Urban Legend Post: Kill the Big Add (Mojo Rising Edition)

With the new Justice Point/Valor Point structure, many of us will be doing more Zuls than we care to think about. I personally am grateful for the nerfs, and feel no shame in considering them a time-saving boon.

On the last Zul'Gurub fight, I heard from a player from a player from a cousin, to kill the big troll thing (Gurubashi Spirit is his formal name), as soon as it body slams a chain. This may just be a game urban legend, you know, where it cannot be proven or disproven, and the hook was still in the door! Oh, wait. wrong story. The reasons are two-fold: first, it is an important mechanic of the fight. The second reason is purely hypothesis: more ghost spirit adds spawn the longer the Gurubashi is up. 

Doing further substantiation of this theory, I came across this forum post (see link/credit below):

Here is a strat for the final boss of Zul'Gurub, Jin'do the Godbreaker:

This should keep the fight smooth and controlled throughout, without too much chaos or danger to either tank or healer.

Before the pull, kill both Gurubashi Spirit Warriors on each corner next to where you start. Mark your tank and your healer. This makes phase two easier.

Phase One:

Pull Jin'do, and begin to beat on him. When he casts Dead Zone (reduces magic damage taken by 90%, and also casting speed by 90%), the tank should back up until Jin'do is well out of it, then run through and turn, so that he is just back inside the bubble, and Jin'do is still outside.

When he casts Shadows of Hakkar (a powerful magic aoe), everyone should move inside, including the healer, as the damage will otherwise likely kill them.

Rinse and repeat, until 70% hp, when Jin'do runs off and the group enters the Spirit World.

Phase Two:

This is the hard one. You will now be faced with three Hakkar's Chains, each protected by a Brittle Barrier that makes them immune to normal attacks. These barriers must be broken one by one, in order to allow the group to damage the chains themselves, and once all three are destroyed, the encounter is complete.

Where the Gurubashi Spirit Warriors were killed in the normal world, you will now see a Gurubashi Spiritin the spirit world on the outer lower corners.

These large adds are taunted by the tank one at a time and used to break the barriers on the chains with their Body Slam, allowing the group to dps them. Be wary of the purple zones left behind - they increase damage taken by 100% whilst inside. This is dangerous for the tank especially, but also helps dpsing the barriers. The large adds become more dangerous over time, due to a stacking buff called Frenzy. If one is left up for too long, it will kill the tank.

However, in addition to this, there is a constant rain of slow falling Shadow Spikes (60-70k hit), which look like the familiar Shadow Crash missiles. Where they are going to fall is marked by a pulsing white graphic, so they are easy to dodge if one is keeping an eye out for them. Note, however, that if they hit a non-tank whilst in a purple zone, they will one-shot you!! Be extra careful in there!!

Lastly, there is a steady stream of annoying Twisted Spirits coming onto the upper platform from the lower edge. They almost always aggro to the healer, and can become a real headache. They only have 29.4k hp, so can easily be killed, but melee VERY hard - 40-60k hits. Ignore them for too long and they will soon overwhelm the group.

Strat for Phase Two:

As soon as phase two starts, the tank runs to taunt one of the big Gurubashi Spirit adds, and drags him to the nearest Chain. The healer stays close to the tank at all times, for protection from Twisted Spirits. The dps split to stand on the other two chains.

Be sure to ALL stand close enough to the chains so that when the Body Slam comes, it breaks the barrier on the chain the group member was standing near. Do NOT however stand motionless and get hit by a Shadow Spike.

As soon as the Body Slam goes off and the barrier is broken, kill the big add asap, to prevent stacking of frenzy killing the tank. Once he is dead, this frees the Tank to run around picking up and killing any Twisted Spirits around, whilst the dps destroys the unprotected chain.

When this chain is destroyed, the tank goes and taunts a second big add, dps continue to kill Twisted Spirits, everyone avoids Shadow Spikes.

Once the big add is up on the platform, the cycle starts again. Tank, healer and big add on one protected chain, dps on the other until body slam goes off. Avoid purple zone, kill big add, destroy chain, clean up small adds.

And once more for the last chain, with everyone stacking on it for the slam.

From Tsunami, http://us.battle.net/wow/en/forum/topic/2456909064

I think sometimes, myself very much included, we get fixed on one strategy and are not as flexible or adaptable as we should be. There are so many factors to each fight, everything from a tiny amount of undergearing, the doorbell rings, step left when should have gone right. I am beginning to think at the beginning of a boss fight, when the dungeon guide asks, "Know the fight?" that is a trick question. Yes, we all know the fights for each instance they happen, and yes, they are basically the same. But be open to the nuances and shades of a group, and be open to suggestions. So, until I can prove this conjectured theory, it may behoove us to just kill it as soon as it breaks chains. It can't hurt, and may indeed help. And if you've ever watched a friend's status go in and out of "Zul'Gurub" to "Northern Stranglehorn" and back again, you know it's become a spirited fight.

Open forum: Do you have any tricks of the trade you've come across? I would love to hear them. Don't know how much mojo one girl can take: it's reaching Austin Power's levels.

Postscript: Found this comment about the Twisted Spirits: http://www.wowhead.com/npc=52148/jindo-the-godbreaker "If you keep dying to too many spirits, consider killing the Gurubashi Spirit once he destroys a barrier, and destroy that chain, AoEing down the adds in the process. Repeat for each chain."

Sex kitten.

Randomness.

I write in my sleep, and from the quality of this, it will probably show that I am sleep-walking, er, writing.

