Blackwing Lair

Overview

Blackwing Lair is located in BRM. If you've been to UBRS, you may have noticed a corridor with a (green) raid portal down one of the corridors. Like Molten Core, there is an easier way to enter once you've been attuned. The attunement quest is listed here. Basically, you have to kill the Quartermaster outside BRS and loot a note off of him, then kill the General in UBRS and interact with the orb behind him. Once you have done that, the orb behind the Quartermaster will take you to BWL if you're in a raid group.

Bosses & Items

Razorgore the Untamed

• Tier 2 Bracers - Bloodfang, Judgement, Wrath, Nemesis, Netherwind, Transcendence, Stormrage, Ten Storms, Dragonstalkers
• Arcane Infused Gem - Trinket, Hunter - Use: Next Arcane shot fired within 10 sec will detonate and cause 185 - 215 dmg to all enemies near the target.
• Gloves of Rapid Evolution - Cloth, Hands - +12 Sta, +12 Int, +32 Spi
• Mantle of the Blackwing Cabal - Cloth, Shoulder - +12 Sta, +16 Int, Equip: Increase Dmg & Healing up to 34.
• Spineshatter - 1h Mace - +9 Str +16 Sta, Equip: Increased Defense +5
• The Black Book - Trinket, Warlock - Use: 100% pet dmg, 100% pet armor for 30 sec.
• The Untamed Blade - 2h Sword - +22 Agi, +16 Sta, Chance on hit: Increase Str by 300 for 8 sec.

Vaelastrasz the Corrupt

• Tier 2 Belts - Bloodfang, Judgement, Wrath, Nemesis, Netherwind, Transcendence, Stormrage, Ten Storms, Dragonstalkers
• Dragonfang Blade - Dagger - 55.3 DPS, 1.8 speed, +13 Sta +16 Agi
• Helm of Endless Rage - Plate, Helm - +29 Sta, +26 Str, +26 Agi
• Mind Quickening Gem - Trinket, Mage - Use: Increase magic casting speed by 25% for 20 sec.
• Pendant of the Fallen Dragon - Neck - 12 Int, 9 Sta, 9 mana/5 seconds
• Red Dragonscale Protector - Shield - 51 Block, +29 Sta, +26 Str, +26 Agi, Equip: Increase Healing up to 37
• Rune of Metamorphosis - Trinket, Druid - Decrease mp cost of shapeshifting forms by 100% for 20 sec.

Broodlord Lashlayer

This boss reduces his aggro against melee throughout this fight. This leads to aggro issues for ranged classes.

• Tier 2 boots - Bloodfang, Judgement, Wrath, Nemesis, Netherwind, Transcendence, Stormrage, Ten Storms, Dragonstalkers
• Black Brood Pauldrons - Mail, Shoulders - +12 Sta, +15 Int, +17 Agi, Equip: Restores 9 mp every 5 sec
• Bracers of Arcane Accuracy - Cloth, Wrist - +9 Sta, +12 Int, Equip: + 1% hit spells, Increase Dmg & Healling up to 21
• Heartstriker - Bow - 44 DPS, 2.6 Speed, +9 Sta, Equip: +24 Attack Power
• Lifegiving Gem - Trinket, Warrior - Use: Heal yourself for 15% of max hp, increase max hp by 15% for 20 sec.
• Maladath, Runed Blade of the Black Flight - 1h Sword - 56.4 DPS, 2.2 Speed, Equip: Parry + 1%, Increased Swords +4
• Venomous Totem - Trinket, Rogue - Use: 30% chance increase to apply poisons to target for 20 sec.

