|
 |
 |
| Permalink to this page |
Northrend Beasts Strategy Guide |
| by Nellorae |
| This is the main guide for this boss. We will attempt to keep it up to date, so feedback is appreciated. This is copyright material. Please respect the work of the author and ourselves and do not copy it. |
|
Your raid must battle against a vicious magnataur... conquer not one, but two jormungar worms, outmaneuver a ruthless mountain snow yeti; and all without stopping to replenish resources.
The Northrend Beasts are the first foes your raid will face in the Trial of the Crusader, within the Coliseum found at the Argent Tournament grounds in northern Icecrown. To attempt this encounter, it is recommended that the overwhelming majority of your raid be comprised of characters with gear around tier 8 or equivalent (average item level of 213 for 10 man, 232 for 25 man), in order to meet the damage and healing thresholds of the fights.
Composition
10 Man
2 tanks - Both will need to serve as main tank (MT) at different points.
3 healers - All healers will need to be capable of strong tank healing and fast raid patch-up. It's possible to use only two, but since none of the fights are a race, it makes for a smoother run to just bring 3. Assign 1 to focus on each tank, and the third to focus on the raid. Because of the possibility for healers to be hit with a Snowbold Vassal on Gormok, the frequent movement that is necessary on Acidmaw/Dreadscale, and the possibility for them to be frozen in place during Icehowl, it will be vital that all of the healers also cover for each other's duties when needed.
5 DPS - No particular classes stand out; just bring the best group you can gather. It can be beneficial to gather DPS within one buff set (ie. all casters or all physical damage), but it's in no way necessary since there is no harsh timer to be met.
25 man
2 tanks - Both will need to serve as MT at different points.
5-6 healers - You need at least 2 strong tank healers, at least 2 strong raid healers, and 1-2 more healers capable of switching tasks as your raid progresses through the different beasts. Because of the possibility for healers to be hit with a Snowbold Vassal on Gormok, the frequent movement that is necessary on Acidmaw/Dreadscale, and the possibility for them to be frozen in place during Icehowl, it will be vital that all of the healers also cover for each other's duties when needed.
17-18 DPS - Bring a good balance between melee and ranged DPS: varied enough to cover all the buff types to maximize output.
Raid Preparation
Before talking to Barrett Ramsey to begin the encounter, make sure to work out the following:
- Tanks will need to have arranged who will tank first during Gormok, who will be the mobile tank and who will be the stationary tank during Acidmaw/Dreadscale, and who will tank Icehowl.
- Healers will need to work out who will be focused on healing tanks, and who will be focused on healing the rest of the raid. These priorities can stand throughout all three fights, with the understanding that they are areas of focus, not strict assignments. All healers will need to cover each other's duties at some point or another.
- Remind the raid at large of critical duties (and re-remind them during the brief moments between each fight), such as:
- Watch for fires (and move out of them) during Gormok.
- Focus-fire down Snowbold Vassals as quickly as possible during Gormok.
- Stay behind both Acidmaw and Dreadscale at all times during the fight with them.
- Stay spread out as much as possible during Acidmaw/Dreadscale, and move intelligently when they have Burning Bile so as to do as little damage as possible to their fellow raiders.
- Be prepared to call out if they have Paralytic Toxin, so someone with Burning Bile can come un-paralyze them, during the fight with Acidmaw.
- Stay spread all the way around Icehowl, making sure healers are distributed away from each other.
- Be very vigilant following a Massive Crash during the fight with Icehowl, and run out of the way of his Charge if needed, or toward where he will be stunned if not, so as to maximize DPS while he is taking extra damage and then recover positioning as fast as possible.
Special Considerations
Bringing a hunter can be useful while learning, in case someone doesn't move out of Icehowl's way in time; Tranquillizing Shot removes the enrage effect he gains when he smashes someone to death.
Having some form of disarm effect can be very helpful on Gormok, to keep Impale from stacking so quickly.
Because combat doesn't break between the beasts, it is pretty important to have some form of replenishment available to the raid.
Gormok the Impaler
2.2 million HP in 10 man; 8.9 million HP in 25 man.
Abilities
Melee swings for ~8,000 in 10 man and ~12,000 in 25 man, on an appropriately geared tank.
