Totem Talk: Restoration and the Throne of Thunder, Part 4

Every week, WoW Insider brings you Totem Talk for elemental, enhancement and restoration shaman. Want to be a sultan of swing healing? A champion of Chain Heal? Totem Talk: Restoration, brought to you by Joe Perez (otherwise known as Lodur from World of Matticus and content creation at InternetDragons.TV), shows you how

Turtles and Hyrdas have a special place in the sewers of the Isle of Thunder. Their existence does sort of answer the question about what happens when turtles and snakes find their ways into the refuse of an empire full of magic and chemical experimentation. I mean, I know that was a burning question for me before this raid tier started. But now that you've stomped shells and knocked out a few one eyed monsters tentacle things, I'm sure you think you've done it all. Well, there's more to do still.

As you dive deeper into the sewers looking for a way back into the main castle, there is still a great number of horrors that await you. Well, rather, they're waiting for you so that they can try to eat you whole. The good news at least is that they mark the midpoint on the way to the final encounter with the Thunder King himself.

This will not be a comprehensive boss guide, instead this will be a quick run down on things that you, as a resto shaman, should be aware of or tips to help make your healing of the encounter easier.

Ji-Kun

This giant bird is one bad mother, I mean she literally is because she just leaves her eggs all around waiting for players to come by and make omelettes out of them on normal mode. The bird is also a colossal pain and deals a ton of damage. The fight is really divided into two parts, the main platform and the nests. There are some abilities that we will have to pay attention to regardless of our location in the fight. The first ability to take note of is Feed Young, where Ji-Kun will spit up globs of food to attempt to feed any of her hatchlings that have called out for food. This is an important ability for multiple reasons. When in the air, players who have gathered the ability to fly from the smaller platforms can intercept the feed before it can reach the young. These are giant green blobs that fire straight out of the bird's mouth. Catching them will give you the Primal Nutriment buff. The buff gives you increased healing and damage when you catch it.

As a healer, if you can manage to snag this you are doing nothing but helping yourself and your raid team for the entire 30 seconds that the buff lasts by increasing the healing you do. The other thing to note is that whenever a feed glob is missed, a Feed Pool will land on the ground around the main platform. Standing in the pool will deal damage over time, but if someone stands in the pool for 3 seconds, they will absorb the pool and gain the debuff Slimed which is a stacking debuff that deals damage over time. This is important to note because as a shaman you can use your cooldowns to absorb the pool and the subsequent DoT it leaves on you so someone else doesn't have to. Stone Bulwark Totem is amazing in this regard and if you combine it with Call of the Elements you can double dip on the totem and survive quite well.

Quills is an ability that deals high raid-wide damage every second for 8 seconds when Ji-Kun uses it. This is where you're going to need to use your Healing Tide Totem and your Spirit Link Totem. My suggestion on this is that you use HTT if you're on the main platform and SLT if you're on one of the egg platforms combined with Healing Rain. The last two things to really know are Caw and Down Draft. Caw is a small 8 yard AoE that targets a random player in the raid. For this reason your group will be spread out to minimize damage. As a result you will rely more on Riptide, Healing Surge, Greater Healing Wave and Healing Stream Totem. Down draft is where the boss will attempt to push you off the edge of the platform, this one is easy to avoid if you keep your Ghost Wolf on your bars in easy reach. Move in towards the center of the platform, pop ghost wolf and run. The fight isn't too terribly bad for us, it is just a fight in which we have to mind the fact that yet again we can't rely on our group healing to see us through. Managing cooldowns is key, and absorbing damage when we can so others don't have to makes us strong in this fight.

Durumu the Forgotten

This is actually the fight where I started making all sorts of comparisons between Throne of Thunder and Big Trouble in Little China. He's a giant eyeball monster that was created with the sole purpose of looking into the hearts of the Thunder King's Followers and seeing if they would betray him. Now, however, he lives in a sewer with only Mist Lurkers as his friend. The good news about this fight is that there will be a lot of times that you can stay stacked up and make full use of your Chain Heal and your Healing Rain. There are a few things to really pay attention to as a resto shaman.

