If you were a Sunwell Plateau raider back in the Burning Crusade, you will find this boss encounter very similar to the M’uru fight. Also much like the M’uru fight, this encounter will test your raid’s coordination and teamwork.

You will have to deal with waves and waves of adds while DPSing down Lady Deathwhisper’s Mana Shield. Not only that, you will have to deal with raid damage and crowd control. Sounds fun right?

Boss Stats:

• Hit Points – 3,000,000 (10man), 13,400,000 (25man)
• Mana – 3,300,000 (10man), 14,000,000 (25man)
• 10 Minute Enrage Timer

Phase One Abilities:

• Mana Barrier: Absorbs all damage done to Lady Deathwhisper, draining her mana instead.
• Shadow Bolt: Inflicts 7,438 to 9,562 (9k-11k on 25man) Shadow damage to the current target.
• Death and Decay: Inflicts 4,500 (6k on 25man) Shadow damage every 1 second to enemies within the area of the spell. The entire spell lasts 10 seconds.
• Dominate Mind: Mind Controls 1 player, increasing their damage by 200% and healing by 500%. Lasts 12 seconds. (25man only)
• Dark Empowerment: Empowers a random Adherent or Fanatic, causing them to deal area damage with spells. Also makes the target immune to interrupts.

Phase Two Abilities:

• Frostbolt: Inflicts 40,950 to 43,050 Frost damage to the current target. Can be interrupted.
• Touch of Insignificance: Reduces the target’s threat generation by 20% per application. Stacks up to 5 times.
• Death and Decay: Inflicts 4,500 Shadow damage every 1 second to enemies within the area of the spell. The entire spell lasts 10 seconds.

Recommended Consumables:

• [Flask of the Frost Wyrm]
• Food of your choice or Fish Feast

This is a complex fight with a lot of target switching, interrupting, crowd controlling, and a lot of raid awareness. You would want any consumables which may help your DPS.

Frost Mage Overview:

• Pet Friendly: Friendly
• Cooldowns: You will not have to save your Ice Blocks or Cold Snap for anything, so use it for emergencies.

Your Water Elemental will have a 80% damage reduction to AoE damage so you don’t have to worry about moving him around to avoid Death and Decay. Just keep him on Lady Deathwhisper the entire time to take down the Mana Barrier faster.

Deep Freeze

With all the target switching the entire fight, it’ll be hard to save your Deep Freezes for the boss. It would be a waste to cast it on an add, and it would be a waste of time to switch back to the boss to cast Deep Freeze, then switch back. Unless you use this handy macro I made by modifying a Sheeping macro I’ve been using.

#showtooltip Deep Freeze
/stopcasting
/cast [target=focus,exists,harm] Deep Freeze

Now whenever Fingers of Frost procs, and Deep Freeze is off cooldown, you can throw a Deep Freeze on Lady Deathwhisper without having to switch your target. You don’t have to be facing her to cast it either, just stand within range of Deep Freeze’s 36yd range.

Just make sure you make Lady Deathwhisper your focus target before the fight.

Phase One

During Phase One, there will be waves of adds that will enter from the sides of the room. In 10man, they will spawn from only one side at a time, alternating. In 25man, they spawn from both sides at the same time. In both version, there is one additional add that spawns from the stairs where you enter the room. This makes 4 adds per wave for 10man, and 7 adds per wave for 25man.

The raid’s priority should be taking down all the adds as soon as possible before switching back onto Lady Deathwhisper. Sometimes a person or two will be dedicated to DPSing Lady Deathwhisper the entire time to bring her into Phase Two faster, but having the entire raid focusing on adds first, is much safer.

Cult Adherents

These adds you should NOT be DPSing. They will be handled by the Physical DPS in your raid for these reasons:

• Shroud of the Occult: Deflects all harmful spells back to their caster. Also prevents cast interrupting. Absorbs 50,000 damage before breaking.
• Adherent’s Determination: Grants the Adherent 99% spell damage reduction. Used when Reanimated.

Cult Fanatics

These are the adds you will be focusing on. Fanatics will be you main priority, with Reanimated Fanatics being your top priority. They will also cast Vampiric Might on themselves- make sure you Spellsteal that buff!

Killing Fanatics take priority over DPSing the boss. The faster they are killed, the more time you can switch back onto the boss and keep DPSing. Have a macro set up for quick switching:

/target Cult Fanatic

Just make sure to give your tank a few seconds to pick up the add before you blow him up. They hit pretty hard, and can kill you in a few hits.

Decursing / Sheeping

During Phase One, the Adherent adds will also cast Curse of Turpor on random raid members. Make sure you decurse them as soon as you can. If it is on you AND another person, make sure you decurse yourself first. If not, that curse will put a 15 second cooldown on your Remove Curse ability.

During 25man, Lady Deathwhisper will randomly mind control a raid member. It will be your job to Polymorph that person as quickly as possible too.

Highly Recommended: Decursive Mod

Phase Two

When her Mana Barrier is depleted, she will move from her spot, and no more adds will spawn. Spread out all around her and DPS. Make you throw out a Counterspell whenever you can while she is casting Frostbolt. They hit very hard.

There will be ghosts which spawn from the corpse of the Adherent and Fanatic adds. If you see a ghost following you, run away. When they explode, it hurts.

Strategy

Keep Ice Barrier up, and don’t stand in the Death and Decay. Make sure all the Cult Fanatics are dead before switching back to the boss.

This fight is all about execution. If the raid does everything correctly, this fight will be very easy. Pay attention to your surroundings, and listen to vent for when your tank calls out for DPS. They will usually call out when there is a Reanimated Adherent or Fanatic, so be sure to listen if caster DPS is called for.

