| Name | Gruul's Lair Guide: Part 1 |
| Category | Raid |
Next on the progression list after Karazhan is Gruul's Lair, which is located at Blade's Edge Mountains.
Gruul's Lair is the first 25-man raid instance that players will want to get into after clearing Karazhan. This raid instance is located at the end of the Valley north of Ruuan Weald, in Blade's Edge Mountains. The instance is basically a small dungeon with just 2 bosses in it, where the shoulder and leg tier4 tokens can drop. There are only two types of trash mobs here, which are the Lair Brutes and the Gronn-Priests. The first boss you'll encounter in this instance is High King Maulgar, with his Ogre Council.
Trash Mob information
Lair Brute - these melee ogres hit very hard. They can cleave so people in melee range should be careful. Occasionally, they also charge a random person. They drop aggro everytime they do this so everyone should be careful on their aggro. You can prevent the charge by staying within 8 yards from the ogre, but make sure you're behind him so he won't hit you with cleave.
Gronn-Priest - these are the healer type ogre trash. They can still hit fairly hard, and they have Psychic Scream (similar to Priest's) so they need to be tanked away from the raid. They occasionally cast Heal, which is a fairly large heal that can restore around 50% of its health. It is very important that this heal should be interrupted with Pummels / Kicks / other interrupt effects. Also, they have a powerful Renew, which can be and should be purged / dispelled / stolen immediately.
*These ogres can call for help when nearing death. They must be tanked far away from other mobs.
**Trash mobs respawn after 2 hours.
Raid Composition - High King Maulgar
6-7 Tanks:
1 Mage tank - Krosh Firehand
1 Warrior / Feral Druid tank - High King Maulgar
1 DPS Warrior / Feral Druid tank - Blindeye the Seer
2 Hunter tanks - Kiggler the Crazed
At least 1 Warrior / Feral Druid tank (2 at most) - Olm the Summoner
7-8 Healers (Druid / Shaman / Paladin / Priest)
At least 1 Warlock for felhound control
Other slots open for melee / ranged DPS (more ranged DPS preferred)
Once you enter Gruul's Lair, you'll be presented with 3 ogre trash mobs (1 patrolling, 2 stationary). The kind of stationary mobs are random, so it can vary from 2 Brutes, 2 Priests, or a mix. Your first target is the single patrolling ogre. Pull it and bring it close to the entrance so that when it calls out for help, the 2 stationary ogres will not aggro. After killing the single patrol, get the 2 stationary ogres and tank them separately. If there is a Gronn-Priest, make sure rogues stay on them and be alert for interrupting the heals. After these 3 mobs, get ready for the first boss in the instance.
High King Maulgar
The Lord of Ogres, he is the first boss of Gruul's Lair. He comes with the Ogre Council, consisting of a mage (Krosh Firehand), warlock (Olm the Summoner), priest (Blindeye the Seer), and a shaman (Kiggler the Crazed). They are pulled simultaneously and each needs to be tanked by particular classes.
Key Abilities
Arcing Smash - a cleave-like ability which affects people in a frontal cone from Maulgar.
Mighty Blow - Maulgar's melee attack which has an additional knockback component. Main tank should tank Maulgar with his back facing a wall.
Whirlwind - every around 30-40 seconds, Maulgar will do a Whirlwind move for several seconds. This ability will hit anyone on melee range. No one except the main tank should be staying in melee range whenever he does a Whirlwind.
Enrage - at 50%, Maulgar will enrage and drop his hammer. At this point, he has weaker melee damage but now occasionally casts Intimidating Shout and fears everyone in melee range. Another tank should be waiting by the raid to taunt him off whenever the main tank gets feared. After getting him, bring it to the main tank and let him taunt it off you. Maulgar also starts charging random raid members. He can still do Whirlwind at this phase so everyone should be spread out.
Ogre Council details
Blindeye the Seer
The priest add. He has mostly healing spells and can shield himself to avoid being interrupted while casting a heal spell. He should be the first add to die.
Blindeye the Seer's Abilities
Heal - a single target heal spell which heals for 46250 to 53750 health. 1.5 second cast and is interruptible.
Prayer of Healing - group heal spell which heals for 92500 to 107500 health. 4 second cast and is interruptible.
