Jhessail's Raid Encounter Tips for Mages
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Jhessail's Raid Encounter Tips for Mages
Yay, I'm transferring 'em from the forum to here so it'll be less of an pain-in-the-cute-butt for Cutiepie to update&edit them as necessary. I've done Kara, Gruul, Maggy, SSC, TK, MH and BT up to Bloodboil. Others, please add remaining BT and Sunwell bosses when you got the time and inspiration. Also, talent-specific tips should go to another page or something.
These are sorted by Instance - so:
Karazhan
Attumen the Huntsman
This is easy fight, simple tank & spank. Decurse atleast the tanks. If whole raid is poorly geared, you should decurse all that you can, though the debuff isn't deadly with decent healers.
If you are poorly geared, this will be a mana-intensive fight. So, save manastones at the start, use Evocation when you have room for it, after that start popping manastones and even potions if your mana pool is under 8k.
Moroes
Pure DPS-fight. Use heavy CD's on the first adds that get killed so they go down faster (PoM+Pyro yay!). CD's will come back in time to nail Moroes himself for good.
Quite mana-intensive fight aswell, unless you are well-geared - so start using manastones as soon as you have room. Personally, I start from the lesser ones so I can get the cooldown running as fast as possible.
If panic strikes, you can frost nova the adds but not Moroes himself.
Ice Block removes Garrote.
Counter Spell works for teh casting adds, though they can't be silenced, so if you have ImpCS, you'll see the IMMUNE text anyway.
Maiden of Virtue
Let tank get proper aggro. Nuke. Eat manastones. That simple. If you are decently geared, you won't even need the stones.
Opera Event
All three are quite mana-easy, so use cd's for healthstones and -pots. Remember, dead mage makes no deepee-ess!
Big Bad Wolf
Equip your running shoes. Go in the middle and DPS from there - you can just use your 2nd mouse button to turn around so your spells will land. Unless you use AM incase you turn automagically!
Romeo & Juliet
Remember to switch target when raid leader calls. Simple.
Oz
Firemage, focus purely on Strawman. Otherwise, simple fight, though it looks chaotic.
Nightbane
Avoid the burning spots on the ground! Way too many people die on those - there's no excuse if a spot kills you! Grrr!
Let tank get proper aggro, then you can chain-cast quite freely. Very, very mana-heavy fight. Use evocation at the start, so you'll have the cd at the end again (unless overall dps is quite high but then you don't need it 2nd time anyway!) You will most likely have to chain-chug both stones and pots as cd's allow it - unless you have a shadowpriest with you. Then, kindly ask that she'd use VT instead of VE.
Skellies, DON'T AOE WHEN THEY COME! In fact, better not to aoe at all. Tank is very hard pressed to get 'em all properly and they hit like a truck on us clothies. Better to kill them one-by-one as they whack tincans and rouges and whatelse! Remember that you can't remain far from the skellies and rest of the raid or Nightbane will start fireballing you to pieces.
Oh and don't steal aggro. It's 99% wipe if you steal aggro. But that's like Mage 101 thing and learned in UBRS like all good things :)
The Curator
Let locktards be the flare soakers. Use short-cast time spells on flares and save heavy artillery on Curator for use during it's evocation. (PoM+Pyro yay!)
Not very mana-heavy fight, few mana stones should see you through. If you have good group, you can concentrate on Curator for the whole time, ignoring the flares completely. He does take decent damage from us even outside evocation.
Illihoof
I HATE HIM!
And you will hate him too.
Depending on raid composition, you will either aoe or nuke. So, aoe the imps when it's called for (use flamestrike+blizzard combo for max damage). Cast max-rank Fire Ward before the combo though since some imps will fireball you after you start the aoe and might ruin your blizzard.
Save all stone&potion cd's for mana. You WILL need it. Oh and make macro to target his chains for easier targeting and blast it as quick as possible. (PoM+Pyro yay!)
If imps are overwhelming, do the kamikaze-aoe-run:
1) Cast a Flamestrike on a mass of imps 2) Cast Fireward & Mana Shield 3) Run into that mass 4) Cast Blastwave while running, since it has a medium range 5) Spam Arcane Explosion while running through imps until dead or oom.
