Post by deedubs on Dec 25, 2009 4:09:01 GMT -6
ABILITIES
Bone Storm— Attacks nearby enemies in a whirlwind of bone that lasts until canceled. 3 sec cast. Every two seconds, triggers AoE damage that drops off as you get farther away from the boss. Roughly 6k standing on top of him, 4k just inside his hitbox, 2k just outside, and 800 or so at around 30 yards. The boss charges 4 targets before wiping aggro and ending the Bone Storm. 30 sec cooldown.
Bone Storm (heroic mode) -Attacks nearby enemies in a whirlwind of bone, which causes them to bleed for 15 seconds. Instant. 10000+?/3
Bone Spike Graveyard — Hurls a massive bone spike which impales any enemies in the way. Deals 10% health per sec for 5 seconds or until killed. 3 sec cast. 39k hp. 10 sec cooldown.
Bone Spike Graveyard(heroic mode)- Hurls a massive bone spike which impales any enemies in the way. Deals 10% health per sec for 5 seconds or until killed. 3 sec cast. 5 sec duration
Coldflame - Summons a line of frost that hits enemies in the way. Instant. 8 yd line of effect. Deals 6000 Frost/sec for 8 seconds. 3 sec cooldown. Random target.
Coldflame (heroic mode)- Instant. 8 yd radius. Deals 9000 Frost/sec for 8 sec.
Sabar Slash-Melee range — Splits 200% of normal melee damage to an enemy and its nearest ally, replacing melee attack. used every second, but not during bone spike graveyard cast; prevents the targets from being targeted by Bone Spike Graveyard.
STRATEGY
Tanking
Tanks need to stand on top of each other to soak Saber Lash. If you are short tanks and the raid has plate DPS available, one can be put in front of the boss with the tanks to help soak the Saber Lash damage. If said DPSer has a tanking set, equipping a piece or two to increase their HP is an option should they be taking too much damage. Note that the tanks will take substantial damage during the fight - using an off tank of this sort is not advised, as it will make healing even more difficult, although it is better than insufficient tanks.
It is entirely possible to single tank Marrowgar, in 10man, should the tank be sufficiently geared. In 3.3(a) Marrowgar's damage was further reduced, making this an even more viable strategy. Be advised that although this frees up another DPS in your 10man raid, the tank will take heavy damage.
The key to the fight is managing the transitions between the Bone Storms and going back to the Bone Graveyard phase. You have 10 seconds from the end of Bone Storm until Lord Marrowgar starts casting Saber Lash again (until then he simply melees his target) - the tanks need to pick him up and position themselves together in that time. (The 10 second grace period also applies to the beginning of the encounter, counting from when he is first aggroed, giving the tanks time to set themselves up.)
It is important to note, after every Bone Storm, the boss resets aggro. The DPS must give the tank a chance to re-establish threat, before continuing to DPS.
DPS
Lord Marrowgar has a gigantic hit box! If the melee are hugging the boss, they're standing way too close. This is true for those melee who wish to dodge the cold fire rather than avoid it completely by standing in his hit box, but if you're doing 10-man without a dedicated spike team the melee need to be standing with the healers until you outgear the encounter or are attempting his heroic mode.
Bone SpikesRanged DPS, or nearby melee, should immediately switch to Bone Spikes to free impaled players. If the raid has an abundance of melee, members should stay relatively close together to reduce travel time. Bone Spikes should die within two GCDs; any longer and you will have issues.
Cold FireCold Fire spawned by Marrowgar should be avoided entirely by ranged DPS, and moved out of immediately by melee. It moves in a straight line out from its spawn point in melee range and if moved out of immediately by melee no damage will be taken. It is also possible for melee to stand inside his hit box and avoid it completely, as the cold fire spawn starts outside of his hit box. Touching this flame applies a short but potent Damage over Time effect in heroic mode.
Cold Fire during his non-Bone Storm periods will be directed at a given person, thus ranged should spread out radially, preventing more than one from having to move from any given spawn.
Bone StormEvery 30 seconds Marrowgar will execute Bone Storm. This whirlwind attack cannot be avoided and damage is dealt every two seconds based on your proximity to the boss as he spins. The closer you are, the more damage you take. Additionally, in heroic this will also leave a bleed effect on anyone hit by it.
While in his Bone Storm Lord Marrowgar will randomly target and charge a raid member. When he reaches them he stops moving for around six seconds before targeting another random raid member. Every time Lord Marrowgar reaches his target and stops he will fire four lines of Cold Fire along the semi-cardinal points (NE, NW, SE, SW - they form an X). Unlike during phase 1, the cold flame lines start directly underneath him. After his fourth target the Bone Storm will end.
Healing
The tanks take moderately-high damage (10-15k every second from Saber Lash (13-17k 25 man) [pre-3.3a nerf]). During the Bone Storms, everyone takes damage. People who don't move when they're targeted by the boss during Bone Storm will be taking full Bone Storm damage in addition to Cold Fire damage from up to four separate Cold Fire effects. They will probably die.
Note that Lord Marrowgar has a red positioning reticule below him. Stacking your entire raid (with the exception of the three tanks and any hunters) on the back edge of the reticule does three things:
1. Prevents all incoming Coldflame damage. (No one is hit by the fire)
2. Controls the location of Impales so they may be quickly DPSed.
3. Allows Healers and Caster DPS to remain stationary, maximizing throughput.
The raid must disperse during Bone Storm. Bone Storm damage is negligible, but Priests need to be mindful that Inner Fire charges are depleted by this ability. Stay mobile, and re-collapse to the rear of the positioning reticule once the tanks regain control after it stops.
Note that tanks do not take damage during the Bone Spike Graveyard cast, which can be very handy for moving into position or catching up on healing.
Source for the information:
www.tankspot.com/forums/f206/59646-icecrown-lord-marrowgar.html
www.wowwiki.com/Lord_Marrowgar
