| Name | Serpentshrine Cavern: Hydross the Unstable Guide |
| Category | Raid |
You have already cleared Karazhan. Gruul's Lair doesn't pose a challenge to you anymore, and Magtheridon is easy-mode. You've managed to get tier 4 and equivalent gear from these raid instances, but these are not enough. You need better upgrades, and its time for you to step into the tier 5 raid instances.
The tier 5 raid instances are Serpentshrine Cavern and The Eye. Previously, you need to complete attunement quests before you can enter these two raid instances. But since patch 2.1, these attunement quests have been removed and guilds can now enter these instances whenever they feel ready for them. Serpentshrine Cavern is a 25man tier5 raid instance with 6 bosses in total, including Lady Vashj as the final boss for the instance.
The Eye on the other hand is another 25man tier5 raid instance which has 4 bosses in total including Kael'thas Sunstrider as the final boss of the instance. Any guild that has already cleared Magtheridon can either go to Serpentshrine Cavern or to The Eye as their next raid instance target. This guide however focuses on Serpentshrine Cavern, particularly the first few bosses in the raid instance.
Location
Serpentshrine Cavern is one of the instances situated inside Coilfang Reservoir in Zangarmarsh. As soon as you enter the Coilfang Reservoir, you will notice a large waterfall at the center. This is the entrance to Serpentshrine Cavern. To be able to disable the waterfall and enter the instance, you just need to be in a raid group and go near the waterfall. Also, if you got stuck between the waterfall and the instance portal, and you want to get out, there is a waterfall switch mechanism at the right wall (when facing the instance portal). Just click on it and the waterfall will be disabled.
Take note, if you are already Exalted with Cenarion Expedition, you can interact with the NPC located just at the other side of the summoning stone inside Coilfang Reservoir. This NPC can repair your equipment, can sell reagents and can trade 3 Coilfang potions (Healing or Mana) for every Coilfang Armaments you have.
As soon as you enter the instance, you'll be presented with a gigantic elevator, which sends you further below. As soon as you reach the bottom, walk a bit and ride the small elevator. This is the beginning of the Serpentshrine Cavern instance, as soon as you stepped off the elevator. There are 5 mob packs before you can reach the first boss of the instance, Hydross the Unstable.
Trash mob information
Beast-Tamer packs - These packs consist of a Coilfang Beast-Tamer, 2 Coilfang Hate-Screamers, and 2 Serpentshrine Sporebats.
Coilfang Beast-Tamer - A melee mob which has a cleave attack. Also has the Bestial Wrath ability, similar to a hunter's. When the Coilfang Beast-Tamer uses this ability, the Serpentshrine Sporebats will enrage, making them immune to crowd-control effects as long as they are enraged.
Coilfang Hate-Screamer - Another melee mob which has an AoE silence which affects players within 30 yard radius to it. The silence effect lasts for 4 seconds. Also, the Coilfang Hate-Screamer has a ranged Arcane Blast ability, which targets a random person in the raid. This ability deals around 4-5k arcane damage, but it can also be resisted.
Serpentshrine Sporebats - The sporebat pets of the Coilfang Beast-Tamer. These sporebats can be crowd controlled, and should be crowd controlled whenever you can. When the Coilfang Beast-Tamer uses its Bestial Wrath ability, these sporebats will enrage and will become immune to crowd control effects during the duration. These sporebats also have a charge ability, similar to a warrior's. The ability deals moderate damage, and has a knockdown effect. It also has a minimum range, and usually targets the furthest player. Also has a Spore Burst ability which leaves a debuff that can't be removed which deals nature damage every 3 seconds.
Underbog Colossus - These are large bog lord-type mobs which comes in single pulls. They patrol in between the Beast Tamer packs. These mobs are fairly similar to the Anubisath Sentinels in Ahn'Qiraj, in which they have a random main ability, weakness, and death ability everytime.
