Cataclysm Guide

Below is a brief guide to Zul’Gurub. If you’re looking for a detailed guide on the topic, I can recommend Killer Guides’ Cataclysm Guide. In case you are looking for something with more step-by-step instructions, you can also give Vivi’s Unoffiicial Cataclysm Guide or Uma’s Guide a try.

As you may have suspected, I’ll be talking a little bit about Zul’Gurub today. What does this old raid zone have to do with Cataclysm, you may ask? Well, I’m going to tell you, but not before rehashing some old info about the zone. Hah!

Zul’Gurub is a cozy old raiding zone located on the eastern end of Stranglethorn Vale. The zone has its own reputation associated with it; the Zan’dalar. Zul’gurub sparked some serious media attention when it was first released. A bug with one of Hakkar’s abilities named Corrupted Plague allowed you to spread it to other players outside the zone, the resulting pandemic caused some serious media attention. You can read more about that here.

Why do you care about the zone being removed? Well, the zone may be a raid instance today, but that is going to change. It will not be a raiding zone after Cataclysm comes out, or possibly even before then; when patch 4.03 goes live.

As Blizzard puts it: Zul’Gurub is gone as a raid instance come Cataclysm.

Instead, the zone will be an outdoor area in which a few quests are undertaken. The important part is; it will be quite different and you cannot do ZG in its former glory ever again.

Now, there are several things that can happen which may be of interest to you. Note that not all of these are certain at this point;

1. There are two highly sought after mounts that drop in ZG – The Swift Razzashi Raptor and Swift Zulian Tiger. These have a very low drop rate and may not be attainable at all once Cataclysm is released. Drop rates vary from site to site, but assume its between 0.5 and 1% for both.
2. The Razzashi Hatchling is a very rare drop from the Razzashi Raptors in the zone. It drops nowhere else right now. However, as this pet was only added to ZG fairly recently, perhaps it will be attainable through other means in the future. According to warcraftpets.com, the drop chance is about 1 in 1000.
3. Achievements – The Zandalar reputation is being removed. Anyone exalted with this reputation when Cataclysm hits will receive a feat of strength. New players will be unable to ever raise this rep. This looks pretty definitive. The Zul’Gurub achievement, which requires killing Hakkar, and Deadliest Catch, which lets you fish up a boss in ZG, will both be replaced by Feats of Strength as well.
4. The Polymorph Turtle spell, which can currently only be obtained by killing Gahz’ranka, may no longer be obtainable at all.
5. For profession completionists; The Zandalar quartermaster may or may not be removed. He offers a range of plans for Alchemists, Blacksmiths, Enchanters, Engineers, Leatherworkers and Tailors. If you want to get these plans, I would suggest doing so as soon as possible.

If you want to own or complete any of the items listed above, I would suggest heading to ZG asap and getting some killing done! I did not mention quests; There is a selection of repeatable quests for armor, head/leg enchants and trinkets you can do; there is a set for every class but the Death Knight. These require varying levels of reputation and items from within the zone. There are but two one-time only quests that I could find. A Collection of Heads and The Heart of Hakkar, which starts from an item dropped from Hakkar himself.

If there are things on that list you don’t want to miss, I suggest you get started! I have been running around ZG for a while and will gladly share some tips on how to go about things, should you feel motivated;

Firstly, if you want to solo ZG, you will still need to form a raid to enter. You can form a raid with someone and remove that player from the raid after you log in without being teleported out of the zone. However, you will not be able to zone back in if you use that method. Dying will require you to form a raid again.

Trash

Some trash is very easily killed. Other trash can pose a problem:

• Axe Throwers are the most frustrating of the lot. They will initially open with regular attacks. However, when they are not killed swiftly, they will channel a whirlwind type ability which will leave you unable to do anything for 10 seconds. No moving, no casting, no nothing. Two Axe Throwers can channel this in succession to leave you permanently disabled, resulting in your eventual death. Kill them fast.
• Berserkers and Champions can knock you back pretty far. Pulling a bunch of Champions leads to a lot of time spent flying, or being stuck into walls causing your assailants to evade reset, or simply go back to full health and then proceed attacking.
• Mad Servants. These are imps found only near the Maw of Madness. They’re easy enough to kill, but spawn two voidwalkers after death. These voidwalkers will deal periodic shadow damage and slow you. The imps provide 4 rep but the voidwalkers do not.
• Brood Widows are the large red spiders only found by High Priestess Mar”li. They have the ability to stun you for 7 seconds, and will spawn a bunch of weak little spiders upon death. Kill them first and don’t pull too many.
• Soul Flayers are found in the center of the zone at Hakkar’s temple only. They can fear you, heal themselves and frenzy. They are part of larger packs of various trolls. Kill the Soulflayers first, as these packs are certainly capable of killing a fully epic’d out level 80 quickly.

Reputation

Clearing everything in the zone is something I started out doing but can’t really recommend. A lot of the trash takes too much time to kill. If its rep you’re after, there are two types of trash mob you can kill that are worth exceptionally much rep for the ease with which they are handled.

• Zulian Crocolisk. These are all found on the lower lying land levels surrounding the body of water around Hakkar’s temple in the center of the zone. They deal very little damage and have just over 9k health. You can kill them very easily, they provide 4 rep each and last but not least; They do drop coins and bijous.
• Withered Mistresses and Voodoo Slaves. If you turn left immediately upon entering the zone, you will be able to cross some water and find a ramp leading up to the left. You’ll find these mobs at the top of this ramp. Some of them will knock you down, so be careful not to pull too many. They have about 12k health, are worth 4 rep each and drop bijous and coins.

You could simply stick with killing trash mobs to reach exalted, but bosses provide a tidy boost as well.

