LFM VoA - Koralon and Friends.

This is a quick run-down of the whole VoA instance. Typing this out is actually longer than a good team will take to clear the place. Seriously, the instance has 3 bosses total. It used to be only one boss, but he got lonely and the Wintergrasp gods deemed it a trivial challenge. Along came Emalon, the explosive wind boss to give groups a royal headache. Then Koralon arrives to claim the crown. Earth, Wind, and Fire explained...

Fire - Koralon the Flame Warder

People start with the Fire boss on 10 and 25 man VoA because he's the most difficult. If your raid team can't beat this guy, why get saved for the week to the instance. Bring a good team, crush the "First" guy and collect your easy loot from the other two bosses.

Koralon drops Tier 8 PvE and PvP loot on 10 man. He also drops Tier 9 PvE and PvP loot on 25 man. Specifically the 232 and 245 Legs and Gloves for each set. This instance drops Class Specific loot. Bring a good mix of players. Woe to the group that bring 2 warriors, 2 priests, and 6 Mages to see Rogue and Shaman loot drop off every boss this run.

The strategy is simple. Koralon does a fire based AoE at his feet. The melee damage is shared among the tanks nearby. He also does a wide spread flame jet in circles every 30 to 60 seconds. That one hurts some. The flame jet gets harder as the instance progresses. Lastly, and most dangerously, he lobs out a fireball. This fireball does 10k per tick in 25 man. In 10 man VoA, it's a bit less but still seriously harmful to people. If you get hit with a fireball during a Flame-jet.... You're dead. Thx for playing. No amount of quick reflexes will get you safe unless you have ungodly amounts of health. In 10 man, you'll just be hurt badly. Expect a heal from your friendly Druid / Priest to get thru the next flame jet.

Rule 1 - Jump out of the dammed fire.
Rule 2 - Jump out of the dammed fire.

If you're casting a heal spell on the MT, pray another healer is also doing the same because if you don't move, you're going to die. Don't stand in the fire. You can't 9 man this instance. You may be able to do it at 24 or 22, but no one is geared enough to defeat Koralon with Fewer than 8 characters. Koralon hurts alot. He's a Gear check for healers and DPS. If you don't keep the MT alive long enough, the raid wipes. If your dps doesn't bring 3k or more, the raid wipes. If too many people die in fires, the raid wipes. Lots of things can go wrong. Burn Heroism early to maximize the impact of having as many people alive as possible.

Did I mention the floor?? The bright orange glow under the glass floor in Koralon's room is the exact color of the fireballs he throws out randomly. Did I also mention it does 10k per second? You have roughly 1 second to realize the difference during the melee. Ranged DPS and Healers have an easier time. As a hunter, I keep losing my pet to the fire. Almost guaranteed.

Koralon went down and I got Lv232 PvP Gladiator leggings for my Hunter. Rogue Tier 8 pants also dropped. Our guild one shotted this guy last night, after buffing, stat food, potions/flasks, and a solid explanation. We also had Ventrillo and are decently geared. No battle rezz was needed.

Wind - Emalon the Storm Watcher

Okay, hard boss down. Emalon requires coordination, timing, two tanks, and focused DPS. Each Wind guardian will explode if allowed to grow to full height. The guardians to this wing are a good warm-up to Emalon. If your raid wipes or allows the guards to explode, turn around. You're not ready. Emalon has 4 guardians in his entourage. When engaged, MT takes the 4 guardians. OT takes Emalon.

Ranged DPS nukes down Emalon. Don't bother with the 4 adds, yet. Every 30 seconds Emalon does a lightning Nova. Get out of melee range. Offtank stays in to keep the boss stationary? Not quite sure. He shouldn't move from the Right Side of the boss area.

Every 1 minute, Emalon "Overcharges" a minion to explode. The raid has 20 seconds to burn down this minion which gets fully healed, then grows to huge proportions. The raid has three challenges at this moment. 1) Get into position on the Left side of the room BEFORE the overcharge. Running across costs precious seconds. That leads to a wipe. 2) Listen for the command and locate the correct Warder. DBM places a skull on his head and he's the "Bigger" one stuck by lightning from Emalon. 3) Burn him down fast then resume dps on Emalon.

Repeat the Overcharge cycle and continue to hack away at Emalon's health. Emalon will also cast chain-lightning. Try not to stand next to the healers. They get annoyed at being nuked. Recall your pet during Lightning nova and recall him for the ovecharge. My cat has sprint and I Usually keep him near me for a second to add DPS plus some dots for that extra kick during "overcharge". Don't get STUPID. Raids decide to burn down Emalon instead of killing the "overcharge" during the last 10 % of health. If you can't kill him with certainty, the add will explode for 15k to 25k damage and it's a wipe.

Emalon dropped a 213 Caster Belt and Tier 7.5 Priest Pants.


Earth - Archavon the Warder

Seriously>? This guy is a vending machine. A loot piniata. While hunters can't quite solo him or use this boss for melee practice, he's not really a challenge any more. He drops Tier 7 and Lv 200 PvP Chest Armor. Super easy fight for 2 Emblems of Conquest.

Bring Two tanks. 1 tank + 1 pickup tank. Two healers. Rest DPS. Archavon will dps the tank and cast rain of spikes on a random opponent. Heal thru it and avoid standing next to the cloth casters. Every 45 seconds he will jump somewhere randomly and emit a low-level poison gas cloud. Don't stand in it. The MT will move the boss. You can cut thru it, but the damage is like 2k per second so I don't recommend fighting within for an extended duration.

Burn heroism only because it's up again. You can phone in this fight if your group or raid is in Ulduar or can handle Toc 10. Still, bring your alts for free gear and badges.

Lv 200 PvP Hunter chest and Tier 7 Warlock Legs droped. Okay. Guess I didn't have one. I banked it for later, being the only Hunter in our 10 man.

Earth, Wnid, and Fire. Nice tribute to a classic 70's funk band. WTG Blizzard. BTW, thanks for the loot. We'll be back next week.

The 25 man VoA is like this... but harder. Dots hit harder. The DPS threshold for Emalon is higher. Sadly, Archavon is still a joke. Still, Koralon drops Emblems of Triumph and Tier 9 gear. Last run it was all Priest or Rogue set pieces. So he's still on the menu. Next week, we hit up VoA 10 and VoA 25 again.