Illidari Council

[Shadowwolf]

Links:
http://www.wowwiki.com/Illidari_Council
http://www.wowhead.com/?npc=23426


Video:
[youtube=500,425]g39wTkCvkYw[/youtube]

Abilities:

Gathios the Shatterer (Pally)

• [spell=41468]Hammer of Justice[/spell]: Stuns a random player in a 10-40 yard radius for 6 seconds. Can be dispelled.
• [spell=41469]Seal of Command[/spell]: A buff on Gathios for a chance to deal additional Holy damage equal to 70% of normal weapon damage for 30 seconds. Judging using [spell=41470]Judgement of Command[/spell] deals 6,175 to 6,825 Holy damage. Shared cooldown with Seal of Blood (see below).
• [spell=32221]Seal of Blood[/spell]: A buff on Gathios giving more than 800 Holy damage for each attack for 30 seconds. Judging this with [spell=32221]Seal of Blood[/spell] deals 10800 Holy damage over 9 seconds. Shared cooldown with Seal of Command.
• [spell=41541]Consecration[/spell]: Area of effect ability that deals 2,250 Holy damage every 3 seconds for 21 seconds in a 10 yard radius from Gathios. Used every 30 seconds.
• [spell=41451]Blessing of Spell Warding[/spell]: Gathios can cast this spell shield on any of the 3 fellow allied bosses. The boss becomes immune to all spell damage for 15 seconds. Shares a 15 second cooldown with Blessing of Protection (see below).
• [spell=41450]Blessing of Protection[/spell]: Gathios can cast this physical shield on any of the 3 fellow allied bosses. The boss becomes immune to physical damage for 15 seconds. Shares a 15 second cooldown with Blessing of Spell Warding.
• [spell=41453]Chromatic Resistance Aura[/spell]: Increases the resistance to all schools of magic for the 3 fellow allied bosses bosses by 250 for 30 seconds. Shares a 60 second cooldown with Devotion Aura (see below).
• [spell=41452]Devotion Aura[/spell]: Gives 20% additional armor for the 3 fellow allied bosses for 30 seconds. Shares a 60 second cooldown with Chromatic Resistance Aura.

Notes:

• Assigning 3-4 healers is a good idea as there will be a lot of spike damage on your main tank (preferably the best geared).
• Spread healers around this boss as the other allied boss abilities may not be in your favor to group them up.

High Nethermancer Zerevor (Arcane Mage)

• [spell=41483]Arcane Bolt[/spell]: A magical bolt dealing 12950-15050 Arcane damage at the main tank. 2 second cast.
• [spell=41481]Flamestrike[/spell]: Calls down a pillar of flame anywhere in the room that burns all players in the 10 yards radius for 4625-5375 Fire damage and an additional 2806-3194 every 2 seconds for 12 seconds while stood in.
• [spell=41482]Blizzard[/spell]: Calls down a blizzard anywhere in the room inflicting 4375,5625 Frost damage every 2 seconds for 12 seconds to all players in a 10 yard radius.
• [spell=29973]Arcane Explosion[/spell]: An area of effect ability that deals 9000-11000 Arcane damage within a 20 yard radius once a player goes within 5 yards of Zerevor.
• [spell=41478]Dampen Magic[/spell]: A self buff reducing magic damage taken by up to 75% and healing by up to 500 for 5 minutes. The mage tank should spellsteal as soon as possible.

Notes:

• Ensure that the mage tanking Zerevor has a high hit rating to make sure that the spellsteal is not resisted.
• Make sure no one in the raid ever goes near Zerevor or they will more than likely be instantly killed due to Arcane Explosion.

Lady Malande (Holy Priest)

• [spell=41471]Empowered Smite[/spell]: Deals 5463-6037 Holy damage to the tank every 30 seconds. 2 second cast time.
• [spell=41472]Divine Wrath[/spell]: Burns a random player for 5000 Holy damage and an additional 2500 Fire damage every 2 seconds for 8 seconds. 2 second cast time. Cannot be dispelled.
• [spell=41475]Reflective Shield[/spell]: Shields Lady Malande from up to 25000 Physical and/or magical damage and is immune to inturrupts. Half of the damage absorbed is reflected onto the attacker. Lasts for 20 seconds or until used.
• [spell=41455]Circle of Healing[/spell]: Heals herself and the other 3 allied bosses of the Illidari Council for 95000-105000. 2.5 second casting time with a 20 second cooldown. Cannot be outranged. Must be inturrupted.

