World of Warcraft at Ten Ton Hammer

Naxx Quarters Arachnid Quarter Plague Quarter Military Quarter Construct Quarter Frostwyrm Lair

 
The Arachnid Quarter

Anub’Rekhan

ABILITIES

Corpse Scarabs – Anub’Rekhan can summon corpse scarabs whenever there is a corpse in the room - either a player's or one of the summoned Crypt Guards. When summoned, the scarabs with aggro on a random player and rush towards them. The number of scarabs summoned depends on the corpse they are spawned from. Player corpses generate 5 scarabs and crypt guard corpses generate 10 scarabs.

Crypt Guards – These creatures are summoned throughout the fight with Anub’Rekhan.  The first is summoned roughly 20 seconds after Anub’Rekhan is engaged, and then additional ones are summoned at the same time as Locust Swarm is cast.  Crypt Guards have a cleave attack and a stacking poison DOT.  The DOT is applied every 2 seconds unless the Crypt Guard is stunned and does roughly 500 damage per tick, per stack and lasts 10 seconds.  In addition Crypt Guards frenzy when they are reduced to 20% health, at which point they attack 60% faster and hit 50% harder.

Impale – This attack targets a random player in the raid and moves from Anub’Rekhan out towards that player.  It hits that player and everyone else in the attack's path.  It causes up to 6000 physical damage and sends the players flying into the air.  They then suffer fall damage when they land.

Locust Swarm – Summons a swarm of locusts that surround Anub’Rekhan every 90 seconds and lasts for 15 seconds.  The locusts affect everything within 30 yards of Anub’Rekhan.  While under the effect of the locusts players are reduced to 60% of their normal speed and have a stacking DOT applied to them.  The DOT debuff does roughly 1000 nature damage every 2 seconds per stack.  In addition, when affected by the DOT, you are under the influence of an improved silence ability, that does not allow you to use any abilities, even auto attacking.

STRATEGY

Once engaged the doors to Anub’Rekhans room close, so make sure that all players are in the room before anyone engages him.

There are two basic strategies to use for fighting Anub’Rekhan.  They are the kiting strategy and the healing strategy and largely depend on the gear of your healers and tank.  When you first start running Naxxramas you will most likely use the kiting strategy so it will be explained first.


Kiting Strategy - To start the fight the main tank engages Anub’Rekhan and tanks him in the alcove on the far side of the room, facing away from the raid.  The raid then starts DPS on Anub’Rekhan, making sure they spread out around his back side to minimize the effect of Impale. Once everyone is in position the off-tank should get ready to pick up the first of the Crypt Guards, as it will spawn roughly 20 seconds into the fight.

Once the off-tank has aggro on the Crypt Guard, pull it slightly away from the boss. All DPS players then need to switch to the Crypt Guard and kill it as fast as possible. If they take too long to kill it, the DOT applied to the off-tank will cause the healers real issues.  Once the Crypt Guard is dead, all players revert back to DPSing Anub’Rekhan.  If you have a frost mage in the group, they should plant on the Crypt Guard corpse and be ready to freeze the summoned scarabs in place and AoE them down when they are summoned.

Between 80 and 120 seconds into the fight Anub’Rekhan will first use Locust Swarm.  This is a critical part of the fight an as soon as players see the casting bar they need to clear off to the left part of the room so that they are out of the AoE effect. The tank then starts to circle around the right half of the room.  The tank needs to stay along the outside edge of the platform by the green slime and kite the boss to the alcove on the other side of the room, where the entrance door is located.  By the time the tank reaches this alcove, Locust Swarm should be over.  Healers need to stay at maximum distance from the tank while still healing them, so they are not affected by the silence effect of the locusts.

At the same time as the Locust Swarm starts, a Crypt Guard will be spawned at Anub’Rekhan’s starting position.  The off-tank needs to taunt it and pull it to the left side of the room where the DPS players retreated to, and then have them down it while the tank is kiting Anub’Rekhan.  Ideally the Crypt Guard should die at roughly the same time as the Locust Swarm expires and the tank has Anub’Rekhan positioned at his new tanking location.  At this point DPS switches back to Anub’Rekhan.

This sequence then repeats itself every 90 seconds as Locust Swarm is cast.  Some groups find it better to always have the DPS go left and the tank go right, while others just continue moving clockwise around the room with each shift.  Both methods work equally well, as long as the whole group is aware which method is being used.  Continue kiting Anub’Rekhan between the two tanking locations until he is dead.

Healing Strategy - For groups with an abundance of healing and a well geared tank, there is an easier method than kiting Anub’Rekhan around the room.  The tank should engage Anub’Rekhan and pull him all the way across the room back to the door you entered the room from. Players then follow the same basic strategy as used when kiting; however the tank will hold Anub’Rekhan in this location and not kite him around.  Healers will stay at maximum distance and heal the tank through the effects of Locust Swarm, while all other players back out of its effects to deal with the Crypt Guards.

The tank can use Anub’Rekhans starting position as the tanking position, however since this is also where the Crypt Guards are spawned it makes it slightly more difficult.  When tanked on the opposite side of the room it provides the off-tank and DPS more space and time to pickup and start DPSing the guards when they enter.

 

Grand Widow Faerlina

ABILITIES

Poison Bolt Volley – This hits the closest 10 players (3 in 10 man) every 15 seconds with a poison bolt dealing approximately 4,100 damage.  It also applies a poison DOT that deals about 2,000 damage every 2 seconds for 8 seconds.  When Faerlina is affected by widows embrace it blocks her from using this ability for 30 seconds.

