For Sale - A Sad Day, But Inevitable

At it's peak, WoW Raid Guide was pulling in over 2000 visitors a day, I loved being able to help people out with Boss guides, and I played WoW avidly.

Around four/five years ago the World of Warcraft experience changed drastically in my eyes.  Blizzards constant attempt to make everything 'balanced' in the name of PVP made choices somewhat constrained, and with the ever moving trend towards blandness, I lost interest.

In reality it has been years since i have picked up World of Warcraft.  I tried briefly to get back in to it, but I knew instantly, the game I once loved, that I was invested in, was now gone.

For others, WoW is still a passion, and though I can no longer care for this blog, now averaging a mere 20 visits a day, I am putting feelers out there for any serious buyers.

Though the traffic has dropped significantly, there is a lot of strength behind this blog, and though no one searches for the original instances, any update to this blog should do well.

At an average period in this blogs life it was making me around $5 a day on average, with affilaite commissions on to of that for the advertised game guides. Now it gets about 20 visitors a day and the earnings are more like $5 a month, but with a little work and some more recent raid guides, I am confident you could turn this site back in to a winner!

I honestly do not have the drive to do this myself, I no longer have the first hand raiding knowledge, and without doing the raids myself, I simply cannot give my readers a decent guide.

If you are serious, but dont have the investment capital, I would also be willing to do a potential revenue share.

Any inquiries can be made to oli4uk@gmail.com

Update on WoW Raid Guide

There has beena  distinct lack of posts over the last year or so, this has been down to quite a few factors, the most significant of which is that I met a girl, emigrated to the United States, and got married.  In recent months i have also been heavily involved in teh upcoming iPhone MMORPG Traveller-AR.

All this combined has left me with very little free time for playing WoW, and definitely no time for writing WoW Raid guides.  The good news is that once Traveller-AR has been released I will have a little extra time to spend raiding once more, and should son be able to pull together some more information on some of the toughest WoW Raid bosses!

Naxxramas Gothik the Harvester

Gothik the Harvester is a boss which many people first meet in the Death Knights starting area as a quest giver. When you reach the new Naxxramas in Wrath of the Liche King however you will eventually find yourself and your raid group ready to take this epic WoW boss on first hand.

Gothik the Harvester only has 2,510,100 HP in 25 min and 836,700 in 10 man raid modes.  This might not seem like much, but trust me, this boss is no easy take down.

For the first four minutes and thirty four seconds of this fight, Gothik the Harvester will be invulnerable to attacks.  

During this time your raid group must concentrate on keeping down the additional mobs which will spawn for the first 3 minutes and 44 seconds.

When Gothik the Harvester comes down after the 4:34 of trash clearance Gothik has only a few minor abilities which you must contend with. Gothik will teleport, fortunately agro is kept through teleports, making life much easier for the tanks.

• Shadowbolt - Gothik the Harvester will cast a shadow bolt every single second causing 4500 to 5500 shadow damage (2880 to 3500 shadow damage in 10 man) on his primary (tank) target.
• Harvest Soul - Gothik casts Harvest Soul once every 15 seconds, this reduces the stats of the whole raid group by exactly 10%, and stacks 10 times.

 The real trick to beating Gothik the Harvester is in controlling the adds. Beating the adds requires careful co-ordination between two sides of the room., the living side and the dead side. Everytime a living mob is killed it is reborn on the undead side,

Since crowd control on undead mobs is harder however, the DPS on teh living side must control the flow in which they release undead mobs.  Some groups may find it easier to place more DPS on the undead side, to help reduce the adds as quickly as possible.

You will need to have at least one tank for the mobs on each side, you should also make sure you have the tanks ready to taunt Gothik when he becomes vulnerable (Who will first spawn on the living side, then teleport to the dead side) When Gothik the Harvester reaches 30% health the room will become undivided, allowing you to quickly take down the remaining health of this add-adorned boss.

For the full list of adds and their abilities check out this WoW Wiki article.

I will however summarize how you should kill these adds.

