Hello goons! As you may have heard we are currently trying to organize a joint effort with The Runic Raiders to kick Gruul around his cave, this being said I have composed a compilation of some strategies for this instance. For those not familiar with this instance it is made up of two boss encounters with some clearing. The first boss is High King Maulgar, Think Ogre Moroes with no garrote or vanish. and Gruul himself.
-High King Maulgar-
Abilities:
• Arcing Smash: frontal cleave dealing 5000-12000 on plate.
• Whirlwind: Deals 7000 damage on plate.
• Mighty Blow: 6,000-11,000 damage knockback.
• Berserker Charge: Charge random raid member, only used when below 50% health.
• Intimidating Roar: AOE 8 second fear, only used when below 50% health.
• Flurry: Decreases damage but increases attack speed, only used when below 50% health.
Description:
High Kings Maulgar is a very technical fight. 90% of the fight is getting the pull executed correctly then starting the DPS train. Ventrillo or some sort of verbal communication is almost a necessity for a new guild learning this encounter.
You will find High King Maulgar in the first room of the Instance. You will see him and 4 adds. The adds are:
Kiggler the Crazed (Shaman)
Blindeye the Seer (Priest)
Olm the Summoner (Warlock)
Krosh Firehand (Mage)
Generally speaking this is what is going to happen. You will pull all 5 ogres and split them up all through the room. Then you will go down the line killing the Adds one by one until you get to Maulgar, from there it is a tank and spank.
Now for the Specifics....
The Pull/Tank Assignments:
The pull is the most important part about this fight. Use some sort of VoIP to allow verbal communications to stage a countdown for the pull so all the hunters can misdirect and all the tanks can pick up their targets at the same time, ensuring that there wont be a wipe.
Refer to the map below in regards to positioning.
High King Maulgar: Your Maintank will be tanking him against a wall, Have a hunter Misdirect Pull to him.
Kiggler the Crazed: Have 2-3 hunters, shamans, or Moonkin druids kite him around the designated area. Its important to note that he has an arcane explosion spell that has a knockback, so keep him away from the other members of the raid.
Blindeye the Seer: Have either a tank (if you have 4) or a DPS class that can sort of tank pick him and bring him to his spot.
Olm the Summoner: Will need either 2 tanks and atleast 2 warlocks on him. You need 2 tanks because occasionally the first tank will get deathcoiled. The warlocks will need to enslave the Fel-Hunters he summons.
Krosh Firehand: You will need a mage who is stacked in Stamina and Spell Hit to tank him. The mage tank will need to spell-steal a spell shield that reduces all magic damage taken by 75% in order to survive. This must be stolen every time it is cast. The mage can also keep Fire-Ward up to help. Krosh has an AOE Blastwave dealing 6,000 damage and slowing movement, so its important to fight him at range.
Healers:
• 2-3 healers on your Maintank
• 1 healer on your Party members who are kiting Kiggler
• 1 healer on the tanks tanking the warlock
• 1 healer on your mage tank
• 1-2 healers on the raid
Kill Order:
Now that you have a case on controlled Chaos going on its time to start cleaning up. Begin focus fired DPS on the Priest, be sure to interrupt all heals. After killing the priest move on to the warlock. After the warlock is dead the melee DPS will go to the shaman while the ranged DPS will kill the Mage. Clean those 2 remaining adds up and then precede to the Post-Adds Section.
Post Adds:
Add this point ranged DPS can start in on Maulgar, melee DPS should wait until after he whirlwinds so they can pick-up on the whirlwind schedule. Melee DPS will periodically have to run out to avoid whirlwind. Having a mod such as deadly boss mods will call out when a Whirlwind is coming. DPS him down to 50%.
At 50% he will drop his weapons decreasing his damage but increasing his attack speed. He will randomly cast fear and he will charge random raid members. To combat the fears and charges have your Off-Tank stay back with the casters so he can Taunt and bring Maulgar back to your Main-Tank.
At this point wash, rinse, repeat, and loot.
Gruul the Dragonkiller
Introduction
Gruul the Dragonkiller is the second boss encounter in Gruul's Lair, the entry-level 25-man dungeon in The Burning Crusade. No key or attunement is necessary to enter the lair. A minimum level of 65 is required to enter, but due to the difficulty of the encounter, level 70 is highly recommended. Killing Gruul is part of the attunement quest to Serpentshrine Cavern, the 25 man raid zone in Coilfang Reservoir. This quest can be picked up from Skar'this the Heretic in the "heroic mode" Slave Pens of Coilfang Reservoir.