Underbog Colossus' Random Abilities
Main Ability 1: Rampant Infection and Spore Quake - Occasionally, the Underbog Colossus does a Spore Quake ability which deals 1291-1499 nature damage per tick to anyone within 30 yard range. This generally hurts especially to the melee people, since they can't get out of it immediately without taking several ticks in. It also has a knockdown effect so melee people should be careful. In addition, the Underbog Colossus will cast a Rampant Infection on a random person. This disease acts like Prayer of Mending, which jumps from one person to another every after 1.5 seconds. It deals nature damage every time it jumps, and the damage stacks every time it jumps. If people can be fast enough, they can cure disease the person before it can jump to another person.
Main Ability 2: Acid Geyser and Serpentshrine Parasite - Occasionally, the Underbog colossus will shoot sprays of acid to a random person. This will make the Underbog Colossus face the random person, and anyone within a frontal cone range of the Colossus will be affected. If this happens, just have the targeted person move out off the raid so they won't be affected by the Acid Geyser. In addition to the Acid Geyser, the Underbog Colossus summons a 1 hp parasite to a random person in the raid. This parasite will crawl out and attempt to enter its target. If the person gets the parasite, s/he will get a debuff which deals 2000 nature damage every 2 seconds for 10 seconds. Once the effect wears off, or the person dies from the damage, the parasite will move out and attempt to infect a new person. Also, if the person died from the parasite, it will spawn several more parasites. Just heal the person who has the parasite, and kill the parasite when it’s out.
Main Ability 3: Frenzy and Atrophic Blow - This is the easiest of the Underbog Colossus' abilities, and it can just be easily dispelled by a Tranquilizing Shot from a hunter, or just healed through by the healers. The Atrophic Blow ability of the Underbog Colossus deals 1313-2187 nature damage to the tank, and applies a stackable debuff which reduces strength and stamina by 30 per stack. The debuff can stack up to 30, and lasts for 20 seconds.
Death Ability 1: Toxic Pool - As soon as the Underbog Colossus dies, a green pool will appear under the Underbog Colossus. Anyone standing on it will receive 2138-2362 nature damage per second. This ability is pretty much deadly for the melee people. Just run out immediately from it.
Death Ability 2: Colossus Lurker spawn - As soon as the Underbog Colossus dies, 2-3 Colossus Lurkers will spawn. Just have the tanks catch them and kill them one at a time. They have around 140k health.
Death Ability 3: Colossus Rager spawn - As soon as the Underbog Colossus dies, several Colossus Ragers will spawn. Just have the tanks gather them up, then AoE them all. They only have around 34k health.
Death Ability 4: Refreshing Mist - As soon as the Underbog Colossus dies, several blue mushrooms will appear under the Underbog Colossus which lasts for 20 seconds. Anyone standing within the mushrooms will receive a beneficial buff called Refreshing Mist which regenerates their health and mana. You can get multiple Refreshing Mist buffs on you since every mushroom emits this mist.
Death Ability 5: Nothing - When the Underbog Colossus dies, it just dies and won't trigger any death ability.
**These mobs respawn after 2 hours. Linked to Hydross the Unstable, so killing him will stop the respawns.
The first set of mobs you'll encounter is the Beast-Tamer pack. You will need 4-5 tanks here. Tank each naga, then have the spare tanks monitor the sporebats for when they enrage. Once they have pulled, crowd control the sporebats immediately (sheep / sleep / trap) and bring all of the nagas as far from the raid as possible. Healers should stay at maximum healing range from the tanks so that they can avoid the AoE silence from the Hate-Screamers. Focus fire on the Coilfang Beast-Tamer first.
When it uses Bestial Wrath, the spare tanks should catch the loose sporebats immediately and tank them on top of the raid, so that no one will be charged. Once the Coilfang Beast-Tamer is dead and the Bestial Wrath enrage wears off from the sporebats, resume crowd control on the sporebats immediately, then kill off the Hate-Screamers one at a time. Afterwards, kill the sporebats. After the first Beast-Tamer pack is the patrolling Underbog Colossus. Once engaged, have everyone clump up on maximum range from the tank. This way, if the Underbog Colossus has the first ability set, everyone is safe from the Spore Quake except for the melee people, so just heal them up quickly if ever. Also, priests / shamans / paladins should be quick on curing disease for the Rampant Infection.