Firemaw

• Tier 2 Hands - Bloodfang, Judgement, Wrath, Nemesis, Netherwind, Transcendence, Stormrage, Ten Storms, Dragonstalkers
• Black Ash Robe - Cloth, Chest - +21 Sta, +22 Int, +17 Spi, +30 Fire Resist
• Band of Forced Concentration
• Claw of the Black Drake - Fist, 56.3 DPS, 2.6 Speed
• Cloak of Firemaw - Back, 50 AtkPow, 12 Sta
• Drake Talon Cleaver - 2h Axe - +22 Str, +17 Sta, Chance on hit 240 dmg
• Drake Talon Pauldrons - Plate Shoulder - +20 Str, +20 Agi, +17 Sta, Equip: Dodge + 1%
• Firemaw's Clutch - Cloth, Waist - +12 Sta, +12 Int, Equip: Dmg & Healing up to 35, Restore 5 mp every 5 sec
• Natural Alignment Crystal - Trinket, Shaman - Use: 20% spell dmg, 20% heal, 20% increased mana cost for 20 sec.
• Primalist's Linked Legguards - Mail, Legs - + 2% crit chance to spells, + 1% chance to hit
• Ring of Blackrock - Ring - Equip: Dmg & Healing effects up to 19, Restore 9 mp every 5 sec
• Rejuvenating Gem - Trinket - Equip: Healing increase by 66 & restores 6 mp every 5 sec
• Scroll of Blinding Light - Trinket, Paladin - Use: Increase melee attack and spell castin by 25% for 20 sec.
• Taut Dragonhide Belt - Leather Belt - +17 Sta, Equip: +60 Attack Power, Dodge + 1%.

Ebonroc

• Tier 2 Hands - Bloodfang, Judgement, Wrath, Nemesis, Netherwind, Transcendence, Stormrage, Ten Storms, Dragonstalkers
• Aegis of Preservation - Trinket, Priest - Use: Increase armor 500, heal 35 dmg everytime you take melee or ranged dmg for 20 sec.
• Band of Forced Concentration - Ring - +9 Sta, +12 Int, Equip: + 1% hit with spells, Dmg & Healing up to 21.
• Dragonbreath Hand Cannon - Gun - 43.9 DPS, 2.8 Speed, +14 Agi, +7 Sta
• Drake Fang Talsman - Trinket - Equip: +56 Attack Pwr, + 2% to hit, + 1% dodge
• Drake Talon Cleaver - 2h Axe - +22 Str, +17 Sta, Chance on hit-fatal wound 240 dmg
• Drake Talon Pauldrons - Plate Shoulder - +20 Str, +20 Agi, +17 Sta, Equip: dodge + 1%
• Ebony Flame Gloves - Cloth, Gloves - +17 Sta, +12 Int, Equip: Increase shadow spell dmg up to 43
• Malfurion's Blessed Bulwark - +40 Str, +22 Sta
• Rejuvenating Gem - Trinket - Equip: Healing increase by 66 & restores 6 mp every 5 sec
• Ring of Blackrock - Ring - Equip: Dmg & Healing effects up to 19, Restore 9 mp every 5 sec
• Shadow Wing Focus Staff - Staff - +22 Sta, +40 Int, +17 Spi, Equip: Dmg & Healing up to 56
• Taut Dragonhide Belt - Leather Belt - +17 Sta, Equip: +60 Attack Power, Dodge + 1%.

Flamegor

• Tier 2 Hands - Bloodfang, Judgement, Wrath, Nemesis, Netherwind, Transcendence, Stormrage, Ten Storms, Dragonstalkers
• Circle of Applied Force - Ring - +12 Str, +22 Agi, +9 Sta
• Dragon's Touch - Wand - +7 Sta, +12 Int, Equip: Dmg & heal increase by 6
• Drake Talon Cleaver - 2h Axe - +22 Str, +17 Sta, Chance on hit-fatal wound 240 dmg
• Drake Talon Pauldrons - Plate Shoulder - +20 Str, +20 Agi, +17 Sta, Equip: dodge + 1%
• Emberweave Leggings - Mail Legs - +17 Agi, +22 Sta, +12 Int, +35 Fire Resist
• Herald of Woe - Mace - +31 Str, +22 Sta, +20 Int, +17 Spi
• Rejuvenating Gem - Trinket - Equip: Healing increase by 66 & restores 6 mp every 5 sec
• Ring of Blackrock - Ring - Equip: Dmg & Healing effects up to 19, Restore 9 mp every 5 sec
• Shadow Wing Focus Staff - Staff - +22 Sta, +40 Int, +17 Spi, Equip: Dmg & Healing up to 56
• Shroud of Pure Thought - Cloak - +10 Sta, +11 Int, Equip: Healing up to 33, Restore 6 mp every 5 sec.
• Styleen's Impeding Scarab - Trinket - Equip: Chance to block + 5%, Block value of shield + 24, Defense + 13
• Taut Dragonhide Belt - Leather Belt - +17 Sta, Equip: +60 Attack Power, Dodge + 1%.

