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[MC] Molten Core Molten Core Raid Guide

Struckd

Authorized
Joined
Aug 22, 2014
Location
Bahrain
Molten Core Raid Guide

moltencore.jpg

Contents

1.0 Introduction
2.0 First Steps
2.1 Molten Core Attunement​
2.2 Gear​
2.3 Fire Resistance​
2.4 Hydraxian Waterlords​
2.5 Consumables​
2.6 Raid Group Composition​
3.0 Trash Mobs
3.1 Molten Giant​
3.2 Molten Destroyer​
3.3 Firelords
3.4 Ancient Core Hound
3.5 Core Hound Pack
3.6 Lava Surgers
3.7 Lava Annihilator​
3.8 Flame Imps
3.9 Lava Packs
3.9.1 Lava Reaver
3.9.2 Lava Elemental
3.9.3 Flameguard
3.9.4 Firewalker​
4.0 Boss Fights
4.1 Lucifron​
4.1.1 Attacks and Abilities
4.1.2 Strategies​
4.2 Magmadar​
4.2.1 Attacks and Abilities
4.2.2 Strategies​
4.3 Gehennas​
4.3.1 Attacks and Abilities
4.3.2 Strategies​
4.4 Garr​
4.4.1 Attacks and Abilities
4.4.2 Strategies​
4.5 Baron Geddon​
4.5.1 Attacks and Abilities
4.5.2 Strategies​
4.6 Shazzrah​
4.6.1 Attacks and Abilities
4.6.2 Strategies​
4.7 Sulfuron Harbringer​
4.7.1 Attacks and Abilities
4.7.2 Strategies​
4.8 Golemagg the Incinerator​
4.8.1 Attacks and Abilities
4.8.2 Strategies​
4.9 Majordomo Executus​
4.9.1 Attacks and Abilities
4.9.2 Strategies​
4.10 Ragnaros​
4.10.1 Attacks and Abilities
4.10.2 Preperation and Setup
4.10.3 Strategies​
5.0 End Statement

1.0 Introduction

It took me a while before I found a few decent sources that gave me a thorough guide to retail MC. I know it isn’t necessary but I thought it would be a good idea to grab everything together, remove some of the useless information and make a guide for the new players that will be joining us and the old players whose memory of the raid is starting to fade (very much like mine), just so it’s more easily accessible, relevant and can be used as a reference.

Now, this guide will be highlighting and taking you through the strategies required to run MC in retail. Most, if not all, of this information should be/will be relevant for Kronos, as Kronos aims to provide a close-to-retail experience. However, there might be some tactics or strategies that will either not be required or do not work because the Molten Core on Kronos might differ slightly. However it has been made assured that it won’t, so please, take an hour, grab a coffee and read on to your hearts content.

This guide just details the basic strategies and puts everything into one place. Reading this will prepare you a little for what to expect in Molten Core, but it will not make you an expert! No amount of reading or guides can make up the experience of at least one full Molten Core run. Nonetheless reading guides are required if you wish to run raid content and not become a burden. Many raid/group leaders will expect you to know the basics already and will not go out there way to explain everything whilst organising 38 other people. So do your leaders a favour and be prepared!

If you have any better/differing strategies, or you feel something in this guide is wrong, please let us know in the comments so we, as a community, can discuss it. I will then update this post if better strategies or correct information has been revealed.

I will also create and upload guides for all the other raid instances when I have the time. They will be linked here.

A PDF copy of this guide is available here. Courtesy of none other then Brekiant

2.0 First Steps

Before you enter or start thinking about partaking in any raid, there is a little thought and preparation required. As with most vanilla raids (exception being Zul’Gurub), an attunement is required to give you access to the raid and to provide an easy teleport to the front door. With MC in particular there is some necessary FR required, how much and where from will be talked about in Section 2.3. Lastly there are some consumables that you might consider taking, however some experienced players might argue it isn’t necessary for MC (apart from bandages!), as the raid is quite easy compared to the others of vanilla.

2.1 Molten Core Attunement

The attunement is acquired through a quest called Attunement to the Core.

http://www.wowwiki.com/Quest:Attunement_to_the_Core

This is obtained by speaking to the blood elf Lothos Riftwaker outside of Blackrock Depths (BRD). Once completed, Lothos Riftwaker can teleport you directly to the entrance of MC, which is located in the dungeon of BRD.

It is not a particularly difficult quest to do; you can complete it while attempting to clear BRD. You can receive this quest at level 55. To complete it you need to venture to the Molten Core entry portal in BRD and recover a Core Fragment by looting a rock just outside the portal. Return to Lothos Riftwaker in Blackrock Mountain when you have recovered the Core Fragment and that’s it, you are officially attuned to the raid.

2.2 Gear

So what type of gear should you be looking to take? A good benchmark is that your gear should be your class's blue set or better. Most of the class sets are adequate but not great. To determine what
pre-raid gear you should be looking at check out any class pre-raid guide for the Best in Slot (BiS) items. BiS gear can be found in any of the "Big 4" instances: Stratholme, Scholomance, Blackrock Spire, or Dire Maul, and once they are released; Zul'Gurub and Ruins of Ahn'Qiraj.

FRis only useful in a couple of fights, but everyone needs it. FR is detailed below in Section 2.3. As much as possible, try to make a FR set that doesn't sacrifice all stats
(In other words, don't wear all greens of +FR, although it may be necessary in a couple of slots)

2.3 Fire Resistance

When you get closer to raiding MC you are going to have start thinking about obtaining pieces of Fire Resistance (FR) gear to wear or take along with you in your bags and swap over on some bosses/mobs. The following stats are required.
- For Melee: 150-200 unbuffed
- For Casters: 100-150 unbuffed
- Hunters can get away with 0 FR unbuffed. However, I advise going in with around 75-100​

Unbuffed means your base FR stat you receive from gear, without any buffs from Paladin’s Aura, Shaman’s Totem, Druids Mark or Consumables.

Here is a quick list of items that provide +FR that you might what to think of obtaining: http://brafish.tripod.com/FR.html

2.4 Hydraxian Waterlords
Hydraxian Waterlords is the faction opposing the forces of Molten Core. There is a decent quest chain (8 people in the raid are required to have it completed if you want to kill certain boss) off the coast of Azshara (79.73). It starts off with Duke Hydraxis providing you with 2 quests:

Quest 1 - Poisoned Water: Kill water elementals in EPL​
Quest 2 - Stormers and Rumblers: Kill wind and rock elementals in Silithus​

Once this is done, visit the Duke a second time and they will have a third quest:

Quest 3 - Eye of the Emberseer: Collect the Eye of the Emberseer from Pyroguard Emberseer. The first main boss in UBRS. This CAN be done in a raid.​

Return to the Duke and he will give you quest number four:

Quest 4 – The Molten Core: Kill one Ancient Core Hound, one Molten Giant, one Firelord, and one Lava Surger. Easy enough to do on an MC raid.​

Once this quest is done the Duke will give you a quest to reach Honored with the Hydraxian Waterlords faction. Elementals in Silithus, the Burning Steppes, and everything in MC will give reputation.

Once Honored, the Duke will give you quest number six:

Quest 6 – Hands of the Enemy: Collect the Hands of Shazzrah, Lucifron, Gehennas, and Sulfuron. Now you get to kill these bosses. Have fun. http://www.wowhead.com/quest=6824/hands-of-the-enemy

2.5 Consumables

You class will have its own specific group of consumables that will be taken along to any raid. This list will detail the consumables that any class should think of taking. A full list of consumables for every class will be extremely long. Before you enter any raid make sure you know what is expected of your class and what consumables to take! There are plenty of class specific guides for raiding on the net. It is very likely someone will be kind enough to make a class raiding guide for the Kronos forums.

Everyone in the raid should have 300 FR buffed and a stack or more of bandages. Everyone should have potions:
- Major Healing for just about anyone
- Major Mana if applicable​

Other consumables worth considering – These can be annoying to farm but can be an awesome asset:
- Food (+12 sta/spi, Nightfin Soup, etc.), Night Dragon's Breath and Whipper Root Tuber (since these don't share the potion cooldown)
- Flasks
- Blasted Lands Buffs
- Felwood Consumables
- Winterspring Juju’s
- Weapon Buffs
- Fire Protection Potion (If you haven’t been able to get your FA to 300 – if you have decent enough gear, this might not be necessary)​

A full list of all consumables that fall under the categories above can be found here: http://wiki.theamazonbasin.com/index.php/WoW_Raid_Consumables

2.6 Raid Group Composition

You will need to start thinking of who to take along in this raid. A balanced raid group will ideally have 5 of each class available to you, for a total of 40. There's some room to shuffle people around based on availability and spec, but try to stick to that as a general formula.

