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All of the latest Mists of Pandaria newsReady Check: Koralon the Flame Watcher
by Michael Gray 
Sep 9th 2009 at 6:00PM
Ready Check is a column focusing on successful raiding for the serious raider. Hardcore or casual, Vault of Archavon or Ulduar, everyone can get in on the action and down some bosses.
If you remember, back when Emalon the Storm Watcher hit the ground, our own Zach Yonzon warned you that Emalon was no loot pinata. While Archavon required only a bare minimum of basic skills, and was really just a DPS race even when he first came out, Emalon to this day requires your group to vaguely pay attention and kill the big, growing add first.
With the beginning of the new Arena season, Koralon the FIre Watcher has taken up residence with Emalon and Archavon. He lives to the left of the hall, opposite to where Emalon hangs out. In terms of skill, he's only slightly more difficult than Archavon. In fact, I'd say he's probably easier, if your group's gear can support your ability to kill him. Check out the strategy behind the cut.
We'll go through his four abilities first, because that's what we do.
Koralon the Flame Watcher
- Burning Breath - Inflicts Fire damage to all targets every 1 second for 3 seconds.
- Meteor Fists - Attacks inflict damage split evenly to targets within 10 yards of the primary target.
- Blazing Embers - Inflicts Fire damage every 1 second for as long as the target remains in the flame. Don't stand in the fire and you won't take damage.
- Burning Fury - Increases all damage by 5%. This ability stacks about once every twenty seconds, and is responsible for the "DPS race" aspect of Koralon.
Okay, check this out. I mean it this time. The big secret to Koralon the Flame Watcher is do not stand in fire. That's the short version. Here's the slightly longer version.
You're going to want two tanks, a few healers, and a bunch of DPS. We get by with two or three healers, but you may need more depending on your tanks' gear levels.
When you enter the room to fight Koralon, you may notice it's kind of round, similar to the rooms for Emalon and Archavon. In the center is another circle. You can think of that as your tanks' race track. When your main tank pulls Koralon, tug him to the perimeter of that race track circle. Tank him in place.
Your off-tank needs to be standing immediately next to your main tank. This is because from time to time, Koralon picks up the ability called Meteor Fists. When Meteor Fists happen, he will punch your main tank in the face, and split that damage with anyone else who is standing nearby. Having two tanks stand there mean they split the damage evenly. You could go with a third, but then you're robbing yourself of some DPS.
The next thing to keep in mind is that Koralon will occasionally put patches of fire on the ground. Don't stand in them. Whenever your tanks and melee DPS find they can no longer do their job due to too much fire on the ground, have your tank slowly move backward around that racetrack. You don't have to constantly kite him. Just kind of nudge him back each time someone says "There's nowhere to stand!" If you have trouble actually seeing the fire (which is a fairly valid thing to say), it will appear as a debuff. If you have the debuff, you should move, because that means you're standing in fire.
Koralon will occasionally do some light AE raid damage, which most healers will be able to handle without much trouble. However, this is mostly gear dependent. If you're coming in to Koralon with a bunch of fresh 80s, you might want to have a little extra healing just in case.
Except for those few things, this is a DPS race. Burning Fury will continually stack until Koralon hits the ground. If you're doing it right, and not too many DPS are standing in fire, then that will be before Burning Fury stacks sufficiently to make your tank unhealable.
Summary
So, that's the fight in a nutshell. Try not to stand in fire. Shoot hard, shoot fast. If the tank has too much fire around for anyone to stand there, circle Koralon around the racetrack.
I'm not quite sure why Koralon is so much easier compared to Emalon. I personally think that it's to help supply gear that will get folks caught up and ready for the Icecrown raid. Or, maybe it's an apology for Emalon. I don't know. I like to think that's it's to help get people up to par. It's just a loot lottery that you have to put some work into. It's not like epics are being flung across Northrend, so that's my favorite explanation.
My advice for anyong PUGging this fight, however, would be to fight Koralon first. That way, if your PUG isn't quite up to it, you can still try and find another. While the fight isn't hard, it does require some gear and coordination. And to be fair, if folks aren't used to a don't-stand-in-fire raiding still, this could be somewhat new.
