The Siege of Ulduar

Flame Leviathan — In this fight you have the option to be in one of three types of vehicles. Though everyone has a preference, try to be familiar with all of them as we cannot accommodate everyone. Do not ride in a Demolisher unless you can stack Pyrite as it is a large part of our dps during this fight. To initiate the fights we can either activate easy mode and go straight to the boss or hard mode and leave up any or all of the four towers leading to the boss. These towers complicate the encounter. To read about the encounter with FL and the vehicles, please visit http://www.holypaladin.net/index.php/ulduar-10-flame-leviathan-guide

**Please Note: On easy mode we do not launch people onto FL and rather we just simply burn him down

Flame Leviathan Hard mode — Tankspot.com is a great resource and has posted this very useful video on YouTube as well as their website http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JvraP9VCkyk Though most of their videos are 25 man, the fights are very similar if not exactly the same.

Razorscale – Razorscale is a dragon that we must bring down after harpoons are ready. We will communicate IN ventrilo with the person who is responsible for harpoons. It is important not to stand in the blue fire. Once permanently grounded (at 50% health) the tanks kite Razorscale around the surface, periodically taunting off of each other to avoid too many stacks on the debuff. To see the encounter, visit http://www.tankspot.com/forums/f206/48756-ulduar-razorscale.html

Ignis The Furnace Master – Tankspot’s guide on youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hp50gUCAqwc It is important to note that we must have at least two people capable of the 5k crits required to shatter the iron constructs. Shattering WILL damage anyone near it so this is strictly the responsibility of ranged dps. The tank that kites Ignis around the raid tries to keep the circle tight for convenient scorch locations and so that everyone is in range of the healers at all times.

XT-002 Deconstructor – Easy Mode is Easy and can be single tanked as long the as pummelers are brought to the main tank. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BHcFWPUBpr4

To activate XT’s hard mode, the exposed heart has to be killed. In easy mode, we dps the heart as much as we can without killing it because the amount of damage done to the heart is doubled and done to the boss. When the heart IS killed and hard mode is active, XT returns to full health and additional difficulties are added to the fight. To view tankspot’s guide to XT-002’s Heartbreaker Hard Mode achievement please visit http://www.tankspot.com/forums/f206/52010-xt-002-deconstructor-hard-mode.html The video suggests standing near a scrap-pile to reduce the number of adds spawned, but we do not do this because it no longer works. During hard mode we stand in a sort of line. Remember, LIGHT run RIGHT, and GRAVITY run LEFT. If you get one after the other, do not, under any circumstances, cross the group. Instead, run back to clear away from the light bomb or gravity well that you just created. When running right or left, do not run too far or you will not receive heals, especially when you have the Light debuff.

The Antechamber of Ulduar

Assembly of Iron aka The Iron Council – On normal mode one tank tanks steelbreaker while the other two (Runecaller Molgeim and Stormcaller Brundir) are tanked near the back. We kill Steelbreaker first and Stormcaller Brundir last. Steelbreaker is a giant and the other two are humanoid. When the first dies, the remaining two gain more damaging abilities. Remember that we do not want the bosses inside the runes but standing in the large blue rune buffs the raid (while the green one just causes a lot of pain). Anyone with the tank who is tanking Brundir must run out of range for Overload which causes a huge amount of nature damage. For all the details on the encounter please see tankspot’s video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vBPyfOnf18g

To do the Assembly of Iron’s hard mode, Steelbreaker must be killed last. Doing so grants a quest and when all the Keepers have been killed on Hard Mode with questholder, Algalon is unlocked. Currently Maome is the only member of the guild with this quest. To see the hard mode on tankspot, please visit http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9B8hqGML-78 It is important to note that there are unavoidable tank deaths that require rebirths and soulstones to bring the tanks back up and finish the fight. When we did this in 10 man, we brought each tank up once and the second tank didn’t need to tank him again.

Kologarn – One of the simplest encounters in the raid but there are a few things that people often mix up. First of all, while the Right Arm is up (it is on the LEFT side of your screen since he is facing you but is definitely labelled Right Arm) all dps should be on the Right Arm. When the Right Arm is down, everyone moves to Kologarn. We do not dps the left arm except right before he is about to die and it will be called out in ventrilo. When he looks at you with his eyes it is necessary that you run out of the way but also that you do not run over other players. Please watch tankspot’s guide to Kologarn at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PSkUlEvZdww

Auriaya – Another fight where ventrilo is important. After being feared everyone must stack back on the tank, stay out of the void zones, and be directly in front of the boss. This means that melee should be at max range and ranged should be at minimum range. To see the video, visit http://www.tankspot.com/forums/f206/48802-ulduar-auriaya.html

The Keepers of Ulduar

Hodir – this is a long fight and at least 1 piece of frost resist is advised in 10 man. It is important to keep moving while not near a fire (which will give you a Toasty Fire buff) and to spread the static-looking Storm Cloud buff to the dps as it increases critical strike damage by a large amount. Please watch this video to fully understand all aspects of this fight http://www.tankspot.com/forums/f206/48908-ulduar-hodir.html

