Galakras 10 H

Ann Add Fight in Durotar

Quick Facts

Introduction

After taking the portal in the chamber of the Sha of Pride, you’ll end up in Durotar and slowly make your way towards Orgrimmar. The dragon Galakras and his minions will throw a wrench in your plans. The fight is divided into two phases. In Phase 1, you’ll kill waves of adds and defeat two mini-bosses on top of the towers and two on the ground. After that, you’ll shoot Galakras out of the sky and kill him in Phase 2.
The fight isn’t difficult, but you should familiarize yourself with the abilities of the various adds and their priority order beforehand.
Since there are fundamentally different abilities and positioning strategies in both phases, you’ll find all the details in the corresponding sections. Speak to Lor’themar Theron to start the fight.

During the fight, you’ll be supported by friendly NPCs. You can heal them, but you don’t have to as long as you prevent enemies from attacking them. If one of the three “important” NPCs in the encounter, which are also displayed as boss frames, dies, the fight is over.
You can pull the enemy add waves into the blizzard cast by one of the NPCs, but this is usually not worth the trouble, as the spell is very unreliable.

During this phase, you’ll face waves of adds that emerge from the small ravine in front of you on a fixed timer. Unfortunately, you can’t speed up this phase, so after a few lockouts, this fight will start to slow you down more and more, and you’ll end up spending a lot of time waiting. Here’s how this phase plays out (approximate times).

• 0:02 1st Wave. 2 Bonecrushers, 1 Flagbearer, 2 Grunts. Tower Grunt (left).
• 0:58 2nd Wave. 1 Tidal Shaman, 2 Flagbearers, 1 Flameslinger, 3 Grunts. Tower Grunt (left).
• 1:50 3rd Wave. Mini-boss (Korgra and her two adds).
• 2:02 Tower Grunt (left).
• 2:17 Kor'kron Demolisher (spawns from afar). Go up the tower after/shortly before its destruction (Kugruk; left/south).
• 2:44 Two Proto-drakes.
• 3:02 Tower Grunt (right).
• 3:40 4th Wave. Mini-boss (Thranok), 1 Tidal Shaman, 1 Flagbearer, 1 Grunt.
• 4:02 Tower Grunt (right).
• 4:35 5th Wave. 1 Bonecrusher, 1 Flagbearer, 1 Grunt.
• 5:02 Tower Grunt (right).
• 5:14 Kor'kron Demolisher (spawns from afar). Go up the tower after/shortly before its destruction (Dagryn; right/north).
• 5:30 6th Wave. 2 Flagbearers, 1 Tidal Shaman, 2 Flameslingers, 1 Grunt.
• 6:25 7th Wave. 1 Bonecrusher, 1 Tidal Shaman, 1 Flagbearer, 1 Grunt.
• 7:20  Two Proto-drakes.
• 8:16 8th Wave. Unfortunately, I couldn't find anything about this wave. This wave only spawns if you're having low damage, it's taking you a long time to destroy the last tower, or if the Demolition Experts have been killed.

The goal of this phase is to capture both towers and use their cannons to bring Galakras down with a simultaneous shot, thereby triggering Phase 2. In Heroic Mode, a friendly NPC (Demolition Expert) will open the towers, a process that takes about 90 seconds each time. First, he takes care of the left tower, then the right one.
Whenever a tower door is blown open, a pre-designated tower group first engages the spawning Demolisher with the rest of the raid and then climbs the tower, to kill the mini-boss there and be able to use the cannon on top of the tower.
The cannon on the first tower is used by the tank who stays behind, to shoot down the flying proto-drakes, so they don’t continue bombarding you.

At the start of the fight and every minute thereafter, a Grunt is sent out to try to kill the Demolition Expert. DBM calls this mob Tower Grunt. Assign two ranged DPS to this task. The Grunt has about 6 million HP. You can heal the Demolition Expert if necessary. If they die, a new one will arrive shortly thereafter, but the process starts over from the beginning, delaying the entire fight. At the top centre of the screen, you’ll see the status of the tower demolition (0 to 100 %).

