Will Ruby Sanctum Compare To Wrath’s Best Bosses?

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I’m one of these weird people who doesn’t read up on content before it’s released. I like a surprise. So the Ruby Sanctum’s got me thinking: is it going to be a patch on my favourite bosses from Wrath? What are my favourite bosses?

After all, I am looking forward to the Sanctum. In about the same way one might look forward to a shopping centre opening up nearby.

I’m vaguely aware it’ll open sometime in the near future and when it does I’ll probably make plans to go trundle round it immediately. But I’m expecting it to be just like any other local Sanctum/raid shopping centre. There’ll be modern lighting trying to hide the fact that the decor is all too familiar. The staff will breath smoke at you as soon as look at you, and their uniforms will look like they’ve been stolen from another shopping centre and dyed a different colour. Oh, and the wares will be updates of last month’s fashion, alluring only inasmuch as being on buy-one-get-one-free and so must be good offers.

The Sanctum’s got a lot to live up to compared to my favourite bosses in Wrath – let me show you.

5. Thaddius. For those who met him when TBC wasn’t yet a distant memory, Thaddius was a well-timed and comforting reassurance that it wasn’t all Big Change. That some fight mechanics had been passed down through the expansion; Mechano Lord Capacitus’ polarity charges could be a fun challenge back in TBC days and here they were again. Better yet, with a twist that put an emphasis on teamwork and introduced raiders to the idea that no, bosses now really do have that much health – and by the way: if you get it wrong you kill your group. Besides, it’s a good sign for a fight mechanic when PUGers regularly spend half a raid session arguing that their nigh-identical method of doing it is better. I was grateful that this wasn’t one of the many tactics dragged out time and again through Wrath – it gave me memories of a unique fight in Naxx.

4. Sapphiron. Bones rising from the floor to amass into a huge nitwibble-off dragon in your way. What better start to showing players the shape of future mechanics? Sapphiron was a really well constructed fight, and well placed within Naxx’s structure. He effectively compiled individual basics which raiders had encountered in earlier bosses in Naxx. Tactics such as moving to the correct place when targeted, a’la Grobbulus, or moving out of the nasty AoE, like Anub’s Insect Swarm. Back when it was a new encounter, moving around – for a long, endurance fight – was quite refreshing to me. I also have fond memories attached to Sapphiron: the first time my guild raided was at our first HerdMoot when we headed into Naxx. It was Sapphiron we found ourselves wiping on at 5 AM.

3. Mimiron. When we hit Mimiron he had a reputation which preceded him, and he didn’t let us down. He was the first four-phase fight in Wrath in which everyone had multiple roles, or at least different tasks to do. He also shared the responsibilities out a bit more evenly. Suddenly tanks had different things to tank at different times. Melee had responsibility past stabbing and kicking things. For many raid groups, he gave a ranged DPS the chance to prove that they’re not all paper (so long as they have a good healer behind them). And for us healers, he gave us the chance to prove we can be flexible. For better or worse, Mimiron was one of the first fights in which healing on the run with twitch-reflexes was showcased. Its originality made it fun.

2. Valithria. I’d not considered as a healer that I rarely had a direct combat role with a boss, nor how this affected my fulfilment as a raider. I’m a healer – therefore my fulfilment should come from making sure other people stay alive so they can do the dirty work, right? So I thought. Until my healers and I were lumped with the responsibility of dealing with Valithria’s health – even if that was to make it go up rather than down. It’s a long deserved fight mechanic and is balanced perfectly: no-one feels left out, as the tanks and DPS have an increasingly manic (and as I understand it, fun) time of keeping the adds in control, and the healer roles are not only varied but accessible for any healing class.

1. Yogg Saron. Tentacles. Many-eyed blob in the floor. Sanity loss. Need I say more? This is the most unique fight in WoW. Yes, in terms of fight mechanics, it’s a “this is your final test, what have you learnt up to now?” There were fires clouds to not stand in, there were adds to control in a certain way, there were target priorities for DPS. But it didn’t feel like a final test: every wipe felt like a few minutes of unbridled, chaotic fun. Even going into the brain room and coming out before going mad, while a ‘do this before X time’ mechanic, wasn’t as annoying if someone failed; it was almost funny for people to miss the chance to come out of the brain room and so go mad. No other fight has had my Herd raiding to the sound of “Tentacles!” and “If I were a Deep One“. A pure stroke of genius to incorporate Cthulhu mythos into WoW without it feeling forced or misplaced.