First your living side team should kill the Unrelenting Rider, then the Unrelenting Death Knight, then the Unrelenting Trainee in that order. However, your living team must keep a close eye on the undead team, especially in the beginning since the Unrelenting Rider will spawn both a Rider and a Horse when it respawns on the undead side. You can CC a lot of the living mobs, which can help keep the rate which you kill the living mobs manageable for the undead team.

On the undead side, you will be able to take down the mobs as they appear, be warned though, the spectral rider and the spectral horse cannot be CC'ed!


Be careful not to overwhelm the undead side, and keep up a fast pace of DPS, it should not take you long to reach Gothik the Harvester who is a simple tank and spank job, with the slight twist that he will teleport between the two teams. This means that both your tanks will need to keep on top of him as he switches between the rooms. When he reaches 30% health you will be able to get your entire DPS on him 100% of the time, as the middle gate will lift!

Emalon the Storm Watcher Raid Guide

Emalon the Storm Watcher was at one point one of the hardest bosses in the Vault of Archavon.  However after a big patch nerf, many guilds will now find Emalon the Storm Watcher a much easier prospect.  Don't get me wrong however, while Emalon has been nerfed, he should still provide you and your friends with a fairly decent challenge!

First, lets get down to basics.  In 10 man mode Emalon the Storm Watcher has around 2.7 million HP.  This is increased to 11 million HP in 25 man mode.  The first thing you will most likely notice about Emalon is that he hits for a good 20k un-mitigated on plate every three seconds. Unfortunately Emalon's strength doesn't stop there, with some devastating lightning based (Nature damage) abilities in his arsenal. Emalon, like Archavon the Stone Watcher, has a short enrage timer of 6 minutes, so you need to keep up a high DPS on this WoW Raid boss!

Around Emalon the Storm Watcher there are four minions, when one is killed another respawns, unfortunately you need to keep on top of these guys, as I will explain shortly.  First however, let's cover these hardcore lightning abilities of Emalon teh Storm Watcher!

• Chain Lightning - Hits one person for between 4.5k and 5.5k damage a time, this jumps around your raid if people are too close, and each jump will increase it's damage by 50%, this occurs every 15 seconds.
• Lightning Nova - A large 20 yard nature damage AOE which hits for up to 20k to 25k damage. Closer proximity = greater damage.
• Overcharge - Gives a minion overcharge, I will explain this next!

 The Tempest Minions which surround Emalon the Stone Watcher are the bane of many a raid group when they first attempt this rather difficult raid boss. Each one spawns with around 141k HP, and when Emalon hits a random minion with overcharge, that minion will become fully healed.

Overcharge grants a random minion 20% extra damage, and this is stacked every 2 seconds.  When ten stacks are reached the minion becomes a living bomb, which deals 30k damage to the entire raid.

For this reason it is imperative that as seen as Emalon the Stone Watcher empowers one of his minions with overcharge, your DPS must take the affected minion down immediately!

Basic Emalon the Storm Watcher Strategy Guide

While the Emalon boss fight is by no means easy, once your raid group has mastered this raid boss you should find it becomes a pretty smooth fight.  There are some simple strategies that you should however bring in to play.

Use two tanks, one on Emalon, the other on the Tempest Minions. The tanks should stand at least 30 yards away from each other to avoid the off-tank getting hit with the full force of the Lightning Nova. Melee DPS should also be prepared to run from Lightning Nova.

Ranged DPS should be the ones to switch to the overcharged minions, the rest of the time they should focus on Emalon the Storm Watcher.

Avoiding the chain lightning is easy in 10 man (Just keep spread out) but harder in 25 man.  Because of the limited space some 25 man raid groups prefer to stack players in twos. This way the chain lightning only hits 2 people.  Allowing the chain lightning to jump too far is a recipe for a raid wipe, since it can cause a large amount of raid wide damage!

As long as you manage to keep these simple things under control you should be able to kill Emalon the Storm watcher in no time at all, and enjoy the Tier 8 goodies this lightning imbued boss drops!


