Talk:High Botanist Freywinn

Druid?
So they finally got High Elf druids ... So the retcon concerning them has no purpose to be.-- K )  (talk) 01:54, 15 November 2006 (EST)


 * Don't be so sure. He's a botanist and wears a druid set, but that alone doesn't make him a druid. We've seen NPC's in pally armor that aren't pallies, haven't we (or was it a pally in warrior armor)?  --Kakwakas 19:01, 18 November 2006 (EST)


 * Who?Baggins 20:10, 18 November 2006 (EST)


 * I can't remember the name. :/ *continues looking* --Kakwakas 20:11, 18 November 2006 (EST)


 * Of course in RPG lore you can have mixed classes, according to lore. "Shaman druids", "Warriors Paladins", etc. Sometimes its a character going from one class into another, and other times just sharing elements of both. For example both druids and shamans can become the druids known as plagueshifters.Baggins 20:17, 18 November 2006 (EST)


 * I was talking about ingame in WoW. I can't remember who.  I still say we shouldn't jump the gun and say Freywinn is a druid quite yet, though.  Does he use druid spells/heals/shapeshifts? --Kakwakas 20:38, 18 November 2006 (EST)

Alot of nature based summoning he sounds quite a bit like a "plagueshifter" style druid, or one of those plant style druids of the grove.Baggins 20:41, 18 November 2006 (EST)


 * Hm, good point. We'll have to wait and see more of his spells and quest descriptions involving him.  If it turns out that he's a druid for sure and he got his powers through even more blood elven magic thievery, I'm gonna be pissed. =p --Kakwakas 20:49, 18 November 2006 (EST)

Technically woudn't be magic thievery if he remembers druidic lore brought back from Kalimdor when the High Elves left in the first place, same lore that half-elves had access to. But yes we need to know more about him.Baggins 20:53, 18 November 2006 (EST)


 * Well, yeah, it's entirely possible that he reveres and respects nature like a true druid, but that's not very blood elven, is it? --Kakwakas 20:56, 18 November 2006 (EST)


 * Its very high elven though. We know that blood elves still like nature as well cause its part of their roots in Quel'Thalas, same reason they have ranger-style hunters. RPG pretty much explains that while they are power hungry and will try to take power from any source, they still revere nature. Oh and its an interesting factoid from the rpg but at least high elves still celebrate Malorne during a holiday. He's the patron of the Druids of the Antler. Also don't blood elves have alot of gardens in their main city?Baggins 21:01, 18 November 2006 (EST)


 * Just posting to add a note that article on Dark Rangers in Horde Player's Guide makes reference to high elf druidism practiced by the rangers of Quel'Thalas.Baggins 18:36, 24 November 2006 (EST)


 * According to low-level quests on Sunstrider Isle, those gardens where made by Tenders (Treants). Saimdusan 00:58, 12 March 2007 (EDT)

I don't this guy is a high elf,hes loyal to the blood elven cause and he from the picture here,he seems to have green eyes. Zarnks 08:01, 27 June 2007 (UTC)

It could be just like the Blood Knights (Pallys) and that they have the powers of a specific class without following the doctrine of said class. I don't think druidic magic is the same in-born or faith orientated power that the Holy Light is for Paladins so he could be a druid without following the conventional means that PC Druids must follow. -Karye 11:24 July 16, 2007


 * Yeah, he prob'ly just bends nature to his will.-- 23:16, 22 September 2007 (UTC)


 * Not really. Blood Elves have druids still. They are still very close to nature so he is probably just a blood elf druid who was one when he was a high elf. --Whitedragon254 (talk) 22:09, 19 June 2008 (UTC)

He's as much a druid as blood knights are paladins - not at all. A direct quote from his voice acting is "nature bends to my will." He doesn't have the respect and reverence for nature that is required for a true druid, instead he is manipulating and "stealing" druidic magics in a similar way to blood knights abusing the light.Almaen (talk) 05:24, 20 October 2008 (UTC)

So he can summon treants too?
I was talking to someone who has beta who is saying he can summon a treant, and that it can cast tranquility and regrowth.Baggins 19:59, 24 November 2006 (EST)

ok, he can shapeshift into a Treant. That's very druid like.Baggins 22:51, 24 November 2006 (EST)

Revised the whole strategy thingy
The strategy part is full of redundant alternative strategies written in first person style. I summarized them into three properly written strategies, and put the less important ones as additional tips.

