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Friday, August 10, 2007

World of Warcraft:A Guide Through All Heroics

Hellfire Citadel - Hellfire Ramparts (Flamewrought Key (Honor Hold/Thrallmar revered))
Difficulty: 2/5
Basics: The main group killing mobs are the Raveners. Those raveners can one-shot your cloth, two shot your leather, and mostly equals "hurt". They often come together with wolves, and they are CC'able, to be sure to sheep or sap them. Also, when picking them up, try to disarm them - this decreases their burst by a lot. Another annoying group of mobs is the four casters with a meleeer in the middle. The casters tend to fear a lot, but only when you come close - it can be nice, depending on your group, to keep your distance. There is also a Beastmaster near the start. If he isn't killed fast, he will summon two wol;ves which will also aggro everything in their path. Be sure to kill him quickly!
Bosses:
- Watchkeeper Gargolmar - for many this was the first Outland boss they did. And for many, it's the first heroic boss they did. The tactics are quite simple: The Watchkeeper has two healing adds, so either CC them or kill them quickly. He also charges the person that is the farthest away from him, so don't put your healers in that spot. Overall, he isn't too hard to fight himself - it's the pull that's the problem. Be sure to clear around him first, including the patrolling Raveners that crosses the road. You don't want him to come and have fun with you.
- Omor the Unscarred - Ahh, there shineth a shiney demon. This guy has three interesting side. First of all, he only attacks with shadowbolts - no melee dps at all. This means that when your warrior, druid, or paladin doesn't suffice and is better used on other things, a mage, warlock, priest, shaman, with a little stamina gear can be used. The second thing is that he does a debuff onto people. This debuff is called Treacherous Aura, and damages people around the afflicted for a lot of damage. Because of this, try to spread out a lot - and really watch out if you're on melee; if you or the tank gets the debuff, RUN! The last thing is that he summon a lot of felhounds. These can do a mana burn which depletes your mana in two or three burns. They are spawned too fast to kill in reasonable time, so a class without mana must try to pick them up while the rest burns down the boss. If you have a warlock in the group, have him or her enslave the hounds as soon as they come - they'll die of the shadow AoE of Omor :)
- Vazruden the Herald - This guy is a tough cookie. Well, the guy isn't, but the drake is. The fight starts off by killing two orcs which aren't hard, but be sure not to waste much mana on them. After this, the dragon with the orc will land. The orc will start hammering on you on the ground, while the dragon starts firing fireballs which stay on the ground and you need to avoid. But this is not all - the dragon comes down after a given amount of time (in which you may or may not have the orc down, but please try to get him down) and melees HARD and does a load of damage which his fire breath. Because of this, kill the orc as soon as possible and grab the dragon as soon as he lands. There is an alternative if you have a lot of ranged DPS - damage the dragon a lot while he's in the air, and then when he's down, get him down fast, after which you can take care of the orc. NOTE: This boss drops no Badge of Justice.

Hellfire Citadel: Blood Furnace (Flamewrought Key (Honor Hold/Thrallmar revered))
Difficulty: 1/5
Basics: The trash around this instance isn't too particularly hard. However, there are rogues around the instance which can make your life miserable when coming at a bad time. There are two patrolling at the big stairs at the start, and on top of it is another one. There *can* be one hidden on the room after that, too. In the corridor with the orcs being made after the Maker, there is one at the very southern end of it (at the start) and one at the very north. Also, after Broggok, in the room with the patrolling warlocks and Felguards, there is another one at your right hand when you come in (the spot without mobs). There are also meleeers, specifically in Broggok's room and in the Maker's room, which can do some very nasty cleaves. Also, there are technicians who drop mines, which you shouldn't walk into because they do AOE HURTING. Pewpew! Last, but sadly not least mob of note are the felguards before Keli'dan the Breaker's room. They hit devastatingly hard, and also tend to aggro other people when they feel like it. Try to Crowd Control them as much as you can, and bring down at least one of them when you can. Otherwise, skip them by using Soulstone, DI, or battleres-walking through - this may let you have less wipes than otherwise, as the last boss is pretty easy anyway.
Bosses:
- The Maker - Incredibly easy, you'd forget that he is a heroic boss. The only thing of note is his Mind Control, and some poison. He hasn't got much health, doesn't do much damage, and is a nice starter for any time, any place.
- Broggok - Hah, thought you could sit back and relax in this nice little Furnace? No way, José! This boss, after switching the switch, spawns four waves of orcs. These orcs are quite hardhitting, so try to CC as much as possible. Watch out, though - the elites are usually less hard than the non-elites, so you might want to get the non-elites first. When these waves are defeated, Broggok himself comes, but he isn't too hard - just move out of the poison cloud he makes every once in a while. NOTE: Currently, this can be bugged when you stand too close to the cages when they open. Keep in the middle of the room.
- Keli'dan the Breaker - Easy guy after these hard felguards. Note that around his room, there are glowing holes with shards of something above them. If you stand in there, you get a very nice buff, so go and stand there when fighting. As for the fight, it starts off with five casters, which are quickly killed. After that, Keli'dan will break free. He hasn't got much interesting attacks except when he says "Closer.. come closer.. and BURN!" at which points he drags everyone to him and he does some very hard hitting AOE when you're not quick enough, á la Shade of Aran's Arcane Explosion.