Greater Power Word: Shield - a more powerful version of a priest's Power Word: Shield. Absorbs 25000 damage and makes Blindeye immune to stuns and spell interrupts. He always casts this before he casts Prayer of Healing. This effect however only applies to abilities with a damage component, so other abilities like Rogue Kidney Shot, or Warrior Concussive Blow can break through the shield and interrupt his casting. Silence effects also break through the shield and can interrupt Blindeye's casting.
This healer add has very weak melee attack, thus he can be tanked by a DPS warrior, a feral druid, or maybe even a rogue. Anyone who can interrupt should be monitoring his spell casts so that no heals will go through, and rogues can do this job properly. Rogues should save their energy for kicking his Heal spell, and save Kidney Shot for when he starts to cast Prayer of Healing. Blindeye will always cast Greater Power Word: Shield on himself before he casts Prayer of Healing. Make sure the Prayer of Healing spell is interrupted or it may just heal him to full. The shield should be brought down fast so you can properly interrupt his heals. If ever he casts heal immediately after he gets shielded, rogues can Kidney Shot him and others can silence him. Blindeye is also vulnerable to Curse of Tongues and Mind Numbing Poison, so keep these up on him at all times to help you in interrupting his heals. Kill him fast before proceeding to kill another ogre.
Olm the Summoner
The warlock add. He occasionally casts Death Coil on his primary target, thus needing multiple tanks on him. He also summons felhounds which the warlocks should enslave and banish / fear.
Olm the Summoner's Abilities
Dark Decay - a stackable shadow DoT which is cast on his primary target. Deals 500 base shadow damage every 2 seconds which lasts for 10 seconds. Cannot be dispelled except by the enslaved Wild Fel Stalker ability (self-dispel ability).
Wild Fel Stalker - occasionally summoned by Olm. These felhounds should be crowd controlled immediately by warlocks (Enslave Demon, Banish, Fear). Enslaved felhounds comes with a threat generating ability and can be used to tank Olm, or DPS Blindeye if he's still alive.
Death Coil - similar to a warlock's. Olm will use this very often, so 2 tanks should be used against him (2 players / 2 enslaved felhounds / mix).
Olm uses Death Coil very often, and can be very dangerous if the main tank for Maulgar is the one death coiled. This is what makes the initial pull for this boss fight very hard. It can also affect the one tanking Olm, so there should be at least 2 tanks on him to keep him from going wild on the raid. Since Olm uses Dark Decay, the enslaved Wild Fel Stalkers are suggested to be used for tanking Olm, since they can remove the Dark Decay debuff on themselves. It's more advised to use 2 players for tanking Olm to avoid chaos if the felhounds are not enslaved immediately, or others are banished and there are no more hounds available for enslaving. Olm hits fairly hard with his melee attacks so decent geared tanks should be assigned for tanking.
Kiggler the Crazed
The shaman add. Basically tanked at range since he has a PBAoE ability which knocks back players and drops aggro. Hunters are best ranged tanks for Kiggler, as well as moonkin for his immunity to polymorph.
Kiggler the Crazed's Abilities
Lightning Bolt - constantly being cast by Kiggler. Deals moderate nature damage (around 1.5-2k).
Arcane Shock - instant arcane spell which deals small arcane damage (around 700-800). Also interrupts spellcasting for 5 seconds.
Arcane Explosion - PBAoE arcane spell which he casts irregularly. Deals 1750 to 2250 arcane damage to people in melee range, and knocks them far back. Also drops aggro on affected targets, so melee tanking him is not advisable.
Greater Polymorph - undispellable polymorph spell which is occasionally cast on the primary target. Lasts for 10 seconds. There should be at least 2 tanks on Kiggler in case one gets polymorphed, unless a druid is tanking him.
This shaman add should be tanked with a ranged class, either hunters / elemental shaman / moonkin druid. Two tanks in nature resist gear will be needed since Kiggler likes to polymorph his target, except for moonkin druid since its immune to polymorph. He casts Lightning Bolts most often, and Arcane Shock damage is fairly negligible so nature resist is advised for tanking Kiggler. After the priest and warlock adds are dead, DPS are to split between the shaman and the mage adds, having melee on Kiggler (shaman) and the ranged on Krosh (mage).
