Illidan Stormrage

[Shadowwolf]

Links:
http://www.wowwiki.com/Illidan_Stormrage_(tactics)
http://www.wowhead.com/?npc=22917


Video:

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[youtube=500,425]2gn0ev1GKGM[/youtube]

Abilities:

• HP - 5.5 million
  
• Melee - on plate ~8k main hand, ~3k off-hand, no crushing blows

Phase 1 Abilities:

• [spell=40832]Flame Crash[/spell]: A blue flame landing directly underneath Illidan after a jumping attack; deals 5000 fire damage every 2 seconds for 60 seconds to everyone in a 10 yard radius.
• [spell=41917]Parasitic Shadowfiend[/spell]: A random player is affected by this debuff which deals 3000 shadow damage every 2 seconds for 10 seconds. Once the duration has completed, two Parasitic Shadowfiends will spawn at the current location and then target the player with the highest global threat. If the parasites reach and melee the targeted player, that member will also receive the debuff.
• [spell=40904]Draw Soul[/spell]: Damages all frontal targets in a 70 degree angle for 5000 shadow damage as well as healing Illidan himself for 100,000 health.

Phase 2 Abilities:

• Summon Flames of Azzinoth: Two fire elementals spawning from warblades, the Flames of Azzinoth need picked up and killed in order to reach the next phase.
• [spell=40018]Eye Blast[/spell]: A blue fire beam from the eyes of Illidan that deals 19750-20250 shadow damage to any player affected by the initial hit. After initial hit, it ticks for 2000 fire damage if stood within it.
• [spell=40598]Fireball[/spell]: A volley attack, throwing blue fireballs to each player for 2550-3450 fire damage.
• [spell=40585]Dark Barrage[/spell]: A random player is affected by this debuff which deals 3000 shadow damage per second for 10 seconds.

Phase 3 Abilities:
As well as the new ability below, Illidan uses all of the abilities from phase 1.

• [spell=40932]Agonizing Flames[/spell]: A flamestrike is cast upon a random player that deals 4000 fire damage as well as 3000 fire damage every 5 seconds for 1 minute within a 5 yard radius. Fire damage increases with time.

Phase 4 Abilities:
NO MELEE DPS ON THIS PHASE AT ALL

• [spell=41078]Shadow Blast[/spell]: A Shadow Blast is sent to the player with the highest threat dealing 8750-11250 shadow damage as well as all players within a 20 yard radius of the target.
• [spell=41131]Flame Burst[/spell]: A burst sent to each player dealing 3238-3762 fire damage every 10 seconds. Players within 5 yards of each other will receive additional damage from the interlacing radius.
• [spell=41117]Summon Shadow Demons[/spell]: Illidan spawns four Shadow Demons at his feet which target and paralyze a random player. The demons then slowly move along the purple targeting beam toward their target. If the demon reaches the target, the player will die.
• [spell=41142]Aura of Dread[/spell]: An aura surrounding Illidan within a 15 yard radius which deals 1000 shadow damage per second to anyone standing within range. It also applies a stackable debuff on the player which increases shadow damage taken by 30%.

Phase 5 Abilities:
As well as the new abilities below, Illidan uses all of the abilities used in phase 3 (including the ones from phase 1).

• [spell=40647]Shadow Prison[/spell]: At 30% health, Illidan places all players in a Shadow Prison for 30 seconds, preventing any incoming and outgoing attacks. Maiev Shadowsong then joins the battle against Illidan.
• [spell=40683]Frenzy[/spell]: Illidan now has increased attack speed and as well as increased power. Maneuver Illidan to Maiev's traps to counter this ability.

Berserk: After 25 minutes Illidan does a hard enrage.