Chromaggus

• Tier 2 Shoulders - Bloodfang, Judgement, Wrath, Nemesis, Netherwind, Transcendence, Stormrage, Ten Storms, Dragonstalkers
• Angelista's Grasp - Cloth Belt - +17 Sta, +20 Int, +13 Spi, Equip: +2 % chance to hit with spells.
• Ashjre'thul, Crossbow of Smiting - Xbow - +7 Sta, Equip: +36 Ranged Attack Power.
• Chromatic Boots - Plate Boots - +20 Str, +20 Agi, +12 Sta, Equip: + 1% to hit.
• Chromatically Tempered Sword - 1h Sword - +14 Str, +14 Agi, +7 Sta
• Claw of Chromaggus - Dagger - +17 Int, +7 Sta, Equip: Dmg & healing up to 64, Restore 5 mp every 5 sec.
• Elementium Reinforced Bulwark - Shield - +23 Sta, Equip: +19 Block value of shield, Defense +7
• Elementium Threaded Cloak - Cloak - +13 Sta, Equip: Dodge + 2%
• Empowered Leggings - Cloth Legs - +12 Sta, +12 Int, +24 Spi, Equip: Dmg & Healing effects up to 77, + 1% critical strike with spells
• Girdle of the Fallen Crusader - Plate Belt - +20 Str, +10 Agi, +15 Sta, +17 Int, +13 Spi
• Prmalist's Linked Waistguard - Mail Belt - +16 Str, +13 Sta, +16 Int, +15 Spi Equip: Dmg & Heal up to 20
• Shimmering Geta - Cloth Boots - +13 Sta, +17 Int, Equip: Restores 12 Mana every 5 sec
• Taut Dragonhide Gloves - Leather Gloves - +20 Sta, +20 Int, Equip: Crit + 1%, Restores 6 mp every 5 sec.
• Taut Dragonhide Shoulderpads - Leather Shoulder - +30 Sta, Equip: +46 Attack Power

Nefarian

• Tier 2 Chest - Bloodfang, Judgement, Wrath, Nemesis, Netherwind, Transcendence, Stormrage, Ten Storms, Dragonstalkers

Head of Nefarian - Item Turn in Similar to Onyxia Head
      Rewards - Master Dragonslayer's Medallion - Necklace - +14 Agi, +24 Sta, Equip: +7 Defense.
                Master Dragonslayer's Orb - Off Hand - +10 Sta, +14 Int, Equip: Increase Dmg & Healing up to 28.
                Master Dragonslayer's Ring - Ring - +14 Sta, Equip: +44 Attack Power, + 1% to hit.

• Archimtiros' Ring of Reckoning - Ring - +14 Agi, +28 Sta
• Ashkandi, Greatsword of the Brotherhood - 2h Sword - +33 Sta, Equip: +86 Attack Power
• Boots of the Shadow Flame - Leather Boots - +22 Sta, Equip: +44 Attack Power, + 2% to hit
• Cloak of the Brood Lord - Cloak - +10 Sta, +14 Int Equip: Increase Dmg & Healing by up to 28
• Crul'shorukh, Edge of Chaos - 1h Axe - +13 Sta, Equip: + 36 Attack Power
• Lok'amir il Romathis - 1h Mace - +10 Sta, +18 Int, +8 Spi, Equip: Increase Dmg & Healing effects up to 84
• Mish'udare, Circlet of the Mind - Cloth Helm - +15 Sta, +24 Int, +9 Spi Equip: Dmg & Heal up to 35, + 2% chance spell crit
• Neltharion's Tear - Trinket - Equip: Increase Dmg & Healing effects up to 44, + 2% to crit chance.
• Prestor's Talisman of Connivery - Necklace - +30 Agility, Equip: + 1% to hit
• Pure Elementium Band - Ring - +9 Sta, +10 Int, +10 Spi, Equip: Increase Healing by up to 53
• Staff of the Shadow Flame - Staff - +24 Sta, +29 Int, +18 Spi, Equip: Increase Dmg & Healing by up to 84, + 2% crit chance
• Therazane's Link - Mail Belt - +22 Sta, +12 Int, +12 Spi, Equip: +44 Attack Power, + 1% to crit

Strategies

Razorgore the Untamed

Kudos to Champain on Tich for compiling this guide!

