Cata - 5 man - Zul'Aman and Zul'Gurub

[valle2000]

How boxer friendly are Zul'Aman and Zul'Gurub?
Never tried any of them. Which of the two is recommended to start with, is any considered "easier" than the other when boxing?

[pinotnoir]

I don't know anyone who runs them to the end boxing. Mages would kill some of the bosses and you can box some. I think there are some bosses with too much stuff going on to box it without major setups. Merc ran them for awhile with his team but never to the end.

[Multibocks]

Maybe with the new gear at this patch they will be easier. I've only done bosses with mages.

[Khatovar]

I can do about 3 bosses in each.

In ZG -

Bloodlord Mandokir isn't too bad as long as he doesn't keep killing my healer and I time my stun right for Oghan.
High Priestess Kilnara is pretty easy if I can ignore her long enough to take down her cats first.
Zanzil is hit or miss depending on what order he throws out his mixtures. I wipe a lot on him, but occasionally I get lucky.
High Priest Venoxis I don't even attempt anymore. Toxic Link + melee = dead.

On the plus side, there's not a lot of trash that you have to clear and there's a nice collection of minibosses that mean I always come away with something useful for my time.

In ZA -

Akil'zon, Nalorakk and Halazzi are all pretty easy once you get the mechanics down. I have far more trouble with the trash most of the time. I'm still banging my head against a wall with Jan'alai.

[jstanthr]

My mages are ilvl 359 (mostly boe from fl and whatnot) I'm gonna try za and zg next week. I hope I get them done. Sorry to the op for being ot

[Cptan]

If I remember correctly, only Setith is able to FARM these 2 instances, all bosses down, with 5 toons. He posted his video on this forum. Check it out. That was more than 3 months back.

[olibri1]

How boxer friendly are Zul'Aman and Zul'Gurub?
Never tried any of them. Which of the two is recommended to start with, is any considered "easier" than the other when boxing?

They are both pretty tough...as some of the 4.0 heroics are as well. I regularly 5-box ZA, although the hawk boss is the hardest. ZG I just cannot down the last boss with more than 2. If anyone has suggestions on how to regularly get ZA for randoms or at least an idea of how the random dungeon is chose, I would really appreciate the tips. Anyway, here are my ZA/ZG strats:

ZA:

1st boss: All stack. Kill white eagle when it comes and then replace the member who got flown away. The main thing is to stay stacked for the storm and have good healing/dispels.
2nd boss: I setup my toons to take the charge in a specific and controlled order. I use tank cooldowns when he is in bear form. Otherwise this is pretty tank and spank.
3rd boss: On the way to 3rd boss, CCs are needed. Be sure to always CC the fire guys and kill them last. If you have a mage, always spellsteal the speed buff. Anyway, the 3rd boss is the hardest. I have all my guys on follow the entire time and then run out of the fire every time he breathes. If you run too early though he will send the fire in a direction to where you are running. Spam group heals. This one is a slow burn. Do not kill him too fast. Kill one spawn guy and let the adds come. AOE down the adds. When the 2nd set comes, AOE those adds down too. Once they are down, you should get to the soft enrage. This is the burn phase. Basically just use follow a lot to avoid bombs and fire.
4th boss: Just tank and spank as you normally would do it. Be sure that your slaves stay in the healing totem.
5th boss: This depends on your group comp, but I normally kill one add and keep the other CCed. Be ready to interrupt the heals. Otherwise the only thing that you may want to interrupt are the mage frostbolts because they are hard to heal through.
6th boss: This is roughly equally as hard as the 3rd boss. If you get bear/eagle, then do bear like the 2nd boss. For eagle, I put my guys on follow and move whenever the tornadoes move. Always kill lightning totems first. Invariably some of my slaves die this way due to the huge amount of damage here. If you get cat/firehawk, then do cat the way that you normally would. For firehawk I micromanage my guys and just move them out of fire. Ive tried having them all right/left strafe but it hasnt been well controlled.

I can almost 5-box with the timer up for the 3rd boss. Im working up to being able to do the bear mount run.

OK...for ZG: First of all, someone posted a video showing how to do the last boss, but it is REALLY hard. I have played with it a few times and I can get close, but it is just a ton of effort relative to ZA. For the other bosses:

1st boss: just memorize the maze and place your toons appropriately spread out. Burn him down as fast as you can. When the green beams come up, just move your guys. Mainly they will focus on a particular toon mid-way and just get him far away.
2nd boss: make a circle and pay attention to where he points the devastate. You want it setup so you only have to move one toon when he does it. This is similar to the last boss in SFK except that you get a lot more time to react.
3rd boss: Basically the same as you would do it normally. 1 pack of adds at a time. Be sure to designate a toon to interrupt tears. You may also want to interrupt other spells to get the boss to move with you to the adds.
4th boss: Same as you normally would. If you get berzerker last, a reasonably geared party can burn down the boss before the zerker unfreezes. Otherwise youll need to switch to the berzerker.