Good luck, and good hunting!
Ready Check is here to provide you all the information and discussion you need to bring your raiding to the next level. Check us out weekly to learn the strategies, bosses, and encounters that make end-game raiding so much fun.Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Ready Check (Raiding)
Reader Comments (Page 2 of 3)
Sim Sep 9th 2009 6:41PM
Ever have one of those posts where you know, just sitting down to write it, that you're gonna get trolled?
Anyway, RE: Koralon easier than Emalon. Here's my theory. He's not easier per say, but the gear check aspect is placed more heavily back on the tanks and the healers. In my personal experience, it is much rarer to run into poorly geared tanks and healers than it is dps because they are much harder to carry through content. Emalon was very challenging for PUG groups because of the sheer number of terrible dps players, because for once, them sucking mattered a great deal and no amount of great tanking or healing could stop a wipe.
Also, the surge in availablilty of conquest gear seems to have managed to bump most dps'ers up to a reasonable level, making things easier again. I wouldn't want to try Koralon with a full group of folks in full Heroism level badge gear.
Mike Sep 9th 2009 6:58PM
He's easier. Just like ToC 5-mans are loot piñatas. It's a gear reset.
tonedeff Sep 9th 2009 7:51PM
^^Stole the post straight out of my fingers!
You hit the nail on the head!
Drocket Sep 10th 2009 2:20AM
I just have to say: this. I did a VOA 25 yesterday, took down Koralon very easily. Massive DPS, blew right though him, no problem. Wiped on Emalon because several of the DPS had difficulty on the whole 'switch targets' thing.
I really do think the truth is that bad WoW players are going to be playing DPS classes. Even if they do get a tank or healer to 80 (or respec to tank/healer at 80), they're going to get creamed when they try to run heroics, get yelled at by the other players, give up and go back to being a DPS, where their sucking usually doesn't matter too much. As long as its a fight where they can stand in one place and press the 2-3 keys that make up their (far-from-optimal but at least adequate) rotation, they're passable. Any fight harder than that, though...
(With regards to the original post, I do think you underestimate the difficulty of healing somewhat. Its not the hardest boss fight, but its not an easy one either.)
mysticalos Sep 9th 2009 6:55PM
you can avoid fire before it lands, if you zoom out is actually launched at you. there is no reason to take any damage as ranged. as melee you may not see it launched cause he's so big and you're so close though.
PodPeople Sep 9th 2009 6:58PM
the main issue i've had with this fight is not being able to see that you are in the fire because it's obscured by the flame breath. red under red is still hard to see even when standing on the stone. standing in the middle it is red under red on red...heheh. i think there's an updated DBMs that gives you a warning when you're in the fire, and what not.
Aedilhild Sep 9th 2009 7:24PM
An advantageous place for melee DPS following a clockwise kite is just off Koralon's left ankle — it's on the periphery of AoE radials and allows for maneuvering if a fire starts nearby.
zappo Sep 10th 2009 9:18AM
One addon I found helpful is Ensidafails (the continuation of failbot). I just set it to report to my local frame in combat and save nothing else it tells me when I'm standing in the fire or doing something else stupid because I'm either spaced out or can't see.
I also highly recommend using this as a healer as you can see people who are going to continue to take damage on certain types of debuffs like biting cold. If people are bad enough at that sort of thing and sucking up too much mana I usually let them die.
Nimb Sep 9th 2009 7:21PM
I was having an issue the other night where i must have been lagging because the there would be no fire under my feet but all of a sudden I was taking fire damage. I also agree that when he tosses fire right before he flame breaths it is also hard to see the fire
Squeek Sep 9th 2009 7:33PM
Oh I'm gonna grill you so hard...
Kidding. It's a ready-check about Koralon, after all. There's nothing difficult about this fight.
1) Fire Resistance. Use it if you can. I'm one of the classes that can hand the 130 resistance out and I still forget, because this fight is such a joke.
