| Name | Complete Ruins of Ahn'Qiraj (AQ20) Guide |
| Category | Raid |
To get to the instance, from the Gates of Ahn'Qiraj, take the path to your left. It leads to the instance of Ruins of Ahn'Qiraj. The path to the right, however, leads to the 40-man Ahn'Qiraj instance, so its better not to get lost.
Once inside, buff up, do the raid preparations, and get ready to clear some trash mobs.
Notes on trash before Kurinnaxx
Qiraji Swarmguard - flyer that deals huge damage and has cleave. Best to take these down immediately.
Wasp packs - consists of 1 Hive'Zara Stinger and 2 Hive'Zara Wasps. These bugs sometimes spit something that debuffs some of the raid with "Itch". It doesn't do anything itself, but when it fades, it will be replaced with a nasty poison debuff called "Hive'Zara Catalyst". This poison deals nature damage over time, and slows down the victim. These should be cleansed ASAP.
Hive'Zara Stinger - cannot be rooted, and has a charge ability that deals minor damage normally, but if the victim has a Hive'Zara Catalyst poison on him, the charge attack deals huge nature damage, roughly around 2k+ damage. These bugs should be taken down first before the wasps.
Hive'Zara Wasp - no other special ability other than spitting "Itch" to people. These can be rooted, so if the raid lacks off-tanks, druids can chain-root a wasp until the raid has killed the other 2 bugs. Should be killed last.
Qiraji Gladiator - comes in pairs and can be rooted. Deals tons of damage and enrages when the other gladiator dies. Have a druid chain-root a gladiator, while the other is being tanked and killed.
KURINNAXX
Key abilities:
Mortal Wound - 15second debuff that reduces healing by 10% on the victim. Stackable.
Sand Trap - random AoE that spawns below people's feet. Takes a while to burst so people can get away from it. Deals moderate damage (around 2k), and debuffs victims with silence and reduced chance to hit with melee by 75% for 20seconds.
Enrage - triggered when Kurinnaxx reaches 20% health.
Strategy:
The fight requires at least 2 tanks. They should all be fighting for aggro after the MT. The tank drags Kurinnaxx around so he and the melee people can avoid sand traps below them. Tank is going to get stack-debuffed by Mortal Wound, so healers should be on their toes. Once the current tank gets a stack of 5 mortal wounds, he stops hitting Kurinnaxx and calls out a switch, and the next tank should taunt/mocking blow Kurinnaxx off the current tank. The previous tank should wait for the mortal wound debuff to expire before he can continue hitting Kurinnaxx and be on standby for taunting.
Non-tank people (people other than the tank) should be spread out, and be on the lookout for sand traps spawning near their feet. Once they see one, they should move away from it immediately. If ever they get hit and debuffed by the sand trap, they should bandage to help the healers' mana.
Once Kurinnaxx reaches 20% health, healers should get ready to overheal the tanks, as Kurinnaxx enrages. Continue to pound on him until he's dead.
After the fight, there will be NPCs running from the entrance to your location. NO ONE SHOULD TALK TO LIEUTENANT-GENERAL ANDOROV UNTIL THE RAID IS READY. Once the loots are distributed, and rebuffed, druids should buff the NPCs and the raid should be positioned near the doorway. Once all are ready, have a person talk to Andorov to start the event.
GENERAL RAJAXX
Key abilities:
AoE Thunderclap - Rajaxx stomps and knocks people away from him. Reduces current HP to half. If the current HP is less than 200, it kills the victim.
Strategy:
The fight consists of 2 stages. First stage will be 7 waves of mobs, and second stage would be General Rajaxx himself. Have healers assigned to ONLY healing Andorov, as he is an important NPC and should be kept alive until Rajaxx comes.
Notes on Andorov:
-He deals huge damage, making it faster to kill the waves.
-He is immune to Rajaxx's AoE knockback, making him a very good main tank.
-He provides an AoE buff to the raid that heals for 200 every 3seconds, increases attack power by 10%, and decreases casting time by 10%. The buff is only available for people with Friendly and above reputation for Cenarion Circle.
-If he survives when Rajaxx is killed, he stays for a while and if you talk to him, he will sell 2 blacksmithing plans and some supplies cheap. Supplies consist of Heavy Runecloth bandages, Major Mana potions and Major Healing potions. These supplies are limited, so talk to him immediately, or somebody else will buy them all before you.
