In the spirit of A Hunter’s Guide to Karazhan Bosses, I now present you with: A Hunter’s Guide to Naxxramas Bosses! A quick reference guide for those of you who are perhaps newer to Naxx. Going to split it up by wings to make it easier to navigate. Remember though, you may or may not do the bosses in this order… so a handy-dandy navigation menu for you (articles will be linked to as they go live):
Navigation:
Spider Wing: Anub’rekhan, Grand Widow Faerlina, Maexxna
Plague Wing: Noth the Plaguebringer, Heigan the Unclean, Loatheb
Abomination Wing: Patchwerk, Grobbulus, Gluth, Thaddius
Military Wing: Instructor Razuvious, Gothik the Harvester, Four Horsemen
Frostwyrm Lair: Sapphiron, Kel’Thuzad
SPIDER WING:
Anub’rekhan:
“Anub’Rekhan, one of the finest Spider Lords of Azjol’Nerub, was brought under the control of the Scourge when he and his former commander, Anub’arak, were finally defeated by the Lich King many years ago. It is said that he was the most loyal of Anub’arak’s commanders. “
In my own personal experience, most (though not all) groups like to start with Spider Wing first, so there is a good chance that this will be the first boss you meet if you go in here as Naxx-newbie. In a way, it’s kind of a hectic fight compared to some of the others, but in another way, I think it just looks like there’s a lot going on here when really there’s not.
For the most part you’ll just want to stand in the middle (there’s a handy green circle on the ground showing you where to stand) and pewpew. Sometimes adds will show up, AoE down the little ones and wait for an offtank to pick up the big ones and then shoot ’em down. Really the only thing you need to be aware of is a move that happens every so often called “Locust Swarm” which causes a lot of damage to the melee DPS. That includes your pet. Most groups will call out when Locust Swarm happens (or a DeadlyBossMods-style addon will announce it) so pull your pet back to you or have him go chew on the adds until it’s over.
Sometimes you’ll get tossed up in the air if spikes appear under you and you don’t move away fast enough. Not a lot you can do about it, you can keep shooting while you’re up there. Remember the handy dandy hunter trick: Disengage on your way down prevents you from receiving fall damage.
That’s about it, really!
Grand Widow Faerlina
“The Grand Widow Faerlina, a botanist in life, breeder and caretaker of arachnids in death, she oversees the spider wing, developing the most potent of poisons for the Lich King.”
Another hectic-feeling fight, though once again your job as a hunter is pretty straightforward: Shoot Faerlina in the face. The way groups do this varies; geared groups can typically just burn her down after destroying all the adds, but most starter groups will inform you at various points throughout the fight to switch DPS to one of the adds (they’ll usually all be marked up for you.) Because of this I typically ban Multishot from my rotation in this fight unless positioning is good because I don’t want to accidentally do damage to the adds when I’m not supposed to, even if it is just a little damage.
Sometimes there will be a Rain of Fire where you’re standing, move out of it and keep shooting. (Cause it burns burns burns… the rain of fire).
Maexxna:
“Maexxna, born deep within the mountains of Northrend many ages ago, she was captured within the dread citadel Naxxramas, where she gives birth to her brood, feeding them the corpses of all who dare venture too deeply into Naxxramas. “
Hunters, there is a 99.9% chance your job on this fight will be: “Shoot the people on the wall.” Make it your mantra.
See, Maexxna is a giant spider who flings spider webs around and occasionally sticks people to the wall with a web wrap. It’ll be your job to shoot them free. Just have your mini-map all the way zoomed out, look out for pings and listen for people calling out that they are web wrapped. And be sure to announce if you get web wrapped so someone else can come save you!
Other than that, it’s another semi-hectic pewpew fest with adds and stuff. Feign Death will shake the little spiderlings off of you if you accidentally aggro one while Multi-shotting.
And so our brave heroes head off to the vile Plague Wing, home to plaguebringers, spore monsters, and dancing necromancers. Will they triumph? Will they dance, jive, and have the time of their life? Be sure to turn in tomorrow to see!
Nice wrapup, simple and to the point!
Anub and Maexxna are two fights where having an extra 6 yard range are helpful (when spiked into the air and because Anub is kited around the exterior of the room, and to hit Maexxna’s web wraps quicker), but it’s not necessary.
On Anub, when DBM announces his Locust Swarm (15 secs), I finish off whatever shot cds I have, refresh Serpent and then pull my pet back. I also save MD to help the OT(s) pick up the big adds; after the first kite, the MT will have all the threat he needs.
On Maexxna, I’m always on wrap duty. Watch for DBM announcing her wraps and get your cds off….but save Black Arrow…sucks to hit Black Arrow a second before you’re cocooned and lose 10 seconds of extra dps.
Looking forward to the next post!
Going to bookmark these should I ever get into Naxx again. The one time I actually got to go, my guild really carried me through. If I might make a suggestion, adding hunter/hunterish gear they drop would be very nice.
-Z
Definitely a nice guide. Wish you’d published it a week ago before my first foray into the Arachnid Quarter 🙂 But I’ll certainly be back.
@Znodis, all the info I can provide on loot is that I got these: http://www.wowarmory.com/item-info.xml?i=39194 from Faerlina…they were my first purple.
Nice guide, my only comment is actually on that little quote under Maexxna. Was she really from Northrend? Naxx came about before then and I wonder if the lore people had really thought that far ahead…?
@Atkallen – Well, Northrend and various Northrend-centered lore characters played a prominent part in Warcraft 3: The Frozen Throne, which was long before any Naxx raid, so I’d guess so!
Very good guide to Spider Wing Pike, couldn’t have put it any better myself.
@Atkallen:
I may be a tad bit rusty on my lore, so don’t take this as gospel, but I believe Naxx originally came from Northrend. It originated as an underground citadel–part of the massive underground empire of the Nerubians. In WoW, it was raised from under the ground, and teleported to the Plaguelands so that KT could oversee operations in the EK personally.
Could be wrong about that though, I’d have to double check my lore.
Either way though, Northrend has been part of Warcraft lore since long before WoW was released
As a Naxx graduate and current Ulduar student, I was sure I wouldn’t learn anything new in this article, and was just reading for fun, when I stumbled across this little gem:
Remember the handy dandy hunter trick: Disengage on your way down prevents you from receiving fall damage.
How long has this been true? I can’t believe I didn’t know that. Does this work for all fall damage? Can I hop off of Dalaran and then safely Disengage a few feet from the ground?
Another useful bit for hunters on Maexxna is to keep an explosive trap near her to burn the spiderling adds. If your tank turns her away from the raid, place it right under her butt. Any adds that survive are very easy to kill.
@Dhorvin Im in exactly the same boat as you…I did not know that worked!! Can you disengage in the Malygos vortex? If dismounted in the air (grrr Druids!) can you disengage before hitting the ground?
@Dhorvin and Valilor – well remember you have to be in combat for it to work so I doubt you could randomly do it in Dalaran or if you dismount (unless you are dismounted by something that attacks you– in which case I haven’t tried it yet!)
And yes it works in the Malygos vortex.
No one has mentioned this yet, but Faerlina on 25 man works quite differently. Her enrage is prevent/dispelled not by killing the Worshipper adds, but requires a priest to mind control and sacrifice them one at a time. So as a hunter, you don’t need to dps the Worshippers at all in a 25 man raid. (Do kill the Followers first though.)
Kudos on the disengage trick. You learn something new everyday.