Best Level 80 Instances

There are over 20 level 80 instances in World of Warcraft, but not all of these high level dungeons are worth spending your time on.  The best high level instances will really help you gear up for your end game.  Running level 80 dungeons is all about getting better and better gear so you can go further in the game.  Let’s take a look at the top five best level 80 instances.

Best Level 80 Instances #1: Trial of the Crusader (normal version) or Trial of the Grand Crusader (heroic version)

One of the newest dungeons also tops our list of best high level instances.  Trial of the Crusader includes five sets of bosses, of which two include three bosses at a time, and one is a PvP-type of encounter which pits your group against the opposite faction.  Trial of the Crusader is our number one best high level instance because of the awesome drops.  You’ll find plenty of new Tier 9 loot items when you run Trial of the Crusader.

Best Level 80 Instances #2: Trial of the Champion (heroic mode)

Our #2 best level 80 instance is almost as great as our number one.  You might just want to run Trial of the Champion over and over as often as you can because of the crazy epic drops in this high level instance.  Every single drop in this high level dungeon is epic, so you’re sure to end up with some great items at the end.  However, this level 80 instance is certainly not easy.  You’ll earn every bit of that epic gear you pick up in this high level instance.

Best Level 80 Instances #3: Vault of Archavon

Number two on our list of best high level dungeons includes the Vault of Archavon, or VoA, as you might see it called in chat windows.  In this level 80 dungeon you have a little wider variety of items.  Boss #1 is Archavon the Stone Watcher, who drops Tier 7 and Deadly Gladiator gear.  Boss # 2 in this high level instance drops Tier 8 items and Furious Gladiator gear.  Koralon the Flame Watcher is boss #3, and he drops Tier 9 items.

Best Level 80 Instances #4: Ulduar

An instance that’s pretty much a classic for all level 80 characters now is Ulduar.  This high level dungeon is pretty much a rite of passage for all level 80 characters.  It’s one of the first ones you’ll do when you hit level 80, but don’t write this instance off after you’ve been level 80 for a while.  Out of the 14 encounters you’ll find in Ulduar, ten of them have hard settings, which fall between normal and heroic modes.  In fact, the only time you’ll see Algalon the Observer is if you run the hard mode of the Ulduar instance.  Item levels for gear dropped in Ulduar range from 219 in normal mode up to 239 in both heroic and hard modes.  Ulduar definitely remains on our list of best high level instances and is worth a second (or 10th or 20th) look.

Best Level 80 Instances #5: Naxxramas

Yes, Naxx still belongs on our list of the top five best level 80 instances.  This is another level 80 classic instance, and gear drops in this one will start to add to your collection of level 80 gear.  The gear you’ll pick up in Naxxramas will push you further forward in your end game, allowing you to complete some of the higher level instances so you can get even better gear.  Naxx itself is a marathon high level instance made up of five areas, and you’ll defeat many bosses by the time you reach the end.  Loot dropped in the Naxx instance will be Tier 7 and Tier 7.5 raid sets.  You’ll also pick up a total of 16 Emblems of Conquest when you run this high level instance.

Stay tuned for strategy guides on the next two high level instances: Onyxia’s Lair (coming in Patch 3.2.2) and Icecrown Citadel (further down the road)

Glory of the Raider, Completed!

While I don’t spend much time working my way through the new World of Warcraft achievement system, I did select a few to shoot for…and at long last, Glory of the Raider is over! Myself along with 4 other guild mates (so far…more to come) completed Glory of the Raider this past week and received the plagued proto-drake. Certainly not the most exciting of rewards, but it’s a nice bonus never the less.

As many of you already know Ulduar is right around the corner, and so is the removal of many 3.0.8 achievement rewards (those that give titles / mounts namely), so my guild has been up against the wall trying to complete as many as we could. Last night we completed the seemingly impossible (generally due to my Shaman’s magnetic pull of void zones) Undying + 8 Man Achievements in the same run. It was a pretty intense run, especially considering the length of many of the fights due to the reduced damage output, but a great instance clear never the less.

With Glory of the Raider completed I don’t imagine I’ll be working on too many other achievements outside of the PvP-centric ones, but I suppose 3.1 may change that…needless to say the few Ulduar achievements I’ve seen thus far look pretty entertaining, should make for some fun fights.

How goes the achievement front for you?

