BWL

Boss Encounters

Razorgore

Initially, all gather in the middle of the room. one tank faces Razorgore, and intercepts when the fight starts, and the rest of the raid face the controller.

Tanks pick up the controller and 2 adds, and controller dies first followed by the 2 adds. groups then go to the assigned corners.

Groups: 1+2 go to the south corner. 3+4 go to the west corner. 5+6 go to the north corner. 7+8 go to the east corner.

3 types of enemies will begin to spawn. with Razorgore currently under control using the orb, and undergoing the destruction of the eggs, adds will run to the platforms. Rogues must intercept the mages orcs, and tanks must intercept the legionaire orcs. The mages MUST die asap, any spare mobs that spawn too fast are sheeped/feared and picked up once the slack has been covered.

Druids must sleep any dragonkin that are NOT being kited by a warrior. The kiting is as follows:

1 warrior on each platform, running figure of eights around the same platform. these two tanks are kiting dragonkin, of which there is a maximum of 12. The raid must not attack the dragonkin.

Ideally the raid should stay out of the kiting path. The best way to do this is to look at the surroundings. The room itself is a big square, and the flooring has another very slightly lowered square between the platforms. Staying inside this smaller square is the key to avoiding cleaves from the kited dragonkin. Rogues and warriors must risk themselves slightly and keep the mages/legionaires away from the cloth wearers. (Thanks to Starwolf for noticing this)

If all goes well, by the time the 3rd controller period is over most of the eggs will have been destroyed. At this time, the controller will mass aggro the adds in the room and mages should frost nova, warlocks/priests/warriors AoE fear, hunters concussion shot etc until the remaining few eggs are down. Qhen the last egg drops, the mobs despawn and razorgore becomes hostile. the last controller then runs to the north corner and dies because he has nuts aggro on razorgore, allowing the MTs to establish aggro, and tank at 90 degrees to one another.

The raid then slowly dps razorgore, stopping with each conflagration to ensure ranged do not aggro. Use only ranged dps here, melee should be bandaging casters and using their bows. Mages should take extreme care with ice bolt as it causes extra damage and hence aggro.

If you follow this strategy razorgore will die. It took us a lot of tries to find a strategy that worked for us, but we have now and we know this works.

Controlling the Orb

The controllers job is governed by 4 simple rules, in order of priority:- a) Never get aggro on anything until your last control phase b) Never end your control phase with Razorgore nearby c) Always break an egg as soon as the cooldown is up d) Break eggs from east to west

To expand a little on those points, - If you aggro anything while controlling Razorgore, that aggro passes to you when the control phase ends, and they come across and kill you - Razorgore will come straight for you when your control phase ends. If he is near you, then he conflagrates you and breathes fire on your control buddy. This is not a good thing. - Breaking eggs asap is more important than breaking them in a specific order, but being methodical means you don't end up with one egg left at the far end of the room at the end.

Vaelastrasz the Corrupt

Vaelastrasz starts the fight at 30% health. This is because warriors execute ability is needed to even get close to killing him, but be assured, Vael has plenty of HP.

The basic strategy is this: enter the room after Razorgore, kill all the technicians, the arrange yourself against the near wall. Buff up, then tanks move round the far side (if you have wiped already, hug the wall on the way round).

When the fight starts, 3 things happen. The first thing is everyone in the raid gets an undispellable fire DoT that can be resisted, both partially and fully. Secondly, everyone in the raid is given the "essence of the red" buff. this renews mana, energy and rage to full very quickly so mana conservation is not an issue. this buff lasts for 3 minutes. Finally, Vael casts Burning Adrenaline on a member of the raid (caster). More about BA later. The raid must the go all out and nuke Vael to 20% before the first tank dies. The MT will eventually get BA, and will lose 10% HP per tick as well as his normal damage from Vael, and die regardless of HP after 15 seconds.

MT2 will be second on the aggro list, and will begin tanking. Healers must recognise in what order the tanks will aggro Vael (indicated by the MT list). MT2 will be able to spam execute to keep aggro on Vael, and switch to defensive stance when BA is applied. Rinse and repeat until you run out of tanks.

The aim of this fight is to reduce Vael's HP to 0 inside 3 minutes. If the buff runs out, your pretty much certain about wiping. After 20% is reached all dps can do whatever the hell they like because there is absolutely no way a dps player will get aggro off a warrior spamming execute with 100 rage.

Burning Adrenaline: This is a buff and a debuff. for 15 seconds, you lose 10% of your maximum HP per tick, but all your abilites become instant cast and do double damage. when the 15 seconds reaches 0, you explode, killing everything around you. Solution: as soon as you get BA, run to the Tail end corner, and unload on Vael. every bit of damage is precious so use it as best you can. This is basically like geddon, only without the extra damage, and you are absolutely definitely going to die.

