Galakras

Galakras is the fifth boss of Siege of Orgrimmar. It is Warlord Zaela's proto-drake and a descendant of Galakrond. The encounter involves splitting the raid into two groups: one that aides the faction leaders at the beach while the second takes the towers to bring down Galakras.

Adventure Guide
''Warlord Zaela formed a close bond with Garrosh during events in the Twilight Highlands, and she and her Dragonmaw orcs have pledged loyalty to Garrosh's cause. Riding atop the fearsome Galakras, a direct descendant of the cataclysmic progenitor of all dragonkind, Zaela oversees the naval defense of Orgrimmar.''

Encounter Design
''What better way to begin a war-themed wing than by storming enemy beach emplacements? We wanted the focus of this encounter to be on splitting your raid up to secure enemy towers and anti-air weaponry while holding off waves of attackers, and Galakras himself serves as more of a capstone on the experience.''

Overview
Players assault fortified towers as waves of Kor'kron troops rush forth to repel them, and Warlord Zaela circles overhead on her fearsome proto-drake, Galakras. Meanwhile, allied demolitionists work to breach the doors to the nearby guard towers, allowing a strike team to enter the tower and capture it. Once both towers have been captured, the anti-air guns atop each may be used to bring Galakras down to the ground for a final battle.

[[file:Dps_icon.png]] Damage Dealers

 * Quickly destroy Healing Tide Totems and War Banners.
 * Interrupt Tidal Shamans' Chain Heal.
 * If targeted by Galakras's Flames of Galakrond, lead it through your allies to diminish its potency.

[[file:Healer_icon.png]] Healers

 * When Korgra the Snake reaches 50% health remaining, her Venom Bolt Volley will deal heavy raidwide damage.
 * If targeted by Galakras's Flames of Galakrond, lead it through your allies to diminish its potency.

[[file:Tank_icon.png]] Tanks

 * Interrupt Tidal Shamans' Chain Heal.
 * When a tower is breached, one tank must lead a small group of players to clear out remaining Kor'kron.

Prelude: Clear the Landing
The naval ships cannot land while the beachfront is still fortified with cannons. Take out the cannons to secure the landing.

Phase 1: Bring Her Down!
Warlord Zaela sends her finest Dragonmaw soldiers to battle. Two guardians keep watch over the Towers above, protecting the Anti-Air turrets. Defeating these guardians will give players access to the Anti-Air Turrets. Two well-timed Anti-Air turret shots will send Galakras spiraling towards the ground.
 * Ranking Officials
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Preparation
Before the pull, the raid leader will need to assign a tower team to take control of both towers. 10-man groups will typically send one tank, one healer and two DPS to take the towers; groups with more players will need to send more healers and DPS as necessary. A general guideline to use is 40%-50% of the raid on tower duty, though this will vary with each specific raid team (some groups have reported success with sending all DPS to take the first tower while only leaving a tank and a handful of healers behind, with a "standard-sized" team then taking the second tower).

Speaking to the relevant faction leader will begin the encounter.

Handling Ground Adds
Most of the abilities dealt by the adds will be handled in obvious ways (don’t stand in the fire!). However, there are some general guidelines to follow:


 * Dragonmaw Bonecrushers and Dragonmaw Tidal Shamans should be AoE-ed with any smaller adds, due to their higher health.
 * Dragonmaw Bonecrushers should be kept stunned as much as possible, due to the damage that they deal to faction leaders (which will wipe the group).
 * Dragonmaw Tidal Shamans should be kept interrupted as much as possible, and their Healing Tide Totems killed as soon as they appear.
 * Banners dropped by the Dragonmaw Flagbearers must be taken out immediately.

When a tower is about to open up, a mini-boss will spawn. Korgra the Snake will spawn with the southern tower, and simply needs to be nuked before she nukes the raid; players must however be careful to move away from the Dragonmaw Ebon Stalkers that she brings when they teleport behind raid members to avoid being one-shotted. High Enforcer Thranok will spawn with the northern tower, and needs to be faced away as he performs a cleave attack. Raid members need to get out of Skull Cracker range when Thranok uses this ability, as this another one-shot.

Adds should be tanked and killed close to the NPCs (in particular, position them in Flamestrike/Blizzard), as the NPC's contribution to damage done is not insignificant.

Handling Towers
Once a tower opens up, a Kor’kron Demolisher will spawn and fire projectiles at the tower. The Demolisher will need to be taken out urgently, as it will deal heavy damage to raid members in the tower (thus preventing them from doing their job).

Only once the Demolisher is down can the tower team proceed to take the tower. The team will need to fight their way to the top, where they will encounter a mini-boss (Lieutenant Krugruk on the southern tower, Master Cannoneer Dagryn on the northern tower). These mini-bosses are simple to deal with provided that players are quick to avoid their frontal cone attacks. Once the tower is cleared, one raid member can remain behind to use the Anti-Air Turret to kill the Dragonmaw Proto-Drakes flying above the raid.

The towers open up on a fixed schedule: the southern one will open 2 minutes into the encounter, and the northern run will open 2 minutes and 30 seconds after that.

Transitioning into Phase 2
The raid can only transition into Phase 2 once both towers are controlled by the raid. To transition, one raid member will need to enter each tower, and will need to simultaneously fire at Galakras (one turret alone is not sufficient, and neither is non-synchronized shooting with both turrets – both turrets must be fired at the same time). Doing so causes her to land and starts Phase 2.

