Here’s your quick and dirty guide to the level 85 Cataclysm dungeon Grim Batol! Before you can enter any of the level 85 dungeons, you will have to “Explore” the entrance area of the the dungeon. You’ll then be able to Queue into that dungeon using the Random Dungeon Finder. You must also have a minimum Average Item Level of 304 (329 for Heroic mode). Your average item level is shown in your Character Screen, and uses a rating system based off of over-all gear, rather then only gear that you have equipped. You can “Discover” Grim Batol by simply flying up to the instance entrance shown own the map here. There is a summoning stone at the bottom of the hill by the Instance entrance, so you can easily bring in new players to “Explore” the area and activate the dungeon in their Dungeon Finder tool. To get to the instance entrance for the first time, just use the portal from your towns capitol city to teleport to the Twilight Highlands mount up and fly west. For information on Cataclysm Zone Portals, see my other article here: http://franksplace.org/2010/12/world-of-warcraft-cataclysm-zone-portal-faq/

Grim Batol Achievements

• [Don't Need to Break Eggs to Make an Omelet]
• [Grim Batol (achievement)]
• [Heroic: Grim Batol] Heroic
• [Heroic: Grim Batol Guild Run] Heroic
• [Umbrage for Umbriss] Heroic

Before you encounter any bosses, you are going to come across a set of 5 Caged Dragons. These dragons are friendly, and will help you out a couple of different ways throughout this dungeon. Once you clear the trash guarding the dragons, just do a little bit of damage to the nets binding them down. They will then take flight and each member of your party can take a ride on one. The dragon will fly a predetermined path over many of the mobs that you have to slay in order to get to the bosses. You can use the Dragons Breath Attack to soften up the mobs before you get them on foot. It is possible to kill the mobs if you hit them with enough breath attacks from the air. If you do so, you will get no loot or Reputation for the Mob, and you won’t be able to skin it either. You will however still get Quest Credit for the Mob, if you haven’t completed the one-time quests given at the beginning of the instance. Once you get on a Dragon, don’t get off, if you do, it will fly away and be wasted. You only get one chance each (5 total Dragons) to bomb the mobs before you have to take them out on foot. However, if you are unlucky enough to wipe later in the raid after you kill Forgemaster Throngus, a set of 5 Dragon’s will be waiting to fly you to the last half of the dungeon.

Sub-Boss #1 General Umbriss

Health: 1.6 Million/4.2 Million Heroic

Regular Attacks:

Heroic Attacks:

The tank should keep his back to one of the corners, allowing the party room to spread out during the engagement. The further away they are from Umbriss, the easier it will be for them to dodge the Blitz when it targets them. When someone get’s the Bleeding Wound ability, they must be healed up to greater than 90% life for the debuff to be removed. When Umbriss does the Blitz, he will stop attacking the tank and target a party member while he charges up his Blitz attack. If your party is spaced out when he targets one party member, the rest of the party will already be out of (or mostly out of) the way of his Blitz. Once he picks his target it is set, and you will know where the Blitz is going to hit. Try to get out of the way as soon as he starts casting the spell. The Blitz attack not only does massive damage, but knocks you into the air for some followup falling damage as well. Trogg’s will randomly appear throughout the encounter. Malignant Trogg’s denoted by their Purple Glow, are infected and upon death will spread the Purple Debuff to anyone close to them. This effect will also spread to other troggs. Tanks should retain agro on any non-infected trogg’s, while DPS pulls the Malignant Trogg’s out of the group, and DPS’s them down. After the Malignant Trogg is dead, DPS Should then burn down any remaining Trogg’s then return to Umbriss. At 20% life, Umbriss will go into a Frenzy. At this phase of the fight, Trogg’s stop coming out. This might be a good time to use your cooldowns to help burn him through this phase as he hit’s a lot harder.

General Umbriss Loot Table

Name	Mode	Level	Type	Slot
[Modgud's Blade]	Normal	333	Dagger	Main Hand
[Skardyn's Grace]	Normal	333	Trinket	Trinket
[Wildhammer Riding Helm]	Normal	333	Mail Armor	Head
[Cursed Skardyn Vest]	Normal	333	Leather Armor	Chest
[Umbriss Band]	Normal	333	Ring	Finger
[Cursed Skardyn Vest]	Heroic	346	Leather Armor	Chest
[Modgud's Blade]	Heroic	346	Dagger	Main Hand
[Skardyn's Grace]	Heroic	346	Trinket	Trinket
[Umbriss Band]	Heroic	346	Ring	Finger
[Wildhammer Riding Helm]	Heroic	346	Mail Armor	Head