Impale Details - This is an instant cast ability that inflicts physical damage (1,700 to 2,300 in 10 man; 2,200 to 2,800 in 25 man), and leaves a stacking DoT which ticks for the same amount every 2 seconds, for 30 seconds in 10 man and 40 seconds in 25 man. This ability stacks up to 10 times. The ability does not have a cooldown, but is generally only used once every 8-10 seconds or so. Note: Gormok can be disarmed, and will not be able to use Impale until he regains his weapon; this is a good way to help increase the time between when the tanks have to swap, since, each time they Taunt him, it increases his damage.
Staggering Stomp (Details) - This is a 0.5 second cast time ability that inflicts physical damage (7,800 to 8,200 in 10 man; 11,700 to 12,300 in 25 man) to all enemies within 15 yards of Gormok, and interrupts spell casting, locking the school for 8 seconds. The ability does not have a cooldown, but is generally only used once every 20-25 seconds or so.
Rising Anger (Details) - This increases all damage dealt by 15%. This buff is applied to Gormok once by each Snowbold Vassal, when Gormok throws it at a player.
Snowbold Vassal
135k HP in 10 man; 540k HP in 25 man.
Gormok has several of these to throw (4 in 10 man; 5 in 25 man), and will toss one onto a player roughly every 15-30 seconds until he runs out. They latch onto the raid member, rendering them pretty much unable to do anything.
The Snowbold Vassals have the following abilities:
They melee swing for ~800 in 10 man, ~1800 in 25 man.
Batter (Details) - This inflicts melee damage, interrupts spell casting and locks the school for 5 seconds. It is used on the raid member to which the add is attached.
Fire Bomb (Details) - The Snowbold Vassal tosses a fire patch at a random raid member, which inflicts fire damage (4,800 to 6,200) every second to all enemies within it (8 yard diameter).
Head Crack (Details) - This stuns the player for 5 seconds. It is used on the raid member to which the Snowbold Vassal is attached.
Strategy
Gormok enters the Coliseum floor before he is attackable, so the raid should take advantage of the time during the NPC speech announcing him to quickly get into position. As soon as he is done being announced, he will run at your raid and attack, if you aren't already in position by him.
As soon as he can be hit, have the first tank Taunt him and start the encounter. As soon as the tank is ready, DPS begins. Gormok will begin applying stacks of Impale every few seconds if not disarmed, and also using his Staggering Stomp. All ranged DPS and healers should make sure to stay far enough away from Gormok to avoid being hit by Staggering Stomp.
Gormok will also periodically throw a Snowbold Vassal onto a random raid member, which needs to be immediately focus-fired down (by all DPS in 10 man, by all ranged DPS in 25 man). Even the tank not currently tanking Gormok is a valid target for these; be wary of this. Once Snowbold Vassals begin to appear, until the last one is dead, the raid will also need to watch for the Fire Bomb patches that they toss out, and move quickly out of them.
Once the first tank has 2-3 stacks of Impale (perhaps 4 in 25 man if your healers can handle the damage), then the second tank should Taunt Gormok. The stacks should wear off the first tank about the same time they've built to 2-3 on the second tank, so the first tank Taunts Gormok as soon as his/her stacks of Impale are gone. If you have someone disarming Gormok, the tanks just wait to Taunt off each other until the current tank has 3 stacks of Impale. The two tanks continue to swap in this fashion until Gormok is dead.
When Gormok dies, the Coliseum doors open immediately, admitting Acidmaw and Dreadscale.
Acidmaw and Dreadscale
Each of them have 1.2 million HP in 10 man; 5 million HP in 25 man.
Acidmaw Abilities
Acidmaw melees for ~8,500 in 10 man and ~18,000 in 25 man, on an appropriately geared tank.
Enrage (Details) - If Dreadscale dies first, all of Acidmaw's attacks and abilities will deal 50% more damage.
When Stationary
Acid Spit (Details) - Acidmaw hits a random raid member with nature damage (5,000 to 5,900 in 10 man; 6,500 to 7,500 in 25 man).
Paralytic Spray (Details) - This hits a random raid member (and any other players within 10 yards of that raid member) with nature damage (6,900 to 8,000), and injects them with *Paralytic Toxin.
Sweep (Details) - This is an AoE that hits anyone within 15 yards of Acidmaw for physical damage (6,900 to 8,000) and knocks them back.
When Mobile
Acidic Spew (Details) - Acidmaw spews acid all over raid members in a 30 degree frontal cone that extends 100 yards. This ability is instant, but the damage is ongoing; 10 ticks over 2.5 seconds to those who remain in the cone of effect. Each tick is nature damage (2,800 to 3,300 in 10 man; 3,700 to 4,300 in 25 man).