Mage Loots:

• [Scourgelord's Baton] (10N)
• [Sister's Handshrouds] (10N)
• [Bracers of Dark Blessings] (10N)
• [Nibelung] (25N)
• [The Lady's Brittle Bracers] (25N)
• [Shoulders of Mercy Killing] (25N)
• [Ring of Maddening Whispers] (25N)
• [Bracers of Dark Blessings](H) (10H)
• [Scourgelord's Baton](H) (10H)
• [Sister's Handshrouds](H) (10H)
• [Nibelung](H) (25H)
• [The Lady's Brittle Bracers](H) (25H)
• [Shoulders of Mercy Killing](H) (25H)
• [Ring of Maddening Whispers](H) (25H)

Lots of good loot from this boss. The shoulders I would pass because you would want the Tier 10 shoulders. The Bracers of Dark Blessings I would pass to healers if they wanted it. Everything else I would go for.

[Image was taken from WoWHead.com]

“Lord Marrogar is a unique creature created of skeletons. He is the first boss in the Icecrown Citadel.”

He has one of the coolest boss character models- he is a 4-headed winged skeleton torso, with a big ice ax! As the first boss of Icecrown Citadel, he’ll serve as a gear check for Guilds to see if they are “ready” to tackle this raid instance.

Boss Stats:

• Hit Points – 5,200,000 (10man), 23,740,000 (25man)
• No Enrage Timer

Abilities:

• Saber Lash: Inflicts 200% weapon damage split evenly between the target and its 2 nearest allies.
• Bone Spike Graveyard: Hurls a spike at a random player, impaling all players between the boss and the target on Bone Spikes, inflicting 9,000 direct Physical damage, and additional 10% health as damage every 1 second until the spike is destroyed.
• Coldflame: Inflicts 6,000 (9k on 25man) Frost damage every 1 second for 3 seconds to anyone caught by the moving line of frost.
• Bone Storm: Inflicts 6,000 (12k on 25man) Physical damage every 2 seconds to players caught in the storm.

Recommended Consumables:

• [Flask of the Frost Wyrm]
• Spell Damage food of your choice or Feast

This is a simple fight with a bit of target switching, and a lot of raid awareness. You would want any consumables which may help your DPS.

Frost Mage Overview:

• Pet Friendly: Friendly
• Cooldowns: You may want to save your Ice Blocks, and Cold Snap for when you get trapped in a Bone Storm.

Your Water Elemental won’t be targeted by Bone Spike and is immune to the Coldflame- but he can be damaged by the Bone Storm. You pet will have a 80% damage reduction to AoE damage so you don’t have to worry about moving him around. Just have him keep on attacking.

Coldflame

During the fight Lord Marrowgar will spawn blue flames on the ground that will move out towards the raid in a linear path. There will be 4 flames, and they shoot out in an “X” pattern. Pretty simple, don’t stand in the blue flames. They do Frost damage, so have Frost Ward up!

The flame doesn’t follow anyone, it shoots out in a straight line. If you see one going towards you, simply side-step and continue on DPSing. Easy enough, no reason why you should take damage from this.

Bone Spikes

Every so often, he will do the Bone Spike Graveyard, which will target a random person in the raid. That person AND every person between him and the boss will be impaled by a Bone Spike. This means: Spread out, and don’t have anyone standing in front of you, between you and the boss.

Bone Spikes take priority over DPSing the boss. If someone is impaled, free him/her as soon as possible. Faster they are freed, the less damage they take, and the faster that person can go back to DPS/healing. Have a macro set up for quick switching:

/target Bone Spike

If you get impaled, you CANNOT Ice Block out of it. Just hope your raid buddies will free you before you die.

Bone Storm

At some points during the fight, he will begin to spin his ax around in circles, and start whirlwinding randomly around the room. At this point, try to spread out, but stay close enough to one of your healers to stay alive. Run away from Lord Marrowgar if you see him headed your direction. You can DPS if you want, but staying alive is more important.

During the Bone Storm phase, he will also spawn the Coldflames too. So keep a look out for the flames spreading on the floor. If you happen to get trapped by a wall with Marrowgar going all Tasmanian Devil on you, feel free to Ice Block and keep yourself alive.

When he stops his Bone Storm, ALL AGGRO RESETS, so let the main tank pick him back up before you start DPSing again. So pay attention and stop DPS when you see that he is about to stop spinning.

Strategy

DPS boss, kill Bone Spikes as soon as they appear, then hop back onto the boss. This isn’t a DPS race, it is a “pay attention and survive” fight. Dodge flames, run when he whirlwinds, and repeat. Keep Ice Barrier up!

Use Blink to get in range to help kill Bone Spikes, or use it to avoid flames, or to get away from the spinning Marrowgar himself. Keep Frost Ward up during the whirlwind phase just in case you have to run through some flames.

Mage Loots:

• [Cord of the Patronizing Practitioner]
• [Frost Needle]
• [Bone Sentinel's Amulet] (25man)
• [Crushing Coldwraith Belt] (25man)
• [Frozen Bonespike] (25man)
• [Loop of the Endless Labyrinth] (25man)
• [Marrowgar's Frigid Eye] (25man)

A lot of good drop for Mages from the first boss of the instance. The only item that is iffy, is the Frigid Eye because of the mp5 on it. I personally think that ring is better than the Loop of the Endless Labyrinth if you are Hit Capped, but I don’t think I would roll against any healers that want it.

[Image and General Strategy used was taken from WoWHead.com]

Kologarn is considered sixth boss encounter in Ulduar, after you have defeated XT-002 Deconstructor, and gain access to the Antichamber. He is the only non-optional boss in the Antichamber because he guards the Shattered Walkway into central Ulduar where not only is he protecting the bridge, he is the bridge.

He is a huge Titan boss, but you only fight his body from the torso, and up. Each of his arms are separate targets, and have their own health. Kologarn is often misquoted to be Gandalf from the Lord of the Rings Trilogy. His quotes are actually from the Black Knight from Monty Python and the Holy Grail.