Hellfire Citadel: Shattered Halls (Flamewrought Key (Honor Hold/Thrallmar revered))
Difficulty: 5/5 (?)
http://forums.wow-europe.com/thread.html? topicId=286941487&postId=2864970588&sid=1#15 for Dey's full walkthrough post :)
Basics: This place seems very dependant on Crowd Control, so bring quite a lot. Mobs hit hard and come back if you wipe at a point where you haven't killed them all. Also, like on normal mode, the legionnaires will summon back mobs whenever someone of their teammates are killed, so try to kill them first - although, if there are mobs that need taken care of quickly, it's better to have an easy nonelite than a hard hitting elite. You can also just AoE every group if you have enough AoE people for that, which can be an easy alternative. There are two special things about Heroic Shattered Halls: There is an added boss after the archer event, and there is a timer of 55 minutes which starts at the archer event, which, when it's over, has the Warchief Kargath killing the prisoners he has. Of course, there are quests saving them, so you might want to do that. Mobs of note are the Gladiators, which can basically one-shot ANYONE, and must thus be kited very well. Otherwise, there isn't much difference - if you've done normal mode, you should know how these work.
Bosses:
- Grand Warlock Nethekurse - Basically the normal-mode fight, onyl with increased numbers. The Void zones he regularly spawns hits quite hard now, and the whirlwind even harder. Try to use spellreflect or cloak of the shadows quite often, especially when he starts whirlwinding. Not very hard fight overall in comparison to the trash before him.
- Blood Guard Porung - Yes, a heroic only boss. See, it's worth the hell of orcs after all ;) This guy comes with two archers adds, which can be quickly killed or CC'd. Other than that, he does a HUGE cleave, so should be tanked against the back wall so not to hit others. Also, he spams fear quite a lot, but it has a very short duration. This is an AoE fear, but can be outranged, so keep your distance if you can. He has special drops and a heroic badge on top of it.
- Warbringer O'mrogg - "Me smash" to a literal sense. Like in normal, he tends to wipe aggro, then pick another target. In normal this is okay - he doesn't hit too hard when doing it. In Heroic this is lethal. Use all your abilities to lose aggro WHEN you get it when the tank(s) try to get it back. Mage's Ice Block, Rogue's Vanish, Paladin's Bubble.. You know the procedure. bring some limited invulnerability potions if you can't do it. He hasn't got much health, so just.. Don't die :) NOTE: He can bug after a wipe, he keeps in enrage mode. He's still beatable then, but much harder.
- Warchief Kargath - Yes, a real end-boss for this hard place. He hits a lot harder now, including 2k Blade Dance and 3.5k normal hits at times. Be sure to spread out and go full out on him - he still summons adds, but like in normal mode, it's just the sharpshooters that are really dangerous. Ergo, kill the sharpshooters and either CC of have the adds tanked. Be sure to keep spread out at all times, however.