Naxxramas Optimization and Daily Blue Posts

Naxxramas Optimization

In our continuing effort to improve the gameplay experience for our players, we’ve recently made optimizations, specifically to Naxxramas performance, based on feedback from players. With these changes, we are carefully monitoring server performance to gauge the change’s success. In addition to that, we would very much like to hear our players’ personal experience in Naxxramas this week. We are asking players to post your feedback in terms of what if any changes in performance you’ve noticed in Naxxramas. Please make sure to include the realm you play on and the time frame you were participating in Naxxramas.

Mana Longevity Issues…also check out my recent break down of upcoming mana regen redesign.

The problem is that there should not be infinite mana classes currently in the game. You should not run OOM every single fight (if you play well). But you should not be able to ignore it either.

For what it’s worth, Resto shamans are often listed as the healer that can run out of mana. Paladins, priests and druids should ideally play a lot more like that. They do seem to run OOM in PvP, but not really in PvE.

More Free Character Moves

Free character moves to Scilla are now closed. Free moves to Winterhoof will be closing today at 5:00 p.m. PST.

Raid User Interface Updates

Our long-term goal is to get rid of the notion of groups within a raid. We want players to be able to organize their UI however they want — by class, by role, alphabetically or whatever. With the overhaul to the buff / debuff system we made a lot of progress towards this goal, but that left us with a few awkward reasons to still put certain players together.

From a high-level, the design is to be in a group. That group can have 5, 10 or 25 max players depending on the content. There shouldn’t be a (weird) notion of being in both a 5 player and 25 player group at the same time. Imagine for a 25-player raid that the UI just shows 25 players.

Site Update Notice:

• Mage Talent Builds – updated 2/1/09 to reflect WotLK changes

Four Horsemen 10-man Boss Strategy Guide

Make sure to check out the complete Naxxramas 10-Man Instance and Boss Strategy Guide.

The four horsemen are the final bosses of the military (aka Deathknight) wing of Naxxramas 10-man instance. The four horsemen are a part of Kel’Thuzad elite guard, representing the most powerful Deathknights in all of Azeroth. This encounter was largely inspired from the four horsemen of the apocalypse, part of the Christian Bible’s book of Revelations.

Four Horsemen Abilities

• Mark of the Four Horsemen – each horsemen will apply his respective mark, these marks stack infinitely and deal more damage with each successive mark.
• 1 Mark – 0 damage
• 2 Marks – 500 damage per tick
• 3 Marks – 1500 damage per tick
• 4 Marks – 4000 damage per tick
• 5 Marks – 12,500 damage per tick
• 6 Marks – 20,000 damage per tick
• 7 Marks or more – adds 1,000 additional damage for each additional mark at this point. Note: you will never get to this point.

Than Kor’Thazz

• Meteor - deals 13,775-15,225 fire damage split amongst as many people as the meteor hits in a 8 yard AoE. Cast every 15 seconds.
• Applies the Mark of Kor’Thazz

Baron Rivendare

• Unholy Shadow – deals 2160-2640 shadow damage to primary aggro target. Additionally, applies a shadow damage DoT which deals 4,800 shadow damage over 8 seconds.
• Applies Mark of Rivendare

Lady Blaumeux

• Shadow Bolt – deals 2350-2650 shadow damage, range of 45 yards. Cast on the closest player to Blaumeux.
• Void Zone – Summons a shadowy area on top of a random player, deals 2750 damage per tick to anyone within the void zone. She casts one every 15 seconds, lasts 75 seconds.
• Applies Mark of Blaumeux

Sir Zeliek

• Holy Bolt – deals 2350-2650 holy damage, range of 45 yards. Cast on the closet player to Zeliek.
• Applies Mark of Zeliek

Four Horsemen 10-man Strategy

The Raid Setup

Ideal Raid Setup:

• 3 Healers
• 2 Tanks
• 5 DPS, with at least 1 ranged DPS

Possible Raid Setups:

• 2 Healers
• 2 Tanks
• 6 DPS, with at least 1 ranged DPS

Note: duo healing this encounter is certainly more difficult than 3 healers, but it is possible. I don’t recommend duo healing it if it’s your first time attempting the encounter, but after a few clears you could give it a try.

Raid Position and Setup

I want to preface this section with a short note, that is that there really is no right or wrong way to setup this fight. The only real encounter requirement is that you don’t want any one mark to stack more than 3 times. That said, I’m going to discuss the strategy my guild uses in addition to another variation you can use to complete this encounter.