Boss Stats:

• Hit Points – 3,600,000 (normal), 15,340,000 (heroic)
• No Enrage Timer

Abilities:

• Focused Eyebeam: Shoots 2 beams from his eyes simultaneously, each inflicting 2,775 to 3,225 Nature damage, and follows their targets.
• Overhead Smash: Inflicts physical damage and applies stacking Crunch Armor, which reduces the target’s armor by 25% for 45 seconds.
• One-Armed Overhead Smash: Inflicts physical damage and applies stacking Crunch Armor, which reduces the target’s armor by 25% for 45 seconds. Cast when one arm is destroyed.
• Stone Shout: A raid-wide shout, which inflicts 1,084 to 1,216 Physical damage. Cast if both of the arms are dead.
• Petrifying Breathe: Inflicts 14,063 to 15,937 Nature damage every 1 second, and applies Brittle Skin, which increases damage taken by 20% for 8 seconds. Cast if there are no targets in melee range.
• Stone Grip: Grabs 1 target, incapacitating them and inflicting 3,700 to 4,300 Physical damage every 1 second, until they are freed. The Arm can sustain 100,000 damage before it releases its target. Used only by his Right Arm.
• Shockwave: Inflicts 8,788 to 10,212 Nature damage to the whole raid. Used only by his Left Arm.

Recommended Consumables:

• [Flask of the Frost Wyrm]
• Spell Damage food of your choice or Feast

This is a simple fight with a bit of target switching, and a bit of AoEing. You would want any consumables which may help your DPS.

Frost Mage Overview:

• Pet Friendly: Friendly
• Cooldowns: You may want to save your Ice Blocks, and Cold Snap for when you get targeted by the Eye Beams.

Your Water Elemental won’t be targeted by any of Kologarn’s attacks but can be attacked by the spawns. They will be picked up by a tank so you shouldn’t have to worry about that. Your pet’s Freeze ability will come in handy to freeze all the adds together once the tank grabs aggro on them.

Kologarn’s Eye Beam

During the fight Kologarn will target a random raid member and shoot two Eye Beams at you. You can tell who the target is by seeing where the two beams first land. If there is a beam to the left and one to the right of you, then start running, the target is you! It’s like Felmyst all over again.

As a Mage, you can simply Blink away, and have a head start at kiting the beams. The beams moves a little bit slower than running speed, so kiting them shouldn’t be hard. As a Frost Mage, you can position yourself anywhere in the room (like in a corner), and if you get targeted, instead of causing panic and kiting through other players, you can simply Ice Block the beam, and the beam will stay on you without doing any damage.

Kologarn’s Arms

Occasionally Kologarn’s Right Arm will grab a random raid member (3 on Heroic Mode), and in order to free that person, the raid will need to inflict a certain amount of damage to the arm. 100,000 damage on Normal Mode and 480,000 damage on Heroic Mode. You CANNOT Ice Block if you get grabbed.

The raid will be attacking the Right Arm everytime it is up anyways, so it won’t be a problem to free anyone who gets grabbed. Everytime the arm is killed, Kolgarn main body loses health equal to the arm’s health (550,000 health on Normal Mode and 2,300,000 health on Heroic Mode).

Kologarn’s Left Arm is usually ignored, and the damage it does can be healed through. The Raid Leader may at some point call DPS on the Left Arm if he sees that the health is low from incidental AoEing.

Elemental Adds

Whenever an arm is destroyed, Kologarn will spawn a set of around 5 adds. The adds have around 52,000 health on Normal Mode and 130,000 health on Heroic Mode each. After the tank grabs the adds, you can start AoEing the adds down.

As a Frost Mage with Improved Blizzard and Frostbite, you can easily AoE the adds early and safely. It should only take one Blizzard with the help of the rest of the raid members to kill all the adds.

Again, you can use your Water Elemental’s Freeze to freeze the adds down, or even run up and Frost Nova them yourself to help keep them together.

Strategy

Kill the Right Arm, kill the adds, attack his main body, then back onto his Right Arm when it respawns. Rinse and Repeat. Collect loot. Heroic Mode is pretty much the same as Normal Mode, except his attacks do more damage, and Kologarn has more health.

Mage Loots:

• [Pendant of Piercing Glare]
• [Emerald Signet Ring]
• [Spark of Hope]
• [Bracer of Unleashed Magic] (heroic)
• [Robes of Umbral Brute] (heroic)
• [Ironmender] (heroic)
• [Handwraps of Plentiful Recovery] (heroic)

As always, anything with Crit/Hit and Spell Power is up for grabs. The Gloves, though has Haste and Spell Power, I would grab if no healers wanted it. It has a… realy “Healy” name for the gloves, and it wouldn’t feel right if I took that over a Healer.

The Spirit Trinket, is something not for us Mages, but I kind of want to get one to see how much crit rating I can get with Molten Armor. The reduced Mana cost is nice to have too.

[Image and General Strategy used was taken from WoWHead.com]

XT-002 Deconstructor is considered the fourth boss encounter in Ulduar. He is the giant robot blocking the way into The Antechamber of Ulduar. Other than The Flame Leviathan, he is the only other mandatory boss required to gain access to the next area of Ulduar.

The XT-002 fight is also considered by many to be the “gear check” for raids to see if they are ready for the rest of Ulduar. This fight can be very healing and mana intensive, and requires a high amount of DPS to take him down before his enrage timer.

The difference between Normal and Heroic mode, is that he will do a bit more damage, and the adds that spawn have a bit more health. Other than that, the strategy will remain the same.

Boss Stats:

• Hit Points – 6,000,000 (normal), 25,000,000 (heroic)
• Enrage Timer – 7 Minutes

Abilities:

• Light Bomb: Causes the target to inflict 2,750 damage to other players within 10 yards every 1 second, for 9 seconds.
• Gravity Bomb: Causes the target to explode after 9 seconds, which pulls other players within 20 yards and inflicts 17,100 to 18,900 Shadow damage.
• Tympanic Tantrum: Damages everybody for 10% of their maximum hit points every 1 second, for 12 seconds. This is a channeled spell, which also dazes the affected targets for 2 seconds.

Recommended Consumables:

• [Flask of the Frost Wyrm]
• [Runic Mana Potion]
• Spell Damage food of your choice or Feast

This is a straight forward fight, which require you to output as much DPS as possible, as well as being able to AoE down adds without going out of mana. You would want any consumables which may help your DPS, and make sure you have a Mana Potion handy also. You will most likely need it.