Stage 1
7 waves of mobs with a named mob on each wave are going to come through the doorway one after another. These named mobs have different abilities.
Notes on mobs in the waves
-Swarmguards should be killed first since they only have very little HP, therefore less adds hitting on the raid.
-Mages can Frost Nova the mobs, then AoE them down for faster killing. Otherwise, kill one mob at a time, swarmguards first, then warriors.
-Warriors not MT should be on the lookout for mobs pounding on the healers. Taunt them off the healers.
-a Qiraji Warrior or two should be crowd controlled to buy healers some time for them to regen their mana for the next waves. It can be done by Druids rooting, or Priests/Warlocks chain-fearing.
-if you die, you can run back to the instance between waves. Have someone in the instance inform you if the last mob is dead, so you can zone back in safely. Once inside, run back to the raid and help.
Wave 1 - Captain Qeez
Ability - Intimidating Shout
The off-tank should be ready to pick up the captain if ever the main tank gets feared.
Wave 2 - Captain Tuubid
Ability - Calls focus fire on someone in the raid
This captain sometimes calls on someone to be focus-fired by the adds, so he should be taken down first. Ignore all his adds and focus fire on him. This avoids him having to wipe the whole raid with called focus fire on each person one after another. Once he's down, resume killing on the adds.
Wave 3 - Captain Drenn
Ability - AoE lightning
This captain can call down an AoE lightning, which deals huge damage. Have the MT grab him, and bring him to a corner away from the raid. Avoid the AoE lightning.
Wave 4 - Captain Xurrem
Ability - AoE knockdown
Wave 5 - Major Yeggeth
Ability - Cleave
Wave 6 - Major Pakkon
Ability - Sweeping Slam
Wave 7 - Colonel Zerran
Ability - Enrage
This colonel will sometimes enrage and increase in size, raising its attack power. Shamans should be on the alert and purge the colonel whenever he enrages.
Wave 8 (Stage 2) - General Rajaxx
After the 7 waves, Rajaxx himself comes down. He does an AoE knockback, so whenever he does it, the raid should momentarily stop DPS to have the tanks generate enough aggro on him again. If Andorov is still alive, this fight will be easy, as he will still have the AoE buff on the raid, which will help the healers to only have to focus on Andorov and the MT. Split the healers to heal Andorov and the MT, and let anyone other than the tank should bandage when they are too low. Keep Andorov and the MT up and kill Rajaxx.
If Andorov has been killed before Rajaxx comes, this is going to be hard. Have another tank to support the MT. When Rajaxx knockbacks, the off-tank should get Rajaxx, and the whole raid should stop DPS until he has enough aggro. MT and OT should be fighting for aggro, so whenever Rajaxx knockbacks, the other tank should be able to get Rajaxx easily. Stop DPS every time he knockbacks, keep the tanks up, and everything should be fine. And remember to bandage when too low to help healers' mana.
After the rough battle, loot up, rebuff and move in to the room. Get ready to pull mobs to the left.
Notes on trash before Buru
Bug packs - consists of 1 Soldier and 2 Sandstalkers, or 2 Soldiers and 1 Sandstalker. Kill the Soldiers first then the Sandstalkers.
Hive'Zara Soldier - sometimes spits a poison bolt that deals nature damage on the victim over time. Kill these first.
Hive'Zara Sandstalker - occasionally 'burrows', and shows up after a while hitting on a member of the raid.
Flesh Hunter - deadly slime that spits a nasty poison that deals huge poison damage over time on the victim. Can sometimes Consume a person in the raid, the tank most of the time. When someone is being consumed, healers should heal the victim and keep him alive, otherwise if the consumed player dies, the Flesh Hunter goes back to full health. There is also a chance that the consumed player will be spit out for a considerable distance.
Upon reaching the cliff, drop down to the water below, and kill the Flesh Hunter nearby. Take note that no one should be dealing AoE damage, or they might hit the egg nearby and start up Buru. Once the Flesh Hunter is dead, hit the nearest egg until around 3-5%, and get ready to kill Buru.
BURU THE GORGER
Key abilities:
Dismember - stacking bleed effect that does 1248 damage every 2 seconds. Buru will only use this if he catches up to whoever he is targetting.