This is a very chaotic fight and generally relies on luck. If your priests cop BA early, you can wipe. if too many DPS get BA, you wont have done it before 3 minutes. BWL farming guilds wipe on Vael, so dont stress if it takes a few goes.

Broodlord

Suppresion Room: Start just inside the door, pulling the elites and whelps, kill them, move on fast. Keep moving, if you stop you get respawns and will run the risk of dying. Certain elites in this room have an AoE fire DoT that stacks, to lose it just get out of the Aura range. Stomp through this room, and at the end is Broodlord Lashlayer.

The Encounter: Broodlord is fought in the near corner, on the right side of the room. Tanks run in and get aggro, and the real fun begins. The general aim of this fight is to time the dps right, too much and hell be in the raid, too little and the priests out aggro the tanks and hes in the raid again. If you do aggro, run to the corner with the tanks and accept the death. Other than that, spam heals on whoever is currently tanking and get busy with the damage.

NB: a rogue needs to keep the suppresion device nearby down. However, before the fight dont go too near Broodlord because he has a MASSIVE aggro range and can see through stealth. Also, all tanks must fight for aggro, because chances are your MT is going to die.

Broolords Abilities: Broodlord has 2 obvious abilities, mortal strike and a knockback. He will periodically knockback the tanks, lessening their aggro (which is why the raid will eventually catch up) which do sizeable damage as well, and if a knockback occurs just before an MS, your tank dies. Mortal strike will crit for 6k damage, so healers need to be on their toes. Being MS, it also halves healing done on that target.

Thats it. Other than the obvious notion to exit combat if your low on HP as melee DPS, its a remarkably easy fight compared to whats just been, and is following.

Firemaw

This fight is about tank coordination and being aware of Line Of Sight (LoS). Firemaw is tanked in the doorway, next to the gate. For this encounter, you effectively split your raid into 2 teams. This fight will take a long time and provided you play smart, its not too hard to keep the raid going.

Main raid: MT, MT healers and dps. OT team: OTs and OT healers.

The OT team starts on the supression room side, but runs through when the fight starts and works from the other room. The OT healers position behind the wall on the right, and pop out to fix the OTs. The OTs attack from behind Firemaw, and taunt firemaw to them when Wing Buffet is announced.

Firemaws abilities: Three abilities, first being Shadowflame. Shadowflame will instagib anyone infront of it (except the MT) and for this reason is tanked facing the wall. Onyxia scale cloaks are recommended. Second is Wing Buffet, which is a frontal attack knockback, and also a threat reducer. The MT eating 2 of these makes one of the OTs the new main tank. The final ability is a non dispellable, but resistable, fire DoT. This DoT will carry on stacking for as long as you stay in LoS, to lose it you must leave LoS and wait for the timer to run out. Exposure for a lengthy period of time will get you killed fast.

Ebonroc

Clear to Ebonroc and you can see both the remaining drakes in the same place. to pull Ebonroc, have a hunter run up the ramp and jump off the wall, and position the MT at the bottom of the ramp. The tank then positions him in the near corner, 2 OTs move to the right hand side and 2 OTs move to the left hand side.

Right side OTs: will be taunting when the MT gets Shadow of Ebonroc. Left side OTs: will be taunting when Wing Buffet is announced.

Ebonroc's abilities: Three abilities, first being Shadowflame (mentioned before), next being Shadow of Ebonroc. Shadow of Ebonroc will be cast on the person who currently has aggro lasting for eight seconds, and any damage dealt to the debuffed person will heal Ebonroc for 25000 HP. Mortal strike should be kept up throughout the fight, to lessen the effects. The final ability is Wing buffet (also mentioned before)

Execution of the taunting: Right side OTs maintain taunts on them whilst Shadow of Ebonroc is on the MT. Left side OTs MUST take the Wing Buffet in time and take the knockback, so aggro goes back to MT.

If the tanks are on their game, itll be fast and easy epics for all.

Flamegor

This drake is the easiest of all. Flamegor is pulled to the same spot Ebonroc was tanked, and is similar to Firemaw in the OTs jobs. Same teams as on Firemaw, OTs taking Wing buffet, aggro returning to MT and the fight continues.

Flamegor abilities: Three abilities, Wing buffet, Shadowflame and a very simple DoT. HOWEVER. Flamegor periodically enrages, making the DoT do 500 damage per tick, dispatching your raid rapidly. This can be countered with the same Tranquilising shot used at Magmadar.

Thats it really. Make sure the MT doesnt get hit with Wing Buffet, tranq shot when he enrages and do steady dps. Very simple fight, something we managed first time we tried it.

