Talk Is Cheap

Here is a guide. I doubt it is the best, feel free to add to it.

Trash mobs

You will encounter a few different kinds of trash mobs in this instance. For information on all of them, check this link: http://www.wowhead.com/?zone=4493#npcs

All trash mobs in the Sanctum are intended to be tanked 1-2 at a time by a tanking class, and should be faced away from the raid, because some of them have frontal AOE attacks (like Shockwave). While they all have multiple special abilities, one mob, the Onyx Blaze Mistress, poses a larger threat to your raid than the others, and should be killed as quickly as possible.

Onyx Blaze Mistress
HP (Heroic): 390,000

Conjure Flame Orb: Conjures an orb of pure fire that floats through the air toward the target while firing searing beams at enemies that come within 18 yds.

Rain of Fire: Calls down a molten rain, burning all enemies in a selected area for 2775 to 3225 Fire damage (Heroic: 3700 to 4300) every 2 sec. for 6 sec.

Raid Move away from the Flame Orbs and Rain of Fire that will appear overhead while you’re fighting an Onyx Blaze Mistress, but be careful not to stumble into another trash pack. Even tanks should try to move away from the orbs and the rain.

Shadron, Tenebron, and Vesperon

The three drakes all possess similar abilities, and the strategies for defeating all three are similar.

Abilities

Shadow Breath: 15 yd range; Instant. Inflicts 6938 to 8062 (Heroic: 8788 to 10212) Fire damage to enemies in a cone in front of the caster.

Shadow Fissure: Instant; 5 second cooldown. Targets the ground under any one player. Deals 6188 to 8812 (Heroic: 9488 to 13512) Shadow damage to any enemy within the Shadow fissure after 5 sec.

Conjure Portal: The drake will conjure a portal to the twilight realm, through which players may pass. A Disciple of the drakes waits on the other side of Shadron and Vesperon’s portals; whelpling eggs ready to hatch wait on the other side of Tenebron’s.

If you leave the drakes alive when attempting Sartharion, they’ll use the following powers upon joining the fight:

(Shadron Only) Power of Shadron: Unlimited range; Instant. Shadron’s presence increases Fire damage taken by all enemies by 100%.

(Tenebron Only) Power of Tenebron: Unlimited range; Instant. Tenebron’s presence increases Shadow damage taken by all enemies by 100%.

(Vesperon Only) Power of Vesperon: Unlimited range; Instant. Vesperon’s presence decreases the maximum health of all enemies by 25%.

Twilight Revenge: Sartharion’s attacks become increasingly frenzied as twilight drakes are killed, increasing Physical damage and attack speed by 25%.

Phase One

 Main Tank Position the Twilight Drake so that it’s facing away from the raid to minimize the damage done by Shadow Breath. Build threat and ignore Portals when they appear.

 Raid Stand behind the Twilight Drake in a widely spread out group. Damage it, and heal your allies. If a Shadow Fissure appears under your feet, move away quickly. When a Portal to the twilight realm appears, unless you are the Main Tank or were assigned to heal him, right-click it to pass through it.

When facing Shadron or Vesperon, a Disciple of the drake will appear. An Offtank should tank it so that the raid can kill it. When it dies, you will be returned to the material world.

When facing Tenebron, instead of a Disciple, you’ll find several eggs sitting on the ground. Elect one DPS’er as your main assist, and follow his target to kill eggs as quickly as you can. After a few seconds, everyone will be returned to the material world automatically, and the remaining eggs will hatch, producing Twilight Whelplings in the material world. Use AOE spells to kill them before focusing your DPS on Tenebron again.

 Healers When Portals appear, at least one healer (Heroic: 2-3) must always remain behind to heal the Main Tank. The rest of the healers are tasked with healing up damage caused by Shadow Fissures, and on Tenebron, Whelps.

Sartharion, the Onyx Guardian

Abilities

HP: 2,510,000 (Heroic: 7,670,000)

Cleave: 5 yds; Instant. Inflicts 35% weapon damage to an enemy and its nearest allies, affecting up to 10 targets.