Run speed - while chasing a player, Buru's speed will start at a very slow speed, continually increasing until about 60seconds where Buru can outrun the player. Buru's run speed will reset every time he is hit with an egg.
Thorns - when melee people hit Buru, they will get damaged with 200 nature damage every melee hit they do to him.
Creeping Plague - activated when Buru has less than 20% life (phase 2). Stacking debuff dealing nature damage every tick that continuously stacks every 3 seconds. Nature Protection pots should help with this.
Strategy:
Buru's fight is essentially a big game of tag, and consists of 2 phases.
Phase 1
He will constantly set his eyes upon a member of the raid, and he will chase him down until he is dead, or has been hit by an egg. At this phase, the eggs are the key to dealing huge damage to Buru. Have the melee people deal with the egg-killing, while the ranged people on the Hatchling killing. The melee people should only be damaging eggs until 5%, then moving on to the next egg in a clockwise or counter-clockwise direction, depending on the decision of the raid. They should not hit Buru, or his ‘thorns’ will kill them. The people being watched by Buru will be kiting him all around the whole room, avoiding the deep waters since it will slow them down (unless its a druid, he/she can go on aquatic form). When an egg is ready (already down to 5%), the 'watched' person should bring Buru to the egg by luring him there. Once Buru is on top of the egg, melee DPS are to kill the egg immediately. The egg will deal huge damage to Buru (around 3-7% depending on Buru's proximity to the egg), will deal very minor damage to people with near proximity to the egg, and will spawn Hive'Zara Hatchlings. Ranged DPS should be killing these hatchlings immediately. Once Buru's hit by an egg, he will reset speed, and watch another random person. The watched person is going to kite him around and bringing him to the ready egg, melee DPS are to kill the egg once Buru's on top of it, and ranged DPS are to kill the hatchlings that will spawn once the egg is popped. This routine will continue until Buru has around 21-24% health. When Buru reaches that health, Warlocks should put Curse of Doom on Buru, ranged DPS should stop hitting Buru, and there should be no more DoTs on him. Bring him to the last egg, and it should get him below 20%. If his shell isn't popped yet, get him to a last egg, and re-apply Curse of Doom on him. Once he's below 20% health, his shell will break, and expose his brains.
Phase 2
Once his shell is broken, he activates his Creeping Plague debuff on everyone, and a bunch of hatchlings will spawn simultaneously. The raid should drink a Nature Protection Potion to initially protect them from the plague. This debuff is very deadly once stacked to a high number. The raid should unload all DPS on him as fast as possible before the plague kills everyone. The bug adds should be constantly feared to avoid them from hitting on the raid. Kill Buru fast, then kill the adds once he's down.
After looting, get ready to kill the Flesh Hunter up the ramp. Then move to your right (not through the doorway). Kill 2 more bug packs, and return to Rajaxx's room. Prepare to clear the other path to Moam.
Notes on trash before Moam
Obsidian Destroyer - initially has 0 mana, and will continually gain mana by draining from some people in the raid. Once they reach full mana, they will 'explode', dealing very huge damage to everyone near it. To deal with these mobs, Hunters should have Viper stings on them, Priests should be Mana Burning them full time, and Warlocks should be Mana Draining them, while the rest of the raid continue to kill them immediately. Don't let them explode, or it will more or less wipe the raid. Once they're killed, a chunk of obsidian spawns near it, and Miners can mine them for Obsidian Shards (305 Mining required).
Scarab packs - consist of Shrieker Scarabs and Spitting Scarabs. These should be AoE-d down.
Shrieker Scarab - sometimes casts Piercing Shriek to slow nearby people down.
Spitting Scarab - sometimes knocks people off for a considerable distance.
MOAM
Key abilities:
Drain Mana - drains 500 mana and gives 1000 mana to Moam per person drained.
Arcane Explosion - when Moam reaches 100% mana, he 'explodes', throwing people to the air, and causing 3000 arcane damage plus fall damage.
Turn to Stone - after 90 seconds from engaging Moam, he will turn into stone. At this state, he cannot attack and drain mana, but he will continue on regenerating mana. After 90seconds or once he reaches 100% mana, he will come out of stone.