Rain of Fire – This is a random target AoE that is cast throughout the fight. It affects the area around a random player and has a roughly 10 yard radius.  Everyone in the area of effect takes up to 4,000 damage (2,500 in 10 man) every 2 seconds.

Frenzy – Once engaged, Faerlina will frenzy roughly every 60 seconds.  When frenzied she does 150% damage, gains 50% melee haste and increases in size by 50%.  The only way to remove this effect is to use Widow’s Embrace. When frenzied she is capable of hitting the tank for 20,000 per hit (15,000 in 10 man).

Widow’s Embrace – This is an effect that can be applied to Grand Widow Faerlina by the worshipers.  How it is applied varies from 10 to 25 man raids.  In 10 man raids all that needs to be done is to kill a Worshiper near Faerlina. In 25 man raids a priest must mind control a Worshiper and use the ability on Faerlina. No matter how it is applied, Widows Embrace will prevent or remove the Frenzy ability from Faerlina. If applied before Faerlina is actually frenzied it will block her from frenzying for 30 seconds.  If applied after she has frenzied then it removes the frenzy effect and prevents her from frenzing again for 60 seconds.

STRATEGY

To complete this fight you need at least two tanks.  The tanks are designated as the boss and add tanks.  The add tank engages first and aggros everything and positions them on the stage, building aggro against all the adds.  The boss tank then engages and pulls Faerlina off to the side to tank her separately.

Once the boss tank has threat, DPS starts in on Faerlina.  It is important that the DPS players do not use AoE or multi target abilities when downing the adds as you want to leave the Worshipers alive so that you can apply Widow’s Embrace to Faerlna. 

Throughout the fight Faerlina will frenzy causing additional damage. When this happens, it must be removed. To remove frenzy you must pull a worshiper over to Faerlina, or move her to them, and kill one while they are within 10 yards of one another.  The best way to accomplish this is to constantly have one of the adds marked and ready to be killed.  Have a DPS player drop one down to 5-10% so that it is ready for a fast kill once needed.  Once affected by Widow’s Embrace another Worshiper is dropped to 5-10% health to be ready for the next frenzy. 

Assuming that each Widow’s Embrace is applied after a frenzy occurs you will have roughly 5 minutes to kill Faerlina before you can no longer remove her frenzy ability.


 
ABILITIES

Frenzy – Once reduced to 30% health, Maexxna will enrage and enter a frenzied state.  Once entered, this frenzy can not be removed. Maexxna grows slightly in this phase and does 50% more damage per swing and gains 50% melee haste.

Necrotic Poison – This is a debuff applied to targets in Maexxna’s front arc. Once applied, it reduces healing to those targets by 75% and it lasts for 30 seconds.  It can be removed and needs to be as soon as possible.

Poison Shock – This is a poison blast that affects all targets in the front arc of Maexxna within 15 yards. It does up to 4,500 nature damage, and is cast quite frequently (roughly every 10-12 seconds).

Summon Spiderlings – Maexxna will summon groups of small spiderlings throughout the fight to assist.  They appear in groups of 8 roughly every 40 seconds.  They have very small health pools (less than 10,000) and hit for about 1,000 damage per hit.

Web Spray – Maexxna casts this attack every 40 seconds.  It effectively freezes everyone in the room for 6 seconds, while dealing a small amount of nature damage to them. 

Web Wrap – This is cast throughout the fight at roughly 40 second intervals.  It hits one random raid member, other than the tank, and hurls them against the wall in a cocoon of webs. Once there, they will suffer approximately 2,000 damage every 2 seconds until freed. The cocoon must be destroyed to free the player and has roughly 15,000 health.

STRATEGY

This is a fairly straight forward fight with only a few issues to worry about.  Only one tank is required and they should hold Maexxna in the center of the room facing away from the raid. Once positioned DPS starts on Maexxna. 

Shortly after being engaged, Maexxna will start a 40 second rotation of web wrap. Two ranged DPS need to be assigned to “web duty” to remove the web wraps cast on players. When not freeing players they should be DPSing Maexxna. Ideally the cocoon will be killed in just a few seconds and the player cocooned and the ranged DPS can return to their normal duties.

Just after the first web wrap, Maexxna will also start a 40 second rotation of summoning spiderlings. Have AoE ready to deal with them as soon as they spawn. The best option is a frost mage to trap them in place, but Paladin consecrate, Death Knight death & decay, or any number of other AoE abilities work. AoE players need to deal with the spiderlings so that they do not swarm the healers, and then return to Maexxna.

Roughly 40 seconds into the fight Maexxna will start a 40 second web spray rotation. It is critical that all players are as close to full health before this is cast so that they survive the time they are incapacitated. 

Once the web spray ends, the attack cycle repeats over and over again until Maexxna has been killed. This should mean that if you can survive the first full rotation you will be good.  However, that is not the case.  At 30% health remaining Maexxna will enrage and hit much harder. At this point surviving a web spray phase can be very difficult for starting groups.  Therefore you may want to stop damage on Maexxna at 32-34% and wait until a web spray occurs.  Once it does and you are out, all players should use trinkets, cooldowns, and heroism or bloodlust should be used.  Ideally you want to drop Maexxna in the 40 seconds between being freed from the web spray and the next one occurring.