I've actually survived runs like that a few times, so if you have evocation up, you can do the amok-run, then evocate afterwards and again concentrate on Illihoof! That's lovely, if you can pull it off!
OR if there's a well-geared lock, you'll be just nuking Illihoof and killing chains. Too easy.
Shade of Aran
Easy as pie. Use CS on his frostbolt or fireball. Fire Ward works nicely against Pyroblast, though you have to cast it just before he sheeps and evocates so it's duration would last until the aoe-pyroblast (We want aoe-pyroblast!.
General strategy recommends using Frost Ward at all times. Waste of mana, I say - but if you are frostie you won't run out of mana ever anyway so... :lol:
Most likely your evocation will be ruined by his blizzard. You can evocate through Flame Wreath, so that's a good time to use it! No pots really needed unless your mana-pool really sucks, so stones should see you safely through.
Netherspite
You won't have time to go oom really. Either you wipe or kill him before that happens.
Try to time your heavy spells with the damage-beam if possible. Makes nice extra dps, that's useful.
Though enrage is 9 mins away, I atleast never were near oom with only stone-munching.
Prince
Easy as pie. It's all about the hips, baby! Er... position, that is!
Mana-heavy fight, as you'll be chain-casting almost from the start. Have never been near stealing aggro, so no worries. Use evo at the start, since there are no elementals yet, then start eating stones and potions. Use all heavy CD's at the beginning aswell, so you'll have them back in the start of P3 for extra nuking-power.
Nothing special otherwise. Just remember to move when needed and stay far away from the nastie!
Gruul's Lair
Trash
Just remember to hug the butts and CS the heals.
Maulgar
Fun fun fun!
You are either A) normal dps OR B) a spell-stealing tank! YAY!
A) Kill stuff according to MA's calls. Remember to CS priestie's heals. I've found it good to save the cooldown for that one time that all the kick/shield-bash/whateverstupidmeleeability are on cd or asleep or sum'thing! So, don't blow it the second he starts the heal, wait until it's nearly finished, then use the instant-counter spell macro!
B) Get all the +sta gear you can get. Fire-resist is useless. +Hit is a must, two resisted spellsteals in-a-row is trouble, three is a certain wipe. So stack up on those two. You must have over 10k hitpoints, raidbuffed - preferably 12k. You don't need maxed out hit-rating but it wouldn't hurt at all. Personally, I tanked him once at ~80 hit rating and it was too low. Also, [Spicy Hot Talbuk] is your friend here!
Pull with PoM+Pyro (yay!) or frostbolt/fireball and then just spam spell-steal and damage-spells on him, while trying to conservate your mana. That's right, you are risking to go OOM because your tanking gear neglects +int. So, only cast fireballs or frostbolts and spellsteal when your shield is about to go away. Don't waste mana or concentration on anything else!
Gruul
Awareness and heavy damage.
Those two will decide this fight. You need to be aware when the rock-rain is hurting you, when the Grasp is coming and when the Silence is coming. So, don't fall into the apathy of chain-casting the same spell over and over again - keep an eye on those BigWigs timers!
Amplify everyone you can, though raidleader should tell you that. IF there's more than one mage in raid, share responsibility for MT's and OT's amp between you and put him/her in your focus. That way you can see when he/she is almost out of amplify and you can go recast it! Or Use Smartbuff
Quite mana-heavy fight, so again, use evo at the beginning.
Make sure you don't trigger your trinkets or combustion etc just before his aoe-silence hits. What a wasted possibility for extra-damage! :cry:
And keep your range, melee's will torch your robe if you get inside Fireblast range (In other words, that's too close for comfort)
Magtheridon's Lair
Trash
They hurt. Seriously, they cause easy wipes for foolish raiders. So: -Raidleader gives you a mark, you keep that mark as your target all-the-time until it's dead! Silence him when he's casting volley, don't waste the cd on single-target spells. Then, just dps 'em down and re-cast CS as necessary. Don't try to do the target/focus-juggle (ie. focus on your mark, CS, then switch target to main raid-target to kill it, whle keeping eye on focus), there's just too much of a chance to miss a volley.
