| Name | Magtheridon's Lair Guide |
| Category | Raid |
Tier 4 piece tokens are dropped by different bosses. As you run Karazhan and complete it, you will get 2 tokens from it. One from The Curator, which is a glove token, and one from Prince Malchezaar, which is a helm token. After getting geared up from Karazhan, its time to start 25man raids, and your next target should be Gruul's Lair. Here, you will also get 2 tokens. The shoulder token is from High King Maulgar, and the legs token is from Gruul the Dragonkiller. The only one token left is the chestpiece token, and this can be gotten from Magtheridon, which should be your next target for a 25man raid encounter.
The next part of your 25man raiding progression should be for the tier 4 chestpiece token from Magtheridon's Lair. This instance is located at the basement of Hellfire Citadel. You might remember this when you were running Blood Furnace, as you may seldomly hear Magtheridon's yells throughout the instance, and you can see himself being banished below Keli'dan the Breaker's room. Similar to Gruul's Lair, Magtheridon's Lair is a very small 25man instance.
If you have been playing since pre-TBC, you'll think of Magtheridon's Lair as very similar to Onyxia's Lair, where there are only a few trash pulls, then a single boss at the end. You don't need a key or to be attuned to get inside this instance. There are only 4 sets of trash pulls here before you can get to the boss of this instance, Magtheridon. The trash pulls are warlock-class mobs that come in threes, and they can pretty wipe the raid quick if not handled correctly.
Magtheridon's Lair entrance at the Hellfire Basin, below Hellfire Citadel.
Trash Mob information
Hellfire Warder - these are orc warlocks who come in packs of 3. They are pretty much immune to any crowd control effects, so you'll have to tank them all separately. They hit fairly hard and they have several abilities which should be taken note of.
**These trash mobs have a respawn timer of 2 hours.
Hellfire Warder abilities
Shadow Bolt Volley - shadow spell most oftenly cast by Hellfire Warders. Everyone within range gets bolted with shadow damage for around 2k. This spell has a cast time, so anyone who can interrupt should be interrupting this spell to decrease damage taken by the whole raid.
Shadow Word: Pain - similar to the priest spell. This is cast to a random player in range with the Hellfire Warder. It is dispellable and ticks for a small amount of shadow damage every 3 seconds for 18 seconds. This can be easily healed through and can just be ignored.
Unstable Affliction - similar to the warlock spell. Cast to a random player within range of the Hellfire Warder. Deals around 500 or so shadow damage per tick over 12 seconds, and deals around 4500 shadow damage to the one dispelling and silences him/her. This can just be easily healed through, so don't bother trying dispelling it. This spell is more deadly if you try to dispel it.
Rain of Fire - similar to the warlock spell. An uninterruptible spell that casts down a rain of fireballs on an area which deals around 1900 fire damage every 2 seconds to anyone standing under the effect of the Rain of Fire. Players should be alert for this and move out of the area immediately.
Death Coil - similar to the warlock spell. This spell targets most likely the 2nd closest person to the Hellfire Warder. This is cast very often, and might target another tank nearby if he's tanking his Hellfire Warder close to another one. Deals moderate shadow damage (around 2k) and sends the affected person to flee in terror for 3 seconds.
Fear - similar to warlock's fear. Sends the randomly targetted player to flee in terror for 8 seconds. This effect cannot be dispelled, but can be countered by Tremor Totem.
Strategy
These Hellfire Warders come in threes. They are immune to any crowd control, so have them all tanked separately. There are 3 stationary groups of Hellfire Warders and one group patrolling, so take note of the patrol when you are pulling the first group. As you enter the Magtheridon's Lair instance, there is a small platform before the large ramp going down. Have all DPS and raid healers stay on this platform, as well as one of the tanks for the Hellfire Warder. The other two tanks, its healers and shamans, and a couple of warlocks as well stay at the ramp. Have one hunter Misdirect pull a Hellfire Warder to the tank staying at the top platform. Time it such that the patrol is far from the first group, or you might accidentally pull the patrol too.
This Hellfire Warder should be the one focus-fired first. The other two tanks get their own Hellfire Warders and bring them midway on the ramp, one on each side. The warlocks on the ramp should apply Curse of Tongues on those 2 Hellfire Warders being tanked, and the shamans should drop Tremor Totems every time. These shamans should monitor these Hellfire Warders too and interrupt it when it's casting Shadow Bolt Volley. The rest should just kill that Hellfire Warder above immediately. Make sure to avoid Rain of Fire so you don't give the healers a harder task.