Part I: Sometimes you get the bear:

If you want your own kitty-cat, and some great information, go to: 

http://www.wowheadnews.com/blog=188009/a-guide-to-patch-4-1s-vanity-items-and-a-wowhead-comic

So, what bedbug bit me? Perhaps it was the excitement of a little dungeon redemption: went into Zul'Aman with Isabeaux the Beautiful yesterday evening in a PUG and received my helm.  It was extremely gracious of Isa, since she, er, he needed/wanted to go into Gurub and pick up a few things. We rolled Aman out of chance and luck (for me). We had a wonderful healer, and in my enthusiasm at one point proposed marriage, but more's the pity, for he said he was already spoken for, to quote: "I have asked another for her hand in marriage, alas." (Um, dude - I wasn't really planning on making an honest man out of you...just got caught up in the moment!) But seriously: this priest kept me ALIVE. And for the most part, was second in DPS finishing up a narrow third. Was overall pretty pleased with my bad self. 

Part II: Sometimes the bear gets you:

To fulfill my promise to Isa, as well as continue the fun, I was very excited to go into Zul'Gurub. We got a guild group together, who are all amazing players. However, once again, I was the weakest link. About a week ago, I mentioned to the guild officer that she and the guildmaster should start a podcast. Their banter, voices, and wit are highly engaging. Their intelligence is lightening fast, and they are funny. But man-oh-man, I just couldn't get in step. They were doing the Argentinian tango, and I was doing the Texas two-step. They dosey'd, and I d'ohd. I had to call it a night again because I had those pesky real-world commitments.  And yet, here I am, five hours later, writing at something that isn't my job. 

Obviously, I want to do as well with my guildmates as I do with PUGs. Better learn to tango. 

Part III: Meanwhile, back at the ranch:

Luperci is on her rotation with the Howling Fjord quests. Matty and Haanta had their turns assisting Scout Knowles, the handsome officer and his horse who are ever-thus looking out over the horizon for danger. This particular image really shows off a draenei girl's height advantage. 

Mountain of Mounts information: http://www.wowheadnews.com/blog=190915/mountain-o-mounts-a-guide-to-collecting-mounts

It's just funny.

Theme song: Do Ya/Peaches 

Welcome to the jungle.

Here, kitty kitty...

See the time of this post, approximately 5AM PST? That's because I'm infected with a bad case of jungle fever. And I don't mean the Spike Lee variety. Guildmaster got a group together for a run at the new 4.1 Heroic Zul'Gurub last night. It started around 8PM, and I had to, HAD TO, log off around 11:30PM. There were disconnection issues, more disconnection issues, learning the fights (the very bestestmostfunnest part) and then there was fire. Lots and lots of fire, or its facsimile. That I stepped in. A lot. Was told not to. But I didn't listen. It was like playing in a giant sandbox of fun and crunchiness, and I kept finding all the cat turds. I only got through, what, maybe 4/6 of the bosses, didn't get to finish (sad unsmiley face) because of real life responsibilities, those same responsibilities I may not be able to face or render because quite frankly, I don't feel so good right now. I think my mojo has been drained, and those trolls' voodoo dolls are working overtime, sticking pins in my homonculus' tummy even as I write.

In any case, here are some things I learned (besides fire bad, which I knew, but in trying to be my "one shammy-size fits all" and hitting cleanse, healing myself, etc., which didn't really work out so well, I quit being good at anything towards the end of the night):

• Rats= no good. Use them for an achievement, of which I am far, far away from. Thought that giving the cat a rat to play with would keep them occupied. Instead it just pisses them off even more.
• High Priestess Kilnara is one bad kitty-cat. Kilnara reminded me of some scene out of Cat People . Still putting antiseptic on the claw marks on my back. It was kind of fun fighting her though, gotta admit.
• Technically the first boss is Venoxis, but he was the last one I encountered before I had to go. No wonder why I have a tummy ache. The first one we did was Zan'Zil, and he was fun. Really. Completely agree with GM: interesting and engaging, and took some thought. A few other bosses in this instance are really just big, dumb trash disguised as bosses. But don't underestimate them, as I did. 
• Trolls will throw dirt at you. Bring some Visine.

I am really looking forward to many successful runs with the guild on these, but not so much in PUGs. There are some complicated mechanics, at least for me, and I really want my guild's guidance and support. They were quite patient with me last night, but I don't want to try that patience too much. When I start getting tired, my fingers turn to sandstone monoliths, crumbling and clumsy, and my DPS skills melt. And as much as I hate to confess this, perhaps by writing it down and exposing it, owning it, one of my worst mistakes I made a few times was due to my big mouth. (Friends gasp in mock surprise!) I would be talking to a buddy with tells, and then accidentally reply to them while trying to hit a spell, and look over in horror as I would see the pink* 25565323424623 etc. (or something like that) stack up, my tail just dipping and dripping in junk and fire. Almost wish my beautiful little Mat avatar would jump through the screen and slap me.** Erase, hit return, and then, too late: gagging on goop and gore, I'm dead. (Oh, like you've never done that.)

But trust me, my fellow heroes, I will learn and do better next time. I can make this vow because I am a reflective player, and that's not a bad buff.

So, I'm going to go heal myself in real life, and then if I have time later, refill the bags with food, flasks, and bandages, because I pretty much emptied out my stash last night, as would many who were fighting Jamaican-accented trolls for a few hours.

Theme Song: I wan'na be like you- The Monkey Song/JungleBook
Nod to priest/warrior friend (thanks for this link!) WoW RHCP
Of course Buffalo Solider/Bob Marley

Vague Overview: Heroic Zul'Aman Guide
Zul'Gurub: Walkthrough
*My typeface color is deep pink. Whatever.
**GTFO wasn't working due the patch, my "you are too stupid to play this game" add on, but endorsed by Guildmasters everywhere. Well, DBM is anyway.