council of elders
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Totem Talk: Restoration and the Throne of Thunder, Part 2
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 content creation at InternetDragons.TV), shows you how. The first foray into the Throne of Thunder being over, it's time to dive deeper into the realm of the resurrected Mogu emperor. There is, however, a few more obstacles that lay before us as we take out the last of the Zandalari standing in our way. Once those pesky Zandalari are gone we can go further. The problem is those pesky trolls never stay gone for good or for long, but we can at least give them a few punches, kicks and some lightning to the face to remind them of their past follies. This will not be a comprehensive boss guide, instead this will be a quick run down on things that you, as a resto shaman, should be aware of or tips to help make your healing of the encounter easier.
The Light and How to Swing It: Tanking the first three bosses of Throne of Thunder
Every week, WoW Insider brings you The Light and How to Swing It for holy, protection and retribution paladins. Protection specialist Matt Walsh spends most of his time receiving concussions for the benefit of 9 other people, obsessing over his hair, and maintaining the tankadin-focused blog Righteous Defense. Like jumping into a cold pool after spending too much time in the hot tub, tanking Throne of Thunder after weeks of tier 14 may be a bit of a shocking experience. (Sorry, had to.) This place is no joke -- the health and damage requirements are ratcheted up severely from the previous tier of raiding. The bosses will hit harder and the mechanics will be tighter, but on the other hand, the loot will be even shinier. Honor and glory awaits in the halls of the Thunder King. The first quarter of the dungeon is designated as the Last Stand of the Zandalari, and you'll be seeing some old, tusked faces. Let's talk about what you'll need to do to withstand everything that the finest warriors of that dying land can throw at you.
Throne of Thunder: Last Stand of the Zandalari Raid Finder bosses in 5 seconds
The first wing of Throne of Thunder Raid Finder has opened this week, so it's time to slay a few bosses. Maybe you're ready to queue up right this second. In fact, with the staggered release schedule, you're probably very ready. No time to read through our full guides, or need a short explanation ready for other players? Here's a quick reference perfect for copy and pasting into chat, because we love you. Jin'rokh the Breaker Tanks have a swap, watch out for the Static Wound debuff and be ready to taunt. Everyone else stand in the pools unless they're electrified, step out and stack near the boss during Lightning Storm. If you're targeted by the Focused Lightning, run away, and don't electrify the pools. Horridon One tank on the boss, the other on adds -- switch after each door so Triple Puncture doesn't stack too high. The adds cast debuffs, so healers be ready to dispel. Stay away from Horridon's head and tail. Kill Dinomancer adds first and stay out of stuff on the ground. Click the Orb of Command when it appears. After the door phase, War-God Jalak will spawn. Off-tank and burn him, continue on the boss. Council of Elders Tanks focus on swapping Frost King Malakk before reaching 15 stacks of Frigid Assault. Prioritize killing adds: Loa Spirits and Living Sands. If there are no adds, DPS the empowered boss -- it'll be big and purple. Offing Sul first is usually easiest. Priestess: interrupt Wrath of the Loa, kill spirits. Frost King: stack on the player with Frostbite. Kazra'jin: avoid charges, use damage-reduction cooldowns on Overload. Sul: interrupt Sand Bolt, kill adds, don't stand in Quicksand. If you want a more in-depth look of the bosses in the first wing of the Throne of Thunder, check out our complete guides: Jin'rokh the Breaker Horridon Council of Elders
Blood Pact: Thundering on and on about raid gear in patch 5.2
Every week, WoW Insider brings you Blood Pact for affliction, demonology, and destruction warlocks. This week, Megan O'Neill maybe decides that commenter-suggested Zul'duar is the better name than Thund'uar for the troll-like Ulduar raid instance, Throne of Thunder. I mentioned last week that I'd discuss the changes for warlocks while listing out loot in the new raid instance. I may have fibbed a little. I tried to slide in patch change discussion without it reading like I shoved two posts into the space of one, and I miserably failed. You can read the latest patch notes for yourself, but the PvE DPS gist is that affliction's petless power days are diminished if not over and demonology might be the new top dog. PvP warlocks might be more interested in Blood Fear's metamorphosis from an offensive fear to the Nature's Grasp-like Blood Horror and Soul Leech's change from a trickle heal to a stacking shield. Regarding of whether you chase Conquest or Valor Points, we warlocks will have a major problem in patch 5.2. I'm not talking about the endless debates of whether fire should be green or whether warlocks should always have a minion at their side. I'm talking about the removal of the imp ability Blood Pact, due to Dark Intent gaining the 10% Stamina buff to its effect. Future warlocks will wonder what this column is named for!