Razorgore

Razorgore is the first encounter in BWL and the first boss encounter. The fight is very complex and the roles for many classes are quite different than in any of the Molten Core boss fights. The raid in this fight is like a line of dominoes; if just one person goes down, the fight can be unrecoverable.

The goal of the fight is to destroy all the eggs while controlling the mobs that spawn. Once all the eggs are destroyed, the mobs will leave the room and Razorgore will become uncontrollable. We then kill him for phat lewt!

The layout

This is a badly drawn but hopefully understandable picture of Razorgore's room and the important positions. It might be useful refer to this as you go through the strategy.

The Beginning

The room is filled with eggs. Two guards and a controller stand on the platform in the southwest edge of the room next to the controller orb and Razorgore stands on the platform on the northeast side of the room. The raid begins positioned in the south corner.

We begin by gun pulling each guard and the controller to the raid. As soon as the pull happens, the first orb controller has to immediately start channeling the orb. This is not done on the platform. The orb can be accessed and channeled from the ground below the platform.

The initial three mobs aren't tough. A warrior is assigned to each one and the raid just assists the MA to kill each in turn. One of them does cast mind control that will need to be dispelled by priests. When the mobs are down the four mage kill groups move into their positions, hunters and warlocks and druids spread out to cover the spawn points and shamen place their totems and get ready to kite. There is a small delay between this and the first spawns.

From this point its easiest to cover the roles of each class sperately.

Druids, warlocks, hunters

These three classes are responsible for controlling and kiting the dragon kin. Druids must choose one and keep it slept for the duration, hunters put a hunter's mark on one dragon kin per hunter and take responsibility for kiting it and warlocks choose one and chain fear it. Each person from any of these three classes is responsible for controlling one dragonkin.

It is also important to establish a little bit of aggro through whatever means to make sure your dragonkin is chasing you and not one of the shamen or healers. Dragonkin aren't affected by earthbind, but they move slowly and it shouldn't be too tough to evade them. If it gets close, run up the ramp to the platform and wait for the dragonkin to get right up on the platform too. You can jump off but the dragonkin can't and will have to move down the ramp, giving you some breathing room.

Mage kill groups

Since the mages can AOE, they are the only mobs that are killed instead of kited. One group made out of warriors, rogues, mages and priests is located at each of the four spawn points. As soon as a mage spawns, it should be jumped and killed as fast as possible. They are fully stunnable and interuptable, so kick and pummel should be used libreally. If more than one spawns at one point at once, the extra can be polymorphed.

Priests should be heaing as lightly as possible. One greater heal is probably enough to get you jumped by the kited dragonkin, so keep healing to a minimum. It may feel counter intuitive to stand around with full mana, but its about the only way to stay alive. Keep inner fire up on yourself and be ready to shield and fade if necessary. Although you don't play much of a role during the kiting, as much healing as possible is needed for killing razorgore.

Shamen

Shamen have the most crucial role in the first part of this fight. It is your job to aggro a bunch of legionaires and kite them in a path around the darker square pattern on the floor. You will be assigned a totem position and you have to replace the totem there everytime your cooldown is up and you pass the position.

As the legionaires spawn, you fire off an earthshock to establish aggro on the mob, but don't stop. As it moves into earthbind radius it is slowed and you can comfortably keep ahead. Now, more legionaires will spawn and you need to keep pinging them with earthshock to keep the aggro going.

If you are dazed, you're dead. Strafeing instead of running straight can help you avoid this, but you should have a supply of swiftness potions just in case of emergency. No one will be healing you, so there is very little room for error. Shamen have the toughest job for this part of the fight and it will take them a while to learn how to do it. So have some patience guys

The Orb Controllers

A rogue will start off as the orb controller. He will position himself beside the platform under the orb and as soon as the pull happens begin to channel the orb. This will give him control of Razorgore and the ability to use his skills.

