Tech and Talk > Gaming > World of Warcraft > [Raiding] Mogu'Shan Vaults

Mogu'shan Vaults is a raid instance, introduced in the World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria expansion. The raid is available in 10 and 25-man raid sizes, as well as in LFR format. All 10 and 25-man encounters have both a normal and a heroic version.

The raid is part of Tier 14, in terms of PvE progression, and it is intended as the starter raid of the Mists of Pandaria expansion.

The raid houses 6 boss encounters, accessible only in their intended order.

Currently, we propose you the following strategy guides:

The Stone Guard

The raid instance entrance is located in the north-east of Kun-Lai Summit, on the Mogu'shan Terrace.

The next two bosses are Feng the Accursed and Gara'jal the Spiritbinder. Feng is a rather simple 3-phase fight, while Gara'jal is heavily reminiscent of the heroic mode of Valiona and Theralion, in the Bastion of Twilight, requiring your raid to simultaneously perform tasks in two different realms.

Mogu'shan Vaults - Map - The Repository The Spirit Kings, the next boss encounter, is another council-style fight. It has many interesting and innovative mechanics that are sure to keep you on the edge of your seat.

The penultimate boss, Elegon, bears a striking resemblance to Algalon, in Ulduar. The encounter is one of extreme complexity, containing as many abilities as the fight against Alysrazor, in the Firelands, if not more. However, with proper execution, it is by no means an insurmountable challenge.

Mogu'shan Vaults - Map - Forge of the Endless The Will of the Emperor is the final encounter of the raid. This is a complex and long encounter, where you will be assaulted by many different types of adds, before finally engaging Qin'xi and Jan'xi, the two actual bosses.

Note that the Mogu'shan Vaults, at least currently, does not appear to play any part in the legendary quest line of Tier 14.

The strategy for defeating The Stone Guard revolves around two concepts:

Each Guardian who casts Petrification must overload (reach 100 energy) before he finishes petrifying.
As few Overloads as possible should take place without the respective Guardian's Petrification being active. For example, Amethyst Overload Icon Amethyst Overload should not happen without the raid being protected by Amethyst Petrification Icon Amethyst Petrification. It is acceptable to let a few non-petrified Overloads through, as they are not deadly, but this is not ideal.

This means that the Guardians will have to often be moved close and away from one another, in such a way that the petrifying Guardian is always within 12 yards of another Guardian (so that he gains energy, in order to overload). At the same time, you should minimise the amount of energy that non-petrifying Guardians get, by rotating which of them is in close proximity of the petrifying Guardian.

We detail this in a dedicated section.

Positioning

The Stone Guard - Positioning - 10-man / LFR In 10-man and LFR, you should have two locations for tanking the Guardians. In one location, your off-tank should keep a Guardian that is not casting petrification, while in the other, your main tank should keep the petrifying Guardian together with the lowest-energy Guardian.

The Stone Guard - Positioning - 25-man In 25-man, you should have three tanking locations. This will allow you to only have two Guardians (of the 4 active) gain any energy. This requires using 3 tanks.

The Guardians only have to be more than 12 yards apart in order not to gain energy, so it is advised not to have the two tanking locations too far apart.

The rest of your raid members should stand close together near the center of the room. There are two important positioning challenges for your raid members.

Raid members must be quick to move out of Amethyst Pool Icon Amethyst Pool whenever it spawns underneath them.
Raid members must be quick to move away from Cobalt Mine Icon Cobalt Mines when they are placed next to them.

Finally, Jasper Chains Icon Jasper Chains also requires that the affected raid members move away from each other, which can cause some interactions with the abilities mentioned above, although it should not be problematic.

None of the other abilities of the Guardians pose any positional problems.

Taunting and Positioning the Guardians

The energy generation of the Guardians is determined entirely by their positioning, so it is up to the tanks to make sure that the strategy of the encounter is executed properly. We believe that it is optimal, for several reasons, for the tanks to remain stationary in the pre-assigned tanking locations, and to simply perform taunt switches between them, whenever a Guardian must be moved.

Tanks must expect to taunt Guardians roughly every 20 seconds, which is neither problematic in terms of the cooldown of taunt, nor in terms of the diminishing returns of taunt.

The tanking locations we provided in the previous section are approximate, of course, since tanks will sometimes have to move, due to the location of Amethyst Pool Icon Amethyst Pools or other damaging abilities.

Guardian Energy Management

The principle for managing the energy of Guardians optimally can best be summarized as always have the petrifying Guardian next to the Guardian with the lowest amount of energy.

The best strategy is to rotate the Guardians, always moving the petrifying Guardian next to the lowest non-petrifying Guardian. The ideal time to move the Guardians is every 25 energy in 25-man, and every 50 energy in 10-man and LFR.