If you get the 2nd ability set for the Underbog Colossus, just have the Acid Geyser target move away from the clump immediately. If a melee gets targetted, just turn the colossus around if the raid gets sprayed on. Kill the Underbog Colossus, and be careful of its death ability. After killing it is another Beast-Tamer pack. Essentially, the trash mobs going to Hydross the Unstable consists of alternating Beast-Tamer pack and Underbog Colossus. There are 5 sets of pulls before Hydross the Unstable, so that would be 3 Beast-Tamer packs and 2 Underbog Colossi. After killing the last Beast-Tamer pack, get ready for the first boss fight.
Hydross the Unstable
Hydross the Unstable is the first boss you will encounter inside Serpentshrine Cavern. He is a large water elemental, which can turn into a corrupted water elemental during the fight. Two main tanks are needed for this fight, one with very high frost resist gear, and the other with very high nature resist gear. Offtanks need to have a mix of 150 frost and 150 nature resist gear to tank the adds that Hydross the Unstable summons.
Raid Composition
1 Frost Resist Tank
1 Nature Resist Tank
1-2 Add Tank (Mix of Frost and Nature resist gear)
7-8 Healers
At least 2 Warlocks for banishing adds
Other slots for DPS
Key Abilities
Pure Form (Frost)
Mark of Hydross - Unremovable stackable debuff that Hydross the Unstable places on everyone while in Pure Form. Hydross casts this every around 15 seconds. Each stack increases frost damage received, particularly by 10%, 25%, 50%, 100%, 250%, and 500% for the last stack.
Water Tomb - A frost spell which encases a single person and anyone within an 8 yard radius of the target in a globe of water. While 'entombed', the players affected will be stunned and receive 900 base frost damage every second for 4 seconds. The damage increases with the Mark of Hydross stacks, so healers should be aware of this when the Mark of Hydross is already stacked high enough.
Summon Pure Spawn - When Hydross changes from Corrupted Form to Pure Form, he will summon 4 Pure Spawns of Hydross around him. These water elementals have around 45k health each, and should be killed immediately before resuming DPS on Hydross. They can only be banished and feared, since they are pretty much immune to Frost Traps and Frost Novas.
Corrupted Form (Nature)
Mark of Corruption - Unremovable stackable debuff that Hydross the Unstable places on everyone while in Corrupted Form. Hydross casts this every around 15 seconds. Each stack increases nature damage received, particularly by 10%, 25%, 50%, 100%, 250%, and 500% for the last stack.
Vile Sludge - A nature spell which leaves an unremovable debuff on a single player. This debuff reduces all damage and healing the target deals by 50%. Additionally, the debuff leaves a DoT which deals 500 base nature damage every 3 seconds. The debuff lasts for 24 seconds. The damage increases with the Mark of Corruption stacks, so healers should be aware of this when the Mark of Corruption is already stacked high enough.
Summon Tainted Spawn - When Hydross changes from Pure Form to Corrupted Form, he will summon 4 Tainted Spawns of Hydross around him. These corrupted water elementals have around 42k health each, and should be killed immediately before resuming DPS on Hydross. They can be affected by any crowd control effects (banish, fear, frost trap, frost nova).
Enrage - If Hydross the Unstable is not killed within 10 minutes, he will enrage, bringing a definite wipe on the raid within seconds.
The whole fight basically consists of 2 alternating phases, Frost Phase and Nature phase. There will be a separate tank for Hydross the Unstable for each phase, and they should be in pure frost or nature resist gear, depending on which phase each of them would be tanking him. Initially, Hydross the Unstable is at the Frost Phase (Pure Form). When he is moved beyond the "threshold line" (explained later), Hydross the Unstable will change into its Corrupted Form and the Nature Phase will thus begin.
Additionally, for each phase transitions, Hydross will summon 4 spawns around him depending on which form he is in. If he transitioned into Pure Form he will summon 4 Pure Spawns of Hydross, and if he switched into Corrupted Form he will summon 4 Tainted Spawns of Hydross. Due to the nature of adds having different elements each phase, the offtanks are advised to have a mix of frost and nature resist gear. Around 150 or so of each element resist (frost and nature) is recommended.