The first is going to be the Light Spectrum, in which Infrared Light, Bright Light and Blue Rays will spawn. These are damage effects that split the damage taken evenly between the people standing in it. As time goes on, and the longer people stand in the beams, the damage taken increases. With these you have to watch how long people have been standing in them, and when the beams cross each other. These persist until all the Fog adds are revealed and killed. Try to save any big cooldowns like HTT or SLT until the damage either starts to stack way too fast, or when the beams are crossing each other. You can also utilize stone bulwark totem to mitigate some of your incoming damage. Otherwise, simply heal as normal through them while your DPS handles the adds. I recommend not using your Spiritwalker's Grace on this, because you're going to need it for another ability boss ability.

The second, and probably the most iconic part of this fight, is the maze phase. It starts with the casting of Disintegration Beam, where he will focus on a point with his gaze. Any players caught by it will instantly die. This is important to pay attention to where this beam is because it will rotate and follow the group. While staring intently at the group, his Cross-Eye will create a maze of Eye Sores around the platform. The trick here is that an opening will, well, open in the maze for you to follow at ranged and near melee. You have to run through the maze to stay ahead of the beam. There is still however damage being dealt as you go around so you will still have to heal while running. Make liberal use of your riptide and this is where you want to save your SWG for. Pop that, and just go to town while running. Use HST on cooldown and CotE to pop it back up if you need a little extra punch to make it through. You may want to consider picking up Echo of the Elements for this fight as well just to give you a little more healing when you're using SWG and running, it has served me well on this fight.

Both fights aren't too terribly bad compared to some others in here, though Durumu can often times be attributed to a whole lot of pain due to maze phase, they are not the worst, nor the best fights for us in this tier of raiding. I suspect you should not have too much trouble breaking through and getting closer to the king of the castle. Totem Talk: Restoration lends you advice on healing groups, DK tanks and heroics and mana concerns in today's endgame -- or take a break and look back at the rise of the resto shaman. Happy healing, and may your mana be plentiful! Tags: durumu, Durumu-the-Forgotten, featured, guide-to-shamans, ji-kun, resto, Resto-Shaman, restoration, restoration-shaman, restoration-shaman-column, restoration-shaman-totem-talk, shaman-guide, shaman-healing, shaman-info, shaman-restoration-column, shaman-talents, throne of thunder, ThroneOfThunder, wow-shaman, wow-shaman-info

Filed under: Shaman, (Shaman) Totem Talk

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Throne of Thunder Raid Schedule

With the release of Patch 5.2: The Thunder King, the vast Throne of Thunder raid will become available. As in previous raid tiers, Raid Finder wings and availability difficulties will be staggered.

To access the new Raid Finder wings you will need a minimum average item level (ilevel) of 480.

This is our current schedule based on a planned patch release date of March 5. If the patch is delayed, or if we determine any change is needed, we’ll update this article.

March 5 – Normal Throne of Thunder
March 12 – Heroic Throne of Thunder and LFR Wing 1 “Last Stand of the Zandalari”
March 19 – LFR Wing 2 “Forgotten Depths”
April 2 – LFR Wing 3 “Halls of Flesh-Shaping”
April 16 – LFR Wing 4 “Pinnacle of Storms”

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Patch 5.2 Raid Preview: Throne of Thunder

When Pandaria separated from Kalimdor many thousands of years ago, a veil of mist kept outsiders from discovering the newly-formed continent. The mists also hid the site of an ancient evil: Lei Shen’s Throne of Thunder. During his rule, this fortress was the seat of the Thunder King’s power. Great swathes of corrupted energy lingered long after his death, and now, the resurrected Thunder King and the Zandalari trolls intend to harness that energy to reestablish Lei Shen’s reign.

Join us as we delve into the Thunder King’s stronghold, one of the largest raid dungeons that Azeroth’s adventurers have ever seen. Here we will learn about its fearsome denizens, and gain insight into each battle from Lead Encounter Designer, Ion “Watcher” Hazzikostas.