Coilfang Reservoir - The Slave Pens (Coilfang Key (Cenarion Expedition Revered))
Difficulty: 1.5/5
Basics: Ah, Slave Pens. If Ramparts wasn't your first Heroic, then this surely was. Really, the mobs aren't that interesting in here, overall, although there are a few you should take note of. First of all, the Bogstrok (crab-looking guys) packs. These are HUMANOID, and can be sapped. They hit quite hard, but are CC'able in anyway. Often, the problem is not their abilities, but just that you get a lot of them. Second, the Defenders. There are a few packs of them around the instance, mostly in pairs, on in a pair with one or two added CC'able mobs. If they come with mobs, be sure to CC them quickly. The Defenders aren't really defenders - they're more offensive than defensive. They hit like trucks, 4-6k a hit, and needs full attention from your healers. They also have a spell reflect shield (easily seen), and aren't CC'able themselves (although you can kite them away if you wish).
Bosses:
- Mennu the Betrayer - Easy one. He drops totems all the time, so have one person (preferably a rogue, hunter, druid or warrior because they won't waste mana) on totem duty to kill them. Just watch out for his Fire Nova Totem. This thing explodes for a LOT of damage after a few moments, and also explodes when you kill it. So, just move away from it (that includes the tank). Other than that, an easy kill.
- Rokmar the Crackler - Not too hard, either. Has an AoE water spit which cannot be outranged reasonably, and has quite an interesting debuff - a DOT that ticks until the target is healed to full health. Rokmar always applies this to the main tank, though - be sure to get the target upto full health quickly, or the DoT will strain the healing.
- Quagmirran - First of all, try to clear the groups before him, including the big pack with two normal mobs and two defenders. There is a cage with a night elf there, who grants you a very handy buff of Nature resistance when freed. (Warning: a group of mobs will come running to you when you open the cage, so be ready). For the boss; Quagmirran pulls out a few tricks, first of which is a cleave, which is.. a cleave. It hits hard. Second is his Acid Geyser. When you enable casting bars in interface, you can see him casting it (it also looks like he's eating the ground while doing this). This shoots people within range of it, so max range here whenever you can. It can be fully spellreflected by a warrior, which helps a lot - it can take 5-10% of his HP away. Last thing is just a normal poison bolt - dispel it if you can.

Coilfang Reservoir - The Underbog (Coilfang Key (Cenarion Expedition Revered))
Difficulty: 2/5
Basics: The beginning is always the hardest. Well, that's a lie, but in here it is. There are some awkward pulls at the start, and I can't give you too much help except to banish, sheep and off tank whatever you can. Also watch out for the Underbats - they fly around swiftly, and can mess up pulls completely by grabbing you two extra packs of angry vegetables. Another dreaded pull is the pull before the first boss - this includes two Bog Lords, which both hit very hard, and are uncc'able. They're a bit like Coilfang Defenders (see Slave Pens), only hit far harder and have no reflective shield. Also, they grow over time, making their damage output higher. The trick is to just dps them down as quickly as you can. Other than that, the trash is quite average and not too hard.
Bosses:
- Hungarfen - It's a badger badger badger.. This guy is about MUSHROOMS. Lots and lots of mushroom. And exploding ones at that - Hungarfen keeps spawning mushroom around the place, which explode and leave a spore cloud which damages you for.. well.. too much. This means that in this fight you're constantly on the move. Move away from any growing mushrooms you see near you. Also do not walk in the spore clouds. Other than that, he has a poison aura, which a good tank/healer can go through, and another aura at around 20%-30%, which heals him for lots when anyone comes near him. Move away from him at that point and go back when he's done showing off.
- Ghaz'an - Hits hard. Also, has a volley attack from his front, and a tail sweep from his side, That means he must be facing the raid with his side. Does poison, and a lot of nature damage overall, so if you gor NR gear, equip it here.
- Swamplord Musel'ek - You can tame druids! This guy is a hunter, with hunter abilities, and a pet, which is a friendly druid really. It is a very similar fight to Illyana Ravenoak in Dire Maul West, actually - the bear charges random people, and Musel'ek attacks people with Multi-shot, Frost trap, etc. Just nuke down Musel'ek, and then Claw, the bear - at 20% or so he'll turn friendly. Not a hard fight.
- The Black Stalker - Looks like a vegetable. A lot like a vegetable. He has a levitate ability which makes people fly and fall down with damage, but remember that you can still attack and cast some spells there. He also has a chain lightning, so spread out, but his biggest manoever in Heroic are the adds - he spawns quite some adds with similar abilities to him. They die quite fast, but you probably won't ever have enough DPS to get them all down within reasonable time. That means the tank must try tograb as many adds as possible, and the dps do their very best to get him down as soon as possible.

Coilfang Reservoir - The Steamvault (Coilfang Key (Cenarion Expedition Revered))
Difficulty: 3/5
Basics: Very much like normal mode, and not the challenge you'd expect from an already level 70 instance heroic after you've done, say, Shattered Halls Heroic. However, you still have the Bog Lords to watch out for (their stomp HURTS, so watch out melee dps!). Other than that, the mobs are the same as normal mode, only that they hit a little harder. They're CC'able, but like in all heroics, not MC'able.
Bosses:
- Hydromancer Thespia - The boss itself isn't really dangerous, it's the adds that come with her. Do everything you can to CC them or shoo them away in any way, a warlock is a great help here, because their water bolt volley hits for 2k, and their melee can be fairly hard to (especially on cloth). If you don't have a warlock, kite one of the adds as a hunter, and if you don't have either, just burn themselves as quick as possible. The boss now summons two thunder clouds you'll want to run out of.
- Mekgineer Steamrigger - Woot for gnome bosses ;) He is the same as in normal mode, except for the fact that he spawns a gnome every so much seconds into the fight, in ADDITION to the "Tune 'em up good boys *hehe*" 3 gnome-spawn. This makes for a huge healing on the boss if you're not careful. Remember, though, that AoE stops them from healing (interrupts it) so keep Thunder Clapping/Consecrating/Frost Nova'ing them all for lesser healing. You might also want to take an AoE-killing period into the fight when there are too much gnomes.
- Warlord Kalitresh - Again, not much difference from normal mode, except that the tanks have 40% more health, so need even more burning down. Whenever he slurps up a tank, he enrages, and if he does, he hurts everyone kind of badly - so try to get those big health tanks down. However, if that doesn't work, you can always remember to kite the tank around, because he's very, very slow. This can actually work quite well whenever he's got too much enrage buffs on him, seeing as he won't hit anyone that way.

