These classes will be must-haves for Battle for Dazar’alor

Certain classes know going into every raid they will have a moment a shine. Primary stat buffs, Bloodlust/Heroism, interrupts, and battle resurrection are a welcomed addition for any raid. You can count on needing big raid healing cool downs, a flavor of magical dispel, and some roots, slows, displacements and stuns. Then there are those moments where your class brings an additional utility. Let’s see where those opportunities present themselves in Battle for Dazar’alor.

And before you read, please note some of the names of the bosses could be considered spoilers. Read on at your own risk.

Team Immunity will help with a ton of raid mechanics

Classes that shine: Hunter, Paladin, Demon Hunter, Mage (and maybe Rogue)

There are several mechanics in the raid — similar to Armageddon Hail used in the Kil’Jaeden encounter in the Tomb of Sargeras — which can be mitigated by what I call “Team Immunity.” These are classes with abilities that let them completely ignore damage that would kill anyone else: Hunters with Aspect of the Turtle, Paladins with Divine Shield, Mages with Ice Block, and Demon Hunters with Netherwalk. Sometimes Rogues can join the team with Cloak of Shadows, but only if the effect is magic. Some mechanics are coded to go through these immunities, but I only found one in Battle for Dazar’alor and it’s not clear if it’s a bug or intended.

Champions of Light

Classes that shine: Hunter, Priest, Shaman

The raid opens with the Champions of Light fight, which has different bosses and adds depending on your faction. What doesn’t change is how critical it is to quickly kill the adds. The boss will toss out a Wave of Light which puts a HoT on the adds, and you’ll want those removed as fast as you can with offensive dispels.

Opulence

Classes that shine: Hunter, Mage, Paladin, Warlock

During the Opulence fight, the boss will cast Coin Shower. This is a meteor-style mechanic meaning the damage needs to be shared with your fellow raid members to survive it. If the targeted player is from Team Immunity, they can stand by themselves and use their immunity. If it’s a different class, you could still have them soak it alone with the aid of Blessing of Protection from a Paladin since the damage is physical. This negates the damage from both the player targeted and the other raid members who would otherwise help split the damage to manageable levels.

Conclave of the Chosen

Classes that shine: Mage (Spellsteal), Unholy/Frost Death Knight, Feral Druid, Windwalker Monk, Havoc Demon Hunter, Arms/Fury Warrior and Retribution Paladin (non tank taunt), Discipline Priest (shields), Restoration Shaman (health share), Hunter (offensive dispel), Shaman (offensive dispel)

There are a lot of mechanics in this fight that having specific classes will really help out on:

• Pa’ku’s Aspect cast Gift of Wind on the adds, where you’ll want to use offensive dispels or have your Mages Spellsteal
• There’s a tank swap mechanic, Hastening Winds, but if tanks do the taunting it will bring the bosses together giving them Loa’s Pact. But, if you have a melee DPS with a taunt spell, they can taunt off the main tank, take one hit to reset Paku’s Aspects’ stacks, and then the main tank can taunt back — all without triggering Loa’s Pact.
• When you get to Mythic difficulty, you’ll deal with your old pal Bwonsamdi. His Bwonsamdi’s Wrath makes players immune to healing, and if you decurse the debuff, it will just jump to another player. A Discipline Priest’s shields and Shaman’s Spirit Link Totem can help keep players with this debuff alive.

Grong the Revenant / Grong the Jungle Lord

There aren’t any particular moments to highlight in the Grong fight. The character is introduced in the Alliance War Campaign. I strongly recommend you do those quests as it provides interesting context for the fight.

Jadefire Masters

Classes that shine: Havoc Demon Hunter, Windwalker Monk (highly mobile DPS), Priest (Mass Dispel, Leap of Faith), Warlocks (portals), Rogues (mobile immunity), Hunter (mobile immunity, avoid fall damage) and Mages (avoid fall damage)

During the Jadefire Masters fight, the Monk boss — Ma’ra Grimfang for Alliance and Mestrah for the Horde — will charge to a random nearby area and channel Whirling Jade Storm pulsing continuous nature damage to the raid. The channel ends when a player hits them with a melee attack. If your tank can’t get there fast enough, or if he’s cut off by Magma Traps later in the fight, a Havoc Demon Hunter, Windwalker Monk, or other high mobility melee DPS can rush over and end the channel. You could even have a Mage Blink over and use his staff for something other than a stat stick. I love little moments like this where a player with high situational awareness can be a huge boon to the raid.