Last Stand of the Zandalari

Jin’rokh the Breaker

When the Thunder King awoke, he rewarded the most loyal and ambitious Zandalari trolls with power beyond their wildest dreams. The berserker Jin’rokh was one of the first to receive the King’s blessing, and even though Lei Shen’s gifts nearly tore his body apart, the troll is now capable of calling the fury of the storm in battle.

Ion: Long-time players may remember this guy as one of the Zandalari berserkers living on Yojamba Isle in Stranglethorn Vale, back when the Zandalari were our friends. He was a quest giver in the assault on the original 20-player Zul’Gurub. He was a huge brute to begin with, but he’s been imbued with even greater power by the Thunder King. He crackles with electricity, using both his raw strength and channeled lightning to destroy his enemies.

Horridon

The Zandalari brought powerful creatures with them to the Isle of the Thunder King to use as engines of war. Led by the War-God Jalak, the dinomancers of the Zandalari Beast Ward use ancient tribal magics to strengthen the great beasts and command obedience. The horns of Horridon, the fabled mount of Jalak himself, can tear through the stone walls of a keep as a blade cuts silk.

Ion: Trolls love dinosaurs, so it’s only fitting that the most advanced and powerful troll tribe should have the largest and most powerful dinosaurs. The overall structure of this encounter recalls past fights like Lady Deathwhisper or M’uru, where players must keep up with waves of lesser (but still threatening) minions while managing the boss, before turning their attention directly to him in the later stages of the fight.

Council of Elders

The history of the troll tribes—the Drakkari, the Farraki, the Amani, and the Gurubashi—is awash with millennia of betrayal and conflict, but the Zandalari’s promise of a new, unstoppable empire has finally united these disparate troll leaders.

The Council of Elders consists of four mighty troll leaders: Kazra’jin of the Amani, Sul the Sandcrawler of the Farraki, Frost King Malakk of the Drakkari, and High Priestess Mar’Li of the Gurubashi.

Ion: Gara’jal the Spiritbinder’s defeat in the Mogu’shan Vaults was, yes, merely a setback. It takes more than a few blades and spells to put a voodoo priest down for good, though he no longer possesses a corporeal form. So this time around you aren’t fighting him directly, but rather dealing with him as he possesses and empowers leaders of four other troll tribes, strengthening their attacks until you can force him out of the body he has chosen to occupy.

Forgotten Depths

Tortos

Over the millennia, small amounts of mogu flesh-shaping magic seeped into the caverns below the Thunder King’s citadel. The dark energies warped one of the chamber’s native dragon turtles, melding it to the surrounding crystalline walls. Known as Tortos, this amalgamation of flesh and stone has since feasted on the cave’s rich mineral deposits and grown to a colossal size.

Ion: Along with asking why we fight, and learning that our true enemy is war itself, a major theme of the Mists of Pandaria has been killing turtles. This raid encounter elevates that motif to all-new heights, presenting players with the chance to fight a huge turtle, and small turtles, and also the ability to kick one of the small turtles into the big turtle. What more could you ask for?

Fun fact: We originally wanted to make a fire turtle boss in the southeastern section of Firelands in Patch 4.2, but opted not to at the time; we’ve been looking for an opportunity to do a turtle fight ever since.

Megaera

Even the most callous among the mogu quaver at the thought of the dark experiments performed at the Thunder King’s behest. Long ago, a young cloud serpent was twisted into a multi-headed hydra and left to languish beneath Lei Shen’s throne. Now the twisted creature lurks deep in the Forgotten Depths, awaiting the moment it may finally inflict its terrible agony upon others.

Ion: The inspiration for this boss fight was the classic hydra that Heracles (Hercules, if you prefer the Roman version for some silly reason) battled in Greek myth—a beast with many heads that regrew two heads in place of each that was severed. That foundation, combined with the concept of three distinct types of heads, resulted in the beast that now awaits players beneath the Thunder King’s lair in patch 5.2.

Ji-Kun

Mogu flesh-shapers discarded their failed creations in an abyssal shaft beneath Lei Shen’s keep. The reek of decay lured many scavengers to the refuse pit, including the great Ji-Kun. Ruthless and cunning, the monstrous bird devoured her rivals one-by-one until she held sole dominion over the shadowy tunnel.

