Lotheb Pwn-age

So I meant to write a post about this forever ago when I did it, but I got distracted by WoW (and facebook), as often happens...

I joined a group for Naxx pretty much just for the emblems (also for healing practice, but mostly for emblems) and Darwe was bored that day so he decided to go too. The plan was to hit Naxx and finish it in one go. The problem was that it was a pug group. As far as pugs go, it wasn't the worst I've had, but it wasn't the best either. The whole point of the run was to gear the leader's newly 80 DK (who didn't even have all blues...).

By the time that we got to Lotheb, I was the only healer left, the others had to bail for various reasons, as did much of the original DPS. Healers being hard to come by on our server, we spent several minutes outside Lotheb's room trying to decide what to do. I maintained from the beginning of the discussion that I was l33t enough to solo heal it, so we struck a bargain: give it one try with solo heals and if we beat him awesome, we'll grab heals afterwards, but if we wipe, grab more heals before trying it again. Darwe whispered me before the pull and didn't say specifically that I couldn't do it, but I think he was prepared to wipe. I had confidence as a Holy Priest with sevearl AOE heals, we are definitely the #1 healers of the game, in my opinion, especially in raids.

In we went. My only worry was my mana. I'm definitely not the most mana-efficient healer in the world, Garaba totally kicks my ass in that department (I don't know how he does it, probably witchcraft), so I knew that I would have to be careful with nobody to back me up in heals. As it turns out, it never became an issue, Necrotic Aura was slightly helpful there.

Necrotic Aura is Lotheb's "thing", it's what he does best to annoy raiders, especially healers. If you aren't aware (or didn't follow that link I posted above), Necrotic Aura blocks all healing (so don't waste your potions or bandages) for 17 seconds. It's an instant cast and there's only a short time after it fades before Lotheb throws it back up, so you have to get your raid-wide heals out fast. Having a version of Deadly Boss Mods (DBM from here on out) that works properly is crucial to healing this fight effectively. It will give you a timer showing you how much longer the aura will be active. (As a priest) When less than 3 seconds are remaining on the aura, begin casting Prayer of Healing (PoH). I say "less than 3 seconds" because normal cast time is 3 seconds but mine is slightly less than that because of my gear. If you time it right, the aura will be lifted only miliseconds before you cast your big heal. After that, you have time for a Circle of Healing (CoH or just "Circle") and maybe a few ticks of Renew on the tank if you're fast enough. While the aura is up, all you can really do is bubble the people taking the most damage (in an ideal world, this should be just the tank--but be smart, don't bubble the tank if it's going to interfere with gaining rage or something). That was why I didn't have any mana issues, I spent so much time standing around and not casting heals that it would regen almost completely while I waited.

I think Lotheb is the only Naxx boss that I can solo heal, I wouldn't want to try any others, lol. He does do an AOE, which is the reason for the need for AOE heals, but it really doesn't hit for very hard. If you get the timing right as a priest (decked out in a mish-mosh of Ulduar and Naxx gear), you shouldn't have any trouble healing this fight, solo or otherwise. There was only one time where I thought we might wipe, it was the only time that the raid was at half health or lower. I didn't get the timing quite right with the fade of the Necrotic Aura and my cast of PoH and I don't think anyone got healed that round. What I didn't know was that Lotheb was almost dead at that point, and before the aura faded again he was down for good. The best part? Lotheb's was the only death XD

Not a single raid member died during the fight, whether those who could heal themselves did while the aura was down, I don't know, it's possible, but I do know that everyone (including Darwe) was impressed with my l33t heals. I was quite happy with myself :)