Jan’alai Strategy Guide (Zul’Aman)

jan'alai strategy guide (zul'aman) tbc classic
  • Author: Pride
  • Date: April 18, 2022
  • Updated: April 28, 2022
  • Expansion: TBC Classic
tbc classic raid guide

Zul’Aman Raid Guide

Gear & Best In Slot (bis)

Zul’Aman Loot

akilzon icon

Akil’zon

nalorakk icon

Nalorakk

janalai icon

Jan’alai

halazzi icon

Halazzi

hex lord malacrass icon

Hex Lord Malacrass

zuljin icon

Zul’jin

Jan’alai, the Dragonhawk Avatar, is one of the 4 Loa bosses that players will fight in the Zul’Aman raid.

He will typically be the third boss that players fight in Zul’Aman, and while his fight is relatively straight-forward, he’s typically considered to be the most difficult of the 4 Loa. 2 tanks, one of which being a Protection Paladin, is highly recommended for this fight. Defeating Jan’alai does not add any time to the timed challenge event — the time you see on the timer on the top part of your screen is all the time you have to claim your Amani War Bear mount.

This guide will offer a detailed, step-by-step tutorial on how to defeat Jan’alai before your raid is overwhelmed by his dragonhawks.

Role Summaries

  • Make sure everyone understands which Amani’shi Hatcher they should kill, and which to spare
  • Immediately as the fight starts, spread out and move to your designated spot, so Flame Breath doesn’t hit multiple people
  • Move away from Fire Bombs — their range is slightly larger than the visual fire effect on the ground, so be ware
  • Use a Master Healthstone if you get hit by a Fire Bomb
  • Do not touch the Fire Wall that Jan’alai spawns while channeling Fire Bomb — you will die
  • If it looks like you’re going to wipe, moving Jan’alai off his platform causes him to despawn for 30 seconds, resetting the fight
  • Use your personal DPS cooldowns during Heroism / Bloodlust for maximum DPS, after you defeat the first wave of Amani Dragonhawk Hatchlings
  • Kill the Amani’shi Hatcher that your raid designates as the kill target, spare the other one
  • Wait for the off-tank to get some threat on the Amani Dragonhawk Hatchlings, then AoE them down
  • If the opposite side is struggling with adds, go help them, but be careful while moving there — don’t get hit by bombs or hit others with fire
  • Jan’alai doesn’t do a lot of damage to the tanks at first, but do not lose focus
  • Quickly heal off Flame Breath damage on the raid so players don’t accidentally die to Fire Bomb, and vice versa
  • Be prepared to heal the off-tank as they pick up the Amani Dragonhawk Hatchlings
  • Move towards the off-tank if you accidentally get threat on any Amani Dragonhawk Hatchlings
  • Pump heals on the main tank after Jan’alai Enrages at 20% HP

Main Tank

  • Keep the boss in the middle of his platform as much as possible, so people can spread out better
  • You may need to move slightly to avoid Fire Bombs or in order to allow melee to keep DPSing if Fire Bombs spawn directly behind him
  • Move back to the middle of his platform after Fire Bomb
  • Use major defensive cooldowns and trinkets after Jan’alai Enrages, at 20% HP
  • It’s recommended that you use defensive consumables to survive the Enrage, particularly if your gear isn’t great

Off-tank

  • When Hatchers spawn, quickly move towards the platform of the Hatcher you are sparing, and wait just before the bridge
  • Pick up the Amani Dragonhawk Hatchlings & the Hatcher as they come and keep them there
  • At 35% HP, Jan’alai will hatch all remaining eggs, though this should be 0 unless your group has made a mistake
  • You’ll need to be ready for that, and pick up the Hatchlings ASAP — you may have to tank up to 20 at once, so use defensive cooldowns

Abilities

Jan’alai targets a random player and spit flames towards them, dealing 4375 to 5625 Fire damage to all players in a frontal cone in front of him.

