Manaforge Council

The Manaforge Council is the first boss of the Glaecon instance. It is a large council event that involves three magisters who have different auras and abilities dependent on whom is being empowered by the manaforge. The fight itself is rather challenging and is one of the tougher boss fights of the instance, most exemptly on Master difficulty. 
==Background==
===Dungeon Guide===
The Manaforge Council, comprised of two Forgotten by the names of Thaltaz and Zanzibar oversee the use of Glaecon's manaforge under the watchful eye of their elven leader, Galandaru. The manaforge has multiplicated their aurafic capabilities but at the same time, it never sates their addiction for mana.
===Encounter Design===
To start, Glaecon was decided to not have a "gatekeeper" esque battle as the first boss. It was too cliche. Instead, since the players blast a hole into Glaecon's wall, they come across three of some of the most powerful mages of all time, but they have to act quick. Raiders will have to defeat the three, with their auras, but also focus on not letting them use their more powerful abilities. The objective we had as devs was to wake up the raid, and show them that they have to be focused for the rest of the raid and the Manaforge Council is no exception. - OverDev
===Overview===
The Manaforge Council is a unique twist of a council encounter. At the start, randomly, one of the mages will be empowered. Each mage has an aura that affects the raid, and this aura gets empowered with the use of the Manaforge. Eventually, the mages will channel more powerful spells, and even a deadly AoE should they reach full stacks of Mana Consumption. The raid will want to interrupt and interfere with the Manaforge before the mage gets empowered or else it can result in a wipe. On Master difficulty and above, all of the mages have their auras active, but only the mage being empowered gets their aura increased with power.
==Abilities==
The Manaforge Council will start with one member, which position is randomly generated. On Master or Hardcore, all of the council's auras are active, but only one gets empowered like in Standard.
*http://images2.wikia.nocookie.net/wowwiki/images/thumb/1/19/Spell_arcane_arcanepotency.png/16px-Spell_arcane_arcanepotency.png Channeled Energy: Every 1 Energy gained from the Manaforge increases the effectiveness of the aura by 1% for every mage being empowered.
*Orb of Power: An orb of power spawns from the Manaforge. Destroying it stuns the mage being currently empowered, and opens the manaforge.
**Arcane Missile: Deals 17,505 - 35,044 (45,123 - 65,431) damage to the aggrotic.
**Lowered Essence: The Orb despawns in 30 seconds (20 on 20-man)
*Manaforge Jam: Upon jumping into the manaforge, the user takes 100,000 damage, and removes the barrier preventing the death of the empowered mage.
*Explosive Shockwave: Upon reaching 100 Energy, the mage will cause a hyper detonation, dealing 450,000 damage to all members of the raid.
===Zanzibar===
*Unstable Aura: 10% of damage inflicted is dealt as a cleave to the remainder of the raid (within 100 yards)
**Rupture: Deals 67,535-76,855 (84,505-100,135) damage to all targets within a 10 yard circle. If Rupture hits more than 5 targets, Zanzibar's haste is increased by 25%. This stacks up to five times.
**Arcane Zero: Deals 145,650 - 185,435 (151,435 - 201,432) damage to a single target and decreases their base DEF stat by 15% for 10 seconds. Interruptible.
**Condensed Explosion: Deals 40,000 to all targets within 15 yards, then unleashes an explosive blast dealing 50,000-90,000 (70,000-110,000) to all targets who were critically hit by the blast.
===Thaltaz===
*Vampiric Aura: An aura that drains 10% of health by the amount of damage done.
**Exploding Ice: Deals 45,540 - 54,540 (49,540-54,540) damage in a 12 yard circle. Exploding Ice, if it affects a target, adds a stack of Bloody Cold, increasing the damage of Exploding Ice by 50% for 12 seconds.
**Glacier Missile: Pierces one target for 145,543- - 155,492 (156,789 - 176,493) damage.
===Galandaru===
*Overpowering Aura: Decreases mana regeneration and healing done for enemy targets by 25%.
**Forge Shield: Creates a mana shield, absorbing either physical (red shield) or special (blue shield) for up to 2,345,543 (5,654,912) damage.
**Mana Burst: Launches a large wave of mana, dealing damage to all enemies up to 40 yards, up to 355,745 (542,123) damage.
**Collapsing Nebula: Summons a Collapsing Nebula. The nebula leaks Collapsing Essence, and explodes after 10 seconds.
***Collapsing Essence: Leaks essence, increasing damage taken by enemies affected by 20% and increases the mana cost of healing spells by 40%.
***Nebula Explosion: Deals 200,000 (250,000) damage to all enemies. This damage cannot be reduced by DEF or SP. DEF stats, but can be nullified by invulnerabilities.
