Posted by admin on 01 22nd, 2009

Felmyst Strategy Guide

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Felmyst is the third boss in Sunwell Plateau. She spawns following Brutallus’ death and flies around the Dead Scar.

Raid Setup

9 Healers
2 Tanks
14 DPS

At least 3 priests should be included, preferably 2 or all 3 being shadow priests, for Mass Dispel. A protection paladin will make Phase 2 significantly easier; many would regard a protection paladin as a requirement for this fight.

Buffs and Consumables

The raid must go for maximum DPS and mana regeneration depending on class, spec and role. Healers and Area of Effect (AoE) DPS will need mana regeneration if a shadow priest is not available. This means flasks or elixirs depending on your needs, weapon oils/stones, Destruction Potions, Drums of Battle/Restoration, etc. Tanks will want Flask of Fortification, 30 stamina food, and Ironshield Potions.

Gear Requirements and Notes

The only gear requirements are what is needed to kill Brutallus. The main tank does not wear nature resistance gear. A run speed increase to boots enchantment or minor run speed meta gem is highly recommended for everyone because of the fast position changes required in the fight.

Abilities (Split by Phase)

~7 million hit points

Phase 1

Melee
~5-7k damage
~2 second swing timer

Corrosion (Nature)
This ability is used on Felmyst’s main aggro target only. It deals around 10k nature damage, which averages to just over 8k on a protection warrior with 3/3 Improved Defensive Stance. It has a 0.75 second cast time, is not reflectable of resistable, and also increases the target’s physical damage received for 10 seconds.

Noxious Fumes (Nature)
An aura of Felmyst’s that hits everyone in a 100 yard radius, ticks every 3 seconds, and deals 1,000 damage a tick. It is not resistable.

Gas Nova (Nature)
Gas Nova places a debuff on the entire raid which ticks every 2 seconds, dealing draining 1000 mana and 3000 health. It has a 1 second cast time, a 20-25 second cooldown, and can be dispelled, but is not resistable.

Encapsulate (Arcane)
This ability has a 25-30 second cooldown. Felmyst will turn and Encapsulate anyone in the raid for 6 seconds, placing a pink glowing sphere around them, and dealing 3500 damage every second to that person, and everyone in a 20 yard range of them. The Encapsulate itself cannot be out ranged, and only Iceblock, Cloak of Shadows and Divine Shield remove it. During the spell, Felmyst channels a pink beam at the target.

Cleave (Physical)
A frontal attack, hitting all players immediately in front of Felmyst for around 7k damage.

Phase 2

Demonic Vapor (Nature)
A green beam fired by Felmyst at a random target, and chasing them for around 10 seconds at around normal player running speed, spawning skeletons as it goes. It applies as DoT that deals 2-2.5k damage a tick for 10 seconds if you standing in it or its trail and spawns an extra skeleton. Each skeleton has around 33,000 health.

Dusting/Green Vapor
Felmyst breathes this over a third of the fight area three times in Phase 2. The vapor mind controls anyone that enters or is hit by it for the entire duration of the fight. Mind controlled players are slightly buffed, and cannot be released from the mind control, only killed.

Both Phases

Noxious Fumes (Nature)
An aura of Felmyst’s, this hits everyone in a 100 yard radius, ticks every 3 seconds, and deals 1,000 non-resistable damage per tick. This is unavoidable given the massive range of the spell.

Sunwell Radiance
Chance to hit increased by 5%.
Enemy chance to dodge reduced by 20%.
This buff is currently active on all NPCs in Sunwell Plateau, including bosses, it seems intended to balance encounters against high avoidance tank gear. It also makes the rogue ability Evasion less effective. It does not require any particular raid strategy to counter, but tanks and rogues should be aware of it.

Enrage – 10 minutes
Felmyst will gain a 500% damage increase on all her abilities.

The Pull

Do not use any AoE abilities. This will engage Felmyst if she flies overhead.

Let the tank shoot or throw to engage Felmyst. A Misdirection should follow, and be completed, before her actual landing. The main tank can build threat before Felmyst lands and begins using her abilities. He will then begin tanking her directly south of the large tree.

The raid should already be in position before the pull. The Mass Dispel groups are split such that each has a priest (preferably not the main tank healer). Given the amount of damage spread across the raid, paladins are recommended for main tank healing. Mass Dispel groups should be split evenly so no group has more than the maximum number of players a Mass Dispel can hit, which is 10. The healers/DPS can stack on top of each other to ensure Mass Dispel will hit them all while maximizing their range from the melee groups in front of them. Alternatively they can merely clump together to help themselves spread out quickly if one of them is Encapsulated.