Map Diagram Explained

• Pink Circle – Kor’Thazz position
• Green Circle – Rivendare position
• Red Circle – Ziliek position
• Blue Circle – Blaumeux position
• Red Box – zone to stand in to take holy bolts from Ziliek
• Blue Box – zone to stand in to take shadow bolts from Blaumeux

There are going to be 4 individual groups on this fight, one for each horsemen.

Front Groups:

• Kor’Thazz: 1 Tank, 1 Healer, 1 DPS (preferably melee dps)
• Rivendare: 1 Tank, 1 Healer, 1 DPS (preferably melee dps)

Back Groups:

• Blaumeux: 1 Healer, 1 DPS (preferably ranged)
• Zeliek: 2 DPS (preferably ranged)
• Note that the healer in the back will be responsible for healing all of the DPS in the back.

My guild uses this particular raid position setup for the purpose of completing the associated achievement. Said achievement requires you kill all of the horsemen within 15 seconds of each other.

Additionally, my guild often only uses 2 healers on this particular fight. This certainly adds a new level of difficulty, but between HoTs, self-heals, and healing during swaps most healers can handle it. I know I said it once, but if this is your first time on the encounter I strongly recommend you use 3 healers.

Optional Raid Position Setup

There are going to be 4 individual groups on this fight, one for each horsemen.

Front Groups:

• Kor’Thazz: 1 Tank, 1 Healer, 2 DPS
• Rivendare: 1 Tank, 1 Healer, 2 DPS

Back Groups:

• Blaumeux: 1 Healer, 1 DPS (preferably ranged)
• Zeliek: n/a
• Note that the healer and DPS in the back will be responsible for both Deathknights in the back of the room.

Group Rotations Explained

The most difficult aspect of this encounter to initially learn is going to be the group rotations. Both the frontal and back groups will rotate throughout the fight as the marks stack up. Note that these marks apply at random, for this reason you’ll want to have a different group transition caller for both front and back groups on vent.

When the mark hits 3 you’ll want to call the switch. When the switch is called both the groups on the respective side (front or back) must transition together. This will prevent any double marking and will lead to fewer headaches for your tanks and healers.

The front groups are the more tricky transition as a taunt is required. If you’re the tank on the a front Deathknight you’ll want to pull both mobs to to a central location between the 2 sides (note the map above), both you and the opposing tank will taunt each other’s boss and you will continue to drag that death knight to its original location.

The back groups are a bit easier, as no taunt is required. If you’re using my first raid setup (with 3 ranged DPS and 1 healer) you’ll simply swap the 2 groups. Since you’re probably dealing with ranged DPS in the back here you’ll want to be very cognizant of your position, IE…make sure you are not eating both marks.

As the healer in the back you’ll simply be healing who ever is taking the bolts on each side.

Interlude on Meteor

While none of the deathknights hit particularly hard the meteor still has the potential to drop a tank or dps if the group does not stack. Everyone who is on Kor’Thazz absolutely must stack up on the tank, particularly if you only have a total of 3 players on that side.

Killing the Four Horsemen

If everything goes as planned with the rotations you should have no problem in completing this encounter. That said, there are a few things you’ll want to keep in mind to ensure a successful kill.

1. Do not let the marks stack up beyond 3
2. Make sure you are not eating double marks
3. Stack up on the Kor’Thazz so the meteor is always split
4. If duo healing be very aware of your mana efficiency, this fight will test you

Kel’Thuzad 10-man Boss Strategy Guide

Make sure to check out the complete Naxxramas 10-Man Instance and Boss Strategy Guide.

Kel’Thuzad is the 2nd and final boss of both Frostwyrm Lair and the entirety of Naxxramas. Once the chief agent responsible for the spreading of the plague across Lordaeron, Kel’Thuzad was struck down by Arthas in the 3rd war. Following his mortal demise Kel’Thuzad was reborn as a Lich and sent by Arthas to the floating necropolis of Naxxramas.

Kel’Thuzad Abilities

Phase 1 Abilities

• Skeleton - These skeletons will cast dark blast on themselves, when they hit someone this will blow up dealing 3,000-4,000 AoE damage.
• Abominations – Apply a healing debuff on hit, -10% healing per hit, stackable.
• Ghosts – Deals a 6,400-8,600 AoE knock back.

