Karazhan Strategy Guide PART ONE I

Karazhan Strategy Guide
Karazhan is an abandoned ancient tower, located in the Deadwind Pass. It is a ten man raid dungeon at level 70 in World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade. In lore,
it was noted for its famous occupant; the last Guardian of Tirisfal, Medivh. After Medivh had been defeated by the army of Azeroth during the First War,
Karazhan was abandoned and has remained in that condition. The arcane powers, however, have never abandoned the tower.

Attumen the Huntsman
Moroes
Wizard of Oz
Big Bad Wolf
Romulo & Julianna
Curator
Terestian Illhoof
Shade of Aran
Netherspite
Prince Malchezaar
Nightbane

General Information
Location: Deadwind Pass
Number of Players: 10
Level: 70
Final boss: Nightbane / Prince Malchezaar
Released: added in the Burning Crusade
Key : The Master’s Key
The instance contains 12 bosses.
There is NO gryphon/wind rider transportation hub at the top of the tower.
The staircase from the gatehouse to the ballroom contains 53 stairs.
NOTE (As of 2.0.7) A teleporter has been added to Berthold the Doorman (in the front entrance of Karazhan) that activates after the Shade of Aran is killed. This will port players back up to the Aran’s room to allow more attempts on Prince Malchezzar.*
Opera house - Talk to stagemaster to open the door to the stage and get in before he closes it.
“Bizarre” library which doesn’t obey the laws of physics.
A very big, scripted instance - Tigole: ”You could fit 20 Shadowfang [Keeps] inside of Karazhan =P”
Medivh’s staff - [Atiesh, Greatstaff of the Guardian] - can be used to teleport players to the front gate of Karazhan.
A non-winged dungeon with optional bosses.
It is currently in dispute among the WoW community as to who is the ’true’ final boss of Karazhan. Many feel that Prince Malchezaar, as ruler of the tower, is the final boss. Others feel that Nightbane, who is more difficult than Malchezaar and can only be summoned once Malchezaar is defeated, is the real final enemy.
Koren , next to where you fight Attumen the Huntsman, can repair your gear as soon as you get Honored with The Violet Eye. He also sells some epic Blacksmithing recipes (resistance gear).
Outside of the Gamesman’s Hall is a Reagent and The Consortium rep reward vendor who can also repair your gear.
The first guild to clear it was Death and Taxes, Korgath-US, on January 28th 2007.
History and lore
Karazhan is located in Deadwind Pass on the sub-continent of Azeroth. Existing long before Medivh inhabited it, it is unknown who originally built Karazhan or who now resides within its walls.

During the first war the tower was inhabited by Medivh, his butler Moroes, his cook Cook and his then apprentice Khadgar. Garona also resided here as an emissary in the same time of Khadgar’s apprenticeship. Sargeras allowed Medivh to freely explore Karazhan. It is said many strange and disturbing visions lurked within the tower, and Moroes was known for wearing blinders to avoid seeing them. Much of the story from this era is presented in the novel The Last Guardian.

Recently, despite Medivh’s absence, a new power seems to have made its home in Karazhan. The Black Riders of Deadwind Pass, though rarely seen, have a connection to Karazhan. However, no one knows who their master is. One recent sighting is cause for concern - the Black Riders seek the Scythe of Elune, a powerful artifact with the ability to summon the vile Worgen into this world.

It is believed that all ley lines on Azeroth lead to a location under Karazhan.

Worldofwarcraft.com says the following about Karazhan:

The decrepit tower of Karazhan once housed one of the greatest powers Azeroth has ever known: the sorcerer Medivh. Since his death, a terrible curse has pervaded the tower and the surrounding lands. The spirits of nobles from nearby Darkshire reportedly walk its halls, suffering a fate worse than death for their curiosity. More dangerous spirits wait within Medivh’s study, for it was there that he summoned demonic entities to do his bidding. However, the brave and foolish are still relentlessly drawn to Karazhan, tempted by rumors of unspeakable secrets and powerful treasures. Forge a group of ten stalwart heroes, and journey to the tower in Deadwind Pass - but be warned that only those who have achieved level 70 should dare enter.

