Now for a Taste of Things to Come

A day of reckoning is upon us...

I've set up a Molten Core GEM event for Tuesday next week (7pm - unless my GEM's bugging out on me again). This event is mainly an attendance check, to see if we can muster enough forces to raid in the middle of the week with our present allies. Should our numbers suffice we may actually venture forth and take a hack at some of what MC has to offer.

I strongly urge all of our lvl 60's who haven't done the 'Attunement to the Core' quest (given by a mob just outside the entrance to BRD) to complete it by that time. Naturally I'd be delighted to see as many guild members as possible sign up. If you do not have GEM please inform me ingame (via mail if you can't find me) and I will add you manually.

The Molten Core

I figured you might like to know what we're up against so I've taken the liberty to extract some information about 'zone trash' (non-boss mobs that populate the zone) and summing it up for you here:

Ancient Core Hounds

These fearsome beasts are perhaps the most annoying and tough mobs mucking about. They will spawn every 18 minutes (fastest spawn rate in the zone) and have varying AoE attacks. You never know which AoE a hound will have until you engage them in battle. Every hound has a long rage AoE fire attack. Some of their unique abilities include:

• Short duration stun effect
• -200 fire resist debuff
• 50% spell and melee speed reduction
• Short duration disorient effect (makes you walk around aimlessly)
• 30% less health
• 50% less int and spirit

Molten Giants

These gigantic lava beasts are, in full contrast to core hounds, some of the easier to handle mobs in the zone. They rarely respawn during a raid. Molten Giants like to knockback the tank, which also results in an aggro reduction. They hit for 600-800 damage per blow and have a stomp attack that can hit multiple opponents at a medium range. Squishies keep your distance!

Firelords

Of all zone trash mobs these pose the most tangible wipe threat in the instance. Firelords are fire elementals that can't be banished. They respawn every 150 minutes approx. and you'll find they seem rather weak starting out. They only hit for about 500 fire damage but they will also debuff raid members to receive additional fire damage when struck. These debuffs will stack up to an alaramingly high 1200 damage increase. They can cast a 4k damage DoT on a single target but all of these abilities pale in comparison with their final and deadliest ability: They will spawn additional elementals during the fight (one at a time at about 90-120 second intervals). These Lava Spawns will multiply if not killed quickly, inexperienced raids suddenly find themselves facing 3 mobs instead of one, and then 5 which usually ends in a wipe.

Lava Annihalators

Relatively harmless earth elementals which have a bad habit of changing their targets often during a fight. While some people find that distressing the truth to the matter is that with 600-800 damage per blow, the constant target shifting usually means they won't actually be able to kill anyone. They can be banished and respawn in about 150 minutes.

Lava Surgers

After core hounds these menacing earth elementals are the most feared of the zone trash mobs. They zip through the instance with incredible speed and have a rather annoying special attacks. When fighting the Lava Surger will choose a secondary target to surge at. This charging attack will deal 800-1000 damage to anyone in its way and has been known to knock people off their feet head first into pools of lava. At approx. 28 minutes respawn rate they are one of the fastest spawning mobs in the instance but luckily they can be banished so as long as the raid sports a warlock they can't really interfere with other fights.

Molten Destroyers

While not the deadliest of mobs these titanic 63+ lava giants make their Molten Giant cousins seem a real treat. Sporting a relatively fast attack speed and a stomp attack that also knocks down and stuns, these things take ages to kill. Lucky enough aggro is more stable when fighting these.

Imps

These mobs are only found on the way to Magmadar (boss no. 2) and despite their low damage (200 per hit on tanks) they sport small AoE fire attacks which tend to stack and do more effective damage. The fastest spawn rate in the instance (7 minutes) makes them particulary gruelling to fight. Most fights with imps result in at least two or three deaths in the raid.

Core Hound Packs

These too are only found in Magmadar's lair and are very different than their huge cousins the Ancient Core Hounds. The trickiest part about these mobs is getting them to stay dead. If one is killed and there are still any alive 10 seconds later, it will respawn immediately with full health. Despite any raids best efforts fallen core hounds usually do reignite but being as weak as they are recovery is usually child's play. The packs respawn every 60 minutes or so.

Lava Packs

These small packs of elementals of varying types can be deadly if you're not ready for their special attacks:

• Lava Reavers can be banished and sport heavy damage melee attacks and cleaves (multiple opponent melee attack).
• Lava Elementals can be banished and sport a frontal arc stun AoE which places a DoT on whoever gets hit.
• Flameguards constantly AoE their immediate surroundings and like to sunder armor a lot. They also have an inferno-ability which deals heavy damage.
• Firewalker pose the biggest threat in a Lava Pack and should be taken down first. They debuff fire resistance and have a habit of chaining several fireball attacks at a single target. These chained fireballs can hit for over 9k damage in a matter of seconds.