Notes:

• Have a mage and warlock on her at all times. As a rogue cannot Kick while she is shielded, a mage may still Counterspell her.
• Make sure to have Curse of Tongues on her at all times, it will help the mages and rogues greatly.

Veras Darkshadow (Rogue)

• [spell=41485]Deadly Poison[/spell]: Inflicts 1000 Nature damage every 1 second for 4 seconds. Cannot be removed.
• [spell=41487]Envenom[/spell]: A finishing move that consumes the Deadly Poison on the target that instantly deals 4250-5750 Nature damage.
• [spell=41476]Vanish[/spell]: Veras vanishes every 55 seconds for 30 seconds.

Notes:

• Before Veras reappears, he is visable by the player in which he is standing next to. Have the player call out this information as soon as possible so the tank can quickly pick him up.

Positioning and Prep

All raid members must have at least 11k HP buffed. A rogue wearing [item]Gladiator's Leather Gloves[/item] is extremely useful (for the ranged physical spell interrupt).

[attachimg=1]

Tank Veras Darkshadow in the lower left corner near Lady Malade so that the Veras Darkshadow healer can be more mobile during Vanish times. Tank Gathios the Shatterer in the lower right corner. Since High Nethermancer Zerevor won't really move from his initial place, make sure Lady Malande is tanked out of his AE range, somewhere around the middle of the stairs. The stairs can cause line of sight issues to healers, so make sure nobody is on the upper part (only Zerevor will be up there; the mage tanking him should be downstairs).

Because the AoE damage is centralised, players should stay as spread as possible to avoid taking damage from AoEs targetting other players. The Veras Darkshadow healer will want to be healing people who get Deadly Poison and Envenom.

Suggested Strategy:

Pulling
The Pull
Use an Imp. The Imp can cast its Fireball from outside of aggro range. The Imp will then take the first Arcane Bolt from High Nethermancer Zerevor. If you do not use an imp, or at least a pet, High Nethermancer Zerevor will choose the primary aggro target for the first Arcane Bolt. That person will surely die. Even the mage that Spellsteals the shield will sometimes not get aggro right away and High Nethermancer Zerevor will begin an Arcane Bolt cast at another player (usually a vital healer).

Send the Imp in. As soon as the Imp's Fireball is flying, the tanking Mage runs in and casts a Fireblast and a Spellsteal. 2 hunters each Misdirect Gathios the Shatterer and Lady Malande on to their tanks. The third tank picks up Veras Darkshadow by himself.

The Fight

After a successful pull (which is probably the hardest part) the fight itself begins. There are no different phases, only pure tank and spank and avoiding all the different boss abilities. It's all about surviving.

Apart from the special assignments, the raid will DPS Gathios the Shatterer (Pally) all the time (Lady Malande has immunity blessings on herself most of the time, High Nethermancer Zerevor can't be accessed by melee because of Arcane Explosion, and Veras Darkshadow is invisible a lot of the time).

Also note that after 15 minutes they will enrage and instantly wipe the raid. With almost perfect interrupting this shouldn't be a threat.

Veras Darkshadow (Rogue)
Veras has low melee damage, so 1 healer can keep up MT2 easily. In addition, he will Vanish once every minute for 30 seconds. He can reappear anywhere in the room and will use Deadly Poison and Envenom on a random raid member. He usually reappears near the target he Envenoms. If he's not picked up instantly he will run loose and kill people.

Before he reappears from Vanish he can be spotted by the player he's standing next to. The tank must be informed in that instant so he can run there and pick him up.

Deadly Poison can not be removed, therefore raid healers must be on their toes and heal the targeted person. An unlucky Blizzard / Flamestrike and Deadly Poison combination can easily kill anyone.

