Cataclysm: Thone of Tides Preview

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NOTE: This guide is based on the Throne of Tides instance as seen in the Cataclysm Beta the first week of July, 2010.  As such is may change significantly before release in both layout and content.  However, in all likelihood the version released at Cataclysm’s launch will remain highly similar.  This guide will be updated shortly after Cataclysm’s release to reflect the final version of the instance.

The Throne of Tides is one of the first two instances available to you when you enter Cataclysm, the other being Blackrock Caverns. The Throne of tides is located in the underwater zone of Vashj’ir and contains several difficult trash pulls, a giant squid, a cut scene, and four different bosses. Better yet the instance is very attractive to look at and work through.  Several of the walls are transparent so you can see outside to the ocean that surrounds the instance.  In fact a few of the groups of creatures end up swimming into the instance from outside to attack you.

The trash creatures (enemies in an instance that are not the boss) are varied and challenging.  While most of the groups can be handled without any form of crowd control (CC), it can be helpful. Of special note are the large naga guardians, that drop poison puddles that tick for a lot of damage (get out fast!), and the nagas capable of healing. The naga healers are especially nasty as they can heal a significant amount and if the group does not focus on them will stay up for a long time. Lastly there are several groups of AoE trash creatures, both merlocs and elementals that can easily swamp a healer if not grabbed by the tank quickly.

Lady Naz’jar

The first boss is a female naga with a very nasty temper

Lady Naz’jar is the first boss in the instance and can be found straight ahead from the entrance to the instance and up the elevator.  She is a large naga caster that can inflict serious damage to the party.  Until she is defeated you will not be able to access the other bosses as they are down the corridors to the left and right of the main foyer that are filled with giant tentacles from the squid attacking from outside.

Abilities

Fungal Spores – This is a disease that she places on a player that ticks for a lot of damage (I saw one tick over 10,000).
Static Shock – This attack hits the tank and takes her a while to cast.  It hits the tank and anyone nearby for significant damage (over half of my health as a tank).
Vortex – This is an eruption of water that will erupt from a rune on the ground shortly after she starts casting it.  It deals significant damage as well as throwing any player caught in it into the air.  The combined damage from it and the fall will kill anyone that is not a tank.

Strategy

Lady Naz’jar is a two phase fight.  In phase one you must deal with her and her abilities.  Once you get her down to 66% (and again at 33%) she will shield herself from all damage and summon three adds.  They are two Sea Witches and an Honor Guard, similar to those you fought to reach her just with additional health.  Once they have been defeated she returns to the fight.

In phase one players really need to watch for the static shock and vortex abilities as either one has the potential to wipe a group.  With everything going on onscreen they can be easy to miss.  Melee DPS especially needs to be careful so that they see the vortex or the tank getting static and clear away.

In phase two the adds are fairly simple, however if DPS is split it may lead to issues with the tank holding the adds.  Let the tank grab all three and then focus fire them down.  Once they are return to phase one tactics.

Commander Ulthok

Ulthok can dish out huge amounts of damage extremely quickly

The commander is found in the next room after defeating Lady Naz’jar and is a more difficult fight where many groups will wipe while learning him. He is a large faceless one similar to those you have seen in past instances such as the Old Kingdom in WotLK. While he is a single phase fight his damage output makes the fight very healer intensive.

Abilities

Enrage – Increases his damage output by 100% for 8 seconds.
Shadow Fissure – This is a very nasty attack that starts with a two second cast.  When done he slams anyone in front of him and places a shadow fissure on the ground. The damage is extreme and can come close to killing an ICC geared tank if you do not avoid it. The fissure also stays on the ground and ticks for roughly 10,000 damage per second to anyone foolish enough to stand in it.
Squeeze – Targets a random player and pulls them into his grip.  This deals roughly 20,000 damage over the next few seconds until he releases the victim.

Strategy

This fight is fairly simple, other than the massive healing requirements, and mainly revolves around the tank moving away when shadow fissure is about to be cast, and everyone else avoiding the fissure left on the ground.  The healer needs to ensure that everyone is at full health so that if anyone is pulled in for a hug, that they are not killed.

