Warcraft Raiders: Morchok (10-Normal)

[Dankorii]

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I: Crystal Phase


The Crystal Phase is the main phase of the fight, during which your raid will mostly deal damage to Morchok while handling the few abilities that he possesses. This phase lasts for 1 minute, approximately.

1.1. Abilities
During the Crystal Phase, Morchok has the following abilities:

♢ Crush Armor is a stacking debuff applied by Morchok on his tank every 6 seconds. It stacks up to 10 times and each stack reduces armor by 10%, eventually forcing a tank swap.

♢ Stomp (LFR/10-man/25-man) is an AoE attack that Morchok casts every 10 to 15 seconds. It deals 750,000 physical damage in 10-man difficulty, 1,625,000 in LFR difficulty (though the tooltip says differently at the moment), and 2,500,000 in 25-man difficulty. The damage is evenly split between players within 25 yards of Morchok (though the tank and the player closest to the tank take a double share of damage).

♢ Resonating Crystal is cast by Morchok every 15 seconds, approximately. This ability summons a red crystal that explodes after 12 seconds, dealing split damage to the 3 closest players in LFR and 10-man difficulties and the 7 closest players in 25-man difficulty. The total damage dealt by the explosion decreases when the players are close to the crystal (between 25,000 and 30,000 damage each if all players are standing close to the crystal when it explodes).

In addition, Morchok performs a melee attack on his current target every 2.5 seconds. This attack hits for approximately 30,000 in 10-man difficulty, 60,000 in LFR difficulty, and probably a bit more in 25-man difficulty. The damage of the melee attacks increases the more stacks of Crush Armor that the tank has.

1.2. Strategy
The strategy for properly handling the Crystal Phase revolves around 3 simple tasks (which we further detail below):

♢ proper positions for dealing with Stomp (LFR/10-man/25-man);

♢ tank swap for dealing with Crush Armor;

♢ have targeted players soak the damage from Resonating Crystal.

Other than that, this phase should be dedicated to doing as much damage as possible to Morchok.

1.2.1. Positioning
Because of Stomp (LFR/10-man/25-man), the raid should be positioned within 25 yards of the boss. There are no other positioning constraints, though stacking together, close to the boss, will make AoE healing more efficient.

Stomp deals a double share of damage to the current tank and to the player that is the closest to the tank. Ideally, this double share of damage should always hit the two tanks.

The only players who will have to move out of the 25-yard radius are those that will have been targeted by Resonating Crystal.

1.2.2. Tank Swap
Because of Crush Armor, the tanks will need to regularly taunt the boss off of each other. The debuff lasts 20 seconds and stacks every 6 seconds, which means that the taunt should occur as soon as a 4th stack is applied on the current tank.

1.2.3. Resonating Crystal
Every 15 seconds (so 3 times per Crystal Phase), Morchok will summon a new crystal. Closest players (3 in 10-man difficulty and 7 in 25-man and LFR difficulties) will be easily identified by the beam of light that links them to the Crystal. The beam changes colour, depending on the distance between the player and the crystal (red/yellow when the player is far from the crystal and blue when the player is close).

After 12 seconds, the crystal will explode, knocking back the targeted players (provided that they have done their job and moved next to the crystal) and dealing damage to them.

Even though the beams initially target the closest players and it is possible to replace someone by simply moving closer to the crystal than they are. It enables more aware players to compensate for other players' lack of reaction.

To deal with Resonating Crystal, you can either have the closest players move to the Crystal when it spawns or have a set of designated players that will handle every Crystal that spawns.

1.2.4. Tips
The combined damage of Stomp (LFR/10-man/25-man) and the explosion of Resonating Crystal can be dangerous for the targeted players. Healers should be especially careful of this situation, should it occur. There are two ways to avoid this:

 Morchok's tank can move him away from the crystal;
 Targeted players can stack next to the crystal, on the opposite side from Morchok, so that they exit the 25-yard radius (this is not always possible).

Since the damage from the explosion of Resonating Crystal is Shadow damage, Warlocks (Twilight Ward) are particularly well suited to handle this ability.
Healers can use abilities such as Power Word: Barrier and Spirit Link Totem (placed so that they cover the are around the crystal), or Devotion Aura, to reduce the damage that the targeted players take.



II: Black Blood Phase


Shortly after the explosion of the third Resonating Crystal, Morchok enters the Black Blood Phase, during which he casts 3 abilities in quick succession before resuming the Crystal Phase. Players will be pulled to Morchok before having to rapidly take cover to avoid a very damaging ability.

2.1. Abilities

During the Black Blood Phase, Morchok casts 3 abilities in the following order:

1. Earthen Vortex marks the beginning of the Black Blood Phase. All players are pulled towards Morchok and begin to take physical damage equivalent to 5% of their health every second for 5 seconds.

2. Falling Fragments is cast immediately after all players have been pulled towards Morchok. This ability is channeled for 5 seconds and creates stone pillars around Morchok. Standing next to the location where a pillar is created deals 15,000 physical damage in 10-man and 25-man difficulties and 9,750 physical damage in LFR difficulty. You will notice that players hardly ever take damage from being too close to a pillar.

3. Black Blood of the Earth is cast immediately after the channel of Falling Fragments has finished. For 24 seconds, Black Blood will flow outwards from Morchok. Players standing in it will receive a stacking debuff that disappears as soon as they step out of the blood. The debuff stacks every second and each stack inflicts 5,000 nature damage per second (3,250 in LFR difficulty).

2.2. Strategy

The strategy for this phase is very straightforward. As soon as Morchok pulls the players to him, everyone needs to run behind the pillars of stone created by Falling Fragments, as they offer protection from Black Blood of the Earth. There is plenty of time to reach the pillars, so no one should take damage from the blood.

Once behind a pillar, there is no other source of damage until the Crystal Phase resumes. Therefore, healers should focus on getting behind a pillar before trying to heal those that are in range of them.

2.3. Tips

Ranged DPS can continue attacking Morchok while hidden from Black Blood of the Earth by a pillar. To do so, they need to hide behind a pair of adjoining pillars. This way, by positioning themselves in the middle of the two pillars, they will be able to hit Morchok.

This is the ideal time for healers to use mana regeneration cooldowns such as Hymn of Hope and Divine Plea, as from a healing perspective, there is nothing else to do during this time. Additionally, healers can use a Potion of Concentration during this phase, to further take advantage of the respite.



III: Don't Stand So Close To Me



The Don't Stand So Close To Me achievement is a part of the Glory of the Dragon Soul meta-achievement. The achievement requirement is very simple: defeat Morchok without any raid members being closer than 5 yards to one another during the Black Blood Phases. It is important to note that, for 25-man difficulty, the requirement is more lenient, namely that no 3 players be closer than 5 yards to one another, to account for the increased number of players.

There is no real "strategy" required for completing this achievement, other than good awareness and common sense. For 10-man raids, simply assign rough positions for every player (you can make use of raid markers for this purpose) and have them spread out around their designated areas.

In 25-man, you can do the same, with the added mention that you can pair players up together, so that you only have to deal with 13 locations instead of 25, as the achievement criterion is different, as stated above.



IV: Translations - Unfinished



1. Romanian - If anyone can translate this properly, send me a private message, I would like to add this to the Romanian section. Thanks!