Onyxia Strategy and Tactics Guide

Onyxia Strategy and Tactics Guide

WotLK Guides - Onyxia - Strategy Guides

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Strategy - Onyxia

Phase 1 - Until 65%

The positioning of this phase is rather simple. The key is to have all the MT healers separated such that if Onyxia turns to face one other than the tank she does not end up killing all the healers when she breaths. The only thing to really worry about is to make sure that the tank maintains aggro, and that nobody gets kicked into the whelps. Something that the tank must be aware of is that Onyxia does a wing buffet kick every so often which reduces the tanks threat on her. Given enough time, the amount of threat generated by the healers by healing will exceed that of the tank because of this ability. It is important to drop her as fast as possible. Another problem arises due to this condition, such that the threat generated from the dps might exceed that of the tanks which will result in her running loose on people. One solution to this problem is to stop all dps for 10-15 seconds when Onyxia reaches 66% health, so that the tank can build enough of a threat buffer to maintain aggro before she reaches phase 2. Melee DPS AVOID tailswipe!

Phase 2 - From 65%

This phase requires the most co-ordination, if done properly everyone will survive. Remember at this point that the boss will drop aggro from the tank and your must be careful not to pull from too much threat. We recommend stopping DPS at around Most people will focus only on Onyxia's deep breath attack as it potentially can be the most devastating, but it is the easiest to avoid. The primary focus on this stage is to first destroy all the incoming whelps at the start of this phase, then positioning yourself to avoid the engulfing flames attacks. She will randomly target members, so it is important that everyone has to be staggered out. As long as all the mages fire ward, and healers keep themselves topped off, everyone should survive. It is not exactly certain what causes the deep breath attack, but there are two popular explanations as to what triggers her deep breath attack. The first is when there are too many people within her field of vision, a frontal cone in front of her, and the second is that there are not enough debuffs and dots (damage over time). To avoid being caught in her field of vision you have everyone stand to her left and right (beside her) while she is in the air, and get the raid to stack as many debuffs as possible on her. To be safe, in case she does decide to breathe, make sure everyone is standing near the walls. Her breath attack mainly covers the center of the room, thus if everyone hugs the wall they will not get hit by the full force of the attack. Dont forget that during this phase you have Lair Guards spawning in pairs every 30 seconds they die easily and should be nuked down by your ranged DPS. These mobs dont have a great deal of health and shouldnt cause you any issues. There also needs to be some AoE happening on both the sides as 40 Whelps will spawn which need bringing down quickly.

Phase 3 - at 40%

Phase 3 Caster Ledge This phase is done exactly like phase 1, with the exception that everyone has to worry about positioning so that they will less likely get hit by the lava due to the fear. There are two ledges on the north wall which healers and casters can go to, which when feared will not be knocked off and thus will be safe from the lava damage. Another good spot for hunters and range dps to stand is at the two mounds near the entrance. There are not as many cracks so that when the fear occurs, there is a less likely chance to step into the lava. Phase 3 Range DPS Spot The best way to ensure that Onyxia does not run loose on people is to assign an off-tank to alternate the fear breaking such that there is always an assigned tank on Onyxia throughout the whole phase. Right when the ground begins to shake a warrior can break the fear by switching to beserker stance then activating beserker rage. There is a cooldown on beserker rage which is longer than the time between fears, which is why two warriors will have to alternate. As well, depending on if you are alliance or horde you can use other abilities to help control the fear off the warriors. Shamans can use tremor totems, while dwarf priests can use fear ward to reduce the chances of the main tank being feared. The only thing to worry about in this phase is if people get too close to the whelp cave and can possibly get feared into there thus breaking all the eggs causing a massive whelp spawn. When Onyxia reaches 5% or less in health, she will frenzy and start doing more damage. It is vital that at this stage for all healers to break out of rotation and start healing. There is also an achievement for killing the Whelp eggs at this point.

Regards Crusader

Last Updated on Wednesday, 03 February 2010 15:23 Written by Cybac Tuesday, 22 September 2009 21:53