Ulduar (instance)

Ulduar is a raid dungeon in the titan complex of Ulduar which is located in the Storm Peaks. It serves as the prison of the Old God Yogg-Saron as well as the current residence of most of the titanic watchers who have fallen under its influence.

Ulduar was implemented in patch 3.1.0, intended to be one grade in difficulty above Naxxramas.

Ulduar received good reception from the players who praised the instance's interior design, music, interesting and challenging boss encounters and the rich amount of lore. It is regarded by many to be greatest and most successful raid instance Blizzard has so far released.

Encounters by location
Ten of the raid dungeon's fourteen encounters have hard modes (different from normal and heroic modes). Algalon the Observer is a hard mode-only but optional encounter. Encounters completed on hard modes reward achievements as well as extra and/or improved item rewards. Siege vehicles play a role in the dungeon's first encounter, Flame Leviathan.

The dungeon does not follow a completely linear progression; Yogg-Saron and Algalon the Observer are regarded as the most difficult encounters, and are accessible independent of each other.

Loot
Items obtained in 10 and 25-man modes share the models, but vary in color. Set bonuses can be obtained when 10 and 25-man set items are worn together.

Item levels range is between 219-232 (10-man) and 226-239 (25-man).

Raid setup
The 10-man version The 25-man version Comparison
 * A Naxxramas-geared group should do fine with 2 tanks, 3 healers and 5 damage dealers. With better gear a healer might be replaced by a damage dealer.
 * For some encounters a tank or healer might switch to damage spec. A good example of this is Hodir, where one frost resistance feral druid can tank both phases of the encounter.
 * Nearly full Naxxramas 25/Malygos 25 gear is highly recommended to start and absolutely required for the later encounters. Expect most encounters to require 6-7 healers for new groups.  Three tanks are required for many of the encounters and some such as Thorim even benefit from a fourth tank.
 * See this article for a detailed side-by-side comparison of the differences between 10 and 25 man Ulduar, specifically how abilities or strategies need to change.

Patch changes
Hotfixes can be found listed on the official forums at http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=16474158165&sid=1 and http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=17631614070&sid=1.

June 11

 * In the opening sequence of Ulduar you can now see Liquid Pyrite from farther away.

May 4

 * The NPCs just inside the front entrance of Ulduar (like a repair ogre) should no longer despawn.
 * The first pack of trash mobs in the Conservatory of Life has been removed, one of the trash packs in the General Vezax room has been removed, all of the humanoids in General Vezax's room are no longer immune to stuns, the Faceless Horrors will only go immune and summon Void Beasts once instead of 3 times, and the damage done when a Clockwork Sapper explodes has been significantly reduced.

April 30

 * The Pollinate spell cast by the Forest Swarmer inside of the Conservatory of Life in Ulduar should no longer be spell stealable.

April 28

 * Pure Saronite mining nodes have temporarily been disabled in Ulduar and will return in the future.
 * The aggro radius for several trash mobs before General Vezax has been reduced and the health has been reduced on Void Beasts and Faceless Horrors.

April 23

 * The trash mobs before XT-002 Deconstructor have gone through additional changes that should make them a little easier to get through.
 * The trash mobs before Mimiron have gone through additional changes that should make them a little easier to get through.

April 21

 * For the trash mobs leading to Mimiron: the damage from a Clockwork Sapper's Energy Sap ability has been decreased, the Energy Sap no longer drains mana, and the health of Boomer XP-500 has been decreased.
 * Some changes we have made to the trash mobs in the Antechamber (the area near Iron Council) are: the Devastating Leap from the Chamber Overseer is now a Stun Mechanic, Champer Overseers should no longer be immune to disarm, standing on the Flaming Rune should no longer proc Runic Explosion, Iron Menders should be immune to charm, Charged Dwarves should be immune to charm, the damage from Ball Lightning cast by Lightning Charged Iron Dwarves has been decreased in heroic difficulty, and the damage of Runed Flame Jets have been decreased.
 * Kologarn should no longer permanently despawn without being killed.
 * Some creatures in the Conservatory of Life have undergone the following changes: the health of Guardian Lashers has been reduced, reduced the number of charges of Elder Stonebark's Petrified Bark ability, the healing of the Forest Swarmer's Pollinate ability has been reduced, the frequency of the Forest Swarmer's Pollinate ability has been increased, the healing of the Misguided Nymph's Bind Life ability has been reduced in heroic mode.

April 17

 * For the trash leading up to Ignis the Furnace Master, the Magma Rager's Superheated Winds have had their speed reduced. The normal mode Molten Colossus have had the cooldown of Pyroblast increased.
 * The trash mobs leading to Mimiron can now see through stealth/invisible, no more sneaking past.

April 16

 * Pets have been properly trained to now attack Kologarn when instructed.
 * When re-implemented into the game, the trash mobs before XT-002 Deconstructor should be a little easier to defeat.

April 15

 * The trash mobs before XT-002 Deconstructor have temporarily been disabled. These mobs will return in the future after we have resolve the issue with them being linked.
 * The Dark Rune Watchers will no longer cast chain lightning while moving.



Ulduar World First Kills
Ulduar Guild Progression