Below is a list of the mini-bosses and adds and their abilities. All enemies, except the Demolisher and the Grunts who attack the tower, must be tanked.

Mini-bosses and Adds

The kill priority is: Bonecrusher > Tidal Shaman > Flagbearer.

Mini-boss: Korgra the Snake

Spawns after ~2 m | ~50 Mio. HP

Korgra inflicts a stacking poison DoT on her target and leaves behind void zones. Her most important ability is the Venom Bolt Volley, which she casts every 5 seconds once she drops below 50 % HP. So be sure to focus on her. Your Demolition Experts will also be hit by this, so keep that in mind if they’ve already taken some damage.
She also brings two Dragonmaw Ebon Stalkers with her, who teleport behind players and deal a lot of damage if they don’t move out of the way. Each of them has approximately 12 million HP.

Mini-boss: Lieutenant Krugruk

On the 1st Tower | ~19 Mio. HP

His frontal Arcing Smash attempts to knock you off the platform. To do this, he always moves to the centre of the platform and casts it three times in a row. You can save yourself with abilities like Charge, Teleport, Shadowstep, or the Goblin Glider if you’re standing in it; otherwise, you’ll fall off the tower.
Thunder Clap (stackable) slows your movement speed and is practically unavoidable across the entire platform. A Priest with Mass Dispel is very helpful here.

Mini-boss: High Enforcer Thranok

Spawns at ~3:40 m | ~56 Mio. HP

He cleaves, so let him face away from the group. In addition, he repeatedly casts Crusher's Call and pulls 5 players within 45 y towards him. Immediately after that, he casts Skull Cracker around himself that is deadly if you don't run out of it.

Mini-boss: Master Cannoneer Dagryn

On the 2nd Tower | ~21 Mio. HP

She fires at random raid members. Additionally, similar to Krugruk on the first tower, she casts a frontal AoE attack after she has run to the centre of the platform. She locks onto a specific direction, which is indicated by a ground effect. She then fires a few bursts in that direction at short intervals. If you’re standing in it, you’ll be pushed back slightly each time and take moderate damage.

Add: Bonecrusher

~60 Mio. HP | NPC Killer

They are your primary target in the waves they appear in. They pose a particular threat early on, as two of them appear at once in the first wave. Their only notable ability is Fracture, a charge at one of the friendly NPCs, followed by a stun and an attack that deals 10 % HP damage per second to the NPC (equivalent to 7–9 million). You must immediately stop the Bonecrusher from doing this with a stun or a grip. They are the main cause of your NPCs’ deaths if you don’t pay attention to this.
In the first wave, both will cast Fracture simultaneously after about 20 seconds. Make sure you don’t go too far into the gorge, because the NPCs being charged are positioned relatively far back. A Monk with Clash can likely interrupt both of them immediately.

Add: Tidal Shaman

~50 Mio. HP | Healing Totem & Chain Heal

The Healing Tide Totems are your primary target and only have about 50,000 HP. However, they cannot be destroyed by AoE abilities. A single healing tick cannot be prevented, but a second one (after 3 seconds) should not occur. Each tick heals 10 % of nearby mobs, which can easily amount to 12 million total healing.
They also have a Chain Heal that they cast roughly every 15 seconds. If it goes through, it heals up to three enemies for a combined approx. 20 million HP. This must never go through.
Their main attack is a tidal wave that they send out in random directions, just like the one of the Twin Empyreans. Dodge or interrupt this. However, it’s not too bad if someone gets hit by it every now and then.

Add: Flagbearer

~30 Mio. HP | War Banners (Enemy Buff)

These standard melee mobs have only one dangerous ability: their Dragonmaw War Banner. This grants all adds +50 % attack speed and +50 % damage. It must be destroyed immediately and has only one health point. It is immune to AoE. Every player should immediately attack it.

Add: Proto-drake

~21 Mio. HP | Frontal Breath

At the start of the fight, these drakes fly over the area and repeatedly fire at players, dealing damage in a 5-yards radius. Each successful cast increases their damage. Spread out a bit due to this. The drakes will be killed by the tank after the first tower is captured.
Additionally, two proto-drakes spawn twice during the fight as an “intermediate wave.” They have a frontal breath attack and must be turned away from the group.

