WoW TBC Classic Anniversary Boosting

Although the initial hype surrounding TBC Classic Anniversary has subsided somewhat recently, we believe that Phase 2, launching on the 14th, will help revitalize the game and reverse some of this decline. If you intend to continue playing, you should start preparing for the new content immediately.

The most significant feature of Phase 2 is undoubtedly the introduction of two new raids. Not only can you earn gold by clearing them, but certain bosses within these raids also drop crucial Tier 5 Tokens.

In this guide, we will provide an overview of the boss fight mechanics within Tempest Keep raid, alongside a specialized guide for tank players. If this sounds like what you're looking for, read on!

Tempest Keep Raid Overview

This is a 25-player raid featuring four bosses. To unlock access to the raid, you must first complete a specific Attunement quests to obtain the key item: The Tempest Key.

The raid is located in the eastern region of Netherstorm. To successfully reach the raid entrance, situated on a central floating island, you will need to utilize flying mounts or rely on a Warlock teammate to summon you.

Boss Fight Overview

The four bosses within Tempest Keep are Al'ar, Void Reaver, High Astromancer Solarian, and Kael'thas Sunstrider. Of these four, only Void Reaver and Kael'thas Sunstrider drop Tier 5 Tokens, specifically for the shoulder and chest slots, respectively.

Boss 1: Al'ar

Lore-wise, Al'ar is actually the phoenix pet of another boss in this raid: Kael'thas Sunstrider. As a phoenix, Al'ar possesses fire-based abilities and exhibits typical phoenix behavior, specifically the ability to undergo a rebirth cycle after dying. This characteristic is the reason why this boss encounter is structured into two distinct phases.

Although this is not the most difficult encounter within Tempest Keep raid, it does require a higher-than-usual number of tanks in the raid composition.

If you are MT, you must position yourself on the platform immediately after the phase begins. This ensures that if the boss lands within your melee range, you can instantly establish threat.

It is critical to have a player within melee range when Al'ar lands; otherwise, the boss will trigger an ability called Flame Buffet, which almost invariably results in a complete raid wipe.

Subsequently, the boss will periodically cast Flame Quills and summon Embers of Al'ar. The latter are small adds that will eventually explode; as a tank, you must immediately pick them up and pull them away from the rest of the raid group.

After you and your teammates have successfully defeated Al'ar once, it will respawn and enter Phase 2. During this phase, you must coordinate closely with your fellow tanks; whenever the current tank is afflicted by Melt Armor debuff, you must immediately use Taunt to draw the boss's aggro.

It is worth noting that the boss will occasionally cast its Dive Bomb ability, which spawns adds. When this occurs, one tank must break away to kite the boss; however, while doing so, you must remain vigilant to avoid being affected by the boss's other abilities.

Also Read: Everything You Need to Know Before TBC Classic Anniversary Phase 2 Drops - Don't Get Left Behind

Boss 2: Void Reaver

This boss encounter consists of a single phase; aside from the boss's standard abilities and mechanics, no additional elements are introduced mid-fight. Therefore, once you have mastered the basic strategy, you can defeat this boss with relative ease.

For tanks, it is crucial that, immediately after the fight begins and the ranged DPS players have taken up their positions, you pull the boss to the center of the arena. From there, all tanks should work together to establish aggro; a minimum of three tanks is required for this encounter.

A critical point to remember is that you must strive to generate as much aggro as possible within your capabilities. This is because the boss's Knock Away ability, which targets tanks, will inevitably wipe or drastically reduce your aggro level, and this effect cannot be avoided.

Furthermore, if you are playing a Warrior tank, you must decide whether to dual-wield weapons or equip a shield based on the specific circumstances of the fight. The latter is the preferred choice for the main tank role, while the former serves as a viable option for off-tanks or alternates.

Boss 3: High Astromancer Solarian

The tricky aspect of this boss encounter is that she summons reinforcements and will transform into a Voidwalker once her health drops to 20%.

The fight itself comprises three distinct phases, with the transformation typically marking the beginning of Phase 3.

Phase 1 is relatively straightforward to handle, allowing the raid group to engage in the damage output; it is not until Phase 2 that the boss begins summoning allies, specifically Solarian Agents and Priests, via Solarian Portals.

If you are playing a tank, you do not need to focus on defensive measures or aggro generation during Phase 1, as the boss does not utilize a standard aggro table mechanism at this stage. Instead, your primary objective is to join your teammates in dealing damage to the boss.

In Phase 2, your main priority shifts to containing or tanking Solarian Agents and Priests as effectively as possible.

During the final phase, if you are the main tank, you must focus your efforts on holding aggro on the boss while ensuring that you remain immune to her fear abilities by utilizing Fear Ward or Tremor Totem.

Boss 4: Kael'thas Sunstrider

As the final boss of Tempest Keep raid, Kael'thas Sunstrider is not only an incredibly dangerous adversary but also presents a multi-stage encounter spanning up to five distinct phases, making this a battle that is destined to be a grueling challenge!

In Phase 1, Kael'thas Sunstrider summons four Advisors in succession: Thaladred the Darkener, Lord Sanguinar, Grand Astromancer Capernian, and Master Engineer Telonicus. Later, in Phase 3, they will resurrect one by one in the exact order in which they were defeated.

Phase 2 is quite interesting; the boss summons seven weapons to act as enemies. Once any of these weapons is destroyed, it becomes lootable and remains available for pickup for 60 seconds.

Phase 3 requires you to deal with the resurrected Advisors. For tank players, the primary focus should be on Capernian, Sanguinar, and Telonicus.