Resist Gear List
Here is a list of recommended Frost and Nature resist gear for the two warrior Main Tanks for the Hydross the Unstable fight. They should get around 350 resist buffed with these (Aura / Totem taken into account).
Frost Resist Gear
Head: Iceguard Helm (50)- crafted by Blacksmiths. Recipe found inside Karazhan, sold by Koren for Honored reputation. Requires 8 Khorium Bars, 12 Primal Waters, 12 Primal Fires and a Primal Nether to make.
Head Enchant: Glyph of Frost Warding (20)- sold by the Keepers of Time Quartermaster for Honored reputation.
Neck: Pendant of Thawing (30)- crafted by Jewelcrafters. Recipe sold by the Lower City Quartermaster for Revered reputation. Requires 2 Felsteel Bars, 4 Primal Waters, 6 Primal Fires and a Mercurial Adamantite to make.
Chest: Iceguard Breastplate (60)- crafted by Blacksmiths. Recipe found inside Karazhan, sold by Koren for Honored reputation. Requires 8 Khorium Bars, 12 Primal Waters, 12 Primal Fires and a Primal Nether to make.
Legs: Iceguard Leggings (60)- crafted by Blacksmiths. Recipe found inside Karazhan, sold by Koren for Revered reputation. Requires 8 Khorium Bars, 12 Primal Waters, 12 Primal Fires and a Primal Nether to make.
Chest / Legs Enchant: Frost Armor Kit (8)- crafted by Leatherworkers. Recipe dropped by Hydromancer Thespia inside Coilfang Reservoir: The Steamvault. Requires 4 Heavy Knothide Leathers and 4 Primal Fires to make.
Alternative Leg Enchant: Ice Guard (10)- obtained by trading in 10 Insignia of the Crusade and 30g to Mataus the Wrathcaster in Light's Hope Chapel at Eastern Plaguelands.
Finger1: The Frozen Eye (35)- crafted by Jewelcrafters. Recipe found outside Karazhan, sold by Apprentice Darius for Honored reputation. Requires 2 Khorium Bars, 6 Primal Waters, 6 Primal Fires and 4 Mercurial Adamantites to make.
Finger2: Any level 61-70 green / blue quality BoE ring "...of Frost Resistance".
Nature Resist Gear
Head: Wildguard Helm (50)- crafted by Blacksmiths. Recipe sold by the Cenarion Expedition Quartermaster for Revered reputation. Requires 8 Felsteel Bars, 12 Primal Lifes, 12 Primal Shadows and a Primal Nether to make.
Head Enchant: Glyph of Nature Warding (20)- sold by the Cenarion Expedition Quartermaster for Honored reputation.
Neck: Pendant of Withering (30)- crafted by Jewelcrafters. Recipe sold by the Scryer Quartermaster for Revered reputation. Requires 2 Felsteel Bars, 4 Primal Lifes, 6 Primal Shadows and a Mercurial Adamantite to make.
Chest: Wildguard Breastplate (60)- crafted by Blacksmiths. Recipe sold by the Cenarion Expedition Quartermaster for Exalted reputation. Requires 8 Felsteel Bars, 12 Primal Lifes, 12 Primal Shadows and a Primal Nether to make.
Legs: Wildguard Leggings (60)- crafted by Blacksmiths. Recipe sold by the Cenarion Expedition Quartermaster for Revered reputation. Requires 8 Felsteel Bars, 12 Primal Lifes, 12 Primal Shadows and a Primal Nether to make.
Chest / Legs Enchant: Nature Armor Kit (8)- crafted by Leatherworkers. Recipe dropped by Mennu the Betrayer inside Coilfang Reservoir: The Slave Pens. Requires 4 Heavy Knothide Leathers and 4 Primal Shadows to make.
Alternative Leg Enchant: Savage Guard (10)- obtained by trading in 1 Arcanum of Focus or 1 Arcanum of Protection or 1 Arcanum of Rapidity to Zanza the Restless inside Zul'Gurub.