With MC being quite easy compared to other raids, I for one welcome the use of off-specs that are not labelled as ‘cookie cutter’. You might find some raid groups are not as welcoming to this idea for various reasons (due to efficiency, gear or achieving certain goals). But it is very possible to have a few people run a spec they are most comfortable with and will have the most fun with, and still easily finish this raid. However, the main issue with taking off-spec’s is gear allocation. You will find, especially the first couple of runs ever attempted by a new guild, any off-spec will not receive as much, or any, gear love as someone who rolled an efficient, raid purpose, spec. To expect otherwise is naïve and if you disagree with this or think of it unfair then any trouble or anguish you experience will be your own doing, and rightly so. Nonetheless, please play your class how you want to play it.

Once you have a good roster full or raiding peeps. Get all of these people attuned and geared, then find a time. You'll need several hours where everyone can be there to really progress at all; although the raid timer system means you don't need to run the entire instance in one sitting, you'll incur a substantial penalty by reclearing to whatever boss you left off on. Be sure to have a group or so in reserve in case of no-show’s, it’s a bit unfair to this reserve group, but they might get a chance nonetheless.

3.0 Trash Mobs

+ Means info on the mob.
- Means what this mob does during combat.
= The strategy involved in killing it/dealing with it.

3.1 Molten Giant

+Does NOT respawn back.

-Single target knockback.
-Area of Effect (AoE) stomp up to 8 targets

=Try and tank against a wall
=DPS after 2-3 sunders are up

3.2 Molten Destroyer

+Does NOT respawn back.
+Level 63.
+Bigger and Meaner version of the Molten Giant

-Single target attack, and attacks quickly.
-Hits tank for 700 - 800 damage.
-Massive trample - 1000 damage AoE attack
-Smash Attack - 1000 - 1100 damage against a tank.
-Knock down - Knocks a target down for a few seconds.

=When paired with a Molten Giant, kill Giant first, then Destroyer.
=Keep the Destroyer away from the main group.
=Newer groups that can't take the damage and afford the healing should do ranged damage only and keep the melee out of the fight.

3.3 Firelord

+150 minute static respawn.
+Immune to crowd control.

-Does 500 fire damage to a target.
-Can debuff somebody to increase fire damage taken.
-Ability that hits for 4000 damage + DoT which does 250 damage every 2 seconds + Silences.
-Summons Lava Spawns, which does ranged damage for 600, if left up, the spawn will split into 2, etc...

=DPS once tank has 2-3 sunders up
=Kill Lava Spawns as soon as they come out.
=Paladins and Priests dispel DoTS ASAP.
=Mages use Blizzard on the Lava Spawns
=If fighting 2 Firelords, get them together with the Lava Spawns and Blizzard AoE

Once you have killed a few Firelords it becomes very routine and boring.

3.3 Ancient Core Hounds

+18 minute respawn.
+Patroller.
+Immune to crowd control.
+They stop respawning once Magmadar dies.

-Frontal 180 degree bite attack.
-Long range Fire AoE that does 800 damage.
-In addition to this it will have one of six random AoE debuffs :
Ground Stomp - 5 second stun.
Ancient Dread - Slow spell casting and melee speed by 50% (Curse, can be removed)
Ancient Despair - 3 seconds of confusion (Magic, can be removed, although generally no one resists to dispel it.)
200 Fire resist Debuff (Magic, can be removed)
Withering Heat - Maximum hp reduced by 15% for 15 minutes (Magic, can be removed)
50% less int/spirit - (Magic, can be removed)

=Have one tank at the front, everybody else stays behind.
=Only AoE debuff worth dispelling is the 200 FR debuff, which can greatly increase the damge taken from his fire AoE.
=You should have another tank (with FR) ready to tank the dog. Since some of its abilities (like the fear and stun) cause the tank to temporarily lose aggro.
=Priests and Paladins must keep on eye on the type of debuffs and dispel when necessary.

Special Note for Ranged DPS: If you have points in any talents that increase the maximum range of your spells or attacks you may be able to avoid the AoE debuff. After the MT has established aggro, simply back up as far away from the hound as you can. Be careful doing this. If the MT is afflicted with Ancient Despair, the hound will run straight for you.

3.5 Core Hound Packs

+60 minute respawn.
+There are 5 packs of 5 leading up to Magmadar.
+Each hound in the pack must all be killed at the same time (within 10 seconds apart at the most), or they will be revived back!

-Hits tanks for about 300-400 damage.
-Frontal attack, which puts a DoT on target that does 50 damage every second for 30 seconds. This DoT can be stacked a total of 10 times for a total of 15,000 damage over 30 seconds.

=Get at least one Tank per hound and have all the tanks bunch them up. Try to turn so that the dog's head is facing outwards. This way, as few tanks as possible will likely be hit by the melee dot.
=Tanks should get the hounds to only face them, and away from the rest, to minimise melee DoT.
=DPS your hounds when 2 sunders are up. Make sure all 5 are up before using AoE attacks.
=Any person that does single target damage is also constantly looking for the dog with the highest HP to target.
=Healers are to remember to continue healing the tanks after combat, those stackable DoT's continue doing a lot of damage after the battle.

Be warned: If you pull too fast, i.e. having a dead pack on the ground while the next pull is coming in, the dead bodies can be reignited from the current aggroed pack!

3.6 Lava Surgers

+28 minute respawn.
+Stop respawning once Garr dies.

-Surge: Charges toward the player on his threat list who is farthest away for 1000 damage and will deal 100 damage to all players in melee range of that player and knocking them back.

=Banishable
=Tank facing away from the raid
=Tank and Spank – very easy fight.

3.7 Lava Annihilator

+120 minute respawn.
+Shares spawn points with Firelords

-Hits a tank for 900 - 1100 damage.
-Can be taunted, but won't hold aggro for long, randomly attacks targets which have generated threat

=Best way to fight these is EVERYONE stands at their feet and DPS it down. With MT establishing aggro before everyone engages.
=Tank can alternate between Taunt and Mocking Blow (note the cooldowns (CD) though)

3.8 Flame Imps

+7 minute respawn.

-Hits tanks for about 200.
-Small AoE fire attack that stacks up quite quickly.

=Warriors fight for aggro.
=Mages use blizzard, if they get aggro, use frost nova, then more AoEs.
=Move on quickly because these guys respawn fast!

3.9 Lava Packs

Consist of Lava Elements, Flamewalkers, and Firesworns. These you will encounter after Garr's lair when clearing to Baron/Shazz. When you pull these you need to banish the elemental and have 2 tanks pickup the Flamewalker and Firesworn. DPS them down and then kill the elementals. They have a very nasty AoE and some fun debuffs. FR is very much needed for Lava Packs.

These are probably the hardest Trash Mobs in MC. They can wipe a raid easily if they are not controlled right. So it is important to have some distance between the tanks and warlocks to the rest of the raid (at least 20 yards). Let the tanks get their targets, and face them away from raid, and only then start DPSing.

It is very important that the Firewalker and Flameguard AoEs not be allowed to overlap. The main tank is usually assigned to hold the Flameguard facing away and some distance beyond the party, while the off-tank holds the Firewalker.

The Firewalker is killed first, followed by the Flameguard, and finally each of the banished Lava Reavers or Lava Elementals. It is helpful to delay the banishing until 5-8 seconds after engaging the pack, so the reaver/elemental tanks have time to get aggro on their adds. If you fail to do this, the adds will come unsummoned and rampage through the raid until the tank grabs them again.

+120 minute respawn.
+4 different mob types.
+2 different groups:
Two Lava Elementals, Flameguard, Firewalker.
Or Lava Reaver, Flameguard, Firewalker.​
3.9.1 Lava Reaver

+Level 63.
+Has increased Resistances.

-Hits a tank for 600 - 800 damage.
-Cleaves for 600 - 700 damage.

=Banishable. Usually banished first while group focuses on the Flameguard and Firewalker.
=Their cleave is a chain cleave, which means it will hit anyone within appx. 5 yards of anyone else cleaved. As such, the melee DPS needs to be as far away from the tank as possible while DPSing these.

3.9.2 Lava Elemental

-Hits a tank for 600 - 800 damage.
-Strike - hits tank for 800 - 1000 damage
-Pyroclast Barrage - Deals 1500 fire damage over 6 seconds and stuns the target. This hits in a cone in front of the mob and is not dispellable

=Banishable. Usually banished first while group focuses on the Flameguard and Firewalker.
=Tank these while facing away from the group
=FR gear is advised when fighting these as Pyroclast Barrage and be devastating

3.9.3 Flameguard

-Continuous small AoE damage attack that also debuffs armour
-“Flamethrower" AoE that extends in front of it.

=Off Tanks should face this mob away from the raid
=Kill this mob after the Firewalker has been killed

3.9.4 Firewalker

+Most dangerous of the 4.

-Has a fire resist debuff.
-Fireball – hits for 3000 damage, can potentially cast very rapidly.

=Main Tank will aggro this mob
=DPS will target and kill this mob first. Warlocks will target this mob after they have banished their assigned elemental.

4.0 Boss Fights

4.1 Lucifron

This will be the first boss you encounter in MC. Popular opinion states that he is the second easiest boss in the raid. There is quite a bit of coordination required due to healing from AoE attacks, 2 different dispel types and 2 Flamewalker Protectors that have a mind control ability.