While Veras is stealthed the healer on MT2 can help out elsewhere.

High Nethermancer Zerevor (Mage)
After the pull, Zerevor casts Dampen Magic on himself that must be Spellstealed in that instant, or else the tanking mage will receive so much burst damage that it won't be possible to keep him alive. An unlucky Spellsteal resist can wipe the raid, therefore the mage should have a high amount of spell hit (roughly 16%) to minimize the chance of Spellsteal resists.

Since the raid DPS is focused on another target, the tanking mage won't have any trouble maintaining aggro on Zerevor by casting his primary damage spell according to talent build.

The boss continuously uses Blizzard and Flamestrike at random places in the room, so everyone must stay alert and run out of them immediately when cast. Do not run near the boss himself, because you'll most likely be 1-shotted by an Arcane Explosion.

Gathios the Shatterer (Pally)
Probably the hardest of the 4 bosses, he keeps hitting MT1 for incredible amounts of damage in spikes, so you should assign your best geared warrior to tank him. Also make sure to put at least 3-4 healers on him.

Occasionally he does Consecration, from which everyone must run out. Theoretically, he keeps buffing the other 3 bosses with Blessing of Spell Warding and Blessing of Protection, however almost all the time he targets Lady Malande with these spells. He uses them separately: never at the same time!

When he judges Seal of Command, Spell Reflect it back at him.

Tip: spread the assigned healers around him so they will not all get hit by Flamestrike or Blizzard at the same time.

Lady Malande (Priest)
Lady Malande has low melee damage, keeps Smiting MT3 for moderate damage, and does Divine Wrath on a random raid member (which can't be dispelled).

Dealing with the Reflective Shield and the Circle of Healing is one of the most important parts of the fight. Always have a rogue, an elemental shaman and a mage DPSing her (the elemental shaman can be switched to another mage, but the shaman is very effective here). A warrior also makes the best tank for Lady Malande because he can also interrupt her casts.

When the shield is not up, the rogue must interrupt her cast with Kick. If she has the shield up, the mage or shaman must interrupt her. You can either DPS her shield down or wait till it's gone. These players should coordinate and be vocal about what she is immune to at any time and when they are on cooldown.

Also note that Lady Malande will most probably be affected by Blessing of Protection or Blessing of Spell Warding at any given time. If she has Blessing of Protection then the mages have to deal with the interrupting. When Blessing of Spell Warding is up, it's the rogue's turn.

Also have your rogue keep Mind Numbing Poison on her all the time, as this gives the interrupters a bit more time to react.

Class Information

Tanks:
# MT1: Position Gathios properly, move out of Consecration as fast as you can. You can Spell Reflect the Judgement of Command that Gathios does.
# MT2: Make sure to grab Veras Darkshadow when he reappears.
# MT3: If you have enough rage, reflect Empowered Smite back onto Lady Malande. This is not a necessity.

Rogues: If you're assigned, interrupt Circle of Healing when the Reflective Shield is down and/or Blessing of Spell Warding is up.

Warlocks: DPS. Put Curse of Tongues on Lady Malande. Put Curse of Shadows on High Nethermancer Zerevor.

Mages: DPS your assigned targets. Counterspell Lady Malande's Circle of Healing when the Reflective Shield is up.

Hunters: Misdirect during the pull, then DPS.

Healers:
# MT1: Be ready to out heal very intensive damage spikes.
# MT2: Solid healing, help others out during Vanish.
# MT3: Solid healing, make sure to keep up the tank and the assigned rogue and mages.
# Raid: Watch carefully what's happening in the room as swift healing is often needed.

Healing Assignments should be very specific for this fight; just having a group of MT healers and another group of raid healers will not work. Tank healers should be very specifically assigned to who they are healing and when. Raid healers should be very specifically assigned to heal particular groups.

[fiere redfern]

Never thought I'd see the day when the Illidari council was on the list of boss strats for us to review... <3 Twilight, so much 

[capnpop]

I blame "hardcore" guilds that made shadow angry as a child and now she's able to "get back" at them.

[Shadowwolf]

http://forum.twilightonalex.com/index.php?topic=6118.0