Overview & Preparation
Gruul is essentially a burndown fight, where the objective is to kill him before he kills the raid. Like other burndown fights (Loatheb in Naxxramas) the encounter gets progressively more difficult, and "outlasting" it is not an option. Raid DPS is therefore key, and this should be reflected in the group composition, choice of gear, and use of consumables. As players get more experienced and geared the consumable requirement will go down, but for first kills expect to go "all out" using Flasks of Supreme Power / Relentless Assault, sharpening stones, mana and wizard oils, Fire, Shadow, Frost and Greater Arcane Power Elixirs. No consumables make as much of an impact as the ones used by your MT (Main Tank) and OT (Off Tank). Flasks of Fortification and Ironshield Potions are the most important ones, but Elixirs of Greater Defense, Major Agility and Mastery will also help. The trash pulls between High King Maulgar and Gruul respawn within 1 hour, so speedy attempts will maximize consumable use. Also, use consumables after the trash has just been cleared, not when trash is due to respawn within 15 minutes or less.
Group Composition
Gruul is a 2-tank encounter. Apart from the two tanks, the damage taken by the rest of the raid is sporadic and requires only minimal healing. 7 healers are a good number, especially for progress since it allows the raid to live longer and get used to the various abilities. This number can be reduced to 6 for kill attempts where DPS is more important. Too much melee DPS increases the difficulty of the encounter (as explained below). For an ideal group setup, use no more than 3 or 4 melee class members in addition to the two tanks.
Abilities
Gruul has 2 melee attacks that do physical damage: a normal attack that hits the primary aggro target (the MT) and a secondary attack, called Hurtful Strike, that will always hit the second highest aggro target within his melee range. It is therefore essential that any melee DPS classes maintain their aggro level not only below that of the MT, but also below that of the OT. The base damage on Hurtful Strike is 12350-13650 (this of course is reduced by armor, Defensive Stance, etc.). A Hurtful Strike is performed on average every 20 seconds.
"Growth"
Gruul has a self-buff called "Growth". The buff is first applied 30 seconds into the encounter, and increases his damage by 15%. The buff stacks, and a new stack is applied every 30 seconds. The buff will stack up to 30 times, but anything more than 20 stacks of the buff is unhealable with the tank itemization available to a guild at this stage of progress. Guilds should aim for killing him around the 16th or 17th application of Growth. The damage buff from Growth applies to both his melee swing and his Hurtful Strike, as well his "Cave In" ability.
"Cave In"
Cave In is a targeted area of effect attack. Anyone in the raid can be targeted with it. It does a base damage of 2700 every 3 seconds for 15 seconds, in a radius of 8 yards around the targeted player. While insignificant in terms of damage early in the encounter, its damage is amplified by Growth, making it a potential killer later on. Cave In damage can be reduced significantly by proper positioning. If all players space out leaving more than 8 yards between each other, a Cave In can only hit 1 player.
"Ground Slam / Gronn Lord's Grasp / Stoned / Shatter"
Apart from the "Growth" mechanic, the main difficulty of the Gruul fight is based around his Ground Slam ability. Ground Slam throws every player in the lair in a random direction, for a random distance. Upon landing, players are afflicted by the "Gronn Lord's Grasp" debuff which slows down their movement speed by 20% every second. With the final tick of Gronn Lord's Grasp reducing movement speed to 0%, the debuff is replaced by a debuff called "Stoned". Gruul then "Shatters" all the players. A player's Shatter effect does area of effect damage to all other players in a 15 yard radius. The maximum amount of damage that can be inflicted is around 9000 (when two players are in the same spot), and the damage goes down as the distance between players increases. At 15 yards, Shatter damage is reduced to 70-100 damage. Unlike Hurtful Strike or Cave In, Shatter can critically hit another player, but is not booster by Growth.
"Reverberation"
Reverberation is an area of effect "silence" that prevents spell casting for 4 seconds. It can be resisted, and is affected by Focused Mind, Unbreakable Will, as well as items with a % chance to resist silence effects. Other than random resists, the only counters to Reverberation are always keeping the tanks close to full HP, as well as instant heals / shields as the silence effect fades.
Strategy
Buffs
Because all of Gruul's abilities do physical damage, using Amplify Magic on every player is recommended. This increases healing effects on every player and amplifies damage taken from spells, of which there are none in this encounter. Improved Fortitude / Mark of the Wild / Imp and Devotion Aura should be used on the tanks, while melee groups will probably benefit the most from a shaman with Windfury Totem.
The Pull
All players must move beyond the gate as it closes upon engaging Gruul. The MT will drag Gruul to the middle of the lair while the raid moves into position as described below. During the pull, the OT plays a key role and must build more threat than any other classes in melee range, but obviously, less than the MT. With the MT repositioning Gruul, the OT must not fall behind, and always keep within melee range of Gruul. Falling behind or not building enough aggro will result in somebody from another class, usually a melee DPS, being selected as the target for Hurtful Strike, which results in instant death. The time it takes for the raid to position should give the MT enough time to build threat, so DPS can start as soon as they are in position. Having a hunter use "Misdirect" on the MT will give him extra threat and peace of mind.