The Fight

The fight is broken up into two main phases: one where Felmyst is on the ground, and one where Felmyst is in the air. Phase 1 is the ground phase. Phase 2 is the air phase.

Phase 1 (lasts 1 minute)

A boss timer mod is recommended for this fight (Bigwigs or DBM). You’ll see the two main timers are Gas Nova and Encapsulate. Keep in mind that Felmyst’s abilities are on approximate, not exact, cooldowns. She may cast before or after the listed times in the mods. Gas Nova is typically cast twice during each ground phase (with a 20-25 second cooldown), but there are times when she’ll only cast it once. The same goes for Encapsulate (but with a 25-30 second cooldown).

As soon as the Gas Nova timer is up, and before it is being cast, each Mass Dispel priest must begin placing a Mass Dispel so that it will hit each person in his sector. Gas Nova is not on a set timer, so be prepared to wait it out (shadow priests are preferred over healing priests for this reason). As soon as Gas Nova, a 1 second cast, begins, start to cast your Mass Dispel to keep it from doing any damage other than the initial hit. If any ticks get off you’re likely to lose someone. A designated Paladin should be in charge of cleansing Gas Nova off the main tank, who is not in Mass Dispel range (the Protection Paladin is ideal for this role).

Encapsulate is the second concern for the raid during phase 1. Felmyst will turn and target someone before casting Encapsulate. As soon as Felmyst turns towards your group, the entire sector should be running away, preferably towards healers, but most importantly away from the Encapsulated player to avoid taking the arcane damage that will occur once every other second during the Encapsulate. Do not run towards the front of Felmyst. Do not run too far away from your previous group position. As soon as Encapsulate ends, make sure you rush back into position for Mass Dispel. Iceblock and Divine Shield remove Encapsulate and should be saved for this purpose.

During Encapsulate, Felmyst will not attack the main tank. Healers should top off slow people and fast heals must be used on the person being Encapsulated. However, main tank healers cannot neglect the tank, even during Encapsulate, so make sure he is topped off.

In the event the main tank is Encapsulated, both melee groups will need to back out to avoid damage. It is a good idea for the main tank to announce that he has been encapsulated as Felmyst will not turn, and so many raid members will not realise it has happenned.

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Corrosion is cast approximately twice throughout the course of each Phase 1 and should not be a problem if enough healers are brought to the raid. Felmyst attacks slowly, so 2 paladins on the main tank with druids and/or priests dropping heal over time spells (Renew, Lifebloom) is enough to keep the main tank alive. Improved Thunderclap and Improved Demoralizing Shout (2/5, 5/5 if CoR) are highly recommended.

Phase 1 (Raid Roles)

Main Tank - Maximize threat while surviving. Only move during Phase 1 if you need to shift slightly to get out of Encapsulate damage.

Main Tank Healers - Watch for the Corrosion debuff and chain cast your heals. During Encapsulate cast quick heals on the person Encapsulated or the raid, but as a priority top off the main tank before the ability ends.

Raid Healers

- Constantly use multiple target healing spells; everyone is always taking damage. Throw spare heals at the main tank during Corrosion.

DPS - Watch your threat entering each Phase 1. Keep DPS-ing while moving away from Encapsulate by using instant cast abilities. You’ll have some regeneration time during Phase 2 after the skeletons die. Keep DPS-ing when Felmyst begins to take off at the end of Phase 1.

Phase 2 (lasts 1 minute, 20 seconds)

As soon as Felmyst lifts off the raid should be making their way down towards the flames in the south. Continue DPS until the green beam of Demonic Vapor begins. As soon as it appears, the person it is following must run towards the flames surrounding the area and either left or right of the middle, depending on which side he is on. Refer to the diagram below for a better idea of where to avoid. The reason you avoid the center and north area is due to the fact that you need a section clear of Demonic Vapor for the rest of the raid to escape to as well as a clear section to run to during the first Green Vapor (detailed below). Once the Demonic Vapor beam stops, there is a 2 second pause before a second one starts. Only after the second one starts should the raid move to the big tree. Those not being followed by the beam should be DPS’ing Felmyst when possible, but also staying out of the way of the Demonic Vapor target.

