Guild First Attempt on Zul'jin

[Devarin]

Okay, so after weeks of toiling through ZA (but after a rather anti-climactic kill against Hex Lord last week) we're on Zul'jin tonight. I've read the strats backwards and forwards and cut it down to easy notes per phase for my team. I've cross-referenced several different strats to find the little bits of information that are going to give us the edge tonight. Here is the breakdown that I put up... I'd appreciate it if those of you that have killed Zul'jin or have him on farm, critque and suggest?

Okay, here's the breakdown for Zul'jin:

FOR ALL PHASES:
- Stop DPS on all phase transitions (except into Stage 3, more on that in a sec) for aggro wipe
- Bandage yourself whenever you can
- Healers may want to use mp5 consumables; it's a long fight!
- Gear for DPS but keep your stamina in mind; we can't lose people in the early stages

STAGE 1 - Troll Form

Tank
- Keep Zul'jin in middle

Melee DPS
- Avoid Whirlwind

Caster/Range DPS
- AoE trash, then Blast Away!
- Stay out of whirlwind range

Healers
- 1 Healer on MT, 1 Raid Healer, 1 Split
- Grievous Throw; Raid Healer and Split must top off target

Stage 2 - Bear Form

Tank
- Keep Zul'jin in middle

Melee DPS
- Stop DPS on transition, then DPS away
- Bandage yourself if possible

Caster/Range DPS
- Remove paralysis if possible (I wonder if PVP trinkets work here?)
- Bandage as you can; DPS

Healers
- Dispel paralysis (might want to test if mass dispel works if it's not too mana heavy)
- Main healer keeps healing MT
- Split healer will dispel main tank, then main healer, then themselves, then focus on MT heals
- Raid healer dispels themselves, then immediate dangers (clothies/low health) then focus on MT/raid heals

TRANSITION TO STAGE 3:
- at ~61%, all CASTERS get ready to cast your max damage spell. Front load as much damage as you can to minimize the amount of time we need to spend in stage 3
- Warlock will cast Curse of Doom beforehand, then max damage spell

STAGE 3 - Eagle Form

- Don't worry about aggro wipe, he has no aggro so go nuts

Tank
- Avoid vortexes; bandage when possible

Melee/Range DPS
- This is your fight! DPS the bastard down
- Avoid vortexes as much as possible; avoid cornering yourself and don't lead them into packs

Caster DPS
- Avoid vortexes; don't lead vortexes into groups of people (use the whole terrain including stairs to help you)
- Only cast your max damage spell when totally safe and full health; make the healers' jobs easier by bandaging

Healers
- HoTs and max heals only; you will take 1250 damage per spell so make it count
- Conserve your mana and try to regen for the final push

STAGE 4 - Lynx Form

- Collapse together in the middle so that melee can DPS him through his Lynx Rush

Tank
- Pick up Lynx after Claw Charge/Lynx Rush

Melee/Range/Caster DPS
- Watch for transition, then DPS

Healers
- MH: stay on MT; heal target of Claw Charge
- Raid/Split Healers: raid heal through Lynx Rush bleed; heal target of Claw Charge
- Bubble squishies if targetted by Claw Charge

STAGE 5 - Dragonhawk Form

- Survival Stage/DPS race

Tank
- Keep him in middle

Melee/Range/Caster DPS
- Stay spread out
- Watch for fire columns; move out of the way immediately
- Max DPS and survive: if you die, we fail

Healers
- Back to original roles
- Watch for increasing fire damage debuffs
- Any fire resist would be nice


Thoughts?

Dev

[Satrina]

Bear: Healers should position a bit behind the tank so that mass dispel (which does remove paralysis) hits the tank and as many healers as possible. Set up groups for this accordingly; the longer the tank is paralysed, the more crushings will be taken.

Eagle: Melee should save cooldowns for this phase and blow them, including the tank. If you need shield wall during this fight, you have other problems to solve first.

Lynx: Clothies are the problem children here. Swap groups around a bit so that clothies can get commanding shout/devotion aura as available. Warriors should step back and intervene when not on cooldown when fixate is on non-plate types. Armour potions can make a difference. Earth shield is nice here. Blessing of Protection can save the day. Remind your mages they all have iceblock now.

Dragonhawk: The slender little fire pillars are considerably smaller than the actual area of effect. Fire resist (beyond maybe FR aura) is unnecessary, just be ready to move!

[Nuberino]

Warriors should step back and intervene when not on cooldown when fixate is on non-plate types.I am under the impression intervene does not work on the Fixate.

[maddfez]

Troll phase: just leave the melee out...dps is unimportant in this phase and your healers should not be going through much mana. However, one tick of WW + a throw can kill a player and you really cannot afford to lose anyone this early.

Bear phase: Put the whole raid right on his butt. We normally have a priest and a pally. Pally cleanses the tank and themselves, priest mass dispels on the raid, then tries to dispel those missed by the mass dispel.

Eagle phase: vortexes chase individuals...it's better to let one hit you than to drag it through three other people. That being said, do your best to sidestep them and keep your hp up. Casters should wand and cast their big nukes.

Lynx phase: this is the DPS race part of the fight. Once aggro is solid, blow your cool downs. BoP (or ice block) clothies that get claw raged. Stoneform removes the DoT if you have dwarves.

Dragonhawk phase: Everyone should stay mobile this phase if they can as the fire does kill you very quickly later on in the fight. Resto druids need to be running around like a crazed spider monkey, etc. The fire's area of effect is huge compared to the graphic. If you have 8+ folks alive, this should be a win.


If you have one hunter, use the MDs in phase two and five. No reason to dps particularly hard in phase one, and coming back into phase four your dps needs to bandage up, etc, quick most of the time. Plus, this allows you to have some DoTs rolling at the end of phase four, which may get you out one claw rage faster.

Warlocks need to be very careful with CoD. Our have a bad habit of letting them go off 2 seconds after a phase change and wasting a battle rez. That being said, they're amazing for phase 3 (and in general).

[Satrina]

I have no troubles using intervene in Lynx phase if I step back to get out of the deadzone.

[Nuberino]

I could've sworn there was a thread discussing the use of intervene and how even though you could use it, you just wouldn't block a hit for your target.

[maddfez]

Intervene does not seem to absorb a hit of the fixate in my experience. However, the Lynx will sometimes throw one melee strike on at that end of the fixate, which will generally kill the target. Intervene will absorb this hit. It's the same buggy programing that gives us the charge + melee swing that always kills a couple random folks in phase two.

[Devarin]

Woohoo, got Zul'jin down!!!! Thanks to everyone who posted tips up. The fight isn't actually that bad, it's just remembering what to do and outlasting the encounter. And I got Ancient Aqir Artifact out of the deal (and a cool troll party)!

[Nuberino]

great work :)