Kaz’rogal Strategy Guide (Mount Hyjal)

kaz'rogal strategy guide (mount hyjal) tbc classic
  • Author: Pride
  • Date: January 29, 2022
  • Updated: January 31, 2022
  • Expansion: TBC Classic
tbc classic raid guide

Mount Hyjal Raid Guide

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Mount Hyjal Attunement

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Mount Hyjal Loot

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Rage Winterchill

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Kaz’rogal

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Archimonde

Kaz’rogal, the doomguard, is the third boss that players will encounter in the Mount Hyjal raid, and the first boss of the Horde base camp section of the raid.

Though he boasts the same stats as previous bosses – 4.25 million HP and 6200 armor – Kaz’rogal will be a slight bump in difficulty compared to the previous bosses of the raid, despite only having 4, very straight-forward abilities.

That’s because of his powerful Mark of Kaz’rogal ability, which makes the fight increasingly difficult the longer it goes on for. Stronger raids will only be inconvenienced slightly by it, but raids with lower total DPS may struggle.

This guide will offer a step-by-step analysis on how to take down Kaz’rogal before he drains you empty.

Role Summaries

  • Make sure you are never within 20 yards of Kaz’rogal
  • Use your mana regeneration abilities and items early so you can use them multiple times in the fight
  • This fight is all about mana efficiency – downrank your spells and avoid overhealing
  • Be quick to react with instant heals when War Stomp is coming off cooldown, as the tank can die fast
  • Priests: When there’s nothing to heal, use your wand to regenerate mana

Abilities

Kaz’rogal’s titular ability happens to be his most dangerous and/or annoying one.

Every mana user in the raid is afflicted by a debuff that drains 600 of their mana every second for 5 seconds, for a total of 3000 mana drained. If this debuff causes any player’s mana to reach 0, they will explode, dealing 10,213 to 11,287 Shadow damage to all players within 15 yards, including themselves.

The damage is high enough that it will kill most non-tanks. However, both the mana drain debuff and the explosion can be resisted, making Shadow resistance effective in this fight – though you shouldn’t need SR gear.

Your raid will need to use every mana regeneration tool available to them, like Dark Rune and Super Mana Potion to stay in the fight. A Paladin’s Judgement of Wisdom will also make a huge difference. Druids on the other hand can completely negate the mana drain effect by shifting into a form that doesn’t use mana, like Cat Form.

If anybody is about to run out of mana, they need to communicate it and move away from the raid ASAP to avoid killing fellow raid members. Your Warlocks should use their Master Soulstone on them to allow them to get back into the fight straight away.

This ability is cast 45 seconds into the fight for the first time, and then cast every 40 seconds, with the interval being reduced by 5 seconds for every subsequent cast. So the 2nd cast will be at 1:25, the 3rd cast at 2:00, the 4th at 2:30, etc, until it is cast every 10 seconds, which is its cap. This constantly increasing frequency means you have to deal with Kaz’rogal ASAP or likely wipe as your healers are out of mana and your raid is constantly exploding.

Deals damage to all enemies in a cone in front of Kaz’rogal.

This spell deals 22,800 to 25,200 damage, which sounds massive. However, it is divided evenly between all targets and is reduced by armor. A single tank can tank the cleave on their own, but if they could die to an unfortunately timed big hit, so it is recommended that your tanks stack up in front of Kaz’rogal in order to split the damage.

Cast every 5 to 15 seconds, though there was a bug on the PTR where Kaz’rogal would “forget” to cast this ability for long periods of time, sometimes up to 1 minute.

Kaz’rogal stomps the ground, dealing weapon damage plus 2250 Physical damage to all players within 12 yards and stunning them for 5 seconds.

Stun break and stun resist effects work normally against this ability. Moreover, stun immunity effects, like Free Action Potion, will negate both the damage and stun portions of this spell, making them extremely valuable.

Cast every 10 to 30 seconds.

Kaz’rogal applies a debuff on up to 5 enemies within 20 yards, reducing their movement speed, attack speed and strength by 75% for 12 seconds.

This debuff is absolutely debilitating to your tanks and physical DPS players, but it is not dispellable, so they’re out of luck. The only way to more it is through movement speed clearing effects, like Free Action Potion or a Paladin‘s Blessing of Freedom. The friendly Horde NPCs can also be targeted by it, making it beneficial to pull as many of them as possible into the fight so your physical DPS players don’t suffer.

