The Steamvault walkthrough

A walktrough from the Steamvault.

Overview
This is a challenging instance, with an unusually large number of mobs, and a couple of reasonably difficult boss encounters. Trash pulls are made up of 2, 3 or 4 elite Naga humanoids, of 5 water elementals (1 elite and 4 non-elite,) or of a single elite bog giant. Because of the large number of 4-humanoid pulls, the instance favors DPS classes that possess humanoid Crowd-Control abilities: Mages, Hunters, Rogues, Warlocks and Shadow Priests. If not all 3 of the group's DPS members can CC humanoids, a skilled tank can fairly easily hold more than one mob at once, although in heroic mode this is best left as a last resort (for broken CC's) to avoid unnecessary wipes.

Almost every pull has a slightly different number and combination of mobs. Make sure that casters are taken down right away (or crowd controlled). The melee can usually be saved for last. A large portion of the instance can be skipped if you pull the 2 guards at the entrance followed by the two bog lords on the right and follow around the right hand side. However, you do not get rep for mobs you do not kill. Excessive skipping, as emphasized below, is also highly likely to cause wipes.

The Oracles and Sirens are very dangerous, with AoE silence and AoE fear they can block your healer for ten seconds or make you pull extra groups. Typically you want them crowd controlled at first and dealt with after the other mobs are dead. Be aware though if you as a mage polymorph the siren and she breaks early she will be after you. As soon as she gets into range she will try to silence you, making you unable to crowd control, frost nova her etc. If somebody tries to assist you she will cast an AoE fear, so ensure that person can break it, especially if there are other mobs they may be feared into.

A Mind Control pull is an effective way to take out a caster early. If you Mind Control the Sorcerer as the pull, then the other mobs will turn to kill the Sorcerer. When you are about 30% health cast Frost Nova. This will trap the remaining mobs in the pull and allow time for your tanks and other crowd controlling characters to react. This also works in Heroic Mode.

Bosses

 * Hydromancer Thespia
 * Thespia is a naga with two water elemental bodyguards. She herself can cast a lightning cloud that does substantial nature damage to anyone under it and has an 'enveloping winds' spell that stuns the target for five seconds.


 * Mekgineer Steamrigger
 * Steamrigger is a mechanical similar to Thermoplugg's pounder. At about 75%, 50%, and 25% health, Steamrigger will call gnomes to repair (heal) him.  He also has various special attacks that do not do tremendous amounts of damage.


 * Warlord Kalithresh
 * Kalithresh is a naga working for Lady Vashj. In combat, he periodically attempts to channel energy from the nearest of the tanks of fluid in his room.  If he completes the 10 second channel, his attack speed increases by 100% and his damage by 75%; this effect is stackable.  Once he reaches this state, a wipe is generally imminent and unavoidable, and it is thus imperative that the entire group focus their damage on these fluid tanks as soon as he begins channeling from them.

See the individual boss pages for more detailed information and strategies.

Warning: Pull Thoroughly
The single most important thing to be aware of for the early parts of this instance is the necessity for thorough pulling.

Group leaders in this instance have a tendency to try and rush past various groups of mobs, and early wipes tend to be either due to stray runners triggering other groups of mobs, or members of ranged classes accidentally backing into patrols when trying to get range. Once the group's path through the instance has been decided on, it is vital that the group thoroughly clears all mobs within radius of the determined path, if the group wishes to avoid wipes. The group's leader should not insist on trying to go around mobs excessively in the name of speed or convenience, since the amount of downtime caused by a wipe will generally be considerably more than the time necessary to ensure a safe path through the instance.

List of Trash Mobs
This is a non-exhaustive list of some trash mobs that can be found in the Steamvault.