ToC Raid Overview
WotLK Guides - Trial of the Crusader - Strategy Guides
Overview
This section is dedicated to holding full details for the Trial of the Crusader raid instance that has been released with patch 3.2 – Call of the Crusade. We will be covering all of the fights as they get released and we will be linking to our individual boss strategy guides from here, helping to give you one location to check for the whole instance. So far we have four encounters that are released in live patch 3.2, they are, in order, Northrend Beasts, Lord Jaraxxus, Faction Champions and the latest Twin Valkyrs!
The area itself is one big arena called the Crusaders Coliseum, it’s here that you experience not only 5 man normal and heroic dungeons but also the 10 and 25 man normal and heroic raid instances.
It’s located within the grounds of the Argent Tournament so it’s very easy to get to and is surrounding with loads of helpful NPC’s to repair or buy/sell from.
To unlock the heroic mode you need to have defeated all the bosses that have been currently released on normal mode. So just to recap, as we have four encounters released so far you will have to defeat the Northrend Beasts (Beasts of Northrend), Lord Jaraxxus, Faction Champions and the Twin Valkyrs to unlock the heroic mode for these bosses.
Raid Composition
First things first lets discuss the raid composition, remembering that a lot of this is will be controlled by a few factors including guildies, friends and class availability on your server. Even with those things in mind there are a few things that will help lead to your goal and so are important points to remember when building your raid team with success in mind.
NEED: 2 x Tanks
IDEAL: 1 x Paladin Tank + 1 Other
WHY: In the Beasts of Northrend (Northrend Beasts) encounter Acidmaw will inflict a debuff called Paralytic Poison, this often goes onto the tank and can cause all sorts of problems as if slows the tank to a stop the longer it continues, to mitigate this a Paladin tank can bubble out of the poison effects and remove the stacking debuff, this is often enough time to get the encounter finished if your DPS are good enough.
NEED: 2 x Healers
IDEAL: 2.5-3 Healers
WHY: During some encounters there are high amounts of healing that need to be dealt with, but others can be done just fine on 2 well geared on the ball healers, we recommend taking 3 healers in with you with one having a decent dual spec into a DPS tree. We found a Moonkin to be particularly effective due to the crossover of kit and the ability to heal and dps during the same fight as necessary. The other two healers can be a mixture of Priest/Paladin & Shaman/Druid, we recommend ensuring that there is a priest in the group for the fortitude buff which really helps when fighting Icehowl.
NEED: 2 Ranged DPS
IDEAL: 1 Elemental Shaman + 1 Mage + 1 Warlock
WHY: During the third encounter you will be facing the Faction Champions, this encounter relies heavily on Crowd Control which all three of these classes have alongside a high DPS output from a safe distance. Also during the first encounter Beast of Northrend the ranged DPS should focus on the Adds to burn them down as quickly as possible leaving the melee free to continue on the boss. Here is an excellent placement for the Elemental Shaman offering high DPS, Crowd Control in the form of Hex, interrupts and Bloodlust, in our opinion Shamans make one of the best raid companions you can take in your team.
NEED: 2 Melee DPS
IDEAL: 2 Melee DPS
WHY: Interrupts and constant damage, I advise taking at least a Melee DPS Paladin, not only do the buffs help increase raid damage but they are still in a favourable DPS position and they have a lot of tools at their disposal. That leaves you with a choice to fill the last position with a Rogue, Deathknight or Warrior. Personally we prefer taking either a Rogue or Warrior with us for the interrupts that will be exceptionally useful on Lord Jaraxxus and also on the Faction Champions.
Raid Readiness
This is the latest raid with the latest content, unless your team is 100% geared and everyone knows the tactics (in which case would you really be reading this?) then there is no excuse not to be 100% buffed up. I use an addon called Raid Buff Status to tell me who is fully buffed, who hasn’t buffed another member and what buffs are expected, I really recommend raid leaders or someone with assist to get this as you can use it to announce to the raid what is missing from who.
Another thing to mention are expectations, don’t expect to take someone who isn’t in decent gear and knows their class and succeed, all the DPS should be around 3k, the tanks should be hitting 32-35k HP and the healers should know their stuff, you cannot afford to carry anyone in there until you know your way around all the fights and it would be unfair to the other 9 if you try and do so.
Remember flasks, food buffs and ensure your players take responsibility for having decent gems and enchants.
Raid Addons
Everyone should be running at least Deadly Boss Mods or Big Wigs, our preference is Deadly Boss Mods due to the excellent update times and the way it interacts with other raid members running the same addon.
Omen threat meter is a must for all DPS and Tanks and optional for healers.
We recommend that at least the RL is using Recount although in the majority of cases all members will be running this anyway.
Starting the events
Events are started through talking to the NPC, we recommend getting your tanks into position first and one of your ranged DPS or healers starting the event. Each event has enough time for the person starting to position themselves and be prepared especially considering the NPC is standing pretty close.
Event 1 – Northrend Beasts (Beasts of Northrend)
Link to Northrend Beasts (Beasts of Northrend) Strategy Guide
Event 2 – Lord Jaraxxus
Link to Lord Jaraxxus Strategy Guide
Event 3 – Faction Champions
Link to Faction Champions Strategy Guide
Event 4 – Twin Valkyrs
Link to Twin Valkyrs Strategy Guide
Event 5 – Anub'arak
Link to Anub'arak Strategy Guide
Loot
LOOT LISTINGS
Last Updated on Monday, 08 March 2010 14:05 Written by Cybac Thursday, 27 August 2009 15:20