Chromaggus

BREATHS: Chrommagus gets 2 breaths each week. he casts one every 30 seconds, which is annouced by CTraid.

1) Corrosive Acid: 900-1100 damage each 3 seconds, reduces armor by up to 5000.

2) Ignite Flesh: 657-843 damage every three seconds for 45 seconds.

3) Frost Burn: Attack speed reduced by 80%. Does approximately 1400 damage.

4) Incinerate: 3675-4275 Fire damage.

5) Timelapse: totally changes the fight. halves HP, stuns for 6 seconds. heals when it wears off.

BATTLEPLAN: Question - does chrommagus have timelapse this week? if no, follow plan A, if yes, move to B.

Plan A: Chrommagus is pulled, aggro gained. wait for the first breath, and immediately after dps move in and start up for 20 seconds, then move out of LoS befoer the next breath. this fight is similar to firemaw, healers MUST stay out of LoS all fight.

Chromaggus will be vulnerable to one type of elemental damage at a time, and will change type as the fight goes on. if he isnt vulnerable to damage you can do, just regen and wait for your turn.

Chrommagus' final abilities are the broodpowers. these are fairly trivial as they can all be dispelled with the exception of one, 2 druids 2 mages and 2 paladins will be assigned decursive duty for this fight. the only non dispellable debuff is the bronze debuff, which does a short term stun. MT and key healers need to have hourglass sand to remove this. SOMETHING I FORGOT TO MENTION BEFORE: if you get all 5 types of power you turn into an elite dragonkin and start chowing down on your fellow guildies. please, if you get 3 tell someone on TS or by /w for a cleanse etc.

Plan B: Chrommagus has timelapse, its ok. chill out. To handle timelapse, each time it is announces EVERYONE must be in LoS of chrommagus to accept the threat loss, with the exception of OT who has been building aggro and then hides to keep it. OT must also have a few healers for when he is repositioning. timelapse wears off, MT gets back into position and you continue. after 5 timelapses MT will permanently lose aggro and then MT/OT swap, similar to Ragnaros.

Nefarian

Sat atop a decaying balcony is a dragon in a mansuit, fat with lewt and gold. You need to kill him to take your place amongst the true elite of the realm. For fame and fortune, read below.

Starting setup Groups 1/3/5/7 go to the left tunnel. groups 2/4/6/8 go to the right tunnel. Hunters and 1 tank from each side gather in between. These are the Chromatic drakonid handlers.

Out of each tunnel will pour layers and layers of thick steamy drakonids. Theres lots of them. Each week, 2 colours are selected for the drakonids our of a selection of red/green/blue/black/bronze.

Drakonids Red Drakonid - Short range cone DoT fire attack, stacks; resistant to Fire. Blue Drakonids - Attack which drains mana; resistant to Frost; slightly resistant to Arcane. Green Drakonids - Stun, resistant to Nature. Black Drakonids - Moderately powerful direct damage fire attack; resistant to Shadow and Fire. Bronze Drakonids - Reduces Attack and Cast Speed; resistant to Arcane.

2 of these brood colours will come from the tunnels, 1 from each side. With these, chromatic drakonids will also tag along and need to be sorted out by the assigned hunters and warriors, as theyre much more powerful than regular adds. The colour of these mobs will NOT change after a wipe, they are set to that instance reset.

Phase 1 The drakonids spawn, warlocks tank with AoE, mages use low rank frost nova to trap them in place and hunters drop slowing traps. They arent particular hard to kill so just let the warlocks soak the damage and keep them alive. Other than that, survive. and have your onyxia scale cloak ready for....

Phase 2 When enough drakonids have been killed, nefarian will land. Turn him to face off the balcony, and begin DPS. Nefarian has the usual abilities like conical fire and cleave (which youll know to avoid from onyxia encounters) but he also calls out classes periodically. Each 25 seconds he will "call out" a class type. Below shows what to do in the event that it is your class;

Druids: Quote: "Druids and your silly shapeshifting. Let's see it in action!" Effect: Permanently stuck in Cat Form for duration. Solution: Safest call is to stay back and wait for the debuff to wear off. Some raids may let the Druids run up and DPS, however this puts them at risk for getting feared into the Shadowflame and dying.

Hunters: Quote: "Hunters and your annoying pea-shooters!" Effect: Equipped ranged weapon instantly broken. Solution: Hunters should either manually unequip their bow, or set up a macro to instantly unequip. Be sure to bring extra ranged weapons in the event your bow/gun does break.