Tower Tactics

For each tower, you'll need a tank, a healer, and 2–3 DPS, though you're probably safer starting with just two DPS. You’ll have to figure out for yourselves how many DPS you can spare at the bottom. When a tower can be entered, a Demolisher appears. This Demolisher fires at the tower, causing players inside to be briefly stunned and take some damage.
You can now either kill the Demolisher with the entire raid or send the tank and healer up the tower immediately. There, you can click on a rope, which the DPS can then click on to climb up the tower without having to use the stairs.
The first tower (left/south) in particular is a bit of a hassle for the team to reach because you have to run up the ramp first. Here, the ranged members of the tower squad can head there beforehand and fire on the Demolisher from above.
In the towers, bring all the mobs up with you and kill them along with the mini-boss at the top.

At the first tower, once your job is done, the tank goes into the cannon and shoots down all the dragons so they can no longer shoot at your raid. You must click the rope to save time when you go to take down Galakras a few minutes later and have to climb up the tower again.
After the second tower, one player stays there and takes a seat in the cannon. Another climbs back up the first tower and also takes a seat in the cannon there. If both shoot at Galakras at the same time, he comes down and Phase 2 begins. It’s best to take down Galakras once the current wave is over, or before the next wave starts. Coordinate briefly with the raid below. One player in the cannon can continuously fire at Galakras to prevent him from flying back and forth.
As you can see in the timeline above, there is plenty of time between waves 7 and 8. Before the eighth wave, you should be finished with the tower and everything else and be able to take down Galakras.

Positioning

It’s best to tank the waves between the two wooden fences. If you go too far into the ravine, you’ll be far away from the NPCs and also far away from the players dealing with the Tower Grunts. Spread out slightly at the start (5 y) to avoid taking too much damage from the flying proto-drakes.

This phase is little more than tank and spank. If your healers still have enough mana, you should secure the first kill as soon as you reach this phase with everyone alive. You should not bring any adds into this phase.
Use Bloodlust, save all cooldowns for this phase, and split up according to your markers (see the positioning section; 4 players each, except for the tanks). Every few seconds, a player will receive a debuff that marks them as a target for 5 seconds: Flames of Galakrond. This player will have a target beam on them. After these 5 seconds, an orb will appear in front of the boss and fly relatively quickly to the player’s position, where it will explode. The more players who touch the orb beforehand, the less damage the explosion deals. Every player who touches the orb is afflicted with a stackable DoT, which is also called Flames of Galakrond.
So if a player gets the target debuff, they run behind their camp and wait until the target debuff wears off before returning to the camp. The orb then flies through the camp and loses explosive power. Two camps are used so that the DoT doesn’t stack too high on the players. If a camp is chosen too often in a row (so that it already has 3 stacks of the DoT), then the next affected player from that camp should place the orb behind the other camp.
Note that the orbs come very quickly one after another. As soon as an orb appears and flies off, the next player already receives the target beam.

Kill Video

This video is our first kill from October 17, 2013, as seen from our Brewmaster's perspective.

Class Tips: Rogue

Cloak of Shadows removes the debuff caused by Flames of Galakrond in Phase 2, the Thunder Clap on the first tower that slows you by 25 % per stack, and also grants immunity to Korgra's poison AoE.
If you are hit by the abilities that knock you off the towers, you can Shadowstep or use the Goblin Glider, if you're an Engineer. Of course, Killing Spree would also keep you up there if you're playing Combat. If you want to get to the left tower a bit faster, you can ask a player in your raid to position themselves as a target for Shadowstep so you don’t have to laboriously run up the ramp.

Class Tips: Priest (Discipline)

The incoming damage in P1 is low, unless you're assigned to the second tower. Keep an eye on the tank there and use Pain Suppression. At the first tower, you can use Mass Dispel to remove the slowing debuff, which will make it easier for you to run out of the AoE. If you're not on the towers and have enough mana, you can use Spirit Shell every now and then or heal the NPCs, otherwise you'll end up getting bored :-).
You should go into Phase 2 with full mana; this phase requires cooldowns and a lot of group healing.