Nalak, the Storm Lord Detailed Strategy Guide

Last updated on Feb 26, 2013 at 14:31 by Vlad 15 comments

Table of Contents

Boss Icon - Nalak, the Storm Lord

Introduction

This guide is intended to provide a comprehensive description of the encounter with Nalak, the Storm Lord in Pandaria. It is targeted at anyone who desires to understand the fight mechanics.

This guide is updated for World of Warcraft WoD 6.1.2.

Nalak, the Storm Lord is one two new world bosses introduced in Patch 5.2. This boss is intended to be accessible to most raid groups.

The fight is extremely simple in terms of abilities and mechanics, and the main concern for raids will be the positioning challenge that it presents.

1.

General Information

1.1.

Health and Raid Composition

Health Raid Composition
Tanks Healers DPS
872M 1 5-6 33-34
1.2.

Enrage Timer

We do not know if Nalak has a hard enrage timer, and it does not appear as though there is a soft enrage timer.

2.

Loot

Nalak, the Storm Lord drops Legs and Hands items from the Tier 15 sets, in the same manner as the Sha of Anger for the previous tier.

In addition, Nalak drops a rare mount, Reins of the Thundering Cobalt Cloud Serpent Icon Reins of the Thundering Cobalt Cloud Serpent.

3.

Spawn Patterns

Nalak, the Storm Lord is located on the Isle of Thunder. At this time, we do not have much information about his spawn patterns.

All we know for certain is that Blizzard intends for this boss to be relatively easy to defeat, and that he is intended to spawn considerably more often than Oondasta, the other world boss from Patch 5.2.

It also seems likely that this boss will only become available to players once at least one person on your realm has progressed sufficiently through the Isle of Thunder quest hub. In all likelihood, it seems that Nalak will not be available for the first month of Patch 5.2.

It is also worth mentioning that the tagging system for world bosses in Patch 5.2 is faction-wide. That is to say, as long as the boss is engaged by someone on your faction, all other members of your faction are eligible for loot if they engage the boss, regardless of whether or not they are grouped together.

4.

Overview of the Fight

The fight against Nalak is a single-target, single-phase encounter. The boss has few abilities, and, in a rather surprising turn of events, does not appear to require more than one tank.

The boss' abilities mainly have to do with dealing damage to raid members who are either too close to Nalak, or too far from him, at different times in the fight. Additionally, certain raid members will have to stand away from the rest of the raid.

5.

Abilities

  • Arc Nova Icon Arc Nova is an ability that Nalak regularly casts. It deals a very high amount of Nature damage to all players within 35 yards of the boss, also knocking them back.
  • Lightning Tether Icon Lightning Tether is a debuff that Nalak places on a few random raid members. This effectively links these players to Nalak, causing them to take a small amount of Nature damage every second, and considerable additional damage should they be more than 30 yards away from Nalak.
  • Stormcloud Icon Stormcloud is a debuff that Nalak places on a few random raid members, which deals Nature damage every 3 seconds for 30 seconds to them, as well as to any allies within 10 yards.
  • Static Shield Icon Static Shield causes random raid members to take a small amount of Nature damage every second, for the entire duration of the fight (each time the spell ticks, different random raid members are affected).
6.

Strategy

The strategy for defeating Nalak is quite simple.

  • Have all ranged DPS and healers stack up more than 35 yards away from the boss, in order to avoid damage from Arc Nova Icon Arc Nova. Melee players will have to run out whenever the boss casts this ability (so they should be at maximum melee range, in order to make it out quicker).
  • Players affected by Lightning Tether Icon Lightning Tether should stay within 30 yards of Nalak until such a time when he casts Arc Nova, at which point they too should run more than 35 yards away from the boss, and then run back in once the cast is finished.
  • Players affected by Stormcloud Icon Stormcloud should move away from where the raid is located, and stay spread out at least 10 yards apart while Stormcloud persists.

Healers will have to heal through the tank damage, the sustained damage from Static Shield Icon Static Shield, as well as the damage that the players debuffed with Lightning Tether Icon Lightning Tether are taking.

7.

When to Use Heroism/Bloodlust/Time Warp

We recommend using Heroism Icon Heroism/Bloodlust Icon Bloodlust/Time Warp Icon Time Warp at the start of the fight, when all players have their DPS cooldowns available.

8.

Corpse Running/Avoiding Wipes

Because the fight does not take place in an instanced environment, it is possible for dead raid members to release spirit and run back to the place where they died and resurrect. This is a good way for your raid to replenish its numbers. Keep in mind the following things:

  • After 2 resurrections in quick succession, you will have to wait for 2 minutes before you can resurrect again.
  • When you resurrect, you come back with 50% of your maximum health. It is best that healers are prepared ahead of time to heal you.
  • It is best to group up (in ghost form) and resurrect at the same time, rather than each one individually. This gives you a better chance to recover.

If a large portion of your raid dies, remaining raid members should attempt to delay a wipe for as long as possible, to give the dead raid members a chance to run back.

9.

Learning the Fight

The fight has few mechanics, and it should not normally pose too many issues from this point of view. In any case, the most important aspect is making sure that players stand at the proper range from Nalak, especially in order to avoid the damage of Arc Nova Icon Arc Nova.

Players debuffed by Lightning Tether Icon Lightning Tether can easily tell if they need to adjust their location, as they will be received an additional 20,000 Nature damage each second if they are too far from Nalak.

10.

Concluding Remarks

This concludes our guide to defeating Nalak, the Storm Lord. We appreciate any feedback you can provide, and we eagerly await to read your comments on our forums.