Frost Mage Overview:

• Pet Friendly: Moderate
• Cooldowns: You may need to save your Ice Block and Cold Snap cooldowns

Your Water Elemental cannot be targeted by the Light and Gravity Bombs, but will still take damage from them from other players. Your pet will also be taking damage from the Tympanic Tantrum, but will most likely survive it due to all the AoE healing you will be receiving during that time.

Phase 1: Watch Your Debuffs!

XT-002 will be positioned by the stairs between the two northern junk piles, with melee spread out around him, and the ranged DPS and Healers standing together about 15 yards away from the tank and melee DPS.

This fight is similar to High Astromancer Solarian from the Tempest Keep. When you get a debuff, you get the heck out of the raid, as fast as you can. Luckily for us Mages, Blink comes in very handy. So if you see you have the debuff, blink to either the left or right, of the raid, but make sure you stay within range of the healers so you don’t die.

Ice Block doesn’t remove the debuffs, but it will prevent any damage to you while you are in it. So you may want to save it for when you are close to dying, or you feel like helping out your healers, feel free to do so. You may also want to save your Ice Block for when Tympanic Tandrum occurs, to avoid all that damage entirely.

Phase 2: Exposed Heart with Adds!

When XT-200′s Health reaches 75/50/25%, he will go into a shutdown mode, and expose his Heart. During this phase, XT-200 cannot be targeted, but his heart can, and it will also take double the damage. So during this phase, you want to do as much damage as possible to the heart, because that damage also transfers to XT-200!

You have to be careful not to destroy the heart though, that will activate Hard Mode! If this is your first attempts on XT-200, you shouldn’t worry about destroying the heart, and should just go all out. You most likely won’t have the DPS to destroy the heart until you’ve gone through a couple weeks of Ulduar.

I recommend popping your Icy Veins and Water Elemental during this time for the additonal DPS. Your pet’s Freeze will also come in handy during this phase. It will also be a good time to pop Mirror Image for the extra bit of damage. Make sure you pop it before the adds spawn- you don’t want your dumb images to go running off to DPS random things.

Also during this phase, adds will spawn from the four junk piles in the room. They are located in each corner of the room, and will spawn 3 different type of adds.

• XM-024 Pummeller
• XS-013 Scrapbot
• XE-321 Boombot

The Pummeller will be off tanked and killed. The Scrapbots and Boombots will slowly make their way towards XT-200 and will not aggro any player. The all have around 2k Health (4k on Heroic) each.

Your job will be to AoE down the Scrapbots as soon as they get close to XT-200, because if they do, each one will heal him for around 60k Health. The Boombots can either be killed while near XT-200, or with the Scrapbots. When the Boombots die, they explode and do around 15k Damage to everything around them (both NPC’s and Players).

As a Frost Mage with Improved Blizzard and Frostbite, you can easily solo two piles on one side easily. It takes one Blizzard to take out a wave of Scrapbots on Normal, and on Heroic a 2nd Blizzard might be needed.

If you find yourself in trouble (or the other AoE side), use your pet’s Freeze ability to freeze the bots in place so that they don’t make their way to XT-200. You don’t want to be in melee range to use Frost Nova in case a Boombot explodes.

After about 30 seconds, his heart goes away and starts Phase 1 again. Repeat until he is defeated.

Hard Mode

To activate Hard Mode, you will need to destroy his heart during Phase 2. On Normal Mode, the heart has 1.8M Health, and on Heroic Mode it has 10M Health. You would have 30 seconds to destroy it if you want to activate Hard Mode.

Once activated, XT-200 will be Heartbroken, healed to full health, and also gain an additional 45% Health. He will also do 35% more damage.

His abilities also gain additional effects:

• Gravity Bomb will leave Void Zone: which inflicts 5,000 damage to players standing in it.
• Light Bomb will leave Life Spark: which inflicts 800 Nature damage to nearby players every 3 seconds.

Which means your original strategy will be slightly adjusted. Not only will the person who gets the debuff have to run out, the rest of the raid will also need to run the opposite direction to avoid the Void Zone and Life Spark.

Mage Loots:

• [Plasma Foil]
• [Conductive Cord]
• [Sandals of Rash Temperament] (heroic)
• [Quartz Crystal Wand] (heroic)
• [Mantle of Wavering Calm] (heroic)
• [Charm of Meticulous Timing] (heroic hard mode)
• [Grasps of Reason] (heroic hard mode)

As always, anything with Crit/Hit and Spell Power is up for grabs. The Mantle, though has Haste and Spell Power, I would grab if no healers wanted it. Plus it has the same model as the Priest’s Tier 8 set. You don’t wanna be running around with Priestly looking shoulders do you? Same thing with MP5, I tend to let healers have first dibs on those items. It just doesn’t feel right.

[Image and General Strategy used was taken from WoWHead.com]

“Ignis the Furnace Master is the second boss encounter in Ulduar and can be found in the Colossal Forge.” – WoWWiki.com

Although he is considered the second boss by many players, attempts can be made on Ignis anytime after The Flame Leviathan has been defeated. Both Normal and Heroic modes strategies are the same, with the exception of taking more damage in Heroic mode. Also in Heroic mode, he will create constructs more often than normal mode.

Also like, Razorscale, Ignis is an optional boss, and is not required to killed to gain access to The Antichamber of Ulduar.

Boss Stats:

• Hit Points – 6,970,000 (normal), 19,650,000 (heroic)
• No Enrage Timer

Abilities:

• Flame Jets: Does 5,655 to 6,345 Fire damage and interrupt any spellcasting and prevents the caster from casting any spells from that school for 8 seconds. Affected targets also take 1000 Fire damage every 1 second for 8 seconds.
• Scorch: Inflicts 2,357 to 2,643 Fire damage every half-second to targets in front of the caster within 30 yards. In addition, the ground within 13 yards becomes scorched, inflicting 4,713 to 5,287 Fire damage every 1 second.
• Slag Pot: Charges a random target and incapacitates them, inflicting 5,000 Fire damage every 1 second for 10 seconds. If the target survives, they will gained 100% haste for 10 seconds.
• Activate Construct: Fires a bolt of magma at a random deactivated Iron Construct, activating it and causing it to defend the caster.
• Strength of the Creator: Increases damage done by 15%. One stack of this buff is applied each time an Iron Construct is summoned, and one stack is removed each time a Brittle Iron Construct is shattered.

