Prince Malchezaar First Kill Photo
Prince Malchezaar is considered to be one of the two end bosses of Karazhan. Tonight Apex of War has slain Prince Malchezaar for the very first time. This is the team that did it.
Prince Goes Down – Guild First
This is big for us. On Saturday night, Apex of War mustered ten and went into Karazhan with the intent of working on the Prince fight. On the 5th attempt, we brought him down. It wasn’t pretty, but it counts.
Illustra was selected for the early phase of this Karazhan instance, and she continued through Netherspite. Kruenor was brought in on Prince night as the only Hunter, and there were already multiple Warlocks in the group.
We’ve been trying to use the “safe spot” strategy pertaining to the doorway (versus the far side safe spot). The first attempt was a warmup. The second tank ended within 30 seconds due to a series of crushing blows on the tank (3 in under 12 seconds). The third try we got lucky with the positioning of the infernals, and got Prince deep into phase 2. The fourth try we again got lucky with the positioning of the infernals, and got Prince into phase 3 (the first time we’d done that). On the fifth try, I thought we owned him. The tank went down with Prince still at about 20k health, I thought we were going to lose it. I got aggro and laid in to Prince with everything I had, when I got two-shotted, I saw him at 11k health and yelled for the DoTs. The last 11k seemed to burn off instantly and Prince fell right at the doorway…only 3 of us were left alive.
I was hoping for the bow, but it wasn’t to be. Prince Malchezaar dropped the Helm of the Fallen Champion and the Adornment of Stolen Souls (both needed on by Joslin), and the Nathrezim Mindblade (needed by Warlass). Joslin becomes the first member of Apex of War with both the T4 gloves and T4 helm.
This was a big step forward for Apex of War, and I’m looking forward to fighting Prince again next week.
Illustra Continues Karazhan
Illustra got a chance to pickup with the Karazhan run with Apex of War. On this leg of the run, I was the only Warlock, which is sort of nice. On the previous run, we had cleared through Opera pretty cleanly, so we used the side entrance and cleared our way to the Curator.
We used our relatively successful layout to setup for the fight. Healers bunched up in the middle, while the two Hunters took up positions at the wings. Casters such as myself spread out in the back area. As a Hunter in the fight, the instant damage means that usually the Hunters are fighting for aggro on the astral flares, while the casters help to burn them down.
As a Warlock firing Shadowbolts, it takes a few seconds to get my damage out there, so I’m relatively safe from astral flare damage. We only had one tank (Cidemo) for this run, which made it interesting. I dropped a few DoTs onto the Curator, and I think I managed to soak up several of the Hateful Bolts.
We did manage to one-shot the Curator. He dropped the Garona Signet Ring (needed on by Flynti) and the Gloves of the Fallen Defender (needed on by Cidemo, I think as a second pair for him). The fight lasted 6 minutes and 3 seconds.
We did very well clearing to the Shade of Aran with only a single tank. Having 3 shackles really helps, as well as 2 pets with Growl enabled. If healers are also focusing on keeping the pets alive, using only a single tank to clear trash can be effective.
The Shade of Aran was a good clean fight. When he does his Magnetic Pull, a Warlock can still refresh 3 DoTs as you’re running to the perimeter of the room, so that helps out. I joined the Hunters in the sweet spot zone during the Blizzard spell to end the fight. During the elementals phase I was able to keep one successfully banished and one feared. I got one Shadowbolt off on the tank target elemental, and apparently someone else killed the other elemental before I ever saw it.
The Shade of Aran was one-shotted as well. He dropped Pauldrons of the Justice-Seeker (Flamingarrow and Tullus won shards) and the Tirisfal Wand of Ascendancy (needed by Graise). The Shade of Aran fight lasted 5 minutes, 59 seconds.
We cleared to the Chess Event and won on the first attempt. It’s no surprise, though. As long as the event doesn’t get bugged, Chess Event is a pretty simple encounter. I played two different Footmen (Pawns) during the encounter. The chest contained the Mithril Chain of Heroism (Khalie won the shard) and the Legplates of the Innocent (Minnieme won the shard).
Feeling pretty confident we went on to challenge Netherspite up in his room. We’ve had mixed success with Netherspite in the past, but we were on a one-shot roll tonight. As a Warlock, I split duties with a Hunter on absorbing the Blue Beam. The goal is to get a few DoTs off, maybe a Shadowbolt, and then use Life Drain to keep my own health up. The strategy works great. The first two attempts resulted in wipes, as we lost the “second tank” (meaning, our dps Warrior sharing the Red Beam) very early. We downed Netherspite on the third attempt. He dropped Shining Chain of the Afterworld (needed by Tullus) and Uni-Mind Headdress (needed by Katare).
All in all, another successful run.
Illustra at the Opera Event
Illustra and other members of Apex of War stand on the Opera stage, having cleared the mobs. Tonight’s show was Wizard of Oz, as can be seen on the backdrop.
Illustra Raids Karazhan
Illustra made her second raid into Karazhan tonight. Everyone in the raid was from Apex of War, except for Illusta, who is still guilded with Eternal Force. I was pretty excited because I was so close to honored reputation level with The Violet Eye.
Unfortunately we had an early wipe on the trash mobs leading up to the Attumen encounter. One of the hunters let his pet (a Ravager, which has the Dash ability) get away (as he often does) and pulled the next two sets of trash mobs. We’re good, but we can’t handle three fights’ worth of mobs all at once.
The Attumen fight itself was good…no deaths, and Illustra never got aggro from Midnight or Attumen. We had to disenchant both pieces of loot; Attumen dropped Whirlwind Bracers and Gloves of Dexterous Manipulation. The fight lasted 3 minutes, 37 seconds.
Clearing up to Moroes was a little more interesting. Illustra’s damage picked up quite a bit, using Seed of Corruption several times on the AoE pulls. It’s nice to be able to get 2 or 3 seeds off, and then the group’s normal AoE damage starts erupting chain detonations of my seeds. A Phantom Attendant dropped Zierhut’s Lost Treads, which we ended up disenchanting. In the encounter with Moroes himself, we used the pets of the Hunters to tank the first two adds. The rest of the fight was great, I burned my Soulshatter pretty deep into the fight, and never had aggro issues. Moroes dropped Moroes’ Lucky Pocket Watch (needed by Lycana) and Idol of the Avian Heart. The fight lasted 3 minutes, 33 seconds.
As we cleared towards the Maiden of Virtue, a Phantom Attendant dropped The Bringer of Death. Lycana won the roll for it…it’s pretty nice for a dps caster, and I’m sure sells pretty well. We dropped the Maiden of Virtue without issues (my first attempt as a Warlock in this fight), and she dropped the Totem of Healing Rains and the Barbed Choker of Discipline. The fight lasted 2 minutes, 15 seconds.
The clear to the Opera event was flawless…we drew Wizard of Oz. I love this fight. We one-shotted the encounter and had no deaths, which is nice. The Crone dropped the Blue Diamond Witchwand (needed by Romtz) and the Eternium Greathelm (needed by Cidemo). The fight lasted 4 minutes, 37 seconds.
All in all, it was a great night running the “easy” part of Karazhan. I only died once in a situation that shouldn’t have happened. Illustra became honored with the Violet Eye and was able to upgrade her ring.