Karazhan Progression

Attumen the Huntsman
General Information
Type: Undead
Health: approx 350,000
Attacks and Abilities
Phase 1
Attumen

Basic Melee: Melees from anywhere between 1600 and 2100 damage on tank, 8000 on cloth. He can, and should, be disarmed. Immune to taunt.
Shadow Cleave: 360 degree Cleave for around 4k. Edit: Since patch 2.10 Cleaves are no more 360 degree.
AoE Curse: Wide-area curse that reduces chance to hit with melee and ranged attacks and spells by 50%. Can be removed by mages and druids.
Mount Up: When he or Midnight is at 25% he will mount up. All aggro will be wiped and Attumen will be healed up to the percentage Midnight had, if he had less HP than his horse. Phase 2 will then start.
Midnight

Basic Melee: Around 1800 damage
Phase 2
Basic Melee: Melees for anywhere around 1600 to 3300. Still Immune to taunt
Shadow Cleave: Same as Phase 1.
AoE Curse: Same as Phase 1.
Charge: Does a knockdown to the targeted player. Charge does about 330 Damage to clothies and can get a Melee swing on the charged person.
Strategies

Video of Attumen the Huntsman Kill

Tank and DPS
Before Phase 1 Draw aggro on Midnight. This will also pull all the trash mobs before the boss if you have not cleared them all. These mobs will begin to respawn after approximately 25 minutes, if the fight sequence is not active. After a few seconds Attumen will show up, presumably when Midnight is at 95%. The hard part is getting aggro of Attumen as soon as he spawns, otherwise he will run to your healers and probably one-shot them.

The main tank will want to be on Midnight. The off tank should stand near Midnight, but between him and the healers. When Attumen spawns (he spawns right where Midnight is standing when the fight is not still engaged and he takes like 3 secs before he’ll start to move so the OT as enough time to act), it is imperative that the off tank pick him up immediately. Instant abilities such as shield slam seem to work really well here. Hunters in the group can make use of misdirection to help if a quick pick up is not successful.

Phase 1

Once the off tank has picked up Attumen, drag him to the far side of the corral. The tank should be disarming Attumen as much as possible, as that reduces the damage he deals by approximately 75%. (This is why we put the off tank on Attumen, as he does less damage than Midnight when disarmed.)

Midnight should be tanked away from the raid. Generally we keep the horse in the center of the corral. Absolutely no DPS on Attumen. Everybody should be on the horse. When Midnight is down to approximately 25%, the next phase will begin. All aggro will be wiped, so all DPS must stop immediately at this point.

(Alternatively you can DPS Midnight down to ~30%, then DPS Attumen until he mounts up. This way, the mounted up Attumen will only have about 25-30% left.)

Phase 2

Attumen will now mount up on Midnight, wipe aggro, and will be healed up to the percentage Midnight had, if he had less HP than his horse. The main tank must pick him up immediately to prevent clothies from getting one-shotted. If your hunter(s) haven’t used misdirect it can come in handy here as well. Have the MT use shield wall at this time. This way the MT can get good aggro and the boss won’t pull onto the healers from initial healing aggro.

Healers should keep everybody’s health topped off through this part of the fight. Attumen will randomly charge once in a while and hit for 6,000+ on cloth. It’s not that often though, so just heal through it. Bandaging is perfectly acceptable here.

Once the tank has a solid hold on Attumen’s aggro, start DPS. We usually have the off tank continue to disarm Attumen whenever possible as it reduces his damage by a large amount. Mages and Druids must be aware of the curse that he casts as it reduces your hit rate by 50%.

You can usually avoid the random charges if you stand everybody in the dead zone - outside of the range of Attumen’s cleave, but still within melee range. Make sure to keep Attumen facing away from the group, and only the tank should be taking damage. (This is a tricky thing to do, we were unable to keep him from charging our group, but it felt like he charged less when we did this.)

Keep up the DPS and there you go - congratulations, you’ve downed your first (probably) Karazhan boss.

Role Specifics
Tanks This seems to be a very aggro sensitive fight so be alert in case you lose aggro. Get aggro of Attumen immediately after he spawns (he spawns next to Midnight), or he will go on a rampage on the rest of your raid. After getting the -50% hit debuff, count in your head to 28, then pop shield reflection. This will send his next debuff back to him, helping your healers dramatically in their quest to keep you alive, and keeping the debuff off of you to keep threat production up.

DPS A very aggro sensitive fight so do anything you can to stay below the tank in the threat meters.

Healers Keep the tank alive. One healer should be enough for the tank offtanking Midnight (in phase 1).

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