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Feedback: Death Knight Updates
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The War Within Alpha - Earthen Allied Race: Racials and Models, Harronir Models
50,000 Guild Wars 2 Beta Keys Giveaway - Curse is giving away 50,000 Guild Wars 2 Beta Keys! Keys given away are only available to Curse Premium users. The giveaway will be open to everyone tomorrow (Tuesday).
Barbarian End-Game Build, Farming Locations, Follower DPS Calculator, Diablo 3 iPhone Cases, and Plague of Toads ComicMoP Beta Giveaway: We sent out the beta keys to winners today by PM. Make sure to log in and check, as you may not have email notification on receiving a PM turned on!
Heart of Fear: Amber-Shaper Un'sok
Today we take a look at Amber-Shaper Un'sok, the fifth boss of the Heart of Fear raid.
Originally Posted by MMO-Champion
Heart of FearThe Sha of Fear has corrupted the grand empress of the mantid. Her increasingly erratic and paranoid commands have driven the Klaxxi--the keepers of mantid culture--to take aggressive action. Because they are few in number, the Klaxxi are reluctantly willing to accept outside help in destroying the empress and purging their race of the sha's negative influence.
Amber-Shaper Un'sok
Achievements
- I Heard You Like Amber... - Kill Living Amber in Burning Amber until at least 8 pools overlap, and then defeat Amber-Shaper Un'sok on Normal or Heroic difficulty in Heart of Fear.
- Heroic: Amber-Shaper Un'sok - Defeat Amber-Shaper Un'sok in Heart of Fear on Heroic difficulty.
Encounter
- Stage One: Worthy Test Subjects?
- Amber Scalpel - Un'sok carves the ground with a focused beam of pure amber energy. The beam inflicts 20,000 Nature damage every 0.25 sec. at the point of contact, and leaves behind Molten Amber residue. The residue inflicts 27,500 Fire damage every 1 sec. to players who touch it. Some of this residue congeals into Living Amber oozes.
- Living Amber - Each of these animated amber oozes focuses mindlessly on a random player, emanating a Corrosive Aura that inflicts 1,600 Nature damage every 2 sec to all players. Each ooze Bursts in a shower of amber when destroyed, inficting 45,500 Nature damage to enemies within 8 yards and healing any other Living Amber within that radius for 0% of their maximum health. In Heroic difficulty, dissolved Living Amber will reconstitute after 30 seconds. In Looking for Raid difficulty, destroying a Living Amber does not heal other nearby Living Amber.
- Burning Amber - When a Living Amber is destroyed, it dissolves into a pool that deals 31,000 Fire damage every 1 sec to all enemies within 3 yards.
- Living Amber - Each of these animated amber oozes focuses mindlessly on a random player, emanating a Corrosive Aura that inflicts 1,600 Nature damage every 2 sec to all players. Each ooze Bursts in a shower of amber when destroyed, inficting 45,500 Nature damage to enemies within 8 yards and healing any other Living Amber within that radius for 0% of their maximum health. In Heroic difficulty, dissolved Living Amber will reconstitute after 30 seconds. In Looking for Raid difficulty, destroying a Living Amber does not heal other nearby Living Amber.
Parasitic Growth - Amber-Shaper Un'sok causes amber to grow within the body of a random target, inflicting 16,250 Nature damage every 2 sec. This strain of amber absorbs healing energy, increasing the damage it inflicts to its host in direct proportion to any healing received. After 30 sec, the unstable parasite dissipates without a trace.- Reshape Life - Un'sok unleashes a torrent of amber at a player, transforming the target into a misshapen mass of flowing amber that is hostile to players and monsters alike.
- Mutated Construct - While transformed, the player continuously expends Willpower to retain control over the twisted form, at the rate of 2 per second, beginning with a maximum of 100. When Willpower runs out, the player dies and the Mutated Construct continues to act, uncontrolled.
Amber Explosion - The amber encircling the mutated player compels the unleashing of a massive explosion, inflicting 120,000 Nature damage to all players.- Amber Strike - The construct inflicts 250,000 Nature damage to the current hostile target and interrupts normal spellcasting. This includes a target's attempt to trigger an Amber Explosion. Amber Strike also destabilizes the target, increasing damage taken by 10% for 10 sec. This effect stacks.
- Break Free - Once the physical form of the amber construct has been damaged to 20% of its remaining health, the player can break free with a great surge of will. The player then regains their natural form.