Recommended Consumables:

• [Flask of the Frost Wyrm]
• Spell Damage food of your choice or Feast

This is a pretty straight forward fight, with a bit of target switching involved. You would want any consumables which may help your DPS.

Frost Mage Overview:

• Pet Friendly: Friendly
• Cooldowns: You may want to save your Ice Blocks, and Cold Snap for when you get Slag Potted.

You need to make sure to have your Water Elemental stop casting right before he finishes casting Flame Jets, to avoid your pet’s spells to be locked out for 8 seconds. Ignis will be tanked facing away from the raid so you don’t have to worry about the flames left by Scorch.

Flame Jets

Every so often, he will begin casting Flame Jets, where he stomps the ground and knocks everyone up into the air. It will also interrupt your casting, and lock out your spell’s school for 8 seconds. Make sure you are NOT casting when he is about to finish casting Flame Jets! It is a 5 second cast so plan accordingly.

Being locked out of the Frost tree for 8 seconds is very brutal on your DPS, and could even kill you if your Ice Block is locked out and you need to use it.

Slag Pot

Every so often, Ignis will charge at a random raid member, and put that person into his belly. While in there, you will be taking 5k damage (10k damage on Heroic) every second, for 10 seconds. If you survive this imprisonment, not only will you get the Hot Pocket Achievement, but you will also get a Haste buff for 10 seconds. 100% Haste on Normal, 150% Haste on Heroic.

You CAN cast Fire Ward and Ice Barrier while in his belly to help out your healers. If you REALLY want to help out your healers, you can also cast Ice Block to avoid any damage during the entire duration.

However, if you Ice Block during that time, you will NOT receive the Haste buff, and will NOT get credit for the achievements. Remember though: Killing Boss > Getting Achivements.

Pop your Ice Veins, then Cold Snap if you survived the Slag Pot, in case you get targeted again later.

Constructs

Whenever Ignis spawns one of these guys, they will need to be picked up by an off-tank, or a kiter. They can be slowed/snared/stunned, so if you are chosen to kite them, as a Frost Mage you should have no problems doing so. They are to be tanked/kited in the flames left on the ground from when Ignis casts Scorch. For every second they are in the flames, they will get a stack of the Heat debuff.

When they get 20 stacks of the debuff, they become Molten, and needs to be moved into the water. Once they touch the water, they become Brittle and will become frozen in place unable to do anything. During that time, if it recieves any damage over 5000, it will Shatter, so be sure the stay clear of it.

If you are kiting, you can easily slow it with Cone of Cold or Improve Blizzard and move it across a flame. If you have Frostbite, even better. You can then Frost Nova it while it is in the flame, then Deep Freeze it right before nova wears off. See? Deep Freeze can be used in PvE!

If you are not kiting, you can help out the tank/kiter by stunning the construct while it is in the flames, or range nova it with your pet. While it is Brittle, one Frostbolt is enough to shatter the construct.

Keep in mind these three things, and DPS him down as much as you can. Ignis has no enrage timer, but the raid can get overrun by constructs and become low on mana as the fight gets dragged out too long.

Mage Loots:

• [Shawl of the Caretaker]
• [Igniter Rod]
• [Intensity] (heroic)
• [Septer of Creation] (heroic)
• [Soot-Covered Mantle] (heroic)
• [Pyrelite Circle] (heroic)

The cloak I would pass to a Healer if they need it. If no Healer needs and it is an upgrade, go for it. The off-hand and wand are great to pick up if you need an upgrade. The staff is very nice, and has a lot of Spell Power and Hit. These shoulders share the same model as the Mage Tier 8 set, but is worst than the T8.5 Shoulders. The ring that drops is also very nice.

[Image and General Strategy used was taken from WoWHead.com]

“Razorscale is the third boss encounter in Ulduar. It is an Ironbound proto-drake that flies over the Razorscale’s Aerie, across from the Colossal Forge.” – WoWWiki.com

Although she is considered the third boss by many players, attempts can be made on Razorscale anytime after The Flame Leviathan has been defeated. Both Normal and Heroic modes strategies are the same, with the exception of taking more damage in Heroic mode. Also in Heroic mode, you need to fire off 4 Harpoons as apposed to Normal mode’s 2 Harpoons to cause her to land.

Boss Stats:

• Hit Points – 3,900,000 (normal), 12,550,000 (heroic)
• Enrage Timers – Phase 1: 5 Minutes, Phase 2: 5 Minutes

Abilities:

• Devouring Flame: Spits a Lava Bomb at an enemy, inflicting 6938 to 8062 Fire damage.
• Fireball: Inflicts fire damage to an enemy. Deals 11,000-12,000 fire damage.
• Wing Buffet: Knocks back enemies in 35 yards radius around the caster.
• Flame Breath Inflicts 13125 to 16875 Fire damage to players in a cone in front of the caster. It is a 2.5 second cast.
• Berserk: Increases the caster’s attack speed by 150% and all damage it deals by 900% for 30 min.

Recommended Consumables:

• [Flask of the Frost Wyrm]
• Spell Damage food of your choice or Feast

This is a pretty simple fight, with a bit of target switching involved. You would want any consumables which may help your DPS.

Frost Mage Overview:

• Pet Friendly: Moderate
• Cooldowns: No need to save your Ice Block and Cold Snap cooldowns

You need to make sure to move your pet out of any fire on the ground, and keep pet away from the front of the boss.

Phase 1: Alternating Air/Ground

While Razorscale is in the air, she cannot be attacked, but can still attack. She won’t have any aggro and will shoot random players, so be prepared to move out of fires, and keep Fire Ward up as much as possible. Instead Dark Iron Dwarves will spawn, and you will need to keep them off the NPCs and kill them. After the tanks round up the mobs, start laying out some Blizzards. If you have Improved Blizzard w/ Frostbite, it makes this part extra easy.

