Totem Talk: Restoration shaman healing for Alysrazor and Majordomo Staghelm
Every week, WoW Insider brings you Totem Talk for elemental, enhancement and restoration shaman. Want to be a sultan of swing healing? A champion of Chain Heal? Totem Talk: Restoration, brought to you by Joe Perez (otherwise known as Lodur from World of Matticus and co-host of the Raid Warning podcast), shows you how.
You've bested Beth'tilac and ruined Ryolith. You've shot down Shannox and become the bane of Baleroc. You've been making your way through the Firelands, killing bosses, collecting epic gear and carving a path to the final encounter.
Two more bosses stand in your way: one, an oversized legendary firebird who used to fight for the dreaming dragonflight, the other, a traitor to all of Azeroth, driven mad by the shattering of the nightmare and the realization that he could not bring his lost son back to life. It is now up to you to douse the flames of the bird and keep the cat occupied with a ball of yarn.
This is not intended to be an all-inclusive raid boss guide. Please check out Ready Check and the WoW Insider Guide to Cataclysm for more detailed information. We will do a brief overview of the bosses and then proceed to tips and tricks for restoration shaman.
Alysrazor
The encounter The entire fight is divided into four phases that will cycle until you douse the bird's flames. Phase 1 is basically an add phase during which she summons Voracious Hatchlings that need to be tanked by actual tanks, Plump Lava Worms that spew constant fire damage in a area of effect cone that will slowly rotate and needs to be fed to the hatchlings at the appropriate time, and Heralds of the Burning End who will send slow moving fireballs around in random directions in their attempt to resurrect Donkey Kong. This phase is about two things, really: keeping tanks alive and avoiding the damage. Spot heal as necessary in this phase, unless you are assigned to heal a tank.
Your DPSers in this phase should interrupt Fieroblast from the heralds, but if you see one squeak by, be sure to Cleanse Spirit it off. Riptides and Healing Wave should be enough to get you through the phase with the occasional Healing Rain thrown in, if everyone is avoiding all the damage they can. As you are learning the fight, the damage load may be a bit daunting, but it does get better with practice. During this phase, Alysrazor will also go through Molting, which causes the boss to drop Molten Feathers whenever she goes through the middle casting Blazing Claw. Picking up one feather allows you to cast any spell while moving and increase your run speed by 30%; two feathers gives you 60%, and three feathers lets you fly. After all the people assigned to fly behind her get their feathers, try to grab two of them. Trust me, you'll need it for phase 2.
In phase 2, the boss flies in a tight circle in the middle of the raid area, causing a giant firestorm to break out. Fiery Tornadoes spawn and begin to move around the boss area. Your job is to run behind them and avoid getting hit by them. Having that additional 60% run speed in this phase will help you avoid them and allow you to heal on the move, just in case anyone takes damage or tanks are left tanking the hatchlings while avoiding tornadoes.
Phase 3 occurs when Alysrazor suffers from Burnout and crashes to the ground. Everyone will gather up behind the boss, and even as a healer, you should be DPSing the boss. The boss will emit Essence of the Green, which restores 10% mana every time you successfully hit the boss. Combine this with Telluric Currents, and every Lightning Bolt ensures you'll be back to full mana before the next phase -- and you'll need it for the next phase.
Phase 4 happens when Alysrazor begins to recover her molten power. She starts off by casting Blazing Buffet, which causes AOE raid damage every time it pulses. Drop HR and start pumping out those Chain Heals to heal through all the damage. Spirit Link Totem is also something you should save for this phase, as it helps reduce the incoming damage and help smooth the healing. When Alysrazor reaches Full Power, she'll cause massive damage to everyone in the raid and knock them back. Heal through it quickly -- and then you get to do it all over again!
The fight isn't bad; it's mostly just about everyone avoiding damage and dancing when they need to.
The reward After you extinguish this bird's flames, you have a chance at the following items.