Krosh Firehand
The mage add. He uses fire spells and has a Spell Shield which can be stolen by mages. A mage with high hp should be tanking Krosh. He is immune to Curse of Tongues, and his spells are immune to spell reflections or Grounding Totems.
Krosh Firehand's Abilities
Greater Fireball - a powerful Fireball spell which deals 8550 to 9450 fire damage. 3 second cast.
Spell Shield - Krosh occasionally casts a spell shield on himself which reduces 75% damage taken. The mage tank should spellsteal this buff everytime its up and utilize it to negate most of the fireball damage.
Blast Wave - PBAoE fire spell similar to a mage's. Deals around 6013 to 6987 fire damage on a 15yard radius around Krosh and slows them down for 6 seconds. No one should go near Krosh as this spell is deadly.
Tanking Krosh doesn't need fire resistance, as his Greater Fireballs bypass fire resistance. The mage tank should just aim for at least around 10k health, with around 11-12k health being ideal. Don't focus with only stam gear, since you will still need sufficient mana to maintain aggro and spellsteals. There should be sufficient caster gear with high stamina on the 5man instances. Most likely you would be aiming for some warlock gear, since those pieces have high stamina. Also try getting some +spell hit on you so that your Spellsteal won't resist very much. Upon pulling, throw an instant cast spell on Krosh to gain his aggro, then blink away from him to avoid his Blast Wave. After that, its just a matter of spellstealing his Spell Shield everytime he casts it. Also don't forget to use Fire Ward whenever Spell Shield is not available / already faded. If Fire Ward is on cooldown, ask for a priest to shield you. You should survive his Greater Fireballs if ever you have no choice but to eat one, just get topped off.
These are the descriptions and individual abilities of the ogre council. They are to be tanked simultaneously together with Maulgar, so the initial pull is the tricky part of the encounter. Everyone should be on their respective positions before proceeding to pull.
Positioning
There are 4 ogres to be tanked simultaneously. Two of them are tanked at range, while the rest are melee tanked.
Maulgar tank
As you enter Maulgar's room, there is a small vent to the left by the wall. This is where Maulgar should be tanked. The main tank should bring Maulgar to this spot as soon as he gets hold of him. Misdirecting Maulgar to the tank can prevent him from killing a raid member before going to the tank.
Krosh tank
At the mouth of the room is a tiny vent at the right side near a wall. This is where the mage tank will stay before pulling. As soon as the pull is initiated, the mage tank approaches Krosh fast and does an instant cast spell on him immediately when he enters range (Fireblast or PoM+Pyro). After getting Krosh's attention, mage should blink away from Krosh to the wall's direction. He will then stay here for the rest of the fight until Krosh dies.
Kiggler tank
Kiggler's tank/s should scale the south walls and run to the other side of the room. This is where they should wait. Upon pulling, the ranged tank needs to pick him up immediately and bring it to their side (left of the room).
Olm tank
If there are assigned tanks for Olm, they should stay at the other side of where Maulgar's tank is (there is a large protruding wall beside where Maulgar is being tanked, Olm's tanks will stay at the other side of this wall). Upon pull, they should personally pick him up and brought to their tanking spot immediately. These 2 tanks will have to fight for aggro so that Olm won't go to the raid after a tank gets Death Coiled.
Blindeye tank
His tank will have to tank Blindeye by the gates going to Gruul. Before pulling, the tank needs to stay with the Olm tanks and pick him up himself as soon as the pull commences. After the pull, Blindeye should be brought to the gates.
DPS people
All DPS should stay at the left side of the room, by the gate going to Gruul. They will initially be focusing on Blindeye anyway, so they should be near him at the start.
Healers
Each healers should stay near whomever they are assigned to heal. Be careful though, and not stay near Krosh or Kiggler, since they have a PBAoE ability which might endanger you.
Pulling
Getting the pull is the tricky part of this boss fight. Since there are 4 'bosses' to deal with, one wrong pull and it can lead to a disaster. There are several factors that can affect the pull. One is Olm the Summoner's Death Coil ability. If you're not careful, and tank decides to pull Maulgar himself, the tank can get Death Coiled and Maulgar will go on killing the raid. Another factor is the position for pulling. Every tank should know where they should be at the start of the pull, so that when the pull starts, their target won't wander away and ruin the tanking positions. This is important for the 2 ranged add tanks, since a misplaced add will be deadly (no one should be near these two ranged adds). There are several ways for pulling the boss.
