The
Nexus is the name given to an area of the world just
outside the Transitus shield in Coldarra as well as one of the five
player
dungeons found there. The area is the home of the Blue...

The
Nexus is the name given to an area of the world just
outside the Transitus shield in Coldarra as well as one of the five
player
dungeons found there. The area is the home of the Blue Dragonflight and
its
leader, Malygos, who inhabits the highest level of the three instances
found
here. This week we will look at the eponymous instance that is the
entry level
of the area. 
There are four bosses found
in the normal version and five in the heroic version, with the main
denizen
being Keristrasza, a former member of the Red Dragonflight style="">  who
has been driven insane by Malygos and now
serves the Blue Dragonflight as punishment for luring Saragosa to her
death. 
Killing the four main bosses
in Heroic mode
will give you the achievement "Heroic: The Nexus"

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style="color: rgb(45, 100, 209);">Grand Magus Telestra

style=""> The
Nexus has an open
ended feel that allows adventurers to travel multiple paths to kill
bosses in
almost any order they prefer. Grand Magus Telestra is typically the
second boss
killed and is the holder of the achievement – Split
Personality. This
achievement is fairly easy to accomplish now as most players outgear
this zone
and will have more than enough DPS to burn the adds down together.
There are
two fairly simple methods to this depending on your group make up, if
you have
mostly AoE damage dealers simply use voice chat to monitor total damage
and
round them up to burn them down evenly. [protip]Using the default V
hotkey to
bring up the health hotbar over each NPCs name will make judging this
achievement
much easier[/protip] If you have a strong single target group, simply
give each
one a separate target and burn them down together.

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style="color: rgb(45, 100, 209);">  style="color: rgb(45, 100, 209);">Anomalus

An
arcane elemental, Anomalus is the second boss in Heroic
Nexus that we will take a look at. This is a two stage fight with the
boss
having a normal and invulnerable phase that cycle at 75, 50 and 25%.
The
achievement that he gives is known as “Chaos
Theory” and is obtained by not
killing any of the Chaotic Rifts that spawn during his invulnerable
phase. As of patch 3.3.2 he will only spawn ONE Chaotic Rift instead of three. The
most popular and preferred method to achieve this is kite the mob
around to the
various platforms in the area, this is a more time consuming method but
the
most foolproof, just remember to clear the area completely before
attempting!  The
kiting method allows you to control the
damage taken by the rifts during his normal phase, however you will
need a
strong healer no matter which method you chose as the rifts gain
unlimited
range at the 25% intervals. 
If you have
a mage you can apply dampen magic to the group and make the fight
almost
trivial for a moderately well geared healer. style=""> 
If you chose not to attempt
the achievement you simply burn down the
rifts during the invulnerable phase for an easy kill.

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style="color: rgb(45, 100, 209);">Ormorok the
Tree-Shaper

style="color: rgb(45, 100, 209);" />

The
next boss in our look at the Nexus is Ormorok the Tree
Shaper, a rather large and nasty elemental that inhabits a semi wooded
area of
the instance. 
Ormorok offers no
achievements, but does need to be killed to allow Keristrasza to be
activated
so you cannot skip him. This boss can be the most straight forward tank
and
spank fight instance if all party members group up directly underneath
him for
the duration of the fight. He has several special abilities to contend
with,
but most only come in to play if the group is spread out. style="">  Ormorok
summons small adds that root players
in place if not dealt with quickly, these little guys have next to no
hit
points so you can AoE them or single target them down rather easily.
Their root
ability itself isn’t much of a bother until you add to it his
second ability,
Crystal Spikes, a ground based damage that can be avoided easily
provided you
aren’t rooted to the ground. He hits plate fairly hard and
has an extra ability
that enhances this damage so both the tank and the healer need to be
mindful of
spike damage.

style="color: rgb(45, 100, 209);">Commander
Kolurg 
or Commander
Stoutbeard

These
optional bosses are only available on Heroic mode,
offer no achievements and are completely optional as they do not have
any
bearing on freeing the end boss. style="">  Both
of
these bosses are found in the hallway leading from The Librarium back
into The
Axis of Alignment area of the zone. style=""> 
Kolurg is the alliance
version and Stoutbeard is the horde version of
essentially the same fight. This boss starts out frozen in place so you
have
ample preparation time. The boss will come with two cleric adds that
have
Shadow Word: Death and heals  in
their
arsenals, burn the adds down before concentrating on the boss. The boss
itself
will whirlwind and fear so keep him pulled far away from any other NPCs
to
avoid adds, all players but the tank should avoid the whirlwind at all
costs.

style="color: rgb(45, 100, 209);">Keristrasza

style="color: rgb(45, 100, 209);"> 

The
final boss in the zone, Keristrasza can only be engaged
once the other three primary bosses have been defeated. The dragon
starts the
fight inside a frozen tomb and is released by player activation of
three orbs
around the room. 
Keristrasza offers a
Heroic achievement – “Intense Cold”,
which is gained by not allowing the bosses
stacking debuff of the same name to get higher than two stacks. style="">  This
is an INDIVIDUAL achievement so you can
complete it even if other members of your group fail. There are various
class
compositions that make this a much easier fight but the basic premise
is to jump
as often as possible to not allow Intense Cold to stack and to have
some means
to break out of her second ability, Crystal Chains. The chains will
lock you in
place for 10 seconds and effects all players in the Heroic version, the
best
bet is to have your PvP trinket to break out of the first ,use a free
action
potion to break out of the second and have high enough DPS not to have
to worry
about a third cast. Druids, Mages and Paladins can use their typical
special
abilities of shapeshift, blink and bubble respectively while shamans
can drop a
grounding totem to eat the effect. The chains are dispellable, so a
mass dispel
priest is optimal here, but any dispell class is a plus to have. In
addition to
the two abilities that pertain to the achievement the boss also has a
tail
swipe, a frontal cone spell and enrages at 30%. style=""> href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/75619"> style="border: 0px solid ; width: 555px; height: 75px;" alt=""
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So
remember to bring your A game to Heroic Nexus to collect
badges and achievements and as always, until next week, stay safe and
have fun
in Azeroth.