Heigan the Unclean



Heigan the Unclean is the second boss of the Plague Quarter in Naxxramas. He is the famous "dance boss". If you master the dance, then you master the fight. Some may view this as an easy feat, while many players struggle to master the concept.

History
The mastermind behind the magic of the cauldrons that quickly spread the undead plague through Lordaeron, corrupting not just the humans but flora and fauna in the area as well. The entire wilderness surrounding Lordaeron is now referred to as "the Plaguelands" — thanks in no small part to Heigan's handiwork.

Phase one

 * Spell shadow painfulafflictions.png Spell Disruption:


 * This is a 30-yard aura around Heigan the Unclean. It will increase cast times by 300%. (This was increased from 20 yards in 3.08)


 * Ability creature disease 03.png Decrepit Fever:


 * This is a disease applied to a random player which will do 4,500 Nature damage every 3 seconds and reduce the maximum hit points of every player within 20 yards by 50%.

Phase two
After 90 seconds Heigan will teleport to the middle of the raised platform and begin channeling.
 * Ability creature disease 02.png Plague Cloud:


 * Deals 7,500 Nature damage a second to any player remaining on the raised platform during Phase Two.


 * Spell fire fire.png Eruption:


 * Three quarters of the remaining area of the room will be hit by eruption every few seconds during Phase Two. Does 6650 to 7350 Nature damage on a hit. Near the edge of a safe spot players will only be hit once.  In the middle of unsafe spots they will be hit multiple times which is generally fatal.

10-man abilities
Heigan the Unclean has approximately 3,060,000 hit points. Note that unlike 40-man Naxxramas the tunnel before Heigan is no longer a gauntlet.

Phase one

 * Spell Shadow PainfulAfflictions.png Spell Disruption:


 * This is a 20-yard aura around Heigan the Unclean. It will increase cast times by 300%.


 * Ability creature disease 03.png Decrepit Fever:


 * This is a disease applied to a random player which will do 3,000 Nature damage every 3 seconds and reduce the maximum hit points of every player within 20 yards by 50%.

Phase two
After 90 seconds Heigan will teleport to the middle of the raised platform and begin channeling.


 * Ability creature disease 02.png Plague Cloud:


 * Deals 7,500 Nature damage a second to any player remaining on the raised platform during Phase Two.


 * Spell fire fire.png Eruption:


 * Three quarters of the remaining area of the room will be hit by eruption every few seconds during Phase Two. Does 6650 to 7350 Nature damage on a hit. Near the edge of a safe spot players will only be hit once.  In the middle of unsafe spots they will be hit multiple times which is generally fatal.

Strategy
The fight goes as a 135 second cycle:
 * Phase 1: Heigan is in the field for 90 seconds. Ground Eruptions move slowly, the tank has to move Heigan through the positions shown in the graphic.
 * Phase 2: Heigan teleports on the platform for 45 seconds. Ground Eruptions speed up, the entire raid needs to move through the safe zones (see Heigan Dancing Lesson for detailed video tutorial). The platform has to be empty. Heigan will not use Spell Disruption, Teleport and Decrepit Fever during phase 2.

Positioning and movement is everything in this fight. Heigan deals extremely low melee damage and has no enrage timer, which means no one should have to worry about getting off a last cast before moving. You won't have time. No matter how much time you think you have, it is likely not enough. During all of phase 2, you will be almost constantly moving, and not worrying about casting anything or using any attacks. Tanks should not be afraid to turn their backs to Heigan, as his damage is low enough for a healer to easily heal through it. The only real source of damage (if the raid can properly avoid Eruptions) is Decrepit Fever, which should be removed immediately by a healer. Cleansing a disease is instant cast, and therefore can be done while moving.

Alternate strategy
For those groups that have trouble dancing, are heavy on melee dps, and which have a druid healer, there is an alternate strategy (the "Lockard Maneuver") which can make this fight much easier.

This approach hinges on the fact that Heigan's Spell Disruption ability only affects abilities with a cast time. Due to this fact, there is no need to dance at all in Phase 1 as long as your druid(s) (and other healers) can keep the tank up with HoTs and instant heals and you have sufficient melee dps to make good progress on the boss.

To execute the strategy, simply tank Heigan on the platform during the entirety of Phase 1. Make sure to tank him far enough on the platform that your melee dps won't be hanging off the edge, otherwise they'll take eruption hits.

When he teleports to begin Phase 2, quickly get off the platform to avoid the platform AoE and to prepare for the fast dance. Run the dance through to completion, and when he transitions back to Phase 1, once again rush the platform to take him down. A well-geared group that is heavy on melee dps should be able to take him down in two platform phases, three at the outside.

Although you will still be dancing in Phase 2, the major advantage of this approach is that you don't need to worry about moving Heigan around during Phase 1. The Phase 2 dance is faster, but you only have to concentrate on moving yourself, not trying to dps or position a boss as well.

