage their tanks, and Haromm applies a debuff, requiring a tank switch.
From 85 to 65% health. The Toxic abilities: Toxic Mist DoT and Toxic Storm cloud and tornadoes
At 85% they acquire their first abilities:
* Toxic Mist (Haromm) (30-second DoT on random players): healers will have to respond.
* Toxic Storm (Kardris) (cloud and tornadoes): Players will have to avoid the tornadoes.
From 65% to 50% health. The Foul abilities: Foul Stream (the green line) and Foul Geyser (the slimes)
* Foul Stream (Haromm) (the green line on the ground): raid members must react quickly to the line of green on the ground. Note: Foul Stream targets a PLAYER for positioning -- the line appears between the boss and that player. If possible, that player should move around the boss so that the line points into a safe area, like a building.
* Foul Geyser (Kardris) (the channel + slimes): This is the MOST DIFFICULT mechanic in the entire fight. Foul Geyser does damage to nearby players when it is being channeled, so melee must get away from Kardris during the cast. The cast summons slimes. The slimes cannot be tanked in melee range due to their damaging 3-yard aura. They must be kited or killed. Ranged should go ALL OUT on these guys. Melee must move away from them, and can use whatever abilities they can reasonably use without getting too close. The slimes don't all spawn at once so some can be killed before others appear. Healers should pay attention to the health of the melee players and use cooldowns if needed. If we choose to kite them, we can use a tank who can reliably generate threat at range, or a ranged DPS.
From 50% to 25% health. The Ash abilities: Ashen Wall (wall of elementals) and Falling Ash (big red circle)
* Ashen Wall (Haromm): Players will need to get away from the walls. Haromm will summon these adds at his location, so he should be tanked around the edges of the arena.
* Falling Ash (Kardris): Get out of the big red circle. You have 15 seconds, which is plenty of time. When the projectile lands the entire raid will take moderate fire damage, so healers must respond to this. Use a defensive cooldown whenever this happens.
From 25% to 0%. The bosses buff themselves.
At 25% boss damage increases by 25%. This will be the hardest point of the fight because we'll have little space due to the Ashen Walls and Toxic Storms, plus the red circles we need to run out of, and low on mana. Use defensive cooldowns here. But otherwise, same strategy.
Bloodlust should be used at the start of the fight OR at 25%.
SUMMARY
Tanks:
* The two tanks will pick up the bosses and their mounts at he start, one tank for each boss + wolf. Face them away from the raid.
* Swap the bosses regularly
* Tank the bosses together so the raid can cleave them.
* Move the bosses away from Ashen Walls
Healers:
* Heal the damage done to random raid members by Toxic Mist. Beware that damage ramps up as the DoT nears the end of its duration
* Heal the unavoidable raid damage from Falling Ash
* Use Defensive raid cooldowns when the bosses drop below 25%
DPS:
* Focus on the wolves first, then the bosses
* Cleave and multi-Dot whenever it's a DPS gain, as the bosses share health.
* When Foul Slimes appear ranged players should kill them immediately
* If necessary, an assigned ranged DPS must kite the slimes until they are killed.
Everyone:
* Move out of areas affected by Foul Stream (the green line) and Falling Ash (the red circle)
* Move away from the Ashen Walls
* Don't stand under the clouds or come into contact with the tornadoes
* Get away from Wavebinder Kardris when he channels Foul Geyser -- melee must get out.
Strategy
Most of the bosses' abilities are purely reactive in nature, so the raid will need to learn to react properly while damaging the bosses.
Strategy 1: Bosses tanked close together by two tanks. The bosses are tanked together at all times, near the outer edge of the fighting area. The tanks will need to swap regularly due to Haromm's debuff. Ranged stand in the center of the fighting area. This positioning will allow players to cleave the bosses, increasing raid DPS. Once Ashen Wall (the line of elementals) starts being used, the bosses will need to be moved whenever a wall is created at their location.
The main issue with keeping the bosses together is handling the walls and the slimes. The tornadoes and the red circle are fairly easy to avoid even when we're all together. Walls can be handled by having Haromm's tank back himself close to a wall, in which case the Ashen Wall will spawn in a less problematic place (I am assuming it will spawn running along the wall but have not gotten this confirmed).
Strategy 2: Splitting the shaman. This strategy requires three tanks. The bosses are tanked apart, with one tank holding Kardris while the other two swap Haromm back and forth.
A) Kardris in the open area, while two tanks hold Haromm up on the ramp, near the door to the Cleft of Shadows, swapping him back and forth, and gradually moving him down the ramp. Haromm should die around the bottom of the ramp.
B) Haromm is in the open area with his two tanks, while Kardris is tanked up the ramp near the door to the Cleft of Shadows.
In either A or B, melee stays on Haromm and deals with the green line, the ashen walls, and the damage-debuff, while ranged stays on Kardris and handles the tornadoes, slimes, red circle + meteor.
C) Haromm is tanked INSIDE the throne room by two tanks. A healer or two healers go in there with the two tanks to keep them up. The third tank handles Kardris and moves her around the open area in a large circle. The tanks handle the green line, ashen walls, and damage-debuff (which is more manageable since there are so few targets). All DPS stays outside on Kardris, and handles the tornadoes, slimes, and red circle + meteor.
The splitting of the dark shaman is particularly recommended for heroic mode, when there are additional mechanics (iron prison, one-shot-debuff), but it is an optional strategy for normal mode or flex mode with regular mechanics.
Learning the fight
We'll need to learn how to reach to all the different abilities during the fight. Many of the abilities are purely reactive -- we just need to get away from the green line, the red circles, the tornadoes. We'll need to learn how to deal with other abilities, like the cloud, tornadoes, and the wall.
The next important piece of the fight is to learn how to handle the Foul Slimes. We'll need to work the kinks out of this -- having ranged kill them and kite if necessary.
If we want to practice on one ability in particular, we can stop DPSing the bosses and simply work on that ability. For example, we can hold the bosses at 60% and just work on slimes, without having to worry about the Ashen Wall or Falling Ash which appear at 50%.