Kologarn DPS and Parse Guide

Author: lettara
Date: May 16, 2023
Updated: June 16, 2023
Expansion: WotLK Classic

The parse strategy is more or less aligned with the speed killing strategy for Kologarn. The goal is to kill all three units: Left Arm, Right Arm & Body within a few seconds of one another. If done correctly, you can effectively mitigate every mechanic of the fight, including the rubble that spawns when an arm dies. You should get the achievement Disarmed every time you do this strategy correctly.

Disarmed

You’ll want to attempt to kill both arms when the boss is between 30% and 40%. Since each arm does 15% damage to Kologarn on death, any damage on Kologarn below 30% will be effectively wasted. Conversely, if you kill the arms past 40% you will lose valuable cleave uptime. The longer that three targets are alive, the more DPS you will be able to do.

You also run into considerable risk of dying to the rubble, as it is very difficult for a solo tank to grab aggro on the rubble spawning from both arms. You can have rogues and hunters tricks and misdirect them to the tank if necessary to prevent a wipe, but that, of course, will result in a loss of DPS from those players.

Glyphs:
Heroic Strike OR Execute
Whirlwind
Cleave

The most vital aspect of DPSing Kologarn as a Fury Warrior is getting yourself positioned into “the cleave spot” where your Cleave will damage Kologarn‘s body as well as both of his arms. This can be challenging to achieve as you have to position yourself within pixels of falling off the map. The position is on the closest square to Kologarn‘s chest, and slightly off-center to the left as pictured below.

kologarn cleave fury

I strongly suggest to use a WeakAura with visual and audio cues that notify you that you are positioned properly.

If your raid really loves you, you can do a sacrificial pull with the raid positioned far away where yourself, a tank, and a holy paladin engage the boss, allowing you to get yourself positioned properly and then casting Divine Intervention on you so you begin the actual pull directly in the cleave spot.

Opener: Normal Pre-cast Opener

Pre-Pot: Potion of Wild Magic

Glove Usage: On Pull and Execute (2 Uses)

2min Trinket Usage: On Pull with Gloves

Talents: Default 55/0/16

Glyphs:
Quick Decay
Life Tap
Glyph of Corruption

Infernal is EXTREMELY powerful on Kologarn in specific because it is not only one of the shortest fights in Ulduar, but also the only triple cleave fight from start to finish.

Make sure snap Corruption onto Kologarn and both of his arms with our pre-pot. It should be coordinated which of your warlocks will be pre-casting onto all three targets so that ISB can be active on all three targets so we can immediately triple snap-shot Corruption.

Glyph of Corruption provides a lot of power when looking to maintain Shadow’s Embrace on multiple targets simultaneously. This is especially true when we will be lusted for most of the fight with fast ticking Corruption.

If you’re able to maintain Curse of Agony on all three targets then it should be done, but it never takes priority over Shadow’s Embrace and Corruption refreshes.

The primary goal should be to keep 100% uptime on snap shotted Corruption, 3 stacks of Shadow’s Embrace, and Unstable Affliction on all 3 targets with Haunt on Kologarn . We haunt Kologarn so that we can have primary damage onto him for when the arms die as well as avoid arms dying with Haunt on them leaving us with no targets with Haunt active.

Trinket should be used in the opener to front load most of our damage on the dot cleave DPS since we will generally not be casting Drain Soul unless it’s just Kologarn remaining, and the arms are dead.

Opener: Pre-Cast Shadow Bolt > Metamorphosis/Immolation Aura > Curse of Doom (if kill time is 1:00 or more) > Immolate both arms and torso > Seed.

Pre-Pot/Second Pot: If kill time is 1:10 or less, then Potion of Speed when you start using Seed of Corruption in the opener.

If longer kill time, then pre-pot Wild Magic and then Potion of Speed on cooldown.

Metamorphosis: Pop during lust ideally right on pull.

Gloves Usage: On pull w/ Metamorphosis and on cooldown from there.

Nitro Boosts Usage: Use on pull to get into position. You are aiming for the middle of the third square from where you start to hit all three targets with Immolation Aura.

To start off the fight you will want to pre-cast the torso of Kologarn to get ISB up ASAP.

Maintain three Metamorphosis snapshotted immolates, then spam Seed of Corruption to your heart’s content.

Once one of the arms falls you will Shadow Bolt either the torso or the other arm for Decimation and then send a few Soul Fire’s into Kologarn himself.

Ideal Duration: 60s

The pre-pull:

Drop totems prior to fight just outside of the bosses aggro radius (Not fire elemental totem as we want to snapshot this).

The opener:

Boots into position and use Wild Magic while running as this is a 1-potion fight. Any cooldowns that consume a GCD should be used while running in.

Use any cooldowns immediately and drop fire elemental totem as soon as possible to maximize up time. Perform a standard cleave opener.

The rotation:

Perform cleave rotation prioritizing chain lightning and fire nova.

If arms die and body is still alive, switch to single target rotation until his death.

Encounter specific notes

A spellpower equipment set up is best on this boss as there is cleave during most of the fight.