Auchindoun - Mana Tombs (Auchenai Key - Lower City Revered)
Difficulty: 4.5/5
Basics: Eep, this place is scary. For one of the earlier instances, this is actually one of the hardest. It's full of ethereal, and quite hard ethereal at that. There are quite some mobs you'll need to watch out for; first of all the Ethereal Sorcerers, which spam arcane missiles and summon little arcane elementals. At any group, try to CC and/or kill these guys first, because you don't want a wave of arcane explosion and counterspell spamming elementals your way, especially since they hit quite hard. Priests; these heal. *gasp* After you've got the sorcerers and darkcasters down, kill these. They don't heal very frequently though, don't do much damage, and can be interrupted, so they're not big a danger as healer-mobs often are. Darkcasters; can easily wipe a mana-based party. Their mana burns can take out all of your mana in two shots, so interrupt them and kill them very quickly. If the sorcerers are getting killed first, be sure to CC these in any way possible - you do NOT want these getting loose on your casters. Nexus Terror; void-walker-like mobs which have a fear, so watch where you tank them.
Bosses:
- Pandemonius - This guy is not funny, has no sense of humour, and annoys everyone. A lot. Seeing as he hits for about 2-4k shadow damage, and adds to that, your tank will want to grab some Shadow Resistance gear (seeing as Pandemonius does no normal melee at ALL, this way you can reduce a lot of damage). He has a few more tricks, too. His biggest is his shield - this reflects all spells, and also damages melee attackers for a lot - do not give the tank Thorns! That also means everyone has to stop attacking when he has his shield up, or you'll probably die quite soon. That includes the Main Tank, so watch out not to get aggro through healing. Second trick of his is his AOE void blast. This pushes everyone back, and does quite some damage to often everyone in the party. It can be outranged and out LoS'ed, so make use of those things. He hasn't got too much health, so if you can survive, you should be fine.
- Tavarok - The wimpiest boss of the instance in comparison to the first and last boss. Everyone who can max range on him to avoid his earthquakes. Also does his Crystal Prison which can hurt people quite badly, but can be outhealed pretty easily. The only thing you'll want tow atch out for is his earthquake on melee dps, and his Arcing Smash on the Main Tank, which can eaisly hit for 6-7k. Otherwise, a pretty easy boss, but now, prepare for..
- Nexus-Prince Shaffar - No-one in this instance has a sense of humour, really. Like in normal mode, he does mage-like tricks (frost nova, frostbolt, fireball), doesn't hit too hard himself but summons a lot of adds. Whereas in normal mode these were killable, in heroic mode you'll find them to spawn far too fast to get down in reasonable time. That means this is a maniacal first. Keep fearing the adds when you can, keep pets out so they target them, and give all your dps to the boss. The trick here s to get him down before he and the adds get you down, which is still a very hard thing to do. The tank might want to grab aggro of as much adds as possible, as neither these nor the boss hit hard - it's just that there's LOTS of them.
- Yor - Summoned by someone who has Consortium Revered/Exalted and the questchain of the Prison Keys done, this boss is located at the cell before Shaffar. He's a really easy fight - the only thing you should watch out for is his fire-breath, so tank him faced away from the group.

