Heroic Old Kingdom

**Histidine** Wed Feb 04, 2009 12:43 pm

Here we go folks, I thought I would dive in the deep end. This is, by my opinion, the single hardest heroic. Halls of Lightning is a joke by comparison and a group who follow instructions should not struggle with Oculus.
This is torture, but there are tricks a group can employ to make the bosses a little less stressful!

Trash-
First few spiders spam a poison that increases the costs of your moves. This sounds horrible, and it is, but don't waste more mana attempting to cleanse it; they reapply it regularly.

Elder Nadox
This guy seems to betray Blizzard's aggro style entirely. He summons non-elites and an elite Guardian. The Guardian makes them all invincible until the Guardian himself is killed. This means not only Nadox is invulnerable, but also that the tank cannot maintain aggro on the swarming non-elites. They tear the healer apart.
SOLUTION- If you don't have amazing DPS, or just want an easy kill, clear the trash leading up to him and then take the whole group back to the ramp at the start. Nadox does not leash. A hunter or rogue can aggro him then sprint back to the group, who can then chuckle as they easily slay him. No Guardians get a look-in.

Prince Taldaram
The easiest boss here, I reckon, but still tricky. On heroic he vanishes and "sucks the blood" of a random player, savagely DoTting them and making them unhealable until he is DPSed off. Also summons a trio of laser orbs that radiate outward in a triangle then disappear.
SOLUTION- Clear all surrounding trash then take him down the stairs to the wide open area that used to contain giants. DPS should save powerful moves and cooldowns for his blood-drain phase, since people can easily die, and healers should prepare their fastest burstheal for the second he drops off them (since he usually summons the orbs afterwards to finish off people on low health). For the orbs, I tend to stand directly in the centre where they spawn, since they move outward and away, but they're not really a huge problem.

Jedoga Shadowseeker
"But she just two-hits me?! How is that even possible?"
The adds she summons must be killed before they get to her, since if not they give her a colossal enrage, allowing her to two-hit even raid geared tanks. The adds have 60k health and you have less than 10 seconds.
SOLUTION- Clear trash down one side (both not required, trust me) and DPS her until she raises into the air the first time. The nanosecond she does this, run for dear life back to the platform you entered the hall on. Stand in the back left or back right corners. She will enrage...and come for you. It will take her 15 seconds to get to you, and her enrage lasts 15 seconds. Tanks, do not step forward to aggro her. She's coming for you anyway, and if she gets even one second of enraged hits on you, you're dead anyway. She'll fight, then run off, then come back, then fight, then run off, then come back....etc. Be patient, and dodge her lightning spell. Without her enrage, she's easy.

Amanitar
This guy can be hard to find. The platform you just killed Jedoga on? As you look out at the hall itself, with the waterfall in front of you, down by your left there is a pathway leading downward out of sight. He is in a little grotto at the end. He spawns mushrooms around him that are critical to the fight. They are split into "bad" mushrooms and "good" mushrooms and the difference is visibly obvious.
SOLUTION- Bad shrooms (say no, kids!) do a poison DoT to those around them; simply avoid. Good mushrooms, when killed by a player, give a damage buff to everyone nearby. Ranged DPS, be aware you can kill them from a distance but you will not get the buff...a wasted shroom.
Tanks. You're gonna love this guy. All that defense rating you saved and struggled for is gone. He debuffs you for -500 defense, which means he will essentially crit you crazily. Luckily tanking him near a good shroom, then quickly turning and smashing it, both removes the debuff and gives you a damage buff.
Note this means DPS should try to use the good shrooms further from the tank!

Herald "Oh God, Why, Blizzard, Why?!" Volazj Evil or Very Mad

The Worst Boss Ever. Do not underestimate him. While I hate class-selecting...take a priest if you can.
He mind-flays. Trivial. He uses Insanity, phasing each party member into their own nightmare world where they must kill evil copies of the rest of the party in order to escape back into the real world. Less trivial.
He does this twice? Agony.
SOLUTION- When he uses Insanity, tanks and healers should simply try to survive; killing the others is not practical. DPS, nuke your way out; healers go down first. Then help the others with their copies. Casters beware, Death Knight party members will Death Grip endlessly, ruining your kiting and interrupting constantly.
A tasty cheat is that priests have Mind Control. This, when cast on a clone and instantly dismissed, will kill them immediately. Muhahahaaa! Does not work on the last copy, so save the tank til last.

Completing this instance is a long, arduous process. Do not come here unless you have to. It is certainly not worth the emblems unless it is the daily.
If you beat it- enjoy your epic. I hope the right one dropped...

**Devange** Thu Feb 05, 2009 2:54 am

Yes, I am going to say it. Volazj has to be my fave boss in this instance. Not because he is easy or anything, just the fun.

If I am healing, it's a nice chance to do something other than keeping you all alive!

Priest tips: Psychic scream them all. They will run away. I tend to then Mind Control the ranged DPS to get them away first as they are annoying. Take note, that you can only Mind Control three out of the four clones. If you still have Divine Hymn at the end for the last person then use it, and kill them. Then from there you can go and help anyone else.

Mind Controlling the other groups are... annoying. As I have noticed that sometimes it works, and other times it doesn't. So don't count on MCing everyone else, and prepare to do some damage!