This ability is extremely easy to deal with — just have your raid spread out as much as possible to minimize damage taken.

Cast every 10 to 15 seconds, so this ability will do a lot of damage to your raid over the fight’s duration.

Jan’alai will teleport any player that’s not on his main platform to him, then seal off the exits of his platform with Fire Wall. Then, he will start channeling, summoning 30 Fire Bombs which look like intense flames, in random spots on his platform. 10 seconds later, the bombs will explode, each of them dealing 6125 to 7875 damage to every player within 4 yards.

The bombs are very easy to avoid by just moving slightly further away from them — though it should be noted that their range is slightly deceptive, with the flame visual being about half the size of their actual detonation range, so don’t stand right next to it. Having said that, their damage isn’t that lethal — most players will survive 1 bomb provided they were at full HP, so they’ll only really have to avoid getting hit by multiple bombs at once.

Jan’alai will cast this ability 1 minute after his fight starts, and then every 30 seconds afterwards. Furthermore, Jan’alai will not use any other abilities while he is channeling Fire Bomb.

A wall of flames that blocks off the exists of Jan’alai’s platform, preventing them from leaving. Any player that touches the flames will be set ablaze, becoming afflicted with a debuff that deals 3063 to 3937 Fire damage to them every second for 15 seconds, for a total of 52,500 Fire damage on average over the debuff’s duration.

This will kill most players, so it will be very important that you don’t accidentally get too close to the Fire Walls.

Dragonhawk Eggs are the main complicating factor in this fight. There are 2 smaller platforms on each of Jan’alai’s platform’s sides, left and right. Each smaller platform has 20 Dragonhawk Eggs that can hatch into Amani Dragonhawk Hatchlings. The Hatchlings are level 70 mobs with 6986 HP, and deal fairly insignificant damage — typically only hitting tanks for 300-400 damage per attack, and cloth users for 700-800 damage. Their main challenge comes from the fact that they come in large packs, possibly from both sides, as well as their nasty Flame Buffet ability.

Dealing with 40 different mobs coming from different sides will be very difficult for most raids. For that reason, your raid’s goal will be to clear one side first, then the 2nd side later.

The Dragonhawk Hatchling singes its current target, dealing 463 to 537 Fire damage to them, while also applying a debuff that increases the Fire damage they take by 3% for 1 minute. This debuff can stack up to 200 times, increasing Fire damage taken by a ridiculous amounts – but realistically, even 10-15 stacks be enough to get people killed by Jan’alai’s powerful Fire abilities, like Flame Breath.

Jan’alai summons 2 Amani’shi Hatcher trolls. These trolls are level 70 and have 6980 HP, so they’re pretty weak, but they won’t even fight your raid. They will instead rush to the Dragonhawk Egg platforms and start casting Hatch Eggs, which as the name implies causes the eggs to hatch into Amani Dragonhawk Hatchlings. The Hatchers will hatch eggs every 4 seconds, with eggs hatching at an increasing rate: first 1 egg hatches, then 2, then 3, then 4, then 5, then 5 once again, causing all 20 eggs on that platform to fully hatch.

Jan’alai will summon the first set of Hatchers ~15 seconds into the fight and they will each go to a different platform. Subsequent Hatchers may both go to the same platform if either of the platforms are out of eggs for them to hatch.

Most groups will typically deal with this ability by killing 1 Hatcher and allowing the other to hatch every egg on one side, with a tank being positioned at the entrance to that platform, ready to pick up the Hatcher & the Hatchlings as they come. Repeat this process for the second hatcher, and then there’ll be no more hatchers, causing Jan’alai to stop casting Summon Amani’shi Hatcher & Hatch All Eggs.

Once Jan’alai’s HP drops below 35%, he will use this ability, hatching every single egg that is still up. If you correctly dealt with the Amani’shi Hatchers, this ability should only hatch all of the eggs on one side, or no eggs at all — both of these scenarios are fine. Things will only be problematic for your raid if you killed all of the Hatchers, causing Jan’alai to hatch 40 eggs at once, which can make things very chaotic.

