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. 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
PLAGUE WING:
Noth the Plaguebringer:
“Behold, Noth, the Plaguebringer. Responsible for the creation of the process that distills the souls of the living and places them within the cold cage of undeath, Noth was observed to be refining this process even now.”
Also a Brewmaker, whatadya know?
Pretty easy fight and one of the few fights where I actually take my pet off of Passive and put him on Defensive. Here’s how it works:
DPS Noth. Skeleton adds will show up. Let the tank(s) pick them up.
Noth teleports away. AoE the skeletons down. (This is why I put my pet on Defensive, he helps to hammer all the skeletons).
Noth comes back. Repeat steps one and two until he is dead.
Arguably the easiest fight in the raid in terms of what everyone has to do.
Oh, and don’t forget to put your pet back on Passive after this.
Heigan the Unclean:
“Observe, Heigan the Unclean. The mastermind behind the plague cauldrons that turned the wilderness of Azeroth into the Plaguelands. It is said that Heigan has rigged the very walls and floors of Naxxramas itself with a vast array of traps, which he can trigger at will. “
The most infamous fight in the instance and home of the good ol’ Safety Dance. It used to be I’d say “If you’ve never done this fight before, you will die, don’t feel bad”, but recently I’ve seen a few talented people nail this on their first try so I rescind that statement.
Basically it goes like this. When the fight begins, stand up on the platform where Heigan was. Depending on your group they will be tanking him either at the edge of the platform or on “the dance floor” itself. Keep a Mend Pet up at all times. This will go a long way towards your pet surviving this fight, especially if you are BM and have Improved Mend Pet.
After a short while Heigan will teleport up onto the platform, at which point you will jump down with the rest of the group and “dance” across the floor while green fire shoots up in front of you and behind you. Really this is all about coordination and moving at the right speed. I’ve found it helps if you basically just keep moving (or stop only for a split second)– if you stop and wait around between the the fire spurting up, you will die. Try and stay close to everyone else if you haven’t done it before, but beware of lag. Oh, and I would be wary about having Aspect of the Cheetah on– I tried it once, got hit by the fire and dazed, and yeah. Kindred Spirits works well enough. If you know what you’re doing you’re allowed to do Serpent Stings and Arcane Shots and the like on Heigan during the dance phase, but I wouldn’t try it if you are new to it… you don’t want to overcomplicate things afterall.
Eventually Heigan will jump back down and you go back up onto the platform, and repeat the previous steps until he goes down.
Mostly the big thing here is the disease that Heigan tosses around that needs to be cleansed. Some healers will cleanse your pet, others won’t. That is why Improved Mend Pet helps a lot.
Overall this fight is one of those “Difficult to learn but easy to master” fights that usually becomes a favorite once you know what you’re doing. It’s probably second to Four Horseman for my favorite encounter in Naxx.
Oh, and I recommend you check out my YouTube video on it if you haven’t already! It will probably explain things better than I can in text. You can download the video for free at https://www.keepvideonline.com/.
Confession: I don’t ever do this fight without The Safety Dance playing in the background. Ever.
Confession Two: I am listening to the Men Without Hats Greatest Hits as I write this.
Confession Three: It’s all I’ve listened to for like the past two weeks.
Loatheb:
“Loatheb. The hideous result of fusing the living plague of the plaguelands with the bog beasts of Azeroth, Loatheb is said to control the power of healing itself.”
An anagram for “healbot”, Loatheb is mostly a healers’ fight. This doesn’t really affect you in any way other than the fact that while you may be tempted to use Lifeblood/potions/healthstones if you see your health getting low, but be aware that a heal is probably incoming shortly if you wait a few more seconds, and if not, wait until healing is allowed to use your emergency health pot because it will go to waste if you don’t.
Mostly you will be spending this fight soaking up the big numbers that you will get. Spores will be floating around the room, you will be directed to go stand next to the spore and possibly kill it in an order that will probably be determined by your raid leader. These spores will up your crit chance to some ridiculous number and is what will be the driving factor behind aforementioned big numbers. That’s about it. It can turn into a long fight so look forward to popping some of your cooldowns more than once (and possibly having to refresh Hunter’s Mark.)
And tomorrow, our brave heroes venture into Construct Wing. Abominations in disguise? Find out on our next exciting episode of A Hunter’s Guide to Naxxramas Bosses!
Thanks for doing these Pike, very informative.
Now, with Heigan I understand the basics of what the fight entails, but what I cannot seem to succeed at is knowing exactly where to be when the goo walls flare up. Following others doesn’t seem to work given the rather ragged pattern of the walls, but there are clearly “safe zones”, I just can’t see where they are.
Latency seems to be an issue as well, as last time I was in there whenever I died I appeared to be in a clear spot (eg waves up around me but not touching me) and others said I was knee-deep in the stuff at the time. So maybe I’m just doomed to die on this one no matter what?
I watched your video and it just seems like you along with the majority of the raid are in the right spot, but how do you know where that right spot is? That’s the sticking point for me right now.