Mages: Quote: "Mages too? You should be more careful when you play with magic..." Effect: Cast Wild Polymorph on random raid members within range of Polymorph. Solution: Mages should use ice block to remove this debuff or run/blink to the tunnels on the far side of the balcony (so they only polymorph each other)

Priests: Quote: "Priests! If you're going to keep healing like that, we might as well make it a little more interesting!" Effect: Direct Heals will subsequently DoT their target (Renew and Power Word: Shield do still work normally though). The DoT is stackable and can end up doing a lot of damage if not caught quickly. Solution: Stop use of direct healing spells for the duration. Druids and Paladins/ must compensate. Priests still can use renew and shields.

Paladins: Quote: "Paladins, I've heard you have many lives. Show me." Effect: Cast Blessing of Protection on Nefarian. Solution: For Alliance, palladins should cast Judgement of Wisdom on Nefarian, and all casters should wand back mana while he is protected. (It is advisable to cease damage during this call as the MT won't be able to gain more aggro. Healer heal, the rest can lean back and regenerate mana.)

Rogues: Quote: "Rogues? Stop hiding and face me!" Effect: Teleported and immobilized in place close to Nefarian. Solution: In some cases Rogues will be rooted in a "safe" spot and MT adjustment is not required. If rogues do get rooted in the Cleave/Shadowflame area, the MT must turn Nefarian 45-90 degrees away from the raid to prevent rogue deaths.

Warriors: Quote: "Warriors, I know you can hit harder than that! Let's see it!" Effect: Permanently stuck in Berserker Stance plus an additional 30% damage taken for duration. Solution: Extra heals for the MT. At the end of the debuff Warriors must manually return to their desired stance.

Warlocks: Quote: "Warlocks, you shouldn't be playing with magic you don't understand. See what happens?" Effect: 2 Infernals per Warlock are summoned. They will stun and do minor (physical?) damage to the warlock and those immediately surrounding them. Solution: They're immune to fire damage but are easily taken down by mage AoE. Assistance from Rogues and Warriors is also helpful. Warlocks, try to stand in an isolated area in the back of the raid for the duration of Phase 2 to avoid stunning healers when the infernals come down.

Nefarian then has the typical NO WAI IM NOT DYING phase.

Phase 3 At 20%, Nefarian will utilise his necromacy skillz and get busy with the dead drakonids. The corpses are reanimated as Bone Constructs, and though they hit pretty hard theyve got low HP so they die fast. Before reaching 20%, a few OTs and spare paladins + caster friends go to the groups of dead bodies and wait for 20% to tick. Dispatch them fast and return to the raid. After that, dps Nefarian down. Job done!

(Nefarian tactic shamelessly poached by Zhor)

Thrash mobs

Lab Packs

After the surpression room and the Broodlord are cleared there are several trash mobs between you and the next boss Firemaw. These trash mobs come in packs that stand in Firemaws patrol path and will need to be pulled all the way back to the supression room by a hunter.

Blackwing Spellbinder

There are usually one or two of these in each group. The Spellbinders have a nasty AOE attack and deal quite a bit of damage in melee. They also polymorph targets that don't currently have agro. Being resistant to all types of magic these mobs need to be meleed down at the end of the fight.

To reduce the damage done on the raid each spellbinder will have to be kited to the back of the room by a hunter. This can be a little tricky because the Spellbinder is resistant to all magic. The hunter has two abilities that do work on them, which are Wing Clip and Scatter Shot. The hunter kiting the Spellbinder will have to wait until he starts casting his Flame Strike to run up to him and use Scatter Shot, followed up by a Wing Clip. If all goes well the hunter shouldn't be hit once. In case the hunter does take damage or gets polymorphed there will be a paladin healing and cleansing him.

Once all the Warlocks and Technicians are down Hunters and Melee will take these mobs out.

Blackwing Warlock

These are the guys to watch out for as they have two abilities that will be able to wipe the raid rather quickly if not taken out fast. First of all they can summon Enraged Felguards that will need to be banished for the duration of the fight. They will also cast Rain of Fire that will inflict AOE damage on the raid. Everyone should run out of this as quick as possible.

Kill these guys first to reduce the chance of wiping.

Blackwing Technician

There are a few of these in every lab pack. They throw dynamite at the raid that deals AOE damage. They can be sheeped, stunned and feared

Death Talon Overseer

These are big dragonkin that all have a weakness to a certain type of magic (Either Shadow, Nature, Arcane, Fire or Frost). Since they don't have any AOE attacks besides cleave these can be saved until the last.

Death Talon Wyrmguards

The Wyrmguards are perhaps the toughest trash mobs in BWL and a bad combination of powers can even result in a wipe. They come in packs of three and each of them has a Brood Power and a weakness to a certain type of magic. The brood powers can be one of the following:

Green

Red

Black

Blue

Bronze

(Need infomation about Brood Powers)