Al'akir Difficulty (10M Normal)

[Alvito]

Not to repost the same info there are 2 or 3 10 man how to Al'Akir threads going right now, if you search Al'Akir you should get tons of helpful info. I am blown away that only 1 raid has killed Nef on your server in normal. I didnt think there were too many servers that didnt have atleast 1 raid downing him in heroic already.

[Yorkshire Geek]

I am blown away that only 1 raid has killed Nef on your server in normal. I didnt think there were too many servers that didnt have atleast 1 raid downing him in heroic already.

Guildox shows 687 10 man heroic Nefarian kills worldwide, EU, US, TW, and KR server list combined is somewhere between 550 and 600 (I make it 585 but I'm allowing for errors) so it's a safe assumption that there are many servers with no heroic Nef kills yet.

[Deleted]

lol i killed him with a tradechat pug some weeks ago

Good for you. But how are you contributing to this thread exactly, except lying about some boss (no proof, no truth after all)?

Make sure you have the people in the corners announce the whirlwinds, and atleast one person checking whirlwinds in phase 2. I've noticed that the winds, more than anything, screw people up.

[Deleted]

Wait till 4.2
Nerfbat
???
Profit

[Deleted]

Guildox shows 687 10 man heroic Nefarian kills worldwide, EU, US, TW, and KR server list combined is somewhere between 550 and 600 (I make it 585 but I'm allowing for errors) so it's a safe assumption that there are many servers with no heroic Nef kills yet.

Hell, most servers probably only have a single guild at 13/13 Heroic. A lot of people run their mouths about easy content and whatnot but only a rough 2% of the entire raiding populace of the world (which itself is not even in the millions, but the high hundred thousands) has cleared everything.

[snarkysnark]

At the risk of shameless self-promotion:

I really really liked this guide, you summed up how to approach the first phase especially well which is where I think people fall over. Thanks for sharing! : )

[Deleted]

al akir is faceroll, you need to make your guildies nuts and do nothing then al akir till its down. force them.

[cleotaurus]

HM alakir made my guild hate each other. Always the same few people that would continually fuck p1. Being able to think about past and future events is one of the things that makes humans unique...unfortunately some people were more or less born without that ability, and doomed to fail on alakir forever.

I think blizzard is trying to apply darwin's principles on a virtual scale

[Cakka]

Only people who say Al'akir is RNG clusterfuck, are people who suck at him. Theres nothing unsually RNG about him.

edit: to make it clearer, people who think that are the ones who go "oh shit that tornado is gonna take me in 2 secs, and the only hole has ice patch on it, AND Al'akir is casting windburst!" instead of actually thinking more than 2 seconds ahead.

[Alvito]

Guildox shows 687 10 man heroic Nefarian kills worldwide, EU, US, TW, and KR server list combined is somewhere between 550 and 600 (I make it 585 but I'm allowing for errors) so it's a safe assumption that there are many servers with no heroic Nef kills yet.

I know there are going to be servers with out different heroic kills on bosses. The fact that only 1 other guild/raid has killed Nefarian in normal on the OP realm is what I was really surprised about. Many servers had ppl that had done that before December was over. Dont get me wrong I am not taking a shot at the sever or anything it was just a shock it helps ease the pain and wonder when I pug BH or jump in on a 10 man BWD, 4W or BoT pug and the group cant taunt, interupt or stack.

---------- Post added 2011-05-28 at 09:20 PM ----------

Only people who say Al'akir is RNG clusterfuck, are people who suck at him. Theres nothing unsually RNG about him.

edit: to make it clearer, people who think that are the ones who go "oh shit that tornado is gonna take me in 2 secs, and the only hole has ice patch on it, AND Al'akir is casting windburst!" instead of actually thinking more than 2 seconds ahead.

There can be some rng issues on him or any fight. However a well run group will adapt and move past the issue. Al'Akir is one of the best examples of buggy fights and rng bs I can think of since BC, ppl just randomly get shot off of the platform while buffing or mid combat even though windburst isnt up, I have seen the squalling shift its starting point randomly over to the left or right by atleast 1 section or randomly loading screens for ppl mid combat. Its hard for anybody to do a great job when your screen changes and a loading bar pops up.

[Agallochh]

There can be some rng issues on him or any fight. However a well run group will adapt and move past the issue. Al'Akir is one of the best examples of buggy fights and rng bs I can think of since BC, ppl just randomly get shot off of the platform while buffing or mid combat even though windburst isnt up, I have seen the squalling shift its starting point randomly over to the left or right by atleast 1 section or randomly loading screens for ppl mid combat. Its hard for anybody to do a great job when your screen changes and a loading bar pops up.

I'd like to know where the RNG comes into play. You can see where the hole in the Squall Line is before it appears. You have timers for when Wind Burst is about to happen, so if the squall is approaching you can either a) run through the squall before wind burst or b) run away from the squall until after windburst. There's no RNG in that, just raid awareness.

Phase 2 you can position in such a place where 1 squall line disappears and well away from where the other appears. You know where the gap is. There is no Wind Burst. There is no RNG.

