HEROIC Madness of Deathwing (10-man) - Fire Mage PoV - HD

This is our first kill of HEROIC Madness of Deathwing 5 % nerf (10-man) as a guild.

Guild: The Machine of Sylvanas-EU (Horde).

Kill date: 25th of February, 2012.

PoV: Zumzar - Zumzar. Armory at http://eu.battle.net/wow/en/character...

We used 1 tank, 3 healers and 6 dps for this.

After loosing a majority of our players throughout DS (including a legendary staff), we didn't manage to kill HEROIC: Madness pre-nerf, even though we were really close with a 3 % wipe two weeks prior to our actual kill. We also had to cancel approximately half of our raids the last month of DS due to lack of members. We hope to bounce back strong in Mists of Pandaria, though! :)

This fight really isn't very challenging tactially, and the hardest thing about the encounter is the actual lenght of it. It requires focus for a full 15 minutes which is pretty intense. Every platform is almost identical, which also adds a sleepy-factor to the fight. Nevertheless, even after the 5 % nerf the dps/hps requirements are pretty heavy, and we were very relieved when we finally managed to bring it down and thus bring an end to this expansion raiding wise.

If we start from the beginning of the fight, we have our two melee DPS start on the last platform, since the DPS requirements for it is very high, and it's therefore good to get a head start. When the Corruption spawns, they'll jump back to the rest of us.

Phase 1:
- We have assigned positions for every single member of the raid, to ensure no more than one person gets hit by the Corruption's smash.
- Our Death Knight tank takes the first Impale with defensive cooldowns, and our Shadow Priest takes the second Impale.
- As far as dps goes, we obviously nuke the Corruption while it's up. When an Elementium Bolt spawns, every dps switches to it. When a Parasite spawns, our goal is to bring it ~20 %, to ensure maximum DPS effectivity. When Regenerative Bloods spawn, our goal is to not kill them untill the second Parasite spawns, so we can AoE them all down together, and take advantage of Spellweave procs. If you see dps'ers (especially Aríadne) attacking Regenerative Bloods prior to the second Parasite spawning, it is because of Spellweave cleaving.
- Every time someone got a Parasite, they would move into the Time Zone.
- When the Corruption and the Bloods have been killed, we would stack up in melee (for heals), and dps the Tentacle down.

The last platform is a little bit different:
- We would use Bloodlust/Heroism when the Corruption spawned, to make sure the Corruption would die before the 3rd Impale.
- We would try to kill the Parasites.
- We stacked up for the Elementium Bolt and used defensive cooldowns, due to it not being killable on the last platform. A little tip for this: Immunities (such as Ice Block, Divine Shield etc.), together with a Spirit Link Totem works wonders.
- Parasites would be positioned next to the Corruption, so melee classes could cleave.
- We aimed to kill the second Parasite and the Regenerative Bloods at the same time, stacked up.

Phase 2:
We were trying to do the following:
1. Get boss to ~16 % (NOT below 15 %), while killing Elementium Fragments.
2. Get Elementium Terror spawns, and kill em both asap. Our Death Knight tank would use Anti-Magic Shell to remove the stacks.
3. DPS DW to 15 %. Kill Congealing Bloods.
5. DPS DW to 10 %. Kill Congealing Bloods.
6. Kill Elementium Fragments.
7. Kill Elementium Terrors. DK uses AMS.
8. DPS DW to 5 %, use Dream
9. Kill Congealing Bloods
10. Kill DW, using defensive Cooldowns and Dream on CD.

From a Fire Mage point of view, there are several things you can do to maximize your performance, apart from the obvious:
- Keep at least 2x LB up at all times. Using a focus-target macro for LB works very well here. That's what I did.
- Use Combustion twice per platform, where one of them has to be in the Cataclysm phase, when the Tentacle takes increased dmg.
- You can spend 1-2 GCDs on a BW/FS on the Bloods in P1, when they're close to the Corruption. This will give you Spellweave cleaves onto the Corrpution, resulting in roughly 100k dmg onto the Corruption from 1-2 GCDs. This is definitely worth it, considering you'll also get Pyromaniac. Don't pad meters though!! cough Ariadne cough
- Use Ice Block for the Elementium Bolt on the last platform. See 09:55.
- In Phase 2, use BW to slow the Congealing Bloods. You can also use Cone of Cold if you miss slows.
- Switch to Mage Armor when running from the 3rd to the 4th Platform.

Ventrilo: Yes, for the entire fight.

WoL from the kill: http://www.worldoflogs.com/reports/5o...

My UI in 1920x1080 (Updated 10th of January, 2012): http://www.gamefront.com/files/211710... - Remember to download the newest addons with Curse Client!!

Songs: The songs are listed at the end credits, in order of appearance.

www.the-machine.wowstead.com