The original is here for record keeping: Fight

Once engaged, Freywinn spawns a small seedling elemental every few seconds. The seedlings have a low amount of health (~750) and need to be killed in order to avoid their special abilities, which vary based on their color: short freeze (white), direct damage (red), root (green). Allocate one DPS to deal with them; Hunters, Mages, Balance Druids, or Rogues are good at this task.

At longer intervals (>30 seconds) he'll transform into a treant (much like a druid's Tree of Life Form), spawn three lashers, and start channeling Tranquility, which heals him and the lashers. Until all the lashers are killed, High Botanist Freywinn is invulnerable, and will keep channeling Tranquility. The Lashers also deal a thrown "Thorn" attack that hits for around 800-1000 damage. It is advised that you get within Melee range as quickly as possible to avoid getting hit by this attack for lengthy periods of time.

NOTE: This fight can go on indefinitely if Freywinn is allowed to continue to heal himself with the lashers. Kill them as fast as possible.

The easiest strategy is to move them around the corner, out of Tranquility's range. However, it is also possible to kill them one at a time, if all DPS focuses on one target at a time. It is vital to kill the lashers quickly, thereby preventing the Botanist from healing himself out of control. Freywinn will stop channeling tranquility as soon as all three are dead.

When the lashers spawn they enter the fight with NO AGGRO. So a healer topping off the tank or healing as they enter can pull aggro. It is recommended that priests use their Fade ability when the lashers enter. Priests especially need to get out of line of sight of the botanist. Stay back and to the side. Healers need to stay away from the lashers or you will die quickly. Tank should use their AOE skills (e.g. Thunderclap, Consecration, AoE taunt, etc.) to pull the adds. DPS should target tank's target to reduce the chance of pulling aggro.

It also helps to tank Freywinn on the bridge. When he spawns his treant adds, have the entire party run off the bridge to the left side, in the area cleared previously. This removes the party from the flayers' line of sight, and they can't use their ranged attack (they will once they are in LoS, just not at first). This will pull them out of Tranquility immediately. When the last flayer is nearly dead, have the tank start running back to pick up Freywinn before he runs off the bridge.

Recommended that everybody in the party make a quick /assist macro for the same person. This will enable you to all target the same Lasher quick and take them down. (It can be done without, though).

When he is in "normal form", make sure the DPS not dealing with spawns is pumping out as much damage as they can, or else the fight will go on forever.

Note: He seems to change into his tree form a lot sooner as the fight goes on, so it's important to take him down quickly.

Note: If you have a rogue in your group, you can apply a stack of wound poison to the boss before he goes treant, and it will decrease the amount he heals for from ~1000 to ~500.

Additional hint: The Warlock spell Seed of Corruption is a very potent spell to use in this fight. While it is mana intensive for the lock, it pretty much takes care of all the small seedlings he sends out, leaving the rest of the group free to DPS down Freywinn (and that's what you want since it detonates Seed of Corruption quicker). Cast it on Freywinn, and when it detonates, it will almost always kill all the small seedlings that spawns, in addition to damaging him.

Heroic mode

In heroic-mode, this fight is not much different to normal-mode. Same strategies apply. He does hit a fair bit harder, but nothing out of the ordinary.

