Project Lore

The first few times I ran Vault of Archavon, I was lost. It was my first real foray into 10-man content, and I was trying to keep Archavon, Emalon and Koralon straight. Which one overcharged adds? Which cast a nasty fire that you had to get out of immediately? Is it Lightning Nova or Chain Lightning that you have to run away from? These are three relatively straight-forward boss fights, yet I was having one hell of a time getting them down.

But the learning curve eventually turned in my favor. Somewhere along the way, that little metaphorical light bulb clicked on inside my brain - and I just got it. Since then, I've learned that it usually takes me a good three to four successful boss kill attempts before I really know the fight.

The same was true of the new Onyxia. While I had watched videos of the battle and new the basics behind the battle, it took some actual experience with the fight to learn my role. My favorite part - wailing massive FoK damage on the whelps - isn't the most critical. While I would rather watch my DPS meter run sky-high during Onyxia's second phase - the one where she's airborne and sends adds in after you - I've learned (the hard way) that the priority goes to DPSing down Lair Guards whenever they're up.

I'm still in that hazy, starting-to-understand-but-not-quite-there phase for a good number of encounters. I've run Naxxramas only once on each 10- and 25-man, and a few of the battles I'm still a little iffy on. I've barely touched Ulduar. Trial of the Crusader also is starting to come together, but I still get the two giant Jormungar debuffs - and what to do for each of them - confused in the heat of that first battle. And don't even get me started on those cursed Twin Val'kyr. I think that particular battle is going to take about 10 times before I really understand all the mechanics.

But there's an upside to this ginormous learning curve. Once you get down a fair number, bosses seem to each be variations of one another. Some put some nasty crap, be it fire, smoke, poison or other, on the ground that you need to stay out of. Some cast massive AoE damage that you need to watch for - and move the hell out of the way when it comes. Some bring out adds that need to be dealt with immediately. Some teleport away, fly up, burrow down, or otherwise get out of range periodically and find another way to keep you busy for that phase. Some are straight-up tank and spanks. Several put whirling bubbles of spores or light into the raid party that can either give you a buff or debuff. And then there's every melee's favorite boss attack to dodge: the infamous whirlwind attack.

My best suggestion for anyone else in a similar stage of learning as I - get Deadly Boss Mods as soon as you can. It helps a ton with reminding you when you need to run away and what you need to watch out for. And it may sound simple, but this also helps: Do your homework before you get to a fight and make sure to listen-up for any boss-strat on what your specific role will be.

How has everyone else gone about keeping boss fights straight? Does it also take you a few tries to get it down? What about those of you with multiple level 80 characters - how do you keep all your different roles straight?