Okay, we've seen this fight a lot in LFR, and we saw it on normal mode last week. It was pretty intense last week, with lots of adds to manage. Here's the nutshell guide on how to do this encounter.
The main difficulties of this encounter are to deal sustained damage to the boss while ALSO AoE-ing adds and avoiding abilities.
Having read through and assimilated the Icy Veins guide, I can pull out this general pattern:
NUTSHELL
Horridon does three abilities that we'll need to deal with throughout the fight:
* Double Swipe (point him away, run away)
* Charge + Double Swipe (targeted person runs out of raid, if they didn't, raid must run out of incoming Double Swipe)
* Triple Puncture (tanks take increasing damage in each phase & swap at the end of each phase).
In each phase we'll also be dealing with a Dinomancer:
* His Heal must be interrupted
* He must be killed quickly (at 50% he drops the orb)
* Someone clicks on the orb to ram Horridon into the door, stopping the adds
In each phase we'll be dealing with groups of adds:
* After five seconds, and every 20 seconds thereafter, small waves of adds will come through the door.
* After 20 seconds an add will jump down from the arena, and 20 seconds later two more will jump down
--> These adds must be picked up by the current add tank and brought to a single location to be AoE'd down. We will have a kill order, so single-target DPS can focus on the worst ones first, but good AoE'ers should AoE. Interrupters should interrupt the worst abilities.
Also,
--> At every door there will be different ground effects we must avoid: Sand traps, poison pools, orbs, totems.
--> At every door noxious abilities will be put on the raid that must be dispelled, purged etc.
--> At every door there will be particularly nasty abilities we must deal with (like Venom Bolt Volley at door #2, and Chain Lightning at door #4).
--> All this while dealing with Horridon's Double Swipe, Charge + Double Swipe, and Triple Puncture.
After the fourth door, Jalak will jump down. He does a LOT of raid damage so we'll use cooldowns (personal + bloodlust) to kill him as fast as possible.
At the very end we'll DPS down Horridon. We'll have put some damage on him earlier, between the doors, but Icy Veins suggests that it is not unusual to have Horridon still at 80% health when Jalak dies. Horridon goes into a fury upon Jalak's death and does greatly increased damage, so this is a massive DPS burn phase with the tank taking enormous damage. Healers should use their big single-target cooldowns on the tank during this phase. Thankfully, Horridon will have a big "Cracked Shell" debuff stack by this point so will take a lot of damage during this last phase.
******************************************
NOW, WITH MORE DETAIL
This is a single-phase fight with five sets of adds.
In each corner adds will come periodically through the door, while a few will jump down from the bleachers. After 1 minute a Dinomancer will jump down. He will HEAL the boss -- this must be interrupted. At 50% he will turn into a dinosaur and will drop an orb. Clicking this orb will start a channel that will drive Horridon into the current door, closing it and stopping the flow of adds.
HORRIDON'S ABILITIES
* Triple Puncture: deals HEAVY damage to the tank AND applies a STACKING DEBUFF that increases the damage taken by subsequent casts of Triple Puncture by 10%. This forces a tank swap.
* Double Swipe: 35-yard cone attack both in front and behind.
* Charge: Horridon charges a player and performs a Double Swipe once it reaches that person.
Note: Horridon gains a stack of Cracked Shell debuff at the end of each phase. Each stack increases damage taken by 50%. It lasts the entire fight.
We will attack Horridon when we have a chance too -- when possible during each phase and especially between each phase when he's being moved from one door to the next.
TANK SWAP FOR TRIPLE PUNCTURE
Tanks will need to swap at the end of each phase, when only Horridon is present in the arena. Tanking Horridon for the entire phase will cause a tank to receive 6 or 7 stacks of the debuff, which can be managed.
The tank NOT tanking Horridon will focus on the adds.
AVOIDING THE DOUBLE SWIPE
Always stay on Horridon's side. There's a 2.5 second cast time so you have time to move aside, including the tanks. The ability can also be outrun since it only reaches 35 yards.
