Alysrazor

Alysrazor is a fire hawk boss of the Firelands raid instance.

World first heroic kill on 25-man achieved 5.7.2011 by Vodka - US-Alterac Mountains.

Background

 * "Are you ready to fly the fiery skies? Catch her singed feathers and use them to soar above the inferno, or perish at the whim of this swift fire hawk. 

Adventure Guide
''When Ragnaros's forces surged into Mount Hyjal, the green dragon Alysra betrayed her allies and helped liberate the traitorous archdruid Fandral Staghelm. As a reward, she was purified with fire and reborn as a fearsome fire hawk.''

Stage One: I Will Burn You From the Sky!
Alysrazor flies around the arena, allowing her minions to corner her foes far below. She periodically flies through the center of the arena to claw at foes.
 * On heroic mode, Blazing Claw is replaced with Firestorm:
 * On heroic mode, Blazing Claw is replaced with Firestorm:

Stage Two: The Skies are Mine!
Alysrazor flies in a tight circle, removes Wings of Flame from all players after 5 seconds, and then begins her ultimate attack.



Stage Three: Burnout!
Alysrazor crashes to the ground with 0 Molten Power and becomes vulnerable. This stage lasts until Alyrazor's energy bar reaches 50 Molten Power.



Stage Four: Reborn in Flame!
Alysrazor's fire reignites at 50 Molten Power. This stage lasts until Alysrazor reaches 100 Molten Power.



Strategy
The Encounter Has a 15 Min Hard Enrage.

Raid Composition

 * 1 (3 in 25man) Flyboy gets 3 Molten Feathers and attacks Alysrazor in the air. Ideally a DoT-based caster, though any class that benefits strongly from haste will do (ranged preferred, though).
 * 1 spare healer picks up healing slack throughout the raid while not getting strafed by Alysrazor.
 * 2 teams of tanks, healers and dps. Each team is assigned one half of the arena divided by Alysrazor's strafing lane.

Initial Pull
The first pull of the night will require a player to get Fandral's attention. Fandral will then pull all players to the area in front of him and stun them with Smoldering Rootsthem while he monologues.

When Alysrazor spawns she will cast Firestorm (30K damage plus a knockback, followed by a 10k per second AoE). The raid should move out of the strafing path, then group up for AoE heals.

Second and later pulls are triggered by touching the single feather at northeast end of the battlefield. Players will not be relocated by Fandral this time, so before touching the feathers, players should group up near the "front" of the battlefield (toward the flame cavern containing Alysrazor) but outside of the strafing path (southeast is traditional). If you are too close to the "back" of the battlefield, Firestorm will knock you into the Volcanic Fire and you will probably die. After the knockback, stay grouped up for AoE heals.

Phase 1
Alysrazor will fly along the strafing path while casting Blazing Claw. Don't get clawed. This strafing run will be repeated a few times during phase 1, so if you must enter the strafing lane (to collect feathers or switch sides) do not tarry.

In her wake Molten Feathers will be dropped. Each healer should grab one for the speed buff and the ability to cast while moving. The flyboy(s) (good classes for this role are Fire Mages, Spriests, Aff locks and Fury warriors) should grab 3 feathers to gain Wings of Flame. Any remaining feathers may be picked up by the raid (casters and hunters prefered for the cast-while-moving benefit).

With Wings of Flame you are able to fly around and blast Alysrazor without having to worry about worms and hatchlings. However you do need to avoid cloud of flames that she releases along with the flame rings. While in the air fly through the flame rings to extend your air time indefinitely and gain a large stacking haste buff (stacks to 25, or 200% haste). If you lose the wings, grab another feather to regain them. At 24 stacks, you will gain Alysra's Razor, increasing your critical strike chance significantly. If you grab every single ring she spawns, you will be able to hit 24 stacks during the second ground strafe, leaving an entire air phase with the maximum haste and crit buffs. Both buffs last 40 seconds and are refreshed upon running through a ring. These rings will continue to spawn during phase 2, and if you succeed at hitting a couple during that phase, both buffs can be extended into and completely through phase 3.