Avoiding Chain Lightning is different in 10 and 25 man variations of the raid.

Vault of Archavon - Archavon the Stone Watcher 10 and 25 man WoW Raid Guide

Archavon the Stone Watcher is the first boss in the vault of Archavon, and is my first update to my world of warcraft raid guide in a lonnggg time. I apologise for not updating the WoW raid guide more, I have however been incredibly busy with both my wedding and my US immigration!
But lets get back on point! Archavon the Stone Watcher is very similar in both 10 and 25 man raid modes, he is a pretty tough boss, but his real lack of imaginative abilities make him a pretty easy take down for any WoW raid group that is decently equipped.

Archavon the Stone Watcher will drop Tier 7 pieces and their PvP equivalent, for a variety of classes. The Tier 7 will definitely help with some of the later bosses in this raid. You can also look forward to twe emblems of triumph.

In this WoW raid Archavon the Stone Watcher has 2,300,900 hp in the ten man instance, and just under 10,000,000 hp in the 25 man version of Archavon. 
Archavon the Stone Watcher deals a pretty high amount of damage, and you will more than likely need two tanks, you should also keep up a high rate of DPS on this boss, you will want to take him out as quickly as possible due to his five minute enrage timer.

Archavon the Stone Watcher has some pretty basic abilities, but nevertheless you will need to keep a close eye on things to prevent your raid group from wiping.

• Rock Shards - The Rock Shards ability is an unavoidable attack that deals around 10,000 damage on 10 man and 20,000 damage on 25 man against a single (random) raid member over three seconds.  This ability is cast every 15 seconds or so, and one healer  can easily keep on top of this with a well timed large heal. The damage is also mitigated by armor. The tricky part of this ability is that the same damage will be applied to any raid member within five yards of the affected player.
• Impale - Every 45 seconds Archavon the Stone Watcher will cast impale, this is probably the biggest raid breaker of the entire fight, and your healers will need to be on the ball every time this is cast. It deals a raid wide 4000 damage on 10 man and 8000 damage on 25 man, while giving a 2 second stun to the entire raid.  At the same time the main tank will be impaled in to the air and incapacitated for 8 seconds. During this time it is highly important that you have a second tank, or well geared DPS, take up the threat until the main tank recovers.  Since this only lasts 8 seconds Taunt is a viable way to keep the boss busy if played right, so a good DPS player can keep things going.
• Choking Cloud - This move has a 30 second cooldown, and you will see the Stone Watcher jump towards a random raid member. When Archavon the Stone Watcher lands he will deal 4,000 damage in ten man and 8,00 damage in 25 man raids to the player, and anyone stood within 10 yards of him, as well as knocking the players back by around 30 yards.. A white cloud will appear where Archavon the Stone Watcher lands, standing in this will result in 2,000 damage in 10 man and 3,000 damage in 25 man per tick, as well as causing a 50% reduction in your hit chance, so never stand in these clouds!

Archavon the Stone Watcher Strategy Guide

To defeat Archavon the Stone Watcher you really just have to remember a few simple rules

1) Keep everyone WELL spread out to reduce the AoE damage.
2) Tank him against the back of the room
3) DPS fast, if your healers have spare mana it really can't hurt for them to throw on a DoT or two just to help keep the damage up. The boss is on a five minute enrage timer, so he needs to be taken down FAST.
4) Watch out for both the cloud (Which hurts both health and group DPS) and Rock Shards, if you are hit by rock shards, get out of the way of the rest of the group. If your neighbor has rock shard, get away fast!

Healing on Archavon the Stone Watcher fight is pretty simplistic, you will need one well geared healer in ten man fights and 2 to 3 healers in the 25 man version. At least one more healer, maybe two depending on group make up (10 man) and three, maybe four, healers (25 man) will be required to deal with the rest of the damage. The amount of healers you will need is really based on your raid groups ability to avoid the AoE damage, so keep an eye on how your group progresses. If you do not kill Archavon the Stone watcher before he enrages you may have no choice but to drop a healer for increased DPS.