When targeted by Charge, the cast time will provide enough time to move to safety. Players targeted by Charge are warned ahead of time, and should move to a location from which Horridon's Double Swipe will require the raid to move as little as possible.
--> When targeted by Horridon, move out of the raid, ideally toward the current tank and to the side, so that Horridon doesn't point into the raid.
THE DINOMANCER
The Dinomancer will keep trying to channel Dino-Mending on Horridon, which heals him for 1% every second. This MUST be interrupted.
At 50% he'll turn into a dino form. He'll do 50% more damage but he will no longer cast a heal on Horridon.
At 50% he'll drop an Orb of Control. Someone must click it to force Horridon to slam into the open Troll door. Clicking it starts a channel, but during this channel you can freely move around. So keep avoiding sources of damage like sand traps etc.
When Horridon slams into the door, the current phase will end. Then we'll have 40 seconds to clear any remaining adds and deal as much damage on Horridon as possible, all while dragging him to the next door. When he crashes into the door he'll be stunned for 10 seconds and gain a stack of Cracked Shell.
--> When the Dinomancer drops into the arena we need to burn him and kill him.
--> Interrupt Dino-Mending
FIRST DOOR, NW -- FARRAKI TRIBE
FIVE seconds after the door opens, a Stonegazer and a Skirmisher will come through. EVERY 20 seconds after that, another pair will come through.
TWENTY seconds after the door opens, a Wastewalker will jump down. Twenty seconds after that, two more will jump down. Then we're done with Wastelwakers.
DPS priority:
1. Dinomancer
2. Stonegazers -- these are basilisks that cast a 10-second stun, which can be interrupted. The stun can be dispelled.
3. Wastewalkers -- they cast Blazing Sunlight on one raid member, which does damage and applies a DoT. Blazing Sunlight must be purged. They also cast Sand Traps.
4. Skirmishers -- they just melee.
5. Horridon
Strategy:
--> The current off-tank should get aggro on all the adds and make sure they are in the same place to make it easy to AoE them down.
--> Avoid the Sand Traps. These grow in size over time.
--> Purge Blazing Sunlight
And of course...
--> Deal with Dinomancer: Interrupt Dino-Mending, kill Dinomancer, use Orb to slam Horridon into the door.
--> Avoid Horridon's Double Swipe and deal with Charge
--> THE TRANSITION TO PHASE 2: After the door is down, we have 40 seconds before the next door opens. Use this time to finish off the adds, DPS Horridon, move Horridon to the next door, and have tanks swap on Horridon.
SECOND DOOR, NE -- GUBURASHI TRIBE
FIVE seconds after the Guburashi door opens, one Bloodlord will come out. Every 20 seconds after that another Bloodlord will come out.
TWENTY seconds after the door opens, one Venom Priest will jump down into the arena. Twenty second after that, two more will jump down.
DPS priority:
1. Venomous Effusions. These are adds summoned by the Venom Priests. They cast Venom Bolt Volley (same as the priests do), and Living Poison which is a pool that appears under the Effusion's spawn point.
2. Dinomancer
3. Venom Priests. These cast Venom Bolt Volley, which damages the entire raid and leaves a stacking DoT. The cast can be interrupted and the DoT can be dispelled. Priests also summon Venomous Effusions.
4. Bloodlords. These guys apply Rending Charge, a bleed effect that does a lot of damage for 15 seconds.
5. Horridon
Strategy:
--> The new off-tank should grab the adds and keep them in one place so the raid can AoE them down.
--> INTERRUPT Venom Bolt Volley from the priests and Effusions. It does a LOT of damage -- surviving Venom Bolt is one of the MOST CRUCIAL parts of this phase.
--> Avoid the Living Poison pools. These move around.
And of course...
--> Deal with Dinomancer: Interrupt Dino-Mending, kill Dinomancer, use orb to slam Horridon into the door.
--> Avoid Horridon's Double Swipe and deal with Charge
TRANSITION TO PHASE 3: It's the same as before. We have 40 seconds to clean up adds, damage Horridon, move Horridon to the next door, and have tanks swap on Horridon.