Magtheridon
Fun fun fun at the start but cube's are a pain in the a*s!
Kill tanked orcs in proper order and remember, you can frost nova the infernals if necessary. But don't FN one if it's going to a hunter's trap!
After killing the channelers, it's simple tank&spank, though you have to remember your cube-fondling if that's your duty aswell. DON'T FORGET THE CUBE!!!
Mana-heavy fight - bring pots! Use Evo after all channelers have been killed and AFTER Maggy has thrown you around. You should have plenty of empty mana-bar to fill...
SSC
Hydross
Frosties, sorry - You'll have to use AM when he's in pure form. Careful of threat here, one good fireball crit when he's about to be transformed, ignite rolls off, you got threat, raid gets extra adds, wham bam -> lotsa repairbills to pay Mr.UnknownGnomeWhoLovesFire
If adds are tanked near enough each other, it's worth to do Flamestrike/Blizzard-combo on tainted ones (obviously leave the blizz off for the pure ones). Though, no matter what, you should NOT go running amonst the elementals so you can use Blastwave, Dragon's Breath, Arcane Explosion or whatelse!
Otherwise, tank&spank from our perspective - not that mana heavy either. Stones and evo will see you through.
Lurker
Two things: Avoid spout and keep your naga sheeped.
That't about it. Not very mana-heavy fight, so use evo when needed and save either pot OR stone cd for health, since the adds are gonna hurt you atleast some and it's not always possible for healers to keep you up.
And nifty tip, you can cast spells on Lurker while you are underwater. Very good so won't waste trinket-time or keeping scorch-debuff up. But you can't sheep your naga underwater - LOS issue.
Leotheras
Stop casting when he starts doing whirlwind and just run away. WW can easily kill you so don't risk it. Scorch-debuff stays up through the WW without recasting during it.
Inner Demons - treat 'em like you are in PvP. 'nuff said, should be no problems. If you are unsure about yourself, save trinkets or other cd's for that possibility.
At P3, be very careful, it's an easy wipe if you think you have bagged the fight and don't avoid WW's anymore.
Quite mana-intensive fight, so bring pots and all stones!
Karathress
Not much to say about this one. I'll add more later, though it looks pretty straightforward fight. And it is. Just remember the kill-order and whack some totems every now and then. Eat stones and chug pots. Mana needed, healypots not.
Morogrim
Lots of AOE and no threat-wipes. Yup, that means:
Extremely mana-heavy fight.
Use flamestrike/blizz combo on murlocs when called. Start casting Flamestrike when the "Ready the AOE" -call comes. Casting should finish when they call for the aoe.
Use evo at the start as soon as you'll get full mana from it, then start with the stones and pots. Or pray that you are in the same group with a VT-shadowpriest
Stealing threat from tank is quite impossible, especially after the first murloc wave, so freely use all trinkets and cd's. Though remember that it's not useful to burn through all your mana when he's still at 60%...
Cast Slow Fall when Watery Grave sends you flying - no falling damage. Helps healers and makes sure you'll live through the wet experience!
Lady Vashj
Use evo as soon as you get full use from it. Which is right about when Vashj's health is at ~70-72% if you are fire. AFter evo finishes, P2 usually starts. Eat manastones during P2 and save pot-cd for health just incase. If you die during P2, it's prolly a wipe. NO ON CAN DIE DURING P2!!!
Make sure your partner in stair-killing understands that you prefer standing still. Average crit from fireball takes 50-70% health off from a elemental, so that's way better than running around casting fireblast or scorch. Save the fireblast cd on striders when they pass you. Hunter is an excellent partner here since they can move around and still do fine dps. Don't waste time&mana on an elemental that's under 30% if your partner is already killing it and it's not near Vashj.
P3 - just chain-casting, remember to avoid green goo. It appears first as a dark green capsule/node on the ground before it explodes into a pool. So move, move, move when you see the capsule! Make sure spell detail is high so you can actually see them.