Flames of Azzinoth

• HP - ~1.1 million
• Melee - hits for around 2 - 3k on 385 fire resistance (their melee attacks count as fire damage, though they can still land critical blows). A normal hit lands for around 10k damage without any fire resistance.
• Blaze - The Flames will leave a cloud of yellow flame underneath them on the ground. If stood in, this deals 2k fire damage every second. The Flames need to constantly be moved in order to avoid tanks taking too much damage from these clouds. The Blazes themselves stack in terms of damage - standing in more than one for any length of time is very strongly recommended against, as unlucky resists can result in the tank's death. Careful movement will be required from each Flame tank to avoid them.
• Enrage/Charge - If a raid member is too far away from one of the Flames they will charge that player and Enrage, becoming untankable and wiping the raid.

Their attacks are all fire based so cannot be blocked, but can be dodged.
They are classed as Demons, so exorcism works on them.

Shadow Demons
These spawn in phase 4 at Illidan's feet, targeting random raid members.

• HP - ~22k
• [spell=41080]Consume Soul[/spell]- they will not attack any other target than the one they first choose. However if they reach their target it will result in that person's death.
• [spell=41083]Paralyze[/spell] - as the Shadow Demons spawn, they pick a random raid member and move slowly towards them (a glowing purple beam streams constantly from the main eye of the Demons towards the raid member they are targeting). The affected person is stunned whilst the Demons move.

If the warlock tank is targeted by the Shadow Demons then DPS needs to focus on that Demon first, also being aware that the warlock is still taking Shadow Blast splash damage (so melee can't get too close).
The unaffected DPS needs to kill the Shadow Demons before they kill their intended target. If the Shadow Demons are not stopped before they reach their targets then they will acquire new targets.

Suggested Strategy:

Phase 1

Positioning:

[attachimg=1]

Phase 1 is in essence a tank and spank fight with a few added twists.

Every so often Illidan will jump up high and land, using his Flame Crash ability. He will need to be moved when this occurs, as the Flame Crash ticks for 5k fire damage around is landing area. Be sure to consider the melee and raid's position when moving him, as you do not want them to be affected by Draw Soul.

The raid itself has a fairly easy job, DPSing Illidan down and keeping the Main Tank alive. The only thing to be aware of is his Parasitic Shadowfiend debuff which he will target a random raid member (including the main tank) with every 30 seconds. Affected raid members should move out of the main body of the raid, and ranged DPS should be assigned to kill the Parasites which then spawn, making sure not to be meleed by them, as a single touch from the Parasites will spread the debuff to the meleed person. Healers make sure to heal the 'infected' raid member.

If the main tank is affected by the Parasites, the melee should back off whilst the ranged DPS take care of the adds.

Once Illidan reaches 65% HP, Phase 2 will begin.

Phase 2

Positioning:

[attachimg=2]

At 65% HP Illidan will fly up into the air and stay up there. At this point the entire raid should move to the centre of the Summit, over the metal grate in the floor.

Illidan will throw down the Twin Blades of Azzinoth into the floor at each side of the circular grate, and the Flames of Azzinoth will emerge next to the Blades. These fire elementals deal a large amount of fire damage and as such must be tanked in full fire resistance gear.

The Flames themselves should be faced away from the raid and moved along the floor as shown, with care being taken to avoid their Blazes where possible (yellow clouds which deal yet more fire damage to the tanks).

The added twist to make this phase extremely challenging is Illidan's Eye Beam ability, which will run down tangentially to the central circular metal grate, over where the Twin Blades landed.

The tanks must be aware of which side this beam is coming from and move accordingly, as to be caught in this beam is to die.
With the Eye Beam, the Blazes and the high melee damage the Flames can do, this phase is not to be underestimated from a tank's point of view.

[attachimg=3]

The Flames themselves will charge any raid member that is too far away from them, a range of approximately 30-40 yards. This needs to be taken into account by the tanks as by moving the Flames in a particular way, they may find themselves being charged by the other tank's Flame. Once the Flame has charged, it will become Enraged and deal significantly more damage for a short time. Avoiding the charge is imperative, and the raid itself must not stray from the confines of the metal grate. This includes pets and totems.

