Ebonroc

[Bastet]

Clearing to Ebonroc

Once you have killed Firemaw, there are a total of 6 additional trash pulls barring the path to Ebonroc. The 2nd through 5th of these pulls are Technician Packs, described previously. The first and last of these pulls involve new mobs that have not yet been encountered in Blackwing Lair, however. As before, if any member of an individual group survives a bad pull, the entire group will respawn.

The two new types of mobs that you will encounter on your way to Ebonroc are as follows:

* Death Talon Wyrmguards - Wyrmguards are powerful level 63+ draconids with ~215k HP, counting as dragonkin for game purposes. They have potent single-target melee attacks, as well as an AoE War Stomp that inflicts ~800 damage and stuns all those within 15 yards for 5 sec. As with the Death Talon Overseers, each individual Wyrmguard will have a random vulnerability to a single school of magic, and will be highly resistant to the other four schools. In addition, each Wyrmguard has access to a randomly-determined Brood Power, which are used against their current melee target. The random selection of each Wyrmguard's Brood Power means that every pull involving them will be somewhat unique. The Powers themlseves, and how the raid must adjust in order to appropriately deal with them, will be described in greater detail below.

* Master Elemental Shaper Krixix - This is a level 60+ named goblin with ~9k HP. Krixix has negligible offensive and defensive capabilities, and is susceptible to all the standard forms of CC affecting humanoids. His only significance is as the sole means by which members of your raid may learn the secret arts of smelting Elementium. To do so, Krixix should be Mind Controlled, after which one of the abilities on his action bar may be used to teach the "Smelt Elementium" skill to any miner within the raid group. There is no limit on how many people can learn this skill, except for the short delay required in between each use.

Unlike all of the other trash mobs in Blackwing Lair, Krixix will respawn (by himself) on subsequent visits to the instance, even if the group with which he is linked has been killed. Thus, other members of the raid may be taught how to smelt Elementium on later visits to the instance.

The first pull after Firemaw consists of 3 Death Talon Overseers and 1 Death Talon Wyrmguard. MTs will be separately assigned to each Overseer and to the Wyrmguard, with the group aggro'd via a paladin bubble puller and each MT range pulling for himself.

The last pull before Ebonroc consists of 3 Death Talon Wyrmguards, and Master Elemental Shaper Krixix. MTs will be separately assigned to each Wyrmguard. The group will be initially aggro'd by a paladin bubble puller, with each MT range pulling his assigned Wyrmguard. Master Elemental Shaper Krixix will be sheeped by an assigned mage until all of the Wyrmguards have been killed, after which he will be Mind Controlled and used to teach the Smelt Elementium ability if desired, then quickly dispatched.

Once all six of these trash mobs pulls have been eliminated, Ebonroc will be within reach of the raid.


Brood Powers

There are 5 Brood Powers, corresponding to the colors of the 5 dragonflights. Each Brood Power has a 40% chance to affect the Wyrmguard's current target each time melee damage is inflicted, and they function as follows:

* Brood Power: Black - Fire - Inflicts ~1250 damage.

* Brood Power: Blue - Frost - Inflicts ~750 damage, burns ~2000 mana (causing damage), and applies a debuff that reduces attack speed by 50% for 6 sec. The debuff cannot be dispelled.

* Brood Power: Bronze - Arcane - Applies a debuff that stuns the target and causes him to continuously attack friendly players within a radius of 10 yards, dealing his normal weapon damage plus 350 with every attack. Once applied, the debuff is frequently re-applied and may effectively become infinite in duration. The debuff cannot be dispelled.

* Brood Power: Green - Nature - Stuns the target for 6 sec.

* Brood Power: Red - Fire - Applies a debuff that inflicts ~1500 damage per second for 5 seconds, stacking up to 5 times. The debuff cannot be dispelled.

Each time a Wyrmguard is pulled, only the assigned MT should engage until its Brood Power can be determined. Additionally, the entire raid should hold fire until the MT has established sufficient threat to ensure that a badly timed War Stomp will not result in a loss of aggro.

