I’ve been playing WoW for a long time. More than five years, now. One of my earlier memories is getting the Rallying Cry of the Dragonslayer. I remember being VERY confused about it when I got it and that’s when I started researching stuff.
And that was my introduction to Lord Victor Nefarius (better known as Nefarian) and Lady Katrana Prestor (better known as Onyxia). Brother and sister, both children of Deathwing, Nefarian was the end-boss of Blackwing Lair in vanilla WoW and Onyxia was the only boss in what is appropriately named “Onyxia’s Lair”, a raid instance in Dustwallow Marsh. Ony was a 40-man raid and then retuned during Wrath of the Lich King to be a 10 or 25-man raid. Personally, I loved the Ony raid. I only killed her twice on Kurn at level 60, once in a pug run by some of the better players on the server and once with a bunch of my guildmates at the time, although we had a lot of outside help.
I never did kill a Blackwing Lair boss at level 60, so I was nowhere near getting to kill Nefarian.
So why all the background?
In Blackwing Descent, the end boss is Nefarian. And he has resurrected Onyxia. And we did our first 17 or so pulls last night.
For all of Phase 1 of the Nefarian encounter, you’re dealing with Ony and then Nefarian lands partway through and you are fighting BOTH of them. Hilarity and awesomeness!
They get a buff called Children of Deathwing, hilariously enough, if they’re within 60 yards of each other. Also hilarious and awesome!
I’m not a huge lore person, but because I KNOW these characters, and especially because I unmasked Lady Katrana Prestor to be, in fact, Onyxia, at the end of the exceedingly long attunement quest chain to be attuned to Onyxia’s Lair, back in the day, it means more to me than some random dragon.
The Valiona and Theralion fight in Bastion of Twilight means very little to me, despite the fact that you actually fight Valiona in Grim Batol. There’s no history for me.
But Nefarian? I spent a long time in vanilla WoW wondering if we’d ever get to set foot in BWL as a guild. (We did not.) I spent time inspecting those awesome T2-geared hunters and paladins (Judgement is still the coolest set of all time, despite the fact it’s all healing gear now. Whatever happened to the strength, spirit and agility that was on that set?).
I’ve killed Level 60 Nefarian a couple of times since 4.0 dropped, while Football (our gnome warrior we used to get to pull the Beast in UBRS, who would then get punted, hence the nickname) was farming up mats for his Thunderfury, but I never killed him at the appropriate level.
Apotheosis got Nefarian to 47% last night.
That’s with:
– one no-show
– one very late cancellation by a tank
– one late “oh crap, I’m going to be late” notification
– three officers missing
So we ran with two offspec tanks (an Unholy-turned-Blood DK and a Retribution-turned-Protection pally). Didn’t have a feral druid in the raid. Didn’t have a frost DK in the raid. We were missing some pretty important buffs: 3% damage, increased melee speed and increased bleed damage (until I realized the bleed damage thing and got Toga to pull out his hyena).
And we still got Nefarian to 47%.
Not only that, but I’m dogsitting at my parents’ house for a week while they’re away and I have had nothing but computer issues. My laptop refuses to stay connected to the wireless network here, while my dad’s desktop refuses to run Mumble. So I was on Mumble on my laptop and on WoW on the desktop and kept dropping off Mumble but then also got dropped out of the game a couple of times. /facepalm. So I eventually said screw it and just plugged my laptop directly into the modem (using the one ethernet cord my father apparently has in the entire house) and played from my laptop, as I normally do.
So even with my ridiculous technical issues and despite our DK DCing a couple of times, we did great. 47%!
There was this one attempt where we’re in P2 and I’m on my pillar and I look and neither our elemental shaman nor the DPS DK who were interrupting were still alive.
I then realized that it was up to me and the Blood DK to interrupt Blast Nova. And while my Rebuke was on cooldown, I would be healing the crap out of the people on my platform, along with one of our disc priests. Believe it or not, we got through that attempt without me or the DK screwing up and/or missing. And I don’t mean “oh no, my attack didn’t hit”, since even with just one point in Enlightened Judgements, I’m melee hit-capped for a raid boss (… is Rebuke a spell-hit roll or a melee-hit roll?) and the Chromatic Prototypes we’re interrupting are level 85, but with zero communication between us, the DK and I managed to keep that sucker locked down, in a proper rotation. It was pretty awesome. :D
Well, it’s awesome in retrospect. In the moment, I was like “Oh God, he’s dead… she’s dead… OH GOD I HAVE TO INTERRUPT. ShitshitshitshitREBUKE.”