THIRD DOOR, SE -- DRAKKARI TRIBE
FIVE seconds after the Drakkari door opens, one Risen Champion and one Risen Warrior will come out. 15 seconds later, a second Champion will come out. Twenty seconds after that, a new wave of the same composition will come put.
TWENTY seconds after the door opens one Frozen Warlord will jump down into the arena. Twenty seconds later two more will follow.
DPS priority:
1. Dinomancer
2. Frozen Warlords. These do Mortal Strike on the adds' tank (reduces healing on them by 50%). They also summon Frozen Orbs which move slowly and keep casting Frozen Bolt at anyone within 8 yards. This does damage and slows them.
3. Risen Warriors and Risen Champions. These attack random players and apply Deadly Plague to them. It's a disease that can be dispelled.
4. Horridon
Strategy:
--> The new off-tank should grab the adds and keep them in one place so the raid can AoE them down.
--> Deadly Plague must be dispelled
--> Avoid Frozen Orbs.
And of course...
--> Deal with Dinomancer: Interrupt Dino-Mending, kill Dinomancer, use orb to slam Horridon into the door.
--> Avoid Horridon's Double Swipe and deal with Charge
TRANSITION TO PHASE 4: It's the same as before. We have 40 seconds to clean up adds, damage Horridon, move Horridon to the next door, and have tanks swap on Horridon.
FOURTH DOOR, SW -- AMANI TRIBE
FIVE seconds after the Amani door opens, one Protector and one Flame Caster will come out. Every 20 seconds after that a new wave of the same composition will come out.
TWENTY seconds after the door opens one Amani Warbear will jump down. Twenty seconds later two more bears will jump down.
DPS priority:
1. Dinomancer
2. Beast Shaman. After a bear dies its rider, a shaman, jumps off. The shaman casts Chain LIghtning (jumping spell), and Hex of Confusion (causes players to have a 50% chance to injure themselves), and Lightning Nova Totems (stationary, unkillable totems that do damage to anything within 8 yards).
3. Warbears. These swipe.
4. Protectors and Flame Casters. Protectors melee. Flame Casters keep casting Fireball, which can be interrupted.
5. Horridon
Strategy:
--> Interrupt Fireball by the Flame Casters.
--> Spread 5 yards apart to keep Chain Lightning from jumping
--> Remove Hex of Confusion
--> Don't have two shamans up at once (two totems are bad news). Kill one shaman, then kill the next bear.
--> Avoid Lightning Nova Totems.
And of course...
--> Deal with Dinomancer: Interrupt Dino-Mending, kill Dinomancer, use orb to slam Horridon into the door.
--> Avoid Horridon's Double Swipe and deal with Charge
TRANSITION TO PHASE 5: We have 40 seconds to clean up adds, damage Horridon, move Horridon to the CENTER of the room, and have tanks swap on Horridon.
FIFTH PHASE -- WAR GOD JALAK
One minute after the end of phase four -- so one minute after Horridon is driven into the fourth door -- the last phase will start:
Jalak will melee a tank and will keep using Bestial Cry, which deals heavy physical damage to all raid members. It applies a stacking debuff that increases the damage of subsequent casts of Bestial Cry by 25%. When Jalak dies, Horridon enrages. He attacks 50% faster and does 100% increased damage.
Horridon will still be doing Double Swipe, Charge, and Triple Puncture during this phase.
Strategy:
--> We need to kill Jalak (who will be tanked by the current off-tank), then kill Horridon
--> We'll use all available cooldowns to burn Jalak down. Healers will need to use healing cooldowns to keep the raid alive.
--> We'll stack to facilitate group heals.
--> Players targeted by Charge must leave the group so Horridon doesn't Double Swipe the raid.
--> Once Jalak is down Horridon will enrage and damage on the tank will be EXTREMELY high. Single-target healing cooldowns should be used now.
Pro Tip: Jalak can be DISARMED, so we can set up a disarm rotation on him. This will reduce the damage from Bestial Cry. It may even be possible to survive long enough to kill Horridon first.