**Nullify Heal: Reduces healing on a random target by up to 80% for 10 seconds. The target will be anyone but the aggrotic.
==Preparation and Tactics==
The encounter of the Manaforge Council is a large DPS race, and it is extremely important to buff up and be prepared for what can be thrown against you. The only thing that can change or unnerve raiders is the question on which mage gets empowered first between Thaltaz, Zanzibar, and Galandaru. Every raider should know and execute this plan.
#Keep DPS alive at all times, as well as the tank, of course.
#When an Orb spawns, destroy it immediately. They spawn when the mage(s) has less than 30% health.
#Get a DPS (assign one) to jump into the manaforge.
#Nuke the mage down and go to the next one.
Because the raid is a DPS race, it's important to defeat them as fast as possible, since their empowerment makes the encounter harder. In addition, since the damage increase is very significant, the fully empowered ability unleashes a Shockwave which will kill all but the most resilient members.
Remember, the mage being empowered is in a random order. Typically, Galandaru is the most destructive mage, while Thaltaz is the most resilient and Zanzibar requires the most healing. For the order, it follows Zanzibar, Thaltaz, and Galandaru.
Zanzibar's damage is the worst part of this encounter, but is by far the easiest. The easy mechanic to get around it is avoid Rupture. Since Rupture hits enemies in a circle, it can be completely missed, and therefore the damage doesn't affect the whole of the raid. If Rupture hits one person it hits everyone, and if it hits more than 5 people, he can cast it 25% faster than he would. Arcane Zero can be interrupted, and if it is ever cast it should be interrupted due to the DEF reduction it does. Condensed Explosion is a spell that should have all but the tank take the hit, to reduce maximum damage taken. Tank classes should use defensive cooldowns to lower damage taken, as critical hits from the first blast will unleash a second attack.
Thaltaz is a simple fight, but with mechanics that require a lot of attention. He only has two attacks, one of which makes his aura heal him for a lot of damage. He will spam Exploding Ice frequently, and he only takes 3 seconds to cast it, so raiders must move out of the way, or else it will add a stack of Bloody Cold which increases damage taken from it (and therefore increasing healing). Glacier Missile isn't much of a threat for raiders in terms of his aura, but it can severely damage a tank. Avoid Exploding Ice at all cost and nuke him down.
Galandaru is the hardest encounter, and his aura is brutal on Master or above in difficulty. He decreases healing received and mana regeneration, which is bad for most caster classes. On Galandaru, all cooldowns should be applied. He has Forge Shield and Nullify Heal, which are his two deadly attacks that are interruptible, but they only take 2 seconds to cast. Players will have to be very attentive on this, as it significantly tampers with the progression. For Galandaru you will want to stay close, since his Mana Burst deals damage to farther away targets, and by all means, destroy the Collapsing Nebulas the instant they spawn. It's preferred to have melee DPS kite it away as it increases the mana cost of healing which is already screwed over with Galandaru's passive. Nuke him down the instant you can.
===Master or Hardcore===
Since all three auras are active, the fight is significantly harder, but here's what needs to be remembered along with the tactics above for each boss.
#Zanzibar: Keep moving when attacks are cast.
#Thaltaz: Keep moving when attacks are cast.
#Galandaru: Stay close on attacks and nuke down Collapsing Nebulas.
#Profit.
==Quotes==
===Intro===
*Tylious Dawnbane: Alright lads. This is where we depart.
*Deathlius Loss'end: We'll take the harder route. Take care of that council of mages, and we'll hold off the other side.
*A rumble is heard, and the mages activate the manaforge.
*Tylious Dawnbane: Let's get to it. We have no time to lose.
*Deathlius Loss'end: We'll see you on the far side.
*Galandaru: Manaforge Council! Prepare yourselves, our master's domain has been desecrated with this filth. Do not let them get past us.
===Galandaru===
====Aggro====
*Fools! You know not the power you shall soon face!
====Attacks====
*We are all made of stardust, and you shall become that way soon!
====Killing a player====
*Return now to dust!
*My master's will has done fulfilled!
*You shall be utterly destroyed!
====Empowered====
*Unlimited power flows inside me! I shall bring forth your destruction!
====Death====
*No! I had not the time to finish my finest work! Master have mercy for my failure!
===Thaltaz===
...
===Zanzibar===
...
==Loot and Wealth==
The Manaforge Council drops iL 230 Legendary loot on Standard, and iL 242 Godly loot on Master or Hardcore, including one BoE tradeable weapon.
==Achievements==
*Boss 1 Standard
*Boss 1 Master
*Boss 1 Hardcore
*Boss 1 Extra Achievement
==Notes==
*http://images.wikia.com/legendlegacy/images/thumb/0/0c/Logorog.png/24px-Logorog.png Patch X-21: Added.
Category:Glaecon bosses