by Arphir of Axis [Dark Iron]

Overview

The Duke of Currents was a servant of Neptulon the Tidehunter until his capture by Lady Vashj. The pain of his imprisonment appears to have driven him insane.

Hydross is a complex fight, incorporating two alternating phases, resistance gear requirements, and highly aggro sensitive transitions. While Hydross is closer to the entrance of Serpentshrine Cavern than any other boss, it is not necessary to kill him before attempting other bosses. Due to the high complexity and resist gear requirements of Hydross, many guilds kill The Lurker Below first in order to make the waters of SSC traversable.

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Abilities

HP: 3,500,000

Melee: Hydross’ melee attacks do not behave like normal physical damage attacks. In all forms, Hydross cannot deal crushing blows (but he can deal critical strikes). In pure form, Hydross’ melee attack deals frost damage, which can be mitigated with frost resistance gear; in tainted form, Hydross deals nature damage, which can be mitigated with nature resistance. Hydross normally hits for about 3,000 (or 6,000 crit) when Mark of Hydross/Mark of Corruption are not present.

Enrage: Ten minutes after entering combat, Hydross will permanently enrage and rapidly begin to kill all members of the raid.

Purify/Taint Elemental: When not in combat, Hydross remains stationary due to the influence of two blue beams of energy. These beams keep Hydross in his pure form. In pure form, Hydross is immune to frost damage. If Hydross is moved away from the beams by a player with aggro, he will turn green and enter tainted form. In tainted form Hydross is nature immune.

When Hydross changes forms, he immediately summons four elementals who melee with the same damage type and coloration as his new form. These elementals also hit for about 3,000 damage non-crit when Mark of Hydross/Mark of Corruption is not present.

In pure form only:

Mark of Hydross: A debuff that increases the frost damage received by the raid. It is cast upon all members of the raid 15 seconds after Hydross is pulled or transitioned to pure form, and is recast with increasing severity every 15 seconds as long as Hydross remains in pure form. The tooltip of the debuff specifies the current damage multiplier.

15 seconds: Frost damage increased by 10%.

30 seconds: Frost damage increased by 25%.

45 seconds: Frost damage increased by 50%.

60 seconds: Frost damage increased by 100%.

75 seconds: Frost damage increased by 250%.

90 seconds: Frost damage increased by 500%.

Water Tomb: Targets a single player and affects that player, as well as any players within 8 yards of the target. Stuns everyone affected for 4 seconds and deals 4,500 frost damage over 5 seconds. Water Tomb damage will be increased when the raid is debuffed by Mark of Hydross.

In tainted form only:

Mark of Corruption: Behaves identically to Mark of Hydross, but increases nature damage received instead of frost.

15 seconds: Nature damage increased by 10%.

30 seconds: Nature damage increased by 25%.

45 seconds: Nature damage increased by 50%.

60 seconds: Nature damage increased by 100%.

75 seconds: Nature damage increased by 250%.

90 seconds: Nature damage increased by 500%.

Vile Sludge: Cast on a random member of the raid every 15 seconds. Deals 4,000 damage over 24 seconds to the target, and reduces healing and damage done by 50%. Cannot be dispelled.

Preparation

Raid composition

The following raid composition is recommended for Hydross:

2 Warrior MTs

2-3 Druid OTs

8 Healers

5-7 AoE DPS (mage, warlock)

6-8 Other DPS

Gear requirements

To accomodate the large amount of elemental damage dealt in this fight, the Main Tanks and Offtanks should wear gear that meets the following requirements:

Main Tank #1: 290 Frost resistance unbuffed, 490 defense

Main Tank #2: 290 Nature resistance unbuffed, 490 defense

Offtanks: 150 Frost resistance AND 150 Nature resistance unbuffed

When these requirements are met, tanks should focus on achieving the maximum possible HP. Damage dealt by Hydross and his adds is not mitigated by armor, so any armor type may be worn by the MTs and OTs, even cloth.

