Section 2.3 - Moam

Moam is the third boss in the Ruins of Ahn'Qiraj (AQ20) and is a large Sphinx, very similar to the Obsidian Destroyer trash mobs. Moam is also a tremendously fun and easy fight if done correctly. The biggest trick with Moam is having enough mana drain. You must have at least 3 Warlocks, 3 Priests and any Hunters you have continuously mana draining Moam

As with many of the AQ20 boss fights it is not that difficult once you know how.

Abilities

Moam has many different abilities that must be dealt with, none are that difficult to deal with though.

Drain Mana - This is the ability that causes the most issues in the fight. Moam Drains mana from 5 players at a time, draining 500 mana and restoring 1000 mana to Moam. While not directly that damaging, is causes a severe issue when teamed with the next ability!

Arcane Explosion - If Moam ever reaches full mana he will scream out that "Moam Bristles with energy" and unleashes a huge arcane explosion. I have seen the explosion hit players for over 3000 damage and through them through the air, causing another 1000+ fall damage. Basically if Moam ever reaches 100% mana and does an arcane explosion the raid wipes.

Trample - This is an AOE spell that hits the main tank and everyone else in the front arc in HTH with roughly 1000 damage to a plate wearer. Cloth and Leather players do not want to be in the front arc!

Turn to Stone - When Moam turns to stone, his armor and regeneration rate increase. He can not attack, has no aggro table and does not drain mana while in this form.

Strategies

The Moam fight is two to three phases long, depending how long you take. Your goal should be to complete the fight in two phases so that you do not have to deal with Moam again while banishing and in weakened group state.

The phases of the fight should be fought like this:

Phase 1

The tank engages Moam and generates Aggro. All players capable of mana drain spread out beside and behind Moam and start chaining mana drain abilities. After the tank has a firm hold on Moam all other players can start DPS on Moam.

Since the Priests need to be mana draining Moam, the tank needs to be kept alive by alt healers (Druids, Shamans, Paladins), all other players should not be damaged much in this phase and should be able to bandage and potion themselves back to full health.

It is important to aim for less than 50% mana and roughly 60% health by the end of this phase. When roughly 80 seconds have passed all players should move away from Moam to the side or rear, with Warlocks moving to the front. At 90 seconds Moam will summon 3 Mana Fiends. This starts phase 2.

Phase 2

The 3 Mana Fiends have a very nasty AOE Arcane explosion that does roughly 1000 damage so it is critical that the Warlocks chain banish them as soon as they appear. Each Warlock should have a pre-set Fiend to banish (left, center, right) and needs to have them targeted to re banish when they are released.

In this phase Moam uses his stone form ability, which will last 90 seconds or until he gets to 100% mana. All players need to DPS him as fast as possible while Warlocks and Priests attempt to keep his mana down. Again, there is no aggro table for Moam at this point in the fight so you can go all out and ideally drop him before he comes out of stone form.

Phase 3

Phase 3 potentially two things, finishing of Moam and killing the Mana Fiends. If Moam is still alive you need to finish him quickly as you are unlikely to be able to keep up the mana drain due to mana shortages. If he is not dropped quickly he will reach full mana and explode.

Once he is dead your raid should heal as much as possible while keeping the Mana Fiends banished. Once in a good state of health let the banishes expire one at a time and kill the Fiends quickly. They are not that difficult one at a time, and have surprisingly little health.

Images

We will have images of Moam up shortly in our AQ20 gallery here: TenTonHammer's AQ20 Gallery.

Have comments or suggestions? Thought of something that has been missed? Found another tactic that can be used? Found an error? We would love to hear from you! Email us at [email protected].

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