Misdirection pull
This requires several hunters to actually get the pull done, especially if hunters are used to tank the shaman add. Misdirects will be given to Maulgar's tank and Olm's tank. The initial pull would be Olm, so that in case Olm casts a Death Coil right off the bat, the main tank can still get Maulgar. The misdirecting hunter on Maulgar should proceed on the misdirect immediately as soon as the shot to pull Olm is fired. The other tanks should pick their targets up immediately so Olm's tank won't be overwhelmed.
Paladin pull
This pull is fairly safe, since there will be room for the tanking people to pick their adds up. The paladin will run to the center going to Maulgar and will get proximity aggro once he gets near enough, then proceeds to shield himself. At this point, individual tanks should pick their targets immediately. As for Maulgar, he should still be misdirected immediately, or he might go to someone nearby and kill him off. The paladin running and shielding should give the tanks enough time to acquire their targets and bring them to their respective tanking positions.
Healing Assignments
There should be around 3-4 healers on Maulgar's tank. If there are enough paladins, they should be assigned on him, as well as a resto druid if there is one. The resto druid's HoTs will help a lot on the spikes, and if ever the tank gets a large damage spike, they have instant cast heals. For the mage tank, having a priest is best, so that he can provide the mage the shield needed if ever a Spellsteal is resisted or Spell Shield is already faded and Fire Ward is on cooldown. A single healer can be assigned for the shaman tanks, either a shaman, priest or an excess paladin. A healer should be enough assigned to Olm's tanks, then the rest of the healers should help on healing the raid, and Blindeye's tank if needed. They should also assist Olm's tanks if they need additional heals.
Main Strategy
Killing Adds
Everyone should be on their respective positions before the pull. As soon as the pull begins, tanks should pick up their targets immediately and bring them to their respective tanking positions. It is important that Krosh and Kiggler are far away from the raid, to avoid them killing the raid with their AoE abilities. Maulgar's tank should turn his back to the wall to avoid getting knocked back very far with Maulgar's Mighty Blow. Make sure attack power debuffs (Demoralizing Shout / Curse of Weakness) are always up on Maulgar, since he hits very hard. Warlocks should be focusing on crowd controlling the Wild Fel Stalkers that are summoned. Blindeye should be focused on at the start. Rogues should be alert on interrupting the heals, as well as other classes that can interrupt if ever rogues didn't make it on time. Silencing abilities can also be used on Blindeye, and Curse of Tongues / Mind Numbing Poison should be used on him to slow down his cast time. After killing Blindeye, proceed to Olm. Warlocks still focus on the felhound adds until Olm dies. After he's dead, DPS should split up. Melee DPS should go to Kiggler, since they can't go near Krosh or they'll die from his Blast Wave. Ranged can go ahead and kill Krosh, then help on Kiggler once Krosh is dead. Melee should be careful of Kiggler's Arcane Explosion ability, as it can throw them towards Krosh and they can get Blast Waved. Just run away from Krosh fast if ever you get thrown to him.
Phase 1
Once the 4 adds are dead, Maulgar is left. Don't slack now since the fight isn't over. Maulgar hits very hard, so other healers should help on Maulgar's tank as soon as they're free from healing other adds' tanks. Keep Demoralizing Shout or Curse of Weakness on Maulgar all the time. Melee should be careful of Whirlwind, and move away once he does this. When the Whirlwind is over, they can go back and proceed to DPS for another 25-35 or so seconds before another Whirlwind. This is basically just tank and spank, with melee moving away on Whirlwinds. Continue DPS on Maulgar until 50%, where Maulgar drops his hammer and proceeds to enrage.
Phase 2
Once Maulgar reaches 50% health, he drops his hammer and enrages. He will have weaker attacks now without his hammer, but he will start casting Intimidating Shout and will charge random players occasionally. At this point, have the spare tanks wait on the raid, so that when the main tank gets feared and Maulgar goes to the raid, they can taunt Maulgar off and bring him back to the main tank. Other people should spread out to avoid getting caught by Whirlwinds when Maulgar goes wild on the raid. Keep constant DPS and Maulgar should die fast.
When Maulgar dies, the gates on the left side of his room will open. This leads to Gruul, and there are more trash going to him.
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