Gruul the Dragonkiller
From xenowiki
Gruul the Dragonkiller is the final boss encounter in his own Lair. A few short trash pulls and you're standing at his door. This fight is a real gear/preparedness check for the later instances.
Contents |
Abilities
- Hurtful Strike--In addition to his normal melee attack, which hits the Main Tank (MT), Gruul also has an attack that targets the person in melee range with secondary aggro. Note: Due to the nature of this attack, a tank-specced feral druid is ideal for this role. In other words, the Offtank (OT) needs to be second on aggro at ALL times. Rogues, feral druids, fury warriors, etc must watch their threat. This attack comes roughly every 20 seconds, and hits from anywhere between 11000 and 14000 depending on damage mitigation of the target.
- Growth--Beginning 30 seconds into the fight, Gruul casts a buff on himself similar to Winterfell Firewater. His damage increases by 15% and he physically gets bigger. This buff stacks. After a point, his damage will be unhealable. Aim to kill him by AT MOST 16 growths.
- Cave In--This is exactly what it sounds like: rocks falling from the ceiling in a small area of effect. You can tell if you're in it by the..um...rocks falling from the ceiling (not to mention the 3k+ damage you start to take)? Did we mention this gets even more deadly with each Growth? Your best bet is to move it when the first rock falls.
- Ground Slam (and linked abilities)--Every player is thrown in a random direction. The MT must charge back in as soon as possible before the Gronn Lord's Grasp ability immobilizes them completely (it slows movement speed by 20% every second). Note: Cloak of Shadows will save you from this effect. Once your speed hits 0, you become Stoned and are completely immobile. The final ability in this horrid concoction is Shatter, which hits every player. The key is distance, because if you are not within 15 yards of another player, you will not take any damage. This will be explained in the Strategy section.
- Reverberation--Area of effect silence spell. It lasts for 4 seconds, but can be resisted either by luck or by talents/trinkets/etc.
Strategy
Everyone starts out at the doorway. Before you pull, your raid leader will send out numeric assignments. Check the image at right to see where your number is. It is IMPERATIVE that you remember your number.
Prepare
Various Blade's Edge Mountains-only flasks can be obtained if you don't want to use up your normal ones.
Amplify Magic should be placed on EVERY raid member, since Gruul's damage is all physical. This helps with spellcasting, which means more powerful heals, and quicker dps from casters. Other than that, make sure Salvation is on the melee dps, and make sure it is NOT on the MT and OT.
The Pull
The MT and OT must simultaneously start running at Gruul. They must both concentrate on building FAST and HIGH threat, to maintain their positions as number 1 and 2 on the big ugly's aggro list (at least for melee). The OT needs to be careful, though, because if he overtakes the MT with threat, the MT will take a Hurtful Strike for which his healers are not at all prepared.
As SOON as the MT starts running, everyone must follow, running quickly to the positions they were assigned (see picture at right). EVERYONE must be inside, because the gate closes. If you are left outside, people will laugh at you, and call you names. You don't want to be ridiculed, do you?
The tank will maneuver Gruul into his chosen tanking position, and the real fun begins.
Phase 1
This is the phase during which the main sources of concern are Cave In and Reverberation. Growths begin and continue throughout. Hurtful Strike is the biggest concern for healers.
Melee: Stay out of the Cave Ins. Ranged: Stay out of the Cave Ins. Healers: Stay out of the Cave Ins, and anticipate Reverberation. Throw up HoTs on the MT and OT before you get silenced.
This phase is tank 'n' spank.
Phase 2
In Phase 2, Gruul will do a Ground Slam/Grasp/Stoned/Shatter on the entire raid. If your raid is in its assigned spots, it should be easy to get away from other players so you don't kill everyone when you shatter. Rogues: use Cloak of Shadows to get out of the Grasp spell, so you can navigate somewhere less death-filled than the middle of the room. Try your best not to get near any healers. There is NO DPS during this phase. Once he explodes (Shatters) your raid, you go back to Phase 1 and repeat until the growing boy is toast.