Auchindoun - Auchenai Crypts (Auchenai Key - Lower City Revered)
Difficulty: 3/5
Basics: Like in normal mode, one mob here isn't one mob. Every NPC will probably summon another ghostly ally, which is killed quickly but does loads of damage, MC a party member, or sheep them. That means you'll always have to focus fire on the non-elite adds first, and then go for the elite guys. Always go for the Auchenai Possessors first if they spawn - they'll mind control a party member which then eneds to be nuked down :/ Also, watch out for the Auchenai Monks, seeing as these aren't CC'able. At the elite skeletons, try to paladin-fear or priest-shackle as much as you can, and nuke them down with marks one by one. They aren't much of a problem that way. And one last note: if you fall of the bridge of souls, you're really dead ;)
Bosses:
- Shirrak the Dead Watcher - Mother Brain :O He has a few tricks, first of which you notice immediately - a stacking aura which increases your spell casting time by a lot. That means healers and damage casters will need to rely on instant casts (and HoTs) as much as possible. Also try to move out of the aura for a few seconds if it gets too much. He also has a Focuses Fire spell which he alerts the group of by doing an emote at the given person - that person needs to run away quickly, as Shirrak will shoot hard-hitting AoE fireballs at him. This is also the reason why you'll need to spread out. Last of his tricks is his Carnivorous Bite debuff, which is a stacking DoT for everyone in Melee range. This will hurt quite a lot after a while, so the trick here is when he does his Focus Fire - he'll stand still then, giving all melee time to move away from him and watch the debuff fade.
- Exarch Maladaar - Has a ribbon of souls spell which hurts a random person for some damage, but his main trick is stealing souls of everyone. When your soul is stolen, you get a 50% decrease on everything, and spawn an NPC which is.. the stolen soul of that person. So for example, in my case, it'd summon a gnome mage soul which casts fireballs at everyone. These souls can pull out some damage, so be sure to kill them quickly, also because the debuff fades that way. Maladaar also has an AoE fear which means he deaggroes from the tank, so keep Fear Ward or a Tremor Totem up when you got it. At around 25%, he'll summon a huge Avatar, which hurts quite hard, but get him down first quickly. If you wipe, you can run back in and take care of the Avatar, and make sure you do so - it drops part of the loot.

Auchindoun - Sethekk Halls (Auchenai Key - Lower City Revered)
Difficulty: 3/5
Basics: A lot like normal mode. Actually, there are almost no changes at all! Watch out for the Time-Lost Controller, they drop totems who can MC a random player, so kill them and their totems quickly.Mobs you'll need to watch too are the Ravenguards. These usually come in pairs, and hit very hard. They're fairly much alike the Coilfang defenders, so apply the same tactics (See Slave Pens). Lastly are the Prophets, who spawn ghosts á la Sunken Temple when they die. You can't kill those, so run away from them, as they can easily two-shot a squishy.
Bosses:
- Darkweaver Syth - Just like normal mode - he isn't really hard himself, but he summons adds three times throughout the fight(which can be CC'd!) which do stacking damage. In normal mode you could chain-fear the, but in heroic they just hit too hard for that. Try to kill the adds quickly first, and then go for the boss. If you got a lot of dps, you can decide to ignore the adds at the third spawn, and kill the boss quickly.
- Talon King Ikiss - Patch 2.1: Talon King Ikiss on Heroic difficulty has been significantly reworked. He now has a point blank area of effect slow spell, increased damage on the Arcane volley , increased damage on the 'Arcane Explosion', and reduced the frequency on his 'Polymorph'. Basically, however, move behind the four pillars around his room when he blinks (he'll do Arcane Explosion after), and dispel the sheep. Since the patch, it's the easiest way to all go behind one pillar, as that means the tank can grab aggro the fastest :)
- Anzu - Summoned by a druid who has done the epic flightform line, this guy is an interesting fight, albeit not very hard. First thing he has is three little friendly owl around the room. These are usually asleep, but when you do a HoT on them they will activate. The Hawk gives an aura that reduces all party members physical damage taken by 500. The Eagle gives an aura that deals 500 dps to all enemies in the room. The Falcon gives an aura granting all party members 15% haste (movement, attack, casting).
So use them as well as possible. Second of all he has a charge, which charges the second on aggro - just keep the person (and you'll quickly notice who it is) at full health if possible. As last thing he banishes himself at 66% and 33%, and summons loads and loads of non-elite birds. Just AoE them, they aren't very hard or dangerous at all. If you die, be sure to run back (if he's got much health left), seeing as you can easily engage him if you've done the last boss and opened the shortcut.

