The third phase, which begins on the WoW Classic servers, will also see the opening of the Blackwing Lair raid on the upper floor of Blackrock. We’ve updated our retro guide to the operation to the best of our ability and tell you what to expect in Nefarian’s Penthouse.
In the dizzying heights of Blackrock, dragons await fans of a decent gossip. Dragons on the left, dragons on the right and dragons in the middle! Scary and dangerous! But 40-player groups on the WoW (buy now) Classic are taking on the new challenge and showing Lord Victor Nefarius that they are the lord of Blackrock!
On February 2020, one of the most popular classic raids will be available, Blackwing Lair – also known as BWL. Eight bosses await you in Nefarius’ magnificent penthouse, and compared to them, the bosses of the Molten Core raid are nothing short of pills. We’ve dug out our old guide to Blackwing Lair and updated it for you to the best of our ability, so that those of you who don’t want to plunge blindly into the new “old” adventure can use our tips as a guide. To find out what else awaits you in WoW Classic Phase 3, check out this article. By the way: We not only have a retro guide, but also a retro video from 2006 for you, with tips from the special WoW issue of PC PowerPlay that was published back then!
We recommend, if you’ve never seen BWL before, that you get yourself enough Onyxia scale capes, lots of stamina, and a few blind attempts. Some of the boss mechanics are surprisingly complex and we hope you have fun, but we also issue a warning: In the real vanilla WoW, countless guilds already broke on the second boss Vaelastrasz. Nowadays, guild collapse is no longer a threat and it can also be assumed that the bosses will hardly be an obstacle in BWL groups. We wish you a lot of fun and good loot!
Business Guide: Razorgore the Untamed
There are two platforms in Razorgore’s room: On the left platform is the control sphere guarded by Grethok the Warden and two bodyguards, and on the right platform is Razorgore himself. Before you begin the battle, you must assign one player to control Razorgore – ideally two, in case the first controller is interrupted while channeling the orb. The rest of the raid is divided into four groups, distributed in the four corners of the battle area. The fighters have a special role, which we will explain later. It’s not until Phase 2, when all the Dragon Eggs have been destroyed, that you’ll need your tanks for Razorgore itself.
The battle begins as soon as the three mobs are dragged onto the control sphere. The controller will run to the control sphere on the left platform, use it to control Razorgore, and immediately begin destroying all thirty eggs in the room one by one with the available DESTROYING EGGS ability. Remember that it takes a few moments for the ability to trigger. In the meantime, the rest of the raid kills Grethok and the bodyguards and then spreads out to the four corners of the room. A tank is needed in each corner of the room. Now, one by one, mobs appear and are killed or kited. At first, when there are forty mobs in the room, none show up. But for every mob killed, a new one will pop up after that.
Three types of mobs spawn:
Rageclaw Dragonspawn: dragons with high health and strong melee attack, immune to your slowing effects.
Blackwing Legionnaires: Orc melee fighters with the CLEAVE ability and medium health.
Blackwing Mages: Orcish wizards with low health who deal high damage with area of effect spells.
Rageclaw dragon spawn are kited by hunters or put to sleep by druids. Blackwing Legionnaires and Mages are killed by groups as quickly as possible. Use all your skills to stun, disrupt or confuse the enemies so that firstly they don’t send you to nirvana with their dangerous abilities and secondly they don’t reach Razorgore, which they unerringly aim at. Blackwing mages have a higher priority. If Razorgore dies in Phase 1 from the spawning mobs’ attacks, he explodes and takes the entire raid down with him.
Business Administration Guide: Vaelastrasz
The highlight of the fight against Vaelastrasz, already weakened by Nefarian, is the debuff BURNING ADRENALINE, which has advantages and disadvantages. At the beginning of the fight, Vaelastrasz applies the debuff ESSENCE OF RED once: This debuff increases mana regeneration by 500 per second, energy regeneration by 50 per second, and rage regeneration by 20 per second. The ESSENCE OF RED lasts for three minutes, during which time the dragon must be defeated.
Every 15 seconds, Vaelastrasz then dispenses the debuff BURNING ADRENALIN to a character in combat. Heroes with this debuff can cast all skills without casting time, but will explode after 20 seconds. Anyone who receives the debuff immediately runs to the left or right corner of the room and out of the raid so the explosion does not hit the party. Every 45 seconds, Vaelastrasz also dispenses the debuff BURNING ADRENALINE to the tank currently holding the aggro. So the tank will inevitably explode and die after 20 seconds. Therefore, at least four tanks are necessary for the fight. In the best case, the group puts on fire resistance equipment before the fight; the tanks should reach 315 points of fire resistance.
Other Vaelastrasz Abilities:
FLAME BLOW: A cone-shaped breath that deals up to 4500 points of damage.
FIRE OVA: An area of effect spell that deals 500 to 600 fire damage to all targets in the room.
TAIL SLASH: A melee attack that comes from Vaelastrasz’s tail, dealing 600 to 1000 points of damage and knocking the character back.
CLEAVE: A fierce melee attack that hits up to five targets.
Before the move, tanks determine the order in which they want to tank and line up on the platform at Vael’s head. It makes sense for Protection Warriors with Defiance to line up first, then Protection Warriors without Defiance, and then any other willing tankers. In addition, the warrior with the fastest weapon should start. This speaks to Vael to start the fight. When the current tank receives the debuff BURNING ADRENALINE, the next warrior in the tanking order clicks away his Blessing of Redemption, builds up maximum aggro, and gets ready to take the tanking position. The tank with BURNING ADRENALINE, if skilled, will use Last Stand to survive as long as possible. As soon as the next Warrior tanks, he realigns Vael. The damage dealers are careful not to steal aggro from the tanks and the healers spam their spells like crazy. Watch your debuff bar and leave the group fast enough if BURNING ADRENALINE catches you.
What is WoW Classic?
World of Warcraft Classic is a true recreation of the original WoW as you know it from 2006. All parts of the game – from combat mechanics and talent trees to character models and zones – have been recreated, contributing to the authentic experience.
Getting Started
All players with an active World of Warcraft subscription or game time on their accounts have access toWoW Classic at no additional cost.
- Open the Blizzard Battle.net Desktop App and select World of Warcraft from the menu.
- Select World of Warcraft Classic from the Version menu. If you have more than one World of Warcraft account, you’ll see a second Account drop-down list. In this column, select the active account you want to play with.
- Click the Install button. The progress bar will tell you when your game is ready to play.
- Click the Play button when the installation is complete.
You will need to select the realm you want to play on from several different realm types. Make sure you choose the same realm as your friends – in World of Warcraft Classic, you can only group with characters that are on the same realm as you!
Heroes&WIKI, WoW Classic, World of Warcraft Classic, WoW Classic Guide, WoW Classic Guides
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