DPS has to be fast on this boss, and since the fight must take less than 5 minutes, DPS really do need to go all out.

As your DPS will be going all out, your tanks must be ready to hold agro, so make sure your tanks are specced properly, and well geared.

The first tank inparticular should keep threat high to deal with impale, the second tank should keep threat at a level which is always higher than DPS, but lower than the main tank.

Follow these simple steps and you should kill the boss Archavon the Stone Watcher in no time, and soon enough you will tire of waiting for the 7 day cooldown timer on this loot heavy WoW Boss!

Naxxramas Instructor Razuvious 25 Man Guide

Instructor Razuvious is the first Naxx Boss in the Military Quarter. in this wow raid guide we will explain how to take down this difficult addition to the new 25 man Naxxramas.

So lets get down to basics, Instructor Razuvious has 10,000,000 HP and hits plate for 30k damage. It is a huge amount and that is why your priests will come to the fore with Mind Control during this instance. the key to taking down this WoW boss is through his understudies, but I will go in to that later, for now lets go over Razuvious's skills in 25 man Naxx!

• Disrupting Shout - This physical AoE hits for between 7125 to 7900 physical damage on the entire raid, this is unavoidable and is cast every 15 seconds.
• Jagged Knife - Jagged Knife is used on a random member of your raid about once every 10 seconds. It does 5k dmaage instantly and applies a bleed affect which deals a further 10,000 physical damage over 10 seconds. This can be avoided by standing out of Razuvious's line of sight.
• Unbalanced Strike - Inflicts 350% weapon damage and applies the Unbalanced debuff. This reduces the players defence by 100 for 6 seconds. Due to Razuvious's massive damage output this hits for over 100k so only Death Knight Understudies should ever be hit by this ability!

So far I have mentioned the Death Knight Understudies a couple of times, but not really explained what they are for. Basically your priests need to mind control these guys to tank Razuvious. They don't hit for much and can be tanked easily, and should not be killed the end (when they take a huge amount of damage from your DPS, 1000%). Lets go over what makes up the Death Knight Understudies.

• Blood Strike (Button 4) - Causes 50% extra weapon damage to the target, has a four second cooldown.
• Taunt (Button 5) - Use this to taunt the boss, this lasts ten seconds and has a 20 seconds and has a 20 second cooldown from cast.
• Bone Barrier - Bone Barrier should be kept up when tanking the boss, it reduces the damage taken by 75% for 20 seconds and has a ten second cooldown.

Razuvious 25 Man Strategy Guide

First off, to complete this boss you will need a main tank to keep hold of the Death Knight Understudies. You will need two to three priests, depending on your raid groups skill, to mind control the Adds to tank the main boss. Two priests can sucessfully control the boss through mind control, however if you do not have the setup exactly right a third priest can keep a Death Knight understudy mind controlled ready to jump in if required. Mark the understudies so the priests know which ones to mind control.

To heal through this boss you will need one dedicated Jagged Knife Healer and two to three understudy healers. You should also keep a raid healer handy to cover any excess damage.

The pull is the critical point of this fight, fail to do do this correctly and there is a high chaince the raid will wipe.

The tank should go down he steps about 3/4 of the way first, this should pull the understudies. Razuvious will not come after the tank for 3-5 seconds. It is during this time in which the first priest must mind control an Understudy, raise it's bone barrier and then taunt the boss.

The priests should aim to stand at the bottom of the stairs and use the Understudies to tank the boss a the edge of the green circle. This should prevent mind control breaks and allow enough time to recast mind control before an understudy reaches a priest.
If you have four priests in your group you can mind control and tank with all four of the understudies.

This is the safest way to keep the boss under control, however it can gimp your raids healing or DPS.

When placing the understudies you should space them evenly apart around Razuvious so that the other priests instantly know when another priest has taunted the boss, because he will turn.

The main difficulty after this pull is keeping up an efficient rotation of mindcontrol, bone barrier, taunt. It may help if the raid leader has a go command for each priest, so tehy start their sequence at the correct time!

