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Heroic Halls of Lightning Guide - TankSpot
I've created this guide because I think a large portion of the TankSpot community will find it useful due to the difficulty of the last boss and the fact that most DPS will be running it for the axe. Forgive my terrible paint text
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The dungeon is located at Ulduar which is in northern Storm Peaks.
Quests
Daily Quests
Achievements
The Instance
General Bjarngrim
This is a picture of the first room. Just to clarify:
- The blue numbers are the numbers I will use to refer to the platforms.
- The white line is the path the boss walks along.
- The yellow circles indicate the groups of mobs. I didn't circle the few mobs that are in between the platforms.
- The red circle is where you need to attack him (unless you are attempting the achievement.)
To engage this boss, you will need to clear platforms 1, 5, and 4. As stated above there are a couple mobs in between each platform.
Unless you are going for the achievement, you need to know his patrol along the platforms so you can catch him without his charge.
He travels with two adds. He starts off on platform 3. He will charge up and head to 2. At 2 he will charge up and head back to platform 3. At 3 he loses his charge and head to 4 (You need to pull him at platform 4 before he charges back up.). At 4 he will charge up and head to 5. At 5 he charges up and heads back to 4. Just watch him as you do the trash and you'll understand it.
The fight is pretty simple once you engage him. He is a warrior. Throughout the fight he will change stances. He has special abilities for each stance:
Battle Stance:
Battle Aura - Spell - World of Warcraft ,
Cleave - Spell - World of Warcraft (make sure your melee is behind him.)
Berserker Stance:
Berserker Aura - Spell - World of Warcraft ,
Mortal Strike - Spell - World of Warcraft ,
Whirlwind - Spell - World of Warcraft (Make sure any melee runs out when he starts this)
Defensive Stance:
Defensive Aura - Spell - World of Warcraft ,
Intercept - Spell - World of Warcraft ,
Pummel - Spell - World of Warcraft
The tank needs to position themselves with their back against a wall because he does a knockback every once in a while. Once you engage him, the DPS needs to burn down the adds. There is no trick to this, either the tank holds them or someone Offtanks them. Once they are down he is pretty much a tank and spank. Make sure your Melee runs out when he begins his whirlwind because it hits pretty hard.
After he is down you clear platform 3 and you'll be on your way to Volkhan.
Achievement
Volkhan
Strategy
After you clear platform 3 you will see a room full of elementals. They have a spell that stacks and reduces your armor by a lot. The tank needs to run through them ahead of the group. DPS/Heals should follow closely behind. Once you make it to the opposite side of the room the tank needs to stand on the very bottom steps. Everyone else needs to stand near the top of the steps. You do this because the mobs explode when they die and it can get very annoying for your party to all die in one second. Once you're done with that section you continue up the stairs. Just to warn you there is a group of mobs on either side at the top of the stairs. It's usually a good idea to mention this to your group because someone will be half asleep and aggro the second group. I prefer to take the left group (If your faced up the stairs). Once that pack is clear you will walk up the second flight of stairs and you'll be able to see the boss. There is a group of mobs in each corner of the room along with a pat of 2 mobs. The easiest way to do it is to pull each group of mobs on the right (facing the boss) and kill the pat. After that you are ready to engage the boss.
This boss is very simple. Tank him on the platform. Every so often he will run to his anvil and strike it. When he strikes it Golems will spawn and run around. You can't tank these because they switch targets constantly. My groups always just completely ignore these mobs. They don't hit for very hard. At around 25% health he will cast
Shattering Stomp - Spell - World of Warcraft. This will cause moderate damage and cause any golems in the immediate vicinity to explode and cause damage. Other than that its basically just a tank and spank fight. Every time I've done the fight this way the group got the achievement.
Once he's dead you can clear the group of mobs in the left corner (closest to you) and head toward the third boss.
Achievement
Ionar
Strategy
On your way to Ionar you will enter a hallway with a lot of statues. As you run through each section a few of the statues will crack and come to life. Tanks need to grab them fast because they spawn and attack whoever is closest to them. This will happen a few times until you reach a new hallway. It will be full of elementals. Clear the first one, and turn to your right and there will be a few sets of stairs. Kill the elementals on them and you're ready to engage the boss.