Still, makes for a good story. ;)
So Nef to 47%. And we can clear out 5/6 BWD in about 2 hours, with any luck.
I think our priority this week is a repeat Cho’gall kill, a quick run to Conclave for a repeat there (?) and definitely some more Nef work.
At some point, in the not-so-distant future, I will finally kill Nefarian at the appropriate level.
This makes me giddy. :)
Have you pulled Nefarian? Killed him? What are your impressions on the fight?
We had our first 14 pulls last night, too (although we raid 10-man instead of 25). All I’ll say is OHGODMYMANAWHEREDIDITGO?! (as you may have guessed, I play a healer – holy paladin, in fact)
After floundering around in P1 for a while, we finally settled into a decent tactic for kiting the adds, involving our ret paladin taunting, casting holy wrath and utilising a ring of frost and hunter traps. We had a few problems with our restoration druid healing the Ony tank and himself (we’d get a crackle, and then Ony would cast her electicity shortly afterwards, meaning the druid died to a tailswipe on several occasions), so he and myself swapped duties around pull 8 or so. At that point it started to click.
We’d have the entire raid DPS Ony to ~25%, then hard switch to Nef. We’d burn two crackles, and then move back to finish Ony whilst Nef was at around 77-78%, bringing us into P2. Until pull 11 or thereabouts, healer mana was around 30% or so at this stage, but with practice the three of us could finish P1 on >50% mana, which is encouraging.
With this, we were able to consistently get into P2 without any real problems. P2 though… oh man that’s a massive mana drain, at least on 10-man! Especially if you’re shooting for a crackle during that phase. We’re a bit better off with interrupts on 10man, seeing as though they’re on a 12 second cooldown instead of, what, 8?, but it does mean that I’m one of the key interrupters so trying to heal and catch the blast nova is pretty tough. Stopcasting and focus macros are definitely my friend!
Personally, I can get through P2 now on around 20% mana or so, with Divine Plea and LoH left unused. How are you looking at the P2/P3 transition, out of interest?
We managed to see P3 three times in total, and got Nef down to sub 40% on one attempt. What killed us is pushing a crackle while healers were still struggling to top everyone up after P2. I think if we get that transition sorted a kill should come this week :)
For me, this fight is very special. I was fortunate enough to kill Ony and Neffy at level 60 and wasn’t far off my full Netherwind set (I played mage during Vanilla and TBC). I, too, played Alliance in those days, so unmasking Lady Prestor was quite probably the best memory I have of that time – galvanised by the fact that we were able to go in and finish what we’d started shortly after I became attuned.
I will say one thing though… I’m glad I didn’t have to redo Jailbreak to gain access to Ony this time around… :P
Nice read as always, thanks Kurn.
Nef is a great fight. We’ve had consecutive kills on him, and odly enough both kills ended the same way. Add tank dies around 5% in P3, mage uses ring of frost to hold the adds, and I generate a diamond out of my butt.
We use a Disc priest, H-Priest, and H-Pally for the fight. P1 we use our rogue to kite the adds, with the H-Priest assigned to keeping him alive. We use some mage tricks to ensure they fall down where we want them for the start of P3. Disc priest heals the DK on Nef, I handle the Ony tank. We get 3 crackles in P1 (timing is everything) so I generally start P2 with about 75% mana (maybe 50 if someone is slow in the lava).
Our platforms each have a pally on them for resistance aura. Plat 1 is Pally tank, rogue, and H-Priest. Plat 2 is Disc Priest, retadin, and boomkin. Plat 4 is H-Pally, DK tank, hunter, and mage. I BoL the mage, heal up the platform, and then we nuke the adds, getting 1 crackle in P2, and setting up for a crackle at the start of P3. Unless I really get focused on my platform, I generally start P3 around 70% mana (with LoH and pot still available).
I really love the fight. Now we’re trying to learn H-Halfus – but with only 2 healers. I love pressure :D
I actually really enjoyed learning the fight. It felt a bit over-tuned on 10 compared to 25, but both are pretty fun once you get comfortable with the timing.