@Noah: On Heigen, I basically run to the next area by aiming for a spot in the middle of where the flames just where. I also start running to the next area *immediately* when the flames there die out. I therefore usually end up waiting a second or two in the afore-mentioned middle until the next area is clear. But I have low fps and this works for me. True lag/latency means you will die, as you think you’re safe and server thinks you’re dead.
Another note on Heigen: I put on Aspect of the Viper while dancing, as I seem to run low on mana here, as Replenishment/JoW buffs are less important than staying alive.
Loatheb: Not much Sniper Training here in 10-man, as you’ll be moving to get near the Spores. In 25s, you’ll usually have someone call out the group that is to get near/kill the spore, though, so you’ll get Sniper while waiting for your group to be next. The crit buff from the spores is *very* important in starter/less geared groups, so make sure you get it when you’re supposed to. Also, I believe the buff has been changed recently: it is now given to the 5 *closest* raid members, as opposed to the 5 in the party of the one who got the killing blow?
Noth: Ranged DPS/healers usually head to NW corner, with tanks in middle so they can more easily pick up the skellies. Be careful of approaching the WEST wall, as that is the way to Heigen and you CAN pull the grubs and bats if you, say, disengage to get away from a skellie….
@Noah: On Heigen, I basically run to the next area by aiming for a spot in the middle of where the flames just where. I also start running to the next area *immediately* when the flames there die out. I therefore usually end up waiting a second or two in the afore-mentioned middle until the next area is clear. But I have low fps and this works for me. True lag/latency means you will die, as you think you’re safe and server thinks you’re dead.
Another note on Heigen: I put on Aspect of the Viper while dancing, as I seem to run low on mana here, as Replenishment/JoW buffs are less important than staying alive.
Loatheb: Not much Sniper Training here in 10-man, as you’ll be moving to get near the Spores. In 25s, you’ll usually have someone call out the group that is to get near/kill the spore, though, so you’ll get Sniper while waiting for your group to be next. The crit buff from the spores is *very* important in starter/less geared groups, so make sure you get it when you’re supposed to. Also, I believe the buff has been changed recently: it is now given to the 5 *closest* raid members, as opposed to the 5 in the party of the one who got the killing blow?
Noth: Ranged DPS/healers usually head to NW corner, with tanks in middle so they can more easily pick up the skellies. Be careful of approaching the WEST wall, as that is the way to Heigen and you CAN pull the grubs and bats if you, say, disengage to get away from a skellie
Well I made it all the way across the floor once tonight so it was a new personal best! I lagged when turning around and that did me in.
One day…. one day I will not die on Heigan.
@Noah you’ll get there and then you’ll wonder why you ever had a problem! 😛
I don’t have imp mend pet so if my pet gets a disease it’s goodnight! I use a wolf and never have it attack here, it just stays my myside and gives me a +AP buff. Sending it into melée is too dangerous.
When dancing I try to be really quick as your pet follows behind, if I can make it to the furthert point if the “safe zone” my pet following would probably be at the start if it so he does sometimes make it!
I’ve not done it but if you send your pet into melée it’s best to leave growl on – this way he stays infront of the boss with the tank (generating less threat than the tank) which should keep him out of the fire!
Just a couple notes to add to the excellent article and comments…
Each time you have to ‘dance’ you will do the routine twice. As in down and back twice. And until you’ve got it down, I think Pike’s suggestion of not stopping is the best. Or at least if you have to stop, make it for only a half a second (as in take your finger off your move button only long enough to press the button again).
@ Noah, you’ll get there… just remember baby steps. First step is making it across once (gratz!). Next step is the turning part. And then the next step is remembering that you have to do it twice. Then finally you can figure out how to maximize your DPS. It may take a few attempts before you get there but don’t fret, some people get it right off, most people it takes a few attempts.
And as Valilor mentioned, if the tank positions Heigan just a little too far one way or the other, a pet on passive will eat the goo and die. Whether they’re doing the full dance or tanking at the corner of the platform.
@Noah, run to where the geyser was. That is all.
I’ve been doing Naxx25 with a weekly pug made up of alts of the several hardcore raiding guilds on the server. We’ve come up with hard modes for the Heigan fight. First time we had aspect of the pack on for the dance phase, and only 2 people died. The following week we had pack on for the ENTIRE FIGHT, and required 2 tanks to taunt the boss back and forth to get him moving. It’s the best fight ever!
@ Noah – honestly it’s tricky, don’t feel bad if you can’t get it. As most readers know it took me forever. Several attempts dying, then I finally made it across but didn’t make the turn around in time. A lot of people gave me hints and tips but I found them to be rather unhelpful; the best I can offer is simply to practice, you’ll get it eventually (assuming lag is not an issue). =D
Thanks for the tips and encouragement everyone 🙂
I fear that the real boss of this encounter is the intangible, uncrittable, unhittable, all-evading-all-the-time Lagmonster.
If not for that I’m pretty sure I could pull this off, I’m usually good at those timed “platformer” mechanics in games.
Note to Blizz: Less encounters and situations that depend on low latency please. I’m looking at you Heigan and jousting.
/twitches at the thought of the two combined
And by ridiculous numbers, she means 100% in come cases.
Piercing Shots and the spore buff make Loatheb a Marksman’s fight, through and through. <3