Raid Guide: Tier 3 – The Fall of Khazad-dum

The Fall of Khazad-dûm
“In the year 1981 of the Third Age, the Longbeards made their final stand against the Balrog known as ‘Durin’s Bane’. The brave dwarves that defied the terror on that day would be the saviors of their people, but the fate of their kingdom was certain.”

GENERAL INFO

There are some trash mobs at the start of the fight (3 waves that get progressively harder), but once the boss spawns, there are no more adds. The boss does physical, tactical, and morale damage types. He will also do distributed attacks. There are five phases to the boss fight;

Phase 1: 100% Morale – 90.x% Morale
Phase 2: 90.x% Morale – 80.x% Morale
Phase 3: 80.x% Morale – 70.x% Morale
Phase 4: 70.x% Morale – 60.x% Morale
Phase 5: 60.x% Morale – 50.0% Morale

TIER 3 STRATEGY

GENERAL BOSS MECHANICS

Suffocating Smoke: This is a timed, tiering fire DOT, that is applied to everyone in the raid. It appears that T1 starts at 25/30s after the boss fight starts and then every 60s thereafter. It resets to Tier 1 at the beginning of each phase. If you die, it will also reset to tier 1 upon rez.

Flame Whip: If the person with aggro runs out of melee range the boss will do a Flame Whip skill that grabs hold of the tank and pulls them toward the boss, and then hits them with a fire Damage Over Time (DOT).

Apocalypse: The boss can hit you with a frontal attack and give you a fire damage DOT. You can have multiple Apocalypse DOTs on you at once.

Pyroclastic Flow: If at any point you run in to the smoke walls (these go up at the beginning of each new phase to prevent you from running back toward previous phases) you will get this debuff. It only stays active while you are touching the smoke walls.

Mark of Challenge: The boss will mark the person with aggro.

Building Flames: The person with the second highest aggro will get a Building Flames DOT. It will tier up every 30s to a maximum of Tier 6. At Tier 6 it will combust, doing big damage and then applying a Scorched debuff. Note: It only tiers up if you have the second highest aggro.

Start the fight with the main tank grabbing aggro for 5-10s and the off tank should then take aggro for 5-10s, finally the main tank grabs it back. This will prevent the secondary aggro from ending up on a DPS class at the start of the fight. Swapping back and forth quickly only needs to be done at the start of phase 1 (or if a tank dies). When the off-tank reaches Tier 3 they should take aggro. The main tank will now begin tiering up. At 5 seconds before the Building Flames is about to fall off the tank with aggro they should warn the other tank. The other tank needs to move away at least 5m. The tank with aggro will Combust and receive the Scorched debuff. They other tank should now take aggro. Rinse and repeat.

Explosive Line: The boss will do a grey bar induction called Explosive Line. When the induction completes the boss will lay down a line of fire from one end of the area to the other. The line will be in one of three locations; North, Center, or South. Just prior to the line being laid down there will be red squares on the ground to indicate where the fire will be. You must not stand in the fire line.

PHASE MECHANICS

Phase 1: 100% Morale – 90.x% Morale

There are frontal distributed damage attacks. At roughly 90.x% the boss will phase and begin doing a grey bar induction called Aerial Smash. At this point all players must run east to the end of the first pool (see map above) to the Phase 3 position.

Phase 2: 90.x% Morale – 80.x% Morale

Chasing Shadows: This is a grey bar induction that spawns a grim. As long as the grey bar induction is active the grim will chase the person with the purple eye over their head called Mark of Shadow (see below).

Mark of Shadow: This puts a purple eye over someone’s head. The grim that spawns during the Chasing Shadows induction will chase the player with the purple eye (NOTE: This is semi broken at the moment, sometimes the grim does not move). The grim will very slowly chase the player. As it chases it will drop a Shadow Zone puddle and apply a Fire Mitigation buff to the player it is chasing. If the grim touches you, it will despawn and one shot you. The person with the mark should kite behind or to the side of the group in an arc, ensuring they do not drag the grim through the group.

Shadow Zone: This is the puddle that the grim drops (see above). If at any point someone has a lot of fire DOTs on them they can stand in the puddle to reduce the damage they take. However, when standing in the puddle you lose all incoming healing.

Starting on T3 the Shadow Zone also does DoT.

There are frontal distributed damage attacks. At roughly 80.x% the boss will phase and begin doing a grey bar induction called Aerial Smash. At this point all players must run east to the end of the first pool (see map above) to the Phase 3 position.

Phase 3: 80.x% Morale – 70.x% Morale

Ground Smash: The boss will do a grey induction bar skill called Ground Smash. He will mark 3 targets with a red box on the ground under them. You must move out of this box ASAP as pieces of the ceiling will drop inside the box causing some serious damage and a stun. The same people will get the Ground Smash mark every time (unless the die, it will go on someone else); this helps with knowing where the box will be.  The best strategy is to all stand grouped up (except tanks) and then move away just as the boxes spawn. The Unstable Debris will spawn Enraged Deep-Claws, so DPS down the Unstable Debris. The Enraged Deep-claws will hit people with a Disoriented Debuff (wound) that should be potted/removed ASAP.

Chasing Shadows: This is a grey bar induction that spawns a grim. As long as the grey bar induction is active the grim will chase the person with the purple eye over their head called Mark of Shadow (see below).