Once the first Hellfire Warder dies, have the next tank bring his Hellfire Warder up on the platform and then do the same with the first one, DPS it down fast. After this one, just have the last one brought up to the platform as well and kill it. Dealing with these Hellfire Warders sound easy, but everyone should be aware of what is happening and should react immediately. Rain of Fire is the most deadly ability these Hellfire Warders have, so everyone should be on the move and avoid it by moving out of the area of effect. Also, the raid might get large bursts of damage from the Shadow Bolt Volleys. This spell should be interrupted all the time, and warlocks should keep Curse of Tongues on them always to increase its cast time and the interrupting players can have more time on reacting on it.
Priests and paladins shouldn't be trying to dispel anything from anyone, unless they are sure that its only a Shadow Word: Pain is on that player. Dispelling an Unstable Affliction can be deadly. After killing the first set of Hellfire Warders, go back to the initial positions, and wait for the patrol to move in front. Similar to the previous group, misdirect pull one of the Hellfire Warder to the tank above and focus fire on it, while the other two gets tanked down below. Kill one Hellfire Warder at a time, bringing the next one up after killing the current one. That's two groups down after killing those two groups.
The raid should move down to where the first groups is and choose a side. Do the same thing with the previous groups, staying on this platform this time, while the other 2 tanks and its healers are down below the ramp. Misdirect one, then kill them one at a time. Do this on the other side for the final group. Once all 4 groups have been cleared, everyone move down to Magtheridon's room down below. Buff up, and get ready.
Magtheridon
He is the end boss of this small 25man instance. You will see him initially banished by 5 Hellfire Channelers through the 5 cubes. Later on, you will use this strategy of banishing Magtheridon temporarily when he casts his deadly spell. The fight begins when you engage one of the Hellfire Channelers, so don't do anything which can engage a channeler while you are getting ready inside his room. There are 3 phases on this fight. The first phase is the one with the Hellfire Channelers. The second is when Magtheridon breaks free from banishment, and the third phase is when Magtheridon's health reaches 30%.
Raid Composition
5 Tanks - 1 for each Hellfire Channeler
7-8 Healers
3-4 Warlocks
2-3 Interrupters (Rogues/Shamans)
Other slots for DPS
Class Assignments
The 5 tanks doesn't exactly mean 5 protection warriors. The raid can just have at least 3 properly geared tanks, then the other 2 can be well-geared feral druids, or DPS-specced warriors with decent tank gear. Have the main tank get the first add (north channeler), so he can be freed from tanking job until Magtheridon breaks free. The other 2 well-geared tanks take the last two channelers to the south (southeast and southwest channelers). The other two tanks can get the side channelers (west and east channelers). Assign one healer at least per channeler tank, then 1-2 raid healers, and 1 floating healer (a healer that can go around and help healing on a tank, or the raid).
For the warlocks, assign one for each side (north, south, east, west). These warlocks should only focus on crowd-controlling each and every Burning Abyssal that appears. Each warlock should focus on banishing / fearing the infernals on his 'territory'. Don't bother DPSing on the channelers, leave that to the other DPS people and just focus on monitoring any new infernal summons and banishing / fearing them. Also, try to apply Curse of Tongues on the channelers, especially the one being focus-fired to help interrupters on interrupting their spells.
Rogues and available shamans should focus on interrupting the channeler's spells. There are 2 spells that should always be monitored, Dark Mending and Shadow Bolt Volley. If there are enough rogues and shamans available, assign the rogues to monitor and Kick the Dark Mending while the shamans monitor the Shadow Bolt Volley and Earthshock it, or vice versa. If there are no available shamans, just assign a rogue or two to handle each spell accordingly. It is imperative that these two spells should always be interrupted.
Phase 1 - Hellfire Channelers
Once you engage any of the Hellfire Channelers, the fight will begin and the gates will close. Make sure everyone is inside the room before engaging. The whole of phase 1 has Magtheridon still banished, so just focus your attention on the Hellfire Channelers. Phase 1 lasts for 2 minutes, from the second a Hellfire Channeler is aggroed until Magtheridon breaks free from banishment. During this phase, the raid should kill as many Hellfire Channelers as possible. Try to accomplish killing 3-4 channelers while on this phase so you won't have any problems later on when Magtheridon is free.
