World of Warcraft at Ten Ton Hammer

 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.  If you chose not to attempt the achievement you simply burn down the rifts during the invulnerable phase for an easy kill.

Ormorok the Tree-Shaper

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.  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. 

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.  Both of these bosses are found in the hallway leading from The Librarium back into The Axis of Alignment area of the zone.  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. 

Keristrasza 

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.  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%.

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.