• High Priestess Jeklik, (Bat Boss) You need to clear the surrounding area of trash, which consists mostly of bats. The boss itself will frequently silence you, uses a 4 second fear occasionally and will attempt to heal herself for 100k every so often, about a third of her total pool. This is a 4 second cast heal which can be interrupted.
• High Priest Venoxis (Snake Boss). Flanked by several weaker snake guardians. You can AE them down or focus on them first. The boss can dispel himself. He will turn into a snake at low health and deal more damage, but nothing unmanageable. Note: If the Parasitic Serpent debuff is on you, a small snake will spawn when it wears off. Kill it fast to avoid getting the same debuff again.
• High Priestess Mar’li (Spider Boss). Summons three ‘Spawns of Mar’li’ at the start of the fight. These will quickly grow and deal more damage as they do, so kill them first. Occasionally she will spawn another. At low health she will turn into a spider, with a root ability being the main thing of interest if you aren’t soloing.
• Bloodlord Mandokir (Raptor Boss) This boss is quite difficult to solo. In fact, many classes can’t do it at all. He drops the Swift Razzashi Raptor, which makes him an attractive target. Make sure to fight him at the top of his platform and if you want extra safety, clear the immediate area. He fears. Tanking classes have the easiest time, as he hits hard and fast. You can choose to kill his raptor Ohgan first, as it adds extra damage and applies an armor debuff. However, killing Ohgan will grant the boss a sizable 2 minute duration buff. I recommend leaving the raptor alive and killing the boss first. If you’re unsure whether you’ll have a chance when trying to solo him, try reading through the comments here and see if your class is represented.
• High Priest Thekal (Tiger Boss). This boss drops the swift Zulian Tiger mount, and is thankfully much easier to solo than Mandokir. Thekal is accompanied by two tigers, which are easily killed, and two henchmen: Zealot Lath and Zealot Lor’Khan. Lor’Khan is the most important of the lot, as she can cast a sizable heal. If you kill one of these three targets, it will come back to life if you don’t kill the remaining two within 10 seconds. As such, they all need to die simultaneously. Pay close attention to Lor’Khans heals, as you will want to interrupt those to prevent it from ruining your carefully planned simultane-a-kill. When all three are dead, Thekal will turn into a tiger and summon tigers periodically. Luckily, damage output of most classes is high enough nowadays to give you enough time to kill the tiger before he actually does anything you might be worried about.
• Gahz’ranka. This boss drops the Polymorph Turtle spell. To summon him, you will need a Mudskunk Lure, which can be purchased from Nat Pagle in Dustwallow Marsh. It is consumable, so you will need multiples if you plan to kill this boss more than once. In order to summon him, you will need to fish up 5 Zulian Mudskunks from the schools in the water surrounding Hakkar’s temple and combine those with the Lure. The resulting item can be used to summon the boss at Pagle’s Point, which is located at the northeastern corner of the water area. The boss is easy to kill, but make sure to fight it in the water as you will be tossed high into the air by it.
• High Priest Arlokk (Panther Boss). This boss is exceptionally easy to kill. After using the gong, the boss will attack. If you put out a lot of damage, you can kill her before she will vanish. If not, she will disappear and send wave after wave of extremely weak panther into your face. You can kill them one by one or wait to AE them in greater numbers. When the boss reappears, finish her off.
• Jin’do the Hexxer. This boss can be solo’d, but has a weird little bug going on. He will frequently summon a mind control totem, which will, unsurprisingly, mind control you. This mind control will then be removed after a few seconds, when Jin’do realizes that there are no further enemies left. Note; Make sure you don’t have a pet out for this fight. When the mind control drops, proceed killing the boss. Sometimes, you will be teleported into the skeleton-filled red pit. These have practically no health. In fact, I recommend fighting Jin’do near the pit, as he will sometimes reset after teleporting you too far away. Lastly, if you kill Jin’do just as he places his mind control totem, prepare to spend the next 4 minutes mind controlled. It will wear off, I promise.
• Hakkar. First of all; If you are using a pet and you are the one with aggro, he will mind control you and reset when you have any type of target nearby. Pets includes blood worms, shadow fiends and magma totems. So again: You can use a pet to tank Hakkar as long as you never pull aggro yourself. You cannot use a pet if you’re tanking. Secondly; Hakkar is stronger and has more abilities when any High Priest bosses are alive. You should kill them all. Jin’do , Mandokir and Gahz’ranka can be left alive. When going up to his temple, you can choose to go left or right around it. Whichever direction you choose, make sure there are no mobs walking back and forth there anymore. My usual method is this: Pull Hakkar all the way to the edge of the platform, be it the north or the south side (depending on which side I cleared the trash from). About half a minute into the fight, I will target the Son of Hakkar (these spawn roughly every minute and wander back and forth) and attack it to get it to come to me. When it does, kill it and you will receive a 2 minute debuff for standing in the green cloud. Now, when Hakkar channels Blood Siphon about a minute into the fight, he will not gain health. If you don’t have the debuff, he will gain a considerable amount. Hakkar doesn’t hit terribly hard and doesn’t use any abilities that are a major threat besides the mind control. If you want, you can forego using the Son of Hakkar debuff and simply deal enough damage to negate his heals.

I can’t think of much else to say but this: Enjoy ZG while it lasts, and good luck on the drops!

To get advanced content and recommended strategies about Zul’Gurub, check out the Killer Guides Cataclysm Guide. As mentioned above, Vivi’s Unoffiicial Cataclysm Guide and Uma’s Guide aren’t a bad deal either, though their focus is more on detailed step-by-step walkthroughs (which I guess makes them very newbie-friendly).

This entry was posted on Sunday, October 3rd, 2010 at 6:38 AM and is filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.