Flamegor

[Bastet]

Flamegor, the Third Drake

Once you have killed Ebonroc, the raid may immediately reposition itself, buff up, and prepare to pull Flamegor. There are no additional trash mob pulls lying in between Ebonroc and Flamegor, which means that these two boss mob encounters may be tackled back-to-back, one immediately after the other.

In addition to the common features of all three drakes, Flamegor has the following unique abilities:

1. Fire Nova - This is a periodic fire-based attack that inflicts ~550 damage against ALL enemies within LoS of Flamegor. It is used every ~5 sec.

It is a close relative to the Fire Nova used by Vaelastrasz the Corrupted, inflicting the same amount of damage per wave and occurring at the same rate. It differs only because its effect is based upon LoS, rather than range alone.

2. Frenzy - Flamegor will enrage frequently, increasing his size and significantly increasing his melee attack speed (and thus, DPS). It is accompanied by an emote indicating that he "goes into a killing frenzy". This frenzied state can be removed via use of the hunter ability Tranquilizing Shot, just as with Magmadar in Molten Core except that Flamegor must be tranq'd far more often and appears to receive an even larger DPS boost if his frenzy goes unchecked.

Handling Flamegor's Fire Nova ability is trivial once you have mastered the means necessary to deal with Firemaw's Flame Buffet, since its damage output potential is significantly less and there is no need to swap out MTs or OTs due to debuff stacking.

Flamegor patrols only in a very limited area, hovering on the right-hand side of the "Torture Chamber" overlooking the end of the Laboratory. When ready, the raid may position itself and prepare for the pull.

Flamegor is fought as the same place as Ebonroc. Positioning for the MT, OT, healers, and DPS classes are almost identical to that used versus the second drake. The MT will pull himselfs and jump down into possition

Please refer to the image below for details of the relative positioning of raid members when fighting Flamegor.



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

* Healers - Establish LoS to the MT and/or OT without being within LoS of Flamegor. Healers can use their most effective gear, without sacrificing stats in exchange for FR.

They should reserve their mana to keep the MTs and OTs alive, paying special attention to the MT each time Flamegor goes into a Frenzy.

* Off-tank - Only a single OT should be needed, since Fire Nova has no associated debuff effect, and thus does not require a transition between OTs during the encounter. Apart from this, the OT behaves exactly as when fighting Firemaw. OTs should balance defense gear versus FR gear, to minimize the amount of damage taken from Fire Nova.

* Main Tank - As in the case of the OT, only a single MT should be needed since Fire Nova does not cause a situation in which an aggro transition from one MT to another is required. The MT (and any backups) should equip his best physical defense gear; FR is a secondary consideration for the MT during this encounter.

The additional damage taken by the MT from each Fire Nova is much more predictable and easy for his assigned healers to handle than the unpredictable "spike" physical damage that Flamegor can put out each time the drake is Frenzied. Mitigating those physical damage spikes will go a long way towards ensuring that the MT stays alive for the duration of the encounter.

* DPS classes (ranged and melee) - Will weave in and out of LoS with Firemaw to attack, just as with Firemaw. They should be wearing their optimal FR gear, to reduce the average damage taken from each wave of the Fire Nova, and should remain self-sufficient from a healing perspective, using bandages, potions, and so on to keep themselves alive in between rounds of attacking.

* Hunters - Must be organized into a Tranquilizing Shot rotation, and respond quickly each time Flamegor enters a Frenzy, so as to limit the incoming physical DPS spikes the MT will be subjected to during those times. Each hunter must individually time their periods of attacking, bandaging, eating & drinking, and so on to ensure that they are able to fire off their Tranquilizing Shot each time it is their turn in the rotation. Generally speaking, the initial hunter puller will need to miss the first round or two of the Tranq Shot rotation as he is OOC rezzed and buffed after dying during the pull.

Of all three drakes, Flamegor is perhaps the easiest to defeat, particularly because tha majority of his attacks bear such a close resemblance to those employed by Firemaw, and yet are less dangerous to the raid overall.

Assuming his Frenzy ability can be dealt with correctly and the necessary healing power brought to bear to ensure that the designated MT does not fall, Flamegor will not provide any great challenge to a raid that has already progressed this far.


Summary

Flamegor follows immediately on the heels of Ebonroc, and can be defeated in a straightforward fashion after the second drake is dead without requiring much additional time or preparation. All of the skills needed to defeat this drake have been utilized already, here in Blackwing Lair or in Molten Core, and thus do not represent a significant roadblock to further advancement through the instance.

Once Flamegor himself is eliminated, only one trash mob pull remains between the raid and the next boss of Blackwing Lair, Chromaggus!