Anetheron - The Battle for Mount Hyjal

Last night was my first chance to help take down Anetheron, the second boss in Mount Hyjal. I was running with my new guild, Twilight Ascension on the Dalaran realm. Although I did not live through the encounter, I enjoyed watching the fight immensely. My goal next time is to stay alive.

The thing I love about Mount Hyjal is the dps number I have at the end of the night. Since I spend the majority of my time AoE'ing the trash mob waves, I have higher than normal dps. Generally speaking, warlocks aren't the big numbers on trash. The cast time of shadow bolt is so long that you can usually only get off one, maybe two on a trash mob before the raid kills it. As an affliction warlock, my dps is even lower on trash mobs because my DoT's don't get the chance to tick more than once or twice.

There are 8 waves of trash before Anetheron spawns.

Wave 1 - 10 Ghouls - each tank grabs 2-3 ghouls and builds aggro, after they have sufficient aggro, target through one of the tanks and cast Seed of Corruption (SoC) repeatedly until all or most of the ghouls are dead. When mobs get down to 2-3 in number, sometimes, it's more efficient to single target kill those.

Wave 2 - 4 Abominations, 8 Ghouls - Each abomination will be marked. As an affliction warlock, I DoT each of the while waiting for the tank's to build aggro. Once they have sufficient aggro, I begin Seeding through the first abomination in the kill order. And I continue targeting the abominations through the mark kill order and using SoC.

Wave 3 - 4 Shadowy Necromancers, 4 Crypt Fiends, and 4 Ghouls - The crypt fiends are marked as the abominations were and once again I DoT them up. I continue with the strat of wave 2. The Shadowy Necromancers are sheeped or feared and killed last. If you are asked to fear them, just be careful of their range. It can take be time-consuming if you have to hunt them down.

Wave 4 - 2 Banshees, 6 Crypt Fiends and 4 Ghouls - Same strat as Wave 3. The Banshees are shackled during this wave and killed last.

Wave 5 - 4 Banshees, 6 Crypt Fiends and 2 Shadowy Necromancers - Banshees are shackled. Shadowy Necromancers are sheeped/feared. The Crypt Fiends are marked and single targeted for killing or AoE'd.

Wave 6 - 2 Abominations, 4 Shadowy Necromancers and 6 Ghouls - Targets are handled as described in previous waves. Affliction locks should DoT the Abominations. AoE once the tanks have sufficient threat.

Wave 7 - 4 Abominations, 4 Crypt Fiends and 4 Banshees - Some strats suggest kiting one of the Abominations and killing it first while the tanks build threat on the remaining Abominations and Crypt Fiends. The Banshees are shackled and tanked, if you don't have enough priests to shackle all 4. Affliction locks should DoT the Abominations and Crypt Fiends. AoE once the tanks have sufficient threat.

Wave 8 - 4 Abominations, 3 Crypt Fiends, 2 Banshees, 2 Shadowy Necromancers and 3 Ghouls - by the time you get to this wave, you are good at what you are doing. Same strats apply as above waves. Affliction locks should DoT the Abominations and Crypt Fiends. AoE once the tanks have sufficient threat. Then finish off the Banshees and Necromancers through single-targeting.

Here comes the big guy! Anetheron spawns and runs into the arena, targeting the first thing he sees. A hunter will misdirect him to the main tank. All ranged dps should be well-spread out, in an arc in front of him, but not too close together.

Carrion Swarm - Anetheron sends out a green cone of about 60 degrees from the target he casts it on. This swarm deals 4250-5750 shadow damage and debuffs the healing ability of the healers by 75%. Thus, the healers should be spread even farther apart than the dps. The debuff lasts for 20 seconds and the green wave occurs approximately every 11-15 seconds. Try to throw up your Shadow Ward as often as you can.

Inferno - Here comes the hurt. Anetheron casts this at random, every minute. A meteor will fall from the sky aimed at the person it was cast on. When it lands, it causes 2500 fire damage, stuns the target for 2 seconds and spawns a Towering Infernal. The target must kite the Infernal to the Infernal Tank or a hunter must mis-direct the Infernal. As this infernal runs, he is surrounded by an 8 yard AoE of fire damage. Get out of their way.

If you are the affliction warlock in the tank group, make sure you put your imp on stay, phase-shifted close to the infernal tank. Make sure you can still dark pact from him and be in range of Anetheron. With practive you will learn where to leave him.

Sleep - He sleeps up to 3 people at random for 10 seconds. So, you stand there and watch the action, unable to participate. It is, of course, at this time that an infernal will be running straight at you and then stand still on your head while you die.

Vampiric Aura - The rogues will need to keep Wound Poison fully stacked as this will heal Anetheron for 300% of the damage he deals.

Lock Loot - Anetheron's Noose and Hatefury Mantle