November 21st, 2007

Zul’Aman part 3 - Slaying Zul’Jin

You’ll meet the great bear guardian first, dire Nalorakk. Be sure to lead many players his way if you dream about riding that wicked looking bear sometime in the near future. Akil'zon is the eagle avatar and master of storms. Unlike his Zul Gurub counterpart, the lynx avatar Halazzi does not have three acolytes that resurrect one another. Jan'alai, dragonhawk avatar puts up a good fight protecting the eggs of the flying hunter. Many will find their doom by the hands of Hex Lord Malacrass but none is as powerful as the master himself, Zul’Jin.

A troll with a dark past

Zul'jin's ability as a warrior quickly prompted him leader of his tribe and his need drove him to reunite the wandering troll tribes of Zul’Aman under a single ruler. This extraordinary feat echoed back from the Troll Wars, when the tribes reunited last in the face of mortal danger. Such were the times when Zul’Jin took charge, as Humans joined the High Elves in a crusade to drive the forest trolls back into the wilderness and claim their lands. His raiding parties laid waste to the surrounding areas of Quel'thalas in a time when trolls were weak and defensive. In the conjuration of the Second War, Zul’jin’s plans to unite all trolls under one nation came to a halt however, as he has been captured and tortured, losing his right eye. When his wardens were attacked by a small troll war-party, Zul’Jin cut off his own arm with a fallen spear and escaped to Zul’Aman.

In his rage he searched for new ways to vanquish his foes and found the tools of his revenge in Hexlord Malacrass VooDoo. The totemic spirits revered by the forest trolls in their ancestral shamanistic practices were bound to the greatest and most powerful troll fighters, inside Zul’Aman. Thus the bear, eagle, lynx and dragonhawk avatars were born. As the high elves turned blood elves when Quel’Thalas was destroyed by the scourge and now fight alongside the horde. Forest trolls were always notorious for their war habits, feared by enemies and allies alike, so these events did nothing to smother Zul’Jin’s heart. In his rage, Zul’Jin now turns against the horde and everyone entering Zul’Aman hereby is a foe.

The Zul speaks

“Dis was our land. TROLL land. We Amani was here before anyone! Da' elves and dere Alliance came to drive us out. But we never give up. We never forget... Da' elves took my eye. I cut off my own arm to escape 'dem... and now, 'de fight alongside da' HORDE!? I SPIT on da' Horde! I hate you, I hate you all... But I got a surprise for ya' now, so come on in... De' Amani never give up! We never forget. We never die. 'Dis is our land: you wanna stay, you stay here forever! We gonna bury you here.”

Four spirits pour into one

The wooden doors behind Malacrass’ sanctuary lead to an inner garden where the troll chieftain takes residence. You may think the four avatars defeated, but you are wrong. This matter has always been between Zul’Jin and Malacrass, but the totemic avatars are bound to the Zul alone, for he performed the summoning. That is why we can see them hovering atop the terrace in spirit form, inactive as if waiting for a sign.

As you approach Zul’Jin, he rushes along with a dozen troll warriors that die to three AoE blasts. Le the spank and tank begin! Raiders should spread around Zul’Jin evenly to avoid nasty surprises in the later stages of the fight. In the humanoid form he whirls and hits everyone in melee range so keep an eye on the rogue. He also randomly uses grievous throw which impacts for 3k and leaves a debuff like Rokmar the Crackler in Slave Pens does. The bleeding effect ticks for 2.5k every 2s and disappears if the targeted player is at full health. Be warned that Zul’Jin switches phases every 20% and dps needs to give the tank time to establish agro again, due to threat wipes.

At 80% we have Zul’Jin slightly annoyed by our presence as he calls upon the spirit of the Bear spirit for assistance as he turns into a brown hairy beast. Unlike Nalorakk he casts Paralysis on everyone, debuff which stuns for 4s each 5s and deals up to 4.5k damage unless dispelled. The priority lies with the main tank (due to the recent threat reset) and then healers. Again, luck isn’t a factor so play your cards right and down at 60% Zul’Jin call upon the aid of the Eagle spirit as the bear ghost falls to the ground seemingly dead.

From here on casters will have a tough time doing anything so melee DPS will be the main source of damage. He does not attack anyone so melee should go all out. Lightning zaps you for 1250 each time you cast a spell, but this mana feedback can be fooled by using spells with long casting times and then pulling an instant cast spell at the same time. This way you only get zapped every 4 seconds, because WoW interprets your chain as one single spell. The eagle hasn’t yet landed and the storms are getting annoying. Small tornadoes randomly patrol the terrace and deal 1000 damage with an additional pushback effect. Healers have problems here and must avoid getting cornered by tornadoes. DPS casters are advised to deal damage only as long as there is enough healing to pass around.

With proper control, Zul’Jin reaches 40% and starts off the gamble phase. The lynx that enforces his look upon the master troll can fixate and attack a random person in the raid, therefore ignoring all other attempts to gain agro. It’s hard to describe the kind of attacks this lynx can pull off. Suffice it to say that evasion will not help, nor parry or dodge. Just use blessing of protection, vanish, ice block or whatever life savers available. As a mage I died in two hits which landed in exactly one second, so not even a warrior’s intervene is enough on cloth wearers. When the lynx isn’t fixating anyone, it does a blade dance like Kargath in Shattered Halls, leaving a stacking bleeding debuff on people hit. This phase is hands down the hardest in the battle, so expect to lose up to three people.

Only 20% hit points to go and Zul’Jin falls, only to rise again as a dragonhawk. The spirit casts a smite type spell randomly into the raid, but it’s an area effect so you need to move out immediately when you get hit for the first time. The holy fire ranges somewhere into 3500 damage and ticks every second, so three of these will most likely see you dead. After fighting the lynx, melees get punished in return when the dragonhawk twists high into the air, for pushback and damage inflicted on everyone within melee range. It’s a race against time by now as you may have one healer dead and the rest with moderate mana issues. Raiders must be spread out to avoid his flame breath ability, pretty much the way Jan’alai hit. Just burn him down as fast as possible and don’t get smited in the process.

As the last few percents of his life are removed, Zul’jin’s power wanes and the four spirits forever leave his body in a final release. The warlord of Zul’Aman is defeated and you can now loot his blood to complete the end quest. I’m positive you’ll be back for another round once the three day cooldown wears off and the instance resets. It’s a great new area to spark interest in the minds of lore and loot hunters. Sunwell Plateau should come out soon enough, otherwise there will be no incentive for players to complete Hyjal and the Black Temple with such generous items available in Zul’Aman.