Posted by admin on 01 11th, 2009

Anub’Rekhan Strategy Guide (25 man)

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Introduction

Anub’Rekhan is the first boss in both the Spider Quarter and the entire plague infested citadel of Naxxramas. Both heroic and normal versions of the encounter are much the same, the only differences being the damage dealt and amount of health the boss and his adds have.

Raid Set-up (10 man)

The raid should be made up of around 2-3 tanks (2 is absolutely fine). The group will also need 2-3 healers, and the rest of the raid should be filled with a mixture of ranged and melee DPS. A couple of DPS classes who can stun are useful (such as rogues and paladins).

Raid Setup (25 man)

Tank-wise, 25 man Anub’Rekhan is much the same as 10 man, only needing around 2-3 tanks (2 is fine, but an extra tank could help out if something goes wrong). 6-8 healers is fine for this boss, but it can take a few tries if the fight is new to them. The rest of the raid should be filled with a mixure of ranged and melee DPS. A few DPS classes who can stun are useful (such as rogues and paladins).

Gear Requirements

For tanks, it is recommended to have at least 25k health for 10 man and 32k+ for 25 man. The tank should be able to avoid debuffs, or at least be able to stay alive while having at least one stack of Locust Swarm (see the abilities section below). DPS and healers should be aiming at around 12-15k health and mana users need about 15k mana or as close to that as possible.

25 man healers and DPS should be around 14-17k health (buffed) at a minimum and have around 17k mana (also buffed).

Buffs

All normal buffs and potions should be used in both versions. Wherever possible, buffs to increase stamina should be used on everyone in the raid; also health potions can help if you are hit with Impal, because healers might not always be able to get to you.

Abilities

Anub’Rekhan

On normal this boss has 2 200 000 hit points while on heroic he has over 3 times that with 6 700 000.

The tank will receive large ammounts of damage caused by Locust Swarm (see below).

On 10 man, Anub’Rekhan hits for around 3-5k on plate, but on 25 man he hits for around 7-9k so long as the tank has a defence level of at least 540 (the defence cap for Warriors, Paladins and Death Knights).

Crypt Guards
10 man
One of these guards will be summoned every time the spell “Locust Swarm” is cast by the boss. They have 234k health and appear behind Anub’Rekhan’s starting position. One is summoned approximately 20 seconds after the pull. They have normal aggro behaviour and their abilities are:
- They melee for 2-5k on plate.
- They cleave for around 1k damage.
- They randomly select a player within 20-30 yards of the front of the Guard and cast a cleansable poison DoT which ticks for 500 damage per stack.
- they cast an AoE Web spell in a 20-30 yards radius all around them. All players affected by this are unable to move.
- Once they get to around 50% health, they will go into a Frenzy which will cause them to move 60% faster and do 60% more damage.

25 man
On heroic the encounter starts with two of these Crypts Guards, now having around 521k health, being summoned. The abilities such as the cleave and Web are all the same as in 10 man, including the distances and damage numbers). These Crypt Guards are also summoned every time the ability Locust Swarm is cast, at the rate of two per cast.

Locust Swarm
This is an AoE ability centered on Anub’Rekhan. It is a debuff that stacks on anybody within a 30 yard range of Anub’Rekhan every couple of seconds. It has a 5 second cast time.

Every 70-120 seconds, the boss casts Locust Swarm. It will give anyone within its area of effect a DoT dealing 875-1125 damage to them per stack every 2 seconds (1313-1687 per stack in 25 man). If you get more than 2-3 stacks of this DoT on you, there is a good chance you will die. Every time this spell is cast, it will summon another Crypt Guard (2 Crypt Guards in 25 man). The spell lasts 16 seconds in 10 man and 20 seconds in 25 man.

While you have the DoT, Locust Swarm disables affected players from using any spells or even auto attacking, (although you can use potions). This spell has around a 90 second cool down, but the first cast could be sooner than 90 seconds into the fight.

Impale
Throughout the fight, Anub’Rekhan will turn around and cast Impale on any random target in the raid, shooting spikes in his direction. This ability will affect anyone positioned between the boss and the targetted player, or anyone clumped around the target. It deals physical damage of 4813-6187 (5688-7312 in 25 man) and flings the targeted player into the air causing 50% fall damage on landing, so be careful where you stand and spread out.

Summon Corpse Scarabs
This ability is used randomly throughout the fight. If there is a ‘corpse’ in the room, Anub’Rekhan will cast Summon Corpse Scarabs. It will summon 10 Corpse Scarabs from each dead Crypt Guard and 5 from each dead player. They have a low HP of around 12k and run with normal aggro, so they often tend to aggro onto your healers. Some of them will spread out while others will stay in groups.

Enrage
Anub’Rekhan enrages after 10 minutes, increasing his speed by about 50% and his damage by around 500%. This will wipe the raid extremely quickly.

Strategy

The Pull

This fight begins once the tank runs in to grab the boss.

There should be a tank on Anub’Rekhan and one or two off tank(s) on the first two Crypt Guards in 25 man. The off tanks should also be grabbing the new spawns throughout the fight. On 10 man, there is nothing to initially grab for the off tank.

Once the main tank has grabbed hold of Anub’Rekhan’s agro, he/she should drag him over to the back-right corner and keep him there, facing towards the right ledge. (which the tank will need to run down shortly).

The off tank grabs any of the Crypt Guards that have spawned and takes them to the left, out of the way of the main boss. The off tank(s) should tank the Crypt Guards facing away from the raid and at max range from the raid so that the adds’ attacks and debuffs will not affect the main body of the raid.

At the start of the fight, DPS and healers should be standing spread out in the middle of the chamber, and should stay max range at all times from both the boss and the Crypt Guards.