DPS and interruptors' first priority is the Blazing Talon Initiate. Brushfire can not be interrupted. Fieroblast must be interrupted. A missed interrupt gives the initiate a buff that speeds up later casts, making it eventually impossible to interrupt every fieroblast. The sooner you can kill the initiate, the sooner you can plink at the hatchlings. Be on the look-out for replacement initiates that spawn throughout the fight.

Tanks have to pick up the Voracious Hatchlings. The player standing closest to each hatchling will be Imprinted and aggro is permanent until that player dies. Only the tank should be close enough to become Imprinted. Imprinted also gives the tank +1000% damage. Tanks are expected to do the majority of the damage against the hatchlings.

Hatchlings start out Satiated, but rather quickly convert to Hungry. While Hungry every time they land a blow there's a 20% chance to convert to Tantrum. When the hatchling throws a tantrum the tank should quickly kite it (strafing is preferable to backpedaling) into a Plump Lava Worm. Try not to walk through the Lava Spew. This is also a good time to pick up two Molten Feathers to get the speed buff. Don't pick up 3, or you will be launched into the air (and risk having the hatchling imprint on another player).

Worms spawn shortly after the Hatchlings emerge from their eggs. There is an initial wave of four and after a set period of time, another four spawn. Tanks should memorize the spawn points of the worms so that they do not spawn under a hatchling (and "waste" a tantrum suppression opportunity). The worms can be divided between the two tanks using the strafing path as the dividing line (although the second wave of worms has ones very close to the strafing path that can cause confusion over dibs for tanks-in-training). Each tank can expect to have the use of four worms during phase 1, although the chaos of battle can mess this up.

It is not unusual to suffer a tantrum while there are no worms available. Tanks should have a major cooldown available to lighten the load on the healers in this event.

Conversely, it is possible to get lucky and have spare worms near the end of phase 1. If there are still worms up 15 seconds before the beginning of phase 2, use the hatchling to kill the worms so they are not casting Lava Spew during phase 2.

Tanks who are in below-average gear may find it challenging to kill the voracious hatchling before phase 2 starts. If DPS is able to quickly kill the Blazing Talon Initiate, they can assist by blasting the hatchling until the next Initiate lands.

Healers and DPS, be aware that the hatchlings periodically cleave a Gushing Wound. Try not to be in the 60 degree cone. Healers, understand that a player afflicted by this will bleed until they reach half health, or until 60 seconds pass. Trying to top off a player afflicted by this DoT is probably a waste of mana. Wait until they bleed down to 50% health and then heal them.

Do not let a worm spin its Lava Spew onto you. It causes 40K damage per second.

Phase 2
Hatchlings and worms should be dead at the beginning of phase 2. A skilled tank can dodge tornadoes and tank the hatchling, but it is rather difficult and healers are too busy dodging tornadoes to cast more heals.

Phase 2 is a brutal frogger minigame. The center of the arena and the outer edge of the arena are death zones because of the Harsh Winds AoE. In between there is a zone of less death filled with orbiting Fiery Tornados.

Experienced players will perceive that there are well-defined circular concentric lanes. Each lane is populated by tornadoes moving in the same direction at the same speed. Adjacent lanes have tornadoes moving in the opposite direction. Tornadoes move faster than players can run (the only exception being those with 3 feathers in the interior 2-3 lanes), so players must change lanes to avoid damage.

The simplest tactic is to chase a tornado in a single lane until a tornado passes you going in the opposite direction. Immediately change lanes and change directions to pursue the opposing tornado. If you were to stay in the same lane too long, a tornado would overtake you, but by changing lanes you are able to avoid this. It is possible to allow two tornadoes to pass in the adjacent lane and then change lanes while still avoiding being steamrolled by the pursuing tornado.

Flyboys should attempt to pass through at least 1-2 flame rings during this phase. If done properly, the haste and crit buffs from phase 1 can be extended through the end of the phase 3 dps burn.

