Krosh Firehand

Krosh Firehand is an ogre-magi that belongs to High King Maulgar's Council of Ogres.

Attacks and abilities

 * Basic Melee: Krosh nearly never Melees
 * Blast Wave: 6013 - 6987. Fire. Instant cast, 15 yard range with a 70% movement speed reduction.
 * Greater Fireball: 8550 - 9450. Fire. 3 second cast, 100 yard range.
 * Casts a Spell Shield which a mage must Spellsteal. It reduces incoming spell damage by 75%, and lasts for 30 seconds.

Strategy for the mage tank
Unlike most "boss" encounters where tanking is done by a traditional tank, Krosh must be tanked by a mage who is specially geared with high stamina armor. Krosh has a Spell Shield that reduces magic damage taken by 75%. Mages must Spellsteal this shield to remove it from Krosh and use it to protect themselves from Krosh's fireballs while still maintaining aggro with modest DPS. The only exception to this maintained aggro is that it is a common strategy for Warlocks who are Enslaving Olm's Wild Fel Stalkers to place them on Krosh to have them disposed of. These Stalker adds may attack the mage tank's healer and need to be controlled. The mage (and the entire raid for that matter) should be running a threat meter (Omen) and you'll find that it doesn't take that much DPS to maintain aggro even with DPS-impaired gear. This is an important detail for mana management so the mage need not be casting full-time until such time as the raid focuses on Krosh to down him.

Before the pull, the mage tanking Krosh Firehand should stand completely to the right of the room and at maximum range from Krosh. Just in front of Krosh Firehand is a slight "clip" where the mage is to stand before the pull takes place. Do not move too close to the "clip" or you will aggro the room. A good reference point is just before the clip, where there is a portion of the wall to the right that makes a "corner" (with a little steam vent) that is a safe reference point stay at when preparing for the pull.

As High King Maulgar gets pulled, hit Krosh with any ranged instant-cast spell you have (Fire Blast, PoM-Pyroblast) or if you time it correctly coinciding with the raid's pulling countdown, a Frostbolt, Fireball, or Arcane Blast. Positioning Krosh is easy since when you aggro him, he casts his Spell Shield and will run straight to you until he is right in front of you, then he will stay at that point and repeatedly fireball you stopping only to recast Spell Shield. As he runs toward you, spam Spellsteal. Once he stops and you see the have stolen his Spell Shield, you may want to turn 180°, blink, turn 180° again, and commence your cycle. It is possible to back-up with-out blinking though. You should throw a few spells at him while doing so to build threat and protect your healer who is just as important as the mage tank. It in normal to be slowed while backing up. You are putting distance between him and yourself so that you avoid his Blast Wave attack. Make sure that you position him far enough to the right so the rest of the raid does not have to worry about his Blast Wave ability. If you are fortunate enough to get a Hunter Misdirect make sure the hunter knows NOT to use Arcane Shot as this will dispel the Spell Shield and you will die, and the raid will likely wipe. Hunters should never hit Krosh with Arcane Shot, since the mage must continue tanking even after DPS commences on Krosh by the raid.

You are going to need a dedicated healer, or at least one that maintains focus on you along with the ability to get a big heal off rapidly. Krosh will only recast Spell Shield when he isn't casting a Greater Fireball (3 second cast). This means that the tanking mage's Spell Shield can fade, and they must be able to take one full damage fireball so they can steal another shield. You are very likely to take several of these during the fight so your healer must be attentive. Greater Fireball hits for 8500–9500 damage but can be mitigated by casting Fire Ward/Ice Barrier/Mana Shield just before Greater Fireball hits the tanking mage&mdash;the shield(s) will absorb their designated damage whether the stolen Spell Shield is up or not, so time it wisely. A healing or mana+healing potion can be taken afterwards and you should wait for those moments to take one. A warlock healthstone can help too and there are items such as, that can help but these share the cooldown with your  which you will likely need.