Evocation should be back up before or at least during P3 so it's a good way to get mana back! Try to also save CD's during P2 so you'll have them for P3.
TK
Al'ar
Easy as pie. Though if you are fire, you need to use AM since the stupid birdie is 100% immune to fire as are his adds. Personally, I prefer starting with Frostbolt, since I have a trinket on macro on it and then spam Arcane Missiles for better DPS. If facing mana-issues, switch AM's with Frostbolts.
If you are assigned on add-killing in P2, make sure to keep your distance. The birdies blow up when they die - causing 11k or more damage. So, spam AM/FrB from far enough.
There's 2 spots to stand during P1, from those 2 spots you can always reach 2 of the 4 platforms. They are near the flags, pretty easy to find - between two tankins spots. And using AM, your toon will automagically turn when the birdy flies, so you don't even have to turn around!
Popping Fireward often IS actually helpful, can save you some nasty firedamage. Doesn't turn winter into summer but *shrugs* Basically you don't need it unless somehow you are low on health and pot/stone is on cooldown.
Void Reaver
Avoiding the orbs is a must. You don't want to be silenced! Use bandages if you get silenced, though. Spacing is the key - you need to be far enough from people on both sides. If there's plenty of room, you only have to avoid your own orbs. A fact that helps your DPS a'plenty! Also, forget the flying orbs, graphics are NOT synched with the actual explosions. Always look for the explosion on your former spot before returning to it.
No risk of getting aggro, so no need to pull your punches. Manastones and evo should see you through just fine - or [Bottled Nethergon Energy].
Solarian
Okey, fun fight!
Start with your heavy cd's immediatly (well, after scorch-debuff has stacked 5 times if you are fire). Save evocation when you need it and use it just before Solarian splits. You can use it fully, without interrupting dps.
AOE against the adds: Flamestrike+Blizz combo - finish with a blastwave or arcane explosion. No use trying to see if adds are up, use instant aoe to see if anything is alive nearby - since the damage-numbers give 'em away. Against common sense, you need to start the aoe pretty fast - but keep Iceblock ready just in case!
Remember to use CS on priests if it looks like they are getting a heal off. Shouldn't be needed but you never know if rouges are asleep...
Other than that, just 110% focus on BigWigs so you don't miss getting the bomb - one bomb in raid and it's a wipe! Remember SolarianAlarm - there's lots of stuff going on constantly so BigWigs is easily overlooken.
Unless you are in a group with a shaddy or shammy, it IS quite mana heavy, what with lots of aoe and stuff. Start using stones from the start. Personally I prefer to start with the smalles one to get the CD running and proceed towards Mana Emerald. Pots are also needed.
Kael'Thalas
Allrighty, this is a complex one. I'll put tips by phases. Firstly, flask+oil+foodbuff is really needed here!
P1
Easy as pie. Slow, slow, slow dps - no nuking! Just keep your distance from ALL the adds so remember to move when needed. Don't use manastones, you will have time between adds to get mana back AND don't waste CD's unless you are absolutely sure you will get them back for P2 - like +dmg trinkets. And don't be Skalle and get feared through the locked doors... though if you do, you can blink back to the action! Yay for pirate-Skalle!
P2
If you aren't in a group with a shaddy, pop stones and pots. Even with a shadowpriest, stones and pots will most likely be needed.
Also, you might get assigned to Weapons Delivery Service! In that case, you need to loot sword, shield and dagger and then run to your tank and give them to her.
Current killing order for mages:
1. Bow - it's usually tanked at NE corner, let hunter get aggro, then pop AP/Combustion and trinkets and nuke it dead. When is at ~3% or so, you can safely turn to other weapons since lock dots will kill it. Few precious seconds saved!
2. AOE - dagger, sword, staff, shield and axe are pretty bunched up now, cast Flamestrike on them (remember it has a dot too!), then run in with Blastwave (remember it reaches quite far!) then spam Arcane Explosion. Also, AE's range is not as tiny as often seems, so you don't have to get to the skin here... Most of the weapons CAN AND WILL one-shot you!
