Anub’Arak

In terms of both BC and WotLK bosses, I think Anub’Arak Redux is probably one of the mostly finely tuned encounters out there. Obviously, as gear increases, the margin between challenging encounter and loot piñata will narrow, but for now Anub requires good coordination, raid awareness, and a generally sound strat to kill. In hardmode, there are two very important changes made to the fight. First, your number of frost orbs is limited to six, so careful usage and protraction of the kite phase is key. Second, the fight introduces a more lethal version of Penetrating Cold, which hits for approximately 6k per second. Lastly, the healing Anub gets from Leeching Swarm is increased to 30%, meaning that Phase 3 of the fight cannot be powered through, as is the case in normal mode. Once your raid has figured out the best kiting strat, the kill becomes a function of your management of Phase 3, your interrupter’s ability to resist the temptation to dps and your healers’ ability to control healing on multiple targets at once.

Unfortunately (or fortunately) our guild has used a single block-stacked tank since day one, so I won’t be able to speak to strats that use other gimmicks or multiple tanking assignments. Division of the fight falls along the following phase definitions:

• Phase 1 = Anub’s above-ground phase, repeated after every submerge
• Phase 2 = Anub’s submerged phase, where he will pursue various players and during which Swarm Scarabs will spawn.
• Phase 3 = Anub’s sub-30% phase, when Leeching Swarm is applied to the raid

 

Phase 1 & 2:

I’m only going to talk about the healing aspects of this phase, though suffice to say that kiting strat and interrupts play major parts in ensuring that your guild makes it past Anub’s 30% mark.

• Healing setup: 5 healers max this phase (though 7 will be needed for Phase 3). 2 pallies dedicated to the tanks is ideal because of double Beacons, though not at all necessary. All other healers on raid, healing PC targets to full and helping out on tanks as-needed. 2 of our healers dps in Phases 1 & 2 because of the lack of healing needed.
• Raid Positioning: On Anub’s hind legs, off of the ice patch. Because of the agro that healers can generate when the Nerubian Burrowers spawn (*shifty eyes*), we elect to have healers stand with the Anub tank on the northern side of the ice patch. This way, the offtank and MD-ing rogues have the maximum amount of time to pick them up before the Burrower squishes one of us.
• The Resto Sham: ES on the Anub tank, since the add tank will be taking comparatively minimal damage (a function of the tank’s block set.) Make sure that you drop your totems in range of the entire raid since Healing Stream becomes vital in Phase 3. (If you have multiple shamans in raid, you can also drop Frost Resist and Nature Resist totems.) Otherwise, learn to love LHW and RT. Chain Heal is okay in these two phases, but I rarely see a use for it unless 3+ melee or range are afflicted at once.
• The Bonus: There are several debuffs you will want to make sure are shown in Grid—Penetrating Cold (the frost dot applied by Anub throughout the fight), Pursued by Anub’Arak (will show you who Anub is chasing during Phase 2), Acid-Drenched Mandibles (will show you who has the Swarm Scarab’s debuff and will need extra healing post Phase 2), and Freezing Slash (an attack by Anub which can hit for ~ 10-18k on a well-geared tank.) In addition, to make the most of your kite phases, configure PowerAuras to display a timer for Hand of Protection. This way, you can use the buff to its fullest potential and not have to play a guessing game with how much time is remaining.

 

Phase 3:

I should preface this section by explaining that our healing team is able to precisely coordinate healing because each of us uses Grid to heal. This is significant because it means that if you were to ask each of our healers who the 3rd person in Group 2 is, we would all give you the same answer. Other unit frames, like Xperl, Pitbull, the default UI, etc. will not maintain this consistency of organization.

• Healing setup: 7 healers total; 1 assigned exclusively to each tank with the other 5 on raid. Each of the 5 raid healers is assigned responsibility for a group (for me, typically Group 4). If anyone in this group gets PC, it is that healer’s responsibility to keep the afflicted player alive. Disc priests are additionally responsible for shielding all PC targets immediately after the debuff is applied. In the event that there are multiple PC targets in the same group, the assigned healer will heal the first afflicted target, while the healer who’s group has no PC affliction, will cover the second afflicted target. With these precise PC healing assignments, our healing team can respond quickly and precisely once the debuff is applied.
• Group Healing: When a player reaches around 1k hp, an equilibrium between Leeching Swarm ticks (250hp/sec) and the player’s health can be achieved; meaning that players can be sustained without any direct healing. A resto shaman with talented and glyphed Healing Stream will generate ~ 550hp/2sec. Similarly, Judgment of Light and Leader of the Pack will combine to around 500hp/2 sec. An elemental shaman and an enhancement shaman in the same group will also be sufficient. Down-ranked hots are also a viable alternative and have the added bonus of not having a range requirement. (For this reason, we have our resto druid assigned to look after the 3+ rogues we have MD-ing adds to the offtank.) Pallies should be sure to unglyph Holy Light—the splash healing to the raid would be too significant. If enacted correctly, everyone except for tanks and PC targets will stay at 1k hp for all of Phase 3.
• Raid Positioning: Same as in Phase 1. Though I would be sure to note here that every player needs to make sure they are not standing outside of the group, and thus outside of the range of Healing Stream totem. (I speak from personal experience!)
• The Resto Sham: Make sure you are at or very close to full mana going into Phase 3 and have already dropped mana tide (and then re-dropped healing stream.) Use only single-target heals in Phase 3; never cast Chain Heal since the goal is to keep everyone except tanks and PC targets at 1k hp. PC targets should be healed to 80%+ of total HP with a quick application of RT then LHW x 4. Make sure that you keep ES and WS up during Phase 3, as you’ll need the additional healing and mana. When not healing PC targets, help out tank healers by throwing in LHW/HW on the tanks; they will be taking massive damage. Lastly, make sure that you drop your totems in range of the entire raid; if your group doesn’t get the Healing Stream ticks they will die in the span of 4 secs.
• The Bonus: First, discourage pallies from hitting Divine Sacrifice when Anub hits 30%; you want your raid to tick down to 1k hp as fast (and as controlled) as possible. Second, resist the urge to apply more healing than is needed to keep the raid alive; this isn’t the time for meter stacking. Third, have innervates ready for your tank healers; they will need it. Lastly, you can lessen the blow of the first Penetrating Cold post 30% by having everyone in your raid drink a Frost Protection Potion.