Depending upon which Power each Wyrmguard has, the raid should make adjustments as necessary:

* Black, Blue, and Red - Can be dealt with primarily via additional healing alone. Red represents the greatest additional damage output to the MT, whereas Blue somewhat disrupts the ability of the MT to generate threat.

* Bronze - It is vital that all melee attackers stay as far as possible away from the affected MT, or attack from range if it is not possible to avoid the AoE attacks generated by the affected player.

* Green - Severely disrupts tanking, as the Wyrmguard will ignore a stunned MT. At least one additional MT must remain outside of range of War Stomp at all times, ready to taunt and establish aggro on any Wyrmguard that might, or does, have this Brood Power.

Once the Brood Powers of any Wyrmguards in a given pull have been determined, they should be killed in order from the most dangerous to the least dangerous. As such, the kill order should generally be Green -> Red -> Blue -> Black -> Bronze.


Ebonroc, the Second Drake

In addition to the common features of all three drakes, Ebonroc has the following unique ability:

1. Shadow of Ebonroc - This is a shadow-based debuff that Ebonroc will frequently apply to the current MT. Each time the affected player takes melee damage while the debuff is applied, Ebonroc will be healed for 25000 HP. It can be resisted, but not dispelled, and has a duration of 8 sec.

It is important to note that the healing triggered by Shadow of Ebonroc is subject to mitigation via debuffs that reduce the effectiveness of healing. In particular, the debuff applied by Mortal Strike will reduce the amount of HP gained when Shadow of Ebonroc is triggered down to 12500 HP each time, instead of 25000.

Correctly handling the Shadow of Ebonroc ability in such a way as to minimize the frequency and amount of HP which Ebonroc heals via its effects is what makes this encounter unique and challenging. Of course, that must be done in conjunction with the approach previously described for dealing with Wing Buffet and the other common features of all three drakes.

Ebonroc patrols a short distance from the left-hand side of the large "Torture Chamber" overlooking the far end of the Laboratory, down to the bottom of the spiral ramp connecting the Laboratory to the Torture Chamber above it, and back again.

While Ebonroc is at the far end of his patrol route, the raid may position itself and prepare for the pull. The pull itself is accomplished via the simple expedient of waiting for Ebonroc to patrol close enough to the spiral ramp that he aggros onto the MT via proximity alone. If desired, the MT may walk far enough up the ramp that he can draw aggro without needing to wait for the drake to patrol back. The remainder of the raid should stay clear while the pull occurs, moving into position only once the MT has established initial control of Ebonroc.

Ebonroc is fought to the left of the bottom of this spiral ramp. The designated MT, upon capturing Ebonroc's aggro, will position himself at the interior corner formed by the juncture of the northern and eastern walls of the final landing of the Laboratory. During the encounter, the current OT should be positioned against the eastern wall, far enough away from the MT that each time Ebonroc turns to attack, the MT will be unaffected by Wing Buffet. One or more secondary MTs should be positioned against the northern wall, far enough away from the primary MT that each time Ebonroc turns to attack one of them, the primary MT will be unaffected by Shadow Flame, and vice versa. Ebonroc should be positioned approximately midway between the walls, facing inwards towards the primary MT at a 45-degree angle to the sides of this corner.

Because Ebonroc has no AoE attacks except for his frontal cone attacks, Wing Buffet and Shadow Flame, all other members of the raid group should be arrayed primarily along the line leading diagonally outwards from this corner, equidistant to the two walls. Please refer to the image below, which displays the general positions of Ebonroc and the various members of the raid during the encounter.



The parts played by the various members of the raid are as follows:

* Healers - Will stay directly behind Ebonroc, far enough away that they cannot be affected by Shadow Flame or Wing Buffet when Ebonroc is turned to face any warrior aside from the designated MT. Because they will ideally not take any damage during the entire encounter, healers can use their most effective gear, without sacrificing any stats in exchange for resists.

All healers should reserve their mana to keep the MTs and OTs alive. All other classes should be able to avoid taking damage just as easily as the healers themselves, given prudent positioning.

