I guess we WERE prepared!
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Well, the title says it all. Illidan Stormrage, The Betrayer, is down, and TDC is now prying T6 chest tokens from his cold, dead fingers.
This is a very fun and challenging fight. Each phase has its own complications, and the complexity and challenge rises throughout the encounter. P1 is very straightforward, as long as we manage those targetted with Shadowfiends. P2 is the major challenge of the encounter; FR tanks must be on the ball kiting their targets and keeping them both away from the raid and close enough to the glaives to eliminate charges, all the while avoiding eye beams. Positioning and awareness are the key here. P3 is a replay of P1, with some additional abilities that make raid healing more difficult. P4 is a lot like Leo, with a warlock tank grabbing aggro, and the raid focusing on managing any demon spawns. We rotated between P3 and P4 until Illidan hit 30%, when he transitioned to P5, which is very similar to P3 with the addition of an soft enrage, which is very hard on the tank. From there it's all about managing transitions between P4 and P5 and closing the deal. Excellent fight, and fantastic execution on the part of the raid!
This is a great way to close our raiding schedule for The Burning Crusade; we killed the big baddie who taunted us all when we first booted up TBC almost two years ago. I'd like to congratulate the entire guild for the success we've had over the past 7 months. What an incredible achievement for a guild that raids two days a week! This shows our approach works when you have the right people, and we certainly have the right people. Outstanding job; we did, in fact, GITR DONE!
See y'all in Wrath of the Lich King!