Azjol-Nerub Guide

Azjol-Nerub 72-74

Azjol-Nerub, ancient kingdom of the Nerubians, now infested with scourge.  As the third instance in Northrend, everyone should be fairly acquainted with leveling on the new continent.  The instance is located in Dragonblight, west of the Horde outpost of Agmar’s Hammer, inside a large underground cavern.

Quests:
All quests are for both factions and given by Kilix the Unraveler, directly outside the instance portal and impossible to miss.  “Death to the Traitor King” involves killing Anub’arak, end boss of the dungeon, while “Don’t Forget the Eggs!” has you destroying a few of the many scourge eggs you will pass on your way through.

Boss Strategies:

Krik’thir the Gatewatcher
The encounter with Krik’thir begins with the trash directly before him.  After you pull and defeat one of the three packs in front of him, he will give you a few seconds before sending another of the packs to attack you, whether you’re ready or not, repeating until they’re all gone.  You then have another few seconds before Krik’thir himself will attack.  He will occasionally summon packs of small, non-elite bugs that should be killed by the DPS, and will cast Curse of Fatigue on a few member of the group, dealing a fair amount of damage and slowing movement, attack, and casting speeds by 30% for ten seconds.  He also casts Mind Flay on his primary target.  The bigger challege for this boss is making sure everyone is going into the fight with Krik’thir properly healed and with sufficient mana to outheal and outdamage him.

Hadronox
As you enter the next chamber, Hadronox can be seen fighting off hordes of Scourge on the tier below you.  After you kill the few elites in front of you, he will make his way to the upper level, seal off the tunnels that have been letting in scourge, and finish off those still attacking him, before finally turning on you.  His attacks consist of an Acid Cloud, an area AoE that is easily avoided by moving out of it; Leech Poison, which does a small amount of damage to all group members and heals Hadronox for the damage dealt; Pierce Armor, which reduces the tank’s armor by 50% for a short time; and Web Grab, which does a fair amount of damage and draws the target in towards Hadronox.  None of these attacks is particularly threatening, though the healer should be sure to watch for Pierce Armor and the additional healing it invites.  DPS should take care to stay out of Acid Cloud.  Overally a fairly simple fight.

Anub’arak
The fight consists of two alternating stages.  When Anub’arak is above ground, he uses three main attacks: Impale, which sends a row of spikes through the floor, doing moderate damage and sending anyone hit through the air (to take additional fall damage when they hit); Locust Swarm, an AoE that hits every gruop member for a small amount every second; and Pound, an AoE frontal cone that deals moderate damage and stuns for six seconds.  In addition, he will occasionally summon 2 carrion beetles, weak adds that should be killed as soon as possible.  Every 33%, Anub’arak will submerge, and adds will start jumping into the ring you’re fighting in.  Nonelite mobs should be spotted by the DPS and killed quickly; the few elites that spawn should be picked up by the tank and killed by the DPS between non-elite mobs.  When all the elites are dead, Anub’arak will pop back up and the process repeats itself.  The first time Anub’arak submerges, one elite add will join the fight; the second time, there will be two.  The fight revolves around sustainability.  DPS should try to take as little damage as possible to help the healer’s mana, which needs to be managed well to last through the many phase changes and large amount of damage taken by the whole party.  If your healer is able to hold out long enough, Anub’arak should go down.