The NPCs will be repairing the Harpoon guns in the area. Once it is repaired, it may be fired at Razorscale by simply clicking on it. After shooting off 2 Harpoons (4 for Heroic), Razorscale will be pinned down to the ground. Finish up killing any left over mobs, and make sure you are not standing anywhere in front of her, and DPS away. There is no aggro still during this part.

After a few moments, she will do frontal cone Flame Breath, use Wing Buffet, and free herself from the Harpoons. She will be in the air again, and this phase repeats. Usually if she is not at 50% after pinning her to the ground 3 times, she will hit the enrage timer and wipe the raid.

Phase 2: Permanent Ground

When Razorscale hits 50%, she will land on the ground, and will need to be picked up by tanks. Make sure she is tanked facing away from the raid, and it will pretty much be a tank and spank fight. You will still need to avoid any flames on the ground, and she still does the occasional Wing Buffet. Other than that, just go all out DPS. You have around 5 minutes do kill her before she enrages.

Mage Loots:

• [Eye of the Broodmother]
• [Binding of the Dragon Matriarch]
• [Shackles of the Odalisque] (heroic)
• [Living Flame] (heroic)
• [Collar of the Wyrmhunter] (heroic)

2 more awesome Trinkets to add to your collection, drops from this boss. The Helm looks like the BiS for Mages, as it is better than the Tier 8.5 Helm, but retains the same look.

[Image and General Strategy used was taken from WoWHead.com]

“Anomalus is a giant Arcane Voidwraith boss in The Nexus. Voidwraiths are a slender type of voidwalker. Voidwraiths seem to be more rare than other voidwalkers and rarely talk.” – WoWWiki.com

Boss Stats:

• Hit Points – 192,200
• Mana – 50,000

Abilities:

• Spark: Deals 2025 to 2475 Arcane damage.
• Create Rift: Opens a Chaotic Rift near Anomalus which spawns Chaotic Wraiths.
• Rift Shield Renders Anomalus immune to all damage while Chootic Rifts are up.

Recommended Consumables:

• Any TBC Elixirs you may have left over
• Any TBC Weapon Oils you may have left over
• Spell Damage food of your choice

This is a pretty simple fight, with a bit of target switching involved. You would want any consumables which may help your DPS.

Frost Mage Overview:

• Pet Friendly: Very Friendly
• Cooldowns: No need to save your Ice Block and Cold Snap cooldowns

Your Water Elemental will not be taking any group damage, so you don’t have to worry about keeping your pet safe and alive.

Anomalus will be tanked in the middle of the platform he is located on, with the rest of the group members standing around him.

Just stand back and DPS away. When he is at 75%, 50%, and 25%, he will create a Chaotic Rift which will spawn Chaotic Wraiths. The Chaotic Rift has roughly 14,000 HP. The Rift also makes Anomalus immune to all damage while it is up, so it is important to take it out as soon as possible.

You can have the following Macro to help if needed:

/target Chaotic Rift

After the Chaotic Rift is destroyed, kill any Chaotic Wraiths which may still be up, then continue to DPS down Anomalus again. Again this occurs at 75%, 50%, and 25%. Then simply DPS til he dies.

Heroic Mode:

In Heroic Mode, his Spark will hit for around 4275 to 4725 Arcane Damage. Also he will spawn more Chaotic Rifts more often, and sometimes in pairs. They will also have around 28,000 HP.

Mage Loots:

• [Tome of the Lorekeepers]
• [Amulet of Dazzling Light] (heroic)

The Off-Hand is nice, but is lacking in Hit/Crit/Haste, and can be passed to a healer if needed. Same goes for the Necklace, pass if a healer needs, pick it up if it is an upgrade for you.

[Image and General Strategy used was taken from WoWHead.com]

“The Nexus, a dungeon hub, is an ancient ice fortress found in the center of Coldarra, in Northrend’s Borean Tundra. It is a column of magical energy surrounded by levitating earth-covered rings with ice caves underneath. The Nexus is an extensive series of caves and tunnels that riddles Coldarra, containing wings leading to two 5 man dungeons and one 25 man raid.” – WoWHead.com

The Nexus is the first 5 man entry level dungeon of The Nexus, and is the first instance for players starting out in the Borean Tundra.

Grand Magus Telestra is the Mage boss inside of the Nexus, and is a fun boss encounter too. She is uses all three schools of magic, using Fire, Frost and Arcane magic.

Boss Stats:

• Hit Points – 240,000
• Mana – 62,500

Phase 1 Abilities:

• Fire Bomb: Deals around 800 Fire damage to target, and everyone within a 5 yard radius.
• Ice Nova: Deals 2357 to 2643 Frost damage to all enemies within 60 yards, stunning them for 3 seconds.
• Gravity Well: Continuously pulls all players within 60 yards to the caster, rapidly dealing 75 Shadow damage for 6 seconds.

Phase 2 Abilities:

• Scorch: Deals 400 to 500 Fire damage.
• Fire Blast: Deals around 800 Fire Damage damage.
• Blizzard: Deals 1000 Frost damage in an area every 2 seconds.
• Ice Barb Deals 438 to 562 Frost damage.
• Critter: Polymorph the target into a critter preventing any attacking or casting.
• Time Stop: Stuns all enemies for 2 seconds.

Phase 3 Abilities:

• Fireball Volley: Deals around 800 Fire damage to all targets nearby.
• Ice Nova: Deals 2357 to 2643 Frost damage to all enemies within 60 yards, stunning them for 3 seconds.

Recommended Consumables:

• Any TBC Elixirs you may have left over
• Any TBC Weapon Oils you may have left over
• Spell Damage food of your choice

There is a lot of damage done to everyone in the group which my push the Healer’s Mana to the limit. Any consumables that will help take down the boss faster will help.

Frost Mage Overview:

• Pet Friendly: Moderate
• Cooldowns: No need to save your Ice Block and Cold Snap cooldowns

Your Water Elemental will not be affected by any of the Frost damage, but is affected by Gravity Well. It won’t be enough to kill your pet, so you don’t have to worry about keeping your pet alive.

Also, you may want to use Mage Armor instead of Molten Armor, to help negate some of the spell damage you will be taking. The 50% reduction to spell effects also comes in handy for the freezing, slowing, and Polymorphing she does.

