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The Oculus

Level Range: [80] (Req: 75)

The Oculus is a 5-man wing of the Nexus in Coldarra (a subregion of Borean Tundra in Northrend), designed for level 80 players. The Oculus is a tower of “magical rings” that float above the ground and the first instance to allow players the use of certain flying mounts. (WoWWiki)

Boss Encounters

Drakos the Interrogator
Drakos the Interrogator is a blue dragonspawn and the first boss located in The Oculus.
Abilities

• Magic Pull: Teleports all nearby enemy targets to the caster.
• Thundering Stomp: Stomp the ground, dealing Physical damage to enemies in a large area and knocking them into the air.

Strategy

When the boss fight begins, Drakos will summon floating bombs that quickly fly around the island players on. These bombs do not detonate on touching, rather Drakos will randomly blow a number up throughout the fight. The bombs move at a fairly quick pace so it may be difficult for groups to avoid them in time to dodge an explosion. However, they only hit for around 2,000 each, so it can be easily healed through.

Drakos will occasionally use a spell called Magic Pull and cause everyone to be teleported to him. At this time casters and range should head out of melee range.

In addition to the pull, Drakos will randomly place a bomb debuff on one target. This person needs to run away from everyone else until they explode, then return to the fight.

This fight (as well as every other fight in this instance) becomes increasingly easier if you have a healer with the capability to heal more than one target simultaneously. A druid healer will shine most of all throughout this fight from the use of HoTs.

Drakos will also use Thundering Stomp, which will launch any melee into the air a small distance and deal some physical damage. This ability is on a 5 second cooldown.

Mage-Lord Urom
Mage-Lord Urom is an human mage, 2nd boss of the Oculus.
Abilities

• Arcane Shield: Shields the caster from damage.
• Empowered Arcane Explosion: Sends out a blast wave of magic, inflicting Arcane damage to nearby enemies.
• Frostbomb: Launches a Frostbomb that deals Frost damage and freezes the ground, dealing periodic damage and slowing the movement speed of enemies in an area.
• Summon Menagerie: Summons an assortment of creatures and teleports the caster to safety.
• Teleport: Teleports the caster to the center of The Oculus.
• Time Bomb: Deals 3800 to 4200 Arcane damage and plants a time bomb in an enemy target. After 6 sec the bomb explodes, dealing additional Arcane damage to nearby enemies equal to the amount of health missing from the target.

Strategy

On normal Urom is not that difficult, and if you have a competent healer can pretty much be treated as a tank ‘and spank boss.

Like any other difficulty Urom must be pulled around the ring. However, because there is no Frost Buffet debuff attached to his Frost Bomb you only need to move when he goes to cast Arcane Explosion. If you can time his movements well enough you can use the cast time of his Arcane Explosions to move to the next pillar in line that is devoid of his Frost Bomb effect. This time is also well used applying bandages and such.

The real killer on normal is his Time Bomb attack. The healer needs to know what to look for, and apply copious amounts of healing to the time bomb target. So long as the damage from Time Bomb is minimized Urom feels more like a phased tank and spank where you just heal through the Frost Bomb DoT (with 16k hp it’s not that much damage really and only effects the melee).

So…

• Urom gets tanked 1/4 of the way between a pillar and the next pillar the group will be taking cover behind during the next Arcane Explosion.
  • The Tank can, if he so chooses, tank Urom facing “backwards” so his back is to the rest of the group to give the melee an easier time to run behind the next pillar. This will make it easier for them to apply self healing if needed between explosions and better allow the healer to focus on the tank.
• The ranged DPS and the healer stands 3/4 of the way to the next pillar at the edge of their range.
• When Urom teleports the group makes haste behind the next pillar in line.

Time Bombs:

• If a ranged DPS is targeted by a time bomb they need to move away from the tank so they don’t get the healer when they explode. They then bandage themselves and resume DPSing.
• If the healer is targeted by a time bomb it should be announced (a macro helps) so the tank can burn a CD if necessary. The healer needs to then drop a large heal on himself to bring his HP to full. The Time Bomb will then deal zero damage to the ranged DPS when it explodes.
• If a melee DPS is targeted by a time bomb he needs to run halfway towards the healer so that neither the tank or the ranged DPS/healer is in the area. If the healer can spare the time a heal can be dropped on the DPSer in question. If not a GCD may be spared on a HoT of some sort if one isn’t already on the target.
• If the tank is targeted the healer needs to overheal so that his HP is as close to full as possible when the Time Bomb goes off.

Frost Bomb:

• If the healer is a druid or a priest HoTs should be on all melee DPS at all times.
• If the healer is a paladin Hand of Freedom and a “/y RUN” can be used in place of a HoT should a melee DPS get low on HP so they can get out of the Frost Bomb area.
• If the healer is a shaman generous Chain Heals should be more than enough.