 

My main metric here was how much fun I had in a fight, regardless of how long it took to best. But most of these also did something unique or at least were the first of their type. The Ruby Sanctum has a tall order. We’ll see! Perhaps I’ll have a pleasant surprise when I’m panicking that the fire’s getting away and I should be standing in it or be lost in time and space.

I am amused that those bosses aren’t a fair representation of all of Wrath – I’ve left the bosses from Trial of the Crusader out in the cold, and there they can stay. While I was whittling this list down I was also compiling a list of the worst bosses. I have a feeling those will be harder to choose between … though I certainly know which luridly-lit fight tops that list. Perhaps I’ll share that list at a future date!

What do you think? What fights in Wrath have you particularly enjoyed – and why? They don’t have to be raid bosses, any encounter you remember having fun whilst redecorating the walls with your character’s innards – let us know. Do you agree with my choices – or are you sitting there asking why on earth anyone enjoyed Mimiron? Which encounters would you like to see a variant of in Catacylsm?

This is an article by Mimetir, an owl (and resto shaman) of a raid leader on The Venture Co. (EU) You can find my twitter feed here.

Article image originally by hawk684 @ Flickr

Healing Naxxramas – Thaddius (10 man)

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Thaddius is the idiot check boss of Naxx. There might be others (wait ‘til I get to Heigan), but I do think this one really separates those that can and those that can’t. You’ll find out why momentarily (but keep the first boss of Heroic Mechanar at the back of your mind).

Engage

When you enter the room, you have to engage two mini bosses before you can engage Thaddius. Fuegen and Stalagg need to go down together within seconds of the other dying. Unlike the original Naxx, you don’t have to stack melee players on one side and range on the other. The raid needs to be split fairly equally with 5 on one side and 5 on the other. It’s going to be hard to do with 5 total DPS (assuming 2 tanks and 3 healers) so I recommend pairing your top 2 DPS players together and the bottom 3 DPS players together. If necessary, adjust on the fly and rotate a DPS from one side to the other to help play catch up.

The two tanks (literally) will fly back and forth and switch between Fuegen and Stalagg respectively. I think when the Tesla Coil portion of the fight activates, the tank switches. Healers have to be aware of which tank is presently on the side that they are on. I suggest using a range finder of some sort. Aggro shouldn’t be a problem. One healer on both sides should be enough (although you’ll have an extra one, so use your discretion there). AoE healing will be the order of the day. Try to ensure everyone is near full as much as possible.

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Once you kill the 2 constructs, here’s the challenging part. You have to run and actually jump from the ledge onto the platform below! If you decide to fall off, then you’ll miss the platform entirely and hit the sludge water below (just turn around and head towards the entrance as there is a ramp that will allow you to try again).

Now you’re onto Thaddius himself.

He uses an ability called Polarity Shift.

  • Polarity Shift: Places either a Negative Charge or Positive Charge to all nearby enemy targets. Players near other players with the same Charge type increases each their damage dealt. Players near other players with the opposite Charge type deal damage to nearby raid members.

thad-4And that right there is the gimmick for the fight. I like to designate left side as positive and right side for negative. You don’t have to stray too far out. Melee players with opposite charges can remain 180° from each other and still stay within striking range of the boss.

Your raid leader should be extremely vocal:

“Polarity shift soon!”

“Polarity shift, MOVE MOVE MOVE!”

Some players fail at checking their debuffs and can potentially wipe the raid. As the raid leader, I strongly recommend that you hold their hand through this as it is not worth the frustration.

Healing

thad-2 Healing is a walkover on this boss. AoE heals and single target heals on the tank should the order of the day. Your AoE healers will be able to cover both groups no matter which side they are on. Keep a single target healer on the tank at all costs. He does like to randomly fry players with lightning. It’s nothing a healer can’t handle, however.

One last thing

DO NOT LOOT YOUR ITEMS AFTER THE BOSS DIES! Wait for your charges to wear off before doing so or else you’ll be in for a very nasty (and shocking) surprise.