Phase 2 Abilities

• Frost Bolt – single target frost bolt on random player, deals 10,000-12,000 damage.
• Multi-Frost Bolt - AoE frost bolts across the entire raid, deals 4,500-5,500 damage.
• Shadow Fissure – Summons a red circle object on the ground under a random player. After 5 seconds the shadow fissure will go off, dealing 62,000-100,000 damage.
• Frost Blast – Casts an ice block on a random player, this will chain to all players within 10 yards, casting ice block on all of them. Deals 104% of their maximum HP over 4 seconds.

Kel’Thuzad Boss Strategy

Phase 1 Tactics

Phase 1 is fairly straight forward. The entire raid will start in the center of the room, after a few moments this phase will begin. Monsters around the perimeter of the room will start to walk towards the center of the room, don’t panic though, only a few will come at a time.

These monsters must be killed before they reach the middle, specifically the skeletons and the ghosts, who both have strong AoE attacks. You’ll want to rely heavily on your ranged DPS here, as melee venturing out too far can risk pulling additional mobs or getting AoE themselves. Phase 2 begins after a few minutes of killing mobs.

Phase 2 Tactics

You’ll know phase 2 is starting when you see all the additional mobs around the perimeter despawn. You’ll have to kill the remaining ghosts, aboms, and skeletons as phase 2 is starting. Just make sure your main tank is ready for Kel’Thuzad at this point.

Healing Pointers

Healing wise there are several things we’re going to be looking for. First, we’ve got the frost bolts, both single and AoE. These are going to be firing off the entire time so be prepared to immediately heal your raid up. You don’t want to leave anyone below max HP for long.

More importantly though, let’s talk about the main issue that may kill people, frost blast. You’ll need to be quick on the heals here. After the ice block lands on the player you have exactly 4 seconds to get some sort of heal on them, otherwise they are dead. Make sure your healers are spread evenly around the room, preferably towards the center so you can heal anyone in your raid without worrying about range.

Positioning and Frost Blast

Frost blast is bad enough on a single player…let alone multiple, but it will chain to additional players within 10 yards of the original targeted player. For this reason you need to have aprx. 10 yards of separation between everyone in the raid. If it casts on 2-3 people per blasts chances are someone is going to die.

Phase 3 Tactics

Phase 3 really isn’t a new phase, it’s simply the spawning of 2 nerubian crypt lords. These adds both spawn at 40% and must be immediately picked up by your off tank. All other phase 2 abilities will continue during these phase.

Kel’Thuzad Video Tutorial

Sapphiron 10-Man Boss Strategy

Make sure to check out the complete Naxxramas 10-Man Instance and Boss Strategy Guide.

Sapphiron is the 1st boss within the final wing of Naxxramas, Frostwyrm Lair. This ancient blue dragon was once servant to Malygos and the head of his brood until he was struck down by Arthas. Arthas used what was left of his necromantic powers to resurrect Sapphiron as a frost wyrm. Sapphiron, now an implement of chaos for the scourge, guards the final passage way to the very lair of Kel’Thuzad.

Sapphiron Abilities

• 4,250,000 HP
• Frontal Cleave, 180 degrees
• Rear Tail swipe, ~45 degrees
• Phase 1
  • Frost Aura – deals 1200 damage per second to every member of the raid throughout the fight.
  • Life Drain – deals 2200-2800 shadow damage to targeted player and heals Sapphiron for 4400-5600 every 3 seconds. This is a curse, it can be dispelled. Players who get this should immediately call out on vent to be dispelled.
  • Chill aka Blizzard – this blizzard like spell deals 3500-4500 damage every 2 seconds to those standing within it’s AoE. All players need to be aware of the Chill’s position and do what they can do avoid taking any damage from it.
• Phase 2 – every 45 seconds
  • Ice Bolt – puts 2 players in your raid in a block of ice, dealing 5000-7500 damage to the player and players close by in a small AoE. The raid must stand behind these blocks to survive frost breath (see video below).
  • Frost Breath – anyone not behind the blocks of ice will be 1 shot (over 100,000 damage).

Sapphiron Boss Strategy

The Entry and Healer’s Setup – You’ll want to split your raid into 2 groups. Group 1 should go left and group 2 right. Each group will have 1 dedicated healer who will be solo in charge of healing that group. With mediocre gear it’s still possible to duo heal Sappphiron, but difficult. For players just learning the encounter I would suggest using 3 healers, where there 3rd healer’s primary job is healing the main tank.

note: scroll all the way to the bottom for the video tutorial of these steps.