The Mage boss — Anathos Firecaller for Alliance and Manceroy Flamefist for the Horde — puts out several Searing Embers debuffs, and the number of debuffs scales with the size of your raid. A Priest can Mass Dispel, however, the ability casts too often for a single Priest to get them all.

Later, the bosses will teleport all the players to the far end of the room and create a maze of Rings of Hostility. These function like the Monk spell Ring of Peace, throwing players out of the ring. Like on G’hunn’s platforms, Warlock portals let you skip over major parts of the maze. The Alliance version of the fight has a smaller encounter area meaning the portals cover more of the maze making them all the more… ahem… amazing.

Then we have the Magma Traps. These fire zones stay on the ground until someone runs into them. When you set them off, you take a burst of fire damage and get launched into the air. The fall damage is enough to kill you and there’s no Tears of the Goddess this time. Magma Traps can happen at the same time you’re dealing with Whirling Jade Storm cutting off the tank from the Monk. Some of the these can be ignored but you’ll have to clear some. Your Rogues can use Cloak of Shadows, and your Hunters can use Aspect of the Turtle to trigger the traps without getting tossed into the air. Using Sprint or Aspect of the Cheetah at the same time can allow your Rogue or Hunter to clear several traps safely. You would think a Paladin’s Divine Shield would work the same way and combined with Divine Steed; however, on the PTR server this didn’t work. It’s not clear if this was a bug or WaI (Working as Intended). If the immunities are down, you can still trigger the trap with a class which can handle the fall damage. Hunters can use Disengage, Mages can Blink at the last second before they hit. Any class could do it with a little help from your Priest with Leap of Faith.

King Rastakhan

Classes that shine: Discipline Priest (shields), Hunter (immunity), Mage (immunity), Paladin (immunity), Rogue (immunity), Shaman (health share), Demon Hunter (immunity)

King Rastakhan will face toward a player and cast Plague of Toads. These can be sidestepped, but sometimes other mechanics like Meteor Leap or  Zombie Dust Totem make this impossible. When either happens and Plague of Toads in on the way, you can call on Team Immunity to intercept the toads. They’ll still explode but the immune player won’t take any damage. In Phase two, Bwonsamdi tags teams in. If you haven’t quested through the Horde story, I strongly recommend it as it provides some fantastic context to the fight. Bwonsamdi afflicts players with Caress of Death preventing healing. Like in the Conclave fight, it’s time for your Discipline Priest and Shamans to stand tall with Shields and Spirit Link Totem, respectively.

High Tinker Mekkatorque

Classes to shine: Hunter (avoid fall damage) and Mage (avoid fall damage), Priest (Leap of Faith)

High Tinker Mekkatorque’s Miscalculated Teleport is another fall mechanic like Magma Traps with the same kinds of ways to mitigate it.

Stormwall Blockcade

Classes that shine: Hunter (immunity, slow trap), Mage (immunity), Paladin (immunity), Priest (Leap of Faith), Rogue (immunity), Demon Hunter (immunity)

Brother Joseph has an ability called Sea’s Temptation which spawns a siren who lures a player to her with a Tempting Song. (The developers will neither confirm or deny if this song is indeed Baby Shark.) While patches of Sea Storm can slow the player, if they reach the siren, they will jump overboard and drown. However, your friendly neighborhood Priest can Leap of Faith them before they reach the siren to save them.

The Energized Storm add is immune to most forms of crowd control, but slows, like a Hunter’s Tar Trap will work. And raid leaders can once again call upon Team Immunity to help deal with the Ire of the Deep.

Jaina Proudmoore

Classes to shine: Havoc Demon Hunter, Windwalker Monk (highly mobile DPS), Hunter (Master’s Call), Paladin (Blessing of Freedom)

I wonder if Blessing of Freedom will remove Chilling Touch. Even if it doesn’t, the Jaina fight has many rooting mechanics. It seems like a good place to wear out your Blessing of Freedom button. This also looks like a strong encounter for Hunters to use their Cunning pets’ Master’s Call ability. A high mobility player will be key for navigating the Howling Winds and interrupting Jaina. Due to the mechanics of the encounter, you can’t set up Warlock portals ahead of time.

And finally…

Battle for Dazar’alor looks like an exciting raid. I’m sure as the world’s best progress through new strategies will develop. Even if your class doesn’t have a moment to shine right now, perhaps you’ll be the key cog to one of the newer strategies.

And a Titan-sized thank you to Wowhead for their Battle of Dazar’alor Overview by Squishei, which really helped in compiling this info.