Auchindoun - Shadow Labyrinth (Auchenai Key - Lower City Revered)
Difficulty: 4.5/5
Basics: Annoying trash. And it takes very, very long. If you're going Heroic Shadow Labyrinth and want to complete it in one sitting, prepare for at least 3 hours of dungeoneering. The trash isn't very much different from normal, although it of course hits harder. It's nice to bring some CC, as that limits the amount of mobs you get. Watch out, however - the Cabal Ritualists in here dispel most kinds of CC on their team, so either CC one far away from the other(s), bring an affliction warlock with UA to totally switch them off, or don't bother. Also, the single-mobs are the hardest - especially the fel overseers are a great danger to your party, as they still wipe aggro with their fear and now has a mortal strike that hits for around 6-8k. The best way to deal with them is to all stay close to him, so that the whole party gets feared. This sounds weird, but that means he won't wipe aggro and go to the non-feared person, instead still hitting ont the tank. Another thing is the Malicious Instructors. They still aren't very hard, but now Disarm the main tank, so be sure to put on some good gloves.
Bosses:
- Ambassador Hellmaw - This guy has become a timed encounter. If you don't kill him within 3 minutes, he enrages and one-shot all of your merry band. Other than that he's pretty much the same as in normal mode, so if you've got a Dwarven or Draenei priest or a shaman, put some fear warding stuff on the tank. Be sure to bring quite some dps - the enraging timer is quite severe. If you can't handle it, you can skip him if you wish :)
- Blackheart the Inciter - TIME FOR FUN! Again, not very different from normal, although he now hits for 5-7k, which is.. a bit sucky :p When he does his group MC, try to have a freezing trap below the healer, a warlock to have a succubus with seduce on, a mage to Ice Block quickly before, etc, to preserve mana and your good health. Be sure to let the tank reestablish his aggro on Blackheart after the MC, or your healer will meet some smashes. Hard smashes.
- Grandmaster Vorpil - Voidwalkers! They're everywhere! Again, as in normal, try to use the same kind of tactics. I myself love the kiting tactic (kiting him avoiding the voidwalkers fromt he north to the south and vice versa after a teleport), but use whatever you like best. The big difference is that Vorpil will now also banish players, and when they are, they won't be teleported. You can grab the oppotunity to heal with ease or kill some voidwalkers :)
- Murmur - Murmurmurmurmur. Grand Master Trumpettist is here for you to kill - and he's more annoying than ever! We all heard about sonic boom, right? Ah, whatever, I'm ranged dps/healer, I stand outside that circle anyway, don't have to care about that. Too bad! Murmur now does in all the time he DOESN'T do Sonic Boom a damage ability who hits everyone OUTSIDE the circle. Fun, eh? That means that in Heroic Murmurmurmur mode, you'll need to constantly run in and out of the circle. Also watch your exploding Touch of Murmur - be sure not to stand near anyone when you do your little kaplooie.

Tempest Keep - The Mechanar (Warpforged Key - Sha'tar Revered)
Difficulty: 1.5/5
Basics: Urgh. The most-run heroic ever, and I've been asked so much times to run it. Crazy it makes me! Crazy I tell you! Well, it hasn't differed much from normal - mobs are CC'able for the most part, mobs have the exact same abilities, nothing special. You'll still need to interrupt or avoid the robot's charge when he has it, and will still have fun with bombing minidemons. That's all, really. Have fun and semi-free badges ;)
- Gatewatcher Gyro-Kill - Spread out a little at this guy. He does a sawblade effect in a cone in a direction, which sends damage to a player plus a DoT. He also gains Shadow Power every once in a while, so watch the healing.
- Gatewatcher Iron-Hand - Frontal poison, don't go into it. Other than that, he stands still and emotes every once in a while, which is a sign to RUN AWAY because he's going to smash everyone close to him. Has Shadow Power, too, so watch that.
- Mechano-Lord Capacitus - Totally different from normal mode, which is a good thing. Now, the mines still appear and he still has his shield, but he has an interesting trick - everyone gets a + or a - debuff. Players who've done Thaddius at Naxxramas will remember this - if the + players stand together, they get a damage buff, and the same counts for the - players. However, when a + and a - stand at each other, they both die soon. That means you'll need to watch your own and the other's debuffs. Have fun with 12k hits, as the damage buff stacks :)
- Nethermancer Sepethrea - Arguably the hardest boss in here. She now spawns 3 elementals instead of 2, which makes it hard to hold aggro as a tank, especially considering that if you fight her in her room, this will be chaos. She also does a Dragon's Breath which can make the elementals catch up with you and kill you. You can fight the fight in her room and have chaos, but you can consider to kill the last boss first, then kite the elementals by one person to where the last boss was and back - to do this, let one person aggro her and run into the corridor, while the tank and the rest of the group, who have been standing in the corridor to prevent aggro, quickly grab the boss. This way, the elementals will just follow the first person.
- Panthaleon the Calculator - Will now cast an Arcane Explosion every 10 seconds, 2 seconds casting time, which can be interrupted, but stay at a range if you can. The adds are much harder now, you can fear and kill them, but you can also dps the boss down to 20% - they will actually despawn then! Also watch out for his little Mind Control - be ready to CC and dispel after, or have the MC'd be tanked.