We will use Bloodlust to burn down Jalak.
The main difficulties of this encounter are to deal sustained damage to the boss while ALSO AoE-ing adds and avoiding abilities.
Having read through and assimilated the Icy Veins guide, I can pull out this general pattern:
NUTSHELL
Horridon does three abilities that we'll need to deal with throughout the fight:
* Double Swipe (point him away, run away)
* Charge + Double Swipe (targeted person runs out of raid, if they didn't, raid must run out of incoming Double Swipe)
* Triple Puncture (tanks take increasing damage in each phase & swap at the end of each phase).
In each phase we'll also be dealing with a Dinomancer:
* His Heal must be interrupted
* He must be killed quickly (at 50% he drops the orb)
* Someone clicks on the orb to ram Horridon into the door, stopping the adds
In each phase we'll be dealing with groups of adds:
* After five seconds, and every 20 seconds thereafter, small waves of adds will come through the door.
* After 20 seconds an add will jump down from the arena, and 20 seconds later two more will jump down
--> These adds must be picked up by the current add tank and brought to a single location to be AoE'd down. We will have a kill order, so single-target DPS can focus on the worst ones first, but good AoE'ers should AoE. Interrupters should interrupt the worst abilities.
Also,
--> At every door there will be different ground effects we must avoid: Sand traps, poison pools, orbs, totems.
--> At every door noxious abilities will be put on the raid that must be dispelled, purged etc.
--> At every door there will be particularly nasty abilities we must deal with (like Venom Bolt Volley at door #2, and Chain Lightning at door #4).
--> All this while dealing with Horridon's Double Swipe, Charge + Double Swipe, and Triple Puncture.
After the fourth door, Jalak will jump down. He does a LOT of raid damage so we'll use cooldowns (personal + bloodlust) to kill him as fast as possible.
At the very end we'll DPS down Horridon. We'll have put some damage on him earlier, between the doors, but Icy Veins suggests that it is not unusual to have Horridon still at 80% health when Jalak dies. Horridon goes into a fury upon Jalak's death and does greatly increased damage, so this is a massive DPS burn phase with the tank taking enormous damage. Healers should use their big single-target cooldowns on the tank during this phase. Thankfully, Horridon will have a big "Cracked Shell" debuff stack by this point so will take a lot of damage during this last phase.
******************************************
NOW, WITH MORE DETAIL
This is a single-phase fight with five sets of adds.
In each corner adds will come periodically through the door, while a few will jump down from the bleachers. After 1 minute a Dinomancer will jump down. He will HEAL the boss -- this must be interrupted. At 50% he will turn into a dinosaur and will drop an orb. Clicking this orb will start a channel that will drive Horridon into the current door, closing it and stopping the flow of adds.
HORRIDON'S ABILITIES
* Triple Puncture: deals HEAVY damage to the tank AND applies a STACKING DEBUFF that increases the damage taken by subsequent casts of Triple Puncture by 10%. This forces a tank swap.
* Double Swipe: 35-yard cone attack both in front and behind.
* Charge: Horridon charges a player and performs a Double Swipe once it reaches that person.
Note: Horridon gains a stack of Cracked Shell debuff at the end of each phase. Each stack increases damage taken by 50%. It lasts the entire fight.
We will attack Horridon when we have a chance too -- when possible during each phase and especially between each phase when he's being moved from one door to the next.
TANK SWAP FOR TRIPLE PUNCTURE
Tanks will need to swap at the end of each phase, when only Horridon is present in the arena. Tanking Horridon for the entire phase will cause a tank to receive 6 or 7 stacks of the debuff, which can be managed.
The tank NOT tanking Horridon will focus on the adds.
AVOIDING THE DOUBLE SWIPE
Always stay on Horridon's side. There's a 2.5 second cast time so you have time to move aside, including the tanks. The ability can also be outrun since it only reaches 35 yards.
When targeted by Charge, the cast time will provide enough time to move to safety. Players targeted by Charge are warned ahead of time, and should move to a location from which Horridon's Double Swipe will require the raid to move as little as possible.