When Jan’alai’s HP drops below 20%, or after 5 minutes in combat, he will enrage — increasing his Physical damage done and attack speed by 50%.

This causes him to suddenly start doing a fairly substantial amount of damage to the main tank, so it is recommended that they respond by using a defensive cooldown, giving your healers a slightly easier time keeping them up.

Raid Composition & Preparation

This boss does not necessitate any special preparation. However, it can be very beneficial for your raid if every player has a Master Healthstone, as it can save their lives if they happen to get hit by Fire Bomb.

This fight is somewhere between Akil’zon and Nalorakk in terms of healing difficulty. There’s a small chunk of raid damage coming out regularly due to Flame Breath, and outside his Enrage, Jan’alai does a pretty unimpressive amount of damage to tanks. 1 well-geared healer could solo heal this fight with some effort, but 2 healers are recommended, while groups with weaker DPS may even want to have 3 for this fight.

Any healing class / spec works fine here, but it will be beneficial to have at least 1 healer with decent AoE healing, such as a Restoration Shaman or Holy Priest, as they can easily deal with Flame Breath. Restoration Druids will also be exceptional here, thanks to their ability to keep healing-over-time effects on both tanks, offering some very consistent healing throughout the fight’s duration.

While not absolutely necessary, your raid will really benefit from having at least 1-2 players with good AoE damage — typically casters such as Warlocks and Mages. This will make dealing with the Amani Dragonhawk Hatchlings significantly easier.

If your raid doesn’t have very high DPS, it will be highly recommended that your DPS players use DPS consumables, such as flasks, buff food etc. There are lot of things that need to die quickly here, and crucially, you don’t want Jan’alai to remain Enraged for a long period of time, potentially killing your tank.

This fight is doable with 1 tank, provided they are a Protection Paladin with good gear. Most groups however will prefer to have 2 tanks here, with a main tank of any class taking care of the boss, while a Protection Paladin off-tank takes care of the Amani Dragonhawk Hatchlings. Other tank classes can deal with the Hatchlings as well, but Protection Paladins will have a major advantage thanks to their AoE threat from Consecration.

Your main tank should use defensive consumables along with some beefy gear, so they don’t get overwhelmed by Jan’alai’s damage during Enrage. Meanwhile, your off-tank should use threat / DPS consumables and gears (including spell power on-use trinkets if they’re a Protection Paladin), allowing your DPS players to AoE the Amani Dragonhawk Hatchlings down without worrying about threat.

The Pull

Pulling Jan’alai is virtually identical to pulling Akil’zon. Clear the mobs before the stairs leading up to his platform, and you’re ready to take him on.

janalai 0 fixed

Jan’alai’s aggro range is fairly small, so it’s safe to move up to the entrance of his platform. After you’ve buffed up and made sure everyone has full mana, have your Hunters use Misdirection on the tank and pull. If your group doesn’t have any Hunters, the main tank can just run in — Jan’alai will typically not use any abilities right at the start, so it’s safe for them to do so.

Note that Jan’alai will NOT lock up his boss arena, unlike most Zul’aman bosses — except of when he’s channeling Fire Bomb. Your raid is free to go in and out of his arena as they please. However, pulling Jan’alai out of his platform will cause him to despawn for 30 seconds, effectively giving your raid a free reset. If multiple players or healers / tanks die and it looks like you’re going to wipe, it’ll be a great option for quickly resetting the fight without wasting a lot of time for the timed event challenge.

The Fight

As soon as you engage Jan’alai, your raid will want to quickly move to a designated spot around the arena, positioning as follows:

janalai 1 2

The main idea is for everyone to be spread out around the room, so as much as possible, you avoid having multiple players all get hit by Flame Breath, an AoE spell that Jan’alai uses pretty frequently. Healers stay in the middle so they can reach everyone, and away from Amani Dragonhawk Hatchlings. Melee DPS spread out so they’re on opposite sides of Jan’alai, while ranged DPS should spread out such that both sides have 1 player with strong AoE spells, like a Warlock. Jan’alai will be nice and wait about 10-15 seconds before he casts the first Flame Breath, so you have ample time to move into position.