Summon Mana Fiend - after 90 seconds from engaging Moam, he will summon 3 Mana Fiends then turn to stone. These Mana Fiends deal considerably huge damage and sometimes does Arcane Explosion for huge arcane damage. They can be banished.
Strategy:
Moam is an improved Obsidian Destroyer. Once engaged, DPS should be all out on him, priests should do nothing but Mana Burn, hunters maintain Viper Stings on him, and warlocks do nothing but Mana Drain until adds come. Healing should come from Druids and Shamans/Paladins. After 90seconds, he will summon 3 elemental adds and enter stone form. Warlocks should grab and banish their corresponding add, then continue Mana Draining, watching their timers to re-banish their adds. Priests should still do their Mana Burning, and hunters with their Viper Sting. Continue with the DPS and kill him quick. Once he's down, kill the elementals one by one. If the raid is lacking on warlocks, have a warrior offtank an add away from the raid, so its AoE wont hit anyone other than the tank. Moam should not reach 100% mana or he will 'explode', basically wiping the whole raid.
After looting, move up the stairs, stay on the doorway and get ready for the 'pulls of death' (as I call them).
Notes on Anubisath Guardians
They come with a random set of abilities. I will call them 'primary' and 'secondary' abilities. Also they have a reflect magic buff, that reflects a random pair of elements. They occasionally summon swarmguard/warrior adds, and these should be constantly feared, especially the swarmguards, as they hit like a truck and can possibly destroy the healers in a short time. When these guardians are near death, they can either Enrage, or Explode after a few seconds which can wipe the raid if everyone is within its range. Basic strategy for this is kill it before it explodes, and not run away.
Primary Abilities
Thunderclap - deals huge AoE damage to melee range.
Shadowbolt Volley - deals huge AoE damage to ranged. Melee isn't affected.
Secondary Abilities
Plague - debuff that deals moderate nature damage to the person affected and anyone near the person. This affected person should stay away from the raid.
Meteor - a huge meteor falls down, dealing fire damage depending on the number of persons in the area. If there is only 1 person in the area, he will take all the damage, basically getting killed. If there are 5 persons in the area, the total damage is distributed to the 5 persons. The more people in the area, the less damage each person will receive.
Reflect Magic pairs
Reflect Arcane/Fire
Reflect Frost/Shadow
Ability combinations and positioning strategies
Thunderclap/Plague - MT tanks the guardian, everyone else stay far from it, clumping up. When a person is plagued, he should move away from the crowd, basically just to the sides, so he can still be in range for healing.
Thunderclap/Meteor - all melee get in melee range, stay clumped up. All range stay far away, all clumped up. This way, when the meteor targets the MT, the melee people will help to soak up the meteor damage from him.
Shadowbolt Volley/Plague - everyone in melee range. Plagued person should move away from the crowd, still in range of healing.
Shadowbolt Volley/Meteor - everyone in melee range, clumped up.
Strategy
The pull is basically a pet pull from a hunter. While its coming, observe the actions of the guardian, to know if its primary ability is Tclap or Shadowbolt. Assign a mage to apply Detect Magic on it to know its Magic Reflect. If it reflects Detect Magic, its most probably Reflect Arc/Fire. Once the primary ability is known, move to positions depending on it (Tclap = ranged, Shadowbolt = melee). Stay clumped up so in case the secondary is Meteor, the damage is soaked. Once both sets of abilities are known, move to the final positions and start DPSing the guardian. If its Plague, and the MT got affected, the off-tank should grab the guardian and tank it. Once they're dead, they also drop a chunk of obsidian like from the Obsidian Destroyers.
Once the whole room is cleared, have the raid move to the center of the room, beside the huge stone and behind the crystal, rebuff, and get ready to pull Ossirian, the last boss in AQ20.
OSSIRIAN THE UNSCARRED
Key abilities:
Supreme Mode - mode where Ossirian has enormous strength, basically kills everyone in one shot. Also gains speed greater than an epic mount.
Enveloping Winds - 8second stun and causes a temporary aggro loss. Affects someone with the most aggro on Ossirian.
Curse of Tongues - AoE curse, reducing casting time on affected players.
Warstomp - melee AoE, dealing 1500 damage and knocks players back and up in the air.
Tornado - upon engaging Ossirian, tornados will randomly spawn all throughout the whole room. Deals around 2000 damage per tick to whomever is caught in its path.
