<Grinders Inc> Multiboxing The Stonecore - Normal

[Janus]

YouTube - GrindersInc's Channel

The Stonecore…

What can be said about this instance? A few words come to mind: movement, hair-pulling, endless wipes, and… more movement.

It is clear that Cataclysm is an expansion of movement. Blizzard does not want us to sleep on the job, they want us all awake and moving. Whether we’re fighting trash pulls or bosses, movement is our friend. The movement in The Stonecore comes with a twist: moving to avoid Corborus’ crystals, moving to avoid Corborus itself while swarms of adds try to kill you, moving to avoid pools of lava as you battle Slabhide, moving to maintain line of sight, and last but not least, moving while High Priestess Azil throws gravity wells on the ground, calls swarms of devout followers to help her, and throws rocks at the group. Do we get the picture?

On with the strategy!

First Boss: Corborus
-A giant worm that has 2 abilities while over ground (Phase 1): a Dampening Wave that significantly diminishes the healing efficiency of your tank and should be dispelled, and Crystal Barrage that targets random members that should be avoided. In heroic difficulty, the crystals should be quickly AOE’ed as they become ALIVE!
-In phase 2, Corborus submerges and pops up under random party members. The best way to mitigate the damage it does is to stick to a wall so that you don’t bounce off all over the place. Keep AOE healing up.
-During this phase, swarms of burrowers start to zerg the party. They hit for little damage, but need to be brought down quickly. This takes place as Corborus is submerged and trying to bounce on your team like he does to poor Milhouse Manastorm. So needles to say, it can become hairy quickly.
-Once phase 2 is over he goes back to phase 1, but with a wiped aggro list, so the tank needs to build threat back quick. Finish off the remaining zerg and go back to tanking n spanking, while avoiding the crystal barrage from time to time

Second Boss: Slabhide
-There is a gauntlet prior to actually engaging where you will need to go down a ramp avoiding stalactites that are falling. Just avoid the black circles on the ground
-His main ability (in Normal difficulty) is sandblast that hits whoever is standing in front of him, so only the tank needs to be facing him.
-During the duration of the fight, pools of lava erupt under random players. Don’t stand in them.
-From time to time, he takes flight. Continue DPS as usual, but beware of falling stalactites (heralded by those black circles I mentioned) and move away from them.
-When he lands, build aggro with the tank quickly as the tank may fall off the aggro list while Slabhide is in the air. Be sure to maintain line of sight for heals and DPS, which is easier said than done with al those stalactites around you. What I found to be helpful is drive with your tank, get your team to a spot free of stalactites and continue to burn the boss down. It’s fine to waste some time trying to find a good spot, it will save you a lot of frustration.

Third Boss: Ozruk
-This guy is a joke, at least on Normal mode. Free loot. Has a bunch of abilities but who cares?
-Keep your tank with back to the wall and tank n spank him.
-I took him down on my first attempt

Fourth boss: High Priestess Azil
-The bane of my existence. The most difficult boss to box that I have encountered so far with my mixed team.
-A perfect execution, knowing what to expect, and knowing what you’re doing about it is key in winning this encounter. A bit of luck helps too, but as you can see in the last 10% of her health, luck was not on my side as her energy shield knocked my team back all over the place and I barely recuperated from it
-This is what I found to be the best way to approach this boss. You should start the fight with your slaves by the banner on the left side of her altar. Your tank should pull her and tank her at the bottom of the stairs. She has a Force Grip that is absolutely crucial to dispel at the beginning of the fight (and whenever you can afterwards) as your tank may lose valuable aggro to your DPS, and it’s a guaranteed wipe. In this phase of the encounter, she summons Gravity Wells, that you should avoid. If the first one falls on your tank, and the second one falls on any of the slaves, move your slaves back. If the first and second one fall on any of your slaves, strafe them right first then back. The idea is to “hide” behind the wells and trap the followers that will start spawning by the time she drops the second well. Depending on your DPS, she most likely will drop 2 wells, then surround herself in an energy shield and fly back to the altar. This is your cue to get ready to bring those swarms of adds down quickly. I didn’t find it worth it to attack her in this phase, because 1) it’s crazy trying to coordinate all this, and 2) the shield decreases all her damage taken by 75%. Also she will throw Seismic Shards (marked by rising dust from the ground) that you need to avoid and use to your advantage, as it will kill any follower who is hit by it. After the first shard hits, 2 packs of followers will come from the opposite end of the room. Make sure your tank is ready to build AOE aggro quickly then start AOE with your other toons, while AOE healing AND avoid the last shard from hitting your team. Crazy I know! After this, she will fly back into the fight. Pick her up with the tank, avoid the wells, and bring down the adds. At this point the adds come in much smaller numbers so they’re really not a big deal.
-The ideal scenario is to finish her off before she surrounds herself again by the shield and flies off, as this will mean more shards and more adds. Unfortunately, this wasn’t the case for me and I had to suffer through another round…