Trash Mobs

[Bastet]

After defeating Vaelastrasz the Corrupt, the gate leading out of his chamber will open. Through that gate, you will be greeted for the first time in this instance by the sight of bona fide, honest-to-goodness trash mobs barring the path to the next boss, Broodlord Lashlayer. Trash mobs populate 3 rooms, along with connecting passageways, that you must clear in order to reach the Broodlord.

The first room contains two groups of dragonkin, which we call Death Talon Packs. Once the Death Talon Packs have been cleared, your path leads up some stairs and to a pair of interconnected Suppression Rooms. The Suppression Rooms are populated by a fast-respawning mix of elite dragonkin and orcs, non-elite whelps, and a network of traps called "Suppression Devices" which can severely limit the speed and combat effectiveness of the raid as it clears through these rooms if not dealt with appropriately. Broodlord Lashlayer himself guards the gate at the end of the 2nd Suppression Room.

Death Talon Packs
Beyond Vaelastrasz's chamber to the west lies a medium-sized room, with two Death Talon Packs. Each Pack consists of a semi-random assortment of 4 varieties of dragonkin. If any member of a Pack survives a bad pull, the entire Pack will respawn; they cannot be split or pulled and killed incrementally.

The four mob types that comprise these Packs are as follows:

* Death Talon Captains - Each Pack contains 1 of these. The Captain is a powerful, well-armored lvl 62+ mob with ~240k HP. They apply a magic debuff called "Mark of Flames" to random members of the raid, increasing fire damage taken by 1000 for 2 min. They apply a magi debuff called "Mark of Detonation" to their current target, inflicting ~700 fire damage to ALL allies within 30 yards of the afflicted player each time he is struck by a melee attack. They cannot be slept or otherwise CC'd, and must be tanked instead. They will be killed first on each pull.

* Death Talon Flamescales - Each Pack contains 1-2, randomly determined for each pack. Flamescales are moderately tough lvl 62+ mobs with ~120k HP. They have a periodic ranged attack called "Flame Shock" which inflicts ~2000 fire damage and applies a magic DoT that inflicts an additional ~350 fire damage every 3 sec for 12 sec. Combined with the Mark of Flames, this attack and DoT can become quite dangerous. They also have a randomly targeted charge that knocks back those affected. They cannot be slept or otherwise CC'd, and must be tanked instead. They will be killed second.

* Death Talon Seethers - Each Pack contains 1-2. Seethers are moderately tough level 62+ mobs with ~110k HP. They enrage to inflict additional melee damage, and have a frontal cleave attack. They cannot be slept or otherwise CC'd, and must be tanked instead. They will be killed third.

* Death Talon Wyrmkin - Each Pack contains 1-2. Wyrmkin are relatively fragile level 61+ mobs with ~90k HP. Their primary form of attack is a "Fireball Volley" that they use frequently, sending out powerful fireballs doing ~1100 damage apiece to all targets within LoS of the Wyrmkin. You can break LoS with any active Wyrmkin to avoid being hit by this attack. Although physically weak, Wyrmkin are a large threat to the raid if allowed to use their Volley attack unchecked. They can be put to sleep by a druid's hibernate ability, but due to their high level they will tend to resist or break free of this effect fairly often. They will be killed last on each pull.

Positioning, pulling, and killing each Pack is accomplished as follows:

1. Targets will be assigned to MTs in the following order: Captain -> Flamescales -> Seethers. 4 or 5 MTs may be required, depending upon the number of Wyrmkin present.

2. A pair of druids will be assigned as the primary/secondary sleeper for each Wyrmkin, with the primary sleepers added to the MT display and assigned targets before the pull. These assigned sleepers may be positioned on the edge of the balcony in front of the gate for optimal LoS when sleeping Wyrmkin.

3. A designated paladin bubble puller is positioned on the balcony in front of the gate.

4. Hunter pullers are split up between the NW and SW corners of the balcony, in range to individually pull the Captain, Flamescales, and Seethers as they emerge from the gateway. Each hunter pulls for an assigned MT. The first two MTs have their targets pulled north, while the remaining 2 (or 3) MTs have their targets pulled south.

5. The remainder of the raid is located on the ground floor of Vaelastrasz's chamber. MTs are positioned towards the NE (odd numbered) or SE (even numbered), to more easily engage their assigned targets as each of them reach the ground floor. The rest of the raid is positioned towards the western half of the chamber.

6. The bubble puller runs in, uses divine shield, aggros the assigned Pack, and runs back out, jumping over the edge of the balcony.

7. Hunters pull the melee dragonkin as they emerge from the gate. Once each dragonkin is heading north or south along the balcony as appropriate, the hunters drop off the edge onto the ground floor.

8. The primary/secondary sleepers hibernate Wyrmkin as they emerge from the gate.

9. As the dragonkin reach the ground floor, they are picked up and tanked by the MTs. The raid burns down each dragonkin in turn, working their way down the MT display. When only Wyrmkin remain, the raid moves up onto the balcony and kills them one at a time, allowing a tank to break CC and establish aggro in each case.

Both Packs are handled in the same fashion. Once a Pack has been killed, it will no longer respawn at all for the remainder of the saved instance.