Cast every 20 to 30 seconds.

Raid Composition & Preparation

Bring as many mana regeneration items as you can. Dark Rune and Super Mana Potion are both very useful.

Your Priests should make sure everyone in the raid has the Prayer of Shadow Protection buff on them, giving them a chance to resist Mark of Kaz’rogal. It can make a very major difference in the long run.

This fight is very harsh on healers due to the constant mana drain effect of Mark of Kaz’rogal, but it’s not particularly difficult to heal through. 4-5 healers could handle it no problem, though 6 is always a safe number.

2-3 healers should be assigned to your main tank. Holy Paladins are outstanding at this task due to their high mana efficiency, with Restoration Druids also being pretty good thanks to their ability to keep up Lifebloom indefinitely without using up much mana.

1 healer should be assigned to your off-tanks, who will be soaking Malevolent Cleave for your main tank. Any class works here, but a Restoration Druids with their cheap heal-over-time spells make strong candidates.

The rest of your healers will be dedicated to raid healing. War Stomp in particular deals a pretty hefty amount of damage to your raid, specially for raids that are heavier on the melee DPS side. Restoration Shamans are by far the best at this task thanks to lower ranks of Chain Heal being extremely efficient and doing minimal overhealing.

As mana regeneration is the name of the game, all of your healers should be using mana regen buff food and elixirs, such as Blackened Sporefish and Elixir of Major Mageblood.

There are no specific DPS class / spec requirements for this fight. However, classes and specs that have issues with their mana usage, like Elemental Shamans, will struggle during this fight if your raid doesn’t have fast kill times. Classes that have have built-in sources of mana regeneration however, like Warlocks, will shine here.

Additionally, your melee won’t have a good time in this fight, as they’ll have to deal with being stunned for 20 to 40% of the fight. They can mitigate this to some extend by bringing Free Action Potion, but ranged DPS heavier raids will still have a significantly easier time.

Due to the “soft enrage” nature of Mark of Kaz’rogal, it is imperative that your DPS players use DPS consumables for this fight. The longer it goes on for, the worse things get for everyone.

It is very much possible to do this fight with 1 tank, but a minimum of 2 is recommended. Running a 3rd tank can also help prevent accidental deaths due to unfortunate situations where a melee attack, Malevolent Cleave and War Stomp all overlap — though it is by no means necessary.

Tank damage isn’t particularly high here, so your main tank can use DPS / threat gear and consumables for maximum threat, allowing your DPS players to go all-out. A few Free Action Potions will also make this fight significantly easier, so it’s recommended that your main tank brings some.

Protection Paladins will have an awful time during this fight, as the mana drain effect can be very severe on them due to their relatively small mana pool and lack of ways to reliably recover mana. It’s possible for them to stay in for a while by using Dark Rune and Super Mana, but unless they are main tanking, they will likely run out of mana and explode fairly quickly.

A small tip that can help your Prot Paladins to stay in this fight longer is to use Judgement of the Crusader to regenerate more mana from another Paladin’s Judgement of Wisdom. Furthermore, when they’re running critically low on mana, they can switch to Seal of Wisdom to increase their mana regeneration slightly, though their damage and threat will be reduced noticeably as a result.

The Pull

After getting to the 3rd boss of Mount Hyjal, your group is probably very familiar with how pulling works here. After the 8th wave is defeated, the wave counter is replaced by text saying “Invading Enemies = 1”, Kaz’rogal yells and then begins moving towards the Horde base camp at a snail’s pace.

You will have 1 minute to ress any dead players, rebuff and regenerate mana before Kaz’rogal makes it to the Horde base’s gates and engages the first Horde guards.

kazrogal 1

There are 2 strong options for positions to fight Kaz’rogal at. The first is at the entrance gate, and the second is close to Thrall, which this guide will detail. The former allows your raid to begin dealing damage to Kaz’rogal as soon as possible, while the latter gets a bunch of Horde NPCs involved in this fight, deal damage and can soak Cripple.

As your raid is on a timer because of Mark of Kaz’rogal, you will want to engage Kaz’rogal as soon as your raid is ready. Have your hunters pull him with consecutive Misdirections on the main tank, who should be standing nearby, ready to attack Kaz’rogal while carefully moving him towards Thrall, until the orc Warchief has joined the fight.

