Morchok 
Morchok is the first boss encounter of the Dragon Soul raid. He acts as a sort of gatekeeper. Defeating him allows players access to the various NPCs in Wyrmrest Temple, as well as to some of the other bosses.
This encounter is, in our opinion, the easiest of the 8 boss encounters within the Dragon Soul.
Morchok is a relatively simple encounter made up of two alternating phases:
The Crystal Phase, which lasts approximately 1 minute, is a tank and spank phase during which the raid is faced with two tasks (other than attacking the boss):
- the tanks need to regularly taunt the boss off of each other;
- a few DPS players need to soak the proximity damage done by crystals that the boss summons.
The Black Blood Phase, which lasts approximately 30 seconds, requires your raid to hide behind pillars of stone (created during the encounter) to avoid being hit by the Black Blood flowing out from Morchok.
Finally, at 20% health, Morchok gains the Furious buff. This does not affect the alternation between the Crystal Phase and the Black Blood Phase: the fight continues normally, just that the boss deals more damage and attacks faster.
Crystal Phase
The Crystal Phase is the main phase of the fight, during which your raid will mostly deal damage to Morchok while handling the few abilities that he possesses. This phase lasts for 1 minute, approximately.
AbilitiesDuring the Crystal Phase, Morchok has the following abilities:
Crush Armor is a stacking debuff applied by Morchok on his tank every 6 seconds. It stacks up to 10 times and each stack reduces armor by 10%, eventually forcing a tank swap.
Stomp is an AoE attack that Morchok casts every 10 to 15 seconds. It deals 750,000 physical damage in 10-man difficulty, 1,625,000 in LFR difficulty (though the tooltip says differently at the moment), and 2,500,000 in 25-man difficulty. The damage is evenly split between players within 25 yards of Morchok (though the 2 closest players take a double share of damage).
Resonating Crystal is cast by Morchok every 15 seconds, approximately. This ability summons a red crystal that explodes after 12 seconds, dealing split damage to the 3 closest players in LFR and 10-man difficulties and the 7 closest players in 25-man difficulty. The total damage dealt by the explosion decreases when the players are close to the crystal (between 25,000 and 30,000 damage each if all players are standing close to the crystal when it explodes).
In addition, Morchok performs a melee attack on his current target every 2.5 seconds. This attack hits for approximately 30,000 in 10-man difficulty, 60,000 in LFR difficulty, and probably a bit more in 25-man difficulty. The damage of the melee attacks increases the more stacks of Crush Armor that the tank has.
StrategyThe strategy for properly handling the Crystal Phase revolves around 3 simple tasks (which we further detail below):
- proper positions for dealing with
Stomp- tank swap for dealing with
Crush Armor- have a few players soaking the damage from
Resonating Crystal.
Other than that, this phase should be dedicated to doing as much damage as possible to Morchok.
PositioningBecause of
Stomp, the raid should be positioned within 25 yards of the boss. There are no other positioning constraints, though stacking together, close to the boss, will make AoE healing more efficient.
Stomp deals a double share of damage to the two players that are the closest to the boss. It is best if these two players are the tanks.
The only players who will have to move out of the 25-yard radius are those that will have been designated to deal with
Resonating Crystal (as explained below).
Tank SwapBecause of Crush Armor, the tanks will need to regularly taunt the boss off of each other. The debuff lasts 20 seconds and stacks every 6 seconds, which means that the taunt should occur as soon as a 4th stack is applied on the current tank.
Resonating CrystalProperly dealing with Resonating Crystal starts by designating 3 players in 10-man and LFR difficulties, and 7 players in 25-man difficulty who will move next to the crystals (also called Twilight Orb) to soak the damage that they inflict (since the damage dealt decreases when players are closer to the crystal). Healers and ranged DPS are better suited for the job since they can continue performing their duties while handling the crystal. As the crystals are usually summoned rather far from the boss, there is little risk that other players will interfere with the designated players' task.