The most important of these is break egg. It has a five second cooldown and must be used to destroy every egg in the room. Between breaking eggs, Razor can sleep dragonkin. This should be cast on any dragon running around without a mark over its head. Every time the break egg skill is up, it has to be used as quickly as possible.

The channeling on the orb lasts one minute. The rogue should make sure that when the channeling is about to expire, Razorgore is on the other side of the room, so that there is time to rechannel before Razor comes and wafflystomps him. As soon as it is channeled, the orb debuffs the channeler, making it impossible for that person to start channeling again till at least one minute has passed, so its important that it lasts the full duration.

Midfight

There will be many dragonkin running around being kited, feared and slept. There will be many many legionaires swirling around the earthbind totems in the middle of the room and shamen running for their lives. All the mages will be dead and the spawns will have stopped. At this point in the fight, the raid is balanced on a knife edge. If a shaman goes down, squads of legionaires are going to run free and start eating people for dinner.

To get things under control, a warrior will take over channeling the orb and the rogue will vanish to lose Razorgore's aggro. The warrior walks Razorgore into the middle of the swirling mass of legionaires and does a big AOE, pulling them all onto him. The legionaires kill Razorgore very quickly, so the warrior must control him and try to group them all up as much as possible and as far away from the orb as possible. He will then relinquish control of the orb.

When he does this, all of the legionaires will come after him. Since he was controlling Razorgore when he AOE'd, the aggro this generated is transferred directly to him. He is now kiting the whole group of legionaires. Shamen need to move to their totem location, start regenerating mana and keep their totems up. All other warriors with piercing howl should be casting it around the fringes of the legionaires as back up for the totems.

When the main physical tank lets go of the orb, the main fire tank takes control. He is responsible for controlling Razorgore until the last eggs are broken.

End fight- All eggs broken

As soon as the last egg is broken, all of the dragon kin and legionaires flee the room through the western gate. Razorgore becomes uncontrollable and goes nuts. The first person he will come for is the last person who controlled the orb-- controlling the orb causes a large amount of aggro. If all went well, that person should be the main fire tank. He will pop shieldwall right away to give healers a chance to recover and will pull Razorgore into the south corner.

The main physical tank will be second on the aggro list. He moves in to Razorgore and stands on the opposite side of him to the main tank and starts building aggro. Pretty soon Razorgore will cast conflagrate, just like General Drakkisath, the end boss in UBRS. When he does this, he will turn to the main physical tank and start attacking him.

Conflagrate will break after 5-10 seconds and the main fire tank taunts Razorgore back, and so on.

Two priests are assigned to healing the fire tank and the rest look after the main physical tank. Ranged and melee DPS need to be aware of Razorgore's fire AOE which does about 600-1000 damage per bolt and goes off every 5-10 seconds. Once the fuight is stabalised, its just a matter of burning him down. The main challenge is to keep enough of the raid alive long enough to get all the eggs broken.

General tips

• All classes in the mage kill groups need to keep their aggro to a minimum
• Limited invulnerability potions are extremely useful
• If the raid wipes, run back. Don't waste soulstones, don't ankh and don't wait for a res!
• When he dies, the gate to Vael will open. Be ready ro run through and catch the six goblins, three on each side of Vael's head. These guys drop elementium, but you have to be very quick to get them all.
• Be ready to face a massive repair bill. It takes a long time to learn this fight and once you do, its a beautiful thing. Till then its a bloody expensive mess.
• Learn to play your class!!!!

Vaelastrasz the Corrupt

Kudos to Champain on Tich for compiling this guide!

Vaelestrasz the Corrupt

Vael is the second boss in Blackwing Lair and is a really unique fight. He requires a very different play style than any other boss and is a lot of fun. But he is also one of the most difficult fights to master. Due to BA targeting the fight has large luck componenet that can become very frustrating.

TheBuffs

At the beginning of the fight Vael will buff everyone with the Essence of Red buff. This amazing buff adds 500 mana per tick, 20 rage or forty energy and lasts for three minutes. Effectively, this buff gives you unlimited resources for the three minutes it is in effect. If it times out and Vael still isn't dead, you're in big trouble.

