Raiding - Blackrock Foundry First 9 Meta-Achievements Quick Guide

Thursday had a great turnout with enough of us to do the meta-achievements for Blackrock Foundry. I already had a few from previous runs but for completion we did all the achievements.

Fain Would Lie Down - Beastlord Darmac

Defeat Beastlord Darmac in Blackrock Foundry on Normal difficulty or higher after causing him to mount each beast first:

Dreadwing Mounted First slain

Cruelfang Mounted First slain

Ironcrusher Mounted First slain

This achievement needs to be done on 3 separate occasions, because it is one where you have to have him mount a different mount first, which is a tank controlled event. When the tank moves close to one of the beasts then Darmac will jump on it. When the mounts die, Darmac gains the abilities of that slain mount for each of the subsequent mounts which is why we normally do Dreadwing last, because the fire from Superheated Shrapnel is difficult to deal with for a lengthy fight. However, when you're overgeared for it, the encounter is easy, just heal through it and dodge as much as you can. The most embarrassing thing about this fight last Thursday was that I was lecturing everyone about not getting pinned and yours truly got pinned like a true noob. Man, I NEVER get pinned! I felt absolutely ridiculous!

Some people got their achievement then (we did Dreadwing first) because we had done it the other ways for previous attempts. For those who hadn't, at least we had done the least common mount first done so it should be relatively easy to get the achievement.

(Pop Culture reference: "Fain Would Lie Down" is a line from the poem Lord Randall, that has 4 verses and "Fain Would Lie Down" is featured in each verse.

"What became of your bloodhounds, Lord Randall my son?

What became of your bloodhounds, my handsome young man?”

“O they swelled and they died: mother, make my bed soon,

for I’m weary wi’ hunting, and fain wald lie down.”

Lord Randall was poisoned by his mistress and is dying. And so the hunter dies with his pets - hence the name of this achievement. In the poem, his lady love fed him and his dogs poisoned eels, which is why the achievement icon has an eel.)

There's Always a Bigger Train - Operator Thogar

Engineer the ironic demise of an Exulting Wind-Up Train Wrecker in Blackrock Foundry on Normal difficulty or higher.

My favourite achievement in Blackrock Foundry! This achievement does not require the boss to be killed, just the Exulting Wind-up Train Wrecker, which is the Wind-up Train wrecker after he has just destroyed a Toy Train Set. He is exulted for only a short period, so I you have to do it about 10 seconds before the train comes out to run over him. I did it on the first train to come out, so the track closest to where we entered the room. I put the train down, then waited for the door to open, then put down the Wind-up Train Wrecker, who blew up the Toy Train and turned all red and angry and then BAM! Steam rolled by a train. Luckily Luxy wasn't online because she always d/c's whenever I do that achievement. So we got the achievement and we killed Thogar in record time, before the first split. Phew.

Be Quick or Be Dead - Iron Maidens

Defeat the Iron Maidens within 10 seconds of each other in Blackrock Foundry on Normal difficulty or higher.

It was just a matter of whittling down all the bosses whilst everyone was on the boat. The damage is negligible now, especially on normal. We didn't send a healer up to the top, we let the DPS deal with it (and it felt like they were up there for AGES). Marak went up and we worked on Sorka and Gar'an at the bottom. Then we just healed through it whilst they burned lust and tried to kill all 3 within the 10 seconds. And it went well.

(Pop Culture reference - Be Quick or Be Dead is a song by the heavy metal band, Iron Maiden. Appropriate, for this fight!)

Stamp Stamp Revolution - Hans'gar and Franzok

Defeat Hans'gar and Franzok in Blackrock Foundry without any raid member being crushed by a stamping press on Normal difficulty or higher.

This was the achievement I was dreading the most - how would we get people NOT getting hit by the stamping press? It was one of those achievements where you thought you couldn't bring someone who had lousy raid awareness, much to the frustration of the group.

However, what we found was that we almost killed it without anyone getting stamped - but if we could kill it just before he started stamping maybe we could do it. So we stopped healing and everyone went DPS and we hit lust as soon as the hot plates came out instead of at the start, to see if we could kill them before the stamping began. And we managed to do it!

The Steel has been Brought - Flamebender Ka'graz

Defeat Flamebender Ka'graz in Blackrock Foundry without killing Aknor Steelbringer on Normal difficulty or higher.

Another one we had done before, which is quite easy. Just keep Aknor Steelbringer alive for the entire encounter - usually just means tanking him off to the side. And everyone gets a new follower!

Would You Give Me a Hand? - Kormrok

Defeat 10 Grasping Earth hands within 5 seconds and then defeat Kromog in Blackrock Foundry on Normal difficulty or higher.

Good AOE and everyone clumped together when they are trapped by hands makes this achievement easy. Probably the hardest part is getting everyone to hold back and then burst all at once, because some enthusiastic people will start and then you won't get 10 die within 5 seconds. Easier with more people in the group too.

The Iron Price - Gruul

Collect 3 Pristine True Iron Ores and then defeat Gruul in Blackrock Foundry in Normal difficulty or higher.

Having done this before we had the hang of it, so we found it easy. You get thrown up when he does an Overhead Smash, and the further away you are, the higher you get thrown up. So, figure out which ore you want to get, and get the tank to take it as far away from you as possible. Everyone else has to line in up in a line between Gruul and the person getting thrown up so that the smash will always be in that direction. Keep doing that and win! Healing through the Inferno slice wasn't a problem anymore at this level.

(Pop culture reference: The Iron Price is a Game of Thrones reference - it is a concept in the culture of the ironborn, and their local religion of the Drowned God. Paying the iron price means seizing something from those one has defeated rather than paying or treating for it.)

He Shoots He Ores! - Oregorger

Deposit the Volatile Ore in the Ore Grinder, and then defeat Oregorger in Blackrock Foundry on Normal difficulty or higher.

Another one we had done before, so heaps easier doing it again. HK did get rolled on by Oregorger on our first try so we had to wipe and start again. Here's a picture of our ore-passing path:

You can just see the ore along the back wall between a box and Oregorger, wedged between two rocks. The diamond marker is at the hole where the ore has to be deposited. We trid to kill only boxes on the side of the room away from the markers so that Oregorger would preferentially roll in that direction. It's probably better to run with more healers here anyway because Oregorger dies so quickly and then you can just spend the time healing everyone as they're throwing the ore around. Remember when you hold the ore you can't move (like in netball) and you get an extra action button to throw it up to 20 yards. Someone has to be standing under where you throw it to catch it, otherwise it's dropped and you have to wipe and start again. We had three people assigned to it - Aimei, Crooked and Sars. And when you get to the Ore grinder at diamond, don't throw the ore onto it, there is an action button to deposit it. They shoot, they score!

Ya, We've Got Time - Blast Furnace

Complete the Blast Furnace encounter in Blackrock Foundry after defeating all four Primal Elementalists within 10 seconds of each other, on Normal difficulty or higher.

Patience is the key here! In Phase 2, when you kill a Slag Elemental on top of a Primal Elementalist it removes their protective shield and you can damage them. Get them low to about 10-15%. They will get their shield back up again. After that, you have to wait for second round of slag elementals - get each person fixated by the second lot of four elementals to stand on the Primal Elementalists again. When all 4 are in position, kill the slag elementals. Then when all the Primal Elementalists are shield free, kill them all together. So, to complete it, you need 8 Slag Elementals all together. After that, kill the boss.

Next Thursday, it's time to do the Blackhand achievement!