During Phase 1, stay spread out to avoid Fire Bomb damage, and keep Frost Ward up for when she does Ice Nova. During Gravity Well, you can keep DPSing using instant cast spells and Ice Lance to keep Winter’s Chill up. You also have the option to just Ice Block wait out the duration of Gravity Well. There is no need to Blink out of the Ice Nova.

During Phase 2, she will clone herself into 3 images when she reaches 50% health, one doing Fire, one Frost, and one Arcane. Depending on your group make up, you may be force to DPS a certain target first or even Sheep and Counterspell one of the targets.

You can have one of the following Macros to help if needed:

/target Fire Magus
/cast Frostbolt

/target Frost Magus
/cast Counterspell

/target Arcane Magus
/cast Polymorph

If you happen to be targeted by Critter, you can use Ice Block if there isn’t a dispelling class. Also, if the clones happen to be clumped together, you can just Blizzard them all down. Having Improved Blizzard and Frostbite helps.

Phase 3 starts when all 3 clones are dead, and she shows up again with 50% health. During this phase, she will do Fireball Volley, so keep Fire Ward up. DPS her down and collect your loots.

There is no difference between normal and heroic mode other than the fact that her spells will be hitting for more damage.

Mage Loots:

• [Wand of Shimmering Scales]
• [Telestra's Journal] (heroic)

A nice wand to pick up if you need an upgrade and can trade off the lack of stats for the Haste and Spell Power. The off-hand in Heroic mode will be a great pick up. Remember to start stocking up on Spell Hit gear.

[Image was taken from WoWHead.com]

Utgarde Keep is the first dungeon hub located on the shores of Lake Cauldros in the Howling Fjord of Northrend. Inhabited by the Vrykul (led by King Ymiron), a half-giant Viking-like race bent on proving their strength to the Lich King, they are raising the most worthy of their warriors to serve him beyond the grave here at their main base of operations.

Utgarde Keep is the first 5 man entry level dungeon of Utgarde Keep. ” – WoWHead.com

The way Prince Keleseth fights seems to be a fusion between a Warlock and a Death Knight. The fight reminds me of Terestian Illhoof from Karazhan.

Boss Stats:

• Hit Points – 192,200
• Mana – 50,000

Abilities:

• Shadow Bolt: Deals 2975 to 4025 Shadow damage.
• Frost Tomb: Encases a player in a block of ice for 20 seconds and causes 400 damage per second.
• Raises 5 Vrykul Skeletons which cast Decrepify on their target.

Recommended Consumables:

• Any TBC Elixirs you may have left over
• Any TBC Weapon Oils you may have left over
• Spell Damage food of your choice

This is a pretty simple fight, with a bit of AoE mixed in. You would want any consumables which may help your DPS.

Frost Mage Overview:

• Pet Friendly: Very Friendly
• Cooldowns: No need to save your Ice Block and Cold Snap cooldowns

Your Water Elemental will not be affected by Frost Tomb, so you don’t have to worry about keeping your pet safe and alive.

Prince Keleseth will be standing in a room with four mobs standing in front of him. They can be pulled without aggroing the boss, but once the fourth mob dies, Prince Keleseth will start attacking.

Just stand back and DPS away. Occasionally, he will cast Frost Tomb on a group member that isn’t the tank, you will have to target the person to break them out. The Frost Tomb has roughly 7,000 HP and is immune to all Frost damage. Be sure to use Fire Blast and/or Scorch to break them out.

You can have the following Macro to help if needed:

/target Frost Tomb

If you happen to be targeted by Frost Tomb, you have a few options. If you happen to be Human, than you can use your Every Man for Himself racial to get out. You can use Ice Block, or just simply Blink out.

Every so often, he will summon and resurrect five adds. Once the tank grabs them, you can Blizzard away, and they’ll all be dead by one Blizzard. Having Improved Blizzard and Frostbite helps.

This all repeats until he is dead. I’ve been told that he is the same for both Normal and Heroic Mode.

Mage Loots:

• [Reinforced Velvet Helm]
• [Keleseth's Blade of Evocation]
• [Wand of the San'layn] (heroic)

If a Priest is in the group and needs the Helm, pass it up. There isn’t any Spell Hit, Spell Crit, or Spell Haste on it for you. Same thing for the Dagger, only pick it up if the Priest doesn’t need it. The Wand on the other hand, will be a great pick up, and we don’t pass to Warlocks.

[Image and General Strategy used was taken from WoWHead.com]

If Kalecgos served as the “Skill Check” for the Sunwell Plateau, then Brutallus serves as the “DPS Check” for Sunwell, much like Patchwerk was for Naxxramas.

Brutallus has a very high amount of health, and a low enrage timer. The tanks need to be geared enough to take the hits, healers need to be geared enough to keep up the tank for the entire time, and the rest of the raid must have enough DPS to take down his 10,000,000 HP in 6 minutes. That equates to 27.8k raid DPS. That means each DPS in the raid needs to average 1750 DPS with 16 DPSers, or average 1850 DPS with 15 DPSers.

Boss Stats:

• Hit Points – 10,000,000
• Enrage Timer – 6 minutes
• Tauntable

Abilities:

• Meteor Slash: 20,000 fire damage. Cone-shaped attack that splits its damage evenly between all targets hit. Cannot be dodged, parried, blocked, missed, or resisted. Leaves a stacking debuff increasing fire damage taken by 75%. The debuff lasts 40 seconds.
• Burn: Randomly places a debuff on a player that lasts 60 seconds and deals fire damage over time. The damage ramps up over the course of the debuff, and the last two ticks will deal 3600 damage each. May be resisted.
• Stomp: Hits the primary target only. Deals heavy physical damage and reduces the effective armor of the target 50%. Also removes the Burn debuff.
• Berserk: After six minutes, Brutallus enrages and deals 500% more damage with 150% more attack speed.

Recommended Consumables:

• [Destruction Potion]
• [Flask of Pure Death]
• [Superior Wizard Oil]
• Spell Damage food of your choice

This is a all out DPS fight, do everything you can to buff up your Spell Damage as much as possible. Destruction Potions are a necessity for most “First Time” kills. You will use three Destruction Potions on a successful kill.

