Mekgineer Thermaplugg – Gnomeregan 10-Player Raid Guide (Season of Discovery)

Gnomeregan Raid Overview

Viscous Fallout

Mechanical Menagerie

Gnomeregan Loot Guide

Crowd Pummeler 9-60

Mekgineer Thermaplugg

Grubbis

Electrocutioner 6000

In the finale of the all new 10-player version of Gnomeregan, players will need to confront the Gnome traitor that started it all. It may be too late to save the once-great Gnomish capital from radioactive doom, but at least we can exact our revenge on this pint-sized lunatic.

This guide will offer a detailed, step-by-step tutorial on how to deal with Mekgineer Thermaplug in the revamped 10-player Gnomeregan raid.

TL;DR

• Thermaplugg has 4 total phases. Phases 1, 2 & 3 end at 50% health and phase 4 ends at 0% health.
• Ranged DPS should primarily be focused on killing the bomb adds that spawn at the six dispensers around the room.
• When the face on a dispenser glows red, press the button on the side of the dispenser.
• Each player can only press one button every 30 seconds or they will die.
• Never stand in front of the boss.
• In phase 3, interrupt Toxic Ventilation.

Abilities

Phase 1: Fire

Phase 2: Frost

Phase 3: Poison

Phase 4: Ultimate

The ultimate phase uses a combination of every ability from the previous phases. Bombs that spawn in this phase can be any type: Incendiary Bomb, Frost Bomb or Radioactive Bomb.

Raid Composition & Preparation

One to two tanks are recommended. It is more optimal to use a hunter pet rather than a second tank if possible, since the second tank will only have aggro for a few seconds total.
Two to three healers are recommended. Even if all mechanics are dealt with properly, you can expect extremely heavy tank and raid damage.
A ranged heavy DPS composition is ideal on this encounter. Bomb management is made significantly easier with each additional ranged DPS helping out.
At least one interrupter is ideal to kick casts of Toxic Ventilation.

Bombs & Buttons

Throughout the entire encounter ranged DPS and/or healers will need to contain a never ending stream of bomb adds. Bombs typically spawn rather slowly from one of the six bomb dispensers around the room, and will path towards a player. The bombs don’t have very much health and should be taken down by ranged DPS as soon as possible, ideally before they come anywhere near a player or the center of the room. When a bomb is killed (or makes contact with a player) they explode, leaving an effect on the ground that corresponds to each phase of the fight.

In the fire phase, bombs will leave a patch of fire on the ground that applies a stack of Sprocketfire.
In the frost phase, bombs will leave an ice patch on the ground that applies a stack of Freezing.
In the poison phase, bombs will leave a poison puddle on the ground that applies a stack of Radiation Sickness.

Periodically throughout the encounter, a face on top of the bomb dispensers will begin to glow, signifying that bombs are about to spawn from that dispenser at an increased rate. (Note: players can have a few seconds of advanced notice that a dispenser’s face is about to glow by looking for glowing piping on the ceiling in the center of the room). Rather than attempting to kill the steady stream of bomb adds, players should stop the bombardment by interacting with the red button on the side of the dispenser. The button immediately ceases the spawning of bombs from that particular dispenser, but leaves a debuff on the player that will cause them to take potentially fatal damage if they try to interact with a button for 30 seconds.

At least two ranged DPS or healers will need to be assigned to button clicking, but ideally all ranged players are spread out and ready to click nearby dispensers as fast as possible. Note the visual above for a suggestion on how your ranged players should be positioned for optimal button clicking.

The Fight

Phase 1: Fire

Success in this phase is almost entirely dependent on your tanks ability to kite during Furnace Surge. This is easier said than done, as it will require lightning fast reflexes to successfully kite Thermaplugg without the aid of movement speed increasing effects or abilities such as Swiftness Potions or Intervene. The moment that Thermaplugg begins casting Furnace Surge, your tank should flee as fast as possible and continue running in a straight line until the fire ceases.

After this sequence, it is a good idea to have an off-tank or hunter pet taunt the boss to give your main tank time to reset his stacks of Sprocketfire. The process of dropping Sprocketfire stacks should only take a few seconds if the tank did not get hit by Furnace Surge, but may take up to 30 seconds otherwise, as the tanks Sprocketfire debuff would have been refreshed during Furnace Surge. Note that if you are using a hunter pet to tank for a long window of time, threat will likely become an issue, which is particular devastating on this encounter both due to Thermaplugg’s high base melee attack damage, as well as his frontal cone ability Sprocketfire Punch.

At 50% health this phase ends. Thermaplugg becomes invulnerable for a brief window and then changes into his frost armor, healing back to full hp.

Phase 2: Frost

This phase will prove to be the most difficult for players managing bombs & buttons. The bombs in this phase leave a frost patch on the ground that apply a stacking Freezing debuff to anyone who makes contact, slowing their movement speed. If players become sufficiently slowed, they will be sluggish at clicking buttons and getting in range of bombs to kill, which may quickly plunge the fight into chaos. Free Action Potions as well as Blessing of Freedom can be invaluable tools in this phase to regain your mobility and save the raid from icy disaster.

Healers should heed that the frost phase has significantly higher raid damage than the other phases due to Coolant Discharge. This unavoidable AoE ability will hit the entire raid and can quickly feel overwhelming without super high healing output.

This phase ends at 50% health. Thermaplugg becomes invulnerable for a brief window and then changes into his poison armor, healing back to full hp.

Phase 3: Poison

The poison phase is quite easy if Toxic Ventilation is immediately interrupted. Fail to kick Toxic Ventilation, and you will almost certainly wipe, as the raid damage from so many stacks of Radiation Sickness will be unhealable.

The tank should position Thermaplugg in the center of the room and not move him unless a Radioactive Bomb explodes, or is about to explode, on top of the melee.

Players that accidentally gain a stack of Radiation Sickness will take moderate damage and should be focused by healers and/or have their poison cleansed by an ability like Purify.

This phase ends at 50% health. Thermaplugg becomes invulnerable for a brief window and then changes into his ultimate armor, healing back to full hp.

Phase 4: Ultimate

This phase contains all of the abilities from previous phases. Healers should be ready to heal the tank through massive damage from all 3 frontal abilities: Sprocketfire Punch, Supercooled Smash & Hazardous Hammer. They should also brace themselves to heal through heavy AoE damage from Coolant Discharge.

The tank should stay on his toes and be ready to kite the boss just like he did in Phase 1 during Furnace Surge. If the tank is successful and didn’t take any hits of Furnace Surge, a taunt swap should not be necessary like it was during the fire phase.

Ranged DPS assigned to bomb management should be ready to encounter all 3 types of bombs: Incendiary Bomb, Frost Bomb and Radioactive Bomb. Incendiary Bombs and Radioactive Bombs should never be allowed to explode on the melee clump, or the damage they take may quickly overwhelm your healers. A frost bomb on the other hand will only be deadly if it explodes on a fellow bomb manager or, in the worst-case scenario, on the tank just before a Furnace Surge. It is crucial to understand the functions of the bombs and the roles of your teammates. This knowledge enables you to make split-second decisions, determining which bombs pose a more significant threat.

Unlike the other phases, this phase does not end at 50% health. Instead, players will need to take Thermaplugg’s health all the way down to 0 to finish the encounter.

After the ultimate phase the fight is won. Thermaplugg will leave his mechanical suit and fight you himself, but he is a wimp and falls over handily.