- Consume Amber - A transformed player consumes a pool of Burning Amber left behind by a defeated Living Amber. The consumption restores 20 Willpower, but also bolsters the mutated form, increasing its current and maximum health by 4,500,000.
Struggle for Control - With a surge of will, the player expends 8 Willpower to force the mutated form to cease all action for 0.5 sec. This also increases the mutated form's damage taken by 100% for the 5 sec.- Smash - Transformed players use this simple melee attack in lieu of their normal attack, inflicting 40,000 Physical damage to a target.
- Mutated Construct - While transformed, the player continuously expends Willpower to retain control over the twisted form, at the rate of 2 per second, beginning with a maximum of 100. When Willpower runs out, the player dies and the Mutated Construct continues to act, uncontrolled.
- Amber Scalpel - Un'sok carves the ground with a focused beam of pure amber energy. The beam inflicts 20,000 Nature damage every 0.25 sec. at the point of contact, and leaves behind Molten Amber residue. The residue inflicts 27,500 Fire damage every 1 sec. to players who touch it. Some of this residue congeals into Living Amber oozes.
- Stage Two: Un'sok's Greatest Creation - When Un'sok reaches 60% remaining health, he calls forth a massive Amber Monstrosity to fight beside him. Un'sok continues to attack with his full arsenal of abilities from Stage One.
- Amber Monstrosity - Un'sok formed this towering behemoth entirely of flowing amber, and it stands as a triumph of Un'sok's research into creating life from the mantids' amber.
- Amber Explosion - The Monstrosity releases a massive explosion of amber energy, inflicting 140,000 Nature damage to all players.
- Massive Stomp - The Monstrosity stomps the ground forcefully, inflicting 97,500 Physical damage to all enemies within 15 yards and knocking them back.
Fling - The Monstrosity grabs its current target in one of its massive hands and hurls the hapless victim at a distant player, causing 81,250 Physical damage to targets within 0 yards of the point of impact and stunning them for 3 sec.
- Amber Carapace - While the Amber Monstrosity lives, an Amber Carapace shields Amber-Shaper Un'sok. The Carapace reduces his damage taken by 90%.
- Amber Monstrosity - Un'sok formed this towering behemoth entirely of flowing amber, and it stands as a triumph of Un'sok's research into creating life from the mantids' amber.
- Stage Three: Un'sok Unleashed - Upon witnessing the destruction of his greatest creation, Un'sok channels power from the amber pools lining his chamber and prepares to make his final stand. Un'sok no longer uses Amber Scalpel, but now casts Reshape Life with greatly increased frequency.
- Concentrated Mutation - Un'sok draws massive amounts of amber energy into his body, increasing his damage dealt by 50% and attack speed by 50%.
- Volatile Amber - Un'sok's siphoning agitates the pools of amber around the room, causing them to periodically emit bursts of amber that fly through the air at high velocity. Each amber burst inflicts 29,250 Nature damage to any player it strikes. If a missile strikes a player while they are transformed into a Mutated Construct, it heals them for 20% of their health.
Amber Globule - Un'sok causes two spheres of destructive amber to form from the pools at the edges of the room, each of which fixates on a random player. If an Amber Globule comes into contact with its primary target, it explodes, dealing 600,000 Nature damage to all players within 30 yards. If two Amber Globules touch each other, their energies will neutralize and dissipate harmlessly.
Mists of Pandaria Credits Concept Art
One of the recent beta patches added a lot of concept art for the Mists of Pandaria credits screen.
Computers - Setup of the Month (by chaud)
Each month or every 2 months, depending on the hardware evolutions, the lovely chaud will work on a couple of hardware setups for those of you who are thinking of upgrading their computer!
This month
Hard drive prices are slowly declining, but are still above the pre-flood prices, so now is still a good time to buy a SSD. The current SSD prices are still slowly moving downward, with many under $1 per gigabyte now. A few sales are even nearing 50 cents per gigabyte, so look for something on sale!
If you are building today and don't go for the upper range of overclocking (past ~4.5Ghz) then you are better off buying Ivy Bridge. If you want to go for the maximum overclocks or have to save money, the 2500k is $25 cheaper. Unless you are doing a lot of video rendering or something that is similarly multithreaded, you do not need the 3770K and should spend that money elsewhere.
Make sure to keep your AMD and Nvidia drivers up to date.
Don't hesitate to post any feedback in the comments of that news post, and don't forget to visit the Computer Forum for any extra questions! If you are interested in Folding@home, take a look in our team's thread.