Hellfire Channeler Key Abilities
Shadow Bolt Volley - generic shadow bolt volley which hits everyone within range (30 yards) for around 1800 shadow damage. Interruptible and should always be interrupted. 1 second cast time. Curse of Tongues or Mind Numbing Poison increases the casting time and should help interrupts.
Dark Mending - a heal spell. Cast to another Hellfire Channeler or himself, which heals for 69375-80625 damage. Has a 30 yard range and has a 2 second cast time. Interruptible and should always be interrupted. Curse of Tongues or Mind Numbing Poison increases the casting time and should help interrupts.
Summon Abyssal - a summon spell. Cast occasionally, which summons a Burning Abyssal on a random area. Deals 2625-3375 fire damage to anyone on a 10 yard radius when it lands. These Burning Abyssals occasionally cast Fire Blast which deals 3300 fire damage to anyone within 30 yards. These abyssals should be crowd controlled by warlocks by fearing or banishing them. Can also be trapped, stunned or frozen. The abyssals die / despawn after 1 minutes.
Soul Transfer - when a Hellfire Channeler dies, its soul is transferred to each Hellfire Channeler left. This effect buffs the rest of the Hellfire Channelers by increasing their damage by 30%, casting speed by 20% and size by 20%. The effect stacks as you kill more Hellfire Channelers, which eventually greatly buffs the last Hellfire Channeler.
Before engaging, have each tank position itself just beside the channeler he/she is going to tank. Get its healers positioned near them as well before engaging. Warlocks should also move to their respective areas. When everyone is ready, each tank engages his / her own Hellfire Channeler and tank it away from the one being killed first, which is the northmost channeler. Just maintain distance beyond 30 yards to prevent other channelers to heal the currently focused channeler, or just tank them within their own platforms. This way, they are all spread out, and their Shadow Bolt Volleys won't overlap.
The main tank should be the one on the first channeler, so he could be freed from tanking until Magtheridon breaks free. Bring the current Hellfire Channeler down to the gates and kill him there. Remember to have Curse of Tongues or Mind Numbing Poison on that Hellfire Channeler always, and interrupt the 2 very important spells that he casts. Warlocks should be busy on banishing / fearing the infernals that land on their 'territory'. They should not bother doing anything else except crowd control the infernals near them, unless they have a spare time to apply a dot or two on the current channeler.
One warlock should be enough to handle the Curse of Tongues on the current channeler. Just like the trash mobs before, kill one Hellfire Channeler at a time, bringing the next one to the gates (or just more than 30 yards away from the rest of the channelers) when its turn is up. The kill order should be the north channeler (one nearest to the gate), then the side channelers (east then west, or vice versa), then the south channelers (southeast then southwest, or vice versa). DPS should be fast on this phase since it only lasts for 2 minutes, until Magtheridon breaks free.
Since these channelers have Soul Transfer, healers should be aware and ready to heal their respective tanks for more when a channeler dies. After a channeler dies, its tank and healer are free to do any task. The tank should just help DPS on the current channeler, while the healer should move to any of the two south channeler tanks and help on healing them. As soon as 3 channelers are down, the last 2 channeler tanks should be getting more damage now, and they should have at least 2 healers each by then. At the end of phase 1 you should only have 1-2 channelers left, otherwise, the raid DPS is slow and can be a problem.
Phase 2 - Magtheridon Free
Once the 2 minutes are up, Magtheridon breaks free and will start to aggro. The main tank should be aware of this and should be waiting at the center when there's only a few seconds left before Magtheridon is free. Also, everyone else staying at the center should move out to the sides or they might get cleaved to death. Assign a hunter to misdirect Magtheridon to the main tank as soon as he goes free to avoid any other player to aggro him (like healer aggro).
Magtheridon's Key Abilities
Quake - Magtheridon's ability which knocks everyone back every second for 7 seconds. This effect should look like you are bouncing every second, which interrupts casting. This ability has no damage, just interrupts casting and displaces everyone to random directions. Magtheridon does this every around 40 seconds.
Blast Nova - Magtheridon's main ability. Inflicts 2500 fire damage to everyone every 2 seconds for 10 seconds. Interuptible only by using the Manticron Cubes to rebanish Magtheridon for a short while. Has a 1 minute cooldown.
Cleave - basic cleave ability.