Phase 1 – Generally speaking this phase is a standard tank and spank fight. I’ve mentioned the phase 1 abilities above, so you’ll need to be aware of all of these. Simply keep the AoE heals cooking and don’t let anyone get too low, especially as you’re nearing the phase 2 transition. This transition is when most player’s are going to die due to the potential spike in damage due to the ice bolt.

Positioning and Liar Layout

• Red circle – this is the outer wall of Sapphiron’s lair
• Green circle – this is the interior green circle on the floor, I use this as a point of reference below regarding phase 2
• Blue oval – Sapphiron’s body, note that Sapphiron’s head should be facing towards Kel’Thuzad lair

Phase 2 – This phase begins as Sapphiron flies up into the air. He will go up and ice bolt 2 players at random, these players now act like shields for the frost breath. Players nearby should all gather behind these players, doing so will prevent you from being hit by the frost breath.

Note: it’s helpful to gather up during this phase so you aren’t so spread out that you can’t get behind the ice block shields. My guild collapses around the green ring in the center, staying close, but also spreading out in a circular fashion around it’s perimeter. You need to spread out a bit to avoid the AoE frost impact damage on the ice bolt.

As soon as the ice bolt block is up you should immediately get behind it and healers should be topping off the raid.

Note for DPS Players – As a DPS there isn’t much you need to worry about…but there are a few things.

• Watch out for the frontal cleave, if you get hit by this and aren’t wearing plate you’re probably dead. It’s 180 degree frontal cleave, so make sure you DPS closer to the hind legs.
• Watch out for the tailswipe, simply stay away from the tail, not very difficult.
• Be aware of the blizzard’s positioning in the room and do your best to avoid taking any damage from it. There’s no need to put additional pressure on your healers.

Phase 1 / 2 Continuation – At this point you’re essentially in a loop of the above 2 phases of listed. Phases 1 and 2 will continue until you’ve either killed or wiped to Sapphiron. Simply continue the steps I’ve listed above and you’ll be well on your way to your first Saph kill!

Sapphiron 10-man Video Tutorial

Maexxna 10-Man Boss Strategy

Make sure to check out the complete Naxxramas 10-Man Instance and Boss Strategy Guide.

Maexxna is the 3rd and final boss of the spider wing in Naxxramas. This spider queen is a very exciting encounter for all class roles and “tosses” players into positions they haven’t ever encountered in World of Warcraft before.

Maexxna Abiilties

• 2,500,000 hit points
• Web Wrap – The first cast goes off 20 seconds after engaging and each subsequent web wraps occur every 40 seconds. This will send a player flying back to the wall, encasing them in a web that deals 2475-3025 nature damage every 2 seconds. The web encasement must be destroyed by other players to free the trapped victim.
• Web Spray – Casts every 40 seconds stunning the entire raid and dealing 1750-2250 damage. This effect lasts for 6 seconds.
• Poison shock – Deals 3500-4500 damage in a frontal cone.
• Necrotic Poison – Reduces healing taken by 75% for 30 seconds. Can be dispelled.
• Frenzy - Increases physical damage by 100%, haste by 50%, and size by 15%. Occurs at 30% health.
• Maexxna Spiderlings – 8 small spiders are spawned 30 seconds are the fight begins and each subsequent spawning occurs every 40 seconds after that. These spiderlings are a good marker for the web spray, which occurs aprx. 10 seconds after the spiders are spawned.

Maexxna Boss Strategy

As you probably already gathered from the sheer number of abilities that Mexxna has in this fight…there’s a lot going on. For this reason this is sometimes a difficult fight to learn, but once you’ve got the basics down it’s a fight you should be able to 1 or 2 shot every time.

Pulling Maexxna and Tanking Maexxna

To pull Maexxna the tank will simply want to run all the way through her model and tank her towards the middle of the room. Make sure she is facing away from the raid to avoid poison shock on the entire raid. Once she is securely being tanked in the middle DPS may engage.

Healing Maexxna, Web Spray, and Web Wrap

As a healer there is going to be a lot of things going on for you. Let’s just go through each one by one so you know what you should always be looking for during each stage of Maexxna.

