Howdy healers! Well, Warlords of Draenor has been live for around 3-4 weeks now and the first raid: Highmaul, has been released just last week. Players can now venture into Highmaul on Normal and Heroic difficulties. Neth was kind enough to outline the release schedule for us:
Originally Posted by Nethaera (Source / Blue Posts)
To help you plan your escapades into the heart of this dangerous new place, we’ve broken down Highmaul’s unlock schedule for you.
December 2, 2014
- Highmaul opens with Normal and Heroic difficulties accessible.
December 9, 2014
- Mythic difficulty and the first wing of Raid Finder (Kargath, Butcher, Brackenspore) unlock.
December 16, 2014
- Raid Finder Wing 2 (Tectus, Twin Ogron, Ko’ragh) unlocks.
January 6, 2015
- Raid Finder Wing 3 (Imperator Mar’gok) unlocks.
We’ve decided to write up a very quick healing guide to hopefully get you up to speed. I know some of you may not have time to read long guides or watch vids, so I’ll try and sum it up for you in a short time so you can perhaps keep this window open and glance at it on your way to each boss. There are plenty of well written guides out there, but often require a lot of time to read.
This guide is to provide you with a quick general outline of what you, the healer, needs to do to get you started. You will only truly understand how each fight works once you begin raiding the content. If we have missed anything or you’re not sure about something, let us know in the comments below so we can make this guide better!
Kargath Bladefist
The one that cut his own hand off.
There are two parts to this fight. This should be worked out before the encounter starts(except in LFR), but there should be a designated team to go up into the Coliseum. You may be designated as the one healer to go up. If so, you should be standing close to Kargath just before he casts Chain Hurl. If NOT, don’t go near Kargath, basically, ever.
Non-Coliseum
- Don’t fall in the tiger pits.
- Don’t stand near the fire.
- If he chases you, run from Kargath to the Fire Pillar so Kargath walks through it.
- If he chases someone else, don’t get between Kargath and that person and be sure to watch their health.
- If he’s charging like a mad man, spread out from other raid members!
Coliseum
- Heal all the things.
- Save your tank cool down for heavy tank damage.
- Don’t stand near Iron Bombers when they die.
The Butcher
- Save your single target cool downs for tank heavy damage from The Tenderizer and The Cleaver, especially during Frenzy (30% hp).
- He’s going to Cleave groups at a time. Stronger heals on the group being Cleaved. Lesser heals on the group previously Cleaved to top them up.
- You may be assigned to stand in one of these groups.
- If you’re not assigned to a Cleave group, when The Butcher starts bouncing around the raid, stack up with others that aren’t in a group either.
- Once The Butcher reaches 30% hp, Frenzy starts and you’ll need to pull out all the stops to keep players alive.
Tectus
I feel the earth… move… under my feet.
- Position yourself on the outer of the raid.
- If Tectus casts Earthen Pillar on you (brown swirly ground), move with the group out of the swirl to avoid death.
- Similar to Earthen Pillar, Fractures come up from the ground, move with the group out of the swirl to avoid death.
- If Crystalline Barrage is cast on you, move out of the group so as to reduce damage to others. This lasts 15 seconds. Run!
- As the encounter goes on, damage will increase, especially to the tanks.
- When Tectus reaches 100 energy he will cast Tectonic Upheaval for 12 seconds > intense raid wide healing.
Brackenspore
Where healers shine & everyone’s a Druid (coz y’know, mushrooms…)
- Heal heavy tank damage as they gain stacks of Flesh Eater.
- Keep an eye out for Living Mushrooms and Rejuvenating Mushrooms spawns.
- Heal up Living Mushrooms too 100% just before boss casts Infesting Spores, then let it die when cast ends.
- Heal Rejuvenating Mushrooms and keep one alive at all times.
Twin Ogron
- Help spread the damage and duration of Enfeebling Roar by standing close to Phemos before he casts it.
- Don’t stand in the fire (Blaze).
- Avoid the Quakes.
- Stay out of the path of Pol’s Shield Charge.
- Take a hit from rocks dropping from the ceiling (Pulverize) once, then move.
Ko’ragh
- If you get the dot: Expel Magic: Fire, spread out so when it expires you don’t damage others. You can dispel said dot from players, but do so only when they’re not within 5 yards of others.
- Expel Magic: Shadow puts an shield on the entire raid that absorbs heals. Your raid wide strong heals are useful here to remove the shields.
- He may charge you and you will get whacked on the noggin. A field will appear under you. Don’t stand in any of these fields.
- When the boss is charging up his shield in the middle of the room (not attacking) – adds will come out. The tank will drag them to a supression field that you shouldn’t stand in so they are silenced.
- During this time a nominated dps will likely also go into the barrier to charge themselves to later absorb Overflowing Enegy.
- When this player goes into Ko’ragh’s Barrier, that player will take significant damage from Caustic Energy, be sure to heal them up.
Imperator Mar’gok
At the beginning of the encounter:
- If you have 5 stacks of the Branded debuff, run away from the raid. If someone else does, be prepared to heal them well.
- Stay away from the tank that has the Mark of Chaos debuff.
- Run through Force Nova, not with it. Get through it as soon as possible.
- Don’t stand in the bad purple mines: Destructive Resonance.
When Imperator Mar’gok reaches 90% Phase 2 begins:
- From now on, if you have the Branded debuff, run away from the raid, if someone else does, move away from them and be prepared to heal them well.
When Imperator Mar’gok reaches 55%:
- Two adds will spawn that will Fixate on players, be sure to keep those players alive.
- Additional, smaller adds will spawn and when they die will cause major damage, be prepared for healing.
Once the 2 warmages are dead, Imperator Mar’gok enters Phase 3:
- Be prepared to use your single target cool downs on players with Branded: Fortification on them.
- Be prepared to use raid-wide cool downs to counter Force Nova: Fortification.
- Continue to not stand in the purple mines.
When Imperator Mar’gok reaches 25%:
- Two main adds will spawn again and Fixate a player as above. Repeat as above 55% stage.
- An additional add will spawn that a tank should pick up and face away from the raid. They’ll need healing of course.
Once the 2 warmages are dead, Imperator Mar’gok enters Phase 4:
- He continues as in Phase 3, but his effects are duplicated.
- Serious healing will be need in this phase.
That’s it. Again, we hope this guide has helped in some way or another. If you feel like we’ve missed a critical part or something is incorrect, please let us know in the comments below. We’ll be updating this guide in the coming weeks so let us know!
All the best for your Journey into Highmaul!