2) Know when to heal and when to move. These events overlap during a Breath. I can almost guarantee a patch of fire is going to be placed under your character during a Breath, so just move.
3) The middle is bad. Fires become nearly impossible to see. Great design choice for a 25-man raid.
4) Bloodlust early, or late. This is one of those decisions that's hard to make. Early bloodlust is when you don't trust your DPS or your healers, or when you trust them A LOT. You do it because you think someone is going to die before the end of the fight, or because you think it won't be taxing on the healers at all for the latter case. Late bloodlust (5-7 stacks into the fight or so) is done to help the healers cope with the additional damage being put out.
guydebord Sep 9th 2009 11:29PM
"3) The middle is bad. Fires become nearly impossible to see. Great design choice for a 25-man raid."
^^ For PuG attempts, I would really stress this point to your group. ^^
You'll save a whole lot of time if you just tell people to stay out of the fire colored middle section of the floor. Also, speaking of great design choices, 3-D Sarth's death patches pre-blueing anyone?
busuan Sep 9th 2009 7:53PM
I just love it when you fight Razorscale on the gray-ish floor the fire is BLUE and when you fight Koralon on the bright glowing yellow background, the fire is yellow
and dim.
tonedeff Sep 9th 2009 7:55PM
On my shaman, if I pug a raid i pop heroism early. Just cause I dont know how many people have lied to get there spot and dont know the fight and will die during the middle of the fight. So might aswell get them to pump out asmuch dps as possible befor they are gone!
devilsei Sep 9th 2009 7:55PM
You know, the VoA fights seem to actually be going in a pattern.
Archavon tested the tanks with "Dont stand in the Dust"
Emalon tests the Dps being smart to "not stand in the nova"
And Koralon? A healer's worst nightmare, a living giant of fire that no one can stand out of or not cross.
The Claw Sep 10th 2009 12:02AM
Just out of curiosity, how many of the "light AoE damage" people have only done Koralon on 10-man?
Because this is definitely a fight where tuning the 25-man for 2.5x the damage because there are 2.5x as many healers makes it a lot harder. Even a single tick of fire on the floor at the same time as burning breath can get people killed.
Don't get me wrong, it's still easier than Emalon - for a while, I despaired of EVER killing him in a pug, whereas Koralon I pugged 25-man the first week without TOO many wipes. But saying things like "he's probably easier than Archavon" is a nonsense.
Dart Matsuraki Sep 10th 2009 12:14AM
A little tip I gave to my guild when we first tackled this guy.
The room Koralon is in is full of bright yellow ambient light and glow. If you go into our video settings, and under the effect options, at the very bottom of that window you'll see a Checkbox option for "Full-screen glow effect" or something to that extent.
Turn that off when doing this fight. It helps a lot when it comes to filtering the ambient glow that the room has and makes seeing the fire effects much easier.
McRaider Sep 10th 2009 1:25AM
Wow. I didn't think it would be possible to write that much about the koralon fight!
Slaytanic Sep 10th 2009 3:08AM
What I don't get is why we get flagged when we engage him, and not the other 2.
Nauscicaa Sep 10th 2009 5:00AM
"It's not like epics are being flung across Northrend"
Have to disagree with you, Northrend is the place where epics ARE being flung around, everyone and his mother, grandmother and dog can get epics with basically just being skilled enough to reach level 80, and we all know that that doesn't require any skill.
Nauscicaa Sep 10th 2009 5:01AM
"It's not like epics are being flung across Northrend"
Have to disagree with you, Northrend is the place where epics ARE being flung around, everyone and his mother, grandmother and dog can get epics with basically just being skilled enough to reach level 80, and we all know that that doesn't require any skill.
Blizzards new raid and loot policy is well know by now, but wth do they want to give everyone easy epics? Sure letting everyone experience the content is a good policy but why not just give epics for the hard modes and just blues for all the others? Or at least create a new rarity, something between epics and legendaries, that way you can at least show your commitment to the game and the raiding content, instead of walking around like everyone else.