1. Tank Healing – Healing the tank is pretty standard. Maexxna hits quite hard, so you’ll need to be on your A game. Always be on the lookout for Necrotic Poison and immediately dispel this in the event it’s applied to your tank.
2. Web Wrap – Every 40 seconds you’re going to have to heal the web wrap victim. Generally this only requires a single lesser heal (…or flash of light, flash heal, etc). Have your raid calling out on vent if they get tossed onto the wall so you know who you should be healing and your DPS know who they should be shooting down off the wall.
3. Web Srapy – This is by far the most difficult aspect of the fight. During web spray you obviously can’t cast heals, so you need to do everything you can to make sure that the tank has been pre-cleansed of necrotic poison and is topped off before the web spray goes off. Additionally, if you’ve got any HoTs or other over time heals you can cast use them (HoTs, Earth Shield, shield, etc.).
4. Spiderlings - The spiderlings don’t do a whole lot of damage, but considering the numbers that are spawned you may need to cast a few AoE heals to get caught up on the raid before the web spray goes off.

Tank / Timing Interlude for Healers Benefit

There is one additional tanking aspect you should be aware of. The frenzy at 30% can be pretty brutal, so if at all possible you’ll want to wait till after the web spray ends before bringing Maexxna into frenzy phase. As soon as frenzy begins just burn her down.

If your DPS is strong enough you should be able to kill her now, if not the tank should be ready to pop cooldowns to keep himself alive (last stand, shield wall, etc.) during the web spray if he gets low.

Pointers for DPS

DPS have a pretty easy time in this fight, the only  major thing you need to worry about is the web wrap. Should this ever be cast on you you’ll want to let your raid know. This will enable healers to have you pre-targeted and start getting you topped off and also let your DPS on the wall duty know so they can shoot you down.

You’ll want to assign at least 2 players on “wall duty”, generally these should be ranged players so they don’t have to go as far. You need 2 players watching the wall in the event that one of the wall watchers gets tossed up himself.

The web encasements on the wall only have 6,000 HP, so they will die very quickly.

There isn’t much beyond that, simply keep your DPS up on the boss, stay away from Maexxna’s frontal cone attack, and help burn the spiderlings down as soon as they spawn.

If you can get through all of these steps you’ll be well on your way to a clean Maexxna kill.

Grand Widow Faerlina 10-Man Boss Strategy

Make sure to check out the complete Naxxramas 10-Man Instance and Boss Strategy Guide.

Grand Widow Faerlina is the 2nd boss of the spider wing in Naxxramas. This encounter features 4 adds in addition to the primary boss, Faerlina. For this reason you’ll definitely need both a strong main and off-tank.

Grand Widow Faerlina Abilities

• Poison Bolt Volley – Hits the closest 5 players with a poison that deals 2625-3375 damage and applies a Dot that deals 1480-1720 nature damage every 2 seconds, lasts 8 seconds. This poison is dispellabe.
• Rain of fire – Casts rain of fire on a random location in the room that deals 2775-3225 fire damage every 2 seconds.
• Frenzy – Used every 60-80 seconds. Increases melee damage by 150%, haste by 50%, and size by 50%. To stop the frenzy you must kill a worshiper add.

Worshiper Notes

• 4 Worshipper adds
• These must be off tanked
• Killing a worshiper add will cast widow’s embrace on Faerlina. This will remove her enrage if she is enraged and silence casts / delay the next enrage for 30 seconds.

Grand Widow Faerlina Boss Strategy

There are 3 fairly basic boss elements in this encounter that we’re going to have to deal with.

First, the poison bolt volly. As I mentioned above the poison bolt will hit the closest 5 players within range. You’ll want to make sure your poison dispelers in the raid are aware of this and quickly get the DoT removed.

Secondly, we have the rain of the fire. Nothing too suprising here…don’t stand in the rain of fire / if you’re in the rain of fire move out. The rains are random, so just be on the lookout of the fire and adjust to it’s position.

Thirdly…

Tanking Faerlina & Worshipers

You’ll want to have your main tank on faerlina and your off tank holding aggro on all 4 of the adds. Neither Faerlina or her adds hit all that hard, until the frenzy goes off. If you want to be really careful you’ll need to do the following.

1. Get one worshiper fairly low, under 10%
2. As soon as Faerlina enrages be ready to finish it off so you remove the enrage
3. Following the first enrage get another worshoper low so you may repeat this step for the next enrage

Groups with geared tanks or healers won’t have to be this precise. You could even try for the achievement on Faerlina, which requires you not kill any of the worshiper adds. If you can handle zero adds down then go for it, otherwise simply kill a worshoper each time you need to remove / prevent an enrage.

Position Side Note

Unlike most encounters in Naxx position isn’t a huge issue on this fight. Just spread out around the room so no more than one person gets nailed by a rain of fire. Tank Faerlina towards the middle of the room and off tank the adds up on the stage / platform area.

