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Onyxia's Lair Boss: Onyxia
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Onyxia is the perfect break from the raiding grind of the larger instances. The encounter is short but has a learning curve. At first you will have to learn the dynamics of the fight but once mastered it is an easy encounter you will get to have fun with. The encounter feels like the effort is on par with the rewards.
Onyxia is a boss that most guilds try to get on farm status shortly after starting the raiding grind. Some guilds will attempt to learn the Ony encounter at the same time as learning Molten Core. Alternatively other guilds will wait until they have the first few MC Bosses on farm status to gear up a little and prepare. Onyxia has a very desirable loot table consisting of great epics and tier 2 headpieces. For starting guilds this is a massive boost in gear.
Now that you are all pumped up to lay the boots to this dragon, hold your horses for a second. Like many of the other raid instances you are required to complete a series of quests to gain access. To gain access to Onyxia's Lair you will be required to complete a lengthy quest chain that is notorious for being long and challenging. Try and get guild members to help you will the series; you will want to poke your eyes out doing this with a PUG. For more information about the attunement quest chain, check out our write up on it. Onyxia's Lair: Entrance Requirements
Ony's Location:
To find the entrance to Onyxia's Lair check out location page here: Onyxia's Lair: Entrance Location In the instance map below you can see that the path to Ony is rather straightforward. Just follow the path killing all in your way until you see a massive sleeping dragon.
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Maps by: atlasmod.com Modified by: wowraiding.com
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Ony's Abilities:
Taunt Immunity
Onyxia is immune to all taunt abilities. These include Taunt, Mocking Blow, and Challenging Shout. To tank Onyxia the MT will have to rely on hate generating abilities such as Sunder Armor.
Type: Natural ability
Curable: No
Summon
Onyxia has the ability to summon any of the raid members to her. This will normally happen when members have generated to much hate and are out of direct reach or she is to lazy to walk:p
Range: Zone
Flame Breath
A large frontal cone fire base attack that hits for considerable fire damage. The cone is long and wide so watch your positioning. The damage can range to upwards of 3k.
Range: 10 yards
Type: Frontal cone fire damage
Wing Buffet
This is one of the harder abilities to deal with. This will knock back targets in a frontal cone while dealing 500-1000 damage. The knock back has a secondary effect of reducing the target's hate. The entire raid party should be conscious of this so they do not draw aggro from Ony.
Range: 10 yards
Type: Frontal cone knock back
Tail Whip
This is a rear cone attack. The damage from the attack ranges from 600-1000 and also has a large knock back effect. The Tail Swipe can easily knock you from the center of the room into the whelp passages.
Range: 10 yards
Type: Rear cone knock back
Cleave
Onyxia will cleave targets in a frontal cone. This attack can hit up to 10 targets. Hits for normal damage + 300.
Range: 5 yards
Type: Frontal cone physical attack
Flight
During phase 2 Onyxia will take flight. Her majestic fat arse will menace you from the heavens.
Fireball
Onyxia while airborne will launch deadly fireballs at targets. The initial damage of the fireball hits in the range of 3k with a secondary splash effect that will hit surrounding targets. The splash damage is reduced from the initial blast to hitting friendly players in the range of 1500.
Range: Combat Area
Type: Single target direct damage with secondary splash damage
Deep Breath
Onyxia will emote, "Onyxia takes a deep breath". After a short pause Onyxia will bellow a huge flame that will engulf most of the play area. Positioning yourself under her wings is essential to surviving the blast. If you are caught in the blast radius you will be hit successive time with large amounts of damage. It will eat through a 4k health pool very quickly.
Range: Large section of the combat area
Type: Frontal AoE fire damage
Bellowing Roar/Eruption
Every so often during phase 3 Onyxia will perform an AoE fear. The fear will send all raid party members into a tizzy for a few seconds. As a secondary effect liquid hot magma will spout up through the cracks in the floor. Players will be hit for 1500ish fire damage should they run through the magma splash. Positioning on the wall can help reduce the chances of getting hit by the splash effects.