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The Fight

As soon as the tanks have all the mobs in their correct positions, all the DPS will need to DPS down the Crypt Guards as fast as possible, staying out of the way of all their abilities while doing so. When the Crypt Guards get low on health use cooldown abilities because their Fenzy can hurt the off tank. The off tank’s healers should try to stay at maximum range from the Crypt Guards at all times. The off tank must remember to go back and grab these Crypt Guards whenever they are summoned (they spawn from behind the boss’ original position), and everyone should DPS them down as a priority. DPS and the tank on these adds should keep stunning them; if the Crypt Guards are stunned they can’t use their abilities, which cuts right down on the damage to the raid.

Once the Crypt Guards are dead, switch DPS onto Anub’Rekhan. The off tank should move to the middle of the room and be ready to grab the next Crypt Guards when they spawn.

Make sure that everyone stays spread out throughout the fight, otherwise when Anub’Rekhan casts Impale it will cause a lot of raid damage.

When Anub’Rekhan starts casting Locust Swarm, all of the healers and DPS (including melee) should head to the other end of the room from Anub’Rekhan, and the main tank should run round the edge of the room. If the main tank runs too far, it is possible for the boss not to follow him down the ledge but to cross across the room, so a little bit of practice may be required to judge how far to run.

By the time Locust Swarm is nearly cast, all DPS and healers should be at the other end of the central platform, ready to attack the Crypt Guard which will spawn any second and be pulled over to them by the off tank. Make sure that all healers and DPS are well out of the way of the Locust Swarm area of effect (30 yards around Anub’Rekhan).

As soon as the Locust Swarm casting time is over and the ability itself starts, the main tank is running around the ledge at the edge of the room to the other side. Anub’Rekhan will follow, and so will be kited around to the other side of the room. Run to the right (clockwise from above). Don’t touch the wall in case it glitches and you get stuck, and don’t fall into the sludge. The purpose of doing this is to minimise the number of Locust Swarm stacks which the tank takes. The rest of the raid should not take any stacks of Locust Swarm.

Whilst casting Locust Swarm, Anub’Rekhan can only run at 75% of normal speed, so it is possible to kite him right the way round without taking any damage. Try to stay out of his Locust Swarm AoE area. It’s reasonable to expect the tank to get 1 stack of Locust Swarm before being able to outrange it. DPS and healers should make sure they are as far away from the boss as possible (it is possible for the tank to take off kiting too fast, causing the boss to cut through the main body of the raid). The tank needs to go slowly enough to avoid this, but fast enough to minimise the Locust Swarm debuffs.

Once the tank and Anub’Rekhan reach the entrance to the room, the tank stops and positions up against the ledge, and tanks the boss there until the next Locust Swarm. The raid now assumes the same positions, relative to Anub’Rekhan, as before. The newly spawned Crypt Guards will need to be tanked by the off tank and DPSed down as a priority before DPS resumes on the boss.

When Summon Corpse Scarabs is cast, have a player or two AoE down the Corpse Scarabs before they can do too much damage. They have low HP so this shouldn’t be a problem if the AoE players are alert.

When Locust Swarm is next cast, you repeat the same procedure, kiting the boss along the left side of the room and resuming the positions from the beginning of the fight.

Locust Swarm is cast every 1-2 minutes, and each time, the boss is kited half way round the room and this procedure is repeated.

Class Tips

Main Tank:
You should be able to see when Anub’Rekhan is casting. If you can’t, then turn it on in your options. Once the boss starts casting Locust Swarm, start running around the ledge.

Off Tank:
Make sure to grab the Crypts Guards as soon as they spawn. If they aren’t tanked, they will be running around loosely killing DPS and healers.

Healers:
In 10 man always have one dedicated main tank healer and another healer dealing with Impale damage and any other general raid damage. A third healer should prioritise the off tank when he is tanking a Crypt Guard and help with the raid at other times. If necessary, you can always add an extra healer to the group.

In 25 man you should have around 2 healers on the main tank, around 2 on the off tank, and 2 the on raid. When the Crypt Guards are down, the healing will be lighter and healers can help on the main tank. If you bring extra healers, you will want to put them on the tanks (or just share them around wherever you feel they are needed). Remember the main tank will take a lot of damage at the end of the kiting because of stacks of Locust Swarm debuffs combined with Anub’Rekhan’s normal damage abilities and the tank being unable to use damage mitigation abilities.

For both versions of the fight, it is worth having someone dedicated to healing anyone hit by Impale, which can be a big killer.

Also, healers need to remember to run away from Anub’Rekhan when he casts Locust Swarm, stick around with the ranged DPS, and stay at maximum range from both the boss and his adds.

DPS:
Remember to run away from Anub’Rekhan when the tank starts running around during Locust Swarm (this includes melee DPS). After you run to the back, the Crypt Guard will have spawned and you can start DPSing and stunning it as soon as the off tank gets hold of it. Be sure to bring someone to stun as they will be needed (several in 25 man). Also make sure that the Corpse Scarabs are killed before they get to the healers. AoE is best for killing the Corpse Scarabs quickly so make sure someone is on it (several in 25 man).

Other Tips

If your tank is having trouble getting away from Anub’Rekhan, the group could try getting a hunter to use Aspect Of The Pack on the tank, or use a death knight with their Unholy Aura for the 15% speed increase. Either have the death knight tank the boss directly, or get the hunter to stand midway along the ledge and use Aspect Of The Pack, giving the tank that extra speed boost to avoid the Locust Swarm.

Corpse Scarabs can escape from Consecrate so make sure you have other ways of killing them quickly.