Al’Akir

Phase 1

Raid awareness plays and important role in defeating Al'Akir.

Lightning Strike
The first abiltiy to watch out for is the constant Lightning Strike. No more than three players should be hit at a time by this ability. The raid should be spread out in five groups of two to avoid chaining the lightning to too many players. The healers should be spread evenly across the platform to reach the maximum number of targets.

Static Shock
Al'Akir will cast Static Shock to players in melee range. This will interrupt casting, so all ranged dps and healers should stay outside of melee range. Survivability is more important that dps in Phase 1 however, so Static Shock is preferable to some of the other abilities that follow.

During phase one, Al'akir will use three different abilities. These abilities require extra awareness from the raid to avoid taking extra damage or wiping. Careful positioning and movement will help with survival here.

• Ice Storm: Avoid it by moving forward or backward out of its path.
• Squall Line: Avoid it by finding the gap as it moves around the room and running backwards or forwards so that you are positioned in-between it when it comes your way. If you do not avoid it, you will be picked up, take additional damage, and end up out of positioning for Lightning Strike.
• Wind Burst: While this spell is being cast, the raid must run towards the boss so they are not pushed off the platform. Everyone must remain with their assigned group as they run in so that Lightning Strike does not become an issue.

It is possible that multiple abilities will be present at the same time. It becomes a judgment call on the part of each raider to decide how best to avoid the mechanics. For example, if Squall Lines are up while a Wind Burst is being cast, it might be preferable to get knocked off the platform rather than be picked up by the Squall Line. Raiders can also run sideways towards an incoming Squall Line so they can make it through the gap in time to collapse for Wind Burst. A general rule is that getting picked up my Squall Line is the last thing you want to happen.

Phase 2

Phase 2 begins when Al'Akir reaches 80% health. At this time, the entire raid should collapse into one group.

Squall Lines will continue through this phase, but the raid's collapsed positioning makes them much easier to deal with.

A new mechanic for this phase is a debuff called Acid Rain. Every 15 seconds, it gains another 500 damage per second. As a result, Phase 2 becomes a dps race before the damage becomes too much for the healers to handle. Rogues and Paladins can remove the debuff.

Stormlings
At regular intervals throughout the phase, Stormlings will spawn on a random raid member. The off tank should pick them up and bring them to a position slightly off to the side of the main group. Every time a Stormling is killed, Al'Akir gains a stack of Feedback which increases his damage taken. The debuff lasts for 20 seconds, but the time will be refreshed with each new application of the stack.

The key to beating this phase as quickly as possible is to keep the debuff rolling. One caster dps should be assigned to kill Stormlings. In order to have enough Stormlings to keep the stacks up, the dps should wait until the offtank has three or four Stormlings before killing the first. After killing the first, an additional Stormling should be killed right before Feedback is about to expire.

This phase is the best time to use Heroism and personal cooldowns. Wait until Al'Akir has several (four or five) stacks of Feedback to use these cooldowns.

Phase 3

At 25%, Al'Akir will shatter his platform, creating a Relentless Storm. The raid will gain Eye of the Storm, allowing them to fly. The raid should immediately fly down to Al'Akir's "feet" and stay grouped up.

Lightning Rod
Lightning Rod is one of the major components in this phase. When a random player is hit with it, they should move sideways (not up or down!) to keep the damage out of the raid.

Periodically throughout this phase, Al'Akir will cast Lightning Clouds. This will form a cloud that covers the entire horizontal area where the raid is currently located. At this time, the entire raid should fly straight up several yards. When the next cloud is cast, fly straight up again. Keep repeating this until you reach Al'Akir's head. At this point, the fight should be ending. If the raid is running out of room to move up before the fight is over, simply adjust how far up the raid is moving during each cloud.

Any Stormlings that are left from the previous phase should be killed first.

Wind Burst is back for this phase, which is why the raid must stay grouped up close to Al'Akir's body. Raiders must fly back in toward the boss as soon as they are knocked back to maintain the group. Keep in mind that if you fly too far away from Al'Akir, you will get caught in his Relentless Storm. This will sweep you away from the raid and do damage over time. Players will most likely die if caught in this.

The entire phase consists of constant dps while moving up out of each Lightning Cloud. Rinse, repeat, and win!