Firemaw

Firemaw is the fourth boss in Blackwing Lair, after Broodlord Lashlayer and before Ebonroc. He drops the Tier 2 Epic Set gloves for all classes.

Attacks and abilities

 * (summons to the front of the dragonkin)
 * (summons to the front of the dragonkin)
 * (summons to the front of the dragonkin)

Tactics and tips
Wing Buffet: Knocks back the target, doing damage and reducing aggro. Shadow Flame: Ability shared with Ebonroc, Flamegor and Nefarian. Deals about 3,938 - 5,062 cone-shaped shadow damage and is not partially resistable. Previously it has a Damage over Time effect (Shadow Flame) on its target for 1,750 - 2,250 damage per second for 10 seconds unless the recipient is wearing an Onyxia Scale Cloak. Flame Buffet: Firemaw's Flame Buffet is a stackable and non-dispellable debuff that hits anyone within Firemaw's line of sight. It begins by doing 150 damage and increasing the amount of damage done by Fire effects by 150. And each tick that you are in LoS of Firemaw the debuff is renewed and stacks another time. Each time it stacks the damage increases, as does Fire damage taken. The Flame Buffet debuff will last for 20 seconds if not renewed. Thrash: Gives Firemaw 2 extra attacks, hitting the tank in rapid succession.

Firemaw should be tanked in the entrance to the room he guards, where the Broodlord Lashlayer was stationed. He should not however be pulled without clearing the first few packs of Mobs in the room, the amount needing to be cleared depending on the skill of the raid, but most likely three.

He should be aggroed so that he is attacking the main tank inside the doorway and can be put out of sight by the raid if they hug the walls either side of him. This is necessary to negate the stack of Flame Buffet that quickly accumulates. One tank should stand in front of him to take aggro for most of the fight being healed from the right side of the room, however during his knockbacks the tank behind him will have to take over, healed by the left side. The main tank will keep getting hit with debuffs, so there should be a second tank prepared to switch in for the Main Tank until the MT's debuffs fall off.

DPS should stand, with the majority of the healers, on the right hand side of the room and get out of LoS when stacks reach about 5-10, depending on your health. Bandaging should be used on non tanks as much as possible, as mana will be needed to heal tanks taking more damage from their lessened fire resistance. Dampen Magic is very useful here since it applies its damage reduction against each stack of the debuff, rather than just once overall.

As with all the other drakes, Firemaw's most deadly weapon is his shadowflame. In order to reduce the impact that this has it is considered wise to have priests cast a Power Word Shield on the MT just prior to this. Other tactics include having one or two healers using big heals and attempting to time them so they land the second after the shadowflame hits.

As with all BWL fights, it is important to manage aggro heavily here as wing buffet reduces the aggro on the tank who is hit by it. In a perfect kill the MT will never take a buffet and will be able to keep ahead of aggro, however if he does get hit by one aggro can get finicky later in the fight.

His knockbacks are about 30–35 seconds apart, and his shadowflames about 15–18 seconds apart.

Keys to the Fight
1. Constantly watch your health. Everyone besides the healers is taking constantly increasing damage this fight; not watching your health will allow the debuffs to stack up and eventually kill you.

2. Positioning for this fight is everything. You've heard it before, but it's really true here. All efforts should be taken to ensure that Firemaw does not change location while the fight goes on. The buffet-eater should get right on Firemaw to taunt, as being at the edge of his hit box forces him to move to the OT. The replacement tank should stand on the spot the MT is at before taunting Firemaw off. However your guild does positioning, be wary of the possibility of Firemaw shadowflaming while the buffet tank has aggro; if the raid is behind the eater, it can lose 10-20 people in one breath. As bosses go, Firemaw does not hit hard. If you can get your positioning down, you've won the fight.