Magtheridon also occasionally crumbles a small area (looks like there is a worm lurking below). After a few seconds, this area is set on fire, dealing small fire damage to anyone within the area.
When there are around 10 seconds left before Magtheridon goes free, have the main tank wait for him in the middle. Also, have a hunter ready a Misdirect on him so his aggro will definitely stick to the main tank. As soon as he breaks free, have at least 3-4 healers start focusing on healing the main tank. The rest of the healers keep the remaining channeler tanks up until the remaining channelers are dead. The main tank should move directly to the south wall (at the middle of the 2 southern cubes) and bring Magtheridon there with him, with his back facing the wall to avoid himself being thrown around when Magtheridon does his Quake. DPS should still be focusing on the remaining channelers. No damage dealing should start on Magtheridon until all channelers are down.
The Manticron Cube
On the initial positions of the Hellfire Channelers, you will find cubes floating. These cubes are the ones they use to banish Magtheridon. Players can use them as well, but it behaves differently. When a player uses it, it channels a beam to Magtheridon. While channeling, the player takes 800 shadow damage per second. If all 5 cubes are channeled at the same time, Magtheridon will get banished for a few seconds which interrupts his Blast Nova when he is casting it, and makes him take 300% damage from all sources while banished.
Also, when Magtheridon gets banished successfully, the players channeling the cubes will get a Mind Exhaustion debuff. This debuff prevents the same players from channeling the cube again for another 1 1/2 minutes. Because of this, the raid needs 2 sets of cube clickers to continually interrupt Magtheridon's Blast Nova casting. These 2 groups of 5 players will alternate such that after group A has finished clicking and banishing Magtheridon, the next Blast Nova should be taken care of by group B since group A has Mind Exhaustion debuff and can't click on the cubes for the next Blast Nova.
A Manticron Cube, initially being used by a Hellfire Channeler.
Assigning People for the Cubes
Anyone can be assigned to a cube basically, but these people need to be coordinated when clicking on the cubes. Using Voice Chat to relay the timing on when to click is a great help for those cube clickers. Also, latency should be considered when picking on a person to click a cube. Before starting the fight, assign a raid icon to each cube, basically marking each Hellfire Summoner with a raid icon and that icon would be that corresponding cube's icon.
For each cube, you need to assign at least 2 players, 3 to be safe. The first set of 5 players will be Group 1, then the next set of 5 will be Group 2. You can assign another 5 players to be backup clickers for when a main clicker dies or gets disconnected at that point. Their job is to make sure that they interrupt Magtheridon's Blast Nova by clicking on the cubes simultaneously. If they failed to click them when Magtheridon starts to cast Blast Nova, it may lead to the raid's wipe.
Group 1 should take care of the very first Blast Nova casting when phase 2 starts. Group 2 shall take care of the next Blast Nova since group 1 has Mind Exhaustion debuff from the previous Blast Nova. After group 2 is the first group's turn again, since the Mind Exhaustion debuff has already expired by then. After group 1 is group 2 again, and so on. They will be alternating on clicking the cubes for the whole fight until Magtheridon is dead. Main tank healers are best assigned (if ever you want to assign them) to the southern cubes so they don't have to run a long way just to click and then go back healing the tank when they're done. Melee DPS, raid healers or even some ranged DPS can be assigned to the side cubes. And as for the north cube (near the gate), ranged DPS can be assigned.
Disrupting Magtheridon's Blast Nova
As soon as phase 2 starts, Group 1 should be aware and ready to move to their positions when Magtheridon is about to cast Blast Nova. You will still be given less than a minute to continue what you were doing during phase 1, which is killing the remaining Hellfire Channelers or healing the tanks. Remember to monitor the Blast Wave cooldown's timer. As soon as it reaches 10-15 seconds before Magtheridon's Blast Nova timer runs out, group 1 should start running to their respective cubes. If they are already within position, they should stay by the wall near their cube so that when Magtheridon does Quake, they won't get thrown far from their cube.
As soon as the timer runs out, everyone on group 1 should monitor Magtheridon and wait for him to cast Blast Nova (he will also emote this). DPS people can easily see Magtheridon casting on their target frame, but healers can have a hard time since they have their targets set on other raid members. For these healers that are going to click, try putting Magtheridon as your Focus, so that when he's starting to cast Blast Nova, you can see it through your focus frame and you can click the cube on time. As soon as Magtheridon begins to cast Blast Nova (its a 2 second cast), everyone on group 1 should click on their cubes simultaneously within that casting time frame to interrupt the casting and banishing Magtheridon for a few seconds.
