STRATEGIES: Karazhan

Admin Number of posts : 178 Registration date : 2008-06-27

Bolshka:

Ghortan asked me for some basic information about the instance but at the time I was already in a heroic Mechannar, so my answers were quite erratic. I shall try to expound upon the matter now!

FIRST OFF: READ ALL OF Wow Wiki's information about your encounters!!!

Admin Number of posts : 178 Registration date : 2008-06-27

GROUP COMPOSITION

This varies from encounter to encounter, but generally speaking you'll need to have at least two healers - preferably a Resto Druid and a Holy Priest. If your healers are lacking then you might gun for an additional Priest or Holy Paladin.

Two tanks are an absolute must. I've seen those roles with Druids, Warriors, and Paladins - so as long as they can survive a good whacking and hold aggro you should be alright. A minimum of 11,000 Health should be your goal, that should get you up to the halfway point at least. You won't survive the final boss, Prince Malkawhatever, without at least 15,000 Health.

Karazhan favors ranged DPS to a large extent. Mages, Warlocks, Shadow Priests are wonderful to have. I don't see much love for melee DPS but Rogues, Fury Warriors, and Ele/Enh Shamans have their use. What really counts for DPS in Karazhan is the ability to shed your threat - Warriors and Shamans lack this ability, so judge accordingly.

The team I was recruited into consists of the following people, feel free to look at their gear and specs to get an idea of what to look for:
• Bolshka - Main tank - Prot Warrior
• Bambi - Off tank - Prot Warrior
• Arranum - Main healer - Resto Druid
• Ajs - Healer - Resto Shaman
• Galaxcis - Healer - Disc Priest
• Tekkua - Ranged DPS - Fire Mage
• Drothai - Ranged DPS - Demo Warlock
• Sanrio - Ranged DPS - Dest Warlock
• Vylana - Ranged DPS - Aff Warlock
• Sulkalis - Melee DPS - Sub/Assassin Rogue

• Enria - CC/DPS - Holy Priest (Alt of Tekkua pulled in for CC in Moroes battle ONLY)

Admin Number of posts : 178 Registration date : 2008-06-27

EXPECTATIONS

For a PUG, your goal should first be to hit Attumen. He is the "gearcheck" boss - if you can't beat him, then you can't do Karazhan. Pack up, go home, come back with better gear and more skillz.

With a good raid that is inexperienced you should be able to clear Attumen and Moroes within a three hour span. Any more than that and you've got some serious issues going on since those are the FIRST TWO bosses.

If you can keep it together and everyone's gear is up to muster, likely you can beat: Attumen, Moroes, and Maiden. Each boss scales up the level of DPS and healing needed. The trash mobs surrounding them reflect this (Fleshbeasts near Prince can crit clothies for 9K easily).

Best case scenario I see is pushing all the way to Opera and maybe Curator.

An experienced raid can wipe Karazhan out in a grand total of 4-5 hours. Mine used to split it in half. On the first day we skip Attumen and Maiden to roll Moroes, Opera, and Curator. The second half consisted of Aran, Chess, and Prince. That's a total of 3 hours, but we have it down on farming status at this point. If we have time, inclination, and need we MIGHT go back for optional bosses that we skipped.

Admin Number of posts : 178 Registration date : 2008-06-27

BOSS TIPS

• Attumen
The hardest part of Attumen is the trash mobs leading up to him. You have a short respawn timer and the horses tend to charge into your party and fear everyone out. Keep tight control of them with shackles, nail the stablehands first since they heal the horses. Burn the trash quick and then tank/spank the shit out of Midnight/Attumen before the respawn. Once he'd dead they won't respawn.

• Moroes
Moroes is a CC fight to an extreme. You will get a random four guests along with Moroes that you must CC and burn down WHILE tanking Moroes. Make sure you read WoW Wiki to know about each guest's ability and what order they should be burned down in. Typically we have three guests CC and one offtanked/burned while the main tank holds Moroes.

Make CERTAIN the offtank is #2 on Moroes hatelist (by a few sunders/stomps/whacks) because he WILL blind/gouge the main tank. When that happens he will go nuts on the next person on his list and that had BETTER NOT be your clothies.

After the first one goes down then everyone burns Moroes. After Moroes dies you'll need to mop up his guests.

If you are heavy on DPS and can handle it, burn off all the guests first and then Moroes... I've done it both ways and really have no preference.

Oh, and mind yourself getting garroted - 1K damage every few seconds for 5 minutes. Quite painful, really.

• Maiden
Main tank should keep her dead center in her room and just soak her damage. Healers and ranged should SPREAD OUT around her because her effects on you chain to others nearby.

A Priest is a MUST for Mass Dispell when she hits Repentance, which stuns everyone briefly. Failing that, the main tank can drag her around so that her consecration aura damage "wakes" everyone up... but that is painful.

Otherwise she is cake, tank and spank!

• Opera
Several encounters here, chosen randomly when the instance is created. You can get Oz, Big Bad Wolf, or Romulo & Julianne. I tend to get R&J about 80% of the time.

Read WoW Wiki for the facts of ALL the encounters before you take this on. They are challenging and fun!

Admin Number of posts : 178 Registration date : 2008-06-27

Also note: There are plenty of quests nestled amongst HARD pulls, the first of which is at the forge just behind Attumen surrounded by a five-mob pull.

You can avoid that crap altogether, honestly. Press on to other bosses and trash mobs, finish your raid for the day. Once EVERYONE has cleared out of the instance the mobs tied to dead bosses will clear out after 30 mins.

SO, don't leave your raid group and just wait for them to go on their coffee break. This works for ALL trash in Karazhan. Kill the "area boss" and their minions will despawn after 30min of "alone time"

Bolshka got ALL of his quests done for Kara this way. There is little in the way of gear rewards but the reputation and cash is nice. As your reputation grows with the Violet Eye faction, your ring will digivolve to have better and better stats. At Exalted status you can trade your penultimate ring in for different kind (just in case you find a better ring for the job or change spec).

» STRATEGIES: Shadow Labyrinth
» Geliis' STRATEGIES: Ahune, Fire Festival Special Boss
» Karazhan Reputation Ring Quest Warning
» Bolshka's Karazhan/Heroics, Where Does Your Character Stand?