The biggest issue seems to be when the boss pulls a player in for a squeeze and then ends up dropping them into a fissure!  When this happens the player will be taking upwards of 30,000 damage in less than 4 seconds and then another 10,000ish each subsequent second until they get out of the fissure.  Watch the fight closely and get out quickly if you are yanked in.

Erunak Stonespeaker

Although it looks like Erunak is the boss initially, it's really a nasty little creature controlling him

As you play through the zone as an Alliance player Erunak is one of the first NPC’s that you meet, and I was shocked to find him in the instance as a fight.  However all is made clear as you work your way through this mutli-phased fight.  This boss is in fact not really the boss, instead he is being mind controlled by a squid looking creature called Mindbender Ghursha.

Erunak’s Abilities

Lava Bolt – Hits a single target for a large amount of fire damage
Magma Splash – This is a cone of fire that his everyone in front for a short period of time.  Keep him faced away.

Mindbender Ghursha’s Abilities

Enslave – This is a mindcontrol that allows him to control the target player and use all of their abilities until that player is reduced to 50% health.
Mind Flay – This is similar to the Priest ability, except that it hits all players at once.
Poison Cloud – Drops a poison AoE on the ground that deals significant damage and sticks around for a while.

Strategy

The fight starts with Mindbender Ghursha controlling Erunak Stonespeaker, this is phase one.  He will continue to control him and use his abilities until you drop him to 50% health at which point he jumps off Erunak starting phase two. None of Erunak’s abilities are all that bad, and most groups should not have issues getting to phase two.

In phase two Ghursha starts moving around the room casting mind flay and dropping poison clouds until he randomly selects a player and enslaves them.  This starts phase three. At this point he has access to all of their abilities and you need to act quickly.  Drop that player to 50% health to release them from his control.  Depending on the player that he controls phase three can be very simple or very difficult, it’s all luck.

Once you do manage to get the controlled player down to 50% health, Ghursha will once again drop to the ground and you re-enter phase two.  The fight continues to shift between phase two and three until you have defeated Ghursha.

Ozumat

Ozumat is the final boss in the instance and is a scripted encounter. When you enter the room you can speak to Neptulon in the centre of the room to start the event.  Your job is to defend Neptulon though the encounter.

Neptulon greets you at the start of this encounter

The fight starts when Ozumat sends in several waves of creatures to attack Neptulon.  Each of the creatures needs to be grabbed and held by the tank, or an off tank until they have been dispatched. They spawn all around the room and therefore the group needs to ensure they pick them all up or they will either kill Neptulon or attack your healer.

Creatures

Blight Beast – Has an aura that does shadow damage to anyone nearby.
Unyielding Behemoth – Has a heavy hitting shadow AoE that hits everyone within about 20 yards and throws them away.  It hits hard enough that it will drop a tank to roughly half health.
Vicious Mindlasher – Casts shadow bolt type spells at players that hit hard and interrupt spell casting for 4 seconds.

Strategy

The fight obviously revolves around controlling the adds while defending Neptulon.  However, past that the fight is unclear.  It is currently bugged in beta and no matter what we did, Neptulon acted as if he died roughly 2 minutes into the fight, despite taking no damage, and reset the encounter.  I would assume that Ozumat will enter the fight at some point, however I am unsure.

Overall

The instance was both nice to look at, easy to manoeuvre through, and challenging.  In fact I can see some PUG groups having issues with it.  However, this is not a bad thing, in fact I really like it.  After all this is level 80-82 content we are talking about here.  To me, if you are at this stage in the game you should be expected to be a solid player and be up for some challenge.  This instance seemed more difficult that the other starter instance of Blackrock Caverns.

Overall I really liked the instance and can not wait to see what else Blizzard has in store for us.  I would be extremely pleased if the instances stay at least this difficult, and preferably ramp up even more as you move up in levels.

Source: tentonhammer.com

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