[attachimg=4]

Whilst all this complex tanking is going on, the raid itself has many things to deal with. First off, healing is very intense during this phase. Healers must be assigned to the tanks; at least 2 dedicated healers per tank is required. The raid however is taking damage from Illidan himself in the form of Fireballs. These Fireballs hit for around 3k fire damage and have a radius of about 10 yards. They will randomly hit the central grate area in between Eye Beams, and unlucky positioning can result in players taking 4 or 5 hits. The key is to spread out as much as possible within the central area, and assigning raid healers - Shamans are excellent at this with their Chain Heal ability.

Of course, do not spread too far, since the Flames will charge players standing too far away from them, and of course players can be caught by the Eye Beam if they do not pay attention.

With good healing and generous use of Fire Protection Potions, Phase 2 is fairly manageable. That is until of course you add in Dark Barrage. Illidan will target random raid members (including the 2 Flame tanks) with Dark Barrage - a massive attack that deals 30k Shadow Damage over 10 seconds. Healers must be ready to heal the affected person quickly. Dark Barrage can be removed with Cloak of Shadows, Divine Shield and Iceblock.

If the Flame tanks are affected by Dark Barrage it is advisable to Shield Wall or at least Last Stand.

Once the Flames of Azzinoth are killed, Phase 3 will begin.

Phase 3

Positioning:

[attachimg=5]

Illidan will land in the center of the metal grate area. It is important he is picked up and tanked facing away from the raid as in phase 1.

Phase 3 is basically the same as phase 1 but with the introduction of Agonizing Flames, a particularly nasty ability that targets a random raid member and deals an instant 4k fire damage as well as ticking for increasing amounts of fire damage over 60 seconds. The ability has a range of about 5 yards, so anyone standing too close to the affected person will also receive the debuff. Because of this, it is important that the raid spreads out efficiently during this phase.

Do not forget that players will still be affected by Parasites during this phase.

Phase 4:

Phase 4 will happen every 60 seconds and lasts for 30 seconds, with time allowed for Illidan to transform in and out of demon form (so it actually takes about 50 seconds for phase 4 to start and finish completely).

Positioning:

[attachimg=6]

The actual transformation of Illidan takes about 10 seconds. It begins with him kneeling on the ground, and at this point the warlock tank should DoT Illidan up and start to cast Searing Pain repeatedly in order to be top of his threat list. At the end of the transformation, aggro is completely reset for Illidan, but DoTs cast before the transformation can tick and still cause threat after it, so it is important that the warlock tank has his own DoTs up during the transformation, and that the rest of the raid stops damaging him as soon as they see the transformation occur.

The Aura of Dread that surrounds Illidan at melee range means that a melee tank in this phase would be very difficult to heal. It also means that no melee DPS can occur on him during this phase; all melee DPS should move back behind the healers and await the arrival of the Shadow Demons.

Illidan will spawn 4 Shadow Demons during this phase which target random raid members and paralyse them, making a direct line to that member. If the demons reach the raid member, that member dies, so it is important that the raid stays at a fair distance from Illidan during this phase. That includes the warlock tank, who should make sure he is at maximum range from Illidan.

The warlock tank should initially keep casting Searing Pain until he is confident of his aggro, and then attempt to keep himself alive in any way he can. Shadow Ward should be used on cooldown, as well as Siphon Life (if you have it) and of course Drain Life.

The DPS should quickly focus on whichever Demon has the shortest 'life-line' to their target, as this is the person that will be reached first and is therefore most likely to die. Fast DPS on the demons is necessary, as well as any slowing effects. Frost Traps, Earthbind Totems, Hamstrings etc should all be used where possible. Once the demons are dead the affected players are released from their stun, and the phase continues as normal.

Healers will need to keep the raid up as players will take heavy damage from the Flame Bursts; remember the raid needs to be topped up as he casts Flame Burst every 10 seconds. The warlock tank will require at least 2 dedicated healers, depending on his shadow resistance, but be sure to stay at least 20 yards away from him to avoid taking Shadow Blast splash damage.

Illidan will switch between Phase 3 and 4 until he reaches 30%. The most important thing to remember during these phases is to stay spread out. Agonizing Flames, Parasites, Flame Burst and Shadow Blasts all require some sort of spreading from the raid.