If you fail to eliminate the resurrected Advisors quickly, Phases 3 and 4 will effectively overlap, as Kael'thas Sunstrider himself will formally join the battle three minutes after all Advisors have resurrected.

After entering Phase 4, in addition to his standard attacks, the boss summons an additional phoenix, which subsequently lays an egg. If the egg is not destroyed in time and is allowed to hatch, you may find yourselves facing two active phoenixes simultaneously.

In the final phase, Kael'thas Sunstrider unleashes a more concentrated barrage of abilities. As a tank, in addition to reacting to specific ability mechanics, you should ideally equip and continuously activate Phaseshift Bulwark to gain a protective shield capable of absorbing 100,000 points of damage.

If you are a tank player, we are confident that this guide to Tempest Keep raid boss encounters will prove invaluable to you! We wish you the best of luck in Phase 2!

Currently, in WoW TBC Classic Anniversary, many players choose to skip mobs in dungeons to increase efficiency, which seems to have become a common strategy.

However, this practice has also caused a lot of friction. The real problem isn't skipping mobs itself, but rather the lack of clear pre-raid communication between teams. Next, we will combine player posts and practical experience to analyze the root causes of the problem and provide feasible solutions.

Typical Scenarios of the Skipping Mob Controversy

The Slave Pens in Heroic difficulty is the most discussed and controversial dungeon among players.

Common skipping methods include killing Quagmirran and then jumping backwards from a wall to avoid a group of high-threat elite mobs, including Coilfang Ray. Other methods include using Mind Control to calmly bypass some patrolling mobs, or jumping directly into the water from a bridge to skip two or three groups of unnecessary trash mobs.

Of course, some people believe that skipping mobs is not a problem. Clearing all the mobs normally might take 25 to 30 minutes. But if you master skipping mobs, you can reduce dungeon time to under 20 minutes, allowing you to get the three Badges of Justice faster.

However, skipping mobs isn't always beneficial. The wall-jumping maneuver requires skill, and some players won't know how or are prone to falling and dying. If someone fails and no Warlock can summon them, the wait can easily be as long as ten minutes, actually slower than clearing all the mobs.

Forced mob skipping is essentially requiring all team members to learn unofficial routes beforehand, or they'll be kicked from the group.

Real Player Complaints

Therefore, many players now feel that skipping mobs has become mandatory.

Some people post on forums saying they don't want to jump around in dungeons; they just want to play their class well and kill monsters seriously. This is very frustrating. Even if your DPS is high, it doesn't matter because everyone wants to skip monsters.

If you can't skip mobs, you don't deserve to run the dungeon. That's stupid. Groups that skip mobs frequently wipe, forcing them to skip mobs again and replay previously missed mobs.

One player pointed out the crux of the problem: players should communicate clearly before entering dungeon to determine whether they intend to speedrun or clear all mobs. This highlights a communication issue.

Typical Manifestations of Lack of Communication

In TBC, this communication breakdown is rampant.

For example, there's zero communication before entering dungeon; the group enters as soon as it's full, and then suddenly someone starts jumping over walls, leaving everyone else bewildered.

Furthermore, some players consider skipping mobs a mandatory skill for everyone, kicking out those who can't skip walls beforehand, instead of communicating, confirming, or teaching them. As players have expressed on forums, this is incredibly frustrating.

Alternatively, when forming a group, ignore class abilities and don't mention that having a Priest allows the use of Mind Control, skipping a large number of mobs.

Heroic difficulty five-man dungeons have better loot, and the boss drops Badge of Justice, so there's only one reset cycle per day. If a communication error leads to playing a mode you don't want to play, you've wasted that day's opportunity and have to wait for the next reset.

Which is better: skipping mobs or clearing them all?

In reality, not all skipping is faster, and not all groups are suitable for skipping mobs. Players need to make a rational judgment before entering a dungeon.

Situations Where Skipping Mobs is Worthwhile

If the group of monsters you want to skip is very threatening and could easily cause a wipe, such as Coilfang Ray group in The Slave Pens, then skipping that group is worthwhile.

Or if your group has a Priest who can use Mind Control; a Rogue or Druid who can use Stealth to bypass them; or a Warlock who can cast Ritual of Summoning, providing some leeway. In these situations, skipping mobs is also an option.

Of course, as long as all team members confirm and are familiar with the skipping spots beforehand, skipping mobs is fine.

Situations Where Skipping Mobs isn't Worthwhile

If someone in the team is doing this dungeon for the first time, you'll need to spend 5 minutes teaching them how to skip mobs. It's best not to skip mobs.

Without Warlock, if someone fails to skip, they have to run back to their corpse and start over, which is also inefficient.

Furthermore, if your gear is decent, even if you choose to clear all the monsters, the speed won't be too slow, so there's no need to skip monsters. This avoids mistakes when skipping monsters and allows you to obtain more gold.

Solutions

Clearly Label When Forming a Group

First, we can indicate "Heroic Slave Pens, Skip Mobs Speedrun" or "Heroic Slave Pens, Clear Dungeon" in the group chat or group information.

Verbal Confirmation When Inviting Players

Of course, you can also verbally confirm when inviting players to the group, telling them that you'll be skipping mobs this time, asking if they know how to skip mobs, and if not, teaching them or switching to clearing the dungeon. This is a more friendly way to form a group.

Actively Explain If You Don't Know How to Skip Mobs

So, before entering a dungeon, if a player genuinely doesn't know how to skip mobs, they should proactively explain this. This allows the other player to provide guidance or find a replacement. Don't wait until after entering dungeon for conflicts to erupt.

In short, whether you are the team leader or a member, a few words of communication before entering dungeon will save you 30 minutes of mutual blaming, even if it only takes 30 seconds.