Ion: This fight takes place in a cylindrical shaft containing a large central platform with multiple nests located both above and below that platform. The encounter was designed to highlight the strong vertical elements of the terrain, without adding actual aerial combat which could have felt awkward. For example, players can gain and use a temporary flight ability to switch levels and deal with Ji-Kun’s fledglings before they mature and pose a greater threat to the raid.

Halls of Flesh-Shaping

Durumu the Forgotten

Lei Shen commanded his sorcerers to mold an aberration that could peer into the hearts of his followers and detect betrayal. From this decree, Durumu was given life. The clever entity stubbornly obeyed its masters until the Thunder King’s death, at which time it disappeared into the citadel’s labyrinthine corridors. Only recently has Durumu, all but forgotten by the mogu, emerged from hiding.

Ion: Years ago, players encountered C’Thun, the eye of an old god beneath the Temple of Ahn’Qiraj. As giant eyes are wont to do, it fired eyebeams as its primary method of attack. Durumu has many more eyes, and therefore fires many more eyebeams.

Primordius

Deep within the bowels of Lei Shen’s island citadel, mogu flesh-shapers formed the saurok out of a magical substance of unknown origin. When the citadel was abandoned, some experiments languished in the dark pools for far too long. . . .

Ion: The fact that the mogu created the saurok (among other creatures native to Pandaria) is something that may not have been obvious to players who were exploring the continent and learning about its inhabitants. This encounter provided us with a chance to “show, not tell” this piece of Pandaria’s history. The actual mechanics of the fight evolved from discussion and brainstorming around the themes of evolution and mutation; a few of us had also recently watched the movie Prometheus, and the vaults of black goo in that movie helped inspire the overall vibe of Primordius’ lair.

Dark Animus

During his reign, Lei Shen labored to build a mechanical servant that would defend his citadel without fear. When his first attempt failed, rage took hold of the Thunder King. He poured this negative emotion into his next, and most successful, creation: the Dark Animus. To this day, the ornate construct observes its duty, empowered by the mysterious substance at the heart of all mogu flesh-shaping experiments.

Ion: The mechanics of the Dark Animus encounter aren’t quite like any boss fight we’ve done before. It centers around a fixed quantity of the mysterious swirling liquid, known as Anima, that is at the heart of the mogu experiments in this wing. The vital fluid animates golems, escaping and moving on to larger and larger constructs as the initial vessels are destroyed, until it eventually amasses enough volume to empower the Dark Animus itself, largest of all the golems. The encounter has a certain puzzle-solving element to it, and players will need to carefully manage how they shift around this finite quantity of Anima or the fight will quickly get out of hand.

Pinnacle of Storms

Iron Qon

Legends speak of the brutality of Qon and his quilen champions. The fearless mogu commander was dubbed "Iron Qon" by the Thunder King for his unrelenting resolve to claim victory after victory for the empire regardless of the cost. 

Ion: Qon is one of Lei Shen’s elite personal guard, and a master of mounted combat. An original concept for this fight was inspired by the Three Kingdoms warlord Lu Bu, a fierce warrior renowned for his skill in fighting with a spear from horseback. Though Qon does have some very cool and unique mounted attack animations, in the end we found it more interesting to explore gameplay via the different abilities of his mounts instead. Thus, the encounter involves Qon switching among different magical quilen, each of which is empowered with vicious elemental attacks, creating a four-phase encounter that is almost like four separate intense fights rolled into one.

Twin Consorts

The Twin Consorts of Lei Shen, Lu’Lin and Suen, are said to be greatest of the Thunder King’s treasures. Rumored to be the only known female mogu in existence, Lei Shen keeps his trophies close, and their combined arsenal against interlopers closer.

Ion: Players may have noticed the complete absence of any female mogu in their exploration of the continent of Pandaria. Players who look closely at the models of these celestial twins will note that they seem quite literally carved out of stone. Indeed, these were specifically created by Lei Shen and empowered to serve and guard him, and they are a direct reflection of his will rather than any broader sense of mogu culture as a whole. An earlier version of the concept for the fight had them actually being spirits of the Sun and Moon, but that didn’t feel quite right (and we all know that the only true spirit of the Moon is Elune, and clearly she was not locked away by the Thunder King).