Again: If anyone has any real tips on how to get the dungeon finder to pick ZA instead of ZG, Id really appreciate the help. I lose a ton of time maxing out valor for the week by avoiding or 2-boxing ZG.

[dancook]

Whilst boxing, once I got to a point where I was stuck on a boss I just kept my paladin tank in and got random's to finish the instance. So you can still get some VP.

[Lax]

If anyone has suggestions on how to regularly get ZA for randoms or at least an idea of how the random dungeon is chose, I would really appreciate the tips.
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Again: If anyone has any real tips on how to get the dungeon finder to pick ZA instead of ZG, Id really appreciate the help. I lose a ton of time maxing out valor for the week by avoiding or 2-boxing ZG.

I am pretty sure that it is weighted and will try to match you to the dungeon you've done less of. I think the only answer is to defeat ZG more so that the weighting has less effect.

[olibri1]

I am pretty sure that it is weighted and will try to match you to the dungeon you've done less of. I think the only answer is to defeat ZG more so that the weighting has less effect.

Yes, it feels that way. It is as if it is trying to force me to clear ZG except that the first queue of the day is random...so perhaps the weighting is per day.

[skeezy]

a bit late but it seems like a repeatable strat, at least it works for me :)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ERuU9GUvlVo

[Multibocks]

Can you explain your fight with the boss that has adds and fire? I forget his name. Whats the advantage of leaving slaves on stairs? And why didn't the adds come until late in that fight?

[Kel]

It looks like positioning on the stairs stops the adds from taking damage from the fire (I'm guessing because it hits on a horizontal plane and they are below it). Both hatchers were killed when they cam which means no adds get broken out, but they all come when the boss reaches 25% (or something) health so you need to be able to burn him down at that point and spam heal your tank.

[remanz]

I am pretty sure that it is weighted and will try to match you to the dungeon you've done less of. I think the only answer is to defeat ZG more so that the weighting has less effect.

No wonder I get Throne of Tides and Deadmine all days as my random heroic. I keep queuing. Keep getting those 2. Keep avoiding them. At this point, I just can't box random Heroic anymore. because every time I queue, I get those 2. endless cycle here.

[Lyonheart]

No wonder I get Throne of Tides and Deadmine all days as my random heroic. I keep queuing. Keep getting those 2. Keep avoiding them. At this point, I just can't box random Heroic anymore. because every time I queue, I get those 2. endless cycle here.

would running those two with a single toon fix that? so you run each 5 times? ( you would have to suffer through some pugs..unless you have guildies ) Once you have them all done does it start being "random again?"

[remanz]

good question. I think it should help.

But I don't have time to rotate my toons for do TOT and DM in pugs. I think just wait for new gear to blow those 2 instances up, hopefully.

[Cptan]

Is third boss in DM giving you the problem? Try this - position your dps and healer on the right railing as your enter the room. Tank taunt boss below and blow all dps cd. With the nerf to the molten ele, I can kill the boss with 3 dps.

[remanz]

ya 3rd boss was a blocker for me.

but i was all melees though.

blood dk, enhance shaman, arm warrior, ret paladin, holy paladin team.

the boss cleaves so chance of screwing up is high. if I can somehow push to 20k DPS with bloodlust (hopefully new gear in 4.3). I might be able to blow him up.

[skeezy]

It looks like positioning on the stairs stops the adds from taking damage from the fire (I'm guessing because it hits on a horizontal plane and they are below it). Both hatchers were killed when they cam which means no adds get broken out, but they all come when the boss reaches 25% (or something) health so you need to be able to burn him down at that point and spam heal your tank.

yea, it keeps them from taking fire dmg, at least until the first bomb then they get teleported to the mid, the adds come at 35% so at around 36-37 i blow the CDs and dps the crap out of him, normally I dont wipe :( but for some odd when i recorded it i did :)

[Multibocks]

Nice to know! Might try boxing these now with a traditional group.

[Cptan]

you only need to kill 2 bosses to face hex lord/final boss in both ZA/ZG now.

[remanz]

They rolled ZA/ZG into heroic random. along with the old 4.0 heroics.
Now I get ZA/ZG all days when I queue random because I have never done any of those.

[Multibocks]

I'm so glad my shaman team never farmed heroics. Maybe I won't get ZG/ZA all day :)

[Pallarfo]

Finally I'm able to do ZA. haven't tried in a long time I must admit, but now I did it..
ZG last boss is still giving issues in the 2nd phase, I keep being overrun :(
Any tips for that part? (pala/4x sham(1 ele))

[Multibocks]

Yeah ZG last boss blows. Too much movement requiredand you can't just brute force dps it :(

[remanz]

Finally I'm able to do ZA. haven't tried in a long time I must admit, but now I did it..
ZG last boss is still giving issues in the 2nd phase, I keep being overrun :(
Any tips for that part? (pala/4x sham(1 ele))

What item level is your tank ? phase 2 requires constant movement. This fight is actually melee friendly. But I still can't do it either lol. The big troll in phase 2 stacks attack speed and damage. My tank will die before he cast the 2nd smash. and the Poison boss, I had 1 DK tank left, and death strike him to death for like 15mins.