Just to clarify in the second picture above this, I'm standing where the boss waits and I'm faced back towards the hallway that you cleared the elementals in. The tank needs to position the boss where he is in the picture (down the steps from where he waits). Every once in a while the boss will cast
Disperse - Spell - World of Warcraft . When this is cast he breaks into multiple sparks that race after the party. When this happens the party needs to run back to the wall in the hallway (The yellow line in the second picture shows what I'm talking about, the third picture shows where to run from the dispersion). Just wait against the wall and by the time the sparks get near you they will return to the platform and combine to bring Ionar back. Run back to him and repeat the process. Throughout the fight he will randomly cast
Static Overload - Spell - World of Warcraft on someone in your party. This person needs to move away from any close players. If the tank has it, any melee needs to move away from the tank because he can't run away like the rest of the group can.
Once he is dead, run up to where he was and turn right. You're now on your way to Loken.
Loken
Strategy
After Ionar, you will see a large room. There are a ton of mobs in here. You don't need to kill them all, you only need to clear enough to make it across the room. The large golems cast a chain lightning sort of spell, interrupting this will make it easier on your healer. Some of the dwarves use a whirlwind ability. It is channeled and can be interrupted. I think the larger mobs that are with the dwarves cast a strong poison (Not completely sure on this). Once you make it through this room, you'll enter Loken's room. There is a few giants. Once they are cleared you can finally challenge the last boss of this instance.
Just a warning for the Loken fight: If the players in your group don't know the fight, this is going to be very hard. This fight has made plenty of my groups fall apart. I don't suggest running this with a PUG full of random players because you will probably not be able to kill Loken. Unless somehow you found a PUG with intelligent and skilled players (Rare
).
He waits in his throne. As shown in the second picture above there is a illuminated path along the floor which leads to a floating planet with a raised circle under it. The second picture is from his throne's point of view.
Loken has a few spells. First off he has an aura that deals nature damage to everyone. The damage dealt is determined by how far you are away from him. During this fight everyone stacks on the tank. The tank should mark himself to make it easier for everyone to stack. His next spell is
Arc Lightning - Spell - World of Warcraft. It deals damage to you, and it can spread to your party members. Since you receive damage for running away, your party just has to heal through it and heal anyone it spreads to. His third and most important spell is
Lightning Nova - Spell - World of Warcraft. It's an explosion just like the boss in Sethekk Halls. When he casts this your group needs to run. The aura doesn't do as much damage while he's casting this so don't worry about being to far away from him, just stick with your tank. If you get hit by this you'll take around 14k damage, plus aura damage, and then more if he hits you with his lightning. Getting hit by the nova is what wipes most groups.
The second picture displays the path that you need to take to avoid the Novas smoothly.
This is how the fight will go:
1.Tank pulls him to the circle of light in front of this throne (everyone stacks). DPS him.
2. He starts to cast the nova. Everyone heads south. Run until you're near the top of the first set of stairs.
3. Everyone restacks. Loken will run to the tank. DPS him until he starts to cast the nova again.
4. Run to the edge of the circular platform under the floating planet.
5. Everyone restacks. Loken will run to the tank. DPS him until he starts to cast the nova again.
6. This time, run around the edge of the circle until you feel you are far enough.
7. Everyone restacks. Loken will run to the tank. DPS him until he starts to cast the nova again.
8. If he still isn't dead, continue this cycle around the planet.
Considering how much movement and teamwork this requires, it's usually a good idea to run through this run pattern a few times before you pull him (be careful practicing the first step because you might pull him). I've seen multiple strategies for this fight. This is just the one I've had the most success with. Feel free to reply with some strategies you've found successful.
Up and Down the white line
Tank pulls him. Stack just like the strat above. South when the novas are being cast. Instead of working your way to the globe, you just have the tank move him up and down the white line.
Don't Run From Nova
Tank pulls him. Stack just like the strat above. When Loken casts nova, do not run, just eat it and continue to burn him. This is how you get the achievement. Everyone in your group needs to be able to take the damage and still have a decent amount of health left. Have a nature resist aura is very nice because it mitigates some of the nova's damage. Having a group oriented healer helps a lot with this tactic. If you have a death Knight, they can use Anti-Magic Zone to absorb one of the Novas.
Tank on White Circle
Tank pulls him to the white circle in front of his throne. Stack again. When he casts nova, run away. When it's done, run back to the white circle and have the tank position him back on it. Repeat this until he's dead. This makes the fight seem like Ionar and can simplify things a lot.
Loot
Achievement
Finished
That's it for the guide. I hope the helps the community clear the instance without much trouble. I'm open to any suggestions/ alternate strategies for the guide.
Originally Posted by Juon
well done with the guide
The big mobs in this room do not only cast a strong poison, the also charge players and knock them back, so have everybody stack up on them.
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