Heroic Throne of Tides – Retribution Paladin Guide


Heroic Throne of Tides is the what we will be covering here, specifically for Retribution Paladins. Some of the information here may be applicable to other classes of well, but my overall objective is to create this for Ret Paladins.

Tips: There are 4 Heroic videos on this site.  You may view them in HD by visiting their pages at YouTube.  Also, playing more than one video at once, or leaving a few running without pausing may slow this page down.  Just an fyi! (Hint: Just play one at a time!) There are 4 boss encounters in Throne of Tides:

Lady Naz’jar

Phase 1 – Lady Naz’jar is a pretty easy tank ‘n spank fight.  In Phase 1, she will cast Geyser, which looks like a pool of water on the ground.  Move out of these pools, the damage can get nasty.  Also, she casts Shock Blast, which hits for roughly 140k on the tank (assuming they have aggro).  This can be interrupted, so use Rebuke in tandem with the tank’s interrupts, or if other DPS have interrupts, work out a quick rotation.

Phase 2 – Lady Naz’jar will become immune to damage at 50% , summon 3 adds and start spitting out tornados in random directions.  Help control the adds with Repentance, and DPS them down.  Once they are dead, Phase 1 repeats until she dies.

Ret Paladin Specific – Keep out of the pools and pewpew until Phase 2.  Use Rebuke as necessary to help keep the tank from taking massive damage.  In Phase 2, Repentance a mob (usually a caster), and help DPS down the adds, avoiding the tornados she casts at you.  After all adds dead, resume DPS on Naz’jar until dead.

Paladin Loot:

Lady Naz’jar Heroic Video


Commander Ulthok

Strat – Commander Ulthok is a fairly straightforward fight.  Avoid Dark Fissure, kite him around the room, then down the hallway, making sure to stay out of the growing black spots.  Now, more specifically, the big thing to watch out for here is Dark Fissure, which is created by a ground slam that deals upwards of 50k damage to anyone caught in it.  From the area of impact, a dark spot on the ground starts to grow, and those areas deal damage.  Think Defile from Lich King.  A few other abilities will be cast, one of which is Curse of Fatigue, which will slow speed and haste by 50%.  Not dispellable by a Paladin’s Cleanse. This makes it tougher to get out of the dark spots.  He also will cast Enrage, which will increase physical damage by 50%, and that has to be removed by Rogues or Hunters.  Finally, he will use Squeeze, which grabs a person for 6 seconds, dealing 12.5k damage per second.

Ret Paladin Specific – This is a DPS race.  The tank should be slowly kiting Ulthok around the edge of the room, then down the hallway towards the dungeon entrance, after the room has filled up with dark spots.  Ret Paladins should try and stay to the side of the boss while he is kited.  DPS and burn those cooldowns.  If affected by Curse of Fatigue, Cleanse will not work, but Hand of Freedom should.  You can also bubble or use racial escape mechanics.  This may be a stressful fight for healers, so using Lay on Hands on a party member that is in trouble can help alleviate some stress.  Also, using Word of Glory on yourself from time to time won’t hurt either.  Finally, Holy Radiance is our instant, AoE heal.  Use this when it is available to help healers.

Paladin Loot:

Commander Ulthok Heroic Video


Erunak Stonespeaker and Mindbender Ghur’sha

Phase 1 - This is a two-part fight, but fairly straight-forward.  First, you will be fighting Erunak, and he deals damage in several ways.  Earthshards will deal heavy damage and are launched at a random player’s location.  Simply move away from this area.  Lava Bolt deals heavy damage, and should be interrupted.  Magma Splash is a frontal AoE attack, so Erunak should be tanked facing away from the group.  Emberstrike is a DoT triggered by melee attacks, and should be removed by healers.  At 50%, Mindbender Ghur’sha detaches from Erunak, and Phase 2 begins.

Phase 2 – Mindbender will take control of a player, and they must be DPS’ed down to 50%.  Hold off on strong DoTs.  Mind Fog is a green gas cloud on the ground that deals damage and renders a player unable to cast or attack, thus should be avoided.  Unrelenting Agony deals AoE damage that must be healed through.

Ret Paladin Specific – On Phase 1, keep on boss, and avoid Earthshards if they are going to land nearby.  Be sure to stay behind boss to avoid Magma Splash.  Help interrupt Lava Bolt with Rebuke.  On Phase 2, get the mind controlled player down to 50% quickly, then focus heavy DPS on the boss, avoiding the green clouds on the ground. Use Holy Radiance and Word of Glory as needed.  Also, keep an eye on the tank’s damage, and be prepared to use Lay on Hands if necessary.

Paladin Loot:

Erunak Stonespeaker and Mindbender Ghur’sha Heroic Video

Ozumat

Phase 1 – The add phase.  Packs of Murlocs to be AoE’d down, 3 Vicious Mindlashers (casters), who can be tanked and DPS’ed down, and one Unyielding Behemoth who needs to be tanked and DPS’ed.  Unyielding Behemoth will do a massive AoE damaging attack after lifting in the air and slammign to the ground.  Move away if possible.

Phase 2 – Three Faceless Sappers will spawn, channeling at Neptulon.  Focus DPS and bring these down one by one.  Tank will be gathering the Blight Beasts that spawn, by kiting them around the room.  Black puddles that deal damage will continue to spawn around the room, so avoid them as best as possible.  Can bea very healing intensive fight if not careful, but if everyone is on their game and paying attention, healer can save cooldowns for Phase 3.  Phase 3 starts when last Sapper is dead.

Phase 3 – In short, Neptulon gives super buffs to all party members. Tank will kill any and all remaining Beasts.  DPS Ozumat heavy and hard, burning all cooldowns. He will start stacking Blight of Ozumat, that deals 200 damage per second, but stacks up to 200 times.  This can get very healing intensive if the fight drags on, so take down Ozumat quickly.

Ret Paladin Specific – For Phase 1, help AoE adds and DPS the casters/behemoth.  My groups always get teh Behemoth down during Phase 1, but it can be left up until Phase 3 for the achievement.  Phase 2 gets trickier, so stick close together as a DPS pack and nuke down the Sappers.  Tank should be kiting any and all Beasts, but be ready to use Hand of Salvation in case one latches on to you.  Avoid the dark spots on the ground, and once Phase 3 begins, pop Wings and Guardian, then Zealotry afterwards.  Dps the boss down hard and fast, and use Lay on Hands/Word of Glory as needed.  I have used Lay on Hands on several occasions during this phase.

Paladin Loot:

Ozumat Heroic Video