Welcome to Metro’s 25 man Heroic Healing guides for the Siege of Orgrimmar! It is important to understand that these guides are first aimed at helping healers understand their role, and then helping them maximize their play. Each will feature a general overview of the mechanics that matter to the healers, and conclude with a class-specific discussion. Let’s begin!
Understanding the encounter –
It’s not often you fight a giant tank, but in the 6th encounter of Siege of Orgrimmar, we do just that. It’s important to understand this when people die, as they died to a tank so it’s less bad. Did I mention the tank is a tank?
Anyway, on a more serious note, it’s important to understand the possible strategy differences for this encounter on Heroic from Normal. Any group without a death wish should be employing a strategy that knocks you back all the way to the other side of the room to avoid the Heroic-only Mortar Barrage. The mechanic itself is just absolutely absurd, and to even try and navigate it with the rest of the damage going out is suicide and not worth any damage you could potentially gain.
If your group is foolish enough to be attempting this, I can’t help you, but assuming you are following the same strategy as I am, let’s move on to the healing portion.
Understanding the Healer’s Role –
This fight is absolutely the most healing intense in the raid thus far, and will questionably remain so until Malkorok. In order to complete this encounter your healers will need high levels of coordination of CDs that need to be used at the exact times when needed. I will preface this by saying, multiple weeks after our first kill, we still wipe every once in a while because people forgot to use a CD when it’s their turn.
The fight will be broken down into two very distinct phases, so let’s approach it that way.
Assault Mode:
In this phase, your job is to quickly patch the group up. There will be a variety of mechanics happening at once, none of which need to be understood by name, but all of which can kill people. It sounds logical to say “avoid this” or “move out of that” but if at any point one of these mechanics is failed outright, another will finish them off immediately.
RIP bads, omg spread plz…
The best advice I can give you for this is to spam single target heals with your head on a swivel. For once in your life, this phase will benefit those who can react, not prevent, as none of the mechanics are predictable in terms of who they will hit and when. To complicate this, you will need to be dodging them yourself, otherwise expect equal death-treatment!
If the damage happening to the raid randomly wasn’t enough, your tanks will constantly be taking 70+ percent of their health in damage. This is because of both the melee and mechanics from the boss itself, but also because of the bombs. So once again, keep your eyes open and your mind alert. DO NOT simply afk AOE heal like you did on Galakras. This fight is all about the right Flash of Light on the right player at the right time, and if you land it successfully, you will save their life. Everyone will be too spread out to effectively AOE heal, and it will literally be 1-2 people taking damage at a time so just listen to me for once in your lives, alright? If you do nothing else in this phase but cast your quick single target heal, then you’ve still done a great job.
As a healer, you can also handle the bombs, but without armor you will get oneshot, so this is more up to your raid than you. Just realize that as a Shaman or Paladin it is absolutely on the table every time it happens. You just need to be prepared.
Siege Mode:
Welp, here we are. Time for the insano-retard-mode phase…
In order to complete this phase properly, understand that there will be multiple sources of damage throughout, all which can and will kill you easily if not CDed through. I will break the sources of damage up so it is easy to understand.
1- Seismic Activity: This ability happens essentially whenever he is not doing Shock Pulse. The entire phase will be made up of this mechanic, which does 84k Nature Damage every 1 second to every player in the raid regardless of positioning. It’s best to treat this mechanic as “incidental” damage, and not use CDs specifically for it, with one very distinct exception. The mechanic will begin to happen immediately as you enter the phase, so there is a very high chance that people are still low from the Assault Phase mechanics. For this reason, I strongly recommend 1 healing throughput CD (like tranq) to get you topped off and end right before the shock pulse. Healing Tide is also great, as you can set and forget. Just make sure its last tick is up before you get knocked away from it.
2- Shock Pulse: This is the mechanic that will decimate the raid, as not only does it do an absurd amount of damage, but it will knock everyone back. It’s important to know exactly where you want to be knocked back to, and to make sure you are actually being knocked to that location, otherwise expect death. This mechanic MUST be CDed through, and immediately after, to avoid death to the next Seismic round.
3- Demolisher Cannons: This mechanic complicates the whole strategy of all being knocked back to one location, as it will splash 225k fire damage to anyone it hits, and then to anyone within 6 yards. You MUST spread from this, but stay close enough to remain in healing range, otherwise certain death is upon you. This is best looked at as “incidental” damage, and unless handled wrong, is only a complication, not a cause for concern.
Even the blind recognize this as an easy mechanic comparatively.
4- Explosive Tar: The least dangerous mechanic unless you have people who use Seeing Eye dogs to raid. The tar itself will plop down on random places, and unless you are standing it, will do nothing. It will slow movement speed though, so if it lands on you gtfo.
5- Cutter Laser: This mechanic should seem obvious, but can still cause problems. The damage from the laser is dealt to anyone it comes in contact with, so since you are constantly moving and spread, it’s quite possible that 2-3 people can get in its way. It will do 300k every second to anyone standing near it, so it’s up to your raid how you want to handle it, but either way make sure the 24 people who do not have it following them aren’t running near it. We have the player with it run towards the boss, and as long as they aren’t RPwalking, they shouldn’t have damage done to them. Obviously if this is run through the puddle you lose. You will take massive damage, and won’t be able to recover so stay away from the tar at all costs in this phase.