Finger1: The Natural Ward (35)- crafted by Jewelcrafters. Recipe sold by the Cenarion Expedition Quartermaster for Exalted reputation. Requires 2 Felsteel Bars, 6 Primal Lifes, 6 Primal Shadows and 4 Mercurial Adamantites to make.
Finger2: Any level 61-70 green / blue quality BoE ring "...of Nature Resistance".
For the offtanks, they can just get some random frost and nature resistance greens. They only need to have both nature and frost resistance at around 150 or above.
Hydross is situated between two large pipe-like pillars, with two small flags beside them. These flags mark the "threshold line" for changing Hydross from Frost to Nature, and vice versa. Before engaging Hydross the Unstable, you will see an assembly line of Tainted Water Elementals from the right side going to Hydross the Unstable, stopping in front to get 'cleansed' by Hydross, then continuing towards the left. These elementals are continuously spawning from the right side until Hydross is engaged. They are pretty easy to kill so killing some prior to pulling shouldn't be a problem. This is also a chance for the frost tank to gain some rage before finally engaging Hydross.
The Pull
Once you are ready, have the first tank (Frost resist tank) move to the side and hug the pillar there (left or right side, it doesn't matter) since Hydross' aggro radius is fairly huge. The initial task of the frost tank is to make sure he engages Hydross on his Frost phase 'area' (above the threshold line from the flags) so that he won't have to summon adds since he's still on the same area and did not transition.
To do this, the tank needs to be sneaky and hug the pillar, and carefully moving to the intercept range with Hydross. Once the tank is within intercept range, intercept immediately and position Hydross on a comfortable spot inside the Frost phase area. At this point, the raid should start moving in and start spreading out. Have 1 or 2 ranged DPS help on cleaning up on the remaining Tainted Water Elementals that spawned.
As soon as everyone is comfortably spread out, start DPSing Hydross down fast, since this phase is the phase where there are no adds to bother with. Don't forget to control your aggro for this initial phase since you don't want to aggro Hydross and pull him out of the Frost area, changing him to Nature prematurely. DPS Hydross fast and when its about 5 seconds left before Hydross applies the 4th Mark of Hydross, STOP REFRESHING ALL DoTs ON HIM but continue to nuke him down. When the 4th Mark of Hydross is applied, continue nuking until around 10 seconds before Hydross applies the 5th Mark of Hydross, then STOP ALL DPS ON HYDROSS while the frost tank should be moving Hydross down past the 'threshold line' to force him to change to Nature.
Once he passes the line, he will change into Corrupted form and start the nature phase. Have the nature tank ready to pick him up immediately and tank him not too far past the threshold line. Also, have the mages catch the spawned adds with Frost Nova immediately, so crowd controls can be setup easily. Have the offtank/s grab their respective adds immediately and DPS should focus fire on one add at a time, making sure the adds die fast. The warlocks can banish 2 adds, then let the other 2 get tanked. Make sure the banishing warlocks use only RANK 1 BANISH on the adds, so as not to waste time waiting for adds to pop out of banish, wasting DPS time on Hydross.
Kill the first 2 adds fast, then have the offtank/s catch the banished adds immediately as soon as they go out of banish. Kill the last 2 adds fast then move to DPSing Hydross. When its 5 seconds before the 4th Mark of Corruption is applied, STOP REFRESHING DoTs ON HYDROSS like what you did on the previous phase. This way you won't accidentally pull Hydross immediately when he changes element and force him to change once more (if you are positioned at the nature area), thus spawning more adds. If you run to the frost area together with the tank and Hydross, and you accidentally pull Hydross, there won't be a risk of a premature transition.
Continue nuking until 10 seconds before the 5th Mark of Corruption is applied, STOP ALL DPS, then move Hydross back to the frost area. This time, the frost tank should be grabbing Hydross immediately, and the offtank/s should grab their respective adds as soon as they appear. Warlocks should banish their respective adds too as soon as they appear, and use only rank 1 Banish. Everyone spread out again and focus on one add at a time, and kill all 4 adds before moving back to DPSing Hydross.
