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Because stats grow exponentially every expansion, most end-game raid content from previous expansions becomes soloable by players at max level of the current expansion. There are many incentives to solo old content, like obtaining old legendary items or mounts, and completing old achievements.
Some encounters, like Boss Razorgore the Untamed and Boss Lady Vashj, have mechanics that make them absolutely impossible to solo under any circumstances, whereas others, like Boss Gehennas and Boss Vaelastrasz, are technically soloable, but very difficult because of their mechanics. Most bosses, however, may be burned down without major consideration for their abilities on your part. WotLK Wrath of the Lich King bosses like Boss Halion, Gunship Battle, Boss Deathbringer Saurfang and the Boss Lich King (Icecrown Citadel tactics) <Lich King> are probably impossible to solo at any level, because of their mechanics.
The two classes that have the best utilities to solo old raid content are Protection Paladins and Blood-specced Death Knight tanks, because they are the only specs in the game designed to take large amounts of damage and can heal themselves consistently. Feral Druid tanks who can time shifting out of Bear Form to cast healing spells on themselves perfectly are also good candidates for soloing old content. If you really know what you're doing and are geared enough, Hunters and Warlocks can also solo old content. Be warned that the enrage mechanic is present in nearly every post-Classic raid boss, so being able to deal a large amount of DPS is also a must.
Molten Core[]
Lucifron[]
Death Knights should be aware that his debuff affects Runes, too. [Glyph of Disease] is a great asset for this fight because it allows a rotation of nothing more than [Pestilence] and [Death Strike] once initial diseases are applied, which is all it takes to solo Lucifron.
As of Cataclysm Cataclysm, this fight is very easy for most classes just to burst down. No real planning needed.
Magmadar[]
This boss is a easy fight for any level 85 toon. He fears about once every 40 seconds, break the fear with a PvP trinket or similar effect or item. Stay out of the fire. He should go down fast. Ignore the enrage, for to a level 85 his damage in minimal.
Gehennas[]
As of Cataclysm Cataclysm this fight is much easier, kill his adds first, they have less then 100k heath, should be a 2 or 3 shot. Then Fight Gehennas his self, Kite him out of the Rain of Fire, he has low heath, most level 85 toons can burn him down quick enuff to were his debuff dose not matter.
A very difficult fight to solo. His adds can stun, and he applies and persistently reapplies a 5-minute Curse debuff which reduces healing received by 75%. His main damaging abilities are his Shadow Bolts and a static Rain of Fire that you should move away from whenever it is cast. Druids can simply dispel his curse, and Paladins can Divine Shield out of it (usually only once per fight given its long cooldown and Forbearance), but Death Knights have no way of removing it on their own. The best they can do is make effective use of Anti-Magic Shell, Corroded Skeleton Key if they have it, and Icebound Fortitude to become immune to stuns from the adds.
[Restorative Potions] will remove his curse, but since the release of Cataclysm Cataclysm they may be extremely hard to get.
If you can get some, because their cooldown begins upon leaving combat, the best way to use them is this:
- Consume one before entering combat, and immediately enter combat while under the effect of Restorative Potion.
- Consume another when you are below half health, then heal yourself to full when the curse is dispelled.
Shadow Resistance is a great help on this fight, because it reduces damage received from Gehennas' main ability. [Resistance Aura] (paladin), [Shadow Protection] (priest), [Shadow Ward] (warlock), or [Runed]/[Signified Ring of Binding] should be used if available.
Garr[]
His add blow up when they die, might do a knockback but can be resisted at level 85. One of Garr Mechanics is that he will dispel all your buffs, so don't worry to much about buffing up and staying buffed, this fight is a very easy one once his adds are dead.
Baron Geddon[]
Pull him to the narrowest part of the tunnel from Garr's room, because his [Living Bomb] will knock you into the air and cause you to take falling damage. His debuff which drains mana will be worrisome to Paladins and Druids who shapeshift out of bear form to heal themselves, but, as always for Paladins, Divine Shield will remove it. Don't forget that Lay on Hands does not cost mana, so not healing yourself until you blow LoH at very low health is also a viable strategy. When he begins casting his Hellfire-esque ability, he becomes immobile, allowing you to move out of range and bandage yourself if necessary.
Shazzrah[]
His Arcane Explosion does pitifully little damage to level 85s, but any magic damage dealt to him will be reduced by 50%.
Golemagg the Incinerator[]
Easy to solo; ignore the adds and burn the boss down. His adds can not be killed and will be rez by Golemagg as soon as they die, if you have a pet that is able to tank them away from this boss, might make his a little easier. Kill him as quickly as possible, though, because there does not appear to be any limit on the number of stacks of his armor-reducing debuff that may be applied. (Each stack reduces armor by 250 and it stacks rapidly).
Sulfuron Harbinger[]
It may seem impossible at first, because of the perpetual heals from the Flamewaker Priest adds, but they will eventually run out of mana, and they will not regenerate enough to heal him again once they do. They have little heath as well at about 75k, for a faster fight Single target each add and burst each down, should take 1 or 2 shots they heal they cast takes 2 sec to fully cast. If you AoE is strong enuff then you may AoE the adds down while bursting the boss.