Phase 3
Alysrazor falls to the center of the arena, exhausted. This phase lasts a maximum of 33 seconds, but usually lasts closer to 20. All DPS and healers should begin blasting Alysrazor to take advantage of Essence of the Green (and the bonus damage of phase 3). Group up before phase 4 starts for AoE healing and to avoid taking a cleave.

The two tanks must move to their assigned sides and interrupt the Ignition cast by Blazing Talon Clawshapers. Interrupting Ignition delays Alysrazor's revival. The cast interval on Ignition is such that pure interrupts aren't enough. The tanks should first use an interrupt, then a stun, then another interrupt. The fourth ignition is of no consequence because even with good interrupts Alysrazor will be reignited by her own Spark. After the third interrupt a tank should move into position to tank phase 4.

Phase 4
When Alysrazor reaches 50 energy she reactivates. A tank should taunt and immediately build threat. As with Beth'tilac, the raid and tanks should be positioned in a triangle around Alysrazor, to avoid tanks sharing the cleave and debuff. Alysrazor will perform Blazing Claw, a cleave that stacks a debuff on the tank. All DPS should already be grouped up behind Alysrazor. The second tank should take care not to be in the cone of Blazing Claw, and should taunt off the first tank to mitigate the debuff's effects. Healers should be able to keep a single tank alive through 11 or 12 stacks of Blazing Claw if necessary (and tanks using a minor cooldown to reduce the damage helps), so single-tanking this phase is an option. Once Alysrazor reaches 100 energy she will knock everyone back, drop feathers under herself, and take to the air and return to Phase 1.

If the raid ends up taking Alysrazor to a third Phase 4, she will fail to fully re-ignite and continue spamming Blazing Buffet and Blazing Claw until either she or the raid die.

Afterword
If the flyboy has learned how to DPS and stay flying, and the raid is able to focus during phase 3, a properly geared raid can expect to kill Alysrazor in the air during either phase 3 of the second cycle or phase 1 of the third cycle. Undergeared raids who can compensate with skill will take longer, usually killing her during phase 3 of the third cycle. The fight does have one soft-enrage mechanic (the failed full re-ignition in the third Phase 4),coupled with the 15 min Hard Enrage. This fight is mostly about control and survival. If you have people dying, you need more power or more practice.

Solo strategy
Melee players should save CDs for phase three, while ranged players should use it on the pull. This fight is annoying for non-ranged players, as the encounter tends to reset if the only player is flying to attack her in melee range. Run over two Molten Feathers after Alysrazor drops them to gain the cast-while-moving benefit, though. If possible, put most of the DPS on her, but don't let adds stay up long. Stay out of the fires.

In phase two, get out of the center and the outer edge of the arena while dodging tornadoes, as their damage will start to add up. Try to run through the rings on the ground to gain the stacking crit/haste buffs.

In phase three, pop all CDs and blow her up. Try to interrupt the Blazing Talon Clawshapers' ignition, as that will end the phase sooner.

Remember that she will enrage after 15 minutes (after the third phase three cycle), so try to finish her off before then.

Related Achievements

 * Firelands (achievement)
 * Firelands Guild Run
 * Heroic: Alysrazor
 * Do a Barrel Roll!

Quotes

 * Intro
 * yell
 * Staghelm knocks back the raid and immobilizes them in thorns.
 * yell
 * yell
 * ''Majordomo Staghelm changes into his flight form, and flies back towards Sulfuron Spire. Alysrazor bursts from the volcano, inflicting some damage to the raid, and glides down.


 * Aggro
 * yell


 * Blazing Talon Initiate
 * yell
 * yell
 * yell
 * yell


 * Stage Two: These Skies are Mine!
 * yell


 * Stage Three: Burnout!
 * yell
 * yell


 * Stage Four: Reborn in Flame!
 * yell


 * Stage One: I Will Burn You From the Sky!
 * yell


 * Killing a Player
 * yell
 * yell


 * Unused quotes
 * Alysrazor: The light... mustn't... burn out...
 * Blazing Talon Initiate: She has fallen! Quickly, fall back to the keep!