The Battle for Mount Hyjal is one of the raids in WoW TBC’s Phase 3 of content. Now that it’s open, this raid along with the Black Temple is now available to players. While it’s not the hardest raid out there, there are some mechanics in the raid that can easily wipe out the party. Here are some tips so your WoW TBC gold investment and TBC items and consumables won’t go to waste in a wipe.
Spread Out
Mount Hyjal’s bosses all have mechanics that require the group to spread out around the boss. One notable reason is the Mark of Kaz’rogal. This is a debuff from Kaz’rogal, and it will decrease mana by 600 every second five times (3,000 mana). If it drains the player’s mana to 0, they will explode and deal damage in an AoE around them. By spreading out, casualties from this can be lessened.
There’s also Anetherion’s Carrion Swarm, which is an attack with a cone AoE, dealing damage and debuffing those caught in it. The debuff reduces healing effectiveness by 75%. Spreading out means fewer chances of getting hit and dying (which is a serious disadvantage in the raid).
The best configuration is a circle around the boss. Just run away when you get affected by the debuffs.
Pull the Enemy Toward the Camp Leader
In this raid, you’ll be accompanied by NPCs from either faction. They will attack any enemy within their range, meaning you can have extra DPS if you position the boss in the right way. The Alliance camps have Jaina Proudmoore, while Horde camps have Thrall.
Other NPCs may also be useful in handling mobs such as the Lesser Doomguard for the Azgalor fight. Every 45 seconds, he’ll cast doom on a random player. If the player dies to the debuff, they’ll spawn a Lesser Doomguard.
A common strategy to handle this mechanic is to have the off-tank near some camp NPCs. The affected player will run to the off-tank and have them pull the Doomguard toward the NPCs. They will be the ones to attack and handle the Doomguard, and the main raid force won’t be affected by the new spawn.
Mob Waves and Wiping
Wiping will set the raid back so much, as they have to wait eight minutes for the NPC leaders to respawn. More than that, they have to go through the same eight waves of trash mobs before going into the next boss. This is a raid where you really don’t want to die at all.
Boss-Specific Tips
Again, this raid isn’t too hard, you just need to know what to do for certain bosses.
Rage Winterchill
There are three skills to watch out for in this fight. First is Death and Decay. Rage will cast this on a random player. It makes them start to deal damage by 15% of their HP in a 20-yard radius around them. If you’re properly spread out, it’s easy to get away from its AoE.
The second is Icebolt. Getting hit by this attack will freeze the player and deal some DoT which can be deadly. Paladins and Mages have ways around this, while other classes can use a trinket. The medallion of your faction is a good one to have for this fight.
The third is Frost Nova, which can root players but at least it doesn’t have DoT. Healers should cleanse rooted players quickly, else they might fall victim to Death and Decay.
Anetherion
Aside from the Carrion Swarm mentioned above, players have to take note of his Vampiric Aura. They’ll have to use healing reduction skills to keep the aura from doing its job properly. Every 60 seconds, he’ll use inferno on a player and spawn a Towering Infernal.
Due to the Infernal’s ability to use Immolation, it’s paramount to pull them away from the melee attackers. This also has the side effect of moving them away from the boss’s Vampiric Aura. They’re immune to taunts, so other methods of generating threat or having a Hunter with Misdirection is needed.
The last thing to take note of is his ability to cast a not-dispellable Sleep onto three random players. It lasts for 10 seconds.
Kaz’Rogal
Some of his mechanics have been mentioned already, and he’s pretty much a DPS check. Melee players have to watch out for his stomp and stay away from attacking his front. Being in front means being vulnerable to his Cleave attack, so keep to his back and sides. Mages and Paladins again have skills they can use to avoid the Mark of Kaz’Rogal. Paladins can also have the Shadow Resistance Aura to extend resistance to the mark to allies. Priests may use Shadow Protection as well.
Having some TBC items such as Super Mana Potions, Demonic Runes, and Dark Runes will be useful in this fight.
Azgalor
Aside from his random casting of Doom, he can target a player as the center of a Rain of Fire. Spreading out is a necessary tactic to avoid getting caught up in one. Managing Doom and Doomguard have been mentioned above. Warlocks may use Soulstones to manage Doom as well.
He can also silence players with the Howl of Azgalor, but Shadow Resistance Auras and Shadow Protection can mitigate it. Paladins may use Improved Concentration Auras to avoid the debuff. Like Kaz’Rogal, he has a Cleave, so avoid staying in front of him.
Archimonde
He is the final boss, and as such he can be tricky to defeat. The most important thing to have in this fight is the Tears of the Goddess. Archimonde can cast Air Burst, which launches you into the air, high enough to kill upon landing unsafely. Tears of the Goddess can be a lifesaver in that case.
He can also cast Doomfire, which is a trail of fire that will radiate from him. These stay throughout the fight but are easy enough to avoid. Except that Archimonde can also cast Fear, which can inadvertently cause you to walk into the fire. A Shaman’s Tremor Totem will shake off the fear, so stay nearby the totem. Priests may use Fear Ward too.
Another debuff he can cause is Grip of the Legion, which can be a death sentence if not dispelled quickly. It decreases HP by 2,500 points every 2 seconds, for a possible maximum duration of 5 minutes. Mages and Druids have to be on top of clearing this dangerous debuff.
His most feared ability is Soul Charge, which changes its effects depending on what class died. It’s the skill that can cause the whole party to wipe. Consequences include:
4,500 Fire damage and silence for 4 seconds (Priest, Mage, Warlock)
4,500 Physical damage and a 4-second long damage taken increased by 50% debuff (Warrior, Rogue, Paladin)
4,500 Nature damage over 8 seconds and 2,250 points of mana drained (Hunter, Druid, Shaman)
Help out your healer and keep your HP up, because you don’t want to die in this fight. Getting his health down to 10% will end the fight.
Conclusions
Of course, everything is easier said than done, and no plan survives contact with the enemy. Still, these are good-to-know tips that can help in planning and strategizing. Your party will still wipe, as some of the mechanics can be good or bad depending on the RNG. Practicing also helps, and you’ll be running it for the sweet loot it can bring. Be sure to spend your WoW TBC gold wisely on good gear when starting out.
Have fun with this new raid!