Vael also has a pulsing fire damage AOE, dealing 600 fire damage per tick. This one doesn't have a time limit, but each pulse is resistable. Minimising the damage form this aoe is the rason fire resistance gear is required. If the healers lose their essence of the red, they will swiftly run out of mana trying to keep people healed. The pulses also interrupt casting, greatly reducing the effectiveness of any casters with channeled spells, as they will be getting constant interrupts.

Burning adrenaline is the other crazy buff. This makes all spells instant cast and double damage and is cast only on the person on top of his aggro list (the tank hopefully) and random mana users throughout the fight. Sounds good? Yeah. But not for long. Your maximum health is reduced by 5% per tick for 15 seconds, and then you explode in a tribute to Baron Geddon. Just like Geddon's living bomb, you will deal big aoe damage to everyone around you, so as soon as you get the buff move to the empty areas behind Vael's tail or next to the stairwells on either side of the tank position. You get a CTRA warning and your name will be caled in TS. Be ready to move!

Positioning

The positioning on Vael is similar to Onyxia. Vael has a frontal aoe and a tailswipe so the raid has to stay to either side of him. One the east side, there will be all the ranged dps, the rogues and the the healers not in the warrior groups. In the west, the warriors and everyone in warrior groups.

How the Fight Goes

The start

The first tank will engage in the maintank position and immediately begin mashing his sunder armour and heroic strike keys to build crazy aggro fast. All other warriors will hold off for a couple of seconds then begin doing the same. The idea is to keep all the warriors on top of the aggro list to allow the aggro to switch to another warrior when the tank goes down.

Shamen and any spare druids are on tank healing. Turn your CTRA heal cancel off because you have unlimited mana and spam your quickest dirtiest heals on the tank. Most priests and druids will be assigned to healing their party. Priests are particularly good at this as prayer of healing is perfect. Priests should be able to toss heals to the main tank pretty frequently. Priests, remember to shield yourself and the shaman in your group whenever you can to enable uninterupted casting. Druids have it tougher; keep rolling through everyone in your group healing as well as you can. You shouldn't have too much keeping yourself and four others up.

All dps guys should be going as hard as possible without pulling aggro. Keeping the damage going like crazy is key; Vael has to be dead in the three minutes.

Periodically, a mana user will be hit with BA, hopefully not a healer. If you get BA, move to a safe zone and chain cast your spells. Make the most of your crazy dps while it lasts. If BA kills you, you don't have take a durability hit, so rejoice!

The First Transition

45 seconds into the fight, when Vael is at about 22-23% the person on top of the aggro list, the first tank, will get burning adrenaline. This is effectively a 10 second warning that the tank is about to die and that the second tank is about to get aggro. Rogues should immediately vanish to clear their aggro, hunters should feign and priests should fade. Everyone else should ease off for a few seconds to ensure the warriors are next on the list.

The tank's max health will be slowly lowering and lowering. Before long, one tick of the fire dot Vael puts on the tank will do more damage than the tank has life, and the first tank will bite the dust. The second tank will then take aggro and Vael will turn to face that warrior.

This is the tricky part. The shamen need to switch targets to heal the warrior using either a /assist Vael macro or using the Maintank's target's target windows. Either way, the heals will ahve to start landing very fast or the tank is going to get a close up view of the Blackwing mason's workmanship. The new tank will also have to very quickly move into the main tank position. If he is too slow, casters may get tail whipped and the other warriors may be cleaved or flame breathed. Any of these will spell the end of the attempt. The move has to be very very quick.

If you aren't the warrior who gets aggro, take it easy for a few seconds to that aggro doesn't bounce back and forwards between you and the new tank.

The Rest of the Fight

Everyone maxes their dps and keeps burning him down. Every 45 seconds the tanking warrior will be hit with burning adrenaline and another transition needs to happen. This will be identical to the first, minus the vanishes. All rests on the ability of the healers to switch targets and the warriors to take aggro and move into position quickly.

Warriors, remember to bring a fast one hander. Chaining very quick heroic strikes and sunder is the easiest and best way to build some crazy aggro.