If someone clicks on a cube a little late, Magtheridon can get a Blast Nova tick off, dealing moderate damage to everyone and shortening the channel time of the clickers. If you successfully banished Magtheridon with the cube clicking, he will yell "Not again... NOT AGAIN!" This is the signal for group 1 to stop channeling so they don't get additional channeling damage from the cube. After group 1 has finished their job of cube clicking, they should resume what they were previously doing (DPS / healing) until their next turn comes up. Since group 1 has Mind Exhaustion debuff, it’s the second group's turn for the next Blast Nova. Again, when its 10-15 seconds left before Magtheridon can cast Blast Nova, group 2 should be going in position already.
Same as group 1, monitor Magtheridon's Blast Nova casting before doing any clicking on the cube. This cube-clicking job for both groups should continue until Magtheridon dies. They will alternate on clicking cubes due to the Mind Exhaustion debuff. If ever any player that would be clicking a cube soon dies, its the backup group's job to fill in the gap. They should go to that player's cube position immediately and get ready to click. Raid healers should also be healing the cube clickers since channeling a cube causes damage per second on the clicker.
Also, take note that Magtheridon's Quake is on a shorter timer than the Blast Nova. At some point, Magtheridon will do a Quake when he is already about to do a Blast Nova. Sometimes he will cast Quake first then immediately follow a Blast Nova cast, and sometimes he will cast Blast Nova first, then Quake right after. To avoid confusion, just make sure you are in position before Blast Nova timer runs out, then try to monitor Magtheridon's casting when its the last 5 seconds on its cooldown timer. This way, even if he casts Quake then do a Blast Nova right after, you can still move in near the cube and click on it on time.
The whole of phase 2 should be consisting of DPSing down Magtheridon, while constantly interrupting his Blast Nova casts by banishing him with the cubes. Phase 2 should last until his health reaches 30%, where he will collapse the room's walls. As soon as Magtheridon's health reaches around 32%, STOP DPS! There should only be the main tank and the healers doing anything at this point. Everyone else should stop what they're doing and wait for the Blast Nova casting.
The group that's supposed to click the cubes for that Blast Nova should be ready, and when he does cast it, click the cubes, then immediately resume DPS and bring him down to 30% as fast as you can. Also, make sure each and everyone especially the main tank are topped off for the incoming phase transition. Do not try your luck and bring him to phase 3 when he is about to do Blast Nova. Getting stunned due to the Debris falling when you should be clicking on cubes will most likely result in a wipe.
Phase 3 - Wall Collapses
As soon as Magtheridon reaches 30% health, he will destroy the walls of his room, making it collapse and fall down on the whole raid. The debris falling on the raid deals 5250-6750 physical damage and stuns them for 2 seconds. After the stun, everyone should pop their healthstones / health potions to help the raid healers. Raid healers should try to top everyone up after the stun. For the whole duration of phase 3, it’s pretty similar to phase 2 with the Blast Novas and Quakes, but with a new addition.
Since Magtheridon just collapsed the whole room, the ceiling will cave in on random areas of the room. The cave in animation is pretty similar to the one in Gruul's Lair. This cave-in is very deadly, causing 87500-112500 damage to anyone under the cave in. Anyone who sees the cave in animation on them should immediately move out, or they will get instantly killed. Everyone should be alert now for cave ins, including the main tank. They are instant death, so make sure to move away immediately.
Cube clickers should be aware of this also, so they should stay a bit of distance from the cube before they will actually click on it. This way, if there's a cave in on them, the cube area won't be affected and they can still click on the cube safely. Everyone should stay calm, and continue DPS on Magtheridon. He should die in a short while. Clickers should still do their job of clicking on the cubes until Magtheridon is actually dead.
Additional Notes
Raid coordination is necessary for this fight. Misclicking on a cube, or forgetting to click on a cube can definitely result in a wipe. Use the in-game Voice Chat, or Ventrilo / Teamspeak if your guild has one, so everyone can interact with each other, and give a signal for the cube clicking. Also, to monitor the cooldown on Magtheridon's abilities, try getting boss mods like Deadly Boss Mods or Big Wigs to help you monitor the cooldown timer on his abilities.
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