Sub-Boss #2 Forgemaster Throngus

Health: 2 Million/4.9 Million Heroic

Regular Attacks:

Heroic Attacks:

Forgemaster Throngus hits like a Mac Truck. No joke, this guy is mainly a gear check for your Healer and Tank. He starts off simply bashing away at your Tank, but will quickly pick a weapon style, which determines his behavior. Throngus isn’t your traditional boss with phases that trigger when he reaches a certain percent of health. Instead, Throngus has three weapon Styles that he will shift between periodically. During all phases, Throngus will target a random party member and cast Mighty Stomp which will leave an AOE Cave-In that you must move out of quickly. During Heroic encounters, Archers will shoot arrows at your party, this cannot be avoided and must be healed. Also, in Heroic mode Throngus will leave globs of lava on the ground in pools for you to step in. The Tank will want to start off tanking Throngus in the far edge of the area, to maximize the amount of space given when it comes time to kite the boss. Throngus will also cast Disorientating Roar which will decrease your attack and casting speed by 50% until you cast three spells (this would be a good time to spam some instant cast spells). When Throngus selects his weapon style, the party will have to adjust to compensate. Dual Swords means Throngus will have two weapons, and can be disarmed. Tanks should keep him in stationary for this phase. If Throngus picks a Shield, he will gain a shield that makes him impervious to attack from the front. He will be planted, and will not move until he selects a new weapon. Also, any spell or attack he blocks with the shield will be reflected back at the party member, so you must be behind him at all times. Throngus will spin around every few seconds, so be prepared for this, and be ready to run straight through him when he does. He will shoot out Frontal AOE Damage immediately after spinning around, so be ready to move through him every 5 seconds or so. If Throngus selects Mace as his weapon, he gains a massive mace, and gets a slow debuff. His lumbering hulk can deal significant damage in this phase, killing even plate wearers in a few blows. Throngus must be kited during this phase, to avoid direct damage. DPS should be aware that the mace smash is an AOE and will devastate a raid easily.

Forgemaster Throngus Loot Table

Name	Mode	Level	Type	Slot
[Ring of Dun Algaz]	Normal	333	Ring	Finger
[Belt of the Forgemaster]	Normal	333	Plate Armor	Waist
[Throngus's Finger]	Normal	333	Trinket	Trinket
[Wand of Untainted Power]	Normal	333	Wand	Ranged
[Dark Iron Chain Boots]	Normal	333	Mail Armor	Feet
[Throngus's Finger]	Heroic	346	Trinket	Trinket
[Ring of Dun Algaz]	Heroic	346	Finger	Ring
[Wand of Untainted Power]	Heroic	346	Ranged	Wand
[Dark Iron Chain Boots]	Heroic	346	Feet	Mail Armor
[Belt of the Forgemaster]	Heroic	346	Waist	Plate Armor

Sub-Boss #3 Drahga Shadowburner (Valiona)

Health: 600k Normal / 900k Heroic (Valiona: 1.7m normal / 4.2m Heroic)

Dragha Attacks:

Regular: Heroic:

Valiona Attacks:

Regular: Heroic:

Drahga Shadowburner is a two phase fight. First you will encounter Drahga on the group, his Hit Point are low, and you should burn him down as quickly as possible to trigger phase two. Drahga’s main form of attack during phase 1 is Burning Shadowbolt which can be interrupted if your tank is taking too much damage. During both phases of this fight, Drahga will summon an Invocation of Flame which will charge a member of your party. The invocation will shoot red beams at it’s target making it pretty clear who it’s going after. If the Invocation gets to its target, it will explode dealing massive damage to everyone around. Roots, snares, slows, and stuns all work on the Invocation, so DPS Should focus on these to DPS them down before they reach their targets. Once Drahga gets down to 25% life, he will run and jump off the platform into the lava. Soon after he reappears riding Valiona, and you won’t be able to affect him until you’ve dispatched Valiona. In Phase 2 of this encounter, you’ll be matched off against Drahga’s pet Dragon, Valiona, The tank should keep Valiona in the center of the room, and the party should be gathered somewhat closely to help direct the Invocation of Flame to the DPS. Valiona will cast Shredding Swipe causing a shimmering pool on the floor that should be avoided. It deals good amounts of damage, and will slow down anyone caught in it. Also Valiona has a large Frontal AOE that does damage to everyone in a large frontal cone. The damage radius is pretty big, so as with all Dragon’s, it’s best to stay behind them, or close to one of their sides. Once you get Valiona low on life, Drahga will dismount and can be burned down quickly for the win!

