by In Amirdrassil, WoW developers also adhere to the principle that the first boss of a raid has only a few mechanics and rarely poses serious problems for any players raid. If you open your eyes every now and then and don’t constantly stand on fire, then Gnarled Root should be defeated after just a few tries.
But first you need to decide whether you prefer to use your talents to deal massive AoE damage or pure single-target damage – both are important in this fight. We advise you to create at least a few damage dealers exclusively for single target damage. They should definitely have their cooldowns ready at a certain time – but we’ll get to that in a moment.
If you prefer a guide in video format, check out Stankie Gaming’s tactics video, which is also based on findings from PTR testing.
Phase 1 – Garden of Despair
The first phase of the fight is quite relaxed. Drag the boss to the edge of the area and place it facing outward. The reason is the SHADOWFLAME SPLIT, which hits all targets in front of it. Tanks are also hit by the TERRIBLE FIRE BATTLE debuff, forcing them to change regularly. Your healers must take care of the HORRIBLE SCREAM. The entire attack takes high initial damage and additional damage over ten seconds, which cannot be avoided.
With FLAMING PESTILENCE the boss launches small areas of fire around you that you shouldn’t let hit. This also creates many additions called Tainted Whip. In normal mode, these are immediately vulnerable. Give your tanks a moment to collect them and then quickly bomb them. Not only do they leave a nasty bleed on their targets, but they also constantly strengthen each other. Therefore, they cannot live long.
In heroic mode, add-ons are initially inactive and cannot be attacked. This is where CONTROLLED FIRE comes in. Several player characters will receive this circle of fire and must move away from the group. If the circle explodes after a few seconds, it will damage all players in the circle and leave an area of fire behind. This in turn activates the add-ons in heroic mode so you can attack and kill them. Pro Tip: If you tank the boss near existing areas of fire, the add-ons will appear partially within the fire and activate immediately. And you want to enable it, otherwise you will have problems in phase 2.
The second phase ends when all roots are destroyed. To do this, in normal mode players need to get to the roots with the fire circles. In heroic mode you have to absorb the impacts and then get to the roots.
Source: polished
Phase 2 – Agonizing Growth
When the boss reaches 100 energy, he moves to the center, creates a deadly pool of poison beneath him, and begins phase 2. He lets some large roots grow out of him, which breaks his line of sight. Stay around the boss so there are multiple players in each resulting area.
Any Tainted Lashes that you did not activate in Heroic Difficulty in Phase 1 will now awaken and attack you. The more you played before, the easier it will be for you now. But it can also be a good tactic to ignore them in phase 1 and now let everyone team up and knock them out. But this requires massive AoE damage and good coordination of mass stuns. Therefore, we advise against this.
The boss itself now takes barely any damage, but will hit you for massive AoE damage. Several players are marked with a circle of fire and have to stay close to the roots that have appeared to light them. Other players must not be in the circle. In heroic mode, things work a little differently. Here, the fire circles are spread out and you have to intercept them to use the subsequent debuff to destroy roots for a few seconds.
After all the roots are removed, the boss will fall into UNROOTED AGONY for 20 seconds. He takes double damage and deals immense AoE damage – the perfect time for heroism/bloodlust. He then strengthens by ten percent and phase 1 begins again. This alternates until either you or the boss are on the ground.