The rest of the raid requires no resistance gear.

Consumables

The Main Tank who is responsible for tanking Hydross during his pure phase should be supplied with one Lesser Invisibility Potion per attempt.

Positioning

The entire raid should be positioned as close as possible to Hydross without aggro’ing the weak elementals that path by him. Upon pulling the raid will assume the positions indicated in the attached diagram.

On the pull

Tanks The Pure Form Tank initiates the pull by drinking a Lesser Invisibility Potion and immediately running straight up to Hydross. When you are next to Hydross, simply attack him and begin building threat.

Raid As soon as combat begins, run forward and get within range of Hydross and the Main Tank. Spread out and try to make sure that there are no more than one or two people within 8 yards of you. You can use the area behind Hydross if you need to. Ignore the small elementals that will attack the raid; they don’t hit very hard.

Warlock Once in position, apply all of your DoTs to the small elementals that will attack the raid. They don’t have much HP and they won’t hit you for much; you can DPS Hydross while keeping DoTs on them until they die.

Phase 1

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Tanks The Pure Form MT should build threat on Hydross throughout Phase 1. 60 seconds into the phase, Mark of Hydross will reach a 100% damage multiplier. Walk Hydross in the direction of the raid’s initial starting location. Hydross will convert to Tainted Form as he exits the dark brown circle on the floor. The moment he converts, his aggro table will reset; the Tainted Form (poison) MT should immediately begin building threat on Hydross at this location while the Pure Form tank stops attacking.

Raid DPS Hydross while keeping the tank and the raid alive. Remain spread out whenever possible to minimize the damage dealt by Water Tombs. 45 seconds into the phase, Mark of Hydross will reach a 50% damage multiplier; refresh all DoTs for the final time before transition to Phase 2. 60 seconds into the phase, Mark of Hydross will reach a 100% damage multiplier; stop all DPS and try to avoid generating large healing aggro. The Pure Form (frost) tank will begin moving Hydross forward to trigger the transition to Phase 2. A total aggro wipe will occur as the Tainted Form (poison) tank takes over. After a few seconds, you may resume normal DPS and healing. 4 adds will immediately spawn in a circle around Hydross.

Phase 2

The attached diagram displays positioning for Phase 2.

Main Tank The Tainted Form tank will build threat on Hydross in a stationary position for one minute, until the Mark of Corruption multiplier reaches 100%. During this time, the raid will be DPS’ing Hydross and AOE’ing the adds spawned at the beginning of this phase. After one minute, move Hydross to back to his starting location. As he nears the center of the dark brown circle on the floor, Hydross will return to Pure Form and his aggro table will reset again. The Pure Form tank must be present and should immediately begin building threat.

Offtank Pick up the adds that spawn at the beginning of this phase immediately — it may help to coordinate who will grab what ahead of time (e.g. “I’ll get the two that spawn in front, you get the two in back”). Position all of the adds on top of Hydross. Once you are comfortable that you have built sufficient threat, signal to the raid using voice chat or a macro that they should begin AOE.

Mage, Warlock DPS Hydross until the offtank team requests AOE. Frost Nova the adds and AOE them down with Arcane Explosion and Seed of Corruption.

Raid Once the Tainted Form tank has secured aggro, continue damaging Hydross and healing the raid. 45 seconds into this phase, the Mark of Corruption multiplier will reach 50%; reapply DoTs one last time. 60 seconds into the phase, the multiplier will reach 100%, and the Main Tank will move Hydross back to his original position, causing a return to Pure Form. While the Main Tank is moving, stop DPS and move into the brown circle in the center of the room (this will ensure that if you pull aggro Hydross will not stray too far and convert back to Tainted Form). Once the Pure Form tank has aggro you may return to your original position, and resume normal DPS and healing. Four Pure Form adds will spawn and must be handled in the same way as the Tainted Form adds which spawned at the beginning of this phase; note however that they are immune to Frost Nova and other frost spells.