Paralytic Bite (Details) - This hits Acidmaw's current target (the tank) with nature damage (7,900 to 9,200 in 10 man; 11,100 to 12,900 in 25 man) and injects him/her with *Paralytic Toxin.
Slime Pool (Details) - This spawns a pool of poison slime underneath Acidmaw. The Slime Pool grows in size for 30 seconds. Any raid member standing in the pool will be hit with nature damage (~2000) every second they remain in the pool.
* Paralytic Toxin (Details) - This is a debuff placed on players hit by Paralytic Bite or Paralytic Spray which inflicts 3,000 nature damage and reduces movement speed by 10% every 2 seconds. It lasts for 60 seconds, or until removed by Burning Bile.
Dreadscale Abilities
Dreadscale melee swings for ~8,000 in 10 man and ~17,000 in 25 man, on an appropriately geared tank.
Enrage (Details) - If Acidmaw dies first, all of Dreadscale's attacks and abilities will deal 50% more damage.
When Stationary
Fire Spit (Details) - Dreadscale hits a random raid member with fire damage (5,000 to 5,900 in 10 man; 6,500 to 7,500 in 25 man).
Burning Spray (Details) - This hits a random raid member (and any other players within 10 yards of that raid member) with fire damage (6,900 to 8,000), and injects them with *Burning Bile.
Sweep (Details) - This is an AoE that hits anyone within 15 yards of Acidmaw for physical damage (6,900 to 8,000) and knocks them back.
When Mobile
Burning Bite (Details) - This hits Dreadscale's current target (the tank) with fire damage (7,900 to 9,200 in 10 man; 11,100 to 12,900 in 25 man) and injects him/her with *Burning Bile.
Molten Spew (Details) - Dreadscale spews lava all over raid members in a 30 degree frontal cone that extends 100 yards. This ability is instant, but the damage is ongoing; 10 ticks over 2.5 seconds to those who remain in the cone of effect. Each tick is fire damage (2,800 to 3,300 in 10 man; 3,700 to 4,300 in 25 man).
Slime Pool (Details) - This spawns a pool of poison slime underneath Dreadscale. The Slime Pool grows in size for 30 seconds. Any raid member standing in the pool will be hit with nature damage (~2000) every second they remain in the pool.
*Burning Bile (Details) - This is a debuff applied to any raid member hit by Burning Bite or Burning Spray which hits the target and any other raid members within 10 yards of that person for 3,200 to 3,700 fire damage every 2 seconds. Each tick removes Paralytic Toxin from those near enough to be hit. It lasts for 24 seconds.
Strategy
Make sure that, before you begin the encounter, you have the tanks work out who will be the mobile tank, and who will be the stationary one. If one of your tanks is better at magical damage tanking than the other, have them mobile tank, as the largest source of damage on tanks is from Acidic/Molten Spew. Also, the damage from the Slime Pools is magical.
When Gormok dies, the two jormungar will rush into the Coliseum. Dreadscale will come in first, and should be picked up by one tank, who needs to immediately face the worm away from the raid, and begin kiting him around the edge of the floor as Slime Pools appear beneath him. Just a couple of seconds after Dreadscale appears, Acidmaw will burst out of the ground. There is a dust cloud animation on the ground while he is under it; everyone should be sure to stand clear, because he will one-shot-kill any DPS players or healers standing on top of him when he emerges. The second tank will need to Taunt Acidmaw, again being sure to face him away from the raid.
Assign a group of 4-5 ranged DPS to attack Dreadscale while the rest of the raid is concentrating on burning down Acidmaw (kill Acidmaw first because, if Dreadscale dies first, your raid will be getting hit with Paralytic Toxin with no way to remove it).
About 35-40 seconds into the fight, both jormungar will burrow into the ground, and move randomly around the Coliseum floor. Again, there will be dust cloud animations indicating their positions, and raid members need to make sure to avoid them. Once the two reemerge, they will have swapped roles; Dreadscale will stand stationary, and Acidmaw will be mobile.
So, the tanks need to swap roles as well. The mobile tank will need to pick Acidmaw up quickly, and begin kiting him along the outside of the floor, just as with Dreadscale before. The stationary tank will need to pick up Dreadscale, and face him away from the raid, just as he/she did before with Acidmaw.
