Mists of Pandaria: Cleaning up the Stormstout Brewery
The Stormstout Brewery opened its doors for business last week. Megan and I, both avid brewery enthusiasts, decided to pay a visit. You can find the brewery entrance in the Valley of the Four Winds. As you adventure through the valley, you'll be assisting Chen Stormstout, and your adventures will take you inside the brewery, where you have to assist him in retaking and restoring the brewery to its former glory.
Our brewery testing composition consisted of myself healing (on a priest, naturally), Megan on her druid (the tank), a balance druid, and two mages. Our character levels were all over the place, from freshly transferred 85s to level 87s.
Ook-Ook
Not exactly Donkey Kong, but Ook-Ook is a giant banana-chucking monkey. Ook-Ook has a pretty fun mechanic that enables players to jump on top of barrels and direct where they go. He has a few friends that are busy. If the barrels make contact with you, you'll explode and take some damage (Brew Explosion). Don't worry -- it's not lethal. Ook-Ook Goes Bananas at 90%, 60%, and 30% intervals. He starts throwing some bananas around; they're harmless. His attack speed goes up, and he hits a touch harder. You'll see a wave of barrels coming in, so either dodge them or jump on them.
By the way, remind your tank to point the giant monkey away from the group, lest you experience the Ground Pound. We totally wiped the first time, but we weren't really prepared for it. Whoops.
Hoptallus
Trash mobs leading up to Hoptallus are a blast. Once you take down Ook-Ook and head out the door, you'll be dealing with the gauntlet section of the instance, where it's going to be tough to get your mana drinking time in. Better mana up before you head outside and up the ramps. Pay attention to the trash, because the mechanic's important. Look for the Boppers; they're the ones with the hammers. You'll see a button in the middle of your screen that lets you activate the, uh, bopping mechanic called Smash!
The second boss we ran into is a giant mouse. Remember that Lurker Below encounter way back in Serpentshrine Cavern during The Burning Crusade era? Yeah, big mouse guy must've gotten some lessons, because he does shoot something around in a 360-degree arc. He shoots carrot juice.
Yes, you read that correctly. This giant, menacing bunny shoots carrot juice while slowly moving around. It's called Carrot Breath.
Run away from him when he uses his Whirlwind Furlwind.
Remember that trash with the hammers and such? You'll run into the same type of mobs here. So grab those hammers and Super Smash Bros. down the Hoplings, Hoppers, and Boppers. Try your best to not get overwhelmed. This attack is signified by "A LOUD SCREECH IS COMING" (and no, not Samuel Powers from Saved by the Bell).
Yan-Zhu
Finally, the last boss you'll take on is a giant Alemental just bent on crushing your group. His chamber has a plethora of leaky barrels all over the place! Be prepared to fly around in the air during a few of the phases.
Depending on the luck of the draw, Yan-Zhu will gain different abilities courtesy of Uncle Gao. Your tank (or a player) must stay near Yan-Zhu, or he'll start dishing out Brew Bolts in assorted directions. (30,000 damage and increases your magic damage taken? Ouch.)
Now, Uncle Gao might grant Yan-Zhu the ability to Bloat you at random. If that happens, simply stand away from the rest of your party. This is the one we encountered in the video above. It's amusing to watch alcohol stream out of the side of your ears. If anyone gets in range, though, that player will get knocked down.
Alternatively, Uncle Gao might give Yan-Zhu Blackout Brew. The party's going to get hit with frost damage and three stacks of the brew. If that stack count reaches 10, the player gets stunned for 10 seconds (because they're blacked out -- get it?!). Only way to shack off Blackout Brew is by moving around and jumping.
When Yan-Zhu's health reaches 75%, crazy Uncle Gao is going to toss up another set of abilities on Yan-Zhu at random.
If Uncle Gao chooses Bubble Shield, Yan-Zhu becomes engulfed in small bubbles. Each bubble grants Yan-Zhu 10% damage reduction. If these bubbles are anything like their trash counterparts, all that needs to happen is for someone to run into range and physically pop them. That hasn't been tested, and I haven't gotten the Bubble Shield combination yet to confirm.
On the other hand, Yan-Zhu might summon some friends in the form of a Yeasty Brew Alemental.
When Yan-Zhu drops to 50% health, Uncle Gao decides to try making another slight addition.
You might end up with Carbonation. Run into those Fizzy Bubbles, and they'll allow you to lift off the ground long enough to not suffer from asphyxiation. Be a little cautious here. Your tank may need to disengage from melee range to look for a Fizzy Bubble. If that happens, another player will need to dive into melee range momentarily so as to not trigger Brew Bolts from occurring and wiping your party.
However, if your party doesn't get Carbonation, then you'll most likely end up with Wall of Suds. A giant wall is going to sweep through the room. If you get caught in it, you'll take frost damage and get stunned. So be a good trooper, and don't get shut down by those walls. There's no gaps in the walls, and the only way to avoid them is by being Sudsy and jumping really high. Don't worry -- Yan-Zhu will give you that capability.
Congratulations! You've liberated the Stormstout Brewery from all the evil stuff that was going on inside it. People can now go back to happily creating and drinking their own brews!
It's open warfare between Alliance and Horde in Mists of Pandaria, World of Warcraft's next expansion. Jump into five new levels with new talents and class mechanics, try the new monk class, and create a pandaren character to ally with either Horde or Alliance. Look for expansion basics in our Mists FAQ, or dig into our spring press event coverage for more details!