[Pallarfo]

Tank is 372, shammies 371/372 (pvp head/shoulders on some).
I can do all bosses, except the last one. I get the big troll to kill the 2nd chain, so one is left.
But then...men... I have no idea what the hell is going on by then, no time to kill the adds but heal, and now holy radiance is 3s cast it sucks even more lol.
Random dungeon finder only throws ZG/GB at me, no more ZA since i did that once... think I'm going to leave wow for a while...

[remanz]

Ya holy pally not the best healer for those.

Druid/Priest be better as mobile healer.

[Pallarfo]

Yeah sure thing.
Only thing: I used to use holy radiance on the prot pala, since it did help make healing a bit easier.
Maybe when i get the priest better geared it might be doable.

[Mercurio]

Just a thought - wouldn't it be easier now to just queue up for the 3 new heroics to get you Valor Points for the week? They aren't a cinch to box either, but the gear you can get as you start to down bosses and learn the encounters should make everything else you do in the game easier. I have put almost no time into trying to box them, but in a couple of hours managed to finish the first one and half of the second one before I had to get to work.

Might consider that - hope it works for you.

[olibri1]

Just a thought - wouldn't it be easier now to just queue up for the 3 new heroics to get you Valor Points for the week? They aren't a cinch to box either, but the gear you can get as you start to down bosses and learn the encounters should make everything else you do in the game easier. I have put almost no time into trying to box them, but in a couple of hours managed to finish the first one and half of the second one before I had to get to work.

Might consider that - hope it works for you.
I have to disagree regarding the difficulty of the 3 new dungeons. They are significantly easier than ZA/ZG and even easier than some of the original 4.0 dungeons. The toughest boss of the 3 seems to be Mannoroth(sp?) so far and if you run around with all toons following when he does Fel Flame, it's pretty simple.

BTW, the first 4 LFR bosses are trivial except for bosses 2 and 3 if you are a healer. I 2-3 boxed them all last week and picked up some pretty sweet upgrades. I suspect that boss 5 will be a real blocker for most people this week.

[CheeseCake]

Well hot fix this week brings these changes to both troll instances

Zul'Aman

Amani'shi Warbringer's damage has been reduced by 12%.
Amani'shi Medicine Man's summoned Protective Ward health has been reduced by 60%.
When an Amani'shi Scout is alerted, he now idles for 1 second before running to summon reinforcement.
Amani'shi Reinforcement's damage has been reduced by 15%.
Amani'shi Flame Casters' Fireball Volley now inflicts less damage.
Jana'lai's Flame Breath ability now inflicts less persistent fire damage.
In Dragonhawk form, Daakara's Flame Whirl spell increases fire damage taken by a lesser amount.
Daakara's Creeping Paralysis now inflicts less damage.

Zul'Gurub

Berserking Boulder Roller's Boulders now inflict less damage.
Bloodlord Mandokir's Decapitate cooldown has been increased by 5 seconds.
Gurubashi Shadow Hunters are now immune to Disarm.
Gurubashi Shadow Hunter's Shadowed Shot ability now inflicts less damage.
Gurubashi Blood Drinker's Blood Leech ability now inflicts less damage.
Lesser Priest of Bethekk's Shadowflame ability now inflicts less periodic damage.
High Priestess Kilnara's Wave of Agony now deals less damage.
Jin'do's Twisted Spirit health has been reduced.
Jin'do's Twisted Spirit damage has been reduced.
Jin'do's Shadows of Hakkar now inflicts less damage.

Im hoping it makes them alot easier to box because now all i get are these 2 instances almost all the time for random dungean

[Klesh]

Im hoping it makes them alot easier to box because now all i get are these 2 instances almost all the time for random dungean

Easy solution, don't queue for random heroics, queue for hour of twilight ones, they are way more fun and not as annoying as the old ones.

[Cptan]

Quote:
Originally Posted by CheeseCake
Im hoping it makes them alot easier to box because now all i get are these 2 instances almost all the time for random dungean
Easy solution, don't queue for random heroics, queue for hour of twilight ones, they are way more fun and not as annoying as the old ones.

ZG is not so difficult now.

[Koralon]

They are indeed easier, I have Amani Battle Bears on my 4dks1hpaly from multiboxing it, and have sold 4 bears bear runs to people in trade the past 4 days for 3k each. If I can find enough people to sell them to for a month then thats 90kgold for a quick 30min run a day :D