4.1.1 Attacks and Abilities

- Impending Doom​

  • Inflicts 2000 damage to nearby enemies after 10 sec.
  • Dispel Type: Magic
  • School: Shadow
  • Radius: 40 yards

- Lucifron's Curse​

  • Curses nearby enemies, increasing the costs of their spells and abilities by 100% for 5 min. This cost increase applies to all spells and abilities, whether they cost mana, rage, or energy.
  • Dispel Type: Curse
  • School: Shadow
  • Radius: 40 yards

- Shadow Shock​

  • Instantly lashes nearby enemies with dark magic, inflicting damage.
  • School: Shadow
  • Radius: 20 yards

Flamewaker Protectors
- These Guards that are pulled with Lucifron and has the ability to mind controls players
- Approximately 90,000 HP.
- Cleave​

  • Inflicts normal damage to an enemy and its nearest allies, affecting up to 5 targets.
  • School: Physical
- Dominate Mind​

  • Takes control of a humanoid enemy for 15 sec.
  • Dispel Type: Magic
  • School: Shadow

NOTE: It is believed that if you pull the Flamewakers from Line-of-Sight of Lucifron, there will be no mind-control. Blizzard designed the battle area with this in mind, **hint: notice the small dug cave in the room.**

4.1.2 Strategies

In most cases, raids will first dispatch the first Core Hound Pack to give some room for the pullers and the main tank. It is important when Lucifron is pulled so that he does not come near the main raid group or there could be an instantaneous wipe. His guards have the ability to mind control, so it is sometimes easier to have one or two dummies move ahead of the main tank to suck up the mind control. Additionally, no one can move near the tunnel to the west, or the imps and surgers inside could chain aggro and wipe the raid.

Generally, two hunters will use one of their insta-cast shots to pull the Flamewalker Protectors, while the Main Tank must run up, tag, and pull Lucifron in the opposite direction of his guards. Generally the back cove is where the guards are pulled, while Lucifron is taken to another alcove on the east, far from the main raid. Each of the guards must then be picked up by two off tanks and dispatched accordingly before Lucifron is targeted.

Mages will not be contributing any large part of the DPS in this fight as they will be tied up with removing the curse that Lucifron casts on the raid every 15 seconds. Priests (and Paladins if Alliance) will also be tied up dispelling the Impending Doom debuff from healers, and especially the main tanks, and whoever becomes mind controlled. The core DPS for this fight therefore falls upon the rogues, hunters, and warlocks.

Once the two guards are defeated, all DPS will shift to Lucifron. Usually around 20-25%, it is safe for some of the mages to begin casting their nukes, depending on their mana and how quickly they decurse the raid.

Luci's debuffs have a range of 40 yards. It is possible for every healer (except the MT-decurser), and properly spec'ed hunters to stay out of Lucifron's curse-range, so with a good group you can minimize every curse-wave to about 10 raid members (melees). This makes the fight much easier and allows the mages to do damage too. You can also choose to keep only necessary players within the radius (healers, decursers, dispellers, tanks), and hold back the DPS players out of the range until Luci's mana is depleted. It takes a few minutes, but it saves the trouble of nearly wiping when the entire raid is bing hit by the curses and magic effects. It’s good to note that any ranged DPS that can attack at 41 yards through talents can exceed Luci's range and still DPS him down. They just have to be at their maximum range.

4.2 Magmadar

Favored among Ragnaros's pets, Mag is protected by the Flamewaker Lucifron and surrounded by vicious packs of ravenous hounds. He is the second raid boss encounter of the Molten Core and is guarding the Rune of Kress. This rune will need to be doused by a Quintessence (see Section 2.4) if you wish to summon Majordomo Executus.

4.2.1 Attacks and Abilities

- Magma Spit​


  • [*=1]Magmadar spits out ‘globs’ of fire at random people. It stays on the ground and deals 93-107 Fire damage and an additional 75 Fire damage every 3 seconds for 30 seconds. Stacks up to 3 times.
    [*=1]School: Fire
    [*=1]Range: ?? yards

- Lava Breath​

  • Inflicts 1157 to 1343 damage to enemies in front of the caster.
  • School: Fire
  • Radius: 35 yards

- Panic (AoE Fear)​

  • Panics nearby enemies, causing them to flee in fear for 8 sec.
  • Dispel Type: Magic
  • School: Shadow
  • Radius: 30 yard

- Lava Bomb​

  • Throws a Lava Bomb at an enemy, creating a fire that inflicts 3200 Fire damage over 8 sec.
  • School: Fire
  • Range: 100 yards
  • Fire Radius: 5 yards

- Frenzy​


  • [*=1]Every so often Magmadar will Frenzy.
    [*=1]Frenzy massively increases his attack damage.

- Immolation​

  • Melee classes fighting Magmadar will experience minor immolation damage.
  • Can be avoided by staying at max melee range.

4.2.2 Strategies

The main tank should pull Mag so that he is facing towards the main group of healers, hunters, and nukers. Maghas a frontal attack that should only hit the MT. To accomplish this, once the MT has aggro, the rest of the melee and the melee healers run around BEHIND Mag. Casters and the rest of the healers will be standing in front of Mag, but out of range of his frontal/fear attack. Here is the positioning:

magmadarpos.jpg

T=Tank, M=Melee, N=Nukers, H=Healers. The green circle is Mag's fear range​

Hunters must use Tranquilizing Shot (a learned skill that comes from a tome with a 100% drop rate from Lucifron) when he frenzies, they must pay attention to the order they use it in and whether it is a hit or a miss. The first few Magmadar fights will be tricky, since Tranq shot will often miss. Once a few hunters have it, however, they can set up a rotation so that if one person misses, someone else can back him up. All hunters should make macros which will say when you have casted tranq shot, and will also let the raid know if you have missed. During the first few fights when we only have one or 2 tranq shots, healers will have to pay special attention to when Tranq shot misses, since the MT will then require mad healing to stay alive.

Melee DPS should come in on the sides and behind Mag. They need to be sure to avoid the Immolate, by staying at max melee range, and avoid any ‘globs’. They will be responsible for removing themselves from battle and bandaging since they will be out of range of the healers. If Fear Ward is not available, the warrior can "stance dance" in and out of Berserker Stance in order to use Berserker's Rage about every 30 seconds to avoid being feared. It is important that the main tank doesn't get feared — otherwise, while aggro will no longer be lost, Magmadar will follow the fleeing tank and the healers will suddenly be in range of him, and it is unlikely that the raid group will recover.

A guild new to Magmadar may wish to have 2 groups of MT healers, only one of which is on the MT at a time. If the group that is actually healing the MT gets feared, the other group rushes in. My guild used this method until the healers became better at staying just out of AoE fear range. We found that 2–3 healers per group is enough so long as the hunters are quick with the tranq shots.

The BoJ setup method: The easiest way to control the encounter is having healers and ranged DPS classes outside the fear range from the start. The trick to this is setting up the pull. Have your main tank walk up to maximum bow range from Mag and stay there. Now have your healers adjust position so they are just in healing range of the main tank. Healing range is 40 yards, and AoE fear range is 30 yards, so this should be easy. (Hint: if you can cast dispel or cleanse on the main tank, you are too close.) Hunters and mages with extended range now move to the same radius as the healers, but may need to move in a little to get range once the encounter starts. The healers and ranged DPS should be in a semi-circle and spread out to reduce the chances of a multiple people being affected by a Magma spit puddle. Once the healers and ranged DPS are in position, the main tank pulls Magmadar with a bow/gun.

So, stay out of the fire globs that are put down by Magma Spit. Use Tranq shot to keep Magmadar calm, and have the MT stance dance to avoid being feared. Other than that, it's just DPS him down!
 
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4.3 Gehennas

Gehennas is the third boss in MC and is very similar to the Lucifron fight. As with Luci, the adds are split up, killed, and then the raid moves to fight Gehennas. Gehennas is a Shadow-based Flamewaker with two Flamewaker Elite guards watching over the Rune of Mohn.