Peripherals/Monitors
| Component | Puppy | Dolphin |
|---|---|---|
| Monitor | Acer V223W EJBD 22-Inch Widescreen - $138 | ASUS VW246H 24-Inch Widescreen - $190 |
| Keyboard | Microsoft Digital Media Keyboard 3000 - $15 | Cyborg V.5 - $52 |
| Mouse | Logitech G400 - $34 | Razer Deathadder - $49 |
| Speakers | Logitech S220 2.1 Speaker System - $23 | Logitech Z313 Speaker System - $40 |
| Component | Narwhal | Unicorn |
| Monitor | ASUS VE276Q 27-Inch - $265 | HP ZR2440W 24-inch (IPS Panel) - $374 |
| Keyboard | Logitech G110 - $50 | Razer BlackWidow (Backlit)- $61 ($92) |
| Mouse | Logitech G500 - $56 | Razer Naga (Buttons on the Side) - $75 |
| Speakers | Logitech Z323 2.1 Speaker System - $54 | Logitech Speaker System Z523 - $80 |
Puppy and Dolphin
Overclocked Puppy will outperform Dolphin when multiple threads are in use (Not WoW) and come close in most other cases.
Mix and match anything but the CPU/Motherboard combo between Puppy and Dolphin. Pick one of the two CPU/Motherboard combos.
Mix and match anything between Dolphin and Narwhal.
Overclocked Puppy will outperform Dolphin when multiple threads are in use (Not WoW) and come close in most other cases.
Mix and match anything but the CPU/Motherboard combo between Puppy and Dolphin. Pick one of the two CPU/Motherboard combos.
Mix and match anything between Dolphin and Narwhal.
| Component | Puppy | Dolphin |
|---|---|---|
| Case | NZXT GAMMA Classic - $36 | NZXT GAMMA Classic - $36 |
| Power Supply | Corsair CX500 V2 - $53 | XFX Core Edition PRO 550W - $61 |
| CPU | AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition- $110 | Intel i3-2120 - $123 |
| Heatsink | Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus - $26 | Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO - $35 |
| Motherboard | ASUS M5A97 AM3+ 970 - $94 | Gigabyte GA-Z77-D3H - $120 |
| Memory | 4GB PNY Optima DDR3 10600 - $25 | 8GB G.Skill DDR3 12800 - $56 |
| Graphics Card | Gigabyte GTX 550 Ti - $120 | XFX 6870 or EVGA GTX 560 - $150/ $146 |
| Hard Drive | Western Digital Caviar Blue 500GB - $70 | Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB - $120 |
| DVD | Asus 24X SATA DVD+/-RW - $17 | Asus 24X SATA DVD+/-RW - $17 |
| Total | $551 | $715 |
Narwhal and Unicorn
All of these parts can be mixed and matched to create a build between Narwhal and Unicorn. SSDs are always optional.
All of these parts can be mixed and matched to create a build between Narwhal and Unicorn. SSDs are always optional.
| Component | Narwhal | Unicorn |
|---|---|---|
| Case | Cooler Master HAF 912 - $60 | Cooler Master HAF932 - $149 |
| Power Supply | Corsair 650TX V2 - $90 | Corsair 750HX - $139 |
| CPU | Intel i5-3570K - $230 | Intel i7-3770K - $350 |
| Heatsink | Thermaltake Frio - $57 | Noctua 6 NH-D14 - $83 |
| Motherboard | ASUS P8Z77-V LK - $150 | ASUS P8Z77-V - $190 |
| Memory | 8GB G.Skill DDR3 12800 - $56 | 8GB G.Skill DDR3 12800 - $56 |
| Graphics Card | MSI 7850 Twin Frozr - $260 | XFX 7970 Black Edition OR EVGA GTX 670 FTW - $450 / $400 |
| Hard Drive | Western Digital 1TB Caviar Black - $120 | Western Digital 1TB Caviar Black - $120 |
| SSD | Crucial 128 GB m4 (Review) - $105 OR Corsair Force Series GT 120 GB - $135 | SAMSUNG 830 128GB (Review) - $128 OR OCZ 120 GB Vertex 3 (Review) - $100 |
| DVD | Asus 24X SATA DVD+/-RW - $17 | Asus 24X SATA DVD+/-RW - $17 |
| Total | $1040 - $1175 | $1504 - $1682 |
MMO-Report
The MMO Report is here with a special on Marvel Heroes, featuring an interview with Dave Brevik, who created the Diablo series.
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