Phase 5:

At 30% HP Illidan will imprison the raid and question your ability to defeat him. At this point the cavalry will arrive in the form of Maiev Shadowsong.

It is important that you time this phase correctly based on your DPS, since leaving Illidan at a certain point as he imprisons the raid may have adverse effects - taking him to 30% if he is currently in Demon Form leads to him bugging and staying in that form for the remainder of the fight. It is also fairly important to not have any loose Parasites in the raid at this point, as they will be left on people during the shadow prison, and an unavoidable double Parasitic Fiend debuff will occur as soon as the prison is lifted. A good rule of thumb is to DPS him to 32%, wait for him to finish Demon Phase, and then nuke the hell out him before he releases any Parasites.

Maiev will aid the raid, meleeing Illidan and placing traps down every so often. These traps are the only way to stop Illidan's Enrage - he must be dragged to them once they are opened, and he will then be trapped for a short time (about 10 seconds) in which he will kneel forward with his hands on the ground, cease all attacks, and take extra damage from the raid. This sounds fairly easy, but it is quite hard for the main tank to see the traps and position Illidan correctly. It is also notable that, except when he is trapped, he is still doing all of his Phase 1 and 3 abilities, including Draw Soul, so the raid must not get caught in front of him. Spreading out is still a necessity. Once he has been trapped for a short period, Illidan will return to Phase 4, transforming into a demon.

The fight then consists of moving Illidan to the traps once they are placed and DPSing him as much as possible whilst he is trapped. When not trapped he is still doing all of his previous abilities however, and is still quite capable of wiping the raid.

Class Specifics:

Tanks
If you are main tanking Illidan there are a few key things to keep in your mind at all times:

1. Always keep him turned away from the raid
2. Be ready to move out of Flame Crash constantly
3. Keep an eye out for the traps in Phase 5; they are not always placed in convenient locations and you may have to move Illidan whilst bearing in mind all of the above.

Off tanks will need to be very aware of Eye Beams during Phase 2: if you get caught in this you will die. Have someone assigned to announce which side they originate from if you find them difficult to avoid. Also, working out a movement pattern beforehand with your partner tank is essential - you need to be within 40 yards of each other at all times; move north and work southwards, or something similar.

Movement to avoid the Blazes is also essential. Unfortunately only practice will make this perfect.

Warlock tanks - make sure you take aggro as he transforms. All DoTs should be placed upon him and you should chain cast Searing Pain. Keep at maximum range from Illidan in case you receive a Shadow Demon. Depending on how many DoTs you have left on him, you may also be susceptible to gaining aggro as he returns to phase 3/5. Be ready to Soul Shatter.

Healers
The Main Tank will be taking a ton of damage. The majority of your healing should be directed at him for phases 1, 3 and 5.

Always throw a heal onto a person with the Parasitic Shadowfiend debuff - it deals 15k shadow damage in total.

Phase 2 is the most healing intensive phase so save your cooldowns for this. Each off tank will require at least 2 healers and the raid itself will also need topping up substantially. Shamans' Chain Heal is the way to save the raid: all Shamans should be assigned to raid healing here.

Watch out for people receiving the Agonizing Flames debuff in phases 3 and 5. It does last 60 seconds and ticks for higher and higher damage. Chances are that people are still going to have the debuff in phase 4, so keep them alive during Flame Bursts.

Chain cast heals on the main tank when Illidan Enrages, and be aware that people are still receiving the Parasitic Shadowfiend debuff even when Illidan is close to death.

The warlock tank will need 2 or 3 dedicated healers; everyone else should raid heal during Phase 4. Paladins should be ready to BoP the warlock tank (or indeed anyone else who over-aggroes) at the end of Phase 4.

Melee
Be aware of his Flame Crashes and don't step into them.

If you receive Parasitic Shadowfiend, moving away from the other melee is a smart idea.

During Phase 2 be especially aware of Eye Beam and don't try to push your DPS. Staying alive is the priority - there is no excuse for getting Eye Beamed.

In phase 4 stay behind the rest of the raid until the Shadow Demons spawn, then help out and kill them. You cannot attack Illidan during this phase in melee range.

