Anub'arak (tactics)

Anub'arak is the third and final boss of Azjol-Nerub, an instance in the Dragonblight.

Abilities

 * Locust Swarm: Periodic Damage Every Tick. Can be spell reflected.
 * Carrion Beetles: Summons 2 Carrion Beetles every second for 4 sec.
 * Burrow: Anub'arak will burrow underground at certain HP intervals (~75%, ~50% and ~25%), becoming invulnerable. While submerged, several things happen:
 * Spikes occasionally shoot up from the ground, knocking players up in the air and causing damage. These can be avoided by simply moving when the ground beneath you is rumbling.
 * Various Nerubian Assassin, Darter, and Guardian mobs spawn and must be killed. Mobs spawn faster as the fight progresses.

Heroic:


 * Pound: 18k on plate with a 4 second stun, has a 3 second cast time. This ability hits in a frontal cone from Anub'arak. Note that the direction Anub'arak casts it is towards wherever his aggro target was standing at when he BEGINS casting Pound; he cannot turn during its cast time. The facing of Anub'arak's model may not accurately show the direction he's casting Pound at; if you are unsure of where he's aiming a Pound, it's best to run away from him, as Pound's max range is short (10-15 yards). It can be particularly hard to predict where a Pound is being aimed at if Anub'arak starts casting it immediately after running to an edge of the platform, or immediately after surfacing, since threat is wiped after a resurface and Anub'arak's first aggro target will be whoever happens to attack him first.


 * Anub'ar Venomancers: Summoned in pairs after Anub'arak burrows the 2nd and 3rd time (50% and 25% health). They cast a devastating poison DoT that must be cleansed, abolished, or totemed. The Venomancers can and should be interrupted and stunned; they are by far the biggest threat during burrow phase.

Tactics
Shortly after the fight starts, a wall of web is raised around his platform which will lock group members out if you are not all inside. Be sure all party members are on or inside the ring before engaging. Anub'arak requires the tank to get quite close (near melee range) before the fight begins and the web goes up.

Warriors and Druids should not attempt to start the fight by charging Anub'arak as due to his size this will result in a face pull prior to achieving charge range. It is possible to circle around the perimeter and attack from the rear or side so as to start the fight with him facing away from the remainder of the party.

Spread out around the ring, tanking Anub'arak in the centre. He will periodically stun the tank so do not be overzealous with DPS. Carrion Beetles will spawn when he is not submerged which can be easily killed with light aoe while the main focus of DPS remains on Anub'arak. When not submerged he will cast Locust Swarm which results in a moderate damage aoe against all party members and pets (usually cast shortly before submerge). When Anub'arak submerges, all DPS should switch to the incoming adds which fall from above into the ring, with the main tank keeping an eye out for when Anub'arak resurfaces in the centre of the ring. The area beneath a player about to be hit by Spikes is indicated by a shifting drift animation and can be easily avoided if the player moves quickly.

So long as Anub'arak is picked up quickly after each resurface and the adds are killed quickly, the boss fight should be easily controlled.

If you find your healers running out of mana, an effective tactic is to prolong the submerged phase by killing all but the last guardian. While the tank and dps round up and deal with the other mobs, the healer sits back and does minimal healing, regenerating as much mana as possible. Once the healer is back to full mana, the last guardian is killed and the next phase begins. From experience it works best to only do this during the first two submerged phases, the third is usually too frantic and should be ended as fast as possible.

Feral druids can really shine during this fight. Since they don't use mana for their attacks, a well played druid will be able to use Innervate on the healer, Rebirth on any party members who might die during the fight, heal the party with Tranquility and round out his job with Abolish Poison. And, because of the nature of the fight with the boss dissapearing every now and then, even druid tanks will find some time to support their party with these spells. As this fight tends to be pretty intense, it's rare for a feral druid not to blow one or more of his cooldowns, and the lack of their use can point out a careless or badly played toon.

Heroic Mode:

Fighting Anub'arak while he is up is easy, as long as the tank and melee can avoid Pound properly. The adds phase is the real challenge. Adds come in from all direction. Healers and DPS can aggro easily if the tank is not used to AoE tanking. Several tips here:


 * Healer and casters should stay close to the tank, so that the tank can grab any adds on them quickly.


 * DPS should handle the non-elite adds. This prevents the tank from burning cooldowns and time on the easy adds.


 * Tank should focus on the elite adds that come down the ramp where the party entered.


 * Tank and DPS should all focus on the Anub'ar Venomancers when they arrive on the second and third rounds. Stunlock or crowd control them as much as possible.  Place a raid icon on one to focus fire and/or assist the tank after they arrive so the proper target will die fast.


 * Make sure someone is assigned to cleanse the poisons. If your group cleanser is a shaman, Poison cleansing totems help a lot. However, totems also seem to get killed by adds quickly as they come in, so make sure to keep re-casting them.


 * The poisons can be interrupted.


 * Rogues can try putting Tricks of the Trade on the tank and hitting Fan of Knives twice to dump add threat onto the tank.

Quotes
Intro:
 * I was king of this empire once, long ago. In life I stood as champion. In death I returned as conqueror. Now I protect the kingdom once more. Ironic, yes?

Aggro:
 * Eternal agony awaits you!

Killing a player:
 * You shall experience my torment, first-hand!
 * You have made your choice.
 * Soon, the Master's voice will call to you.

Locust Swarm:
 * Your armor is useless against my locusts!
 * The pestilence upon you!
 * (Nerubian): Uunak-hissss tik-k-k-k-k!

Submerging:
 * Come forth, my brethren. Feast on their flesh!
 * (Nerubian): Auum na-l ak-k-k-k, isshhh.

Death:
 * [Screams] Never thought... I would be free of him...