Skeletons will appear after a few seconds of the Demonic Vapor green beam leaving its trail on the ground; approximately 10 will appear per beam. Use either a protection paladin Consecrating along this entire trail or a Righteous Fury paladin healing the raid to keep skeleton aggro off the cloth healers. A warrior’s Thunderclap is a good means to get initial aggro on skeletons as soon as they begin to appear but, due to Thunderclap’s limited target count, a feral druid in DPS gear should help as well. When the second beam begins and the raid is arriving at the tree, do not begin AoE-ing the skeletons right away. If you have a protection paladin this part of the fight is simple. If not, you’ll need to kite the mobs extensively and/or bring some backup tanks. Earthbind Totem will help a lot here. It is not required to DPS the Skeletons before the first Green Vapor dusting, as this will cause aggro problems, and the skeletons health is fairly low (about 33,000).

You’ll want one competent raid member to watch Felmyst as soon as the second Demonic Vapor beam starts. A rogue is optimal but anyone not essential in healing/DPS-ing/tanking skeletons will do. Felmyst will first position herself on the east side and pause. The direction she is pointing in will determine which region she will ‘dust’ with her Green Vapor. The person watching her must quickly learn her shifts and positioning to determine whether the raid A) stays at the Tree (she is dusting south), B) runs south (she is dusting north), C) stays at the tree (she is dusting super south).

It is important that the raid does not hug the tree as you have very limited time if you need to run to reach the safe region to the south. The super south region is by the flames and should never be entered except when kiting the Demonic Vapor green beams.

As soon as the Green Vapor settles on the ground, the raid must inch up towards it. Do not enter it. You want to minimize the time it will take to run to the safe region and be clear if you must. Be safe and back away if you do not need to move regions. If a person is caught during the dusting or enters the Green Vapor, s/he will be mind controlled and must be killed immediately. Silences and stuns are important if this happens as hunters are known to drop Ice Traps, warlocks will fear, and this can send more raid members into the Green Vapor.

Felmyst will dust with Green Vapor three times, switching sides each time. If you have slow players, you may want to consider moving your raid to the side of the fight are furthest from Felmyst. For example, if she is going to begin dusting from the east, the raid will move towards the west, giving them an extra second or two before the Green Vapor reaches them.

DPS should wait until the first dusting is complete to start damaging the skeletons. There’s plenty of time to kill them, so take your time in order to avoid pulling aggro from the tanks.

After the third dusting, Felmyst will land on the far west edge. There is no aggro dump, so your ranged DPS will need to consider aggro dumping abilities at this point. If your tank is top in aggro by a significant portion there is no worry; proximity of Felmyst to DPS that are high in threat will require a Misdirection to the tank as she lands. You do not want to engage Felmyst at the far western end of the fight area because then the time taken to move back to the tank spot will be lost time in DPS and will cause broken positioning for the Mass Dispels.

Phase 2 (Raid Roles)

Tanks – Pick up loose skeletons on healers/DPS, be prepared to AoE Taunt if someone calls out for it. Demoralizing Shouts help. Protection paladins begin AoE-ing at the tree as soon as the second Demonic Vapor green beam ends. Healers, DPS and other tanks must bring the skeletons to you. Consecrating on any beams or trails will help as well.

Righteous Fury Healer - Get to the big tree as soon as the second Demonic Vapor green beam begins. If you get overwhelmed with skeleton aggro, kite them around the Earthbind Totems.

Healers – During the Demonic Vapor phase, split one half of the healers to the left side of the fight area, and the other half to the right side. Keep anyone within range topped off. After the beams are finished and the skeletons are spawned, the majority of healing should be focused on the skeleton tanks.

DPS - Use your AoE abilities when it is called for by the tanks, or when the skeletons are clumped if you are kiting them. It is better to wait the extra seconds for a protection paladin to establish aggro on all the mobs than to over aggro. Continuing DPS on Felmyst until the first dusting is highly recommended.

Shamans - Drop Earthbind Totems until all skeletons are dead, especially if you are still killing them through the 3rd dusting of Green Vapor.

Mages - Do not Frost Nova: you’re likely to kill at least one person per Front Nova because the skeletons will all be rooted and turn to a high threat player in melee range. Improved Blizzard is useful but do not have Frostbite.

The Finale

A solid group on their first successful kill will likely take Felmyst to 1% in the air. As of the 2.4.1 patch, Felmyst cannot die in the air. An enraged Felmyst in the air does nothing different: she will die immediately upon landing. This may or may not be changed in the future.

Learning Notes

If an attempt is clearly a wipe, you can save repair money and run into the Green Vapor during Phase 2. When there are only mind controlled people left alive, all players will automatically die with zero durability loss.