Every 15 seconds (so 3 times per Crystal Phase), Morchok will summon a new crystal. After the crystal is created, it will start pulsating and the 3 or 7 closest players (depending on the difficulty) will be easily identified by the beam of light that links them to the Crystal. The beam changes colour, depending on the distance between the player and the crystal (red/yellow when the player is far from the crystal and blue when the player is close).
After 12 seconds, the crystal will explode, knocking back the designated players (provided that they have done their job and moved next to the crystal) and dealing damage to them.
TipsThe combined damage of Stomp and the explosion of Resonating Crystal can be dangerous for the designated players. Healers should be especially careful of this situation, should it occur. There are two ways to avoid this:
Morchok's tank can move him away from the crystal;
Designated players can stack next to the crystal, on the opposite side from Morchok, so that they exit the 25-yard radius (this is not always possible).
Since the damage from the explosion of Resonating Crystal is Shadow damage, Affliction and Demonology Warlocks ( Shadow Ward), and Destruction Warlocks ( Shadow Ward + Nether Ward + Nether Protection) are particularly well suited to handle this ability. Using Shadow Protection or Resistance Aura is also useful.
Healers can use abilities such as Power Word: Barrier and Spirit Link Totem (placed so that they cover the are around the crystal), or Aura Mastery, to reduce the damage that the designated players take.
Black Blood PhaseShortly after the explosion of the third Resonating Crystal, Morchok enters the Black Blood Phase, during which he casts 3 abilities in quick succession before resuming the Crystal Phase. Players will be pulled to Morchok before having to rapidly take cover to avoid a very damaging ability.
AbilitiesDuring the Black Blood Phase, Morchok casts 3 abilities in the following order:
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Earthen Vortex marks the beginning of the Black Blood Phase. All players are pulled towards Morchok and begin to take physical damage equivalent to 5% of their health every second for 5 seconds.
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Falling Fragments is cast immediately after all players have been pulled towards Morchok. This ability is channeled for 5 seconds and creates stone pillars around Morchok. Standing next to the location where a pillar is created deals 15,000 physical damage in 10-man and 25-man difficulties and 9,750 physical damage in LFR difficulty. You will notice that players hardly ever take damage from being too close to a pillar.
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Black Blood of the Earth is cast immediately after the channel of Falling Fragments has finished. For 24 seconds, Black Blood will flow outwards from Morchok. Players standing in it will receive a stacking debuff that disappears as soon as they step out of the blood. The debuff stacks every second and each stack inflicts 5,000 nature damage per second (3,250 in LFR difficulty).
StrategyThe strategy for this phase is very straightforward. As soon as Morchok pulls the players to him, everyone needs to run behind the pillars of stone created by Falling Fragments, as they offer protection from Black Blood of the Earth. There is plenty of time to reach the pillars, so no one should take damage from the blood.
Once behind a pillar, there is no other source of damage until the Crystal Phase resumes. Therefore, healers should focus on getting behind a pillar before trying to heal those that are in range of them.
TipsRanged DPS can continue attacking Morchok while hidden from Black Blood of the Earth by a pillar. To do so, they need to hide behind a pair of adjoining pillars. This way, by positioning themselves in the middle of the two pillars, they will be able to hit Morchok.
This is the ideal time for healers to use mana regeneration cooldowns such as Hymn of Hope and Divine Plea, as from a healing perspective, there is nothing else to do during this time. Additionally, healers can use a Potion of Concentration during this phase, to further take advantage of the respite.
The Furious buff At 20% health, Morchok gains the Furious buff. This is the ideal time to use Bloodlust/ Heroism/ Time Warp (during a Crysal Phase, not a Black Blood Phase).
Learning the FightThe encounter against Morchok is not difficult in any way, and the most important things for your raid to master in order to succeed are Resonating Crystal soaking and avoiding damage from Black Blood of the Earth. Hopefully, this guide will have shown you how to successfully deal with these two abilities.
Mer 29 Oct - 13:59 par 
Sujet: L’ÂME DU DRAGON - Morchok 