* Off-tanks - From his position along the wall to Ebonroc's right, the OT should prepare to taunt just before each Wing Buffet occurs, pulling aggro from the MT long enough to be hit by the attack without being knocked far in the process. Each time this occurs, Ebonroc's aggro should switch back immediately to the current MT.

An additional OT should be ready to move into position and take over as OT as necessary if the current OT dies for whatever reason. OTs should equip gear with a good balance of physical defense and shadow resist. Note that Ebonroc has no fire-based attacks; instead, his abilities are entirely physical or shadow in nature.

* Main Tanks - Every time the Shadow of Ebonroc debuff is applied to the current MT, it is absolutely imperative to temporarily transition aggro onto a new MT until the debuff fades from the original MT. As a result, the secondary MT(s) should remain in melee range of Ebonroc at all times and be prepared to taunt Ebonroc whenever the current MT receives the Shadow debuff, to capture Ebonroc's aggro temporarily and prevent him from continuing to attack the MT affected by the debuff.

Due to the duration of the taunt effect (6 sec) in comparison to the duration of Shadow of Ebonroc (8 sec), it may be necessary for 2 taunts to be used by different warriors in quick succession, in order to keep aggro from switching back to the affected MT before the debuff expires. In addition, aggro may shift away from the warrior with the highest Shadow Resistance even after the debuff expires, depending upon relative threat levels of the various warriors. If this occurs, aggro should be transitioned smoothly back to the intended MT with the best SR gear.

When such a transition is called for, the current MT should stop attacking. The new MT should taunt Ebonroc to establish a threat level near (but below) the current MT, then use his threat-generating abilies (Sunder Armor, Shield Slam, etc.) to build enough additional hate that aggro transfers to him. Once aggro is established on the new MT, the previous MT can begin attacking again.

The importance of taking aggro away from the current MT each time the Shadow of Ebonroc debuff is applied cannot be stressed enough. Each second the drake continues to attack an MT with the debuff can represent a significant amount of healing for the drake. It is impossible, given current gear and level limits, to deal more damage per second while the debuff is applied than Ebonroc will heal if aggro isn't taken by away from the affected MT at the appropriate time.

MTs should balance physical defense gear versus Shadow Resist, with particular focus on SR. It it important to note that as the MT increases his SR, the frequency with which the debuff will be resisted increases correspondingly, requiring fewer and less frequent aggro transitions. A high SR value can have a startling effect upon how difficult it is to organize and execute these transitions.

* Arms warrior(s) - It is extremely helpful for the raid to include at least one warrior specced so as to have Mortal Strike. By keeping the Mortal Strike debuff applied to Ebonroc as continuously as possible, any healing the drake receives as a result of Shadow of Ebonroc will be halved in magnitude. Although this by no means eliminates the need to transition aggro to a new MT each time the previous one receives the debuff, it will limit the healing that occurs as a result of mistakes, delays, and so on, when making these transitions.

* DPS classes (ranged and melee) - Will attack from directly behind Ebonroc for the duration of the encounter. DPS classes should be entirely safe from taking damage during this encounter, assuming they remain close to the diagonal equidistant between the walls forming this corner to ensure they will not be hit by Shadow Flame while the drake is turned. Thus, they can equip their optimal DPS gear, without sacrificing any stats in exchange for resists.  Anyone who (like tanks) is taking or who might take Shadowflame should have their Onyxia Scale cloak equipped.

If the raid group correctly manages both the Shadow of Ebonroc and Wing Buffet abilities, keeps the raid alive and applies consistent high DPS, this encounter is straightforward.

Even so, it is likely that Ebonroc will heal for significant amounts of health over the course of even a successful attempt. This encounter is one of the lengthiest in Blackwing Lair, purely in terms of time spent on even the most successful attempt.


Summary
The trash that lies between Firemaw and Ebonroc introduces a few new elements to the challenge of Blackwing Lair, not the least of which is a significant element of randomness and luck, which will return as parts of the Chromaggus and Nefarian encounters later on. For the time being, however, an even greater challenge lies in applying what you have already learned from the Firemaw encounter to the different but related challenge posed by Ebonroc.

Once Ebonroc is dead, the third and and final drake, Flamegor, next blocks your further passage into Blackwing Lair!