I’ve been reading your posts for awhile and have gotten quite a bit out of them since I play a holy paladin. I put together a video of one of our first 10 man Nefarian kills with some commentary from our main tank and PoV from the other two healers. Since then the fight has been made a bit easier, but the strategy works just as well, even in 25.
It’s linked in my name above, and if it helps you at all, I’d feel like I’ve somehow returned the favor. =D
Last sunday we got him at 12% on 25man. And i must say he is easier on 25man :-).
Most issues we had, were Blast Nova interrupts, but it’s something we must learn. One blast nova shoudln’t wipe the raid, but it is a huge mana dump for healers which is bad.
From my PoV i tried always to have 100% mana before P2 (Prototype phase). I assigned myself as an adds tank healer, then i assisted by MT/Raid healing. There’s need to mention, that one healer is able to keep adds tank in P1, but you need 2-3 in P3 to have no mana issues. He’s getting really hard hits. I used to keep close to Adds group in P3 along with other healers. It’s easier then to manage the fire on the floor.
I try to use GotAK as soon as possible on first bigger AoE to have a chance to use it once again at the end. Then i use DP just before getting into the lava. I try to save LoH for later phases because it’s should be easy to keep you mana on high level before P2.
With 3 healers on Add tank you should be able to rebuild your mana quickly at the begginning of P3, have your (L)oH-shit button prepared for surprises and have your GotAK for the last minute of the fight. We should get him by today ;-)
> I really love the fight. Now we’re trying to learn H-Halfus – but with only > 2 healers. I love pressure :D
I don’t believe it’s possible at the current gear level. You would need to pull more than 20k HPS most of the fight. Your mana will vaporize. Many are using 4 healers for this fight …
I’ve found it to be quite an amalgamation of enjoyment/soul destroying despair. We’ve had 1.5 nights on him, and have had about 5-6 sub 10% wipes on him. At the moment what’s ruining us is the add tank dying, either to getting caught out of position of the healer, or being backed into fire. I’m confident we can get it next Thursday, which is our next raid night, but at the moment it’s rather depressing :P
One thing I have found is that, despite going into P2 with usually 85-100% mana, my mana in P2 is getting hit fairly badly (we run 10s, and I have 4 people on my platform). However, one strategy that has been serving me pretty well is to top my group up post-crackle, AM resist aura and then conc pot (with the alch trinket) + DP. This has been leaving me on about 60-80% mana come P3, at which point our holy priest will mana hymn. If I manage to coincide plea/hymn with a power torrent proc, I’m pretty much guaranteed to not run OOM in P3 (where I am the Nef tank healer).
Yeah, the add tank gets hit pretty hard, especially if Shadowblaze is mismanaged and any of them get reset. I’m pretty much dedicated to ours on 10 in p3, and I have a druid with me on 25; I just follow him around the outside ring and move in to help LoD/HR the raid after Electrocutes. Once you get it down, and your add tank is managing it well, it really becomes much easier.
@Thomas – possibly, but we haven’t had an attempt yet where either a DPS didn’t pull agro or an interrupt was missed. The healing isn’t that bad imo, but we’ll see.
Man, the comments just sort of float on by when you’re busy!
Ln – Your P1 sounds similar to ours. We’re getting him sub-80% (so two electrocutes) before we down Ony, then we hop up on to our pillars.
Let me just say that organizing the pillars is NOT the most fun I’ve ever had in my life, haha! Making sure to have 2 interrupters + at least 2 healers per platform, and make sure that all makes sense given the other healing and DPS assignments? Nutty!
My P1 mana REALLY depends on how well the tanks are doing in terms of kiting and positioning. I generally do okay. P2 mana depends on electrocutes. We weren’t trying to do too much DPS to Nef on Sunday, but we deliberately pushed him sub-70% tonight… and one of our prot pallies forgot to Divine Guardian through it. >< We figure that SHOULD be wide enough range for everyone to take less damage. So having only really gotten to one electrocute in P2, I’m not sure how my mana is, although I split up the healers nicely so that we had one “raid” healer and one “single target” healer on each platform, at the very least. That went okay, as far as I could tell.
And yeah, I think it’s an 8s cooldown, because a shaman can get it every time it’s up, so it’s not too bad. Our ele shaman, Osephala, is pro!
We’re looking for P2/P3 to be just after 60%. Heal up after the electrocute and then go to town. We did it on Sunday when we were at 70%, ate the electrocute and some died, but we kept going and got him sub 50%?