Repeat the cycle--stop refreshing DoTs at 5 seconds before 4th Mark, stop all DPS 10 seconds before 5th Mark, transition. That is basically the whole Hydross the Unstable fight. You will be alternating between the frost and nature phases every minute or so, killing all spawned adds before DPSing Hydross again. Make sure everyone is spread out every time Hydross is on frost phase to avoid getting more people affected by Water Tombs, thus having more people to heal for it.
If the raid has enough DPS, you can kill Hydross even before the Enrage timer runs out. Going all out when Hydross is at 15% health is recommended, permanently crowd controlling all adds (banish / fear) and killing Hydross at this phase. If ever you get Hydross to enrage, the raid DPS might be lacking and that can be a major problem for this fight. Alternatively, if people are dying easily during the fight, it might be a healer problem or the tanks might be performing poorly if people are being killed by adds.
Frost Phase Notes
During this phase, everyone should be well spread out. There should be enough room for everyone to stand at around 10 yards away from each other. If people are too close to each other and Hydross targets one of those people for Water Tomb, they can all get affected by Water Tomb and this means more work for healers to be healing them for the Water Tomb damage. Cut the healers some slack and spread out.
Transition Notes
Every time Hydross changes element, its an aggro wipe. That means, every transition is a fresh aggro table for everyone. So if you still have DoTs on Hydross while transitioning, you might pull aggro on Hydross and make him come to you, making him transition back if you're staying at the opposite phase area. This is mostly a definite raid wipe, since it will make him summon 4 more elemental adds if ever he manages to successfully transition back. DPS should just need to control their aggro, and if they have DoT abilities, stop refreshing DoTs before reaching the 4th mark.
When the tank moves Hydross to the other phase area, stop DPS, and move together with the tank. Moving with the tank ensures that if ever you manage to pull aggro, you're still on the same phase area. Healers should also move together with the tank. Healing aggro can sometimes happen, especially if the new tank hasn't got solid aggro on Hydross yet during the transition. To really ensure smooth transitions, hunter Misdirection is needed. This will make Hydross' aggro stick to the tank, decreasing the chances of having healing aggro for the healers, or even DoT aggro for the DPS.
Controlling the Adds
Every time Hydross transitions, he summons 4 water elementals with elements depending on which phase Hydross is currently on. The adds spawn on 4 corners of a square, with Hydross at the center of the square. You can assign the offtank/s get either the top adds or the bottom adds. If the offtank/s are getting the bottom adds, have a couple of warlocks to cast rank 1 Banish on the top adds, and vice versa. For the frost phase, these people should react fast, since mages / hunters can't really setup the adds for controlling due to adds being immune to frost effects (Frost Nova, Frost Trap), aside from having paladins stunning the adds.
If you're Horde, however, you can have your taurens use War Stomp as soon as the adds spawn, to stun them for a few seconds to set them up for tanking / banishing. Nature phase is easier, since the adds can now be Frost Nova'd / Frost Trapped. If the offtanks can handle it and you have enough AoE, you can try AoEing all the adds. Just make sure to bring the adds together with Hydross so that he can get hit with the AoE spells too.
Healing Notes
The frost phase is the most heal intensive phase, since it involves having multiple players get Water Tombed. Having shamans as raid healers is the best way to get these tombed people get healed easily, with Chain Heal. Alternatively, holy priests can do a decent job on healing tombed people with flash heals, but shamans are the best raid healers with Chain Heal. For the tanks, have 2-3 healers stay on the current main tank all the time, then 1-2 healers heal the offtank/s.
Water Tomb Notes
The Water Tomb debuff lasts for 4 seconds, and the damage scales with the current Mark of Hydross. Water Tombs get fairly deadly when it’s around the 4th Mark of Hydross already. Druids can have it easy here if they get tombed during this time. Just cast Barkskin while tombed and the Water Tomb damage will get reduced. Paladins and Mages can bubble / Ice Block, but they have longer cooldowns.
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