At this point, because Acidmaw will begin dropping Slime Pools, melee DPS should move over to Dreadscale. All ranged DPS (including the 4-5 that were damaging Dreadscale before the burrowing) should continue to kill Acidmaw.
Throughout the fight:
- Make sure all ranged DPS and healers are staying spread out, so as to minimize damage from Burning Bile.
- Make sure everyone but the tank stays behind the stationary jormungar, so they don't get hit with Paralytic/Burning Spray.
- Make sure those with Burning Bile know to move toward anyone with Paralytic Toxin, to remove it. Make sure they also know to avoid others as much as possible, so they don't hurt more people than they need to.
- Make sure those who get Paralytic Toxin move toward a Burning Bile carrier while they can still move, and call it out if they can no longer move.
For a reasonably well geared raid (ie. in partial to full tier 8 or equivalent), Acidmaw will likely die before the two jormungar burrow again. If he doesn't, then the tanks will need to swap roles again, and the DPS will need to resume damage on the targets they had at the beginning of the encounter.
When Acidmaw does die, healers will need to watch the tank handling Dreadscale because of the increased damage he will be taking as Dreadscale enrages. If Acidmaw dies while Dreadscale is in his mobile phase (which is likely), watch out especially for Molten Spew, and don't let the tank die to it. The raid will take higher damage too. Also, melee will need to take care that they don't kill themselves by standing in a Slime Pool as they try to finish off Dreadscale.
If Acidmaw dies while Dreadscale is in his stationary phase, then healers will need to watch not only the tank, but all of the melee as well, and top them up quickly after each enrage-boosted Sweep.
As soon as Dreadscale dies, Icehowl will be let loose upon your raid.
Icehowl
Icehowl has 3.5 million HP in 10 man; 13.3 million HP in 25 man.
Abilities
Icehowl melee swings for ~5,500 in 10 man and ~12,000 in 25 man.
Ferocious Butt (Details) - Icehowl head butts his current target, causing a large spike of physical damage (60,000 to 69,900 in 10 man; 69,400 to 80,700 in 25 man) and stunning the target for 3 seconds.
Arctic Breath (Details) - This deals frost damage (3,000 in 10 man; 4,000 in 25 man) every second for 5 seconds to a random raid member and all other raid members within a 45 degree cone between the boss and his target. It stuns and silences targets for the duration of the spell.
Whirl (Details) - This inflicts physical damage (9,200 to 10,700 in 10 man; 12,900 to 15,000 in 25 man) to all players within 15 yards of Icehowl, and knocks them back.
Massive Crash (Details) - This inflicts physical damage (7,400 to 8,600 in 10 man; 10,200 to 11,800 in 25 man) to all raid members, knocks them to the walls of the Coliseum, and stuns them for 7 seconds. When the stun wears off, all players receive Surge of Adrenaline. After every Massive Crash, Icehowl immediately chooses a victim and prepares to charge ("Trample", below).
Surge of Adrenaline (Details) - This grants +50% movement speed for 8 seconds.
Trample (Details) - Icehowl charges at the location of a random raid member. Does 50,000 unmitigateable damage to anyone in its path, and gains Frothing Rage if anyone dies. If nobody dies, Icehowl smashes into the wall and is instead affected by Staggered Daze for 15 seconds.
The charge begins to happen immediately after Massive Crash. Icehowl immediately picks his target for Trample, but then because he has to face them, complete the animation to hop back, and then the animation to charge all the way forward, the actual smack into the wall happens about a second after the stun from Massive Crash has faded. But, if you wait until then to pay attention, you will have missed your chance to move in time.
Staggered Daze (Details) - This increases all damage taken by 100% for 15 seconds. Icehowl is stunned for the duration.
Frothing Rage (Details) - This increases physical damage dealt and attack speed by 50% for 15 seconds. It is an Enrage effect.
Strategy
Icehowl is quite straightforward, mechanically. Have a tank pick him up and take him to the centre of the floor. Have healers and ranged DPS spread all around him, at max range as much as possible to avoid being hit with Whirl, and have melee DPS spread around the perimeter of his hitbox (without getting in front of him). This spread is to minimize how many raiders get caught in an Arctic Breath at any given time it might be cast.
Make sure the tank stays topped off at all times, especially after taking a Ferocious Butt hit. It may be helpful to utilize the second tank in your raid to Taunt Icehowl if the first one runs out of defensive cooldowns.