Strategy:
This boss fight will test your coordination and organization. Its not a simple DPS-the-boss-down fight. It requires coordination among the people in the raid, as well as timing.
The key to this fight is the crystals. You'll see the first crystal near the center of the room. These crystals make Ossirian weak. Activating them takes time, so timing is needed to prevent him from entering Supreme mode and wiping everyone.
Notes on the Crystals
-has a limited range, around 15-20 yards.
-cancels Ossirian's Supreme mode, making his attacks weaker (thus tankable), and makes him weak to a certain school of magic.
-appears randomly all across the room.
These crystals are initially submerged. Once activated, it rises, and if Ossirian is in range, zaps him with a blue ray making him weaker. But this weakness has a duration, which is 45 seconds, so the raid should be constantly looking for another crystal, and bringing Ossirian to that crystal and activating it before he enters Supreme mode again. With that in mind, the raid needs to assign special tasks to different people.
Crystal Locator
This task is primarily given to a melee DPS person, most likely a rogue, and with an epic mount. Basically, this person will stay mounted all throughout the fight, constantly looking for the next crystal the raid needs to go to. The locator has to look for the nearest crystal from where the raid is at currently, so they won't need to run very far. Once he locates the next crystal, he needs to wait for the signal to ping the minimap where he is. The signal is when the last crystal has been activated. Only this person and the activator should be pinging the minimap to avoid confusion. Once he gets the signal and pings the minimap, he should start moving again to look for the next crystal. He should also warn the raid if a tornado is located near the next crystal, and tell them where they should go to avoid the tornado while moving there. Why melee DPS person? Because melee DPS are less effective in this fight, due to Ossirian occasionally doing a warstomp, dealing moderate damage to melee range, and knocking them back and up in the air.
Crystal Activator
This task is primarily given to a druid, or a shaman. It is because they have travel forms to be ahead of the raid in going to the crystal. The activator has the task of activating the crystal ONLY when there is 15seconds left until Ossirian enters Supreme mode again. This way, Ossirian will never have a chance to enter Supreme mode. Once he activates the crystal, he need to signal the locator that the crystal has been activated, so the locator can start pinging its location. Once the activator sees the ping, he should quickly go to the crystal ahead of the raid, and assist on pinging the location for the raid to see, while the locator moves on to look for the next crystal.
Tanks
The fight requires 2 tanks, constantly fighting for aggro. Once Ossirian goes out of Supreme mode, the main tank should engage him and start gaining aggro. As soon as he gets hold of him, he needs to guide Ossirian to the next crystal while continually tanking him. The duration of the weakness is limited, so Ossirian needs to be brought to the next crystal as soon as possible. This can be done by having the tank strafe towards the crystal. This way he can still hit Ossirian while running towards the crystal. Why not just run forward? Its because the tank might get dazed while running away, and he can't continually hit Ossirian. Occasionally, Ossirian will stun the tank with the most aggro with Enveloping Winds. At this point, the current tank temporarily loses aggro on Ossirian. When it happens, its the off-tank's job to continue bringing Ossirian to the next crystal. These 2 tanks are basically going to switch constantly throughout the fight, due to the Enveloping Winds stun that clears aggro on Ossirian momentarily. They should also be aware of the tornados in the area, avoiding them as much as possible or they will die. Also, they can sometimes be knocked back, so they need to be ready to get back on track and continue bringing Ossirian to the crystal. Once they reach the next crystal, the tank needs to tank Ossirian just near the crystal, so that Ossirian can be in range for the crystal activation. If a tank dies, the next warrior should be ready to gain aggro on Ossirian, and be the off-tank. While doing that, the raid needs to stop DPS, until the new off-tank gains enough aggro on Ossirian. The tanks should also be prepared and have some Swiftness Potions in case of emergencies like the tanks are knocked back and there isn't enough time for them to bring Ossirian to the next crystal.
