Sindragosa (commonly known as the Ice Dragon) is the boss with the lowest clear rate in Icecrown Citadel, second only to the Lich King. The most common wipe scenario during the raid is the “Huluwa-style” ice connection.
The solution to this problem is quite simple: all players in the raid should install Barney’s Ice Dragon Positioning WeakAura. As long as players are not particularly clueless, they can stand in the correct position. In fact, the ice tomb positioning is not the real difficulty of Sindragosa; the true challenges in this boss fight are the “Blizzard” pull and the “Frost Bomb” targeting.
Before casting the Blizzard skill, Sindragosa will pull all players to her feet. According to player testing, the off-tank and melee DPS only need to stand slightly outside the center of the boss’s red circle to block the boss’s pull path, allowing most healers and ranged DPS to stand still and output without having to run from the Blizzard. In heroic mode,healers and spell DPS targeted by the Frost Bomb will deal high AOE damage to nearby players. The combination of Blizzard pull and Frost Bomb is a major wipe point, and effectively using positioning black technology can significantly reduce the pressure on healers and DPS.
The Frost Bomb during non-Blizzard pull periods is also a difficult skill to deal with. In 25-player mode, Sindragosa will target 6 players with Frost Bomb each time. For spell DPS, being targeted is not too bad, but for healers, especially Paladins, being targeted can be problematic, as it can easily lead to the tank dying if healing is interrupted. This is also the main reason many teams opt for multiple healers in the Sindragosa boss fight. In heroic difficulty, the stacking damage from Frost Bomb will cause AOE damage to nearby players, especially in phase 3, making it easy to lose players. To reduce the pressure from the Frost Bomb skill, some raid leaders with experience in the international version of Icecrown Citadel will have the Protection Paladin switch to the escape talent.
The core of the so-called Protection Paladin escape talent is to give up “Hammer of Justice” and select “Divine Favor”. The Protection Paladin’s escape talent sacrifices a lot of threat generation, but as the off-tank who only needs to participate in taunt swapping during phase 3, there is no threat pressure. The selection of the “Divine Favor” talent is not for healing, but to be recognized by the system as a healing class, thus sharing the pressure of the Frost Bomb targeting.The Frost Bomb skill from Sindragosa will only target healers and ranged DPS players. For hybrid classes like Paladins, Shamans, and Druids, who can be either ranged or melee, the system recognizes them by checking if they have selected specific talent skills. According to player testing, the system checks for the following talent skills: for Holy Paladins, it checks for “Divine Favor” and “Beacon of Light”; for Restoration Shamans, it checks for “Nature’s Swiftness”, “Earth Shield”, and “Healing Surge”; for Restoration Druids, it checks for “Nature’s Swiftness” (questionable), “Swiftmend”, and “Wild Growth”. As long as players select any of these checked talent skills, they will be recognized by the system as a healing class and enter the Frost Bomb targeting list.
Most of the commonly used skills of the Protection Paladin will not trigger the stacking damage, allowing them to safely use the escape talent. Healers can also choose not to select the checked talent skills to avoid being targeted by the Frost Bomb, but this would not be an escape talent but rather a toxic talent. Holy Paladins are the most qualified to use toxic talents; however, if they do not select “Beacon of Light”, “Divine Favor”, and the subsequent talents of “Divine Favor”, they essentially become useless. Additionally, in phase 3, the immunity can only absorb one Frost Bomb targeting, so the pressure is not too great. Restoration Druids, being the VIP healing class for the Ice Dragon, sacrificing “Wild Growth” is like cutting off their own arm. Restoration Shamans have a smaller sacrifice with toxic talents, but losing “Healing Surge” and “Earth Shield” also means losing the ability to protect the tank. Therefore, during the raid, it is not recommended for healers to use toxic talents.Followthe Azeroth News public account to get the latest daily news about World of Warcraft Classic.