Lei Shen, the Thunder King

Tyrant, Dictator, Conqueror, Emperor. The Thunder King’s numerous titles were earned by bringing absolute misery to the races of Pandaria. Resurrected into a world where his people no longer rule, Lei Shen is bent on ending the farce and bringing the land under his heel once more.

Ion: The core concept for the Lei Shen fight developed during a brainstorming session as members of the encounter design team were throwing around ideas for potential fight mechanics, trying to see if anything would stick. A popular idea was for him to need to pause and recharge periodically, but someone suggested an interesting twist on that idea—the Thunder King isn’t just a battery that needs to recharge; he’s actually a power source himself. So instead of him drawing power from his citadel, the citadel draws power from him. He is a mighty warrior in his own right, with distinctive weapon and lightning attacks, but his mere presence energizes and activates portions of his citadel’s defenses, and managing those becomes a central element of the encounter. With a wide array of incredible visuals provided by our effects artists, and an awesome dungeon backdrop (those walls aren’t entirely decorative . . .), Lei Shen is an epic final encounter to wrap up an epic raid zone.

Ra-den

Lei Shen’s life changed forever when he stumbled into a dark chamber below what are now the Mogu’shan Vaults. Legend has it that he found an ancient titan keeper guarding a miraculous device known as the Engine of Nalak’sha. No one knows what transpired between the two beings, but Lei Shen later emerged from the site bristling with the power to forge an empire. The keeper’s fate—and his current whereabouts—remain a mystery.

Ion: This is the “Algalon” of the zone; a bonus boss for the high-end raiders who have finished the main zone progression. Lei Shen is the true final boss of the zone, and we wanted to make sure that he still feels that way—unlike Sinestra in Bastion of Twilight, there’s some backtracking involved to reach Ra-den after he’s unlocked. The mechanics of the fight are deliberately obscured in the Dungeon Journal for now, so I won’t say much more. The primary purpose of the Dungeon Journal is to provide an in-game resource to players who are trying to learn an encounter, instead of making them feel like they have to Alt-Tab out to read an online guide. In Ra-den’s case, we know that those of you who face him at first are also the same people who often write those online guides, so hopefully you’ll enjoy a sense of discovery when you first reach him.

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Patch 5.2: Throne of Thunder raid testing schedule announced

Tomorrow on January 11, we'll be seeing raid encounters being tested on the public test realm for patch 5.2. Horridon and the Council of Elders will both be available on normal mode in the new Throne of Thunder raid. If your gear levels aren't at high enough level, don't worr. Player gear will be scaled in the raid to help with testing. In case you're wondering how to actually get into the raid instance, we have a guide showing you how to do just that! Raid Testing Schedule - January 11On Friday, January 11, we will be testing our first two raid encounters of the 5.2 test cycle.

Each encounter should be available at approximately the listed times below for all Public Test Realms.

Horridon - 10 Player Normal
10:30 PDT (13:30 EDT, 19:30 CEST)

Council of Elders - 10 Player Normal
16:00 PDT (19:00 EDT, 01:00 CEST)

As always, this testing schedule is very fluid and subject to the realities of a beta environment. We might have to change the time of a testing session or cancel it entirely, due to bugs, builds, server hardware issues, etc. This is particularly true for this test, since it's our first 5.2 raid test. Keep an eye on this forum for the latest information, and thank you in advance for testing and providing feedback.

Important Testing Notes

Q: How do I get into the raid zone?

A: At the northeastern edge of the swamp on the Thunder King's island, there is a Shado-Pan camp in a small cave. A sewer grate in this cave will take you directly to the zone-in point for the raid zone. (As more of the island unlocks, players will be able to access the main gate directly.)

Q: What gear do I use to test the raid?

A: As we did for Beta raid testing, we will be scaling players' gear inside the raid in order to facilitate testing. Gear will be scaled (up or down, as appropriate) to item Level 502 for the purposes of testing Normal modes.

