What’s your favorite raid mechanic from World of Warcraft?

In the past, we’ve talked about our favorite fights in raids or which raid tier is the best. Those have been done to death — we know that everyone loves Ulduar and Throne of Thunder. So this time I want to get a little more specific — what is your favorite mechanic in a raid or a dungeon?

Castle Nathria has been out for a couple of months now and it’s a fantastic raid with some real stand-out mechanics. Especially when you consider that the entire raid was designed and built while the developers were working from home! As my guild has been progressing through the raid there have been a couple of mechanics that I’ve thought were outstanding. The first is the dance intermission on Blood Council. It’s not a very hard mechanic; go to your spot and follow the dance moves. It’s amazing seeing all 30 players moving in sync like that.

I love the dancing mechanic. It's never not going to be fun watching 30 people do their prances and shimmies. pic.twitter.com/Uu7hdEdsf1

— Cory Taylor 💙 (@CoryjTaylor) December 14, 2020

My most favorite mechanic from Castle Nathria is when Sire Denathrius uses Command: Massacre. Remornia flies off, and all of a sudden these giant swords start appearing around the edges of the encounter and you have to dodge them as they fly through the air. Watching the swords pop up, while the ground is covered in angry red lines of death is amazing, and really lends itself to the hectic nature of his encounter. It’s like having to dodge trains during Operator Thogar in Hellfire Citadel — only there are 17 trains and they’re all arriving right now!

For a mechanic not from the raid that we’re currently in, it’s got to be healers flying around and collecting power orbs during the Valithria Dreamwalker encounter in Icecrown Citadel. Not only did you get to swim through the air with the grace and dexterity of a dolphin, but after the phase was over you came out super powered! I pity any healer who was left out of the orb gathering because they had to keep the group alive.

So what’s your favorite raid mechanic? Do you like the big flashy meteor-type spells that need to be soaked among many people, or do you prefer something that you and you alone can handle? If it’s when a boss mind controls one of your raiders and you accidentally kill them, you can be honest — this is a safe space.