Anub’Rekhan | Raid Strats - World of Warcraft Boss Strategy Guides

Introduction

Anub’Rekhan is the first boss in the Arachnid Quarter. This fight heavily relies on the tanks ability to kite the boss during Locust Swarm. Like many other fights we have seen in Wrath of the Lich King, the Anub’Rekhan is very similar on both normal and heroic. The only difference is you have 2 adds to deal with off the start on heroic and there are none on normal.

Heroic Raid (25 man)

Abilities

Anub’Rekhan has about 6,700,000 hit points. Two Crypt Guards adds will show up at the start of the encounter.

Impale - This is an area of effect ability that targets a random player and hits everyone in a straight line between Anub’Rekhan and the player. It will do 5688 to 7312 physical damage and launch the affected players high in the air, causing 50% fall damage when they hit the ground.

Locust Swarm - Every 70-120 seconds, Anub’Rekhan casts a spell that causes AoE damage in a wide radius (30 yards) around him (the AoE remains centered on Anub’Rekhan as he moves), he will also slow to 75% of normal run speed. Remaining in the radius of effect will cause a DoT debuff to stack repeatedly dealing 1313 to 1687 nature damage every 2 seconds per stack as well as silencing those afflicted. When he casts this spell, another Crypt Guard will also spawn at his initial engage point. Lasts 20 seconds. Locust Swarm is not a normal silence. Unlike a normal silence, it prevents the use of all abilities (even auto-attack). This means that the MT cannot use Shield Wall or Last Stand to save himself if he gets stacked too high. Items, however, are still able to be used.

Summon Corpse Scarabs - Whenever there is a corpse in the room (either a player or a Crypt Guard) Anub’Rekhan may decide to spawn corpse scarabs from it. This is not on a set timer. Ten will be spawned from a Crypt Guard and five from a player. They spawn with threat on random players and will spread out and attack random targets.

There will be two adds that start the fight with Anub’Rekhan, they each have ~500,000 health.

They will Cleave, doing 110% of their normal melee damage to up to three targets.

Acid Spit is a stacking DoT that ticks for 500 nature damage per stack every 2 seconds for up to 10 seconds.

They will frenzy when they reach low HP, increasing their attack speed by 60% and doing 50% more damage.

Raid Setup

3 Tanks

15 DPS

7 Healers

Strategy

The fight will begin with 2 offtanks and the main tank. Each off tank will grab an add (crypt guard) and pull them over to the left side of the room. The main tank will pick up Anub’Rekhan and tank him where he is positioned before you engage the encounter. DPS will focus down each add and then they can begin DPSing the boss. It is important to keep healing the crypt guard tanks even after their add has died due to the stacking poison DoT on them. The whole raid can spread out around Anub’Rekhan to minimize the amount of people getting impale, but those on the right side of the room need to know when to move away from locust swarm.

Between 70-120 seconds into the fight, Anub’Rekhan will cast Locust Swarm. He will stick his tail in the air when he begins casting it and will not move for a few seconds during the cast. This is when your main tank should start running along the edge of the room on the right side towards the door you entered at. If your tank is a warrior, it is highly recommended that a dps class lead him through the kiting so that he can intervene and get further from the boss. In the picture shown, Locust Swarm should be over by the time you get to the X. The tank will most likely get a few stacks during the kite. Healers need to stay at max range from the boss and the tank during this and they will need to overheal the tank for 10 seconds after it ends. When Locust Swarm begins, the entire raid needs to be on the left side of the room to avoid being hit by the aura.

Each time Anub’Rekhan casts locust swarm, a crypt guard will spawn where Anub started the fight. This should be pulled to the left side of the room and DPS should be focusing on this while the tank is kiting the boss. Make sure 2 healers are paying attention to the off tank while the others are healing the raid and the main tank. When the crypt guard dies, scarabs will usually come out of his corpse and will almost always go straight to a healer. DPS should kill the scarabs before getting back on the boss.

The second locust swarm, your tank will kite Anub’Rekhan back the same way he came. This way the raid can stay on the left side of the room at all times during the fight as a safe zone. Another add will spawn and get pulled to the left to be killed by DPS. Then they will kill scarabs and then get back on the boss. Continue kiting the boss up and down the right side of the room as he casts locust swarm and depending on your DPS, the boss will be down in 1-3 swarms.

Normal Raid (10 man)

Abilities

Anub’Rekhan has about 2,230,000 hit points.

Impale - This is an area of effect ability that targets a random player and hits everyone in a straight line between Anub’Rekhan and the player. It will do 4813 to 6187 physical damage and launch the affected players high in the air, causing 50% fall damage when they hit the ground.

Locust Swarm - Every 70-120 seconds, Anub’Rekhan casts a spell that causes AoE damage in a wide radius (30 yards) around him (the AoE remains centered on Anub’Rekhan as he moves), he will also slow to 75% of normal run speed. Remaining in the radius of effect will cause a DoT debuff to stack repeatedly dealing 1313 to 1687 nature damage every 2 seconds per stack as well as silencing those afflicted. When he casts this spell, another Crypt Guard will also spawn at his initial engage point. Lasts 20 seconds. Locust Swarm is not a normal silence. Unlike a normal silence, it prevents the use of all abilities (even auto-attack). This means that the MT cannot use Shield Wall or Last Stand to save himself if he gets stacked too high. Items, however, are still able to be used.

Summon Corpse Scarabs - Whenever there is a corpse in the room (either a player or a Crypt Guard) Anub’Rekhan may decide to spawn corpse scarabs from it. This is not on a set timer. Ten will be spawned from a Crypt Guard and five from a player. They spawn with threat on random players and will spread out and attack random targets.

A Crypt Guard will spawn each time Anub’Rekhan casts Locust Swarm, they each have ~234,000 health.

They will Cleave, doing 110% of their normal melee damage to up to three targets.

Acid Spit is a stacking DoT that ticks for 500 nature damage per stack every 2 seconds for up to 10 seconds.

They will frenzy when they reach low HP, increasing their attack speed by 60% and doing 50% more damage.

Raid Setup

2 Tanks

5 DPS

3 Healers

Strategy

The main tank will pick up Anub’Rekhan and tank him where he is positioned before you engage the encounter. The whole raid can spread out around Anub’Rekhan to minimize the amount of people getting impale, but those on the right side of the room need to know when to move away from locust swarm.

Each time Anub’Rekhan casts locust swarm, a crypt guard will spawn where Anub started the fight. This should be pulled to the left side of the room and DPS should be focusing on this while the tank is kiting the boss. Make sure a healer is paying attention to the off tank while the others are healing the raid and the main tank. When the crypt guard dies, scarabs will usually come out of his corpse and will almost always go straight to a healer. DPS should kill the scarabs before getting back on the boss.