Mark of Shadow: This puts a purple eye over someone’s head. The grim that spawns during the Chasing Shadows induction will chase the player with the purple eye (NOTE: This is semi broken at the moment, sometimes the grim does not move). The grim will very slowly chase the player. As it chases it will drop a Shadow Zone puddle and apply a Fire Mitigation buff to the player it is chasing. If the grim touches you, it will despawn and one shot you. The person with the mark should kite behind or to the side of the group in an arc, ensuring they do not drag the grim through the group.

reduce the damage they take. However, when standing in the puddle you lose all incoming healing.

Starting on T3 the Shadow Zone also does DoT.

There are frontal distributed damage attacks. At roughly 70.x% the boss will phase and begin doing a grey bar induction called Aerial Smash. At this point all players must run east to the end of the first pool (see map above) to the Phase 4 position.

Phase 4: 70.x% Morale – 60.x% Morale

Fulmination: This is a grey bar induction that the boss does. You must run and stand in a Shadow Zone. If you are not in a Shadow Zone when the induction finishes you will be hit with a wicked fire damage and likely be one shot. There will be two fire grims that spawn after each Fulmination. They do a yellow bar induction that must be interrupted or another Fulmination occurs.

Ground Smash: The boss will do a grey induction bar skill called Ground Smash. He will mark 3 targets with a red box on the ground under them. You must move out of this box ASAP as pieces of the ceiling will drop inside the box causing some serious damage and a stun. The same people will get the Ground Smash mark every time (unless the die, it will go on someone else); this helps with knowing where the box will be.  The best strategy is to all stand grouped up (except tanks) and then move away just as the boxes spawn. The Unstable Debris will spawn Enraged Deep-Claws, so DPS down the Unstable Debris. The Enraged Deep-claws will hit people with a Disoriented Debuff (wound) that should be potted/removed ASAP.

Chasing Shadows: This is a grey bar induction that spawns a grim. As long as the grey bar induction is active the grim will chase the person with the purple eye over their head called Mark of Shadow (see below).

Mark of Shadow: This puts a purple eye over someone’s head. The grim that spawns during the Chasing Shadows induction will chase the player with the purple eye (NOTE: This is semi broken at the moment, sometimes the grim does not move). The grim will very slowly chase the player. As it chases it will drop a Shadow Zone puddle and apply a Fire Mitigation buff to the player it is chasing. If the grim touches you, it will despawn and one shot you. The person with the mark should kite behind or to the side of the group in an arc, ensuring they do not drag the grim through the group.

reduce the damage they take. However, when standing in the puddle you lose all incoming healing.

Starting on T3 the Shadow Zone also does DoT.

There are frontal distributed damage attacks. At roughly 60.x% the boss will phase and begin doing a grey bar induction called Aerial Smash. At this point all players must run east to the end of the first pool (see map above) to the Phase 5 position.

Phase 5: 60.x% Morale – 50.0% Morale

Molten: The boss will get a buff to decrease the damage done to him. Because of this it is good to time it so that you will have an Oathbreaker’s Shame ready for this phase.

Fulmination: This is a grey bar induction that the boss does. You must run and stand in a Shadow Zone. If you are not in a Shadow Zone when the induction finishes you will be hit with a wicked fire damage and likely be one shot. There will be two fire grims that spawn after each Fulmination. They do a yellow bar induction that must be interrupted or another Fulmination occurs.

Ground Smash: The boss will do a grey induction bar skill called Ground Smash. He will mark 3 targets with a red box on the ground under them. You must move out of this box ASAP as pieces of the ceiling will drop inside the box causing some serious damage and a stun. The same people will get the Ground Smash mark every time (unless the die, it will go on someone else); this helps with knowing where the box will be.  The best strategy is to all stand grouped up (except tanks) and then move away just as the boxes spawn. The Unstable Debris will spawn Enraged Deep-Claws, so DPS down the Unstable Debris. The Enraged Deep-claws will hit people with a Disoriented Debuff (wound) that should be potted/removed ASAP.

Chasing Shadows: This is a grey bar induction that spawns a grim. As long as the grey bar induction is active the grim will chase the person with the purple eye over their head called Mark of Shadow (see below).

Mark of Shadow: This puts a purple eye over someone’s head. The grim that spawns during the Chasing Shadows induction will chase the player with the purple eye (NOTE: This is semi broken at the moment, sometimes the grim does not move). The grim will very slowly chase the player. As it chases it will drop a Shadow Zone puddle and apply a Fire Mitigation buff to the player it is chasing. If the grim touches you, it will despawn and one shot you. The person with the mark should kite behind or to the side of the group in an arc, ensuring they do not drag the grim through the group.

reduce the damage they take. However, when standing in the puddle you lose all incoming healing.

Starting on T3 the Shadow Zone also does DoT.

There are frontal distributed damage attacks. 

During this phase the boss will begin doing punts to the person with aggro; be careful to not have your back pointed toward a smoke wall (will give you a Pyroclastic Flow fire DOT). It is best for the tank to put their back up against the stairs. There are frontal distributed damage attacks. At 50% the boss will phase and begin doing a grey bar induction called Aerial Smash. At this point all players must run east across the bridge (see map above). Halfway across the bridge the raid will complete and the chest will spawn (see map).

At 50.0% the boss will phase and the fight is over.  Head across the bridge !