6- Crawler Mines: Same thing as previous phase, but can be difficult to notice if they are stuck in the oil. Keep an eye on the tanks as they handle these, as they can be silent killers when your focus is diverted to the mage iceblocked in the oil with the laser chasing him.
7- Mortar Barrage (lol): If you thought the other combination of mechanics were bad, try dealing with this one as well. No chance in hell, literally impossible IMO. Not sure how any group could heal with this in the mix as well, unless maybe they were all 6 druids. If you aren’t avoiding this mechanic by being knocked 100+ yards from the boss, then may the lord Jesus Christ bless your soul. Even he may not be able to deliver you.
Cooldown Usage:
So with all this in mind, hopefully you understand how important healing is in this phase. If 1-2 healers die early, you can’t complete it. If 1-2 healers miss their CD queue, you can’t complete it. If 1-2 healers are significantly behind in gear, this may not be possible, unless the other 4 are monsters. I’ll explain our rotation in-depth for your benefit, and you can make your own based on what classes you have available.
– Initial Seismic Activity: DPS shaman use Ancestral Guidance (only opportunity, make sure it’s happening.), Resto Druid Tranquility.
– First Shock Pulse: Devo Aura (only reduction option, as people are still spread), Divine Hymn when we land, DPS shaman Healing Tide after that.
– Second Shock Pulse: 2nd Devo Aura, PW Barrier, Priest 90 Talents, Healing Tide from Resto Shaman.
– Final Shock Pulse: 3rd Devo Aura, Spirit Link, anything else. Once this hits, the phase is essentially over, so no need for major CDs to prepare for another.
Also worth noting that Smoke bombs and AMZ should be used regularly if available. Not mentioned here, as we have 2 strong reduction cds already.
Once the third one happens, everyone will be a bit trigger happy and start running towards the boss again, but be careful, as the damage is still happening. It’s important that everyone moves together at this point, so heals can still go out, even though it’s not major.
Only other thing that may present a problem is the tanks getting in their position before you are in yours. This is pretty logical as a lot of tanks will roll / charge/ sprint, etc to get there asap and start building resources. Just be aware of their health and use a speed boost to avoid them being out of LoS for too long.
In terms of potion options, this is probably a good fight to consider using a regular mana potion. No matter what phase of the fight you are in, standing still for zzz pots can be a very bad thing. In assault, you may end up dead due to the sawblade or the red circle. In the Siege phase not healing for 10 seconds in between shock pulses can result in deaths, let alone if oil and the lazer target you.
Only time when you can’t get yourself killed is after the third shock while everyone is running – but this means you will be lagging behind on position to continue healing. Tough call, choose wisely!
Class Specific Tips –
Holy Paladin: Great fight for Paladin utility. Double BoP and 20% physical DP for soaking mines to avoid damage elsewhere. Beacon is OP, put it on the tank taking the most damage and it will do 40 percent of your healing in phase 1. Flash of light spam until oom in Assault phases – can regen during knockback and running around. Use Divine Shield as he does Shock Pulse to avoid getting knocked back!! Speed of Light to get back to the fight asap. Hand of sac on tank constantly.
Resto Shaman: Extremely tough fight for shaman, healing rain near useless in Assault and chain heal may miss bounces with spread. Consider single target spam, and drop Mana Tide early. Use Spirit link for damage reduction, not health equalizer. Spiritwalker’s Grace OP for the knockbacks. Earthshield on squishiest tank, + 2 set will do crazy numbers.
Resto Druid: Time to shine, hots are king on this fight. Spiritwalker’s Grace from Symbiosis allows Tranq to be used directly as the Shock Pulse happens. Ironbark to save tanks or allow you to eat a bomb with Barkskin. If timed well, mushrooms can be exploded directly as shock pulse hits. Place them about 5 yards behind the group and hit it as the knock back happens – healing everyone passing over them for a crazy amount.
Disp / Holy Priest: Level 90 talent is so OP for siege phase. Life grip can be used to help someone being knocked back in the wrong direction. Be sure to add a PW Shield to anyone soaking a bomb, regardless of your spec or theirs.
Misty Monk: (Do not currently have a monk healer in our progression.) Revival is amazing for use immediately after knockback. Land with near full health! Can place orbs down where people land for some burst healing. Use Roll as they knock back to negate. Life Cocoon plus CD to eat a bomb.
TLDR Recap –
Nazgrim, currently upset we killed his tank.
Without question, most difficult healing fight in the first 8 bosses, maybe 10. Be ready for anything in Assault Phase, don’t blindly AOE heal. React to large damage and hit them with your fastest heal, regardless of mana. Tanks will be obliterated, keep their health on focus, especially since it’s easy to get lost keeping cloth DPS alive. Need intense coordination of CDs for Siege Phase – Don’t fall asleep! Know your limits for taking a bomb, but do so when possible. Careful with zzz pots, they can cause a wipe in Siege phase, or get you killed in either phases.
As always, this guide is from the perspective of a Holy Paladin in 25 man heroic raid leadership perspective. Experience is limited when it comes to priest and monk healers, so if you have input feel free to join the conversation! Otherwise, if you have any questions feel free to ask! Enjoy SoO!