Positioning
Together with high raid DPS, positioning and player movement is the most important part of the strategy to defeat Gruul. The only difference between a pure DPS burn-down encounter (such as Patchwerk or Loatheb) and Gruul, is the randomness of the Ground Slam / Shatter mechanic. Proper positioning and planning will greatly reduce the randomness of the encounter. The 5 groups should be positioned in a circle, with Gruul in the middle. Melee classes should stand in melee range, healers should stand at medium range, and ranged DPS classes at their maximum range. Although initially Gruul's Lair appears to be an open space with no terrain features, there is a series of "sticks and stones" on the perimeter of the lair. These can be used creatively by the ranged DPS, particularly hunters and mages with ranged talents that can shoot Gruul from 41 yards in order to minimize the effects of "Ground Slam".
Fight Progression
With Gruul tanked in the middle of the room and the players in their assigned positions, the main challenge becomes dealing with the Ground Slam / Shatter mechanic. After being punted in a random direction, players must move away from each other as soon as possible, and as fast as possible. A cluster of 3 or more players during a Shatter will usually result in multiple deaths, so this should be avoided at all costs. Using the enemy cast bar, players can see "Ground Slam" being cast, and can quickly move behind a stone or a pillar. This will ensure that in most cases they will be punted either into the wall or the obstacle they are hiding behind. Up to 6 players can hide behind the different obstacles in the lair during a Shatter. It is important to assign these spots to players before the encounter begins, and it is also important that other players are aware of their position. Players behind them will be hidden from view, but not protected from Shatter damage. Surviving the first two Shatters is crucial and will ensure the raid has enough DPS to down Gruul before his damage, amplified by "Growth", becomes un-healable. Pets can be Stoned as well, and are frozen for 30 seconds, but they deal no Shatter damage, so it is possible to use them. Phase-shifted imps are not affected. With trash respawning in 1 hour, it is not worthwhile pursuing attempts where 3 or more DPS class members die on the first Shatter. Wiping and restarting makes better use of your time, as well as your flask timers.
Tanks
After a Ground Slam, the MT must reposition Gruul to the center of the room. It is also crucial that the OT runs back into melee range before any other melee classes. Failure to do so results in other melee classes becoming potential targets for Hurtful Strike. Having tanks use Intercept usually ensures they will be the first to go back into Gruul's Melee range. In the early minutes of the encounter, damage taken is manageable, so consumable use such as Ironshield Potions is not necessary. Only start using them in the second half of the encounter. In the later stages where Hurtful Strike starts hitting the OT for most of his total HP, pre-emptive use of Shield Wall or Last Stand can extend the encounter by as much as 40 seconds. If the off-tank knows that the next Hurtful Strike will hit for more than his maximum HP, using Last Stand and Shield Wall will enable him to survive 2 extra hits.
Healers
As a healer, try keeping the two tanks as close to full HP as possible. This is particularly relevant for the OT in late stages of the encounter. There are two moments during the encounter when the two tanks are at their most vulnerable: immediately after a "Reverberation", as described above, and after a Shatter. After a Shatter, tanks may have taken damage from other players, while many healers could be out of position, or out of range of the tanks. If you are in range of the tanks after a Shatter, heal them, even if they are not in your group. In the late stages of the encounter, prioritize the tanks at all costs. A Renew or Regrowth is enough for a DPS class to get back to full HP before the next Shatter or Cave In.
Melee DPS
It is important for melee DPS to spread out to avoid multiple players being hit by the same Cave In. Gruul has a very large hitbox that allows for 5 melee classes to spread out around him when standing at maximum melee range. Raid groups with more melee are still viable, but Cave Ins in melee range become more frequent, and require readjusting as well as more healing. Remember that, as a melee class, your aggro should not exceed that of the OT, and you should never run ahead of the off-tank either during the initial pull, or after a Shatter.
Rogues can use Cloak of Shadows to remove the effect of Gronn Lord's Grasp and move freely, but the Shatter will still hit them normally.
Ranged DPS
As a ranged DPS class your aggro can exceed that of the OT, as Hurtful Strike will only target a class in melee range. Especially for players with talents that allow them to stand at 41 yards from the target, picking an obstacle to stand behind during the Ground Slam, and announcing it at the beginning of the raid, is very important.
It is currently Thu Nov 21, 2024 9:07 am
Gruul has called the Goonic Raiders out!
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