Range: Combat Area
Type: AoE Fear with secondary fire damage component
Resists:
The MT should have over 150 FR with about 7500hp buffed. Other raid party members do not require the use of FR gear.
Health Pool:
Estimated health pool of 950,000 hit points.
Encounter Highlights:
This is a fun encounter as it is normally your introduction to scripted events/phases in a raid setting. Let's discuss the various elements to this encounter.
Getting to Ony is a short walk down the passage that leads into the depths of the lair. Between the raid party and Onyxia are 4 Onyxian Warders.
So you have made it to the mouth of her lair. Look how peaceful Ony looks sleeping like a little baby:p
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Lets talk about the various stages Ony will go through during the encounter.
Phase 1.
Onyxia will start this phase on the ground. During phase 1 Ony will have Taunt Immunity, Summoning, Flame Breath, Wing Buffet, Cleave, and Tail Whip as available abilities. The MT will lead the charge into the combat area by a few yards. This is to ensure that the MT can position her for the start of the encounter. The MT will hold aggro at the 12 o'clock position a few yards from the wall. Positioning is key as the MT will need to find the sweet spot. The sweet spot is where he will get hit by the Wing Buffet and bounce off the wall returning as close to his original location as possible. The remaining forces will be at 10 and 2 in relation to a clock face. If the positioning of Onyxia and the MT changes so does the position of the entire raid party. Melee can also attack from the rear sides to avoid her tail swipes. Let the MT generate a good amount of hate. He will be bouncing all over the place and will be required to call DPS out until he can gain enough hate again. You do not want to pull Onyxia from the MT so watch the DPS.
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Maps by: atlasmod.com Modified by: wowraiding.com
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Phase 2.
At around the 60%-65% mark Onyxia will enter phase 2. During this time Onyxia will become airborne. She will have the ability to Deep Breath and use Fireballs on single targets. DPS should be consistent, as we have seen spikes and dips in DPS to cause frequent Deep Breaths. If Ony does emote a Deep Breath all raid members will need to go to the 3 and 9 positions under her wings, as this is the only safe spot. During all my days I have never made it to the safe spot in time. So I either die or live through the damage.
At the start of phase 2 a short while after Ony gets airborne, whelps will pop from the east and west side passages. The eggs will break and about 15-20 whelps will spawn each side. It is essential that you are prepared for this and have them under CC and AoE them to death. This can be done with pre-assigned AoE groups.
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Once the initial Whelp spawns have been dealt with the raid can start DPS on Onyxia to get her into phase 3. On the odd occasion more Whelps may pop during the remaining portion of phase 2 if you are taking too long to bring her down. There are normally only 4 or 5 Whelps so they can be dealt with on demand. Before Ony enters phase 3 DPS should be called so that the MT can work on holding aggro without competing with other raid members.
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Maps by: atlasmod.com Modified by: wowraiding.com
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Phase 3.
Once Onyxia reaches 40-45% she will enter phase 3. Phase 3 has Onyxia landing on the ground. DPS should be called so that the MT can get aggro and pull her into the 12 o'clock position again. During phase 3 Onyxia will have all her phase 1 abilities plus the ability to Bellowing Roar/Eruption. Try to stay away from the whelp eggs at this time. Getting feared and breaking eggs during this phase will be extremely unfortunate and will result in a 50 dkp penalty :p
Once the MT is in the 12 o'clock position the rest of the raid can fall into their respective positions at 10 and 2, just as they were in phase 1. The MT will call in for DPS once he has established enough hate. The DPS groups will DPS Ony down in between the waves of fear. Hug the walls to minimize the chances of running into the waves of splashing magma.
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Maps by: atlasmod.com Modified by: wowraiding.com
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Ony has no more tricks up her sleeve. So take some screenshots of you dancing in celebratory fashion while wearing your tier 2 head pieces and waving your massive bag. It is 18 slots after all:p
Remember to check the forum for player submitted strategies and tips. Forum: Ony Boss
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