Majordomo Staghelm
The encounter Majordomo Staghelm is the second-hardest fight in the zone. It requires heavy personal responsibility from everyone in the raid to move at the right time and to the right spot, with increased situational awareness and very tight coordination of defensive cooldowns. Your team has to be completely in sync to turn this fire cat into a fire kitten.
The fight is divided into two phases, and two phases with an additional gimmick. We'll call it scorpion phase, scorpion+ phase, cat phase, and cat+ phase.
Scorpion phase happens when the vast majority of your raid is stacked up, 18 players on 25-man difficulty and seven players on 10-man difficulty. The main ability to watch for is called Flame Scythe, which deals fire damage to everyone in a front of the boss. Every time his energy reaches 100, he will cast this ultimate ability. Every time he uses the ability, he gains a stack of Adrenaline, which increases his energy generation by 20% per stack.This damage is divided by the number of people standing in front of him.
Use Healing Rain and Chain Heal, and make sure Healing Stream Totem is down and glyphed. This is the group healing phase, so make sure to keep those heals pumping. Roll your Riptides, make use of Unleash Life and just keep going. This is also the phase when you will be coordinating your defensive cooldowns with your other raid members. Agree on an order to use them in, and wait for your time to come up before you drop SLT. Eventually, the scythes will come so fast you'll have no choice but to spread out to trigger his other shapeshift form. When that time comes, use Ghost Wolf and get out of Dodge.
Cat phase is triggered when less than the required number for scorpion phase are grouped up. In the cat phase, Staghelm has two main abilities. When his energy reaches 100, he will cast Leaping Flames. This will randomly target a player, and after landing on them, he'll summon a fire void zone that players will have to move out of. Heal them up as soon as they get pounced; I usually keep a Healing Surge handy just for this ability. Every time he jumps, he also casts Spirit of the Flame, which leaves a shadow of himself on the tank. If you are tank healing, be prepared for a lot of incoming damage on the tank as more adds are summoned in. He will still gain stacks of Adrenaline, just like in the scorpion phase, and eventually jumps and summons an add so quickly you'll have to force him to shapeshift again. Before you're forced to group back up, this is a great chance to regen some mana with TC and LB.
Every third shapeshift, he does something a little extra. For the third transition, which should be from cat to scorpion, he will briefly stop in human form and cast Fiery Cyclone, stunning everyone in the raid while he infects players with Searing Seeds. Anyone infected will receive a debuff and a timer. Not everyone's timer will have the same amount of time, so you have to check your debuff to know how long you have. When you have between 4 to 6 seconds left on the debuff, pop Ghost Wolf and get away from the raid. When your timer runs down (or if you die), the debuff will explode, causing massive AOE damage to the entire raid.
On the sixth transition, which should be from scorpion to cat, he summons Burning Orbs. What look like fire trees spawn randomly about the room. These deal damage every 2 seconds to anyone in range and stack every time they deal damage. In this phase, make sure that you are healing these players so that they survive into the next shapeshift.
The phases continue until you've bested Fandral, but you should be aware that every time he shapeshifts, he gains a stack of Fury. Every stack increases the damage from Flame Scythe and Leaping Flames by 8%. Eventually, his damage becomes unhealable, so your raid must get him down before that point. This fight is all about coordination and awareness. Working with your team and making sure your cooldowns are used at the right time and moving at the correct time are probably the most important parts of this fight.
The reward For defeating this fiery-tempered kitty, you have a chance at the following items.
Both Alysrazor and Majordomo Staghelm are very hectic but very fun fights. Situational awareness, working as a team, and using every spell you have in your book while keeping your wits about you will see you to victory in no time. If you're interested in seeing the kill for Alysrazor by Conquest, check it out here. The Majordomo fight will be posted once the video is cleaned up.
Totem Talk: Restoration will show you the basics of endgame resto shaman play as well as how to find the expansion's best reputation gear for resto shaman and tips for easier leveling. Happy healing, and may your mana be plentiful!
