Molten Core and You - Druids ~ Posted by Kiera <Red Circle> Kel'Thuzad ~ What to Bring: * 40 Thornroot, 60 if Solo * 10 Major Mana Potions * 5 Major Healing Potions * 20 Runecloth Bandages Recommended Gear: +Healing/Mana Regen - these items tend to have sufficient +Intellect/Spirit for raiding and will provide you with more efficient healing per mana bar and less downtime than simply going for a huge mana pool alone. * If you are comfortable with emergency tanking, please bring a set of +Armor/Stamina gear as well. * Refer to Kiera's feral hybrid guide for a suggested list of pre-raid gear options. Recommended Mods: * Raid Assist - You MUST be aware of EVERY raid member's status at all times! * Needy List - Rebuff silly noobs who die, and never forget Omen of Clarity again. * Item Rack - Pre setup multiple sets of gear and switch between them on the fly. * Druid Bar - Displays your estimated mana bar while in feral forms. Very useful! General Notes: This tutorial is intended specifically for newer raid healing druids. Once your guild has these particular encounters on "farm" status, a druid's role and overall utility will vary significantly. For melee timing, positioning, and other strategies, please refer to our warrior and rogue class guides. Trash Mob Tactics Unless otherwise stated, your priorities (in order of importance) will be as follows: * Watch your group. No one in your party should ever die if you have enough mana for a heal. * If your own group is not taking significant damage, help spot heal the MT and his main healer. * If the MT group already has sufficient healing, help spot heal the off tank(s) and other healers. * If all tanks and healers have sufficient healing, then spot heal remaining members of the raid. * If the entire raid has more than sufficient healing, feel free to go WTF kitty form and do DPS! ~ Direct damage only! No bleeders or DoT's unless the raid leader has allotted you Debuff slots. ~ Molten Giants: Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to your very first pull. Don't freak out! They may be big. They may be ugly, and they probably smell really bad, but they're nothing special. These guys come in pairs. One will be off tanked. Simply follow the above list of priorities, and everything will be fine. Molten Destroyers: Pretty much the same drill as with Molten Giants, except for try and stay out of their AoE stomp range (it has a Knockdown effect, which will interrupt healing). Proceed as above. Firelords: Stay out of their AoE burn range. Proceed as above. Lava Annihilators: This may sound counterintuitive, but get and stay within Melee range (inside the little red target circle). Otherwise, proceed as above. Lava Surgers: Just like the Molten Destroyers have a gimpy twin, these guys look like Lava Annihilators, but don't try to dogpile on them in the same way. They have random "surges" (high damage AoE charge + Knockback attacks of doom!). Spread out, and avoid putting yourself in between the Lava Surger and any bridges, cliffs, and/or lava, or you will likely fall down a hole and die. Otherwise, proceed as above. Core Hounds: Get away from their mouths (frontal arc AoE fire breath attack) but stay within range of their AoE curse effects. Decurse your own group first, then the tanks and healers, and then other remaining members of the raid. Otherwise, proceed as above. Corehound Packs: Be prepared to cast Hurricane if needed when the dogs get to low health (all five Core Hounds must be killed within 10 seconds of one another, or they will start to resurrect their fallen brethren). Otherwise, proceed as above. If you are designated as an Off Tank, remember to peel your mob with a Moonfire and/or Insect Swarm before switching over to Dire Bear form. Enrage, then spam Swipe, Taunt, and Faerie Fire as needed. Only worry about holding aggro on your own mob. The rest of the raid will take care of doing the appropriate DPS. Lava Packs: If all goes well, stick with the above list of priorities. If the crap hits the fan (i.e. Warlocks are not on the ball and bad guys go running around crazy killing everybody), just throw heals everywhere! People are going to be on fire. A lot. Save the squishies, as they will fall over and die very quickly without a regen to help counteract...um, hello...being on fire? Being on fire sucks, dude... Molten Core Bosses If you are assigned to the Main Tank (all of these duties are equally important): * Keep Rejuvenation ticking on the MT as much as possible, to make the other Healers' lives easier. * Keep the Healing Group alive. This generally involves little more than a Rejuvenation here and there. * Spam a mid (~7) to low (~4) rank Healing Touch (depending on your +Healing gear bonus) on the MT. * Cancel your heal if it is not staggered properly with others', so that the mana does not go to waste. If you are assigned to solo heal an Off Tank (yes, we can, and we will): * Buffer with Rejuvenation and use a higher (8+) rank Healing Touch. You will most likely need the big guns. * If other members of your party are taking splash damage, throw a Rejuvenation and get back to your tank. * Use Regrowth only in emergencies, as it is extremely mana inefficient, and you will