WoWApr 5, 2015 2:00 pm CT

Arcane Sanctum: Blackrock Foundry Slagworks and Black Forge for mages

By Stacey Landry

Welcome to this week’s Arcane Sanctum and happy Noblegarden! Have a seat, help yourself to some chocolate eggs while we take a look at some of the treats you can find in Blackrock Foundry along with how to cast your way to victory.

Although Blackrock Foundry has been current content for some time, because Blizzard Watch is so new I haven’t had the opportunity yet to write about it. I’d like to take a look at it now, while it’s still relevant and before it passes into obscurity.

I’ve quite enjoyed the encounters in BRF, even though I have a secret vendetta against raids that are cave-like, underground, and feature fire as a major theme. But we’re here to fight the Iron Horde, and they’re forging things so we’ll work with what we have.

The raid instance consists of ten boss fights in a rough configuration of different wings. Your raid will have some leeway to choose which bosses to tackle first. Please note that the order presented here isn’t an endorsement of boss order, it’s just the best way to organize the information. This week we’ll look at bosses in the Slagworks and The Black Forge on LFR, normal, and heroic difficulty.

Slagworks

The trash in this wing was notoriously tough initially but has been toned down a lot since. You may still be called upon to Polymorph some enemies so be ready for that. (Why not switch to Polymorph: Rabbit to keep things festive?) Also note that you can spellsteal Cauterize from the Iron Flame Binder, which is nice to do after a second so that they aren’t healing themselves.
gruul

Gruul

The first encounter in the Slagworks is Gruul. You’ll remember him from the previous version of himself which was actually a later version of himself, and he’s fairly similar here. The good news for us is that this is a fairly stationary fight. Your raid will probably be stacking in groups. If you’re using Rune of Power, you can set up a Rune at your muster point and another one towards the wall.

The only times you’ll be moving are when Gruul casts his Overhead Smash and you can simply strafe out of it. Ice Floes is nice here for being able to continue your casts when this happens. The other time you’ll need to move is if you are targeted by Petrifying Slam. In this case, just spin your camera around, Blink out, wait until Petrifying Slam has run its course and then head back to your group. Blink will probably be on cooldown. Of course, aim to Blink towards your Rune of Power if you’re using it, for minimal interruption.

Many groups will opt to use Time Warp at the beginning of the fight, you can Blink into position to get started casting as soon as possible and hit Time Warp once you’re there. You can also plan to use Amplify Magic more or less on cooldown, or time it with Inferno Slice if possible to help your healers.

Loot

LFR

oregorger

Oregorger

Oregorger is a bile spewing, rock munching, rolling jerk of a goren. You’ll need to use any movement tricks you have up your sleeve in order to kill him. Time Warp is usually used at the beginning here because more people are inclined to be alive, which may change during his rolling phase.

The beginning of the fight is easy and fairly stationary. You’ll be moving as a group to avoid his Retched Blackrock and just DPSing him as much as possible. When he moves into his Feeding Frenzy phase, that changes pretty quickly. You may find the addon OregorgerHelper to be useful for this. Ice Floes or Blazing Speed are solid options depending on what you are having the most trouble with. If you find yourself in a position where Oregorger is rolling towards you and a Blink won’t get you around the corner fast enough, you can avoid taking damage using immunity effects such as Evanesce or Ice Block. It’s a better bet to just not be where he is, though. If you are caught out without time to react, Cauterize will save you from a roll but you’ll need to Ice Block it off quickly.

Amplify Magic is best used during his normal (non-rolling) phase for maximum benefit.

Loot

LFR

blastfurnace

Blast Furnace

This encounter requires precision targeting and killing of adds. Each phase has an add priority and the best approach would be to focus on single target damage with incidental AoE. Arcane excels at this if you take Nether Tempest, and both fire and frost can do cleave AoE once key adds are nearly dead.

Depending on where your tanks are, you may need to move to reach specific adds or to drop a Bomb if it’s on you. Use Blink to reach Heat Regulators quickly if you have Bomb and to drop Melt far away from other raid members.

Your Time Warp will probably be called upon in phase three, once all four Primal Elementalists are dead. Use Amplify Magic liberally throughout the fight to give your healers a hand wherever possible.

Loot

LFR

The Black Forge

hansfranz

Hans’gar and Franzok

Hans and Franz actually have a pretty lenient amount of health and will die reasonably quickly. The only catch is that you have to stay alive through their barrage of conveyor belts, Searing Plates and stamping presses. Your best bet for this encounter is to stay on your toes. You won’t have to move very far at any given time, but when you do have to move you’ll do it in a hurry.

During the first phase, you can stay fairly immobile by standing on one of the stationary strips in between conveyor belts. Searing plates will roll by you, but if you strafe just to the extreme edge opposite where the plate is, it will not burn you. To avoid stampers, find a spot on one of the stationary strips where four plates converge. This way, you can move forward or backward depending on which plates you’ve got to deal with, and you have less distance to go.

Employ any cleave abilities you have, because their health pool is shared. Combustion cleave, glyphed Ice Lance etc. are all useful. When Franz does his Disrupting Roar, don’t simply stop casting — use any instant cast abilities you have. Refresh your Living Bomb or cast Ice Lance or Arcane Barrage.

Amplify Magic is useful anytime. Your group may use Time Warp at the beginning for maximum effect or they may save it for the final phase to burn them down as quickly as possible.

Loot

LFR

ArcaneSanctum_Flamebender_20150405

Flamebender Ka’graz

Flamebender Ka’graz is a fairly straightforward fight. You’ll want to use your Amplify Magic during Firestorm. If you are affected by Molten Torrent make sure to Blink in to melee.

When you’re targeted by one of the Cinder Wolves, kite as necessary using Blink or any other movement effects you have. If your spec is fire, it’s worth considering Glyph of Ignite to add a slow to your Ignite. This can be invaluable if your raid doesn’t have easy access to any other slows. Arcane can use Glyph of Slow and Frostbolt has it built in, of course.

Time Warp is usually used at the beginning of this encounter.

Loot

LFR

Kromog

Kromog is reminiscent of the Kologarn encounter from Ulduar in that your raid is in front of a giant boss standing at the edge of a cliff. There are many things that happen in this fight but most of them can be avoided using minimal strafing movements.

The key thing to note here is when Kromog is about to cast Thundering Blows, if for some reason you are unable to reach one of the Runes of Grasping Earth, you can avoid being damaged by using an immunity effect such as Evanesce or Ice Block. If you time it correctly you will still be knocked into the air and need to use Slow Fall to avoid a sudden drop.

Time Warp at the beginning of this encounter and use Amplify Magic regularly as damage is fairly steady.

Loot

LFR

That it’s for the first two wings of Blackrock Foundry! Check back next time when we’ll be taking a look at both Iron Assembly and Blackhand’s Crucible.

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