Naturally, when you find yourself in a situation where the energy of the non-petrifying Guardian you are currently using is less than or equal to the energy of the other non-petrifying Guardian(s), you should maintain the status-quo, for convenience. This is because you will need to choose a non-petrifying Guardian to gain more energy than the other(s) anyway, so it might as well be the one you are currently next to.

Overview of the fight:
The encounter against Feng the Accursed is a three-phase fight.

• Between 100% and 95% health, the boss simply melees and deals a minor amount of raid damage through an ability that he uses throughout the fight (one of the shared abilities we discuss below).
• Phase One begins at 95% health and ends at 66% health.
• Phase Two begins at 66% health and ends at 33% heath.
• Phase Three begins at 33% health and ends when the boss is dead.

During each phase, the boss uses 2 abilities specific to that phase. He also has two shared abilities, which he uses during all phases. One of the two shared abilities (a stacking debuff applied to the tank) changes slightly in each phase, but we will still treat it as a single ability.

The fight is exclusively single-target; there are no adds or secondary targets to attack.

The fight presents a small peculiarity, in that the tanks gain access to two abilities that can be used to help the raid deal with some of the encounter mechanics. We explain these abilities in the section directly below this one.

Helpful Abilities {Tanks, these are for you}:
In order to help your raid deal with some of the mechanics, your tanks gain access to two abilities, which take the form of a special action button. The abilities are not given to the tanks by default; there are two small objects present on the ground, at the start of the fight. Clicking these objects will grant the clicking tank the respective ability.

There are only two crystals, one for each of the two abilities, and each tank can only have one ability.

The abilities are:

• Nullification Barrier creates a sizeable protective barrier around the tank who uses it, lasting up to 6 seconds (it is channeled). Anyone inside the barrier is protected from magic damage and debuffs. The ability has a 1-minute cooldown. It is interesting to note that this spell also affects the boss, preventing him from • Shroud of Reversal is a buff that the tank can place on a raid member. This allows the tank to mimic the first spell cast against that ally, and to cast it back at the boss. The ability has a 30-second cooldown.

Shroud of Reversal appears to play a much less important role in your raid's success than Nullification Barrier. It is mostly useful for obtaining the achievement associated with this encounter, as we explain in our achievement section. Outside of this, it is only useful for dealing a bit of extra damage to the boss. We were unable to test Shroud of Reversal properly on the Beta, and we will update the guide as soon as we know more.

This guide will assume that your tanks have taken one of these abilities each.

Shared Abilities
Regardless of the phase he is in, Feng the Accursed regularly casts Spirit Bolt, dealing Shadow damage to random raid members. The frequency of this spell is rather high, but it varies depending on when Feng casts his other abilities.

Moreover, in each phase, Feng applies a stacking debuff to the tanks, which requires a tank switch. The debuffs, by phase, are:

• Lightning Lash is a stacking debuff that Feng applies to the tank. It deals Nature damage every 2 seconds for 20 seconds.
• Flaming Spear is a stacking debuff that Feng applies to the tank. It deals Fire damage every 2 seconds for 20 seconds.
• Arcane Shock is a stacking debuff that Feng applies to the tank. It deals Arcane damage every 2 seconds for 20 seconds.

These abilities all warrant a tank switch. We recommend that the off-tank taunts the boss when the current tank has 2 stacks of the debuff.

Phase 1: Spirit of the Fist
Phase One begins when Feng reaches 95% health. Between 100% and 95% health, the boss will simply melee and cast Spirit Bolt Icon Spirit Bolt. At 95% health, the boss will travel to the statue of the Spirit of the Fist, and imbue himself with the abilities of this spirit.

The phase ends when the boss reaches 66% health, at which point he enters Phase Two.

Abilities
During Phase One, Feng makes regular use of 2 abilities, in addition to the shared ones mentioned at the start of the guide.

• Epicenter is an earthquake that lasts for 10 seconds and deals damage to all raid members every second. The damage of Epicenter is lower, the farther from the boss you are while he is channeling the spell. Additionally, being very close to the boss will apply a debuff that reduces your chance to hit by 75%. Feng casts Epicenter once every 30 seconds.
• Lightning Fists is a harmful spell, essentially a shockwave, that travels along the ground. Anyone in the path of the shockwave takes a large amount of Nature damage, and is stunned for 5 seconds.

Positioning
As mentioned above, at the start of the phase, Feng moves to the statue of the Spirit of the Fist. There is no reason to move him from this location, so this section will assume that he is tanked there.

Melee DPS players and tanks will, of course, be in melee range. Ranged DPS players and healers should spread out loosely around the center of the room.

When the boss casts Epicenter Icon Epicenter, all melee and ranged raid members must stack in the center of the room.