Also make sure that those hit with Whirl and Arctic Breath get healed up quickly. Healers will all need to multi-task, being ready to cover for any other healer that might get caught in the Arctic Breath.
When Icehowl uses Massive Crash and throws the raid to the walls, everyone should watch for the raid warning that announces his target for Trample, as well as watching which way he faces. If he targets you, or faces your general direction, get ready to run sideways as fast as you can when you can move again. As the stun wears off the raid, Icehowl will hop backwards, and then rush forward in the direction he was facing, all the way to the spot on the wall where his target was standing. If everyone gets out of the way like they should, then he crashes head first into the wall, and enters a Staggering Daze, taking increased damage and giving the raid time to reposition themselves. However, if the targeted raider is still there, or anyone else moves into the path of his charge to the wall, Icehowl will Trample them, killing them instantly and becoming enraged with the effects of Frothing Rage. A hunter can remove this enrage with Tranquillizing Shot. Otherwise, you can just chain cast heals on the tank as Icehowl is picked back up.
The tank should move Icehowl back into the middle of the room, and the raid should spread back out around him. Simply continue DPS until the next Massive Crash, recover from it, and repeat. With an appropriately geared raid, it will take somewhere around 3 properly executed Massive Crash rotations before he is dead.
Trial of the Grand Crusader (Hard Mode)
While the basic strategies for each of the beasts remain the same, there are small changes to the mechanics of each battle that add quite a bit of difficulty. In general, all of the beasts' abilities and spells hit ~50% harder, and all of them have ~50% more health. This means that all reaction times will need to be faster, your raid will likely need a bit more gear to keep up, and mistakes in positioning are much more deadly.
The biggest change is that your raid only has 2 minutes and 30 seconds to finish each phase of the fight, because subsequent beasts will enter the arena at that point whether their predecessor is dead or not. Icehowl has the same 2:30 timer as Gormok and the jormungar worms, but it is enforced via a hard enrage since there are no beasts after him. Additional mechanics changes are outlined below.
Gormok the Impaler
Gormok is now immune to disarm effects. For the 10 man version of the fight, this doesn't require a change in strategy, just better geared tanks and more healing. For the 25 man version, your raid might want to switch to using a 3 tank rotation to insure Impale falls off properly.
Gormok throws Snowbold Vassals faster, and they have more health, so the DPS required to keep up with killing them is higher. This also adds more fires to dodge. It may be necessary to have a couple of melee DPS help the ranged players burn these down.
The Fire Bombs thrown by Snowbold Vassals will now apply a stacking DoT by the same name, increasing the raid healing requirements, and making it critical that everyone stays spread out so the Fire Bomb only hits one person if at all possible.
Fire Bomb DoT details
(10 man - Details)
(25 man - Details)
The fire patches left on the ground by the thrown bomb will add a stack of this Fire Bomb debuff once each second. The DoT itself also ticks once each second, so a player who takes longer than 2 seconds to be clear of the fire will almost assuredly die, or distract your healers to the point where a tank or someone else dies. Everyone must be on their toes and ready to move at all times.
Currently, if the target of a Fire Bomb has Levitate on them when they get hit, the Levitate will be broken and the player will take a hit of fire damage, but no fire patch will appear on the ground, and the person will not receive a Fire Bomb DoT. It seems probable that using Levitate like this will be hot-fixed out but, until then, it does make the phase much easier.
Acidmaw and Dreadscale
There are no major mechanics changes, just harder hitting abilities and more health on both jormungar. The major challenge with this portion of the fight is handling Paralytic Toxin and Burning Bile properly. They are handled the same as in the normal version, but it must be done flawlessly. Every single person must be on the ball with moving when needed, because the abilities hit hard enough that an extra second taken to remove Paralytic Toxin, or get away from your raid-mates if you are carrying Burning Bile, will likely mean someone's death. And someone's death will likely mean a wipe as your raid falls behind the DPS or healing needed to keep up with the damage and timer.
Icehowl
The raid no longer receives Surge of Adrenaline following Icehowl's Massive Crash. Reaction times must be faster in order to live through the Trample.
Tranquilizing Shot no longer removes Icehowl's Frothing Rage, should he successfully Trample someone. This means that everyone needs to be extra careful to get out of Icehowl's way, because the damage he does while under the effects of Frothing Rage will almost certainly cause a wipe.
|
|
|
|
|
|
<- Back to The Curator Guide By coderx
|