A few seconds after the first Flame Breath, Jan’alai will cast Summon Amani’shi Hatcher for the first time, summoning 2 Amani’shi Hatcher trolls.

janalai 2 2

These only have about 7k HP so they die very quickly — but you shouldn’t kill both of them! Instead, you will want to only one of them, allowing the other to get to the Dragonhawk Eggs. Your off-tank should follow the Hatcher that your raid doesn’t kill, and wait just before the bridge leading to the eggs.

janalai 3 2

Once the Hatcher reaches the eggs, he cast Hatch Eggs, causing the eggs to hatch into Amani Dragonhawk Hatchlings. Eggs will watch once every 4 seconds; initially only 1 egg hatches, then 2 on the 2nd cast, 3 on the 3rd cast, 4 on the 4th, and then 5 on the 5th and 6th casts. Your offtank should be ready to pick them up as they come, along with the Hatcher himself, who joins the fight after all eggs are hatched. The Amani Dragonhawk Hatchlings only have 7k HP themselves so they’ll die very easily. Thus most groups should have no problem allowing the Hatcher to hatch all of the eggs on one side.

Your raid should use Heroism / Bloodlust, along with personal DPS cooldowns, after the last Amani Dragonhawk Hatchling has been defeated. There will be a long period of time during which Jan’alai only uses Flame Breath, giving your DPS players very high uptime, making this timing very effective.

20 to 40 seconds after Fire Bomb, Jan’alai will use Summon Amani’shi Hatcher. As one side has no more eggs, both Amani’shi Hatchers will run to the same side. If your group has good AOE DPS, you can let them both live and cast Hatch Eggs, allowing you to kill all of the Amani Dragonhawk Hatchlings faster. If your AoE DPS is on the low side, it will be better to kill one of them, so the Hatchlings spawn slower. Simply kill them in the same way as you did before, and you’re now done with eggs… hopefully!

At 35% HP, Jan’alai will cast Hatch All Eggs, which hatches all of the remaining eggs at once, as its name implies. If you correctly dealt with the eggs previously, this ability will do nothing. If your raid DPS was very high and you got him down to this point before the 2nd Summon Amani’shi Hatcher however, or if you killed every Hatcher, you are in a bit of a pickle — you’ll have to deal with 20 Amani Dragonhawk Hatchlings at once. That will generally not be too difficult for decent groups, provided your offtank quickly moves to the side they spawn from and picks them up, before they get to your healers.

The only trick that Jan’alai has up his sleeve is Enrage, which he will use once his HP drops to 20% or below, increasing his Physical damage done and attack speed by 50%. Your tanks should use defensive cooldowns here, because where your healers could previously keep the tank up mostly passively, they’ll now have to spam heals on them — don’t slack! If your raid’s DPS is a bit on the lower side or if your tank doesn’t have the best gear, it won’t be a bad idea to use Heroism / Bloodlust here rather than at the start, allowing you to finish Jan’alai off, before he kills your tank and thus wiping the raid.

And with that, you’ve successfully defeated the 3rd Loa — congratulations! His death does not extend your timed challenge timer, so you the time you see on the top side of the screen is the actual time you have left to kill the last Loa, Halazzi, and get that bad-ass Amani War Bear as a reward!

 

About the Author

Pride

Classic WoW is my jam, with a passion for PvP. Most know me as Baranor, the ret paladin guy, but I'm secretly a druid main, don't tell anyone. In my free time I play Switch games, particularly JRPGs. Some day I'll be making my own games and I humbly hope you play those too!
Subscribe
Notify of
guest

0 Comments
Most Voted
Newest Oldest
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
Scroll to Top