Drahga Shadowburner Loot Table

Name	Mode	Level	Type	Slot
[Azureborne Cloak]	Normal	333	Back	Cloak
[Red Scale Boots]	Normal	333	Feet	Mail Armor
[Windwalker Blade]	Normal	333	One-Hand	Dagger
[Crimsonborne Bracers]	Normal	333	Wrist	Cloth Armor
[Earthshape Pauldrons]	Normal	333	Shoulder	Plate Armor
[Azureborne Cloak]	Heroic	346	Back	Cloak
[Crimsonborne Bracers]	Heroic	346	Wrist	Cloth Armor
[Earthshape Pauldrons]	Heroic	346	Shoulder	Plate Armor
[Red Scale Boots]	Heroic	346	Feet	Mail Armor
[Windwalker Blade]	Heroic	346	One-Hand	Dagger

Final Boss: Erudax

Health: 3 Million/6.2 Million Heroic

Regular Attacks:

Heroic Attacks:

Erudax only has one phase and should be tanked in the middle of the room facing or somewhat near the door that you enter through. This will make it easier to tell when he casts Binding Shadows on party members, and give your party enough time to dispatch the adds when the appear. When he begins to cast Binding Shadows, he will turn around and target a party member. That person will need to get out of the way of the blast before it hits, or they will be rooted in place and apply a slow healing effect to the boss. When Erudax casts Enfeebling Blow on one of your party, it will also apply a short DoT called Feeble Body which cannot be dispelled so healers should be ready to heal through it.  The main mechanic that you’ll have to worry about during this encounter is Erudax’s Shadow Gale which will cover the room in a fast acting and very damaging DoT. The only “Safe Zone” is the Eye of the Gale, which can be hard to see. Once Erudax begins casting the Shadow Gale, you should begin looking for the Eye which will be in a random location. The eye is easiest to spot before the gale begins, while Erudax is beginning to cast the spell. The entire party must quickly relocate to the middle of the eye to avoid damage. Erudax likes to make the Eye center underneath him, so if you cant find the gale, its could be underneath his belly.   Finding the center of the eye of the gale can be tricky and if needed you can mark a member of your party that can find the gale easily with a Raid Target so others know where to stand.  Immediately following the Shadow Gale, Erudax will call forth two Faceless Guardian’s. These Guardian’s will run straight for the eggs on either side of the room, and begin to Hatch them. DPS and even the tank should focus on bringing these Adds down quickly. The Faceless Guardian’s are immune to Fear, Stun, Root, and other forms of Crowd Control, however they are affected by slowing or snare effects. If the Faceless Guardian’s are not killed fast enough and are successful at hatching an Egg, a few new unkillable whelps will appear to do some burst ticking AOE damage. In Heroic mode, Faceless Guardians get Shield of Nightmares after they reach the eggs which inflicts splashing AOE damage to everyone within range so if your Melee DPS, make sure that you burn down the adds before they get to the eggs or your gunna get blasted!

Erudax Loot Table

Name	Mode	Level	Type	Slot
[Staff of Siphoned Essences]	Normal	333	Two-Hand	Staff
[Wild Hammer]	Normal	333	Two-Hand	Two-Handed Mace
[Gale of Shadows]	Normal	333	Trinket	Trinket
[Mark of Khardros]	Normal	333	Trinket	Trinket
[Corrupted Egg Shell]	Normal	333	Trinket	Trinket
[Circle of Bone]	Normal	333	Finger	Ring
[Crown of Enfeebled Bodies]	Normal	333	Head	Cloth Armor
[Mace of Transformed Bone]	Normal	333	One-Hand	One-Handed Mace
[Vest of Misshapen Hides]	Normal	333	Chest	Leather Armor
[Bracers of Umbral Mending]	Normal	333	Wrist	Plate Armor
[Chaos Orb]	Heroic	85	Other	Other
[Bracers of Umbral Mending]	Heroic	346	Wrist	Plate Armor
[Circle of Bone]	Heroic	346	Finger	Ring
[Corrupted Egg Shell]	Heroic	346	Trinket	Trinket
[Crown of Enfeebled Bodies]	Heroic	346	Head	Cloth Armor
[Gale of Shadows]	Heroic	346	Trinket	Trinket
[Mark of Khardros]	Heroic	346	Trinket	Trinket
[Staff of Siphoned Essences]	Heroic	346	Two-Hand	Staff
[Vest of Misshapen Hides]	Heroic	346	Chest	Leather Armor
[Wild Hammer]	Heroic	346	Two-Hand	Two-Handed Mace
[Mace of Transformed Bone]	Heroic	346	One-Hand	One-Handed Mace