4.3.1 Attacks and Abilities

- Shadow Bolt​

  • 2000-2500 point shadow bolt on one non-tank target, chosen by the Random Secondary Targeting System (RSTS)
  • School: Shadow

- Rain of Fire​

  • Calls down a molten rain, burning all enemies in a selected area for 925 to 1075 Fire damage every 2 sec. for 6 sec.
  • School: Fire
  • Range: 40 yards
  • Radius: 10 yards

- Gehennas' Curse​

  • Reduces healing effects for nearby enemies by 75% for 5 min.
  • Dispel Type: Curse
  • School: Shadow
  • Radius: 45 yards

Flamewaker Elite
- Fist of Ragnaros​

  • Stuns nearby enemies, rendering them unable to move or attack for 4 sec.
  • School: Physical
  • Radius: 8 yards
- Sunder Armor​


  • [*=1]Hacks at an enemy's armor, reducing it by 1000 per Sunder Armor. Lasts 20 sec. Can stack up to 20 times.
    [*=1]School: Physical
    [*=1]Range: Melee
- Strike​


  • [*=1]Strikes at an enemy, inflicting normal damage plus 35.
    [*=1]School: Physical
    [*=1]Range: Melee

4.3.2 Strategies

Clear the entire area around Gehennas and then pull the guards to the south west and tank Gehennas in the center of the room. Make sure Gehennas is far enough away that the only people in range of his curse, shadow bolt, and rain of fire are the main tank and his healers/decursers (this could be the same person if the healer is a Druid). The two guards need to be tanked far away from Gehennas and need to be kept a decent distance apart, otherwise the tanks and melee DPS will end up stun locked the entire battle from the two cleaves. The raid should focus the each guard one at a time to get them down with maximum efficiency

The MT on Gehennas will need a dedicated decurser usually a mage, but a druid will work as well (can also act as the main tanks healer). The tank must have the curse removed as soon as possible. Gehennas deals a fair amount of damage and you will not be able to keep the tank up if he is only receiving 25% of the healing. Once the two guards are dead the entire raid should focus on killing Gehennas. The guards go down pretty quickly, Gehennas takes a while.

Mages and druids in this fight should be sure to adjust their decursing priority list to place the MT at the top, followed by other melee players, as the curse greatly reduces the amount of healing a player can receive.

For everyone in the raid – remember to get out of Rain of Fire as soon as possible. Otherwise this encounter is fairly straightforward if you keep the adds separated.

Note: if you're slow setting up and/or killing Gehennas there is a Lava Surger that is on a fast respawn timer that will pop and aggro. Just get a warlock to keep it banished until Gehennas dies.

4.4 Garr

Garr is a conglomerate lava elemental boss found in Molten Core between Gehennas and Baron Geddon, and guarding the Rune of Blaz. He is a melee boss with 8 guards.

4.4.1 Attacks and Abilities

- Antimagic Pulse​


  • [*=1]Dispels magic on nearby enemies, removing 1 beneficial spell effect.
    [*=1]School: Physical
    [*=1]Radius: 45 yards

- Magma Shackles​

  • Reduces the movement speed of nearby enemies to 40% of normal for 15 sec.
  • Dispel Type: Magic
  • School: Fire
  • Radius: 45 yards

Firesworn
- Immolate​


  • [*=1]Inflicts 760 to 840 Fire damage to an enemy and scorches it for an additional 380 to 420 damage every 3 sec. for 21 sec.
    [*=1]Dispel Type: Magic
    [*=1]School: Fire
    [*=1]Range: 40 yards
- Eruption​


  • [*=1]Firesworn explodes, inflicting 1850 to 2150 Fire damage to nearby enemies.
    [*=1]School: Fire
    [*=1]Radius: 15 yards
- Separation Anxiety​


  • [*=1]If Garr is pulled too far away from his adds, his adds become enraged and will hit Tier 2 geared tanks for 4000-6000 damage. So don't pull him too far away.
    [*=1]This ability can be seen with the help of the combat log or cast bar mods.

4.4.2 Strategies

Strategy 1
The more warlocks in a group, the easier this battle will be, but this strategy still works with only a couple. Because killing his adds makes Garr more powerful, we want as many of them to stay banished as long as possible. Each warlock is assigned one of the Firesworn. For that specific Firesworn, a warlock must keep the Firesworn banished and have a Voidwalker to tank it in between banish breaks. Every Firesworn that is not assigned to a warlock must then be off-tanked and killed by DPS. During the fight, the group will benefit the most if all of the mobs are kept spread out, so as to prevent any difficulties with explosions and Garr's debuff abilities.

Caution: when Firesworns die they explode, causing large amounts of damage to all surrounding group members. When they are about to die, melee must get away from Firesworns so as to save health and save healer mana.

When all tank-assigned Firesworn are down, the group can then focus on Garr, which should be tanked by the MT from the very start of the fight. Warlocks must remember keep their targets banished at least until Garr falls.

Once Garr is dead the raid needs to kill the remaining banished Firesworn one at a time.

Positioning isn't as key for this fight as it is for others. His AoE dispel is irritating, but not deadly. Casters should fight the adds from as far away as possible, because periodically, Garr will order one of them to explode, doing damage to everyone within range.

The adds shouldn't be moved too far away from Garr, because if they are, they will become enraged and run back to him, making them difficult to get under control again. Garr himself isn't that bad, but managing his adds is a bit tricky and will take some practice.

Strategy 2
Have the Main Tank tank Garr and all the adds. Allow threat to be built up with Demoralizing shout prior to DPS. This can be tricky as the tank will obviously require a tremendous amount of healing. Several Paladins or Priests need to be constantly removing the Immolates from the tank. Once Garr is down the Firesworn can be AoE'd down.

4.5 Baron Geddon

Baron Geddon is a fire elemental boss found in the Molten Core and it thought to be the easiest encounter in MC. He patrols near Shazzrah's spawn area while guarding the Rune of Zeth. This rune will need to be doused by a Quintessence (see Section 2.4) if you wish to summon Majordomo Executus.

4.5.1 Attacks and Abilities

- Inferno​

  • A Point Blank AoE (or PBAoE) that increases in damage with each pulse. The pulses come about 1 second apart and last for 10 seconds.
  • Damage starts at 500 damage per pulse and increases by 500 every other pulse (500, 500, 1000, 1000, 1500, etc.).
  • Baron Geddon will not move while casting this and he will do 6-10 pulses.
  • School: Fire
  • Radius: ??

- Ignite Mana​


  • [*=1]A powerful magic-based DoT that removes 400 mana per tick and does 400 damage to the target.
    [*=1]Ignite Mana lasts for 5 minutes if not dispelled.
    [*=1]250+ FR will allow casters to completely resist this DoT often.
    [*=1]Target is chosen due to RSTS
    [*=1]Dispel Type: Magic
    [*=1]Range: 35 yards

- Living Bomb​


  • [*=1]An effect that cannot be dispelled (It will be negated by Ice Block, Cloak of Shadows and Divine Shield, however).
    [*=1]The bomb will explode in 10 seconds and cause 3200 damage to the target and those players in the immediate area (it can crit for 4800!).
    [*=1]The target of the living bomb will also be flung straight up into the air and take falling damage upon landing.
    [*=1]The Damage dealt by this is increased by the amount of +damage gear a character has on.

At 2% Health Baron Geddon will emote "Baron Geddon performs one last service for Ragnaros." You have 5 seconds to kill him before he explodes like a living bomb, killing anyone in melee range (8500+ damage).

4.5.2 Strategies

Baron Geddon is usually pulled to Garr's room for an easier fight. Typically the raid is setup in one of two ways:

Geddon Line — This strategy involves the group making a line about 40 yards from the mouth of the cave after pulling him. Use a hunter and warrior to pull, getting the warrior the first bomb as a sacrifice. The line spreads out in order to avoid a wipe in case of a bomb that doesn't move, and so we have a clear, easy place to explode.

Semi-circle — This strategy is to arrange the group in a *very large* semicircle around the MT, with an opening directed at the tunnel Geddon will be spawning from. When you are the bomb, turn around and run backwards towards the walls of the cave, well out of range of anyone else.

Stacking — This strategy involves everyone standing on top of each other. usually on top of Garr's rune. There is one group of people who need to be at 30 yards from the Baron for attacking and another group directly behind them that is out of the range of the Baron's Ignite Mana but still within healing range. When someone becomes a bomb they run away from the group, generally slightly southeast to where the ceiling is low so when they explode they get no falling damage. Using this method requires a lot of trust in your raid-mates to run away when they're the bomb (as well as using a mod to instantly let them know they're the bomb) but by keeping healers and the dispellers out of Ignite Mana's range saves on mana used dispelling since only mages need to be dispelled.

When Baron Geddon starts his inferno all melee DPS needs to leave, even the MT. No matter how well geared the MT is, he will have a hard time surviving the inferno (unless he has over 315 FR)(and if he does survive it will cost a lot of healer mana). Beginning groups in MC that can't take the damage may want to have all players do ranged DPS and only allow the MT to get into melee range.

Ignite Mana should be dispelled, but not from warriors or rogues. Druids, if not otherwise engaged, can shift to bear or cat to eliminate both the mana loss and the damage taken from Ignite Mana until the debuff can be dispelled. Whoever is the living bomb MUST run away from the group and blow up by himself. Some groups have everyone else run away from the person with the bomb, but this method means all magic DPS and healing stops and is not recommended. It's suggested to try and run to one of the edges of the room where the ceiling is sloped down to stop one from flying up as high or get a mage to cast slow fall before you explode. Slow fall is not advised since you could end up falling in groups of mobs. There are places in the room where you don't even leave the ground when you explode.

Fire resistance gear is very helpful for this fight, but other than that, it's just a matter of cleansing the ignite mana, moving out of range when he does inferno, and paying attention to when you are the bomb.

4.6 Shazzrah

Shazzrah is an Arcane-based Flamewaker that shares a spawn area with Baron Geddon, guarding the Rune of Mazj.