Varos Cloudstrider
Varos Cloudstrider is the second boss located in The Oculus. He’s a Drakonid.
Abilities

Regular abilities

• Energize Cores: Periodically covers about 1/3 of the platform with bolts of arcane power, inflicting 5700-6300 Arcane damage.

Heroic abilities

• Melee Swing: damages top aggro for 9000-10,000 (3000-4000 on Plate) Physical damage.
• Ice Beam: damages the top aggro for 6k ice and reduces movement speed.
• Energize Cores: periodically covers about 1/3 of the platform with bolts of arcane power, inflicting 5700-6300 Arcane damage.
• ??: the damage from an Azure Ring Dragon’s laser beam.
• Amplify Magic: debuff. Targets a single party member and increases damage from spells by 1800, and healing spells by 3600.

Strategy

The fight is mostly a tank and spank which requires your party to be constantly repositioning to avoid the rotating Energize Cores arc. The ability causes several adjacent orbs around the outside edge of the platform to emit small tendrils toward Varos before releasing an actual blast that deals damage. The blast area depends on the location of the boss; if tanked in the center, the blast covers about 1/3 of the platform. Subsequent discharges always rotate one orb (1/8th of the platform) in a counter-clockwise direction.

On occasion Varos will summon a Captain which grabs a nearby flying drake who will start firing a beam onto the platform that follows one random group member and damages anyone on contact. Simply get as far as you can from it without putting yourself in danger of the Energize Cores or dragging the beam across another party member.

Although some say that killing the dragons around the area will affect Varos’ ability to summon Azure Captains, this is not true, as they appear out of thin air. However, in doing so you can eliminate the possibility for a player to accidentally aggro one of the nearby mobs (a player would have to target and attack one to pull it). It has been strongly recommended that you clear out the dragons above the platform so that the summoned Azure Captain doesn’t aggro them.

Tanking in the center

This is the most simple way to fight him, but somewhat dangerous for the tank. The tank should sit in the middle, only moving in small circles to avoid a laser beam from an Azure Captain.

The rest of the team will rotate around the tank and boss as needed. Remember that the Energize Cores will not over-rotate if the boss is moved or rotated (his position does not affect the location of the blast, only the length of it; imagine him firing a giant invisible cone of damage between the orbs).

Tanking around the edge

Because the blast area of the Energize Cores appears between the orbs and Varos, a good tank can pull Varos to the edge of the platform (the one with the blast area) and drag him counter-clockwise around the platform (in the direction that the blast area is rotating). While tanking, try to stay on the inside of the circle to avoid getting hit by Energize Cores.

With the tank on the edge, the rest of the party can stand in the center of the area without having to dodge the blast area of the Energize Cores. Simply turn to keep facing Varos and avoid the beams as necessary.

Healing Through

With enough dps and healing a group with a group healer (Shaman or Holy Priest) can heal through the damage of Energize Cores.

If statically positioned at one side of the plataform you can get 3 to 4 Energize Cores blasts on a complete turn. Those blasts will drive your healer to switch group heals with tank heals to avoid the death of your tank (As example a Priest can use Prayer of Mending and Flash Heal trough the blast to have the tank at max health while party member retain enough health to survive the next blast).

A lightwell can help if party members are trained on how to use it

Haste potions and/or trinkets can help the healer to get his job done.

With this technique Varos fight becomes a dps race against your healer’s mana pool.

Ley-Guardian Eregos
Ley-Guardian Eregos is the last boss located in The Oculus. The whole fight is done on flying mounts.
Abilities

• Arcane Barrage: Inflicts Arcane damage to an enemy.
• Arcane Volley: Inflicts Arcane damage to an enemy.
• Enraged Assault: Increases damage done by 25% and casting speed by 100% for 12 sec.
• Planar Shift: Shifts the caster to the astral plane for 18 sec. While shifted the caster is immune to magic damage but cannot move or attack.

(Player Controlled) Drake Abilities

Amber (DPS)

• Shock Lance – Instant – Deals 4822 to 5602 Arcane damage and detonates all Shock Charges on an enemy dragon. Damage is increased by 6525 for each charge detonated.
• Time Stop – Instant – 1 min cooldown – Halts the passage of time, freezing all enemy dragons in place for 10 sec. This attack applies 5 Shock Charges to each affected target.
  • Note: This ability is affected by diminishing returns.
• Temporal Rift – Channeled – Channels a temporal rift on an enemy dragon for 10 sec. While trapped in the rift, all damage done to the target is increased by 100%. In addition, for every 15,000 damage done to a target affected by Temporal Rift, 1 Shock Charge is generated. (This ability is unlocked after defeating the 3rd boss.)