It is important that these raid members only bring Galakras down once the ground is reasonably clear of adds, as bringing the boss down just after a new wave of adds spawns will result in an extremely problematic Phase 2.

Phase 2
The second phase is a simple burn phase with a soft enrage, reminiscent of the second phase of Beth'tilac in the Firelands. The raid will need to expend all damage cooldowns (including Bloodlust/Heroism/Time Warp) to kill Galakras before the stacking damage of Pulsing Flames becomes unhealable. As with Phase 1, the NPC's contribution towards damage done could mean the difference between a kill and a wipe, so Galakras should be positioned within range of the NPCs.

The main difficulty in this phase is handling Flames of Galakrond. The best way to handle this is for the tanks to face Galakras away, and for everyone else to stack up directly behind the boss in melee range, to allow AoE healing to benefit as many players as possible. When a player is targeted by a fireball, he merely has to step back and drop it a few yards behind the group. This will cause the fire balls to pass through as many raid members as possible, reducing the raid-wide damage that it deals when it hits the targeted player. The only caveat is the fire DoT that the ball applies to soakers; if the DoT stacks too high, players will simply need to run out of the group until their stacks expire, at which point they can safely return.

Tanks have a DoT of their own that they will need to handle through standard tank switching.

Some players recommend having the melee on the boss, and the ranged be about 30 yards behind the melee. However, this makes healing more difficult, as it reduces the benefit of AoE healing, and it forces melee players to run back much farther to drop the fireball if they get targeted. The fireball does not seem to prefer non-melee, as other players have suggested.

Achievement: The Immortal Vanguard
The Immortal Vanguard will, most likely, be earned on the raid's first kill of Galakras. The faction leaders are the only NPCs in any significant danger, and the encounter resets if they are not kept alive.

Related Achievements

 * Gates of Retribution
 * Mythic: Galakras
 * The Immortal Vanguard
 * Siege of Orgrimmar Guild Run

Quotes

 * Prologue (Alliance)
 * From the Vault of Y'Shaarj, the players arrive onto the ship Turalyon's Might carrying Varian Wrynn, Vereesa Windrunner and various Alliance forces out in Bladefist Bay, with Jaina at the head of the raid.
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 * Jaina walks over to the left to clear some room, then channels a Minor Portal for the raid.


 * Prologue (Horde)
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 * Landfall start
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 * Landfall concluded
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 * Intro (Alliance)
 * (With the cannons destroyed, Turalyon's Might sails in from the fleet to the dock, and the Alliance forces teleport over to the mainland.)


 * Speaking to Jaina Proudmoore to begin the fight (first attempt)
 * Great job taking out those cannons, hero. Are you ready to settle this for good?


 * Speaking to Varian Wrynn to begin the fight (subsequent attempts)
 * Here we are, at the precipice of war. Signal to me when your troops are in order and I will issue the command to attack.


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 * Intro (Horde)
 * (With the cannons destroyed, the Blood Elven Destroyer sails in from the fleet to the dock, and the Horde forces teleport over to the mainland.)


 * Speaking to Lor'themar Theron to begin the fight (first attempt)
 * Great job taking out those cannons, hero. Are you ready to settle this for good?


 * Speaking to Lor'themar Theron again to begin the fight (subsequent attempts)
 * This is where it matters, hero. You may signal to me when you are ready to press the attack. Oh, and, do try to keep Lady Sylvanas in line, would you?


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 * Aggro
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 * (The Demolitions Expert run off to the north tower.)
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 * Spell
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 * Assistance required
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 * Tower breached
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Lieutenant Krugruk

 * Aggro
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 * Arcing Smash
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 * Death
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 * Unused quotes
 * For the True Horde!
 * For Hellscream!

Master Cannoneer Dagryn

 * Aggro
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 * Muzzle Spray
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 * Death
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 * Unused quotes
 * For the True Horde!
 * For Hellscream!

Continued

 * 1st Tower taken
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 * 2nd Tower taken
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 * To the Ground!
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 * Hero slain
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 * bossemote
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 * bossemote
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 * Outro (Alliance)
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 * Varian and Jaina walk back down the dock to the ship.


 * Outro (Horde)
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 * Lor'themar and Sylvanas walk back down the dock to the ship.


 * Unused quotes
 * King Varian Wrynn: Thank you.
 * King Varian Wrynn: Bring them within reach of my blade!
 * King Varian Wrynn: Ha ha! A mighty blow!
 * King Varian Wrynn: She's called in more siege weapons!
 * King Varian Wrynn: It's also coming right at us! Watch out!
 * Lady Jaina Proudmoore: Thank you.
 * Lady Jaina Proudmoore: Nice shot!
 * Lady Sylvanas Windrunner: A hail of death approaches! Bring them to their fate!
 * Lady Sylvanas Windrunner: I feel better already.
 * Lady Sylvanas Windrunner: Hmm, a bold move.
 * Lady Sylvanas Windrunner: She's attacking the towers again!
 * Lor'themar Theron: I'm summoning a flamestrike, lead them into it!
 * Lor'themar Theron: Ah, much improved.
 * Lor'themar Theron: Impressive.
 * Warlord Zaela: Galakras, breathe fire on them!
 * Warlord Zaela: ...and they will die an honorable death in combat!

Trivia
This encounter is the first time Aethas Sunreaver is seen without his signature armor, revealing his face.