Once the roles have been set up, have someone mount up and body pull Ossirian from his platform. He will be moving to the stairs near Ossirian, then going back to the raid. Once Ossirian reaches the base of the stairs, the Activator should start activating the crystal, the Locator should be at the next crystal already, and the tanks should be waiting for Ossirian next to the first crystal. By the time Ossirian reaches the crystal, he gets debuffed and the tanks can now grab him. Once the tanks grab Ossirian, the raid should start moving on to the next crystal, with the non-tanks staying behind the crystal around 30yards away from Ossirian, to avoid being knockbacked when he stomps. Every time the crystal is activated, the rest of the raid should start moving to the next crystal, while the tanks are still staying behind until Ossirian gets zapped successfully. Also there should be no DPS until the third or fourth crystal, so the tanks can grab enough aggro because Ossirian cannot be taunted. When DPS starts, a mage should maintain Detect Magic on Ossirian, to know what weakness he has, and have the raid DPS Ossirian down with the corresponding element of weakness. Healing should be focused only on the tanks. If non-tanks get damaged, they should be bandaging to help the healers' mana because this fight takes long execution, depending on the ranged DPS the raid is dealing. Healers should not be hesitating to use mana potions and consumables if needed. Continue doing the routine until he is dead. Sounds easy right? Yes it is, but execution can be really hard if the raid is not coordinated.
Once he's down, loot up, rebuff and get ready for some nasty pulls.
Notes on trash before Ayamiss
Wasp packs - these are fairly similar to the wasp packs earlier in the instance. The only difference is there are more of them per pack.
AYAMISS THE HUNTER
Key abilities:
Stinger Spray - 1000 nature damage to everyone in the raid every 30seconds.
Summon Swarmers - occasionally, Ayamiss summons roughly 20 non-elite wasps, dropping down on the raid. These should be AoE-d down.
Poison Stinger - stackable debuff that deals 25 nature damage per second per debuff. Stacks up to 100. Ayamiss only uses this while airborne and only on the person with the most aggro. Gets very deadly if its let stack too much. When the 'ranged tank' gets too much, let him ease up on DPS and have another switch with him.
Paralyze - Ayamiss occasionally puts a random player on the altar. When someone is placed on the altar, a Hive'Zara Larva will spawn either from the left or right of the base of the altar stairs, and head towards the 'sacrificed' player. If the larva is not killed as soon as possible, the larva will kill the sacrificed person on the altar, and will spawn a very powerful elite wasp, which can basically wipe the raid. These larva cannot be stunned or slowed down, so the melee DPS should kill these larva immediately before it reaches the top of the altar. The melee DPS should be positioned at the base of the altar so they can reach them quick.
Strategy:
The fight consists of 2 stages. All throughout the fight, Ayamiss will sometimes 'sacrifice' a player to the altar, and summon a larva, so the melee people should be on the alert and kill the larva immediately. Also, she sometimes calls forth 20 or so wasps to drop down to the raid. Warriors should be ready to grab them, then casters should AoE them down. And constantly, Ayamiss has some sort of a nature aura that deals around 1000 damage every 30 seconds to the raid. Nature protection potions help a lot for these, and NR gear as well.
Stage 1
Ayamiss starts off flying. She stays up there for the first 30% of her health. While she's up there, only ranged people can attack him, so basically have the melee people stay below the altar to help on killing the larvae. Ayamiss also shoots a stinger on the person with the highest aggro on her list, which stacks and can be deadly if it stacks up too much. Essentially, it’s recommended to have a hunter/warlock with very high nature resist gear to pull Ayamiss and start getting aggro. This way, they will get the debuff, and it will not really hurt that much because of the very high NR gear they have. Although, if it stacks up way too high, the debuff can be deadly, so the 'tank' should stop for a while and let another ranged person to grab aggro. Basically, have the raid DPS Ayamiss down as fast as possible, so the stinger debuff won't stack up too high on a player and cause problems or give healers a difficult job.
Stage 2
Once Ayamiss is below 70% she comes down, and now is tankable by a warrior. So the main tank should start grabbing her and gain aggro, while the DPS continues. She stops the stinger debuff, but still does the nature damage aura to the raid, the sacrifice, and also the wasp summons. So have a group of melee DPS stay below the stairs, and just wait for larvae to spawn, so they can kill them quickly. These cannot be ignored or it will kill the sacrificed person and spawn a nasty elite bug, which will wipe the raid basically. If ever the main tank gets sacrificed, have an off-tank ready to pick her up, until the main tank can go down the altar. Continue to DPS, and kill the big wasp.
Once Ayamiss is down, take the loot and rejoice, as you have now cleared the Ruins of Ahn'Qiraj instance!
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