Flame Breath: 45 yd range; 2 sec cast. Inflicts 8750 to 11250 (Heroic: 10938 to 14062) Fire damage to enemies in a cone in front of Sartharion.

Tail Lash: 30 yd range; Instant. A sweeping tail strike hits all enemies behind Sartharion, inflicting 3063 to 3937 (Heroic: 4375 to 5625) damage and stunning them for 2 sec.

Lava Wave: Sartharion will periodically summon multiple enormous waves of lava from the pool around his island. The waves pass either from east to west or from west to east, and deal heavy damage to anyone caught in them, but move very slowly.

Summon Lava Blaze: Sartharion will periodically summon Lava Blazes, small fire elementals which attack the raid and melee for light damage. If a Lava Blaze is ever touched by a passing Lava Wave, the Blaze will berserk, growing in size and doubling its HP and melee damage.

Fire Tornado: A strange, fiery tornado whirls about the island, hurling bolts of fire at random. The bolts of fire do light to moderate fire damage and may summon Lava Blazes where they land.

Will of Sartharion: Sartharion’s presence bolsters the resolve of the Twilight Drakes, increasing their total health by 25%. This effect also increases Sartharion’s health by 25%. Applicable only if Twilight Drakes are left alive when Sartharion is engaged.

Berserk: Ten minutes after Sartharion is engaged, this ability will increase his attack speed by 150% and all damage he deals by 500%, making him unstoppable.

Preparation

Raid Composition (10 man)

2 Tanks
3 Healers
5 DPS

Raid Composition (25 man)

3 Tanks
7 Healers
15 DPS

On the Pull

 Raid To the northwest of Sartharion’s island is a large ramp. Stand on the ramp and buff. When everyone’s ready, mount up, and with the Main Tank in front, ride over to Sartharion’s island. Position yourselves in a loose group at the center of the island.

 Main Tank Acquire aggro on Sartharion and position him and stand on the western edge of the island. Position him so that he’s facing due west, his body parallel to the northern and southern edges of the island. Sartharion should be standing about a third of the way down from the northern edge of the island.

Phase One

 Main Tank Build threat on Sartharion. When you see a warning on your screen that Lava Waves are about to appear, check whether they’re coming from the west or the east. Strafe a bit to either your left or right to avoid them (it’s better to move closer to the raid so you don’t outrange your healers).

With experience, you can position yourself so that you’ll only have to move for half of the waves.

 Offtank Sartharion will periodically summon Lava Blazes (it seems to happen when players are hit by a Lava Wave, but at other times as well; the exact mechanic is not known). Pick them up and tank them near the raid. When you see a warning on your screen that Lava Waves are about to appear, note the direction they’re coming from, and move north or south quickly to avoid being hit by one. If the Blazes get hit by a Wave, they’ll get stronger, so you have to move well away from the wave and make sure they follow you.

 DPS Damage Sartharion from his side (like most dragons, his breath and tail weapons are capable of inflicting nasty AOE damage). When you see a warning on your screen that Lava Waves are about to appear, note the direction they’re coming from, and move north or south quickly to avoid being hit by one. You can stand directly under Sartharion’s belly for a moment if you need to.

Lava Blazes will appear every now and then. Switch your DPS onto the Blazes and follow the raid’s Main Assist to kill them as quickly as possible. If the Offtank accumulates several Blazes, use AOE to bring them down faster. Be careful not to pull aggro, since it will increase the likelihood that a Blaze stumbles into a Lava Wave and enrages.

 Healers In theory the raid does not take much damage during this fight. In practice, it does. When you see a warning on your screen that Lava Waves are about to appear, note the direction they’re coming from, and move north or south quickly to avoid being hit by one. Damage is usually heaviest right after a Lava Wave, when Blazes can spawn all over the place. Usually your Main Tank will need two dedicated healers (Heroic: 3-4).

-Cabowabo

This entry was posted on Saturday, January 3rd, 2009 at 11:10 am and is filed under General Crossfiring. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.