Maexxna Strategy Guide - Naxxramas (10) - WotLK Classic

Author: Passion
Date: September 23, 2022
Updated: September 23, 2022
Expansion: WotLK Classic

Maexxna is the third and final boss of the Arachnid Quarter in Naxxramas. She is a straightforward and fast fight with relatively few things to keep track of and a mechanic that is perfect for laughing at each other’s misery over voice chat.

“Maexxna — born deep within the mountains of Northrend many ages ago, she was captured within the dread citadel Naxxramas, where she gives birth to her brood, feeding them the corpses of all who dare venture too deeply into Naxxramas.” –Commander Eligor Dawnbringer

This guide will offer a detailed, step-by-step tutorial on how to deal with Maexxna’s venomous bites and deadly webs.

If you aren’t a tank, make sure you are not in front of the boss!

Focus DPS on the cocoons spawned by Web Wrap
Slow and kill spiderlings as soon as they spawn

Dispel Necrotic Poison immediately with spells like Abolish Poison, Cleanse, and Cleansing Totem
Use heal-over-time spells, absorption spells and defensive cooldowns on the tank before Web Spray

Always face the boss away from the raid
Use Defensives pre-emptively for Web Spray

Abilities

Maexxna

Maexxna’s main ability is Web Wrap, cast every 40-seconds, throwing 2 players towards the western wall, rooting them, and incapacitating them inside of a cocoon. These cocoons can be killed to release the player within them, having around 6000 HP. To deal with this easily, simply place a few ranged DPS in range of the boss and the western wall and have them swap to the cocoons whenever they come up.

Her other abilities are significantly less important, simply being dealt with through positioning or dispels.

Starting 20-seconds into the fight, Maexxna will knock 2 players into the back wall, incapacitating them in a cocoon. This deals 2475 to 3025 Nature damage every 2-seconds until the cocoon is killed, having around 6000 health. To deal with this, simply have some DPS prioritize cocoons whenever they happen, preferably high-range, instant cast classes like Hunters.

Every 40-seconds Maexxna will incapacitate everyone for 6-seconds, dealing 1750 to 2250 Nature damage. This cannot be avoided and is simply a 6-second pause for your raid while Maexxna chews on your tank a little.

Handle this by pre-emptively preparing the tank with defensive cooldowns like Pain Suppression, heal-over-time effects like Rejuvenation, and absorption spells like Sacred Shield.

Every 10-seconds Maexxna hits everyone in a cone 15-yards in front of them, dealing 3500 to 4500 Nature damage. This should only ever hit the tank with the rest of the raid behind the boss, outside of the cone’s reach. Just extra healing to be dealt with.

This spell applies a poison debuff to targets in close range in front of Maexxna, reducing healing taken by 75% for 30-seconds. Dispelling this as quickly as possible is a key part of this fight and can easily be the difference between your main-tank dying or not.

At 30% health Maexxna will enrage, entering Frenzy, increasing her physical damage by 50% and attack speed by 50%. Use defensives and increase healing output to handle this effectively. It can also be important to make sure you don’t push her into Frenzy when it is almost time for Web Spray, as 6-seconds of enraged damage can easily kill your tank.

Raid Composition & Preparation

This fight has no specific class or spec requirements outside of the ability to cure Poison debuffs.

You will want 2-3 Healers for this fight, ideally one of them having heal-over-time and shield abilities, making Druids and Priests valuable. You will also need the ability to cure Poison, which all healing classes can do.

There are no strict requirements for DPS classes or specs here, you simply want a combination of good raid buffs and debuffs, as well as the best players you can muster.

You only need 1 tank for this fight, and they can be any class. Any other tanks you have should focus on dealing damage, or potentially on dealing with cocoons.

The Pull

Maexxna is fairly simple to pull. The tank wants to face Maexxna towards the east or southeast of the room, while the rest of the raid makes sure to be behind her at all times. When she is in position, ranged DPS should make sure they are close to max range of her, so that they can easily swap to targets knocked into the wall.

The Fight

Maexxna is a quick fight, with the only difficult period being the combination of Frenzy and Web Spray when Maexxna is below 30% health. If you can deal with this, or simply avoid the two abilities lining up, you are effectively in the clear.

Starting 20-seconds into the fight Maexxna will knock two players into the western wall and incapacitate them. Whenever this happens, either most ranged DPS or a pre-decided few ranged DPS should immediately swap to the cocoon and kill it to free their teammates. Every so often, someone will need to dispel Necrotic Poison from the tank, but this is easily done with a single dispel such as Abolish Poison.

Every 40-seconds, Maexxna will incapacitate everyone in the room for 6-seconds, including the tank and healers. Healers should be prepared for this, using heal-over-time and shield spells on the tank before this happens, so that the tank can survive Maexxnas melee swings. It can also be worth dropping a Cleansing Totem or using Abolish Poison on the tank before Web Spray happens so that if they get Necrotic Poison it is quickly removed. As long as your group can pull through these 6-second periods, the fight is a straightforward one.

At 30% Health Maexxna will enter Frenzy , which isn’t actually much of an issue in itself, simply requiring a little more healing. The difficulty of this ability mainly occurs if it lines up with a Web Spray, leaving your tank to take 6-seconds of Frenzy melee swings without any direct healing. You can avoid this by waiting for Web Spray to happen before you push Maexxna to 30% Health and trigger Frenzy.

Every 30-seconds Maexxna will spawn small spiderling‘s that need to be quickly dealt with. Ideally, they should be AoE rooted with something like Frost Nova, and then quickly AoE’d down. If they are alive during Web Spray they will easily kill a few players before it is over and spiral the raid quickly downwards.

Here are some of the main things that can typically go wrong in this phase:

Players end up in front of Maexxna, being hit by Poison Shock and Necrotic Poison
Spiderlings are alive during Web Spray, quickly gnawing their way through the raid
Healers are hit by Web Wrap and not set free quick enough, leading to deaths
Necrotic Poison isn’t dispelled and the tank cannot receive enough healing
That one friend gets hit by Web Wrap and everyone is laughing themselves to tears on voice instead of freeing them, leading to a wipe

Congratulations on defeating Maexxna and clearing the Arachnid Quarter! With all these spiders behind you, you are one step closer to confronting Kel’Thuzad and clearing Naxxramas of the scourge.

About the Author

Passion

I love MMOs of all shades, especially the nitty gritty numbers parts of them. You might recognize me from the Shadow Priest discord, otherwise I play a little bit of everything, especially games with support roles available.