4.6.1 Attacks and Abilities

- Arcane Explosion​

  • Sends out a PBAoE, inflicting 925 to 1075 damage to nearby enemies.
  • Range: 20 yards
  • School: Arcane

- Shazzrah's Curse​

  • Increases the magical damage taken by nearby enemies by 100% for 5 minutes
  • Dispel Type: Curse
  • School: Arcane
  • Range: 35 yards.

- Magic Grounding​


  • [*=1]Reduces the magical damage taken by the caster by 50% for 30 sec.
    [*=1]Dispel Type: Magic
    [*=1]School: Nature
    [*=1]Range: Self

- Counterspell​


  • [*=1]Counters the spellcasting of nearby enemies, preventing any spell from that school of magic from being cast for 10 sec.
    [*=1]School: Arcane
    [*=1]Range: 30 yards

- Gate of Shazzrah​


  • [*=1]Teleports the caster 20 yard forward unless something is in the way. Also frees the caster from any bonds. (About every 45 seconds Shazzrah will blink to random target causing a wipe of the threat list)
    [*=1]School: Arcane

4.6.2 Strategies

Shazzrah can be fought in any area that gives a nice 35 yard radius (either the room he patrols or back in Garr's room). The raid is divided into four groups that stand at max range around the main tank. The reason for this layout is to minimize the damage from Shazzrah's arcane explosions whenever he blinks. Each group should consist of several decursers (Mages and Druids). Shazzrah's Curse must be removed immediately by Mages and Druids, starting with the main tank as he's constantly being bombarded by Shazzrah's Arcane Explosion. Since the curse's range is only 35 yards, Druids can stand back 5 more yards and heal while focusing on decursing their group without being affected by the curse. Mages can then focus on DPS and be the ones who worry about decursing the main tank. Detect Magic must be kept on him by a Mage at all times so that his Magic Grounding can be removed by a Priest ASAP. Only ranged DPS can attack Shazzrah early on. When he gets low enough (around 5-10%), melee DPS can move in to help speed things up. This is to minimise the damage of Arcane Explosion and doesn’t exhaust the healers mana.

There are a few ways to deal with the Blink. If everyone spaces out from each other correctly, when Shazzrah casts his Blink, the positioning can minimise the damage from the Arcane Explosion. The player, NO MATTER WHAT, must NOT run away once Shazzrah Blinks to him/her. They must immediately run back into the centre towards the main tank. Another method is to have a hunter or two close to the Main Tank in the centre and cast Distracting Shot whenever Shazzrah Blinks away, to pull him back to the centre. The hunter must be extremely quick in doing this as DoT’s can rack up the threat again after he Blinks (Blink resets the aggro table).

4.7 Sulfuron Harbringer

Sulfuron is a melee Flamewaker boss, with four Flamewaker Priest guards, watching over the Rune of Koro. Sulfuron is a lot like Lucifron - it's all about dealing with his 4 adds. He himself isn't that bad, but his adds have a number of tricky abilities:

4.7.1 Attacks and Abilities

- Demoralizing Shout​

  • Reduces Attack power by 300
  • School: Physical

- Inspire​


  • [*=1]Buff that doubles attack speed and increases his damage by 25%.
    [*=1]This previously could be dispelled, but as of patch 1.10 it appears it can no longer be dispelled.
    [*=1]School: Fire
    [*=1]Range: 45 yards

- Hand of Ragnaros​


  • [*=1]Inflicts 630 Fire damage to all nearby enemies, knocking them back and stunning them for 2 sec.
    [*=1]School: Fire
    [*=1]Range: 10 yards

- Flame Spear​


  • [*=1]Tosses a spear of flame, inflicting (100% of Spell power) Fire damage to an enemy, as well as scorching any other enemies in the vicinity of the target.
    [*=1]School: Fire
    [*=1]Range: 45 yards

Flamewaker Priest
- Dark Mending​


  • [*=1]Uses dark magic to heal an ally for 237500 to 262500 damage.
    [*=1]School: Shadown
    [*=1]Range: 60 yards.
    [*=1]Cast Time: 2 seconds
- Dark Strike​


  • [*=1]Consecrates the caster's weapon, inflicting 1026 to 1134 additional damage on its next attack. All damage caused is considered Shadow damage.
    [*=1]School: Shadown
    [*=1]Range: 10 yards
- Immolate​


  • [*=1]Inflicts 19000 to 21000 Fire damage to an enemy and scorches it for an additional 9500 to 10500 damage every 3 sec. for 21 sec.
    [*=1]Dispel Type: Magic
    [*=1]School: Fire
    [*=1]Range: 40 yards
- Shadow Word: Pain​


  • [*=1]Utters a word of darkness, inflicting Shadow damage to an enemy every 3 sec. for 15 sec.
    [*=1]Dispel Type: Magic
    [*=1]School: Shadow
    [*=1]Range: 30 yards

4.7.2 Strategies

The guards can have their heals interrupted so warriors, rogues and mages should be shield bashing, kicking and counterspelling. There will need to be 5 tanks, one for Sulfuron and one for each guard. Mortal strike will also help ensure that if they get a heal off it will be reduced.

Strategy 1
The first approach is to have the four guards separated into different corners of the room, while the DPS goes from one guard to another until they are all down and then to focus on Sulfuron. This strategy, however, requires five strong tanks and the healers to keep them up.

Strategy 2
The second approach requires that the guards are all tanked in the same place and one at a time they are led away to be destroyed by the DPS. This can be an easier strategy because the tanks can share healers if one goes down or runs out of mana.

Strategy 3
Another approach is to herd all guards in one spot and hit them with massive AoE from mages/warlocks. Whenever health of any one of the guards falls below 20%, all DPS is focused on him, hoping that he dies before other guards have a chance to heal him. This approach depends on a lot of firepower, and it will take longer time for guards to die, but it is easy to implement.

Strategy 4
A warrior and a rogue or two is assigned to each of the adds. Hunters will pull off the adds to their warriors, and the MT will grab Sulfuron. The DPS group will be standing farther back, up the hill. The warriors will bring the adds, one at a time, up to the DPS group, where they will be killed. The other warriors and their healers will be down the hill, holding their adds until they are called to bring them to the DPS group. Just remember to continuously interrupt Dark Mending. The rogues should be kicking the Priests like mad as they are being off-tanked and until they are called up to the DPS group.

The magic debuffs from the guards are much worse than the melee damage, and will generally target the off-tanks and their healers. Dispelling these debuffs should be absolute priority for Priests for Horde, or Paladins for Alliance. Prayer of Shadow Resistance on tanks and healers helps a lot. Fire resist totems / auras also help.

Even though Sulfuron doesn't have any annoying/damaging special abilities of his own, he still hits hard, and the MT healers need to be aware of this at the beginning of the fight.

Just to recap - for the fight one or two priests needs to be strictly on dispelling the power words and immolates that pop up. Rogues and others need to be aware of the casting abilities of the Flamewakers and be ready to interrupt when heals are being cast. Also, priests need to be aware when Sulfuron buffs himself, and must be ready to take it off.
4.8 Golemagg The Incinerator

The first thing about Golemagg is that he has a lot of HP. This is the longest fight in MC, when guilds are just getting to him, he tends to be a 5-8 minute fight. Golemagg is a molten giant boss with 2 pet dogs, called Core Ragers, for guards of the Rune of Theri.
4.8.1 Attacks and Abilities

- Golemagg's Trust​


  • [*=1]Buffs the Core Ragers with 500 increased damage and increased attack speed by 50% if they are close enough.

- Magma Splash​


  • [*=1]A range ability that procs onto anyone attacking and will stack with itself. It does fire damage over time and reduces armor of the target.
    [*=1]Magma Splash will start off doing 50 damage per tick with 250 armor reduction. If allowed to continue stacking it will go up to a total of 50 stacks doing 2500 damage per 3 seconds plus 12500 armor reduction.
    [*=1]Dispel Type: Magic
    [*=1]School: Fire
    [*=1]Range: ??

- Pyroblast​


  • [*=1]Randomly deals 2000 damage to a member of the raid, includes a DoT that deals 200 damage every 3 seconds for 12 seconds.
    [*=1]School: Fire
    [*=1]Range: 40 yards
- Earthquake (only at 10% health)​


  • [*=1]Inflicts 1388 to 1612 damage per tick
    [*=1]School: Physical
    [*=1]Radius: 18 yards

At 10% health Golemagg will also start casting earthquake doing damage to all around him and begin attacking much faster. Golemagg will also cast 'Attract Rager' onto every member of the raid when he reaches 10% health. This ability adds a certain amount of aggro to all in the raid except for the warriors tanking the Core Rager.

Core Ragers
- Mangle​


  • [*=1]Reduces movement by 50% and deals 300 physical damage every 2 seconds.

