Killin' a Bug (Heroic Anubarak)

Not the hardest fight currently in the game - I still reserve that distinction for Yogg 0 and perhaps Earth Wind and Fire - but still the pinnacle of the current raid tier. Like Twin Val'kyrs, Anub'arak is a fight that fundamentally changes going from normal to heroic.

25 man heroic Anub'arak has four adds, and for most of the fight, you'll have to deal with these four. This gives it a unique distinction among the four versions of the Anub'arak fight, in that it's an intense AOE fight, not a single target fight. Like the ultimate tier 8 encounter, this is also a fight that pulls us away from the spec that's dominant throughout the zone.

Spec
Meta/ruin gets the center stage here, being a powerful AOE spec. You'll want to use metamorphosis and immolation aura on the first wave of adds during each above ground phase. Meta does have one problem, however. It's an absolute mana hog, and phase 3 is very mana restrictive for warlocks. You'll need a full bar going into phase 3, and even that might not be enough.

Destruction also gets a gold star, but only if you have shadowfury. Preferably if you have improved soul leech, as well, even though shadowfury doesn't fit as comfortably into that spec. Each wave of adds will shadow strike 30 seconds after they spawn (this is usually on a strict timer, DBM and DXE are quite good at pinpointing it), all four must be stopped. Holy wrath, shockwave, and shadowfury all work for this, it's advisable to have two option in place.

Affliction even gets off with a passing grade, but with a big asterisk. It's the only spec that can reliably life tap during phase 3, however every point of healing you recieve eventually becomes healing for Anub'arak, so it cuts both ways.

Phase 1
There are 4 adds in each of two waves, tanked on a frost patch near Anub'arak. They'll either be tanked by two tanks (some guilds do this on two frost patches, one on either side with Nub in the middle), others by a single tank (a warrior in a specalized block set able to handle the four buffed adds).

Killing these adds is priority, but so is DPS'ing anubarak. Destruction has it easy - just rain of fire. Demonology will want corruption and CoA up for MC procs (pre-3.3 only, that is). The best place for demo locks to stand is right under Anub'arak's butt. Demo threat isn't severe, and from this position you can spam ROF and use immo aura without readjusting.

Shadow Strikes
If you're destro with shadowfury, watch the shadow strike timers. As soon as the timer is over, all four adds will start to cast shadow strike. Stun them immediately after the timer ends and stop them. This is very straightforward in phase 1, but there's a trick later that I'll cover.

Phase 2
The raid will reposition going into submerge phases, it's important not to break the initial frost patch right away, so watch your angle from where Anub'arak was standing when he burrowed.


Kiting is actually more straightforward than you'd think. Your guild needs a system that will cover which patches to go to, and communication is key. If you get a hand of protection, stand with the spikes right on the edge of the patch and walk on when there's 2 seconds left on the bubble. Some guilds will even trust pain suppression and heals to delay freezing the spikes.

Unless you're an engineer with rocket boots, don't try to get terribly fancy with kiting. Spikes catch up to you pretty fast, and if they catch you you'll get shredded quickly.

Dealing with bugs is simple - just single target them, nukes only for affliction and demo, DOTs should never get time to tick to usefulness. if the raid is dealing with them quickly, there should never be enough up close enough together to justify AOE. Watch decimation procs as demo. Bugs will die too quickly to use them on the bug that procced it, but you can use the soulfire on the next bug anyway.

When Anub'arak emerges, you can begin attacking immediately, even though he doesn't become active. Curse and pet, but move into position. Demon portal can be useful for this repositioning, but there's no guarantee he'll be in the same place he was during the last above ground phase.

Phase 3
Things are intense in phase 3, and most of the class specific strategy involves this. The goal is for as much of the raid to be very low health as possible. You should have this macro:

/cancelaura Prayer of Fortitutde
/cancelaura Commanding Shout

And if you're destro take blood pact off autocast and make sure it's disabled. This will reduce the maximum HP of as much of the raid as possible and lower the capacity to overheal anub.