Never move in front of Illidan.

Ranged
Always be ready to kill Parasites, no matter what stage of the fight.

Pets can be useful but be aware they will incur the wrath of the Flames of Azzinoth in phase 2 if they are too far away. Also be aware that they will probably take damage from Flame Crash if they are assigned to Illidan, so be ready to move them if necessary. In phase 4, pets should be avoided as they have their own splash radius for the fire damage.

Spread as much as you can in phase 2 without leaving the boundary of the metal grate. This will reduce the damage taken from Fireballs on the raid as a whole and make healers' jobs easier.

In phase 4 stay in range of Illidan and be ready to kill the Demons that spawn. Be especially sure to kill the Demon on the warlock tank, if he should receive one.

When Illidan becomes trapped by Maiev, pop all trinkets and use your highest damage abilities; he takes extra damage when trapped.

[Shadowwolf]

Guide is complete and the detailed video is posted. Please take time to review, this is a big league boss and isnt easy.

[Fab]

Looks like a blast to do!

Should be fun to learn to execute 

Let's get one of our rogues a new weapon

[Vengeance]

Looks like a blast to do!

Should be fun to learn to execute 

Let's get one of our warlocks a new weapon

fixed

[un4]

Looks like Fab's inherited Veng's free lockpicking 


-No- melee on phase four sucks.

[Lynette]

25-minute enrage timer.  Wow...long fight.

[Shadowwolf]

Well, could be long, hard to tell honestly. I think sometimes they throw enrage timers in to avoid people exploiting the bosses and killing them with less people. Mag has a 25min timer too and he usually dies within 5min.

[Tolwen]

-No- melee on phase four sucks.

At least it's only one phase

[Tolwen]

wow, great movie!! anyone who wants to down Illi tonight should watch this:)

[JohnnieRat]

bump for tonight

[capnpop]

Big part of enrage timers is to prevent stacking healers to kill bosses.  We could get 14 healers on the fight and literally have half of them do nothing til the first half are out of mana, switch, and repeat...yes it does prolong the fight and yes that allows for more screw-ups but it makes progression "easier."  That's how some pre-BC raids were run where a pally or two would cast til they are OOM, switch with a different one and continue for as long as needed/possible.

[JohnnieRat]

It's also why they add mechanics like the Phase 4 Demon Shadows since having over 20 minutes on his enrage timer is lol

[Belandand]

Hey guys, after the attempts last night, I would like to suggest some ideas to knock out that lst 18%:

1. During phase 2- if you're a melee that is too timid to dance around the shard of azzinoth in order to dps while avoiding the flame paths, pick a group within the grating anf use all ranged based attacks.

2. Miscellaneous (possibly after P2)- is it feasible to have a tank build 2ndary aggro in case Felani dies? What I noticed was that on a few attempts, Felani would die and this would send Illidan rushing through the raid, killing 4-5 people. If there is another tank building aggro, or at least within the immediate vicinity to Illidan, this could facilitate picking him up.

3. During the Lock Tank phase- when Illidian summon the personal demons for the 4 raid members, would it be feasible to split us up into 4 groups that would cover a killzone per demon? Last night I noticed that 1-2 people were dying due to the demons (on attempts that got us to p5). Basically, the groups would start at one end of the platform and sprawl out counterclockwise to where Gren would be tanking Illidan( but it would not overlap because of the shadow dmg thing he does).

[Geos]

I know as far as the other tank thing goes, me and khader are decked out in fire resist gear, and are lacking a CRAPLOAD of avoidance, we shouldnt even be trying to tank him.

[Shadowwolf]

The reason Felani was dying is we had healers panicking over his AOE because people werent spreading out far enough and taking a TON of damage. Because of that a lot of the healers were busy spamming people back to full and forgetting about the tanks and 2-3 hits w/o heals when hes enraged and the tank drops like a rock.

We are going to fix that next time by assigning 2-3 healers for tanks only (Illidan and Lock tanks) on phase 3,4 and 5 while 1 person handles heals on the parasited people and the rest worry about the raid.