likely need that mana. * When the Off Tank's mob dies, go in to help the Main Tank's healers and/or spot heal the rest of the raid. If you are assigned to general Triage duty (this doesn't happen often): * Heal your group and your self. * Heal other healers, especially the MT's and OT's druids, as they will often times forget about themselves. * Heal anybody who is not being--or cannot be--taken care of by other healers (i.e. Priests OOM or dead). * Help spot heal everyone else. ~ Regardless of your assigned role in these fights, remember to always Decurse! It is far better to take that extra second to Decurse someone than to heal them for a fraction of the damage you would have saved. ~ Lucifron: MT druid: Follow your tank up toward the stalagmites and proceed as above. Lucifron has an AoE Curse, which will double the cost of all spells. There should be a Mage on Decruse duty in your group, but if for some reason they are not, it becomes your responsibility; Decurse yourself first, and then anyone else in range who uses mana (the only people who should be in range of you are the MT's Paladin and the Healing Group). There will be two Off Tanks. Anyone who is not in the MT group, stay at the very, very back of the cavern and proceed as above. Decurse anyone with a mana bar, starting with your own group mates first. Magmadar: MT druid: Target the Main Tank and back away from Magmadar in a straight line, slowly until your Healing spells begin to gray out. Then take one step forward. You should be able to proceed as above without ever getting hit by the AoE fear. Remember to adjust your position in response to the MT moving around and random fireballs exploding at your feet. No decursing or Off Tanks to worry about, although it will be extremely important to keep Hunters alive so that they can cast Tranquilizing Shot as needed. Everyone else is on general Triage duty. Gehennas: There will be enormous streams of Fire raining down from the sky. Don't get hit by them. Otherwise, proceed as above. Gehennas has an AoE Curse that will reduce Healing done by 75%. Decurse priority is Tanks and Healers, then everybody else. Help spot heal melee and squishies. Garr: If you are assigned to the Warlock group, just keep them all alive and stay away from any Guards that are being attacked, as they explode upon death. Everyone else will be assigned a tank (either the MT or Off Tanks). Again, try to avoid being hit by exploding Guard goo; it hurts. As soon as your Tank's mob is dead, move in to help the MT, as Garr will become increasingly more powerful when his Guards die. If you are assigned as an Off Tank, follow standard Tanking procedures (peel your assigned target with a Moonfire or Insect Sparm and just hold it), then proceed with spot healing and helping the MT after your mob is killed. Baron Geddon: Positioning is extremely important in this fight. Make sure to place yourself such that anyone who gets turned into the bomb will have a place to run at all times. Geddon has a nasty Mana Burn that, if you are not getting Cleansed fast enough, you will need to Shapeshift out of it to avoid dying. If you are the bomb, immediately switch to Cat form and Sprint away from the raid group (preferably towards a wall and/or low ceiling). You should be able to survive the explosion and safe fall out of additional impact damage. Run back to your group, heal up, and proceed as above. Shazzrah: Standard fight. No off tanks to worry about. Stay at max range, keep everybody Decursed, and proceed as above. Sulfuron: This is the Garr fight divided by two (four Off tanks). If you are Tanking, hold your mob away from the one that is being killed, and then when it is your turn, take your mob into the designated "kill" zone. Proceed as above. Golemagg: This is purely an endurance fight. No decursing to worry about. Two off tanks. Hold the adds away from each other. Keep the respective tanks alive until either Golemagg or the raid is dead. Having said that, the most efficient way to go about this fight is to assign one healer per each of the three tanks, a single spot healer between them all, and one Triage healer for the Rogues. Everyone else can go laserspewpewpewcat form. When a healer is down to enough Mana for two heals and a Shapeshift, call for one of the kitties to take over, and switch places. Most of the time, your raid should have enough DPS that the fight will be over before this happens. Majordomo Executus: MT druid follow your Tank. Everyone else is on Off Tank and/or Triage duty. Note to Triage healers: Mages are as important as Tanks in this fight, as they will be the ones in charge of sheeping the Healer adds. Also keep an eye open for people who get teleported into the fire pit, as they will likely need healing in order to get out of the fire without falling over and dying. Stay on the alert, and be ready to pick up any uncontrolled adds. However, if you are assigned to keep a Tank alive, do not abandon him/her for any reason whatsoever! Ragnaros: This is a dynamic fight. We do one practice collapse before activating the encounter. Please pay close attention to the raid leader(s). Gear: refer to Kiera's equipment thread for a list of Fire Resist options.