All mages taking on the task should study the BC mage stamina gear, which contains a list useful mage gear and other important information on how to prepare before the raid. The mage tanking Krosh should have upwards of 12,000 HP when buffed, a good amount of spell hit, and a decent mana pool. The tanking mage should gear for stamina until he reaches a minimum of 10,500 health unbuffed (13k is more ideal). Spell Hit is critical and the mage should be near the full +16% spell hit (202 rating) to minimize the chance of having Spellsteal resisted. With 5 points in the Arcane Focus talent you would need just +6% spell hit (75 rating) from gear. Mana should not be disregarded, as repeated Spellstealing is costly (20% of your base mana). Spell Damage and Crit are good too but are lower priority, as again, it doesn't take that much dps to maintain aggro.

You should stop casting when the Spell Shield has around 5 seconds left, cast Fire Ward at 3 seconds left, and then Spellsteal when his shield is reactivated. This way, you don't have GCD to worry about when you need to cast Fire Ward and the subsequent Spellsteal. You can spam Spellsteal as this does nothing if 'There is nothing to steal'. Do not cast Fire Ward early because it will be used up even when you have the Spell Shield on you. Save the Fire Ward to help absorb the damage when your Spell Shield is about to fade to reduce the damage from the full Greater Fireball. Raid timer mods such as Deadly Boss Mods and mods which show highly visible buff timers such as XPerl or CTBuffMod are indispensable for this fight.

During this time, your focus is on Krosh while the raid is downing the other members of the council. When they are finished they will turn to Krosh, and only then should you DPS at full speed. Another Hunter Misdirect is a good thing to have on you so have one assigned to you even if you didn't have one for the pull. After he dies, you can relax and casually DPS until Maulgar is downed.

Summary for those other than the mage tank.

 * Casts Blast Wave AoE which deals roughly 6000 damage and has extremely short (~10 yard) range. No one should take Blast Wave damage. No one is to go near Krosh, and that includes pets and he should be downed entirely with ranged DPS. The only exception to this is with Warlock Enslaved Wild Fel Stalkers in order to dispose of them.


 * He is immune to almost all debuffs: Curse of Tongues, Counterspell, Silence and his Greater Fireballs ignore fire resistance gear, grounding totems and spell reflections.


 * Paladins should ignore their instincts and not put Blessing of Salvation on the tanking mage. Blessing of Kings or Blessing of Wisdom are ideal. Blessing of Light is a good idea if a pally is going to do the healing.


 * An Elemental Shaman can be very beneficial to the tanking mage when Totem of Wrath and Mana Spring Totem are deployed in his vicinity.


 * Hunters should be reminded NOT to use arcane shot while attacking Krosh as this will dispel his shield, preventing the mage from stealing it.


 * If the group has an extra Warlock who will not be Enslaving the Wild Fel Stalkers, it can be a good idea to place an Imp next to the Mage before the pull for the added health from Blood Pact.

Theoretical
When doing this fight, depending on your timing, it is possible for the tanking mage to never take a full damage fireball. This does seem to be the luck of the draw but with skill, nerve, and low latency it is possible. Here's the math: 3 seconds per fireball and a 30 second shield. His cooldown is 30 seconds. He will cast 10 fireballs for a total casting time of 30 secs. After he casts spell shield, wait and watch his casting bar as he casts greater fireball and cast Spellsteal when it is between 33% and 90% (1-2.5 secs). Therefore his cooldown will expire as he casts his last fireball and just before your shield expires. Rinse and repeat. If your timing is off, he will cast another fireball without a spell shield on either of you and in these cases, a mage should put up his shield(s) and then mash the Spellsteal key.

Quartz is another useful addon for this kind of timing and includes an integrated casting latency timer. The time it takes between when you hit Spellsteal and when the server actually registers it needs to be taken into account while doing this. If you're in the yellow, I wouldn't try it and just go for the key mashing approach.