I hop this guide gives you some help in how to defeat Instructor Razuvious!

Naxxramas 10 Man Guide - Instructor Razuvious

Instructor Razuvious is a Death Knight Trainer, and is the first boss you will find in the Military Quarter of Naxxramas. Razuvious is a pretty hard boss to crack, not only because of his rather harsh skill set, but also because of his two understudies (Four in the 25 man version). The two understudies of Instructor Razuvious are dealt with differently in the Ten and Twenty Five man versions of this encounter.

In the 10 man version of Naxx Instructor Razuvious has around 3,349,000 hit points, and his regular hits damage for around 30,000! His abilities can also be quite devastating and require some intensive healing!

So lets have a rundown of some of the abilities of 10 man Razuvious!

• Disrupting Shout - Disrupting Shout is a physical AoE attack that does
  4275 to 4725 physical damage to your entire raid every 15 seconds and cannot be avoided!
• Jagged Knife - This ability is a harsh ability which occurs every ten seconds. It causes 5,000 physical damage and applies a bleed effect which causes a further 10,000 physical damage over five seconds. It is applied to a random raid member and can be avoided and can be avoided only by standing out of sight!
• Unbalancing Strike - Causes 350% weapon damage and causes the Unbalanced debuff, reducing defence by 100 for 6 seconds. This hits for around 105,000 damage on the tank, only Death Knight Understudies should ever be hit by this!

Death Knight Understudies

When you pull Instructor Razuvious in the 10 man version of Naxxramas you will also pull two Death Knight Understudies. These hit lightly and you must mind control these throughout the fight using Orbs of Domination to and your healers should keep the two Death Knight Understudies healed at close to full health. Once Razuvious is dead they will take 1000% damage from your raid's attacks so you will be able to take these guys out in
no time after the fight has ended!

The Death Knight Understudies have their own abilities, none of which are particularly dangerous to your own raid, but must be understood as when mind controlled you will need to use them to tank Instructor Razuvious. the skills of the Death Knight Understudies are,

• Blood Strike - An instant attack that inflicts 50% extra weapon damage to an enemy target and has a four second cooldown. This will be number 4 on your hotbar for quick casting!
• Taunt - Used to taunt Razuvious, has a twenty second cool down and is attached to number 5 on the hotbar
• Bone Barrier - Reduces damage taken by 75% for 20 seconds, Death Knight understudies should always have this up when they are mind controlled and tanking. This has a 30 second cool down so be ready for this so the two tanks mind controlling can switch agro using Taunt. Healers should also prepare for this just in case, it may be necessary to do some large scale healing at this point!
  

10 Man Strategy for Instructor Razuvious

To defeat Instructor Razuvious in Ten Man Naxx your raid group must learn to utilize the understudies. At the beginning of the fight your tanks must go to the orbs to control the adds, one around 10 seconds after the first. Razuvious will gain agro on these, meanwhile both tanks should cast bone shield before they agro, and one should taunt the boss. A few seconds before the first tank loses agro the second tank should taunt the boss away, this should be repeated until the boss is taken down.

Bone barrier must also be cast before every taunt to keep the tanks up effectively, and while this can be healed through for short periods it is advisable that the tanks swap agro before they lose this.

Both the tanks should spam Blood Strike to ensure they maintain agro over DPS.

A good way of ensuring things go smoothly here is to switch tanks every 16 - 17 seconds rather than waiting until the 20th, healers should be aware of this however so they can heal accordingly.

Your tanks should remember that they lose mind control after one minute, so they must be prepared to shout agro and disengage in some order, rather than both losing agro at the same time. While you can disengage mind control remember that you must do this form the buffs bar, not the leave vehicle button.

When the tank disengages and re-engages they must remember that there is a 5 second cooldown on the understudies abilities.

This is pretty much all you need to know to take down Instructor Razuvious, the first boss of the Naxx Military Quarter in the ten man version of Naxxramas!