3. AOE ends when dagger, sword and staff are dead. Don't loot staff too early! You have time to loot it now. Axe and shield are nearly dead now, collect atleast [Staff of Disintegration] and equip it! Also, if needed, remember to loot sword, shield and dagger.
4. Single-target DPS remaining weapons, atleast the shield dead so you can also loot it if necessary - though Weapons Delivery to Tanks is more important than nuking!
P3
Adds respawn - YIKES! Thaladredd's Gaze Gaze Gaze Gaze Gaze! Watch out for it! So you need to kill the remaining weapons WHILE avoiding being inside melee-range. Also, watch the bitch-Capernicus and her flame-attacks. Another mage-hating fight with loads of movement.
Lots and lots of stuff happening, make sure you have max viewing distance so you can better see around AND atleast by now start popping stones and pots.
If you are running gear to tanks, that's NR.1 priority! So, instead of killing axe or nuking Thaladredd, run to your tank and trade her the stuff. Remember situational awareness! If you are gazed, you don't want to kite Thaladredd near an tank. Also if tank is gazed, you don't want to clutter her screen with an trade-window.
After gear-running, Thaladredd dying is of utmost importance. Remember Icelance and Fireblast - you can chug both on him while running away.
Now atleast we need to go crazy - the more adds are dead before Kael'thas activates, the better!
P4
Kael'thas activates and starts doing nasty things.
First, you should have following line in your main nuke macro:
Quote: /use Staff of Disintegration
There's no GCD or anything so you can spam it freely to keep the aura up at all times!
Killing order:
1. Remainin adds 2. Kael'thas Mana Shield when it gets up 3. Phoenix Eggs 4. Kael himself
And avoid the flamestrikes! They have larger range than the graphic seems - as with VR, don't trust the animation - when you see it, move WELL AWAY from it.
P5
This phase begins when Kael hits 50% life. He no longer casts Pyroblast but does the Gravitational Lapse or "swimming". Quite fun. You need to be separated from other people and remember to stay floating! Don't get on the floor or you will be sent flying again when the Lapse ends. Which hurts. Especially if you don't have Light Feathers for a Slow Fall...
You can and should be casting on Kael during lapse too. Just keep eating pots and stones and focus - almost at home!
MH
First, this place is uber-easy AFTER killing Sissyelf-Kael and whacking Fishybitchy. BUT - if you're a fresh-raider and you've skipped those two - VERY FUN - fights, do NOT think this place is a cakewalk. Even early waves have mobs that can one-shot us.
Rage Winterchill and Anetheron
EZ-MODE!
Just use stones and evo during waves if necessary and sheep necromances when needed. Boss himself is a cakewalk.
Kaz'rogal
Waves:
Sheep necromancers. Unless rouges spank it. Be aware of different mobs and the assist calls, it can be bit hectic. Mana should not be an issue between waves. When you see the opportunity, use heavy aoe. I prefer Flamestrike+Blizzard combo for maximum damage. There's enough time between waves to drink up.
Boss:
Just keep your distance so that his 15-yard shout won't affect you. Then nuke hard. For his Mark, you need full Emerald and 3 Super Mana potions and Evocation. You NEED to bring more pots though incase it's not a one-shot or unforeseen circumstances.
If you are low on mana and you know you'll blow up soon, GET AWAY FROM THE RAID!
Otherwise, nuke nuke nuke nuke!
Azgalor
Well, maybe not ez-mode but quite easy too.
For mages, there's nothing special. Remember to refresh Scorch or Arcane Blast early enough because of his aoe-silence.
Save pot/stone cd for health because that rain-of-fire HURTS! Also, FireWard+ManaShield works wonders here.
Otherwise, nuke nuke nuke!
Archimonde
This was written by Cutiepie instead of me, so I take no responsibility for bad puns ^^
All about surviving! And you're a very important part of keeping the entire raid alive! During this encounter you have to focus on curing raidmembers from Archimondes Grip of the Legion.
