Instance Guide: Heroic Drak’Tharon Keep

[2-Trade] Imjorman: LF Ranged DPS- (H) Drak’Tharon Keep then gtg!!

Oh! I should whisper that guy. I’ve never done Drak’Tharon before though…I mean, is there even any loot for me in that instance? I just turned 80 and really should be rep-grinding, is wearing a tabard going to be time-efficient? Oh maybe I just shouldn’t even whisper him…I hate looking like a noob…

If you just quest grind away to max level and are new to instances: No Worries! Drak’Tharon Keep is probably one of the most fun instances to run, and has many benefits for toons and most importantly, us hunters!

Where to Start

Almost every instance in WOTLK has some kind of quest line or lore to it. Drak’Tharon is no different. Everyone quested (or attempted to) in the atrocious region Zul’Drak. If this is the case, you’ve probably ran into the quest line involving Drakuru and his cleansing quests. You know, the one where you run mindlessly around and pick up Austin Powers’ Mojo?

That epic quest line (which actually results in an achievement) ends here, so before you endeavor into this instance make sure you get that quest line underway. Its starting point can be picked up from Drakuru himself at Granite Springs.

Reputation? Oh Yes

If you haven’t heard it before you’ll hear it now, EQUIP A TABARD!!

You get reputation for killing mobs in instances while having a tabard equipped! Stop reading my article right now, and go to the Knights of the Ebon Blade and buy their tabard. This way you can buy their helm enchant when you ding revered.

OK, you back now? Good. Each run of a Heroic Drak’Tharon Keep with a tabard equipped promises around 2 thousand rep. I don’t know about you, but 2k of easy rep seems pretty good to me.

Now to the Bosses…

Thankfully, blizzard decided that none of the bosses here should be epic and impossible. The first boss of the instance comes quickly, just after a couple trash pulls.

TrollGore

TrollGore is one ugly looking fella. But yet, the uglier: the dumber. The dumber: the easier to kill.

He summons adds that you, as a hunter, will probably be assigned to take down. The adds only have 2k health so 2 auto shots should easily take care of them. Keeping the adds on the steps is important because they when they get to the group, they can cause some serious havoc.

Corpses. Don’t stand on corpses. With your ever important role of CC, you can’t afford to die when TrollGore casts Corpse Explosion. If your standing on, or near a corpse on the ground (hehe where else would corpses be?) you’ll die…no doubt about it. Just stay away

Assuming everyone in your group can down Trollgore before his attack buff, Consume, reaches 120% you’ll down him and get some much deserved loot!

There aren’t really any “hunter items” that drop off Trollgore, but if there are no other rogues and you don’t mind leather, Batriders Cored, might be the way to go. It has a nice +57 Agility and 116 attack power boost rating.

Easy boss, easy badge, easy loot. I guess you reap what you sow

Novos the Summoner

Novos is the first boss of his kind I have ever fought before. The first time I ran this instance, I must admit: I was a bit flustered. Novos casts a huge shield on himself that makes him completely immune to damage, initially. There is a large stair case in the front of the room where adds will stream down. All of these adds can be easily killed by your group without them being tanked.

Taking down these adds quickly will give you some practice for the first phase of the Kel”Thuzad fight.  And ironically, Kel’Thuzad and Novos look striking similar.  But anyway…

Hunter friends can lay a frost trap and set their pet to aggressive (just don’t forget to take it off when the fight is over!) so that the adds go down quite quickly.

Every now and then, and for a total of four times, Novos will call for assistance. A “Crystal Handler” will appear from the back of the room. He must be tanked a killed quickly. Part of Novos’ shield fails each time a Handler is killed. As a hunter, you should probably just stay on the steps and take care of wimpy adds. Let your melee friends go tear down the 4 key adds.

After the 4 Handlers go down, its just pure damage. Because of the steps, survival hunters can get their 30 yard range damage boost, and really jump to the top of the meters.

Novos casts a blizzard that does a lot of damage, but the blizzard is plain as day and very avoidable.

Novos drops Necromantic Wristguards, which are really nice bracers and will replace any questing greens you already have.

So get your wristgaurds, your badge, and possibly your stone shards and move on to King Dred!

King Dred

There isn’t to much I can say about the gigantic dinosaur, King Dred, really. He attacks the tank only, and doesn’t do damage to anyone else. Stand back and pew pew through your shot rotation. He does cast an AOE roar that fears the group for 4 seconds. But besides that, he’s your standard “tank n’ spank” boss.

For being so simplistic, Dred does offer some nice loot for us Huntards!

King Dred’s Helm- A rather outstanding helm that I still use in my 25 man Naxx raids

Incisor Fragment- Every hunter, big and small, loves attack power. And when this trinket gives you 148 of it, you can do nothing but just eat it up! (OK, equip it…please don’t try to eat it)

The Prophet Tharon’ja

This boss is probably my favorite in the whole instance. Not because of the loot, or the fight itself. Just the way this guy looks. I mean really, check him out:

But as cool as this guy looks, he must die…

The fight is broken down into two forms: Normal real life pew pew form, and eaten flesh OMG form.

Normal Real life pew pew form

Do pretty much anything you would normally do. Our survival friends get into sniper range and kick his butt!

Eaten flesh OMG form

The Prophet frequently casts “Decay Flesh”. This, as you can imagine, eats the flesh off the group and opens new abilities for everyone. In this form you have to melee. (I know, it’s really scary to me too, but we’ll be OK I promise).

You have a standard melee attack which is where most of your dps will come from in this form. Also, you have a life steal which does significant damage as well. There is bone armor, which is pretty much pointless because you won’t take damage, and taunt.

Don’t touch taunt!! Taunt is what your tank is using to keep aggro during this phase, and since most tanks are mean (Ya, let’s be honest…most tanks are lol) they’ll get upset if you draw aggro

You constantly shift between the two forms, so be prepared at any moment. This boss goes down quickly enough, however, and your on your way with loot!

…No, no your not. Believe it or not, blizzard decided Hunter loot was stupid and didn’t give us ANYTHING off this guy. It is either tank gear or spell gear, so…meh.

Hopefully you win that roll on the frozen orb so you can get your own things crafted!

Well I guess that’s it…

Enjoy your new helm, trinket, and badges. Now the next time that someone post LF Ranged DPS, you’ll know exactly how you’ll want to respond.

This post by Imjorman.