If the dogs health is reduced below 50% they will emote a message "Core Rager refuses to die while its master is in trouble" and regen to full health. If you pull the dogs too far away from Golemagg; he'll evade bug, reset and start all over again (I do not know if this will happen on Kronos)
4.8.2 Strategies

This is the most boring and uneventful fight in the whole of Molten Core. The main tank needs high fire resistance (to reduce the effect of the magma splashes), and healers need to pay some attention to their mana pools, since it's a rather long fight.

In addition, Priests and Paladins much keep a vigilant eye on anyone affected by the Magma Splash and cleanse the DoT ASAP.

Two off-tanks should fight the Core Ragers far away from Golemagg. The dogs can't die so there is no reason to DPS them, just keep them occupied. When they are out of range of Golemagg's buff, their horns will stop glowing red. When Golemagg gets to 10% life the melee should leave and he should be killed by ranged. It is often a good idea to have two tanks on Golemagg. If the main tank gets too many DoTs on him it will be simply impossible to keep him up. The second tank can either be ready to take over when the main tank dies, or when the DoTs start getting too high on the main tank the second tank can take over and let the main tank recover.

He randomly spits Pyroblasts at random people, bandaging themselves should be fine once the DoT is over.

This fight is one of the few places where Curse of Weakness is useful, as the two hounds are not killed themselves. The hounds also can provide a steady stream of health to warlocks via Siphon Life.
4.9 Majordomo Executus

At this point your MC run is finished unless your group has 7 people who have finished the Hydraxian Waterlords' quest line and have Aqual Quintessence with them. If that's the case, you should use it to douse each rune scattered throughout the instance.

Executus comes with four Flamewaker Healers and four Flamewaker Elite guards making this a total of a nine enemy encounter. Executus will "submit" and the fight is won when all the adds are dead. He then appears in Ragnaros' chamber and will summon the Firelord to begin the encounter.

4.9.1 Attacks and Abilities

Does not hit particularly hard, but must still be tanked as he can do serious damage to the lower armor class characters in the raid.

- Aegis of Ragnaros​

  • Majordomo frequently casts this spell on himself, absorbing 30,000 damage, reflecting 250 damage on successful melee attacks, and healing himself to full. This means that it is literally impossible to kill him.
  • School: Shadow

- Shield​

  • The shield spells last for 10 seconds before fading.
  • Majordomo will give the shield to all his followers.
    • Purple Shield – While this shield is up, up to 100 melee damage per hit reflects back to those inflicting it.
    • White Shield – While this shield is up, each magic attack has a 50% chance to reflect back to the attacker.

  • School: Arcane
- Teleport​


  • [*=1]Any enemy Majordomo is engaged with can be targeted with this random spell that teleports its target into the nearby fiery pit of Molten Core.
    [*=1]There is nothing to counter this ability aside from running back. You'll also get randomly hit with 1-2K fire damage while standing on it, so move out quickly. Whoever has been teleported to the center should be overhealed as not to die.

- Blast Wave​

  • A damaging area of effect flame attack which hits nearby players with moderate fire damage.
  • School: Fire
  • Radius: 30 yards

Flamewaker Elites
- Hits a tank for 800 - 1000 damage
- Fire Blast deals 900 - 1200 fire damage
- Shields – Same as Majordomo.
- Blast Wave – Same as Majordomo.​

Flamewaker Healers
- Shields – Same as Majordomo.​

  • Do not have your groups' Mages cast Polymorph on the healers while the white shield is up, as they can sheep themselves.
- Random Shadowbolts​

  • The Healer’s will also hit random secondary targets with ~1000 damage shadow bolts at raid members in range.
- Heal​

  • These heal any target mob, but can be interupted by stuns.

4.9.2 Strategies

Majordomo is not the target of this encounter, to win you must kill all his guards.

You can sheep the healers, however you can only keep them "chain-sheeped" for the beginning of the battle, sheeping is disabled after 4 of the adds die, Majordomo will do an emote and they will become immune to sheeping. Use Stun and Counterspell when bringing down the healers. This is important for stopping spell casting and bringing them down fast.

First off, make sure to have the Main Tank and a Paladin/Hunter on the Majordomo, and then distribute off-tanks to all the other unsheeped mobs. A second off-tank (Paladin or Hunter) should also join the Main Tank to pick up aggro from the Main Tank when he gets teleported to the fiery pit. Majordomo usually teleports the closest player to him to the fire pit so the allocated Hunter or Paladin should stand directly on top of Majordomo. If this is unsuccessful, the hunter can use distracting shot on Domo whenever he charges off so that the tank can regain aggro, or the Paladin can off-tank. Majordomo is susceptible to Taunt, but teleporting the MT, thus lowering his aggro makes him randomly wander away from the MT and into the main raid.

You will need 5 tanks altogether, similar to Sulfuron, and healers on each of them. Spread out Majordomo and the four elites. Each tank should pick a sheep when his elite is dead. Healers should spot heal when their assigned tanks aren't actively tanking something; also, this is a fairly long and chaotic fight, so be careful with mana.

Be sure to keep notice of which shields are up on the mobs. White means that casters should take a break from hurling DPS, and purple means that melee classes should stay back (aside from the tank, who should be keeping agro).

There are numerous “successful” strategies on which order to go at the guards in. However the two that seems to work best are the following:

1-4-3 Method

2-4-2 Method

-Kill an elite

-Kill an elite

-Kill a healer

-Kill an elite

-Kill a healer

-Kill a healer

-Kill a healer

-Kill a healer

-Kill a healer

-Kill a healer

-Kill an elite

-Kill a healer

-Kill an elite

-Kill an elite

-Kill an elite

-Kill an elite




At the very start of the fight, Mages will pull their adds from the group with Counterspell and then sheep them. From a Mage point of view, while sheeping, it is critical to drink a Fire protection potion 2 minutes prior to the fight. While sheeping, you should ALWAYS have Mana Shield / Fire Ward up, as well as detect magic on the sheep target. Never lose your target and keep a vigilant eye on it. Bandage right after casting a new polymorph if you need to heal. Do NOT Polymorph while magic reflection is up. Sheeping is fine with damage reflection.

To summarise: At the pull, Mages should have fire ward/mana shield up. Get within max distance of Counterspell and use it to pull aggro, and immediately sheep.

A Paladin or Hunter, is assigned to a Mage. If the healer unsheeps while shield is up or the Mage dies, A Pally needs to stun or off tank till shield is down. Alternatively you could use a hunter for this to take aggro and kite until the shield is down and the mage can resheep.

Once the 7th guard is dead, the 8th and final will enter "Uber" mode. In this mode he grows roughly 50% in size and hits far harder, so be careful. Once all the guards are dead, the Majordomo submits. One tactic is when the last two elites are alive, bring them both down to 10-20% health, kill one then just destroy the other.

Majordomo Executus himself does not drop loot as he in fact does not die. He instead offers access to the Cache of the Firelord.

- - - Updated - - -

Wait before replying! It wont let me post the last part! it must be continuous!
 
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4.10 Ragnaros

Ragnaros's Lair can be found down a passageway more or less across from Gehennas's spawn point. Ragnaros is the final boss in Molten Core. He is a huge fire elemental that is summoned by Majordomo in the centre of a rock and lava spiral room, once you speak to him. Ragnaros is also one of the hardest Bosses in the game to defeat.

Ragnaros is the first real "gear check" in endgame raiding. He is the 1st target to really bring down in a raiding guild, requiring collective effort and perseverance. One could say that Raggy makes or breaks new raiding guilds. He provides training for the basic skills to face BWL and AQ40, and further down the line Naxxramas.

4.10.1 Attacks and Abilities

- Wrath of Ragnaros​

  • Melee Knockback 25s cooldown. "Taste the Flames of Sulfuron!" .
  • When this ability is used characters in melee range are sent flying, much like Garr's guardians when they die.
  • This also reduces threat of the targets it does hit. It is common to be thrown very far and end up either in the lava or in the back row.
  • It is resistible and on a predictable 25 second timer.
  • Melee DPS should back out of melee range and only resume attacks once they are sure the MT or OT has aggro.
  • Most melee deaths occur by melees engaging too fast -- after the MT fails a resist and gets knocked back but before the OT engages.
  • Because of Ragnaros's size, melee DPS cannot see the MT and OT and must use the "target of target" feature of the UI which can be found in the interface options or a "target of target" mod.

- Hammer of Ragnaros​


  • [*=1]Ranged Knockback and Damage 20–30s cooldown. "By fire be purged!"
    [*=1]This attack targets a random player with a mana bar and knocks back all players (excluding the target) within ~20 yards.
    [*=1]They are knocked back from the impact point which is at the foot of the target.\

- Lava Splash​

  • Localized Damage at various times a lava splash will be triggered which cause large damage to all those hit.
  • It will affect anyone within close proximity to a lava flow.
  • With decent fire resist (150+) it should be partially resisted most of the time. It can be partially resisted with the standard mechanic; every 100FR equals about 25% damage reduction.

- Elemental Fire​

  • Damage Debuff. This is a debuff that Ragnaros puts on whoever has aggro. 4800 damage over 8 seconds.

