by Matt Low

This is the second boss in Trial of the Crusader. After you healed through the gate bosses that comprise the Northrend Beasts, Lord Jaraxxus is the next step.

My raid group managed to get this demon lord down this past week. We got the 10-man version down several weeks ago but the 25-man version eluded us for some time. Compared to Northrend Beasts, this boss should feel relatively easier. Your raid will spend less time learning Lord Jaraxxus than the previous boss.

Let’s check out the healing side of things, shall we?

Setting up

Your healing group should consist of 6 players. 2 tank healers will suffice. Big plus if you have 2 holy priests or other AoE type healers.

When you’re getting into position, direct your healers to cover the room as much as possible. Ideally your healers should be spaced out evenly from each other in a circle around the center. If each player can be covered by at least 2 or more healers, your raid will be in excellent shape.

Things to watch for

Incinerate Flesh: You thought this debuff was a pain on normal mode for healing. It becomes even more dangerous. If it goes off during normal mode, it’s easily healable. Healers can cover the damage. On heroic, it’s just about a guaranteed wipe when Burning Inferno lands. On normal, 60000 damage has to be healed up. On heroic, that amount increases to 85000. Priests, if their health was already low to begin with when they get this debuff, drop a shield on them to prevent any instant gibs while they get healed up to full.

Legion Flame: This green trail of heat can surprise even the most seasoned of healers. I confess I was exhibited signs of tunnel vision while healing. In one of the earlier attempts, I was roasted alive. Don’t let this happen to you!

No one likes barbequed dwarves, right?

Space yourselves out to avoid Fel Lightning. You can eat a 2nd or 3rd jump from a Fel Lightning and still live. In other words, you should be safe standing next to 1 other person if there’s no room around you due to fires on the ground.

Touch of Jaraxxus is a DoT that will be applied on random players. It’s also going to hit nearby players around them with Curse of the Nether (which is also a DoT). The damage that both abilities do are negligible. That being said, druids should dispel them when they have an opportunity.

Strong communication will play a large role in dealing with the above debuffs. Your healers should be talking to teach other. it keeps everyone focused and on task. It alerts healers as to which raid healer is healing which player.

Optionally, you can designate a player to call out debuffs on your raiders. Unfortunately, the problem with this is that by the time the other player hears the command, it may already be too late for them. it all depends on latency and reaction time.

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by Chase Christian

Trial of the Crusader is Blizzard’s most recent addition to the end game raiding scene. With 4 different flavors, regular and heroic for both 10 and 25 man groups, it’s really the most diverse group of 5 bosses we’ve ever seen. Unfortunately, it seems like the normal modes are tuned to be easy to PUG, and the difference between 10 and 25 man raids is simply increased damage and health for the bosses. With the release of heroic mode this week (provided we can kill Anub’arak), I am looking forward to a new twist on these otherwise plain fights.

First Encounter: Northrend Beasts

The very first fight you’ll see in Trial of the Crusader (ToC) is the Northrend Beasts encounter. It’s a fight against three groups of wild animals, which you’ll be required to best in order to proceed in the tournament. The first phase of the fight is against Gormok the Impaler, a large magnataur warlord. While fighting against Gormok, your job is fairly simple. DPS the boss as much as possible, and swap to kill the Snobolds that spawn on your raid mates (or you!).

Gormok will do some unavoidable AoE damage to melee DPS, and so you’ll just be soaking this up. When Gormok throws a Snobold onto a raid mate, simply run over and assist by targeting and killing the Snobold. There is NO enrage timer for this portion of the encounter, so feel free to swap to the Snobold, even it if means a lot of downtime walking back and forth. You can also use Dismantle on the boss to lower his melee damage, especially towards the end of the fight as he will be doing more damage then. This phase is very, very easy for melee DPS.

The second phase involves not one, but TWO large Jormungar worms: Acidmaw and Dreadscale. Acidmaw shoots acid and is the “green” one, and Dreadscale shoots fire and is the “red” one. My guild uses a very simple ‘burn’ strategy on Acidmaw. All DPS (ranged and otherwise) pile onto Acidmaw and we use Bloodlust to burn him down incredibly quickly. Acidmaw applies a debuff to his targets that slowly paralyzes them, eventually freezing them in place forever. As a Rogue, you can Cloak of Shadows to remove the debuff and save yourself the trouble. The method of removing this debuff is to run into someone who has the Fire debuff from Dreadscale.

We are typically able to kill Acidmaw in one rotation of the worms (they go underground and switch places), which leaves us with Dreadscale to kill. He’s a lot like Grobbulus for a Rogue: the tank will keep him moving out of the spawning fart clouds, and you don’t want to be in front of the worm or you’ll get spit on by his Fire breath. If your guild use a different strategy (or you’re going for the achievement), remember that you can Blade Flurry and attack both worms at once if they’re close together.

The third and final phase of this fight pits you against Icehowl, a giant Yeti. He’s really a pushover compared to the bosses you’re used to facing. Stack him up in the middle of the room and burn him down. He’ll occasionally throw everyone against the outside wall and stun you for a few seconds. When he does this, take careful note of who he is targeting. If he’s got his eye on you, he’ll be charging after you in a second or two.

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by Matticus

Lord Jaraxxus is the second boss that will be available this week for Coliseum raiders. Take a look at the video below. Be advised that it’s in German. Couldn’t find any other ones around (if you manage to find one, please post it in the comments below). The video shows the Lord Jaraxxus fight from a an off tank perspective. It looks to be a very healing intensive fight.

Breaking down abilities, execution, and healing below.

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