Saturday, October 28, 2006

Razorgore Strategy

Solidstate requested the Razorgore strategy we used, so here it is. We use a pretty normal strategy.

Hunters, mages, warlocks, rogues are divided into 4 DPS groups, one in each corner of the room. They kill orc mages as they appear. They also crowd control any legionaires if they can (sheeps, stuns, traps, succubi).

We have two warriors (with speed boots) kite the dragonkin and legionaires in a Figure 8 around the room, using both platforms. They run up one ramp, and then jump off the middle in order to buy some additional time, as the mobs go back down the ramp and around. They are spamming Demo Shout and taunting any new mobs that appear.

The remaining warriors pick up loose dragonkin and legionaires and bring them to the main kiters. We usually had a warrior follow each of the main kiters, picking up any missed mobs.

The druids' primary job is to sleep any loose dragonkin until a kiting warrior picks them up. They also do a little healing.

The paladins and priests are the healers, with the priests trying to keep their aggro down as much as possible. The paladins also guard the ramps to the controller, stunning and engaging any mobs attempting to get to the controller.

There are two or three controllers who rotate controlling Razorgore and popping eggs. We don't let the orcs/dragonkin attack Razorgore. It makes the last phase a bit harder, as Razorgore is at full health, but that's just a ranged tank-and-spank fight.

Realistically, it's all about the kite and aggro management. If you have one priest who does much more healing than the other priests, she will pull aggro and mobs will swarm the center. Paladin heals are lower aggro, so priests should try to defer to the paladins as much as possible, use HoTs, small heals, etc.

That's the strategy we used last night. Of course, it does take practice. We took about five tries, progressively getting better each time, and tweaking the strategy each time (for some reason, our kiters weren't doing the full Figure 8 for the first few attempts).

Another strategy I've seen is to have the main kiter be the first Razorgore controller, and to use Razorgore's Shadow Volley ability right before the control timer expires. That transfers all the aggro to the main kiter, giving her an edge as she starts the kite.

6 comments:

  1. That was quick, thanks :)

    The strategy you describe is exactly the one we use, with some small variations, such as little to no mob control from DPS groups (we let the tanks kite Legionares also).

    The problem, from my POV (mage) during the fight, is that healers in corners constantly get agro, forcing priests for example to fear... which usually just brings the mob back on them. Pretty soon, healers start to drop left and right, the DPS group dies due to no healing and so do the kiters, and that's all she wrote.

    I still haven't seen any good strategy for healers to not get agro, if a healer gets agro, unless a kiter is there within seconds, he is toast, even palas with their mail.

    In the 2 times we killed Razorgore, we were either lucky or something, but as far as I could tell, most of the wipes (that were not due to such silly things as lag) were because of the above reason.

    Any comments as a healer?

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  2. The thing about healing that you have to realize is that when you heal, you gain threat on *every* mob in the fight, even the ones in the other corners. It's not like dps, who only gain threat on the mobs they attack. So you have to balance the healing as much as possible to reduced the outstanding threat.

    Paladin heals are lower aggro as well, and they need to do a lot of the healing as well.

    We don't have any healers in the DPS groups. The healers just go in the center, and cross-heal the entire raid. The kiters and dps people have to get the mobs before they get to the healers.

    Having the druids sleep dragonkin is a big help as well, as the druids are usually in the center and can sleep a dragonkin that is going after a healer.

    Make sure Salvation is up, use HoTs and small heals. If someone takes a lot of damage, it is better for several people to each contribute a little bit of healing, rather than one person landing a big heal. That way all the healers move up slightly on threat, rather than one healer moving up a large amount.

    Ex:

    - Need to heal 2000 points of damage.
    - The warriors have 500 threat on the mobs.
    - If one healer lands a Gheal for the entire amount, he gains 1000 threat, and will pull aggro. (1000 > 500)
    - If four healers each contribute 500 points of healing, each healer gets 250 threat, and they all stay beneath the aggro threshold. (250 < 500)

    Also, your paladins should be wearing plate. :)

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  3. I'll agree that Razorgore is one of the most complex fights in BWL. My guild has had BWL on farm for quite a while now, just downed Twin Emps, and if we wipe we do it on Razorgore or Vael.

    Our strategy differs from yours in that we kill mages, but kite both legionnaires and dragonkin. Hunters use their speedy aspect and kite dragonkin, since they cannot be slowed. Warriors with (preferably with piercing howl and/or speed boots) kite the legionnaires.

    Basically, kiters shouldn't be getting hit. They've got enough of a speed boost that it should be a rare event for them to pick up a mob.

    If things get hairy towards the end, everyone should blow fears to give another minute or so to down all the eggs.

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  4. Decent. Only change I'd make, is to *not* have the priests heal.

    At all.

    Your paladins should be more than up to the task. Instead, the priests stand in the middle, with the druids and locks, and if any mobs wander in, rotate fear bombs. Sure, they come back; only to face another fear bomb.

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  5. Congrats and welcome to Vael. He's probley the biggest speed bump you'll encounter.

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  6. We use the version Cormack described.

    Dragonkin hit hard when they catch up so it's better to have hunters kite them from range.

    Warriors should be able to look after themselves for the duration of the fight (healthstones, pots).
    Keep priests & druids in the middle and using only lowest rank HoT on anyone with less than 40% health.
    Paladins stay at the corners and keep up the dps. Kiting warriors should be able to pick up any legionaires that aggro the healer group in the middle. We distinctly prohibit the use of fear bombs in this fight. If a healer (including paladins) gets aggro, he just yells in TS and there's usually a warrior in proximity to come and pick it up. It makes the kiting cleaner

    We use Razorgore's AoE taunt for the last 3 eggs and only then everyone comes in to drop chain fears while the last eggs are taken down

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