Your ranged DPS and healers should make sure that they’re not standing in the path your tank will take towards Thrall. All of his abilities bar Mark of Kaz’rogal have a pretty small range, so they should stay at range. Nothing is as embarrassing as having to call a wipe because your main tank died after the healers got stunned by War Stomp.

kazrogal 2 2

After Kaz’rogal has been safely moved to the position you intent to fight him at, it is recommended that your raid positions as shown in the picture above. Your ranged players and healers will spread out to avoid having a Mark of Kaz’rogal explosion hit multiple players, while your melee DPS players stack behind him and your tanks stack in front of him.

The Fight

Kaz’rogal is yet another instance of a jerk of a boss who will not wait a little before using his abilities. He can and will use his Malevolent Cleave within the first 5 seconds of being engaged, so it’s imperative that your raid moves into position quickly and DPS players are careful in threat early on, so as to avoid very embarrassing wipes.

it is heavily recommended that you get Judgement of Wisdom up as soon as you can, as it will really make a difference over the fight’s duration. This beginning calm period is a great time for your Holy Paladin to use it.

The second ability you will most likely see is War Stomp, approximately 10 to 15 seconds into the fight. This will be the first test for your healers – there is a decent chance that War Stomp and Malevolent Cleave overlap, resulting in an unpredictable damage spike. Your healers should make sure heal-over-time spells are rolling on your main tank when War Stomp‘s cooldown is over, and be ready to use instant heal spells if they do happen to overlap.

It is also strongly recommended that your main tank uses a Free Action Potion about 10 seconds into the fight, in anticipation of War Stomp. They likely haven’t built a big threat lead yet, and ranged DPS players will be nuking while they are stunned — a chain of Shadow Bolt crits from a particularly keen Warlock can quickly make things get ugly.

As soon as War Stomp ends, your raid should use Heroism / Bloodlust, as that will maximize your damage. Your melee will need to keep an eye out on War Stomp‘s cooldown using an addon like DeadlyBossMods or BigWigs and pop a Free Action Potion in anticipation of the next cast, so they don’t lose valuable hasted DPS time.

Next up, you’ll occasionally see Cripple. If your raid is using the “pull to Thrall” tactic, you likely have a very high number of NPCs assisting you so your players don’t get targeted as often, otherwise your physical DPS players will suffer.

Then, 45 seconds into the fight, it’s time to brace for the first Mark of Kaz’rogal. Unless something has gone catastrophically wrong, nobody will be exploding after the first one, it will merely drain everyone’s mana. Druids can shapeshift into a mana-less form to negate the mana drain, while Priest healers can use their wand to regenerate through Judgement of Wisdom mana while healing requirements are low.

Specs that struggle with mana like Arcane Mages and Elemental Shamans should use their mana regen items, like Dark Runes and mana potions, as soon as they can rather than when absolutely needed. They will likely need to use multiple throughout the entire fight, so using them early ensures they can use another one later.

kazrogal 2 3

For subsequent uses of Mark of Kaz’rogal, there will likely be casualties. Players who are at or below 3,000 mana should communicate that they’re about to die, and move away from the raid. Your Warlocks should use their Master Soulstone to get that person back up ASAP – you will need all the DPS and healing you can get.

That concludes all of Kaz’rogal’s abilities, and marks the beginning of a war on attrition he is waging on you. He will simply keep casting these abilities repeatedly, with Mark of Kaz’rogal cast at 1:25, 2:00, 2:30, 2:55, 3:15 and 3:30, After that, he’ll be casting it every 10 seconds, which is completely unmanageable, thus essentially giving your raid about 3 minutes and 40 seconds until you’re completely doomed.

Most kills typically range between 2 to 3 minutes, so provided your healers are good at healing efficiently and not wasting their mana, or that your raid’s DPS is strong, there likely won’t be anything that trips you up. Guilds with wasteful healers or low DPS however will need to be more careful and may need to play their mana regeneration options more carefully, such as switching your Shadow Priest between groups to ensure your healers do not run out of mana.

Congratulations on besting Kaz’rogal and his mana drain shenanigans! With the doom guard boss dead, you are incredibly close to the final showdown with the big bad of Mount Hyjal — Arcimonde, the defiler himself!

 

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!
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