Resto Shaman vs. Al’ar - A Healing Guide : Too Many Annas

Resto Shaman vs. Al’ar - A Healing Guide

Posted on June 3, 2008 - Filed Under Healing, Raiding, Shaman

This is one in a series of posts covering resto-shaman-specific information for tier4 and tier5 boss fights. It will NOT be a boss kill strategy, rather a list of tips and tricks for your friendly neighborhood shaman to make these fights run a little more smoothly.

You can see other guides (includes Karazhan, Gruul’s Lair and all of Serpentshrine Cavern) here.

Al’ar. Technically the first boss you’ll see in Tempest Keep, most raids opt to take out Void Reaver first. He’s Kael’thas’ pet, and a phoenix god (and absolutely *gorgeous* - too bad he wants to light you on fire). This fight has two major phases, since after you kill him the first time, he pulls a phoenix and rebirths from his own ashes. The two phases are quite different, and this fight requires a good deal of coordination.

Al’ar Basics:

Regardless of phase, if nobody is in melee range of Al’ar, he will stack Flame Buffet on the raid. It casts every 15 seconds, does 2000 damage, and increases fire damage by 10%. Flame Buffet is bad, and as a Resto Shaman you’ll need to hop on the raid damage quickly.
Embers are teensy little Al’ar babies. One spawns after each position shift in phase 1; two spawn after each dive bomb in phase 2. When they are killed, they take 3% of Al’ar’s health away… and explode, knocking back any player within 15 yards and dealing 7-8 thousand fire damage.
Embers will be tanked (very carefully) during phase 1 by a tank and a group of rogues, because they can be stunned, and because cloak of shadows allows the rogue to avoid the explosion damage.
During phase 2, usually there will be a real tank soaking the damage from the explosion. Ranged and melee DPS MUST be careful not to pull aggro.
Phase 1:
- Al’ar will be tanked by 3-4 tanks up on the four platforms around his room. There MUST always be a tank at his next platform to avoid flame buffet. ONLY the tanks should be up on the platforms.
- Healers can reach the tanks from the ground if the tanks stand at the very edge of the platform (in the border area) - check LOS before the fight starts
- There is no ranged aggro on this phase. DPS - go nuts.
- Periodically he will fly to the center of the room and cast Flame Quills on ANYONE up on the platforms - tanks will jump down (this is why healers don’t stand up at the top)
- When Al’ar dies, he blows up (like his embers) knocking everyone back and dealing 10K fire damage. Don’t stand in the center of the room when he’s nearly dead.
Phase 2:
- 10 minutes from the start of phase 2, Al’ar will wipe the raid if he’s still alive.
- Al’ar in phase 2 needs at least two, preferably three tanks, because every 60 seconds he will “melt” the armor of whoever has aggro- reducing it by 80% for one minute. When this debuff is applied. another tank must immediately taunt and take aggro.
- Every 30ish seconds, Al’ar will die bomb - targetting the ground below a random player, bombing/exploding them, and spawning two embers (that a tank must pick up). He will then rebirth at the location of his dive bomb, doing 5000 damage to anyone in melee range.
- If the person Al’ar targets for dive-bomb is on the ramps, he will evade bug and reset. Don’t be on the ramps (and make sure the ember tank is far enough that he doesn’t get launched up there)
- Much like Netherspite, he summons fire patches on the ground. Don’t stand in them.

Group Considerations: Nothing particular for this fight, but be warned that everyone is going to be spread out like roaches with the lights on, trying to avoid all the explosions, so your totems will be of reduced effect.

totems, Totems, TOTEMS!: Whatever is standard for your group. If you have the ember tank in your group, and that tank is not a paladin, you may want a fire resistance totem, but otherwise it shouldn’t be necessary.

Earthshield: a tank. should rotate with the tanks in phase 1 and 2.

Don’t stand in the: fire. (flame patch, flame quills, etc)

Heroism/Bloodlust: wait until phase 2, and use it to help burn down the last bit of Al’ar’s health. This fight gets progressively more and more chaotic, so that extra burst at the end is nice.

Shaman Friendly or Unfriendly: Friendly, in terms of lots of people taking lots of damage pretty consistently in phase 2. Unfriendly in that phase 1 is slow and kind of a waste, and your totems and chain heals lose a lot of their effectiveness due to everyone being all spread out. Be patient through phase 1, and be ready for all hell to break loose when phase 2 starts.

Other considerations: Don’t stand in the fire. Really.