Death Knights may use Icebound Fortitude to be come immune to the stun+knockback ability used by Sulfuron Harbinger.
Majordomo Executus[]
Relatively simple, you can't kill Majordomo himself, but he will surrender once all of his adds are down. All his adds have 100k ish heath. Blow all AoE cool downs and they should die quickly Move out of the coal pit if you get teleported into it, because it's marginal but unnecessary damage on yourself.
Be warned that if you fail at soloing Ragnaros, you may have to defeat Majordomo again, depending on how long you wait to re-attempt him.
Ragnaros[]
At level 85, this boss does very little damage to your toon.[citation needed] The biggest threat is his knockback.
If the Sons of Flame spawn, if you are a Warlock, do NOT Banish them; Ragnaros may resurface while a Banished add is up. They have a Mana Burn, so Paladins must be prepared for this; Divine Shield works, Divine Plea can be used if necessary, and Lay on Hands will restore some mana too. They deal no physical damage, only Fire damage, so Hand of Protection is useless against them; save that for falling damage.
Where to stand to avoid falling damage when soloing Ragnaros. The green dot is where Executus was standing.
Note that it is possible to completely avoid falling damage by standing in the location shown in the screenshot to the right; when Ragnaros knocks back from here, standing there will result in being knocked into the lava. Regardless, be prepared for falling damage anyhow; standing at even a slightly different angle may cause it. Parachute Cloak and Flexweave Underlay can reduce falling damage if your class does not have an ability that already does that.
Also, use any defensive cooldown after being knocked back, because you will periodically take about 6000 fire damage per tick every few seconds before returning to melee range of Ragnaros.
General tips[]
- Regardless of which expansion they were introduced, Level ?? Raid bosses are always considered three levels higher than the highest level character in the instance when determining base chance to be hit, chance to hit, chance to dodge or parry or be dodged or parried, weapon skill, and defense. All other level-dependent stats are the same for Hakkar as they are for The Lich King. This means that your defense, hit rating, and expertise should be the same as they would be for any current raid.
Class-specific tips[]
Death Knight[]
With the 4-piece T10 tank set bonus, 3/3 Improved Rune Tap, [Vampiric Blood], [Anti-Magic Shell], [Icebound Fortitude] and [Corroded Skeleton Key], you will have a long string of defensive cooldowns. [Raise Dead] followed by [Death Pact] should only be used as a last resort; it's too good to waste before you really need it. [Empower Rune Weapon] is also a defensive cooldown for emergency situations; immediately allowing use of at least two Death Strikes at once.
Don't forget that you can also spec into situational talents like [Lichborne], which will allow you to heal yourself with [Death Coil], or Bloodworms for a minor HPS gain, but these talents are not normally part of current raid tanking specs; you would only use them for PvP, DPS, or "solo old content" specs.
As of Patch 4.0.1, Death Strike no longer requires diseases on its target to heal. You don't need to keep diseases up to solo old fights anymore.
Hunter[]
Because the majority of damage intake will be to your pet, a Tenacity pet is preferred. Give it a defensive spec, like this one (note that a Beast Mastery spec is required), and use [Aspect of the Viper] and cast [Mend Pet] as necessary (spec into Improved Mend Pet; especially important for bosses that apply debuffs, like most in Molten Core), and [Glyph of Mending].
On bosses with enrage timers, this tactic may not work so well; help DPS if you must, Roar of Sacrifice will help if you do pull aggro, and be sure to carry an [Runic Mana Potion] so that you don't run out of mana for Mend Pet.
Paladin[]
You're in luck - if you're the only person in an encounter, you can use [Divine Shield] as much as you like without worrying about mobs ignoring you. Make sure to take necessary Protection talents to reduce the cooldown of Divine Shield and [Hammer of Justice] - the latter is extremely useful in some fights. Use [Seal of Light] or [Seal of Wisdom] depending on the encounter - but usually, SoW will suffice.
Warlock[]
[Metamorphosis] will make you immune to critical hits from level ?? raid bosses and make your armor and stamina as high as a moderately geared tank for 30 seconds. In addition, you retain all your DPS abilities, allowing you to effectively tank the boss as well as deal massive amounts of damage. You may defeat the boss before Metamorphosis lifts, but if not, rely on your Voidwalker or Felguard to resume tanking. Chances are you will need to use Soulshatter as well as your pet's Anguish once or twice to cause your pet to gain aggro.
Classic fights that cannot be soloed[]
The following Classic fights have mechanics which specifically require more than one person to overcome:
- Combat Razorgore the Untamed in Blackwing Lair: if he is killed before all the eggs in the room are destroyed, he will explode, causing AoE damage that will one shot the entire raid, goes through Divine Shield and Ice Block, and death from this ability is not prevented by Ardent Defender.
- Combat Twin Emperors in the Temple of Ahn'Qiraj: if they are not kept far apart, they will cast Heal Brother on each other, healing for 30000 per tick, and this is recast regularly.
- Combat C'Thun (tactics) in the Temple of Ahn'Qiraj: if there is no one outside his stomach when one player is teleported in, that player dies.