Alternate Strategy 1
My group wiped five times trying strat above. We then used a more simple method. Tank Freywinn in the middle of the bridge, when he transforms, have tank grab aggro on the lashers and move behind one of the large crystals, this breaks line of sight and forces the plants out of the healing and onto the the tank. From here hit them with a few area effect attacks and they are gone. Resume full DPS on Freywinn once he reverts.

Note: Sometimes the lashers will get stuck on the energy field when using a method of this nature. Pulling the boss off the bridge and behind the first corner closest to the bridge appears to work well. When the boss hits tree mode MT thunderclaps and drags them back around the corner towards the bridge. The lashers will sit at the apex of corner using ranged attack but out of range of tranquility. Also note that regardless of your aggro the boss will run off from his tree position for about 10 yards before returning to the highest aggro. MT should sit in the corner waiting for the boss to return, DPS resumes when boss is back at the tank.

Alternate Strategy 2
An alternate strategy for non-uber geared groups is to fear the lashers when they spawn. We tried using the line of sight strategy and it did not work. The lashers just focused on one caster and shot them down to death. The tank had a very hard time pulling the lashers since they just stood in place and did ranged DPS. The strategy that really seemed to work was to have the priest run in and fear the adds. Fear caused the adds to get out of Tranq range very quickly and helped to DPS the adds down easily. One DPS member has to keep the smaller adds engaged at all times or else the healer will get immobilized next to the boss right after fearing.

Alternate Strategy 3
After having all of the above failed our group decided to skip the boss and continue, till we noticed that there were nice demons doing AoE a bit further. We had our warlock enslave a reaper, we basically used him to take care of all small adds and use cleave when the larger adds spawn as he heals. Adds went down in 5 seconds combined with a fire mage

Alternate Strategy 4
In a party with a rogue/mage/druid/warrior/hunter, we seemed to have trouble taking down the lashers towards the end of the fight. Found that with the rogue leading and using his wound poisons, he could keep a stack on the boss till he changed form. Then, he would mark a lasher and apply a stack of wound poisons to that as well. The warrior would cleave and mage would AoE the lashers while the rogue and hunter DPSed the marked one and moved through them as they died off. It worked really well, as we cut through the lashers in plenty of time to keep him from healing much. The mage was also able to take out the seedlings with a single AoE, keeping them under control.

Alternate Strategy 5
I did it with a group consisting of Warrior X2, Shaman X2(resto & ench) and a Paladin(holy). Instead of having the DPS-shaman dealing with the seedling we used the warriors for this with cleave. Therefore you don't lose that much DPS from the Shaman and the seedlings are easily taken care of.

Alternate Strategy 6
Having tried to kite the lashers around the corner, using the methods described above, and wiped, we found a different mix of ideas worked: Our Arms Warrior stayed in Battle stance, and DPS-Tanked Freywinn, along with our rogue, who DPSed him. Our mage and balance druid took on the seedlings that escaped the warrior's AoEs, and DPSed Freywinn when they had the chance. When Freywinn turned into a tree, the warrior used her intimidating shout to fear the lashers out of the healing area. Otherwise, they were kited around the corner. Repeat as necessary. Took him down after the third tree form, on our second try.

WakemanCK 10:43, 30 March 2008 (UTC)

Druid? Part 2
Freywinn was removed from the Druid category, with the comment "Nothing in game suggests he's a druid." I would argue that wearing the druid tier 2 set and using both Tree of Life and Tranquility would qualify as very strong in-game suggestions that he is, in fact, a druid. -- Dark T Zeratul (talk) 00:46, 24 January 2011 (UTC)


 * I agree with you Dark T Zeratul, although it is never specifically told he is a druid, there is enough evidence that supports it. Benitoperezgaldos (talk) 02:43, 24 January 2011 (UTC)


 * He might have "stolen" the druidic powers like the Blood Knights "stole" their holy magic, or he might have come by his powers from the magical technology in the naaru ships, but does that make him not a druid?-- 03:06, 24 January 2011 (UTC)