Patch 5.2 PTR: Crushing the Council of Elders
Thought you saw the last of Gara'jal in Mogushan Vaults, did you? Yeah, so did I. Mogu'shan Vaults was merely a setback! The Council of Elders is the third encounter in the Throne of Thunder. I surmise it's the whole leadership of the Troll empire right there looking to stop your raid team from progressing any further into the compound. As you can guess, this encounter is the first council-type encounter of the raid. They'll have to handle the various abilities and spells that the Council is dishing out while slowly whittling them all down. They don't have a shared pool so you do you have your work cut out for you. Now there are going to be a ton of things going on but your raid should be able to pick up on the different abilities without too much of a hassle.
Lichborne: Patch 5.2 Last Stand of the Zandalari loot preview for death knights
Every week, WoW Insider brings you Lichborne for blood, frost, and unholy death knights. In the post-Cataclysm era, death knights are no longer the new kids on the block. Let's show the other classes how a hero class gets things done. With the PTR getting closer to release, it's about time to start looking forward to that most cherished of patch rituals, the changing of the gear. Today, we will look at the first few bosses of Throne of Thunder and see what they have in store for death knights. There are a few words of warning to offer here. First, this is based off PTR Info, which means they may or may not decide to adjust, remove, or add loot before it goes live. Second, this information is based off normal mode raid loot. You may find monkey wrenches thrown into the gearing process courtesy of both heroic gear and Thunderforged gear, which can be 6 ilvls higher than usual for the item. You will have to make your own judgement calls in cases where you have access to that gear. Adding to the complication is the fact that tier gear won't be Thunderforged, meaning you may have to give up some Thunderforged gear despite the higher ilvl in order to keep set bonuses. We'll first look at the bosses in the The Last Stand of the Zandalari, the first section of the Throne of Thunder.
Tankspot takes a look at the Council of Elders
The Council of Elders is the third boss in the Throne of Thunder raid, but the first that was open for testing on the PTR. Tankspot took a look at the encounter and put together a video that explains some of the mechanics involved with what looks like an incredibly complex fight. The video above is for the 10-man normal mode version of the encounter, and because this is the PTR, abilities and effects shown in the video may change over time. Each Elder in the Council has their own set of abilities, and the fight requires three tanks to pull off successfully. But it's not that easy, of course. Also present in the fight is the pesky spirit of Gara'jal, last seen in Mogu'shan Vaults. Gara'jal will possess each Elder in turn, changing the Elder's abilities and making the fight just that much more hectic for players. This fight has a very heavy emphasis on target swapping between both the various Elders, and the adds that those Elders spawn. Players must attack the Elder that is possessed by Gara'jal -- otherwise a raid-wide AoE will quickly stack to unmanageable heights and overwhelm the raid. In order to force Gara'jal to swap to another Elder, players must DPS the possessed Elder down by 25%. Keep in mind that this is the first round of PTR testing for this particular encounter. There will doubtless be small changes and tweaks as the PTR moves on. If you'd like to participate in PTR testing, be sure to keep an eye on the official PTR forums for scheduling information regarding the different encounters in Throne of Thunder. Mists of Pandaria is here! The level cap has been raised to 90, many players have returned to Azeroth, and pet battles are taking the world by storm. Keep an eye out for all of the latest news, and check out our comprehensive guide to Mists of Pandaria for everything you'll ever need to know.
Patch 5.2: Throne of Thunder raid testing schedule announced
Tomorrow on January 11, we'll be seeing raid encounters being tested on the public test realm for patch 5.2. Horridon and the Council of Elders will both be available on normal mode in the new Throne of Thunder raid. If your gear levels aren't at high enough level, don't worr. Player gear will be scaled in the raid to help with testing. In case you're wondering how to actually get into the raid instance, we have a guide showing you how to do just that! Raid Testing Schedule - January 11 On Friday, January 11, we will be testing our first two raid encounters of the 5.2 test cycle. Each encounter should be available at approximately the listed times below for all Public Test Realms. Horridon - 10 Player Normal 10:30 PDT (13:30 EDT, 19:30 CEST) Council of Elders - 10 Player Normal 16:00 PDT (19:00 EDT, 01:00 CEST) As always, this testing schedule is very fluid and subject to the realities of a beta environment. We might have to change the time of a testing session or cancel it entirely, due to bugs, builds, server hardware issues, etc. This is particularly true for this test, since it's our first 5.2 raid test. Keep an eye on this forum for the latest information, and thank you in advance for testing and providing feedback. Important Testing Notes Q: How do I get into the raid zone? A: At the northeastern edge of the swamp on the Thunder King's island, there is a Shado-Pan camp in a small cave. A sewer grate in this cave will take you directly to the zone-in point for the raid zone. (As more of the island unlocks, players will be able to access the main gate directly.) Q: What gear do I use to test the raid? A: As we did for Beta raid testing, we will be scaling players' gear inside the raid in order to facilitate testing. Gear will be scaled (up or down, as appropriate) to item Level 502 for the purposes of testing Normal modes. source