Other then that it's just staying alive and avoiding doomfires and using your Tears of the Goddess whenever you're airbursted.
Dealing damage here is your least concern but whenever you're safe from the horrors of Archimonde you should deal as much damage as possible, BUT if you see someone getting cursed interrupt whatever cast you're doing and cast Remove Lesser Curse directly, you never know if you're the only decurser in range or not and if you let someone die Archimonde will gain one of these three Soul Charges:
(Red) Soul Charge (Priest, Paladin, Warlock) Deals 4500 fire damage to everyone in a 200 yard radius, as well as silencing them for 4 seconds.
(Yellow) Soul Charge (Warrior, Rogue, Mage) Increases all damage taken by everyone in the raid by 50% and deals 4500 physical damage (decreased by armour) to everyone in a 200 yard radius.
(Green) Soul Charge (Druid, Shaman, Hunter) Deals 4500 nature damage over 8 seconds (1125 every 2 seconds), in addition to draining 2250 mana from everyone in a 200 yard radius.
They're all bad and we don't want to see a single one of them during this encounter mkay?
Black Temple
Naj'entus
EZ-MODE!
Well, almost at least
Iceblock out of first Shield-damageburst. Saves healers mana. Use Frostward everytime Shield comes up after that. Save atleast 1 cooldown for health and use the other for mana. Remember that you can still hurt him through his Shield - so keep nuking!
And remember to watch your side of people! If someone gets spiked, loot it quick but WAIT for the call before throwing it!
Supremus
Well, he's pretty easy too.
First off, Phase1 is tank&spank - just avoid blue firetrails of Doom. Pop cd's here and go crazy after tank has solid aggro. This is the phase where you will do 70% of your damage so act accordingly!
Phase2 - Gaze is a bitch so keep FAR FAR FAR FAR FAR away. Blink is your friend again. If you are not gazed, run after him - he walks quite slow so you have time to chug even fireballs on him. BUT! Avoid nasty volcanoes, huge range and they splat clothies like... well, squishies.
Save Evocation for the 10 secs before he's switching back to Phase1 since Phase-switch is an aggrodump anyway.
Shade of Akama
Ok, insane fight - so stay focused!
First of all, defenders are the big ones, don't mess with them - instant death. Also, all adds deal heavy melee damage on us so don't go toe-to-toe with them! Rogues move fast, so quickly sheeping them is a bonus. Frost Nova is our best friend here, you can easily snare the whole bunch and let tank have a moment gathering them. Also, you can't CS the Chainheal that spiritualists cast, so don't bother - just nuke him dead!
Otherwise, just keep nuking the adds dead and follow assists. When the time comes to kill Shade itself, drop everything else and nuke nuke nuke!
Gorefiend
During the pull, you can throw an Ice Lance at him AFTER mt has aggro. Then, GCD has worn off when you are still running at the end of the balcony - time for a fireblast!
With your back against the balcony wall, start nuking. Personally, I like to save potion cooldown for health (it's veeee-eeery spiky!) and use stone cooldown for [Flamecap]. If you prefer [Destruction Potion], save HS for health then. If you don't get ghosted, fight is super-easy - just nuke.
IF you get ghosted, remember to confirm, run away and then kill your constructs. First, the aoe-rain thingy, then nova-chains-snare thingy, then lance lance lance! If all constructs are dead, put a shield on healer.
It IS suggested that you have atleast 9k health raidbuffed for this encounter since his spiky damage output comes close to that. I had ~8750 health and managed through both of his main abilities, though possibly causing healers some heartattacks...
Bloodboil
Ok, quite a nasty boss, thought nothing that special for mages.
First - do not Iceblock if it's your turn to soak his bolts. If you block up, he'll choose a new target instead.
Second - do not Iceblock if you are tanking him. He'll just switch to MT and prolly whack them dead.
Third - DO NOT DIE if you are the tank. Stones, pots, manashield, ice brarrier, anything and everything goes here. Also, keep nuking him - you are doing extra damage as well.
Not THAT complicated fight after all - just remember your group and formation!