The Suppression Rooms
The second and third room you clear through to reach the Broodlord, along with an L-shaped hallway that connects them, collectively form the "Suppression Rooms". These rooms, represent a "gauntlet" filled with various fast-respawning mobs and traps that must be dealt with as the raid progresses through these rooms. Progress must be made quickly and efficiently, with only brief stops possible. The raid must stay in near-constant motion, and cannot allow itself to dawdle or become too spread out lest it fall prey to the rapid respawns.

All of the trash mobs located within the Suppression Rooms continue to respawn for as long as Broodlord Lashlayer remains alive. Generally speaking, any wipe on the Broodlord will require the raid to re-clear through a complete circuit of the Suppression Rooms in order to make their next attempt at the boss. Once Broodlord Lashlayer is dead, all of these mobs will stop respawning and the traps spread throughout will deactivate. When zoning into a saved (but reset) instance where the Broodlord is already dead, the traps will not appear at all.

The two Suppression Rooms themselves are approximately rectangular, laid out with their long axes running N/S. They are adjacent to one another and tiered, with the lower room to the west and the upper room to the east. The western side of the upper room is not bounded by a wall, but instead by a ledge that is also the eastern wall of the lower room. The outer (right-hand) wall of each room has a series of shallow "cubbies" that the raid may take temporary refuge in, on their way to the Broodlord.

While in the Suppression Rooms, the raid must deal with the following:

* Death Talon Hatchers - Each room contains approximately 5-6 of these dragonkin, which are moderately tough level 61+ mobs with ~90k HP. They patrol back and forth in set paths across the width of each room. Apart from their physical attacks, they also have an AoE aura which applies a debuff called "Growing Flames". Once one of these mobs is aggro'd, its aura will pulse every few seconds. The debuff causes 50 damage every 2 sec for 6 sec, but can stack up to 100 applications (5000 dmg/2 sec). Hatchers cannot be CC'd. Hatchers must be pulled singly and tanked by a warrior at least 15 yds away from the body of the raid group, so that the raid is not continuously affected by Growing Flames. Hatchers respawn in approx. 10 minutes.

* Blackwing Taskmasters - Each room contains 2 groups of 3 orc Taskmasters, which are fairly weak level 61+ or 62+ mobs with ~50k HP. The members of each group patrol together, up and down and side to side within predetermined zones in each room. Apart from physical attacks, they have a shadow-based Shock attack, and can heal themselves or one another with a "Prayer of Healing"-type animation to indicate when they are casting such a heal. They can be sheeped, and as each group is pulled, its members should be selected and killed one at a time while the remaining members are kept sheeped. Taskmasters respawn in approx. 10 minutes.

* Corrupted Whelps - Each room (and the passageway between them) contains numerous groups of non-elite Blue, Bronze, Green, and Red whelps, which appear in various linked combinations of approx. 4-8. Generally, each group can be pulled separately from adjacent groups. Each color of whelp is immune to a specific school of magic (Blue/Frost, Bronze/Arcane, Green/Nature, and Red/Fire), and since each group contains a mix of different colors, the best way to deal with them is to have casters use a combination of different AoE attacks to take down groups en masse. Groups of whelps respawn very rapidly, in approx. 3-5 minutes.

* Suppression Devices - Each room (and the passageway between them) contains an ordered, evenly spaced grid of these traps. When inactive, they are retracted into the floor. When active, they emerge from the floor and after a short delay will apply a "Suppression Aura" debuff to every player with 20 yds. This debuff slows movement speed to 20% of normal, reduces attack and casting speed by 80%, and lasts for 6 sec. Rogues must stealth ahead of the main body of the raid group and use their Disarm Traps skill on each deployed Device, deactivating each one in turn for a pre-set amount of time as the raid group progresses through the gauntlet.

It is strongly recommended that those assigned to disabling these Devices have maximum points invested in the Master of Deception talent. When stealthed, rogues will be unaffected by the Suppression Aura. Rogues stealthed away from the raid group must take care not to be de-stealthed by patrolling mobs or their abilities, including the Growing Flames aura of any Hatchers that are aggro'd.

To successfully run the "gauntlet", the entire raid must move as a cohesive unit, with different classes performing different tasks. Rogues must disarm Suppression Devices to clear a path through which the raid can safely travel. Warriors must lead the way, pulling Hatchers as well as groups of Taskmasters and Whelps. Healers must keep the raid alive, and rez the fallen each time there is an opportunity to do so. DPS classes must burn down each group of hostile mobs when they are pulled. And everybody must be careful to stay together, stay alert to the danger of frequent respawns and accidental pulling, and stay focused. The Suppression Rooms are NOT a good place to go AFK!

The contents of the Suppression Rooms are displayed in abstract form by the following image. Note the approximate positioning of the Suppression Devices, as well as a simplified representation of the paths taken by Hatchers as they patrol the area. Taskmasters patrol in a more general vicinity, randomly enough that it is not explicitly marked. Whelps are spread throughout the room; generally, one group per Suppression Device. The raid will move along the outer, right-hand wall of each long room, making incremental progress from one cubby to the next as indicated on the diagram.



Broodlord Lashlayer is located at the end of the 2nd (upper) Suppression Room, guarding a closed gate in the center of its northern wall. When the raid reaches the second to last cubby before the Broodlord, it is vitally important that they stay close to the eastern wall, to avoid accidentally pulling the Broodlord due to his large aggro radius (indicated above as a brightened circle). Once in this second-to-last cubby, the raid will buff up. When ready, they will move to engage him in combat.