--> When targeted by Horridon, move out of the raid, ideally toward the current tank and to the side, so that Horridon doesn't point into the raid.
THE DINOMANCER
The Dinomancer will keep trying to channel Dino-Mending on Horridon, which heals him for 1% every second. This MUST be interrupted.
At 50% he'll turn into a dino form. He'll do 50% more damage but he will no longer cast a heal on Horridon.
At 50% he'll drop an Orb of Control. Someone must click it to force Horridon to slam into the open Troll door. Clicking it starts a channel, but during this channel you can freely move around. So keep avoiding sources of damage like sand traps etc.
When Horridon slams into the door, the current phase will end. Then we'll have 40 seconds to clear any remaining adds and deal as much damage on Horridon as possible, all while dragging him to the next door. When he crashes into the door he'll be stunned for 10 seconds and gain a stack of Cracked Shell.
--> When the Dinomancer drops into the arena we need to burn him and kill him.
--> Interrupt Dino-Mending
FIRST DOOR, NW -- FARRAKI TRIBE
FIVE seconds after the door opens, a Stonegazer and a Skirmisher will come through. EVERY 20 seconds after that, another pair will come through.
TWENTY seconds after the door opens, a Wastewalker will jump down. Twenty seconds after that, two more will jump down. Then we're done with Wastelwakers.
DPS priority:
1. Dinomancer
2. Stonegazers -- these are basilisks that cast a 10-second stun, which can be interrupted. The stun can be dispelled.
3. Wastewalkers -- they cast Blazing Sunlight on one raid member, which does damage and applies a DoT. Blazing Sunlight must be purged. They also cast Sand Traps.
4. Skirmishers -- they just melee.
5. Horridon
Strategy:
--> The current off-tank should get aggro on all the adds and make sure they are in the same place to make it easy to AoE them down.
--> Avoid the Sand Traps. These grow in size over time.
--> Purge Blazing Sunlight
And of course...
--> Deal with Dinomancer: Interrupt Dino-Mending, kill Dinomancer, use Orb to slam Horridon into the door.
--> Avoid Horridon's Double Swipe and deal with Charge
--> THE TRANSITION TO PHASE 2: After the door is down, we have 40 seconds before the next door opens. Use this time to finish off the adds, DPS Horridon, move Horridon to the next door, and have tanks swap on Horridon.
SECOND DOOR, NE -- GUBURASHI TRIBE
FIVE seconds after the Guburashi door opens, one Bloodlord will come out. Every 20 seconds after that another Bloodlord will come out.
TWENTY seconds after the door opens, one Venom Priest will jump down into the arena. Twenty second after that, two more will jump down.
DPS priority:
1. Venomous Effusions. These are adds summoned by the Venom Priests. They cast Venom Bolt Volley (same as the priests do), and Living Poison which is a pool that appears under the Effusion's spawn point.
2. Dinomancer
3. Venom Priests. These cast Venom Bolt Volley, which damages the entire raid and leaves a stacking DoT. The cast can be interrupted and the DoT can be dispelled. Priests also summon Venomous Effusions.
4. Bloodlords. These guys apply Rending Charge, a bleed effect that does a lot of damage for 15 seconds.
5. Horridon
Strategy:
--> The new off-tank should grab the adds and keep them in one place so the raid can AoE them down.
--> INTERRUPT Venom Bolt Volley from the priests and Effusions. It does a LOT of damage -- surviving Venom Bolt is one of the MOST CRUCIAL parts of this phase.
--> Avoid the Living Poison pools. These move around.
And of course...
--> Deal with Dinomancer: Interrupt Dino-Mending, kill Dinomancer, use orb to slam Horridon into the door.
--> Avoid Horridon's Double Swipe and deal with Charge
TRANSITION TO PHASE 3: It's the same as before. We have 40 seconds to clean up adds, damage Horridon, move Horridon to the next door, and have tanks swap on Horridon.