Healers will be letting people get very low, too low to safely life tap. This is why you want to go into phase 3 with a full mana bar. During the health lowering portion just after Leeching Swarm starts, life tap anything you still need while you've still got it.

Penetrating Cold is the main worry. Frost protection potions will only eat one tick, but they're still generally used. Penetrating cold does come with a benefit, though. You must be healed during it, making it possible to life tap during the DOT.

If you get unlucky and don't get penetrating cold, death coil and your health stone can also buy you just enough health to steal a life tap. Last resort, wand - judgement of wisdom will give you enough mana quite quickly to start casting again.

AOE is still required on adds, however on mana limitations it's not easy. Rain of fire is mana intensive. Unless the raid can't do without your AOE, just single target on Anub'arak. Affliction and demonology in particular are both strong execute range DPS.

Shadow Strikes, Again
Shadow strike still happens in phase 3, and is even more important since nobody's going to survive (as opposed to probably no one in phase 1). There's a trick to watch for now, though. The first add wave to spawn completely inside of leeching swarm might shadow strike early. I don't know why, but it's only this wave and not always this wave. Watch them like a hawk for that early strike and make sure the raid has multiple AOE stuns ready just in case.

The Fear
Tributes are won and lost on Twins quite heavily, but the pressure is higher on Anub'arak, because the consequences are immediate. You can look at your remaining attempts and know exactly what you're losing from the tribute chest if you fail, it's not just a nebulous possibility anymore. One person can wipe the raid, and that person can be you. Don't be that guy.

The Profit
Anub'arak's got some nice loot.

Reign of the Dead/Reign of the Unliving wins the gold medal. It's unique-equipped tag doesn't restrict using it with the non-heroic version, and they work completely independently, even using different buff stacks to trigger (and in certain situations can even proc off each other). "Stacking buff then shoot" trinkets have always been a bit lackluster, but sheer spellpower and damage paired with the lack of good tier 9 trinkets makes these two spectacular trinkets.

Band of Deplorable Violence, a crit/spirit ring with a yellow socket and a 5 spellpower bonus is a decent ring option. It isn't the best stat spread, but there's a shortage of 258 rings anyway.

He's also got a lot of cloth: Icy Floe, Hit/haste boots with two gem slots are a solid best. Ashen Saint, haste/spirit bracers with a gem slot are another good option if you don't need hit from elsewhere. Lastly, there's a pick between  Deepening Void, hit/crit legs rocking 3 gem slots and Lifeless touch, haste/crit gloves with two slots. While not on the BIS profile, these are viable 5th slot items alongside 4pt9. I'd favor the gloves, as our t9 pants are quite good despite only having two gem slots.

The Additional Profit
The biggest prize here is the Tribute Chest, after you're done looting Anub'arak. This is home to some of the best loot in the zone, but it's restricted by your performance on all five bosses.

As long as you actually kill Anub'arak, you get a minimum of 2 tokens redeemable for the top level 258 tier 9 set. These tokens are class limited, but not slot limited - the recipient can pick what they want to spend them on.

If you get Tribute to Skill, you also get a weapon. Notables here are the crit/spirit staff Clemency/Sufferance, and the haste/crit sword Blade of the Unbroken Covenant/Mortalis. These are still itemlevel 258,but have elevated spellpower compared to other ToGC weapons. The sword is a solid best in slot, and the alliance version has the advantage of not looking like one of those chintzy Christmas ornaments that spin around when you hang them above a light bulb.

At Tribute to Mad Skill, 45 attempts left, you get two additional set tokens.

Tribute to Insanity picks up an itemlevel 272 cloak. This is the best loot in the game folks, with 105 spellpower, a red socket and a spellpower bonus. There's two options, the spirit/haste Bolvar's Devotion/Liadrin's Conviction is likely the favorite, but there's the also excellent haste/crit option in Jaina's Radiance/Aethas' Intensity.