Loatheb

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Overview

This bizarre fungal monstrosity has been crafted by the Lich King's servants for purposes unknown.

The final fight of the Plague Quarter tests general raid coordination and your healing team's sense of timing. Sufficient raw DPS is also required to bring Loatheb down in 4-5 minutes, before the steadily increasing raid damage overwhelms your healers.

Loatheb has only one phase.

Gear and consumables

Like most Wrath of the Lich King raid encounters, this fight is tuned for players who are using level 80 epic gear, as well as the best flasks and food buffs available. Getting the best possible gear for your character will make this fight a whole lot easier.

In WotLK, professions can be used to craft high quality epic gear. Most raid and heroic bosses also drop an epic bind-on-equip item. These items are the easiest way to get your character geared up fast, but they're expensive to craft or buy on the AH. The easiest way to get your hands on them is to use a guide like WoW Gold Secrets, which has tips for making several thousand gold per day. This is a great way to save time and down bosses faster.

Click here to try out WoW Gold Secrets.

Abilities

HP: 6,690,000 (Heroic: 20,200,000)

Melee: Hits a tank for light damage.

Necrotic Aura: Every 20 seconds, Loatheb applies this aura to the entire raid. The aura lasts 17 seconds, so you have 3 seconds after it expires before it gets applied again. While it's active, all healing done is reduced to 0. This means that for 17 out of every 20 seconds, no one can be healed. Necrotic Aura does not affect damage absorption, mitigation, or reduction abilities, like Power Word: Shield.

Fungal Creep: Destroying one of the Spores that appears every 30 seconds will bestow Fungal Creep upon up to 5 players within 10 yards of the dying Spore. Fungal Creep lasts for 90 seconds, and confers 50% increased crit chance to those it affects. While under the influence of Fungal Creep, you will generate no threat.

Deathbloom: Deals 200 (Heroic: 400) damage a second for six seconds, followed by an additional 1200 (Heroic: 1500) damage upon completion. Loatheb casts this upon all members of the raid every 30 seconds.

Inevitable Doom: Deals 4,000 (Heroic: 5,000) damage ten seconds after application. Two minutes into the fight, Loatheb will cast this upon all members of the raid every 30 seconds. Five minutes into the fight, he will begin to cast it every 15 seconds. Inevitable Doom is undispellable, but can be removed by abilities like Divine Shield or Ice Block. 

Preparation

Raid Composition

10-Man
1 Tank
3 Healers
6 DPS

25-Man
1 Tank
5-6 Healers
18-19 DPS

On the Pull

 Main Tank To begin the encounter, simply run forward and begin to build threat on Loatheb. Tank him in the center of the room.

 Raid Once the Main Tank has acquired Loatheb, the rest of the raid should stand behind Loatheb. Stand close to each other to make healing easier. (None of Loatheb's damaging abilities are position dependent, but your melee DPS will benefit from attacking Loatheb from behind.)

Phase One

 Raid  DPS Loatheb (while Necrotic Aura is up, this applies even to healers). Periodically, Spores will spawn. When the first Spore appears, all members of Group 1 in the raid except the Main Tank should move over to it. Once everybody's arrived within 10 yards of the Spore, kill it and return to your original positions. When the next Spore arrives, Group 2 will do the same thing. Repeat this process every time a Spore spawns, alternating between Groups 1 and 2.

As the fight progresses, your healers may have a harder and harder time restoring you to 100% health at the end of each Necrotic Aura. If this is the case, use a Healthstone or healing potion during the next 3 second window when Necrotic Aura fades.

In the Heroic version of this encounter, your larger raid has 5 groups instead of only 2, and Fungal Creep only lasts for 90 seconds, so not everyone can have it the same time. The simplest approach is to rotate through all 5 groups, sending Group 1 to the Spore first, then Group 2, then Group 3, etc... and then repeating the rotation once all 5 groups have acquired the buff. You may want to experiment with prioritizing Fungal Creep for higher DPS/HPS groups, etc. but it's important to make the best possible use of each Spore.

 Main Tank Simply tank Loatheb until he is dead. If a Spore gets anywhere near you, get more than 10 yards away from it. When your group goes to kill a Spore, don't go with them. As the raid begins to kill Spores and acquire their threat reduction buff, you will easily outpace its threat generation, and can concentrate on mitigating damage by using abilities like Shield Block, Thunderclap, Demoralizing Shout, etc.

 Healers While the raid is afflicted with Necrotic Aura, do your best to add some DPS to Loatheb; however, your real challenge in this fight is making the most out of the 3 second windows in which you're able to heal. Assign one healer (heroic: two) to focus exclusively on the tank, while the rest use AOE heals to top off the entire raid. You should try to get everyone in the raid up to 100% health before each 3 second window expires.

For all healing classes, a good strategy is to start casting a slow heal a few seconds before Necrotic Aura expires. Then, within the three second window, you can usually pull off one or two other short heals. For example, a Holy Priest focused on raid healing could try this approach:

-2.5 sec: Start casting Prayer of Healing
 0.0 sec: Necrotic Aura expires
 0.5 sec: Prayer of Healing cast completes, cast Circle of Healing
 2.0 sec: GCD ends, cast another Circle of Healing

It is possible to overheal even in this fight, particularly in the beginning of the fight. Save your big guns (and mana) for when it gets tough to get everybody back to 100%. If you're getting low on mana, stop casting stuff while Necrotic Aura is up and just auto-attack or wand the boss, so your Spirit regen can kick in.

 Priest Power Word: Shield is a major advantage in this fight; use it on the tank, and even other people, as often as your mana pool will permit.

 Paladin Sacred Shield can be a big help since it absorbs damage. Like Power Word: Shield, it will work even when Necrotic Aura is up. Light's Beacon makes you a good choice for Main Tank healer since you can use it to heal the Main Tank and top off the lowest member of the raid simultaneously.

 Druid You are one of the best choices for a Main Tank healer on this fight because you can build up a Lifebloom and time it to finish after Necrotic Aura fades.

 Shaman If your latency is low and your sense of timing is good, you should be able to get off two Chain Heals during the three second window. 

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