- Magma Blast​


  • [*=1]Massive Ranged Damage. If no one is engaged in melee with Ragnaros he will throw a ranged attack for 4000–6000 damage which will kill most non-tank players in 1 hit and quickly wipe the raid.
    [*=1]It's advisable to have a MT stand by at the end of Phase 2 to pick him up immediately upon resurfacing.

- Melt Weapon​


  • [*=1]Melee Durability Damage. Often Ragnaros damages melee weapons that strike him. This takes 1 point off a weapon's durability per attempt. To counter this, bring spare weapons and ensure the raid has a repair-bot for between every few attempts.

- Summon Sons of Flame​


  • [*=1]After 3 minutes of combat Ragnaros will summon 8 Sons of Flame and submerge (he will still be visible though; this might be a bug). After 90 seconds or once they are defeated (whichever happens first) Ragnaros will reappear. This process continues after a further 3 minutes until either your group or Ragnaros is dead. Be aware that Ragnaros considers Banished sons as defeated and can resurface prematurely. See below for a detailed Sons of Flame strategy in Phase 2.

Sons of Flame
- They hit for around 1500 physical damage.
- Mana Burn Aura​


  • [*=1]This has a fairly small radius but still covers 5 - 10 yards.
    [*=1]It converts mana to damage for everyone in the area at a very fast rate. Casters and players with mana need to clear the area FAST.

4.10.2 Preparation and Setup

- All other Molten Core bosses must be defeated before Ragnaros can be summoned.
- The whole raid needs to know where the exits from the lava are, because everybody has a good chance to take an involuntary lava bath.
- Fire resistance is the key to surviving his attacks. Your MT should have at least 300 (315 is recommended with buffs) fire resistance. No member should exceed 315 resistance buffed as it is the maximum effective level of resistance.
- Any melee classes should have at least 200.
- Any other class should have at the very least 100 (unbuffed), or they won't be around very long. In each case, more fire resistance is better.
- Everyone in the raid should use anywhere from 1-3 fire protection potions during the fight to stay alive. Preferred a few seconds before the sons of flame spawn.
- All ranged DPS (Mages, Hunters, Warlocks) should keep in mind that it is impossible for them to pull aggro from the MT. Ragnaros will always attack players who are in melee range first, regardless of their position on his hatelist (so don't hold back on DPS).
- From the time you get Domo to summon Ragnaros you have 2 hours to defeat him, after which he submerges. Majordomo Executus will respawn within 2 to 3 hours.
- All melee and close support need to be on the inner ring engaging Ragnaros while he is up. Note that placing any class with a mana bar in melee range will mean that those in melee range will be at risk of being knocked back by his targeted knockback ability.
- All the healers and ranged support should be on the secondary ring away from Ragnaros. They must also stay away from the lava flows or they will be affected by the lava splashes.
- All players should spread out so that they are not knocked back and damaged when Ragnaros uses his ranged knock back ability.​

This means that melee should be around Ragnaros generally on the south, west and north parts of the inner ring, and the ranged is on the south and west portions of the outer ring. There are small patches of wall on the outer rings that, when stood directly against will usually prevent Ragnaros' random fireballs from knocking you back.

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4.10.3 Strageties

This fight alternates between two stages - in the first, Ragnaros is up and everybody concentrates on DPSing him, in the second Ragnaros is immune to DPS, and the raid has to deal with his sons instead. Ragnaros is always up for 3 minutes (stage 1), then submerges for 90 seconds. This alternates until either the raid is wiped or Ragnaros is dead.

The basic idea is to get him down to 30%-40% before the first wave of sons, to be able to kill him before the second. If your warriors and warlocks are up to the task, it is possible to get him down between the second and third wave of sons, but there's not much point in holding back DPS as no tradeoff between survivability and doing damage is possible.

Phase 1
Have your MTs run in and attack, and have all your melee and ranged DPS assist. You have 3 minutes before he submerges. Ranged DPS should immediately burn trinkets and cooldowns to maximize damage. So long as anyone is within melee range of Ragnaros, ranged will never pull aggro, thus dish out as much as possible.

Ragnaros will shoot random explosions that knock people into the air (often into the lava) and do a lot of damage. Players knocked away must return to their designated areas so they can be in range of the healers, as they will be very busy.

Ragnaros also has an AoE knockback ability that he does every 25 seconds. All melee types except the MT should back out before this happens and then re-engage immediately afterwards.

20 seconds before Ragnaros submerges and spawns Sons of Flame, the whole raid (exc. the MT who keeps tanking until the submerge) should collapse to the southern lip of the outer ring, as to be ready to handle the sons when they spawn. Mages should already be positioned at the collapse point. Mana users should be at the very edge of the ring, as to avoid the Son's massive mana burn aura. Tanks and Rogues should form a wall in front of the casters.

Phase 2
Ragnaros submerges and 8 "Sons of Flame" come out. They do purely fire-based damage and have an AoE mana burn, so you need to keep them away from your mana-users. The sons spawn from around the spiral that Ragnaros is along the west, north and east side, and then rush south to meet the raid. The sons damage is entirely fire based, so with decent fire resistance you will take very little damage from them.

Control them with warriors, mage frost novas, mage blizzard, perhaps bear tanks, hunter freezing traps and kill them all (there is not much time for banish, but some guilds choose to banish a few). The Sons should be tanked and banished while they are brought down one after the other. It is important to always have at least one that is not banished, as sometimes when all the remaining sons are banished (or otherwise incapacitated) Ragnaros will re-appear.

If this happens you are very likely looking at a wipe. Also you must deal with the Sons quickly as Ragnaros will surface after 1 1/2 minutes whether they are dead or not. To accomplish this everyone MUST be assisting one person that is picking targets. If attacks are spread out they will take too long to kill. With all DPS on one Son you should be aiming to drop one every 10 seconds or less.

Ragnaros will come back after 90 seconds or when all sons are dead, whichever happens first. When you are nearing the 90 second point in the fight it is critical that you send the main tank, secondary tank and their healers back to engage Ragnaros when he re-enters combat. If the tank is not there Ragnaros will start throwing Magma blasts. Once the rest of the group has killed any remaining sons they should re-enter combat with Ragnaros.

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Phase 3
Same as Phase 1. You have 3 more minutes before he submerges again for another minute-and-a-half session with the Sons of Flame. Generally, you want to kill him before the Sons spawn again or else you will probably die. If you don't get him to at least 40% HP before the end of Stage 1, then you probably won't accomplish this goal.

5.0 End Statement

If you have reached this point and have read, pretty much, the entire thing, I applaud you. You are the type of raid member every raids needs. It is a very very long read, and a lot to take in. So feel free to have this up whilst you are running Molten Core (this is where a second screen is amazing). Well done for putting up with my writing style, I am no novelist. If your first language isn’t English then you deserve even more praise. Feel free to get in contact if there are some things you don’t quite understand - my inbox is always open.​

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Note: I take the credit for compiling the guide you see here. However quite a bit of the description and strategy in each part has been taken from different sources across the net, with a lot of tweaking here and there by yours truly.

My sources include: http://www.wowwiki.com, http://www.ownedcore.com, http://www.blizzardguides.com, http://www.wowhead.com/, http://pcigre.com/world-of-warcraft-molten-core-guide-walkthrough, http://wiki.theamazonbasin.com,


 
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Good job. But in my opinion, fire resistance isn't needed by all classes. You can clear MC without anyone having it, BESIDES the tanks of course. You will need to know different tactics and a bit of movement, but it's not that hard without FR gear.
 
The spell scales with the level of the mob who uses it, 2 is the correct base value. It should give you 86 or something.
 
Only the tanks will need FR gear. Other classes should use the gear that is most suited for them.
 
All melee classes will definitely need FR gear. It puts too much pressure on the healers otherwise.

Due to the some of the responsibilities of mages, they get into quite a few situations where FR will save them more often then not. Same goes for warlocks.

Healer classes require FR as a safe guard. If our healers start going down because of fire damage due to RSTS. That will put a large amount of pressure on the remaining healers and the raid as a whole.

So, thats why I said that Hunters can get away without wearing any FR gear. However, as a precaution it is best to take some and wear it in the encounters which I stated. It will take pressure of the healers and will keep DPS high (since it will be less likey that they die by RSTS/RNG Gods).

Nonetheless, you are correct. Its a balance to have other classes wear the best gear to help with their assigned tasks (DPS or Healing) or sacrifice a few numbers in required stats for gear that includes FR.

Resistance gear is not that mandatory in MC compared to AQ or especially Naxx. However, it is a raid that acts as a good learning curve for guilds or new players to start realising the necessity of resistance gear, and not to just blow it off as a whole.

Also, better safer then sorry, as I always say ^^
 
All melee classes will definitely need FR gear. It puts too much pressure on the healers otherwise.

Due to the some of the responsibilities of mages, they get into quite a few situations where FR will save them more often then not. Same goes for warlocks.

Healer classes require FR as a safe guard. If our healers start going down because of fire damage due to RSTS. That will put a large amount of pressure on the remaining healers and the raid as a whole.

