Getting Grid Ready for Week 3 Crusader’s Coliseum – Faction Champions

Oh boy!  This one is a doosey!  You hate PvP?  You hated that third boss in Magister’s Terrace?  That will be your tough luck, unfortunately!  The third boss in the Crusader’s Coliseum appears to be a flat out arena event, in which you must use your team prowess to beat the other team.  There really isn’t a lot you can do to prepare for this, other than to think of a general strategy (i.e. Kill/CC healers first), and be ready to deal with any of the combinations that you are confronted with, as you will never receive the same combination two weeks in a row.  Each guild will need to find their stride and what works best for them.  We will probably run 7 healers (as that is what we took for Jaraxxus), and try to heal through the DPS while we take out the healers.  One key thing that will be extremely important is teamwork, and making sure that everyone works on their assigned target.

I did find a couple of videos on the Faction Champions encounter, but they will be of limited help in preparing for tomorrow.  However, they are still worth taking a look at to see what happens during the fight.  The video in the second link shows the champions encounter towards the end of the video.

I will be focusing on the Horde NPCs, as I am a horde player, however the alliance do have their own set of mirrored NPCs as well.  Both sets of NPCs can be found here.  (Per my edit at the bottom, the NPCs listed currently are the ones that the alliance will face.  The Horde will face the mirrored alliance ones).

The Horde NPCs are as follows:

• Death Knight –  Gorgrim Shadowcleave
• Druid (Moon Chicken)  – Birna Stormhoof
• Druid (Healer)  – Erin misthoof
• Hunter Ruh’kah – with lion
• Mage  – Ginselle Blightslinger
• Paladin (healer) – Liandra Suncaller
• Paladin (ret) – Malithas Brightblade
• Priest (healer)  – Caiphus the Stern
• Priest (shadow)  – Vivienne Blackwhisper
• Rogue – Maz’dinah
• Shaman (caster) – Thrakgar
• Shaman (melee) – Broln Stouthorn 
• Warlock – Harkzog – with felhunter
• Warrior – Narrhok Steelbreaker

These NPCs appear to have all of the abilities that we have as players, and they use them.  They appear to be able to be contained by CC, however it would also be prudent to assume that they are equally effected by diminishing returns.  Tanks from the PTR have reported that they are “un-tankable”, meaning that they do not have a set agro table, however if their AI is similar to that in Magister’s Terrace, all of the pets are tauntable and tankable.  This is not confirmed, however, and everyone should give it a try as you are first matched up!

Also note that the NPCswill use all of the abilities given to them.  So yes, that healer that you are working down will likely receive a Hand of Protection as his life gets low.  That shadow priest may use dispersion to mitigate some of the damage she’s taking.  The shaman will bloodlust (it must be removed immediately!  Purge, Mass Dispel, Spell Steal).  The mage will sheep, and the warlock will likely banish.  You need to think outside of the box and be ready for anything.

So…the title says “Getting Grid Ready” for this mess.  Well, how in the heck are you supposed to do that?!?!  Easy!  Make sure that you have any and all debuffs set up to make sure you can see what is going on.  Some people may find it easier to use colors for all of this rather than raid icons, so that they only have to worry about “magic” “disease” “curse” etc.  However, it is going to be important that you are aware of how your team mates are afflicted!  Here is a non-exclusive list of potential maladies that I was able to think to add, I have highlighted some of what I feel may be the more important ones:

Polymorph
Ice Nova
Hex
Hammer of Justice
Innervate
Moonfire
Bloodlust
Ice Trap
Entangling Roots
Fear
Psychic Scream
Any Kind of Poison
Flame Shock
Shadow Word: Pain
Power Word: Shield
Sacred Shield
Renew
Rejuvenation
Regrowth
Lifebloom
Riptide
Immolate
Curse of Tongues
Corruption
Banish
Any kind of Disease

If you can think of anything that I have forgotten, or have any additional thoughts or ideas, please do not hesitate to let me know!  Remember to think unconventionally and creatively to deal with this encounter!

Good Luck Everyone and Have Fun!

edit!  So…I am a total noob (what else is new?) and the faction champions listed above are indeed the “Horde” champions.  What I failed, in grand fashion, to realize is that those are the champions that the alliance will be challenged with, not the horde 🙂  I will update the alliance champions to my list tomorrow!