Tempest Keep - The Botanica (Warpforged Key - Sha'tar Revered)
Difficulty: 2.5/5
Basics: Your basic heroic. Not too hard, not too easy either, and with a dedicated and good group you should be fine. The Tempest Peacekeepers have been nerfed in 2.1, and shouldn't cause any problems now. At the falcons and their keepers, CC or kill the keepers first, seeing as they like to direct the falcons to one specific person, which is ouchie. After Thorngrin, kill or CC the Gene-Splicers soon, seeing as they do a ranged AoE Death and Decay which hurts a lot in Heroic mode.
Bosses:
- Commander Sarannis - Hits harder. That's kind of it. Still dispel the debuff if you can. Other than that, she's the same as normal, except that she now doesn't summon adds at a percentage, but at a timer - and will keep spawning these (however, with enough DPS, you should not or see the adds only once). These adds are one Mender and three normal adds, so throw a fear onto them or CC them, and kill them frst after which you can go for Sarannis again. Also remember that she doesn't have "normal" melee attacks, just Arcane Damage-melee. So get some AR on if you can :-)
- High Botanist Freywinn - Strangely, I noticed no difference at all from normal at him o.O If anyone noticed anything, please tell.
EDIT: It seems that the difference is that the adds now cast a snare together with their old abilities. Stay closer to the glass barrier :)
- Thorngrin the Tender - Ooh, fun! Ah wait, no, I lie. His flame AOE around him now hits for around 2.5k, which is kinda.. hurtful. The trick here is that while he deaggroes after sacrfice, you can make him funnily walk around when you stand up the ledge behind him. Ah, and melee - I'm sorry, but you'll have to go ranged. *If you want, you can skip this guy, so if he's too hard, you're just missign one badge :)
- Laj - No noticably changes from normal mode again - just keep two dps assigned to the two plant-spawning pedestals (to dps the flower as they come) and nuke this guy down.
- Warp Splinter - This guy has a little trick. His arcane volley is mathematical - it's the amount of enemies (to the Splinter) minus 4. That means you do NOT want to have pets or even totems (!) out, because the volley is no longer to one way and hits everyone fairly jhard if there are a lot - however, with just 5 enemies for him, only the MT will get hurt. If you really want to totems or pets, just go stand underneath him - although you will get hit by the stomp this way (it hurts much less than the volley, however). Depending on dps, you can burn down the adds or ignore them, whatever works best for you.

Tempest Keep - The Arcatraz (Warpforged Key - Sha'tar Revered)
Difficulty: 3.5/5
Basics: Stuff hits for lots. That's the basics of the Arcatraz. Basically, all the mobs in the instance are exactly the same as normal mode, only hit 3 times harder. Oh, and the Death Watchers one shot you if you run out of time ;) The small worms that come now give an armor debuff, so get them off the tank, as it stacks very fast. Also, enjoy the non-double Sentinel pulls :D
Bosses:
- Zereketh the Unbound - Basically, skip him. He's a dork and doesn't drop improved loot. The void zones can be avoided by pulling a lot of totems and pets around the room, as he then will waste the zones on them. Bring a lot of Shadow Resistance gear, seeing as even his melee is Shadow (á la Pandemonius) and remember than the mage Slow spell works on him - can be quite shiney if you want to kite him :)
- Dalilah the Doomsayer - Still quite easy. Interrupt her heals after moving out of whirlwind, don't heal too much when the MT has the debuff (or let an offtank grab her). She's got one added ability, though - Shadowwave, which hits for 2.5k on a random target, and leaves a debuff making the Waves hit 50% harder next time.
- Wrath-Scryer Soccothrates - Actually EASIER on Heroic. After he does his knockback, he stands still and then charges someone.. Oh wait, the place where someone WAS. So keep moving around and this boss is really easy.
- Harbringer Skyriss - Everything hits harder (that includes Millhouse Manastorm). The adds before him aren't any different except for that, and be sure to keep your gnomish friend alive, because he does quite some damage in the end, and can survive Mind Rends with ease (plus you'll want him alive to finish the Trial of the Naaru). Heck, be sure to keep gnomes alive at ALL times ;P Skyriss' biggest problem is his Mind Rend (again) so put up snake traps, totems, pets, etc., so he goes mad on one of them instead of you - especially Fire Elemental totems work well, seeing as they're immune to the Mind Rend, and seeing him rending snakes is quite cool as well. Be sure to mark the original Skyriss, so you can see what the copies are, and have fun with entering Kael'thas' lair.

