Resto Shaman vs. Hydross - A Healing Guide
Posted on May 6, 2008 - Filed Under Guides, 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.
Previous Tuesday guides: Karathress, The Lurker Below, Leotheras, Tidewalker.
Meet Hydross! He is the Duke of Currents.
Now, I know what you’re thinking. He’s a giant floating ball of water. How hard could THAT be? I ask you this. When was the last time you shot an arrow at the WATER and it DIED? Yeah, I thought so. Anyway. Hydross, like many of the bosses in Serpentshrine Cavern, has some personality disorder issues and is quite unstable.
Hydross Basics:
- Hydross has two forms - Purified and Poisoned. Purified form is blue, and he is a frost elemental. Poisoned is green, and he is a nature elemental. 10 minute enrage timer.
- He switches forms based on POSITION. Every time he switches forms he will summon 4 adds that are resistant to nature or frost (depending).
- There will be 4 tanks for this fight. One full Frost resist tank and one full Nature Resist tank that will switch back and forth across the line of the platform, trading Hydross as he trades forms. The other two tanks will have around 200 resistance to both Frost and Nature to deal with the adds.
- In Water form Hydross is immune to frost damage and stacks Mark of Hydross on the whole raid. This increases the damage done by frost effects and stacks. This stacking is why after a certain time the tanks will switch Hydross and force him to gain Poison Form. He also does a Water Tomb - a single target AOE that stuns players and deals frost damage.
- In Poison Form Hydross is immune to nature damage and stacks Mark of Corruption on the Raid. It increases nature damage taken and also stacks. He also casts Vile Sludge, a single target debuff that deals nature damage and reduces damage/healing by 50%.
Group Considerations: If you have no hunters in your raid, you should be in the group with the Nature Resist/Poison tank, to drop a nature resist totem. Otherwise, standard grouping is fine.
totems, Totems, TOTEMS! Frost resistance is nice during the Blue phase; Nature Resist totem is a must if there’s not a hunter in with the NR tank. Otherwise, standard totems for your group.
Earthshield: On the tank - remember that the tank changes back and forth as Hydross changes forms.
Heroism/Bloodlust? at 20% if you’re in a group with people that gain damage based on the health of the mob. Make sure you heroism just after a transition - but give the tank time to regain aggro before you unleash.
Don’t stand in the: Water Tomb - basically, spread out during Frost phase.
Shaman Friendly or Unfriendly: Not particularly either, unless you’re an elemental shaman, in which case, it sucks because half the time you can’t do any damage other than flame-shock. Chain Heal can be less useful on this fight because people will likely be spread out to avoid Water Tomb splash damage - but paying attention to who/where you’re throwing healing should make up for this as you get used to the fight.
Other Stuff:
- Keep a close eye on the add tanks at the transitions - while there are 4 adds up, they will take a fair amount of damage relatively quickly.
- Dropping your totems near the edge of the platform, front and center, should keep them in range of both frost and poison forms.
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3 Responses to “Resto Shaman vs. Hydross - A Healing Guide”
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Thanks a ton for all these write ups. Helps out a poor Tauren trying to keep the raid blood off of his hooves. Serioulsy, for a new healer this information is great and highly appreciated.
Jagerbombz
I’m glad they’re helping and that someone is reading them and finding them useful!
Good luck in SSC/TK!
Thanks for the guide, about to run hydross and I’ll be using it!