So, thats why I said that Hunters can get away without wearing any FR gear. However, as a precaution it is best to take some and wear it in the encounters which I stated. It will take pressure of the healers and will keep DPS high (since it will be less likey that they die by RSTS/RNG Gods).

Nonetheless, you are correct. Its a balance to have other classes wear the best gear to help with their assigned tasks (DPS or Healing) or sacrifice a few numbers in required stats for gear that includes FR.

Resistance gear is not that mandatory in MC compared to AQ or especially Naxx. However, it is a raid that acts as a good learning curve for guilds or new players to start realising the necessity of resistance gear, and not to just blow it off as a whole.

Also, better safer then sorry, as I always say ^^

You say all these classes need FR gear but you never say why. Why does a nontank need FR gear?

Outside of Ragnaros noone should be taking fire damage that is "outside of their control", and on ragnaros it's better if all the casters have proper gear, thus making the fight 30s shorter, than one of them resisting a firebolt. Same goes for healers.
 
Sorry I just expected it to come across. My mistake. I did state it in the guide, nonetheless...

2 main reasons, Fire AoE spells and Immolation, some bosses (Magmadar is a prime example) incurs fire damage on those who are in melee range and attack with melee attacks. Less fire damage means 2 things. 1. They have to leave the area of combat less frequently to bandage up, meaning an increase in DPS. 2. Less pressure on healers if the raid plans to have the healers keep an eye on all melee during that fight.

The main reason for FR on healers is contingency, I find healing a little bit less on each cast is better then having one whole healer out of the game due to RSTS (happens more frequently then not). There are plenty of spells and abilities from Trash Mobs and Bosses that can one-shot a clothie (granted that COULD only apply to priests) with fire damage. That logic can also be applied for caster DPS. I am sorry to not have any definitive proof or min/maxing numbers to show off. This is purely my opinion and analysis when studying the my guilds raid progress from raids (not necessarily MC).

Of course the more armoured up/more hp the healer has, the less of an issue. I could make a list of expected FR for each armour type or class. Since a shaman healer with mail healing gear/more +stam gear can be expected to survive more damage. However in vanilla that isn't the case, since the BiS healing gear is usually cloth items so it is expected that they will incur almost the same amount Fire Damage from spells as Priests will.

So as a general guide I stated 100-150 for all types of casters.
 
I was not aware you took damage by simply autoswinging at Magmadar, that's a reason I guess. Ranged dps/heal shouldnt need FR on magmadar though.

If healers are getting hit by trash/bosses you need to fix your tanks, not your healers gear.


I still see no reason for anyone except tanks (and meele for magmadar, if that is indeed how it works) getting FR gear.

Also, having more armor doesn't help against spell damage.
 
Magmadar is just an example, there are many such examples throughout the raid.

Random Secondary Targeting System (RSTS) is the reason healers and ranged get hit. Trash mobs don't do enough damage in one swing but bosses do, and they have abilities that can randomly strike a clothie and kill him/her, regardless of aggro. Now as the majority of the raid will be compromised of cloth wearers (healers in cloth gear, locks, mages, spriests) It is likely that an attack will hit a cloth user out of any other. Without FR that fire damage can one-shot. Then DPS/Heals per second, would dramatically decrease.

Now I am sure somewhere someone has done math on the following theory: What costs more to HPS and DPS? Small sacrifices to important DPS stats because of wearing FR gear or during a fight a random healer or dps caster dying and having that person lost to the fight. You are probably correct, sacrificing a few stats for FR during some encounters is more detrimental. But as I have said it is better to be safe then sorry.

All-in-all, as I stated in the guide, for some encounters FR is not needed, for others it is. I have said that it is better to take FR gear in the bag and swap it out when necessary if you have BiS gear already. From my own experience as a mage in MC, wearing FR gear, on the required encounters, that provides at least 100 FR has saved me more times then I can count. Especially in the encounters where my guildies are depending upon me (decursing/sheeping).

It is a game after all :). Play your character how you want to, whether it be with a non-raiding spec or with/without FR gear. I have run raids where majority of the raiders didn't have FR gear at all, and we cleared it in just as much time as a cautious raiding party.
 
Trash mobs don't do enough damage in one swing but bosses do, and they have abilities that can randomly strike a clothie and kill him/her, regardless of aggro.

I am not aware of a single boss or trash mob in MC that does this, and deals unavoidable fire damage, apart from Ragnaros. Can you link me some mobs and their spells?

Are you reffering to spells like teleport into fire pit on Majordomo? Cause iirc all such abilities outside of ragnaros deal minimal damage and do not require FR gear.

I am talking about the randomly striking people regardless of aggro part.
 
One of the top of my head is Golemaggs pyroblast (re-checking...I could be wrong). It randomly hits a random player in the aggro table for a base of 2k fire damage. This can crit even higher.

If we say a DPS caster will have around 3.5k health? That sound about right? This spell can potentially one-shot a caster (if it crits ofc).

There was some discussion on Flame Spear by Sulfuron that I read a while back... that could have the potential. Looking it up now.
 
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I am not aware of a single boss or trash mob in MC that does this, and deals unavoidable fire damage, apart from Ragnaros. Can you link me some mobs and their spells?

Are you reffering to spells like teleport into fire pit on Majordomo? Cause iirc all such abilities outside of ragnaros deal minimal damage and do not require FR gear.

I am talking about the randomly striking people regardless of aggro part.

Just say thanks and move on. Why is every post from you a battle?
 
One of the top of my head is Golemaggs pyroblast (re-checking...I could be wrong). It randomly hits a random player in the aggro table for a base of 2k fire damage. This can crit even higher.

If we say a DPS caster will have around 3.5k health? That sound about right? This spell can potentially one-shot a caster (if it crits ofc).

There was some discussion on Flame Spear by Sulfuron that I read a while back... that could have the potential. Looking it up now.

I didn't think that one targeted random people. Wowwiki also says it's random, so I guess it's safe to assume it is.
I don't know what the cooldown is, but healing 2k damage is easy. I wouldnt equip my healers with FR solely for this ability. If someone dies to a crit so be it, it's not worth gimping everyone to potentially avoid that rare occassion.

It's a nice guide and all, I just don't think you're right on the FR part.

Just say thanks and move on. Why is every post from you a battle?

Why is every post from you spouting retardation and offtopic stupidity?
 
I didn't think that one targeted random people. Wowwiki also says it's random, so I guess it's safe to assume it is.
I don't know what the cooldown is, but healing 2k damage is easy. I wouldnt equip my healers with FR solely for this ability. If someone dies to a crit so be it, it's not worth gimping everyone to potentially avoid that rare occassion.

It's a nice guide and all, I just don't think you're right on the FR part.

Now that it's many years later and we can look back and laugh at how we used to do things, I think you're mostly right about the FR issue. Most bosses are going to deal physical damage, with the only one needing FR
being Baron Geddon (I can't unfortunately find anything about the bomb but his AOE certainly does a number if you're not ready), and some of the mobs in that room as well if I remember correctly(Lava Elemental seems to be the one I'm thinking of, yet someone points out that maybe the need for FR resist was a little overhyped). In my mind, I think that some FR gear on everyone is more of a quality of life decision rather than a necessity. Obviously you don't want to use a piece with just FR over something that's going to boost your stats, but I would argue (maybe needlessly) that FR is good to have as long as you're not gimping yourself.
 
Just say thanks and move on. Why is every post from you a battle?

Its all right :). Its what the forums are all about, discussion. Hagson has a very valid points, and is certainly not wrong, and I am glad someone is fueling the discussion so others can realise both sides of a debate and decide for themselves how they wish to run MC. Its what makes the forum exciting. :D
 
Now that it's many years later and we can look back and laugh at how we used to do things, I think you're mostly right about the FR issue. Most bosses are going to deal physical damage, with the only one needing FR
being Baron Geddon (I can't unfortunately find anything about the bomb but his AOE certainly does a number if you're not ready), and some of the mobs in that room as well if I remember correctly(Lava Elemental seems to be the one I'm thinking of, yet someone points out that maybe the need for FR resist was a little overhyped). In my mind, I think that some FR gear on everyone is more of a quality of life decision rather than a necessity. Obviously you don't want to use a piece with just FR over something that's going to boost your stats, but I would argue (maybe needlessly) that FR is good to have as long as you're not gimping yourself.

As a nontank you dont need FR for Baron Geddon. The mana burn should be dispelled, meele should move out when he does his AOE.
The mobs aoe in a cone in front of them and should be faced away from the raid. You don't need FR for the trash.
 
One of the top of my head is Golemaggs pyroblast (re-checking...I could be wrong). It randomly hits a random player in the aggro table for a base of 2k fire damage. This can crit even higher.

If we say a DPS caster will have around 3.5k health? That sound about right? This spell can potentially one-shot a caster (if it crits ofc).

There was some discussion on Flame Spear by Sulfuron that I read a while back... that could have the potential. Looking it up now.

Nonsense, NPC spells do not crit.
 
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