Glad you liked the read! And I’m also glad we didn’t have to rescue Marshall Windsor. But imagine if we’d had to do so in Blackrock Caverns? If he were trapped behind Beauty? And we had to escort him back to the top?? hahahaha! Man, some days I think I should be a game designer because people would REALLY hate me.
adgamorix – Interesting! How’s the timing on Ony if you’re getting 3 electrocutes on P1? Is it tight or do you have plenty of time?
I’m sure we have resist auras all around, but I’ll definitely remember to check that in our logs… Particularly the nature resist! WTB nature resist aura with aura mastery, PST…
Sounds like you have a grand time of him on 10m! I’m not sure I LOVE the fight, but it’ll be one of those that will feel awesome to get down!
Criph – That was a GREAT video, thanks very much! I learned at least a bit from hearing you guys talk about P3 and the kiting (or lack thereof) and that’ll be helpful on future attempts. Awesome video, thank you so much, and I’m glad you’ve enjoyed my posts. :)
Thomas – Thanks for your comments! How on earth do you manage to have 100% mana after P1? I think I went in with about 75-80% mana tonight (Thursday night) and don’t know how I could have gone through better. Would love to hear what you have to say. :)
Dan – ahaha, great way to describe the fight, that: “amalgamation of enjoyment/soul destroying despair”. Beautiful! Do you get to let the concentration potion and Divine Plea tick for full value, btw?
Usually yes I do, providing that my 4 are at approximately full HP when I blow them (possibly not the best choice of words….).
In other news, he lies dead as of last night :D
Kurn – we just killed her last yesterday ! :-)http://www.worldoflogs.com/reports/ave0u8cj7x86ax5j/dashboard/?s=640&e=1172
Ok, i said i try to keep 100% mana :). I used to be careful in P1. As only add tank healer i don’t need to pull extreme HPS in P1. Just after adds are down i recast beacon on Nef Tank and help at raid healing without too much stress (usually HL/HS and occasionally LoD). When electrocute comes, i fire GotAK & HR and spam raid with HL’s/DLs (in extreme cases). There are other main raid healers. On second electrocute i use my troughtput CDs at once with HR. LoD at will :)
So i used to have > 60% mana at the end of P1, so just glyphed DP, eventually MP and i used to have 95% just before P2 starts. I fire Aura Mastery to reduce lava DMG and some peronal defense CDs (DP or / and Stone Form).
P2. I use Healbot so configured, to have all people to heal in one “grid” column – “My Targets” feature. It makes it really much more easier to determine quickly which one is on my platform. I cast then BoL on someone with lower HP and spam-heal the rest with HL/HS & LoD on each HP stack (you should be standing on the edge of platform to have all in range). So healing, your mana should be always high. Ofc, problems comes when eletrocute happens :) Then you’re draining yourself quickly. Here’s a hint -> you can use HoSac & DS on yourself to reduce DMG on someone from your group. Divine Protection is also not bad to use. I used to end P2 with Paladin & Shaman
Onyxia Tank -> Paladin & Druid
Adds Tank -> Paladin & H Priest
P2:
2 healers on each platform
P3:
Nefarian Tank -> Paladin & Shaman
Adds Tank -> 2xPaladin & H Priest.
Raid -> Druid – here ofc Shaman and Paladin were helping at AoE spikes.
As adds tank healers we could occasionally help at healing raid too.
So was looking the healing strat from my PoV :) Hope it helps, good luck on your kill.
Just to mention -> adds tanking is the most difficult tanking job here, so assign your best tank for this.
As for interrupts – we use “Raeli’s Spell Announcer” to announce each interrupt as “say”. And so we use party chat bubbles. It helps. In addition ventrilo communication is helpful. We used 2 main interrupters on every column and 2 backup interrupters (mostly healers – paladins, shamans). You don’t want to give an interrupt resposibility mainly to healers because they have something else to focus on :)
The timing on Ony is crazy tight if you push 3 crackles in P1. Basically you want her right around 4% with no DoTs ticking, push Nef over, then nuke Ony hard. Your healers have to be Johnny on the Spot with the healing too, because the Lava comes just a few seconds after that crackle. I generally am a little more mana drained getting 3 crackles, but effective CD use gets me into P3.
I think our add tank healing in P3 is really inefficient, and our add kiter in P1 needs some work (the healer, not the kiter).