Broodlord Lashlayer

[Bastet]

Broodlord Lashlayer is the first draconid that you will encounter in Blackwing Lair, a fiendish hybrid of dragonkin and humanoid (orcish?) stock. He is big, and bad, and wields a very mean blade indeed. Though some of his abilities are familiar, others are not, and he poses a unique test of the raid's capabilities. Broodlord Lashlayer has the following attacks and abilities:
 
1. Standard, single-target melee attack, that will be directed at the current MT.
 
2. Mortal Strike (MS) - A vicious single-target attack that will be directed at the current MT. A critical strike MS can inflict upwards of ~6500 damage, even against an excellently geared tank. As with other Mortal Strikes, this attack also applies a debuff that reduces all healing effects by 50% while it lasts.
 
3. Blast Wave - A fire-based AoE attack that will hit all those within 20 yds of the Broodlord. It inflicts ~3000 pts of damage, slows movement speed by 50% for 8 sec, and also causes knockback (with corresponding loss of aggro) as well. Only warriors and rogues should be affected by the Blast Wave.
 
4. Knock Away - A single-target knockback that will be directed at the current MT. It inflicts a severe loss of threat for the target. Because of how much aggro is lost by the MT as a result, this encounter is the first in the game to truly introduce the concept of an "aggro ceiling" above which it becomes impossible for a single MT to out-pace the threat generated by DPS and healing classes. See below for more details.
 
5. Broodlord Lashlayer is untauntable.
 
To initiate this encounter, a warrior rushes forward to aggro Broodlord Lashlayer and begin attacking, while all the MTs move into position with backs firmly against the closed gate at the end of the Room. Healers and ranged DPS classes move into position in a tight group at the rear corner of the nearest cubby to the draconid's spawn point. Rogues initially move into place with the ranged classes.
 
The other MTs will engage a moment later. Generally speaking, a single group of Corrupted Whelps must be killed by the raid group as they move into their positions in the nearest cubby to the Broodlord.
 
Broodlord Lashlayer should be tanked such that he faces the closed gate, with his back to the rest of the raid group. After 20-30 seconds Rogues & Hunters may begin attacking.  Rogues begin attacking the Broodlord from behind. Other ranged DPS engages using slow DPS when Broodlord is at 95%.  

As the encounter progresses, Broodlord Lashlayer will frequently switch targets from one MT to the next, in a near-random progression as each MT in turn loses aggro control due to the Broodlord's single-target knockback. The following image displays the approximate positioning used by the members of the raid during the encounter.


 
The challenge this encounter presents is to preserve all of the MTs for as long as possible, while inflicting consistent high DPS, managing aggro, and avoiding the "aggro ceiling" effect (discussed in greater detail later). Specifically, each class must accomplish definite goals:
 
* Druids - should focus healing on the current target of the Broodlord's attacks. Additional healing, including HoTs, may be used on any of the MTs, but it must be stressed that the focus should be on keeping the current MT alive at all times. Whenever the Broodlord changes targets, all druids should change as well.
 
* Hunters - should maximize their DPS and minimize their aggro via use of Feign Death, as often as possible.
 
* Mages - must do DPS while watching their aggro levels to avoid the "aggro ceiling". See below for more details.
 
* Paladins - paladins should focus on healing similarly to the druids, keeping the current MT alive at all times. Whenever Broodlord changes targets, healing paladins should change as well.
 
* Priests - priests should also focus primarily on the MTs.   The priests' healing and shielding abilities provide the initial buffer against instant death which can occur if Broodlord Lashlayer chains multiple attacks and/or crits onto any one target in a short amount of time.
 
* Rogues - will attack the Broodlord from behind. Each time the rogues are hit by Blast Wave and knocked back into the cubby with the rest of the raid, they must heal themselves via use of bandages before moving in to attack the draconid again. Rogues must not rely upon spot healing during this encounter, and should equip their optimal FR gear set, or something very close to it, to mitigate the severe damage otherwise caused by this attack.
 
One rogue must keep a watch on the (single) Suppression Device adjacent to the main body of the raid group; it is imperative that this Suppression Device be kept disabled for the entire duration of the encounter.
 
* Warlocks - must do slow DPS while watching their aggro  
* Warriors - must all fight for aggro continuously during the encounter, doing their best to maximize their threat generation. With their backs against the closed gate, they will not move at all when hit by Blast Wave or single-target knockback. Due to the amount of physical DPS that Broodlord Lashlayer can inflict, each MT must wear their best physical defense gear and the main tanks will have a Flask of Titans.  
 