Anub’Rekhan 10-Man Boss Strategy

Make sure to check out the complete Naxxramas 10-Man Instance and Boss Strategy Guide.

Anub’Rekhan is the 1st boss of the spider wing located in Naxxramas. In my opinion this is one the easiest fights in Naxxramas, which makes the spider wing a greater location for new guilds to start their Naxxramas learning curve.

Anub’Rekhan Abilities

• 2,200,000 Health
• Impale – Impales a random player in the raid, which sends all players in a small AoE line around that player flying up. Deal 4800-6200 damage and drops you from a height which will deal 50% fall damage.
• Locust Swarm – Casts every 1-2 minutes. Anub’Rekhan casts locust swarm that deals AoE damage around his model. Those caught in the radius will have a DoT applied that deals 875-1125 nature damage every 2 seconds and silences. The locust swarm also reduces his movement ability to 75%. During the locust swarm an elite crypt guardian will also spawn. Locus swarm lasts 16 seconds.
• Summon Corspe Scarab - Anub’Rekhan can summon scarabs from any corspe, both player and crypt guardian . This is random, he won’t always spawn scarabs, but can.

Fight Breakdown

I go into greater depth of each individual class types role below, but here’s a quick breakdown of each sequential step.

1. Main tank leads charge and takes Anub’Rekhan to the back of the room.
2. DPS and Healers take up positions as indicated on map below.
3. Be prepared for impale as they may occur at any moment (though never during locust swarm)
4. Locust swarm starts, tank must kite around the perimeter of the room and take Anub’Rekhan to the other side.
5. As soon as the locust swarm starts a crypt guardian (elite spider) will spawn and needs to be picked up by your off tank. These should be immediately killed by your DPS.
6. After locust swarm stops and the crypt guardian is dead you can resume DPS on Anub’Rekhan.
7. At this point be prepared for impale again and a new abililty, summon corspe scarab. Since a crypt guardian body is now on the floor Anub’Rekhan may choose to summon scarabs from the body.
8. Continue DPS until dead. You may have to complete another locust swarm rotation back to the top of the map if your DPS is not sufficient.

Anub’Rekhan Video

Tanking Anub’Rekhan and Position

Generally speaking, this is another standard tank and spank style fight. The only odd mechanic of Anub’Rekhan revolves around the locust swarm. During the locust swarm no one can be around Anub’Rekhan, the DoT just deals too much damage for anyone…both tank or otherwise to be near. For this reason we have to temporarily kite Anub’Rekhan.

My guild’s solution to this problem was simply to kite him around the perimeter of the circle to the other side of the room (as indicated on the map below). By the time you get the other side of the room the locust swarm should be down and you can continue tanking Anub’Rekhan like normal.

If you have a hunter in the group you should use his aspect to assist the tank’s running speed during this phase. It’s not require, not it will dramatically help your tank make an easy kite and transition through this phase.

Off Tanking Crypt Guardians

In addition to a main tank you’ll need an off tank who can pickup the crypt guardians when they spawn during the locust swarm. These crypt guardians do not hit all that hard, but they must be off tanked and killed immediately. Make sure you pull the crypt guardians far enough away from Anub’Rekhan that you are not getting hit by the locust swarm.

Healing Anub’Rekhan

Healing on Anub’Rekhan is not all that difficult either. There are a few things we really need to watch out for though.

1. Impale - As soon as the impale goes off you need to be trying to heal your raid and get everyone topped off. If possible heal the lowest HP players while they are still in the raid, you don’t want to lose someone via the impale.
2. Locust Swarm – While no one should be ever getting hit by this ability sometimes it does happen, players who get hit should be calling out on vent so you know they are going to be in trouble for a while. You can heal through this ability, though it will be somewhat mana heavy.

Thaddius 10-man Boss Strategy

Make sure to check out the complete Naxxramas 10-Man Instance and Boss Strategy Guide.

Thaddius is the 4th and final boss of the abomination wing in Naxxramas. This encounter is without a doubt one of my favorites. It’s a very unique encounter which provides a formidable challenge for any aspiring guild.

Thaddius Boss Strategy

Feugen’s Abilities

• Static Field – Inflicts 2.5k nature damage every 3 seconds to everyone within a 60 yard range.
• Magnetic Pull - Pulls the Stalagg tank over to Feugen’s platform and swaps aggro between tanks.

