Heroic Zul'Aman Tactics

Zul'Aman
Zul’Aman was formerly controlled by Zul’jin and his tribe members. After the demise of Zul’jin, the zone nestled in Ghostlands is now under the evil lead of Daakara. Formerly a 10-player raid for level 70s, the heroic-only instance is now difficult enough to make 5 level 85 players sweat.

Akil’zon (Eagle)
Akil’zon, the first boss of Zul’Aman, calls upon eagles to attack your party. He has a few new tricks from his original version. To reach Akil’zon, players must defeat a gauntlet of shamans and eagles.

New to the encounter is the Amani Kidnapper, an eagle that will periodically seize a party member, casting Plucked. The party, including the seized player, should switch to kill the Amani Kidnapper and free the player.

Akil’zon once again casts Call Lightning on the tank and Static Disruption on random players, which stacks but can be removed. Spread out to avoid hitting the party with the AOE and use nature resistance to decrease the damage taken.

When Electrical Storm is cast, the targeted player will be suspended in the air and shoot an electrical storm across the entire platform. The party should group up underneath the targeted player to avoid taking damage.

Nalorakk (Bear)
Nalorakk, the second boss in the instance, has abilities reminiscent of a feral druid and turns into a bear. Large and hard-hitting groups of trolls and warbears guard his altar.

In phase 1, the troll phase, Nalorakk casts Brutal Strike on the tank.

He also uses Surge on the player the farthest away from him. He will use this ability three times before transitioning. It helps to have a ranged dps and healer alternate the surges. You may want to consider using three different soakers depending on the personal defensive cooldowns of your party.

In phase 2, he turns into a bear. He casts Lacerating Slash on the tank (yay!) and Deafening Roar on the party.

Jan’alai (Dragonhawk)
Jan’alai is a forest troll who guards two sets of dragonhawk eggs on his altar. The key to beating Jan’alai is avoiding the fire on the ground while controlling the number of eggs to hatch at once.

Jan’alai casts Flame Breath in the direction of a random player. This is easily avoidable, especially if you stay close to his hit box.

Periodically, Jan’alai will cast Fire Bomb. These orange bombs will spawn haphazardly from the center of the room and explode several seconds later, leaving large gaps where players can safely stand and continue to fight.

Jan’alai will Summon Amani’shi Hatcher, NPCs which will run to the sets of eggs at either side of the altar and begin to hatch them until they are killed. The hatched Amani Dragonhawk Hatchling, which cast Flame Buffet, should be AOE'd down and dps should watch aggro. It is advisable to have several waves of Hatchlings instead of letting them all spawn at once at any time during the encounter.

Halazzi (Lynx)
Halazzi, the Amani lord of lynxes, is the fourth animal boss within Zul’Aman. He holds Kasha captive in a cage near his platform, awaiting her sacrifice if the raid cannot rescue her before the timer runs out. Defeating Halazzi with time remaining does not add any additional time, as this is the last encounter to the timed event. She will, in turn, reward the raid with access to a small share of gold and unlock the Amani Battle Bear. Halazzi is the last of the four bosses needed to successfully completed the timed bear run. He drops hostile totems and calls upon the power of the lynx for aid.

In the troll phase, Halazzi drops Water Totem which buffs the boss with Refreshing Stream. This totem can be killed; however, you can also move the boss away from the green healing circle and continue to focus dps while standing in it. This will grant your part a steady stream of healing and mana. He also casts Enrage.

At 66% and 33%, Halazzi will summon Spirit of the Lynx and heal to 100%. DPS should switch to the Spirit of the Lynx and group up to maximize dps, as the Spirit of the Lynx does not have traditional aggro and will attack random players. It will also cast Shred Armor and Lynx Flurry which can be especially rough on cloth dps. Depending on your group composition, DPS can switch to kill the Corrupted Lightning Totem before it does extreme amounts of damage–once the Spirit of the Lynx has died, the DPS will go back to Halazzi. Or if you have strong healing and have chosen to keep the Water Totems up, ignore the Spirit of the Lynx and stay on the boss. Eventually, the Spirit of the Lynx will despawn.

Hex Lord Malacrass
Hex Lord Malacrass, a witch doctor, is the second-to-last boss within Zul’Aman. He is flanked by two random adds, which can be CCed and ignored for the duration of the fight. Malacrass’ trick is that he will mimic player abilities to gain temporary new power. As the fight continues, he will slowly gain strength while reducing that of the party.

Depending on the two adds, you can CC them or interrupt their abilities. These adds will be drawn from a pool of: Alyson Antille, Darkheart, Fenstalker, Gazakroth, Koragg, Lord Raadan, Slither, and Thurg.

He will alternate between hurling Spirit Bolts at the party, a fairly strong AOE, and channeling Siphon Soul. As the fight drags on, you will get high stacks of Drain Power, making Malacrass harder to kill.

Use common sense when dealing with all of the temporary player abilities. Interrupt heals, run away from cleaves, and remove debuffs.

Randomly casts soul drain on a raid member, absorbing the character’s abilities and amplifying their power. The possible soul drains are:

Druid – Lifebloom, Thorns, Moonfire
Hunter – Explosive Trap, Freezing Trap, Snake Trap
Mage – Fireball, Frostbolt, Frost Nova, Ice Lance
Paladin – Consecration, Holy Light, Avenging Wrath
Priest – Heal, Mind Control, Mind Blast, Shadow Word: Death, Psychic Scream, Pain Suppression
Rogue – Blind, Slice and Dice, Wound Poison
Shaman – Fire Nova Totem, Healing Wave, Chain Lightning
Warlock – Bane of Doom, Rain of Fire, Unstable Affliction
Warrior – Spell Reflection, Whirlwind, Mortal Strike

Daakara
Daakara is a unique boss in that he draws his power from the animal aspects you encountered previously in Zul’Aman. He transforms several times, which is a threat wipe, and he is immune to Taunt but debuffs (and DoTs) will remain on him. This fight is very similar to the lvl 70 Zul’jin encounter, in that it draws upon the power of various animal avatars for separate phases. However, there are only three phases in 4.1, instead of five.

In the first phase, Daakara casts Whirlwind and Grievous Throw, for which the player must be healed in order to be removed. Melee dps that eat a whirlwind while afflicted with Grievous Throw may find themselves dead quickly. At 80% and 40%, Daakara transforms into two of the four remaining avatars at random.

In Shape of the Eagle, Daakara creates an Energy Storm and casts Summon Cyclone that players must dodge. Players that run into cyclones will be hit by Zap. Be sure to kill the Lightning Totem to prevent additional damage from going out. As part of Energy Storm all spells cast will deal damage to the caster–healers must be smart about deciding when to heal, as they will take additional damage when doing so.

In Shape of the Bear, Daakara casts Creeping Paralysis which can be followed up with a nasty Surge, as well as Nearly Overpowered Blow on the tank. b]Creeping Paralysis[/b] and the stun can both be dispelled.

In Shape of the Dragonhawk, Daakara creates Column of Fire and periodically casts Flame Whirl and Flame Breath. All players must remain alert and constantly avoid fire.

In Shape of the Lynx, Daakara spawns two adds that can quickly destroy a player if they are not killed quickly, between Lynx Rush and Claw Rage. The tank should taunt during Claw Rage to split the damage taken.