THIRD DOOR, SE -- DRAKKARI TRIBE
FIVE seconds after the Drakkari door opens, one Risen Champion and one Risen Warrior will come out. 15 seconds later, a second Champion will come out. Twenty seconds after that, a new wave of the same composition will come put.
TWENTY seconds after the door opens one Frozen Warlord will jump down into the arena. Twenty seconds later two more will follow.
DPS priority:
1. Dinomancer
2. Frozen Warlords. These do Mortal Strike on the adds' tank (reduces healing on them by 50%). They also summon Frozen Orbs which move slowly and keep casting Frozen Bolt at anyone within 8 yards. This does damage and slows them.
3. Risen Warriors and Risen Champions. These attack random players and apply Deadly Plague to them. It's a disease that can be dispelled.
4. Horridon
Strategy:
--> The new off-tank should grab the adds and keep them in one place so the raid can AoE them down.
--> Deadly Plague must be dispelled
--> Avoid Frozen Orbs.
And of course...
--> Deal with Dinomancer: Interrupt Dino-Mending, kill Dinomancer, use orb to slam Horridon into the door.
--> Avoid Horridon's Double Swipe and deal with Charge
TRANSITION TO PHASE 4: It's the same as before. We have 40 seconds to clean up adds, damage Horridon, move Horridon to the next door, and have tanks swap on Horridon.
FOURTH DOOR, SW -- AMANI TRIBE
FIVE seconds after the Amani door opens, one Protector and one Flame Caster will come out. Every 20 seconds after that a new wave of the same composition will come out.
TWENTY seconds after the door opens one Amani Warbear will jump down. Twenty seconds later two more bears will jump down.
DPS priority:
1. Dinomancer
2. Beast Shaman. After a bear dies its rider, a shaman, jumps off. The shaman casts Chain LIghtning (jumping spell), and Hex of Confusion (causes players to have a 50% chance to injure themselves), and Lightning Nova Totems (stationary, unkillable totems that do damage to anything within 8 yards).
3. Warbears. These swipe.
4. Protectors and Flame Casters. Protectors melee. Flame Casters keep casting Fireball, which can be interrupted.
5. Horridon
Strategy:
--> Interrupt Fireball by the Flame Casters.
--> Spread 5 yards apart to keep Chain Lightning from jumping
--> Remove Hex of Confusion
--> Don't have two shamans up at once (two totems are bad news). Kill one shaman, then kill the next bear.
--> Avoid Lightning Nova Totems.
And of course...
--> Deal with Dinomancer: Interrupt Dino-Mending, kill Dinomancer, use orb to slam Horridon into the door.
--> Avoid Horridon's Double Swipe and deal with Charge
TRANSITION TO PHASE 5: We have 40 seconds to clean up adds, damage Horridon, move Horridon to the CENTER of the room, and have tanks swap on Horridon.
FIFTH PHASE -- WAR GOD JALAK
One minute after the end of phase four -- so one minute after Horridon is driven into the fourth door -- the last phase will start:
Jalak will melee a tank and will keep using Bestial Cry, which deals heavy physical damage to all raid members. It applies a stacking debuff that increases the damage of subsequent casts of Bestial Cry by 25%. When Jalak dies, Horridon enrages. He attacks 50% faster and does 100% increased damage.
Horridon will still be doing Double Swipe, Charge, and Triple Puncture during this phase.
Strategy:
--> We need to kill Jalak (who will be tanked by the current off-tank), then kill Horridon
--> We'll use all available cooldowns to burn Jalak down. Healers will need to use healing cooldowns to keep the raid alive.
--> We'll stack to facilitate group heals.
--> Players targeted by Charge must leave the group so Horridon doesn't Double Swipe the raid.
--> Once Jalak is down Horridon will enrage and damage on the tank will be EXTREMELY high. Single-target healing cooldowns should be used now.
Pro Tip: Jalak can be DISARMED, so we can set up a disarm rotation on him. This will reduce the damage from Bestial Cry. It may even be possible to survive long enough to kill Horridon first.
We will use Bloodlust to burn down Jalak.