Tags: 5.2, council-of-elders, horridon, instance, isle-of-the-thunder-king, patch-5.2, patch-5.2-ptr, ptr, public-test-realm, raid, throne-of-thunder

Filed under: Raiding, Mists of Pandaria

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Patch 5.2: How to enter the Throne of Thunder raid

The recent PTR update for patch 5.2 has fixed issues with interactive objects! In other words, we can finally click the portal at the portal area in the Shrines that will transport us over to the Island of the Thunder King. You'll run into a few NPCs that are leading the charge such as Jaina for the Alliance and Lor'themar for the Horde. Your faction will have assorted daily quests for you to go out and undertake.

But we're not here for that. Where's this new raid instance?

Read on!

If you look on the map, you'll see a large fortress-like structure in the north east. That's got to be it, right? But if you start heading towards it, you'll find that there doesn't seem to be a way to get past the inner walls. There's no instance portals and those doors look pretty darn sturdy. You can't fly over them either.

We're going to have to do this Black Temple style and look for... a sewer entrance.

The Beastiary of Jalak is just slightly to the left of the stairs leading to the main gates. But if you look to the side you'll find some brush and bushes which partially conceal a cave. Inside that cage, you'll find a pandaren named Mi-Lee Cirus (I'm not joking). Just past her, you'll see a purple portal. If you run into that portal, it'll teleport you past the gates and you can see the raid instance right in front.

We don't know for certain if this is the final way in or if the front gates are eventually going to open. But for now, it seems if you want to participate in any raid testing (normal or heroic), you'll need to go through that little cave and portal.

Unfortunately, the raid instance appears to be sealed off. Even at max level and in a raid, the portal would not allow us mere mortals in for a sneak peek around the instance. All raid finder options are currently toggled off. We're expecting to see a schedule for boss testing on the PTR fairly soon so keep your eyes peeled when it does become announced.

Recap
Head to this spot when you teleport to the Isle of the Thunder KingGo into the sewer and run into the purple portalThat's it! Mists of Pandaria is here! The level cap has been raised to 90, many players have returned to Azeroth, and pet battles are taking the world by storm. Keep an eye out for all of the latest news, and check out our comprehensive guide to Mists of Pandaria for everything you'll ever need to know.
Tags: 5.2, instance, isle-of-the-thunder-king, patch-5.2, patch-5.2-ptr, ptr, public-test-realm, raid, throne-of-thunder

Filed under: News items

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Patch 5.2 Throne of Thunder datamined preview

Have you been wondering what's behind the doors in that preview image of the Throne of Thunder that was posted last week? Players have commented that the place seems reminiscent of both Ulduar and the Black Temple -- in a good way, as both raids were incredibly popular when they were current content. While there isn't an official preview for the raid just yet, datamining has uncovered a glimpse of the raid zone in its raw state.

Reddit user Silencerr put together the above video as a tour of sorts of the new raid zone. Because this is just datamined files, it likely won't look exactly like this on live servers -- the lighting isn't present, and any filler doodads, mobs, or bosses are absent. Basically, it's the sandbox version of what the raid will look like -- and anything can change between the PTR and now.

However, the video is actually pretty neat. It's dark, it's gloomy, and the broken halls are frankly kind of disturbing. It almost reminds me of those creepy crypts underneath Karazhan, although there are no Upside-down Sinners floating around. More importantly, this raid appears to be massive, and definitely on the scale of zones like Black Temple or Ulduar. It's huge, it's menacing, and I can't wait to see what it looks like fully-realized and implemented in game.

Mists of Pandaria is here! The level cap has been raised to 90, many players have returned to Azeroth, and pet battles are taking the world by storm. Keep an eye out for all of the latest news, and check out our comprehensive guide to Mists of Pandaria for everything you'll ever need to know.
Tags: mists-of-pandaria, patch-5.2, patch-5.2-ptr, patch-5.2-raids, raid-zone, throne-of-thunder, thunder-isle, thunder-king, world-of-warcraft

Filed under: Mists of Pandaria

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