Frost Mage Overview:

• Pet Friendly: Very Friendly
• Cooldowns: Save Ice Block and Cold Snap for Burn (don’t use Cold Snap until you get Burn for a second time)

Your Water Elemental will not be affected by Meteor Slash or targeted by Burn, so you don’t have to worry about keeping your pet safe and alive.

The raid will be split into two groups to spread out the damage of Meteor Slash. Each group will have their own position, and within each group, all players must be spread to avoid spreading Burn if a player gets it. As a Frost Mage, you can safely take a position in the middle of your group, and you will most likely be positioned their by the raid leader.

For each of the two groups, there will be a tank, and the two tanks will taunt off each other every 3 Meteor Slash stacks in order to give the other group enough time to get rid of the debuff (40 seconds).

Each time he does Meteor Slash, it does fire damage and do a spell pushback on your casting. Having Ice Barrier and Fire Ward up before each slash will help to prevent any spell pushback, and make it a bit easier on your healers. Since this is a DPS race though, just keep DPSing and not worry too much about having Ice Barrier or Fire Ward up unless you are low on health and will die without it. Don’t waste a global cooldown for them unless you have to.

Dealing with Burn:

A “Burn Area” will be assigned for where a person needs to run to if he/she gets the Burn debuff. When a person gets the Burn debuff, he/she must run out of the group, AVOIDING other players, and run to the assigned area. If he/she gets too close to a person, the Burn debuff will spread to that player, and that person must also run out of the group. So if they were in the middle of the group and gets the Burn debuff, it would be difficult to make it out without spreading the Burn. This is the reason why as a Frost Mage, you will be positioned in the middle of the group.

As a Frost Mage, you can Ice Block out of the Burn debuff. Twice! Also, if you happen to have some of the worst luck ever, and get the Burn debuff three times in one attempt (happened to me once), you can use Blink to make it out of the group without spreading the Burn debuff.

DPS DPS DPS:

You will need to do as much DPS as possible if you want him dead. Managing your Trinket, Abilities, and Potion cooldowns plays a huge part of your DPS. So you will need to take some time to plan ahead on how you will time all your cooldowns. If you have managed to make it this far in progression, I will assume you have at least one “on use” spell damage trinket. At the very least an [Icon of the Silver Crescent].

After you get your 5 stacks of the Winter’s Chill debuff, give Brutallus everything you have. You will need at least 1750 sustained DPS. Sustained meaning 6 minutes of non-stop casting, so make sure you can manage your mana for that long with the use of Mana Gems.

If you have one spell damage trinket, pop the trinket with Icy Veins and Water Elemental. Make sure that if you have this macro’d, that you have it use the trinket and Ice Veins BEFORE the Water Elemental. Trinket before pet because the Water Elemental will benefit from it.

Why Ice Veins before Water Elemental? Not because your pet will benefit from Ice Veins (he doesn’t), but because when you use Summon Water Elemental, there is the 1.5 second global cooldown. But when you use Icy Veins, it doesn’t activate the global cooldown. So if you have Summon Water Elemental before Icy Veins in a macro, when you use it, Icy Veins would not be activated due to the global cooldown.

So use the following macro:

#showtooltip Icy Veins
/cast Icy Veins
/use Icon of the Silver Crescent
/cast Summon Water Elemental

If you have two spell damage trinkets, then use the lower damage trinket with the Water Elemental, and the higher damage trinket with Icy Veins.

Once the raid can get Brutallus to less than 20% consistently, it is time to throw in Destruction Potions into your arsenal. Don’t forget to add it to your macro, or make a new macro for the potion.

Macro with Destruction Potion:

#showtooltip Icy Veins
/cast Icy Veins
/use Destruction Potion
/use Icon of the Silver Crescent
/cast Summon Water Elemental

If you are using two damage trinkets, use the Destruction Potion with the trinket that you pop Icy Veins with.

Timing Cooldowns:

Since Brutallus enrages at 6 minutes, at which he will one-shot the main tanks, it is crucial that you time all your cooldowns to maximize your DPS. Here is a breakdown of what your cooldown usage might look like if you had two spell damage trinkets and using Destruction Potions and you happen to not get the Burn debuff.

• 0:00 – Enter Combat
• 0:13 – 5 x Winter’s Chill
• 0:15 – Trinket #1 + Water Elemental + Mana Gem
• 0:35 – Trinket #2 + Destruction Potion + Ice Veins
• 2:15 – Trinket #1 + Mana Gem
• 2:35 – Trinket #2 + Destruction Potion
• 3:15 – Water Elemental
• 3:35 – Icy Veins
• 4:00 – Cold Snap
• 4:15 – Trinket #1 + Water Elemental + Mana Gem
• 4:35 – Trinket #2 + Destruction Potion + Ice Veins
• 6:00 – Brutallus enrages
• 6:10 – Either Brutallus or the entire raid is dead

If you have a Shaman in your group for Bloodlust/Heroism however, you will be changing it up a bit. Usually Herosim is reserved for the final minute before Brutallus enrages, or when he hits 20% health, whichever comes first. At that point you would want to have the Water Elemental cooldown to pop BEFORE Heroism, and Icy Veins and Cold Snap cooldowns when Heroism is popped. Heroism lasts 40 seconds and Icy Veins lasts 20 seconds. So after your first Icy Veins runs out, use Cold Snap and use Icy Veins again, giving you extra haste during the entirety of Heroism.

You need to kill Brutallus, or get him down to at least 1% by the time he enrages. Even at 1% at enraged, he can still easily kill everyone in the raid.

Mage Loots:

• [Heart of the Pit]
• [Leggins of Calamity]
• [Belt of the Forgotten Vanquisher] turned in for [Belt of the Tempest]

All of these are worth picking up. If you are going for Main Hand/Off Hand combo, this is the best Off-Hand in the game. These are also the best leggings in the game, and best belt in the game for Mages (in the Burning Crusade). Grab them if you can.

[Image and General Strategy used was taken from Bosskillers.com]