• Epicenter. The main issue in Phase One is dealing with Epicenter Icon Epicenter. Dealing with this ability is made considerably easier thanks by Nullification Barrier Icon Nullification Barrier. As we mentioned above, each time Epicenter is cast, the raid should stack in the center of the room, and alternate healing and defensive cooldowns to survive the damage. Since Epicenter is cast every 30 seconds, the tank who has Nullification Barrier can cover every other Epicenter. For the remaining ones, the healers will have to come up with a rotation of defensive abilities.

• Lightning Fists. Lightning Fists is not at all difficult to deal with. Each individual raid member must pay attention to the visual effect of the ability (a sort of lightning that travels along the floor) and avoid being hit by it.

Phase 2: Spirit of the Spear
Phase Two begins when the boss reaches 66% health. The boss will travel to the statue of the Spirit of the Spear, and imbue himself with the abilities of this spirit.

The phase ends when the boss reaches 33% health, at which point he enters Phase Three.

Abilities
During Phase Two, Feng makes use of 2 abilities, in addition to the shared ones mentioned at the start of the guide.

• Wildfire Spark is a debuff placed on a random raid member, which, after 5 seconds, turns into a fire patch. The fire patch expands and moves along the floor of the room, dealing high Fire damage per second to anyone standing in it. Feng applies this debuff 5 times in quick succession to 5 random raid members, after which he pauses for about 30 seconds, before applying it 5 times again, and so on. During his pauses, he uses Draw Flame Icon Draw Flame, his other ability, which we explain below.
• Draw Flame is an ability that Feng uses to absorb all the wildfire present in the room, stacking a buff on himself. The number of stacks of the buff is proportional to the amount of wildfire that he absorbs. The buff causes Feng's melee swings to deal a large amount of Fire damage to the entire raid. Each melee swing removes a stack of the buff. Feng casts this ability every 30 seconds.

• Wildfire Spark
Wildfire spreads whenever players come in contact with it. This should be avoided, since more patches of wildfire result in more raid damage dealt by the boss due to Draw Flame Icon Draw Flame.

Whenever a player is affected by the Wildfire Spark Icon Wildfire Spark debuff, they should be quick to move away from other raid members, preferably to an unoccupied edge of the room.

It is important to note that the wildfire patches travel slowly along the floor, so players must always be aware of their position and check if any wildfires are approaching.

• Draw Flame
•• Draw Flame will result in a large amount of raid damage, even if your raid has controlled the wildfire patches perfectly. This will require a large amount of healing, as well as healing and defensive cooldowns.
••Nullification Barrier, if cast on the boss when Draw Flame is about to finish casting, will prevent Feng from applying the buff from Draw Flame, effectively negating the ability. This is possible every other Draw Flame cast.

For the remaining casts, the raid will have to stack up in order for healing to be made possible, which will cause problems with wildfire patches, but this is something that is unavoidable. Your raid must simply be quick to reposition in case a wildfire patch approaches.

Tanks should be prepared to use any abilities they have to get away from the boss and kite for a few seconds. These abilities should be saved for when the raid is in critical condition, to give healers a few extra seconds to recover.

Phase 3: Spirit of the Staff
Phase Three begins when the boss reaches 33% health. The boss will travel to the statue of the Spirit of the Staff, and imbue himself with the abilities of this spirit.

The phase ends when Feng the Accursed dies.

Abilities
During Phase Three, Feng makes use of 2 abilities, in addition to the shared ones mentioned at the start of the guide.

• Arcane Velocity is a spell that deals raid-wide damage to all players. The farther players are from the boss, the more damage they take.
• Arcane Resonance is a debuff placed on a random raid member. This debuff causes Arcane damage every second to that player and to all allies within 6 yards. The damage done to allies is increased for each player affected. This debuff is cast roughly every 20 seconds.

Strategy
Because of the way in which Arcane Velocity Icon Arcane Velocity deals its damage, your entire raid should stack up on the boss. This will not only reduces the damage done by Arcane Velocity, but also make healing easier.

You must, however, pay special attention to Arcane Resonance Icon Arcane Resonance. Because of the fact that your raid is stacked up, the player who is afflicted by this debuff has the potential to deal devastating damage to the raid, causing a wipe in mere seconds.

Therefore, players must be very careful to move out of the group as soon as they are debuffed.

Outside of these two considerations, this phase is a "final burn" sort of phase, where both healing and DPS cooldowns should be used.

• When to Use Heroism/Bloodlust/Time Warp. We recommend using Heroism/Bloodlust/Time Warp during Phase Three. There are two reasons for this. Firstly, this is because during this phase, raid movement is at a minimum. Secondly, it is because this phase is the most intense one, and you want to get it over with as quickly as possible.

-If a ranged and a melee get chained together, the ranged player needs to get close to the melee player, not the other way around.