The "Aggro Ceiling"
Broodlord Lashlayer is the first boss you will encounter where it is a featured aspect of the encounter.
 
* In general, with healing support and sufficient rage, any warrior will be able to generate at most a certain maximum amount of threat in any given unit of time.
 
* As long as the amount of threat generated per unit of time exceeds the rate at which all the other members of the raid are generating threat, the MT in question can continue to keep aggro control indefinitely. This is the situation for essentially every raid boss prior to Broodlord Lashlayer. It is true even if the boss in question has a way to permanently reduce the MT's accumulated threat, as long as the reduction is by some flat amount.
 
* If a given encounter involves an ability that permanently removes a certain percentage of accumulated threat from the MT, rather than a flat amount, then at some point the amount of threat removed each time this ability is used will be equal to the maximum amount of threat that can be generated in the time between two uses of the ability.
 
* When this occurs, it creates an aggro "ceiling" beyond which the MT can effectively no longer build threat. As soon as another member of the raid exceeds that ceiling, there will be no way to avoid pulling aggro from the MT. This is especially significant for classes with no way to permanently reduce their own threat: mages, warlocks, and all types of healers.
 
* As an arbitrary example, assume that a given warrior can generate 1000 "units" of threat in 30 seconds, and every 30 seconds a given boss mob permanently reduces his threat by 10%. At some point in the encounter, the warrior in question will have 9000 "units" of threat immediately after being de-aggro'd. In the next 30 seconds, he would generate enough aggro to reach 10000 "units", but would be reduced back to 9000 immediately thereafter. As a result, the warrior in question would never be able to exceed approx. 10000 units of threat. Any other player that exceeds that much accumulated threat would be unable to avoid pulling aggro from the warrior.
 
The worst possible scenario for encountering this aggro ceiling occurs when a boss mob is untauntable. In that case, there is no way for the current aggro leader to avoid receiving the brunt each time the de-aggro ability is used. This is the situation for Broodlord Lashlayer.
 
Because the primary de-aggro ability used by the Broodlord affects only a single target, the more MTs are alive and building aggro at any given time, the more that de-aggro effect will be "spread" across multiple MTs and the higher overall threat the aggro leader will be able to reach as the encounter progresses. Every time an MT is lost during the encounter, the maximum effective height of the aggro "ceiling" is significantly reduced.

It is important to note the following:
 
* Certain classes with ways to permanently reduce their own aggro (rogues and hunters) can effectively ignore the impact of the aggro ceiling, via use of these abilities.
 
* Talents and gear that reduce threat generation (such as Subtlety, or the 3-pc Netherwind set bonus) can be used by DPS and healer classes to lengthen the amount of time it takes them to reach and exceed the ceiling.
 
* Talents, gear, and stance utilized by warriors can increase the "height" at which the ceiling occurs, thus also lengthening the amount of time it takes for DPS and healer classes to reach and exceed the ceiling.
 
* Whilst the map above shows an OOC rezzer this has not been possible for some months since it was patched.   Battle rez is an absolute NO as it immediately pulls aggro from Broodlord.  Soulstones shoudl be use don tanks instead.
 
There are a number of ways to help mitigate the "aggro ceiling" effect, but the Broodlord Lashlayer encounter is one place in which it operates at full force.

[Bastet]

It is important to note the following:
 
* Certain classes with ways to permanently reduce their own aggro (rogues and hunters) can effectively ignore the impact of the aggro ceiling, via use of these abilities.
 
* Talents and gear that reduce threat generation (such as Subtlety, or the 3-pc Netherwind set bonus) can be used by DPS and healer classes to lengthen the amount of time it takes them to reach and exceed the ceiling.
 
* Talents, gear, and stance utilized by warriors can increase the "height" at which the ceiling occurs, thus also lengthening the amount of time it takes for DPS and healer classes to reach and exceed the ceiling.
 
* Depending upon circumstances, it may be possible for classes with no intrinsic threat reduction abilities (mages, warlocks, priests, druids, and paladins in particular) to actively suicide during an encounter, so that an OOC rezzer can bring them back to life. This is effectively another mechanism by which such classes can wipe their aggro slate clean. Any use of organized "suicide chains" should be carefully considered before being implemented for a given encounter, since they are by no means always necessary.
 
There are a number of ways to help mitigate the "aggro ceiling" effect, but the Broodlord Lashlayer encounter is one place in which it operates at full force.