Cooldown Usage (assuming 60s fight duration):

Spirit wolves on pull so they may benefit from Bloodlust
Bloodlust immediately after using Spirit wolves
Use gloves on pull
Use any on-use trinkets, and if they’re attack power buffs use them to snapshot fire elemental totem
Drop fire elemental totem in the center of where the boss is so fire nova can hit both arms
Use shamanistic rage between spell cooldowns and maelstrom procs if mana is needed

Don’t Pre-pot if your kill time is short and you won’t get the use of a second potion. Ideal kill time is under 60 seconds.
Damage to the arms only count if they die.
Swap Hunger For Blood Glyph for Blade Flurry / SnD
You will want to switch to your off-spec with Mutilate / Blade Flurry.
Depending on your kill times and trinkets, using Wrathstone could be an increase in DPS
While you can stealth up closer for more uptime, if you attack the boss before the tank you will have aggro and die. It’s much safer to boot/sprint up with the tank and use your tricks a few seconds before the pull.
Start in the middle/left during the start of the fight where you will pop all your cooldowns together. Once the Right Arm (Left side) breaks, move over to the left arm (Right Side) to not die to the rubble mobs that spawn.
Hopefully when the other arm dies Kologarn’s health is very low and will only take a few seconds to finish before you are overrun with the rubble adds.

Glyphs:
Glyph of Shadow
Glyph of Mind Flay
Glyph of Shadow Word: Death

Pre-pot: Potion of Speed

Opener:

Encounter:

Maintain DoTs on all targets and cycle Mind Flay on each target to maintain Shadow Word: Pain.
Use Mind Blast on Kologarn when possible.
Ideally Kologarn dies in a minute or less, so there will be no time for a 2nd potion. Ignore rubble adds.

Seal: Seal of Command

Glyphs:
Glyph of Judgement
Glyph of Exorcism
Glyph of Reckoning

Encounter:

Boots in at the start of the fight and immediately open with wings/gloves, pop sapper and go to town. Try and position yourself as DEEP into Kologarn as you can possibly get.
Use a macro to mouseover or focus Hand of Wrath on low health arms.
Make sure you positioning yourself away from the rubble if your guild doesn’t kill both the arms and the boss at the same time.

Coming Soon!

The pre-pull:

● Get into pre casting range and target the main body as you have plenty of space to do so.

The opener:

● Make sure you’re slightly off the entire caster stack either to the left or right. Pop your potion after, as this is a 1-potion fight.

● Focus on Living Bombing all 3 parts of Kologarn: Body, Left Arm, Right Arm. Use any cooldowns immediately after, as fast as possible to maximize uptime. Perform a standard cleave opener.

The rotation:

● Perform cleave rotation prioritizing bomb uptime and Hot Streak procs into the body.

● If arms die and body is still alive, switch to single target rotation until his death.

Encounter specific notes:

● Effective cleave is important for the entire fight.

● If you get gripped by the right arm you are not going to parse.

● Keep an eye on arm deaths and avoid being hit by rubble AOE or you will die

Cooldown Usage (assuming 60s fight duration):

● Use gloves on engage.

● Use any on-use trinkets

● Use Combustion and Apply Living Bomb

● Use instant cast Pyroblasts or Living Bombs when moving is required. Minimal movement with maximum cast time is essential to having effective DPS.

Opener:
There is no way to pre-trap Kologarn

Encounter Tips:

You cannot use Explosive Trap on Kologarn like you can on other bosses. In order to successfully trap, you’ll need to jump off the platform into his torso and drop an Explosive Trap mid-air, then Disengage back. This can be difficult to pull off consistently, so be sure to ask your raid to be patient with you as you learn it.
Once you’ve landed the perfect trap, proceed with your standard single target rotation except, instead of multi-shot or steady shot, use Volley instead.
Once one arm dies, revert back to your standard rotation. However, your goal as a raid should be to minimize any time in which both arms are dead. This will not only kill people due to the double rubble spawn, but will also hurt your parse, as you’ll have less uptime in your cleave rotation.
Be sure to get as many Kill Shots as possible.

Glyphs:
Glyph of Insect Swarm
Glyph of Starfall
Glyph of Focus

Pre-pot: wild magic potion

Potion: N/A

Opener: Standard*

*Perform your standard opener on Kologarn but make sure to hold your Starfall until several of your proc effects line up. Parsing on this fight requires an extremely quick kill time. As such, you will not get a chance to cast a second Starfall, so it’s worth holding it until it’s significantly buffed up.

Recommended Talents & Glyphs

60s Ideal Duration

Overview

Kologarn is a very short and frontal damage only encounter. There is only one mechanic to be respected, there’s one massive positioning requirement, and no there’s no timings to be met.

Mechanics Briefing

Focused Eyebeam – Won’t be casted on you, don’t worry about it.
Shockwave – This is unavoidable and should be healed through.
Stone Nova – Use Barkskin and Survival Instincts to tank the damage.
Stone Grip – If you’re gripped your parse is over, but continue for others.

Pre-Pull Checklist

Ensure you have all proper buffs, talents, and glyphs at the doorway.
If you’re Tauren, enchant your cloak with Shadow Armor.
Enter Prowl, get to the Swipe spot, and left-click target Kologarn.
Don’t break stealth by pre-potting or casting Gift of the Wild.

The Encounter

Once your tank has approached Kologarn, get a Savage Roar rolling and perform a Swipe rotation with Berserking. Use a Potion of Speed. When at least one arm dies, shift to a single-target frontal rotation on Kologarn. If the boss is going to die in less than 22 around seconds, Ferocious Bite instead of Rip.

Conclusion

Parsing on Kologarn is a combination of rotational cleanliness, largely boss kill time, and luck with Stone Grip. Innervate shouldn’t be needed and prioritize non-Feral Druids if Innervate or Rebirth is needed. Don’t hit the boss early and don’t ever press a movement key while in the Swipe spot. Having Idol of the Corruptor and 4pT8 if you’re able to do so, are absolutely a huge plus in this encounter.

Glyphs:
Glyph of the Ghoul
Glyph of Death and Decay
Glyph of Icy Touch

Encounter notes:

Pre-pop Ghoul frenzy at 8 seconds before the pull
DND early as you run into the boss
Pestilence should be the first blood rune used, using Blood tap with Blood strike in the opener to get desolation up