Phase 3. Stack up at a spot, move down when told to. If you get a skull on your head, you move out. Still no RNG.

Where's the RNG?

[Alvito]

I'd like to know where the RNG comes into play. You can see where the hole in the Squall Line is before it appears. You have timers for when Wind Burst is about to happen, so if the squall is approaching you can either a) run through the squall before wind burst or b) run away from the squall until after windburst. There's no RNG in that, just raid awareness.

Phase 2 you can position in such a place where 1 squall line disappears and well away from where the other appears. You know where the gap is. There is no Wind Burst. There is no RNG.

Phase 3. Stack up at a spot, move down when told to. If you get a skull on your head, you move out. Still no RNG.

Where's the RNG?

Im not saying you cant or shouldnt adjust to changes but the squal will spawn from a different spot from time to time so say you are in the center of your raid and it normally spawn another group over you arent looking for stuff on the ground thats never there you are listening for shouts from ppl on vent/mumble or looking for a big wall. I was also refering to random things happenign like the bugs in the fight, the loading screen coming up mid fight for some being the biggest issue or ppl just getting shot off, not from a windburst, mid combat much like what happens on Rohash's platform if his burst hits you. P3 nothing is random other then who gets lightning rod if you cant handle that its time to hang up your mouse and headset and find a new game.

---------- Post added 2011-05-29 at 12:04 AM ----------

Wait till 4.2
Nerfbat
???
Profit

I do think Al'Akir will be Cata's version of Malygos, a fight that should be easy and yet ppl find new and interesting ways to die doing it. If raid weeklies ever get put back in this will be a do with guildies or friends only and never pug type of fight.

[KaPe]

Where's the RNG?

Blizzard inside Squall Line. At least they nerfed that thing on heroic, trying to squeeze inside was a deathwish, and jumping down is quite risky, too.
Oh wait, 10 man. Feel free to act all pro. Especially if you're standing in the back. Pretty much the tank group and 2 closest have it worst.

[refire]

Squall lines don't spawn in different spots. If the tank is on a spade, they will spawn one spade to his right or one spade to his left. The direction they go is random however if there are no taunts, or threat pulls, one tornado will be opposite of the other one spawning. They will never cross together without one of them dissipating. Al'akir was a fight that I thought was very simple. I have masters call so frost never affected me and I had disengage which negated almost all aspects of the encounter. My raid however didn't feel the same. Heroic al'akir still took 23 attempts compared to 80+ of cho'gall, nefarion, and sinestra. The fight has very little rng and just requires your raiders to be very aware of their surroundings.

However as people have said before, you need to think ahead. Group up on spades and make sure you always know whats coming from the spade on your right and the spade on your left. You have timers for wind blast. No one in regular should ever be shifting more than a spade. They can get through any squall line and still be close enough for a wind burst within a spade to their left or a spade to their right. As others have also said, designate one dps to killing stormlings. Don't make multiple people blow gcds into them, lose their rotations, etc. Designate one person ( I did it as a hunter) and that person is solely responsible for them. Once three are up, make sure you kill one, and from then on out they only have to do something like 13k dps to keep the buff up. Also note that tank cleaves will be on them the whole time helping as well.

Once you get into phase three its a kill. Our first phase 3 in regular and heroic were both kills. Start all the way at the top of his head. First clouds go down one. Second clouds go down one. Third clouds go all the way to bottom. When that cloud spawns go up one. Go up another when the next cloud spawns. Then go all the way to the top when the next one spawns. Lightnings should always do nothing but hit their strafe key to get out of the group. Going down and going up mean nothing other than, getting just out of the clouds. Do not go down to far or up to far and spread clouds into the wrong zone. When you've gone up twice or gone down twice, go the polar opposite as those clouds will have despawned. There is almost zero healing in p3. If you get there with even 8 people alive it should be a kill.

[crowpala]

Quick question for you guys about phase 3. Do you stack up at one point and then the person with the Lightning rod move away from the group or is it best to stay spread out ?
+ to spread out: Chain lightning don't hit that many
- to spread out: Can get into problems if the person in the middle get Lightning rod on him/her

+ to stack up: easier to manage lightning rod since then only 1 person need to move
- to stack up: more ppl will get hit by chain lightning

The biggest problem we are having in phase 3 is the placement of people. Some move up to high and then we get a storm cloud above us and one below us. That's why I was thinking of having people stack up on one person and then the one with lightning rod just move to the left or right of the group when he/she get's that "debuff".

We have tried both going all the way up and start there and also all the way down. For us the best start point was at the bottom

[Deleted]

p3, everyone in 1 group, at the same height. The person with Lightning on them moves out horizontally far enough out not to clip group but close enough to be healed. The group needs to be close to the boss so the Wind Blast doesn't wipe people out.

If the best start for you was the bottom, then there is no reason why it shouldn't work assuming the person you are all following has a clue, and people all play properly.

[ChildeRoland]

Al'akir normal is a very simple fight, if your awareness is good enough for neffy and Cho'gall =) Give it a go, I'd say 1 week, maybe two tops.