Hodir’s Hardmode is simply a speed kill (3 minutes) and thus requires a bit more strategy. It is important to spread the crit buff to dps, and for dps to stand in the Starlight at all times to increase damage output. It is a fight where none of the dps are to wear frost resist gear as the healers are not worrying about mana conservation. Having several stacks of fire (from being near the toasty fire) is also necessary and specific individuals will be assigned to this. Thus it is of utmost importance that we do not let the friendly NPC’s die. Once enough stacks of the singed debuff are on Hodir, Heroism should be popped. For the tankspot video, please watch http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WQVwRko-b0o

Thorim – In this encounter it is important to kill Acolytes and Evokers first (since they heal). Two groups will split up, preferably with mana users in the hallway. The hallway group downs two mini tanks in a gauntlet type event. The arena deals with a slow stream of adds jumping into the arena from the stands. When the hallway group finished their second boss it is important that the whole group hugs the wall and the tank pulls thorim into the arena. The rest of the encounter is simple, avoiding the Lightning charge on the floor (about 60 degrees) and so everyone should be on the opposite side of thorim. Also it is important to spread out due to a chain lightning and tanks must taunt off each other when they receive the debuff Unbalancing Strike as it lowers defense by 200. You can see the tankspot video on youtube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o4__jtI–N0

To activate Thorim’s Hardmode the group in the hallway must pull Thorim in under two minutes so that Sif is still present when Thorim is pulled. In addition to the regular fight, there is a blizzard as well as a number of other frost damage spells that Sif casts that you must be careful of and keep track of in addition to Thorims abilities. To learn about Thorim’s hard mode please watch http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qk7naVKc3kU

Freya – Freya has three minibosses around the room that if killed first yield emblems of conquest but no gear. To do freya on easy mode we kill these minibosses as well as all the other adds without pulling freya who paths about in the centre of the room. This set up is similar to Obsidian Sanctum. When freya is brought into combat she has too many buffs for dps to be worth it. Instead the raid deals with three groups of adds twice over. They spawn about once every minute in no particular order but you never get the same group of adds twice in a row. If one group does not die, that does not prevent the next from coming. To understand the three individual groups, please watch the tankspot video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mc2ZOf3CkKA The actual fight with Freya is fairly simple, just remember to kill the Lifebinder’s gift every time it spawns and when Freya is being dps’d near the end, avoid the green seed bombs that scatter about on the ground.

To activate Freya’s hard mode the three minibosses are not killed. They do not join the fight but instead give Freya extra abilities. To understand the extra abilities, watch the 10man hard mode video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HJ1gxZZSRtI

Mimiron – This is a four-phased fight where there are three pieces of mimoron that each take a phase and the fourth phase has the three pieces come together and though they all lose some fairly harsh abilities, the three brought together is a hectic part of the encounter. Heroism should be popped in phase two. To watch this encounter please view tankspot’s video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZjecQKcGuD4

To activate Mimiron hard mode, someone pushes a large red button in the back of the room. This fight requires the manipulation of large areas of fire and can be seen on tankspot’s guide at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jee971qfSMQ

The Decent into Madness

General Vezax – the important thing about this fight is that Aura of Despair prevents raid members from regaining mana from MOST normal means including potions and buffs. The saronite vapors need to be killed and when you stand in their puddles they reduce your health but restore your mana. Do not let this debuff get above five stacks. Once you have five stacks you can move out of the puddle until it disappears and then get back in if necessary. There is a finite number of vapours available. There are many other aspects of this fight such as Shadow Crash and Mark of the Faceless. Shadow Crash should be avoided at all costs but dps can stand in the black puddle for a buff (it also causes a healing debuff). Mark of the Faceless means that people cannot be near the person marked because it leeches health from them and heals Vezax for a large amount. For more information and to understand the rest of Vezax’s abilities please watch the tankspot guide on youtube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XtuX42laVLw

To activate General V’s hard mode six clouds must spawn and combine to create an add that complicates the fight. This means that the six vapours are not used for mana regeneration and thus in order to successfully complete hard mode the entire raid must concentrate on taking as little damage as possible from the various debuffs and whatnot. Mana using dps should be sure to be in a shadow crash at all times so as to use as little mana as possible. To understand the encounter and when to dps the add, please watch tankspot’s hard mode video http://www.tankspot.com/forums/f206/54906-ulduar-general-vezax-hard-mode.html

Yogg Saron – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SFyaloBG7SI Please note it takes eight guardians to kill Sara in 10 man Ulduar. Even if you are just very NEAR a cloud an add will still spawn so be VERY careful of your proximity to the green clouds. The clouds disappear in phase two. After the phase has begun portals spawn around Yogg. There are four portals and each can only be used once. It is a good idea to send three melee and a healer into the portals and each portal forms in front of a keeper so if organized enough, each person going through the portal can be assigned to a specific one. Portals in the brain room must be taken before the Insanity cast finishes. During phase three the most important ability to track is called Lunatic Gaze — “Looking into the maw of madness unhinges your mind, inflicting 5700 to 6300 Shadow damage and reducing Sanity by 4% every 1 sec. for as long as you are facing the caster.”

Please remember that Deadly Boss Mods is strongly suggested if not required. You can download DBM from Curse and it is very user friendly. Something else to consider is Omen which allows you to track your threat. This way you can always keep your threat generated below the threat level of the tank.

After a good amount of progression, Algalon and Yogg Saron with fewer or no keepers will also be posted. If you are unclear about any of the fights listed above please ask an officer or guild leader.