Note: “Charges” for the Amber drake are per drake / per target. i.e. One drake cannot use up the charges placed by another. So, for the final boss, you should alternate between using Temporal Rift and Shock Lance. Use Temporal Rift until *your* stack of charges reaches 10, then Shock Lance, then back to Temporal Rift. You DO NOT need to channel Temporal Rift for the full duration to reach 10 stacks! The rate that stacks are added depends on how much other damage is being done to the boss while you channel. If you use Time Stop, every mob present will immediately gain 5 stacks for you. This is a very handy tool for whelp cleanup since whelps with 5 stacks can be one-shot using Shock Lance.

Ruby (Tank)

• Searing Wrath – Instant – 60 yd. range – Breaths a stream of searing fire at a dragon, dealing 6800 to 9200 Fire damage and then jumping to additional dragons within 30 yards. Each jump increases the damage by 50% affecting up to 5 total dragons.
• Evasive Maneuvers – Instant – 5 sec. cooldown – Allows your drake to dodge all incoming attacks and spells. Requires Evasive Charges to use. Each attack or spell dodged while this ability is active burns one Evasive Charge. Lasts 30 sec or until all charges are exhausted.
• Martyr – Instant – 10 sec. cooldown – Redirects all harmful spells cast at friendly drakes to yourself for 10 sec. (60 yard radius)

Note: As long as the ruby drake is mindful to use Martyr as often as possible, it really doesn’t matter who has aggro from the boss – all damage will be redirected to the ruby. Evasive Maneuvers allows you to evade the damage from Martyr.

Emerald (Healer)

• Leeching Poison – Instant – Poisons an enemy dragon, leeching 1300 health to the caster every 2 sec. for 12 sec. Stacks up to 3 times.
• Touch the Nightmare – Instant- 10 sec cooldown – Consumes 30% of the caster’s max health to inflict 25000 Nature damage to an enemy dragon and reduce the damage it deals by 25% for 30 sec.
• Dream funnel – Channeled – 60 yard range – Transfers 5% of the caster’s max health to a friendly drake every second for 10 secconds as long as the caster channels.

Note: As long as the amber drakes keep Temporal Rift up, it is quite easy for a single Emerald drake to keep Touch of the Nightmare up while also healing. The Temporal Rift debuff doubles the self-healing from Leeching Poison so you have plenty of HP to burn, and you only need to refresh it every 30 seconds.

Note: It helps a great deal to keep three stacks of Leeching Poison rolling on Eregos. This usually requires ending Dream Funnel or Touch of the Nightmare early, but prevents you from having to reapply all three stacks of the poison again.

Strategy

Eregos should be confronted while the entire group is on their drakes. This encounter is mostly a tank and spank with occasionally 2-3 whelps spawning right next to Eregos. The standard Ruby (tank), Emerald (healer), 3x Amber(DPS) composition works as long as you are quick on dealing with the whelp adds.

The five party members should be doing the following:

• The Ruby drake rider tanks, as expected.
• The Emerald drake rider heals, also as expected.
• One of the Amber drakes concentrates on killing Eregos, and helps with adds if it becomes really necessary.
• A second Amber drake keeps Temporal rift up on Eregos, to increase damage against him.
• The third Amber drake concentrates on killing adds, and attacks Eregos if they are all dead. This drake should be immediately switching over by repeatedly hitting the nearest target key (default is TAB).

If the tank or the healer is getting low on health, one of the amber drakes needs to cast Time Stop to buy time for the emerald drake to catch up on healing, eliminate remaining adds, and focus back onto Eregos.

Heroic Mode (2 Ruby, 2 Emerald and 1 Amber )

This fight is much harder than on Normal mode, but becomes very easy once each party member understands their role. Use 2 Ruby drakes, 2 Emerald drakes and 1 Amber drake.

Ruby 1 Ruby drake tanks the boss and casts Evasive Maneuvers whenever possible. The other Ruby drake should DPS the whelp adds.

Emerald The Emerald drakes should heal the tank, one can heal the group when necessary.

AmberThe Amber drake should channel Temporal Rift to five stacks at first, then Shock Lance. Do not start with 10 stacks of Temporal Rift or else the Amber drake will pull aggro from the tank. After a while the Amber drake can put all 10 stacks on the boss. When the boss comes back from the Astral Plane, go back to only 5 stacks as Astral Plane is an aggro wipe and the tank will need time to build Save time stop for enrages! It is also suggested to Stop Time when the boss comes back to allow the party to reposition itself and allow the tank to pick up aggro from the boss again. Many wipes are caused by the Amber drake picking up aggro!

Other NotesWhen the boss goes into his Astral Plane phase, just fly away from the orbs! The can do damage from quite a distance away when they explode. The aggro table will also be wiped. Time Stop should be used afterward to allow the tank to build threat and reposition everyone.

Source: MMO-Champion, Wowwiki, Wowhead