Stalagg’s Abilities

• Power Surge – Increases haste by 200% for 10 seconds.
• Magnetic Pull – Pulls the Feugen tank over to Stalagg’s platform and swaps aggro between tanks.

Phase 1 – Feugen and Stalagg

Phase 1 includes the killing of the 2 adds, Feugen and Stalagg. Neither of the adds hit all the hard, the only quarky mechanic of this portion of the fight is the tank “swap”, for lack of a better word. You’ll want to start by splitting your raid into 2 groups of 5. Generally, you should put casters in a group for Stalagg and melee in a group for Fuegen, this is simply so they avoid pushback via the static field ability that Fuegen casts.

That said, this is optional and casters or melee could kill either boss with ease. Either way, you’ll want your DPS to be fairly balanced. You must kill both Fuegen and Stalagg within 5 seconds of each other or they will be resurrect at full life.

When I mentioned the “swap” earlier, I was referring to the literally swapping of tanks. Both Fuegen and Stalagg cast the ability, magnetic pull, which will pull the other tank through the air to the opposite add platform. This pull also swaps aggro. Tank wise it’s no big deal, just continue building threat on what ever add you’re currently in front of. Just make sure your healers of aware what tank is currently on what platform.

Phase 1 Complete, Jump, and Position

Once you’ve killed Fuegen and Stalagg the entire raid must jump off to the platform below where Thaddius is standing. Note, you cannot just walk off the elevated platforms, you must jump right at the edge in order to make it to the lower platform.

At this point the entire raid should stack up on on the right side of Thaddius (right side as if you were entering from the Gluth’s room). Now we are prepared to enter phase 2 as Thaddius is about to awaken.

Thaddius Abilities

• Chain Lightning – Casts every 15 seconds, hits 3 random players for 3600-4400 damage.
• Polarity Shift – Aprx. half the raid will become negatively charged and half the raid will become positively charge. When the same charged players are near each other they provide a 10% damage buff per player, but if an opposite charged player is near the debuff will deal 3,500 damage to the player of the oppositve charge (IE…1 negative in 5 positives, 5 positives will hit negative for 3500 * 5, while the negative will hit each of the 5 positive players once for 3,500 damage). Casts every 30 seconds.
• Ball Lightning – Thaddius will cast a ball lightning for 17,000-22,000 if no one is within melee range.
• Enrage - Thaddius will enrage after 8 minutes, increasing his damage output by 1000%.

Phase 2 – Killing Thaddius and Positive / Negative Debuff Mechanic

A few seconds after you begin Thaddius will cast a positive or negative debuff charge on the entire raid. This debuff is 100% random, but 5 people will have a negative charge and 5 will have a positive. This debuff mechanic works just like the first boss in Mechanar heroic. All the positive charges should stay where they are on the right side of Thaddius, while all negative charges should move to the other side (left).

At this point you should have all 5 positive charged players on one side and all 5 negative charged players on the other. This will award you with a strong damage buff that increases your damage by 10% per player (40% total). If a player has the wrong charge they will “blow up”, causing and receiving lightning damage from the opposite charged players around him. This almost always leads to their death.

For this reason it’s incredibly important you look to see what buff you have immediatly following the polarity shifts. New players might consider having their raid leader or otherwise vocal strategy orriented players calling out the switches immediatly prior to their casting.

Making the Transition

When you’re switching make sure you don’t run to the side of Thaddius or indirectly to the other side in any manner. You must run directly through Thaddius’ model and to the other side. You don’t have much time during these transitions, and even a few moments of hesitation or indrect pathing will cause you to deal / receieve damage.

This really is the only element of this fight that should cause a wipe. Tanking is essentially a tank and spank fight, while healing involves primarily AoE healing. Thaddius himself does not hit all that hard, so if you can make it through these charge rotations then you’re going to be fine.

Side Note: Getting a Battle Rez Off

Due to the nature of the debuff mechanic there is only one way to successfully get a battle rez off. First, the druid must run out the raid (without bumping opposite charged players) to the green “safe battle rez zone” I’ve indicated above.

Here, you’ll be out of range of other players and can cast the battle rez. The player who is getting battle rezzed can go ahead and accept the rez, but should not move from this position until the polarity shift phase is complete and he /she has a new charge. If you don’t have a charge and attempt to go back into the raid you’ll get blown up just like you had the oppositve charge.

Once they have a new charge they can join their correct side.

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