The Heigan Dance

 * In this encounter it helps to increase the Particle Density feature. In order to access this you must press ESC->Video->Effects->Particle Density and increase it. Note that it will decrease game performance but it will be easier to dodge the Eruption and Plague Cloud abilities.
 * The RED square is safe from Eruption. During phase 1, all ranged DPS and healers stand here. During phase 2, a heavy damage disease DoT is placed on the platform.
 * The BLUE dots and lines are where the boss is tanked and moved between every lava burst.
 * The GREEN line is an approximate of where the lava bursts are split.
 * The PURPLE dots represent the gauntlet from the old 40 man Naxx, and the YELLOW dot and line was where you were teleported and how you had to run back to the boss. The new 10/25 version does not involve that area in the encounter.



Regardless of the strategy you use during this fight, the key to taking Heigan down is learning the dance. If you are able to do the dance, then the following strategy will optimize your DPS and make this fight go much faster, thus reducing the potential for wipes. Unless your group is mostly ranged casters, then the above alternate strategy would be best. However, if your tanks are doing about 10% of group damage each, having your tanks run with Heigan doing nothing more than keeping aggro reduces the total group DPS output by about 20%. The same will go for each melee class that is required to run, reducing your damage output for that party member by about 80%, so something to consider when trying an alternate strategy that has your melee running with Heigan.

You want to start the fight by having your tank rush Heigan on the platform and have all melee DPS go to the platform as well. It is a good idea to have him tanked as far back on the platform as possible so you avoid anyone on the platform from getting hit by the eruptions. This allows your tank and all melee to concentrate on doing the most damage to Heigan during Phase 1.

All of the healers and caster ranged classes should be out on the floor and working through the dance required for Phase 1. The advantage here is that both ranged and healers can cast spells with worrying about the effects of Spell Disruption. With the tank stationary, they will also be able to manage the distance better individually rather than having to worry about the tank getting Heigan too close to the caster group. This provides more than sufficient time to cast spells for healing and DPS while allowing the tank and melee to maximize DPS. Note: Losing a healer during this stage has less impact than losing a tank out on the floor during eruptions.

As Heigan approaches Phase 2, there are 5–10 seconds between the last eruption and his teleportation and quickened eruptions, during which everyone must get to the starting zone for the Phase 2 dance. Begin running towards the starting zone just a few seconds prior to teleportation so you are not caught out on the floor during the first eruption in Phase 2.

Tips

 * For the melee dance it's 1-2-3-4-3-2-1-2, for the everyone dance it's 1-2-3-4-3-2-1-2-3-4-3-2 (everyone dance is much faster timing than melee dance)
 * The closer you are to the platform the shorter the distance you have to run around the room; the farther away from the platform you are, you will have to run longer distance between waves.
 * Whenever a phase change occurs, the safe zone is reset to zone 1.
 * Safe zones move in the following order: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 3 - 2 - 1 - 2 - ...
 * Use Smoke Flares or Basic Campfire to mark the safe zones for people to run to.
 * Aggro does NOT reset between phases.
 * Due to latency, other players may or may not appear in the correct position for you. Move at your own pace, do not try to follow other players.
 * One of the most common reasons for death is running too far on either side of the room. If you are running from section 3 to section 4, you only need to take a few steps (between other pieces, you need to cross the entire next section, something not necessary for their sections one or four). It is possible to cast in the time this buys.
 * Safe zone cycle is, for phase one: 1-2-3-4-3-2-1-2~3. So, it is the way to 4, back to 1, and then almost to 3. It is this way at least for 10man. At the moment Heigan teleports, move QUICKLY back to zone 1. It will reset the cycle to zone 1 again.
 * There is no enrage timer on this fight, so it can go on as long as you can keep some sort of DPS up. Heigan has been killed in fights taking longer than 30 minutes (due to deaths.)
 * One problem starter groups can encounter on this fight is the massive disease wave that occurs as the phase 2 dance transitions back to Phase 1 DPS. Everyone will be grouped up when they're dancing and Heigan can easily drop Decrepit Fever and hit the entire raid (20 yard range effect).  Remember that nasty spell hits for seven 3K nature damage ticks on 10 man AND reduces health by 50% (i.e. a toon with 18K health or less will die in 3 ticks).  Disease cleansing is critical and makes a Shaman or Priest very useful.  Priests should use the abolish disease spell, casting it on raid members BEFORE the end of the dance.  Shaman should make sure their disease cleansing totem is still up, preferably at the edge of the platform where it won't be hit by eruptions. The Abolish Disease will tick as the phase changes and therefore cleanse most of the raid immediately.

Related Achievements

 * The Plague Quarter (10 player)
 * The Plague Quarter (25 player)
 * The Safety Dance (10 player)
 * The Safety Dance (25 player)

Quotes

 * Aggro
 * yell
 * yell
 * yell


 * Killing a Player
 * yell


 * Phase 2
 * yell


 * Random
 * yell
 * yell
 * yell
 * yell

Notes and trivia

 * Unlike the 40-man version of Naxxramas, the tunnel before Heigan is no longer a gauntlet.
 * During the death knight quest-line, if one asks Noth the Plaguebringer where Heigan is, he will respond with a humorous and/or rude comment. Two of these comments make fun of the "Heigan dance" a raid must do while fighting him in Naxxramas.
 * Heigan is a "memory" in the fight against Argent Confessor Paletress in the Trial of the Champion encounter of the Crusaders' Coliseum.
 * The song "Safety Dance" is actually a useful timing mechanism for the dance phases of this fight.
 * Heigan is voiced by Marc Graue.