Caverns of Time - Old Hillsbrad Foothills (Key of Time - Keepers of Time Revered)
Difficulty: 3/5 to 4.5/5 depending on group setup.
Basics: Basically, bring a rogue. Just do it. First of all, the last boss drops a lot of shiney rogue loot, and anyone who's been here without will be screaming "Oh no it's the patroooll!" in his or her sleep and then fall down on the pillow, unconcious. Seeing as you need to place the bombs in the keep, and the patrols that are walking around summon two non-CCable elites while not CCable themselves - and they hit HARD - and spawn within 5 minutes again - you will want a rogue to do this solo. Have the group leader mark all the patrols so you can easily see them coming, even through walls. Then, have the rogue put down all the bombs while the group enjoys Hillsbrad FM; afterwards, all the scary patrols will despawn and the groups that were in the houses go outside, and will thus make for easy pulling of them and Lieutenant Drake. If you haven't got a rogue, be really careful with the groups, pull them to a safe spot where you kill them - folks here hit harder than you may think, but the mobs are kitable and CCable, so do it. After Lieutenant Drake, and when you get to Thrall, be sure to let Thrall tank one or two mobs, as he can take quite a few hits. Be sure to CC the Mages as good as you can, seeing as otherwise they will CC you ;) After Skarloc, and when you enter Tarren Mill, be sure to stay outside the barn, as fighting inside it can be horribly annoying.
Bosses:
- Lieutenant Drake - From a pushover in normal to one of the hardest bosses around. He has all of his funky normal tricks - Whirlwind (which now twoshots about everyone), Exploding Shot (which hurts as much as his melee), Fear (deaggroing), Mortal Strike (Ouch) and Hamstring (strangely, also very ouch). What you do NOT want is a Mortal Strike + Hamstring + Whirlwind on the tank. This can happen, and basically means a wipe. Other than that, be sure to keep Fear Ward and/or Tremor Totems up near the MT, as the fear he does periodically deaggroes him. Also be sure to run away from him when he does his Whirlwind, and be sure to have a well-geared tank, seeing as this guy hits incredibly hard - but it's melee damage, so mitigated by armour. What you can do is tank him down the stairs, while the non-melee part of the group stays upstairs - that way you can jump down when the MT loses aggro.
- Captain Skarloc - The easiest in here, and you get Thrall to help you. Nuke the two adds down first, and after that go for the boss. He has an AoE around him, which the ranged part of the group should stay out of. He heals, although interruptable, and doesn't hit too hard (Well, after having met Drake nothing hits really hard :p). You can, if three mobs is a bit much for your tank, have Thrall tank Skarloc for a bit - just be sure to heal him every once in a while.
- Epoch Hunter - http://forums.wow-europe.com/thread.html? topicId=286941487&postId=2865481677&sid=1#34 (Dey's detailed guide) Also a tough boss. His biggest problem, á la Broggok, is the waves before him, not the actual boss. He spawns three waves, consisting of two times two melee dragons and a caster, and then two casters and two meleers or three meleeers and a caster. Remember that druids can hibernate one dragon. Burn the caster down first, as he puts on bad, bad undispellable debuffs one everyone, after which you quickly go for the meleeers. An off-tank helps a lot here, but also remember that you got your own private offtank already - Thrall. Let him tank one (preferably not two, as even he goes down sometime), and focus ont he others. Epoch Hunter himself just hits hard, and still has his little knockback, so be sure to tank him against one of the houses, and not faced to the group to avoid his Sand Breath.

Caverns of Time - Black Morass (Key of Time - Keepers of Time Revered)
Difficulty: 4/5
Basics: Good dps helps a lot here. Also, the little adds now hit like trucks, so a dps warrior is very good here - they can take a few hits and do quite some damage. Wise using of beacons helps a lot here - don't waste any before downing the first boss, although you might want to use one or two between the first and the second boss, but it's prefered to keep them all, so you can use a beacon on every single wave after the second boss. Other than that, fairly similar to normal, just with bosses and mobs with more hp and hitting harder.
Bosses:
- Chrono Lord Deja - He is now more similar to Keli'dan the Breaker than anything else - he pulls everyone to himself, and then cast an explosion spell. Just run out, you've got enough time. He also still spams his Arcane Discharge, which should just be healed through.
- Temporus - Annoying. Á la Kurinaxx, he does a debuff which stacks and gives the MT 10% less healing, so if you can, have an offtank on him. He also does a selfbuff which increases his speed by a lot, but it is a magic buff, so spellsteal, purge or dispel it. In Heroic, he also has a spellreflecting shield, which is fairly clear... So, don't cast any spells then! :p If you haven't got two tanks, have the tank Intervene or Feral Charge to far-away party members when Temporus hasn't got the haste selfbuff, and wait for the debuff to disappear.

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