Thorim

Thorim’s hard mode is one of the easiest hard modes currently available to players. XT-002’s new difficulty is easier and Hodir’s is roughly the same difficulty.  The encounter requires players to be very aware of their surroundings and be able to move swiftly and precisely. As with all hard modes this encounter will require very good healing, dps and tanking.

The difference between the normal mode and hard mode is that Sif is present in the arena during the second phase of the encounter and Thorim’s damage is increased by 40% and health by 30% (of normal mode).

Note:  This is a guide for the Heroic version of Thorim Hard mode.

Raid Setup

• 2-3 Tanks (1 in the tunnel 1-2 in the arena for phase 1)
• 6-7 Healers (2-3 raid healers, 3-4 MT healers, ancestral fortitude and/or inspiration are highly recommended)
• 16-17 DPS (no more than 9 total melee including the tanks with 8 being optimal)

Positioning


Before phase 2 starts everyone should know where they will be standing and where they will have to move for lighting charges. Because of the uneven distribution of the charge towers in the room, two of the ranged groups and one of the melee groups will have to move.  The people in these groups should be players with enhanced mobility (mage-blink, rogue-sprint, etc) and/or abilities that will save them (mage-ice block, rogue-cloak, etc) if possible.  No group should have more than 3 players in it.  All players should be at least 5 yards away from players in another group at all times.  Chain Lightning will instantly kill any player farther than 2 jumps from the initial target so positioning is paramount in keeping everyone alive.  Likewise Lightning Charge will instantly kill most players from the very start.  You will likely have more healers than safe places to put them, especially if you are having a shadow priest mind control (which you should).  Healers put out in the ranged groups should be put in one of the groups affected by only one lightning tower and should be classes that can move and heal (druids and priests are especially good for these positions).
 

Phase 0

This phase is technically not part of the Thorim encounter.  The Thorim encounter will begin as soon as all of the mobs already in the arena are killed.  Sheeping one of the humanoids allows for infinite time to setup positioning and this should be used to your advantage.  Also the encounter can be reset during phase 0 by pulling any of the trash mobs outside of the arena back into the hallway.  The door from the hallway to the arena does not close until phase 1 starts.

Phase 1

Phase 1 splits your raid into two groups.  One group is the Tunnel/Gauntlet team; the other is the Arena Team.  The door to the tunnel is opened by a lever to the left of the steps leading to the tunnel.  The lever will become active after the last mob from phase 0 is killed.  As soon as the lever becomes active the 3 minute hard mode timer will be ticking away so someone needs to be at the lever spamming it as that last mob is killed.  If you reach Thorim after 3 minutes, Sif will leave and the encounter will be in normal mode, reducing Thorim’s damage and hp by 35%.  

Phase 1 - Tunnel

Your tunnel team should consist of 1 tank, 2 healers (a holy paladin for Freedom is very helpful) and 7-8 dps (high burst single target ranged are the best for this job).  

Once you round the corner you will see two packs of 3 mobs each and the Runic Colossus mini boss.  As you are making your way to the Runic Colossus you will see one of his arms on fire.  After a few seconds a wave of explosions will come down that side of the tunnel.  One person from your tunnel crew should be assigned to tell the rest of the group which side the explosions are going to be so the group can move to the other side.  No one should ever take damage from this ability (if they do they will take 9-10k fire damage).

The 3 mob packs will contain 2 Iron Ring Guards and 1 Dark Rune Acolyte.  The Acolyte is a healer and should be blown up as fast as possible with no tanking.  The Iron Ring Guards have a normal melee around 7k on a tank along with Impale and Whirling Trip abilities that will only affect the target with highest aggro (hopefully the tank).  The trip will cause a knockdown that will make the tank unable to avoid any attacks so healers should watch out for spikes this can cause.  As soon as the first Iron Ring Guard is dead and the second is at ~50% health the tank should then engage the next set of mobs.  Again the Acolyte should be killed as fast as possible with little to no tanking.  As soon as the first Iron Ring Guard is dead the tank should move to engage the Runic Colossus while the dps kills the second Iron Ring Guard (hopefully before the tank gets to the Colossus).

The Runic Colossus is a fairly straightforward mini boss.  His melee attack averages for about 12.5k on the tank.  He also uses a charge and Smash ability.  The Smash will hit anyone in a 10 yard cone in front of the Colossus for 37-43k (unmitigated); this has a 3 second cast and the tank should run through to avoid taking this damage.  He also has a jumping charge ability that will hit a target for ~7k and knock them back.  As of writing this there is a chance that the Runic Colossus will melee the target immediately after a charge, which is a death sentence.  The Colossus can also cast Smash after a charge which will also kill ranged if they don’t move.  Because of these two potential instagibs it’s recommended to have a druid in the tunnel to battle rez in case one of these happens.  The Colossus also casts a Runic Barrier which reduces damage taken by 50% and inflicts 2k arcane damage to attackers for 20 seconds.  There is nothing special to do for this besides heal and dps through it.  

After the Colossus is dead the door behind him will open revealing a Dark Rune Acolyte and an Iron Honor Guard.  Additional mobs will continue to spawn until you reach the second mini boss, alternating between Dark Rune Acolytes and Iron Honor Guards, so getting to the boss 3 seconds sooner can stop an extra mob from spawning.  The Acolytes are the same as in the first two packs and need to be killed as fast as possible.  The tank should hold aggro on the Honor Guard and the Acolyte that will be coming down the steps shortly after killing the Runic Colossus while the dps kills the first Acolyte.  All heals should be interrupted.  The dps should interrupt any heals their current target tries to get off.  The tank should interrupt the first heal cast by the Acolyte he/she is tanking and any heals after that should be taken care of by the dps.  Another Iron Honor Guard will likely come down the stairs as the dps starts on the first Iron Honor Guard.  After the first Iron Honor Guard is dead if you have a paladin the tank should get a Hand of Freedom to remove any hamstring effect that is currently on him or will soon be applied as he heads up the stairs to engage the second mini boss, the Ancient Rune Giant.  The ranged should finish off the Iron Honor Guard and then switch to the Ancient Rune Giant.  

This mini boss is much less dangerous than the Runic Colossus.  He melees the tank for ~10k and has two abilities: Stomp and Rune Detonation.  Stomp has a 10 yard range and deals 12-15k (unmitigated) damage, knocking them back.  Ranged should be farther than 10 yards from the giant to avoid having their casts interrupted.  Rune Detonation is a bomb placed on a target that roots them and explodes for 11-14k fire damage to all nearby enemies.  As ranged moves into position to dps the giant they should spread out a bit so less targets are hit by the explosion but once dps’ing the giant they should not move as the damage is easily healable and every second counts.  

After the Ancient Rune Giant is dead you can clean up any remaining mobs as you move to engage Thorim or root them in place and run past depending on the amount of time you have.  Note: any mobs you leave alive will run back through the tunnel and into the arena, this will take approximately 15-20 seconds and these mobs should be killed as soon as they are in the arena to avoid them stunning your tank.  As you run to engage Thorim you will notice two large circular indentions in the floor.  DO NOT run into these circles are they are traps that will spring and root you in place.  Run along the outside edge as you make your way down the hall.  As soon as someone from the tunnel team hits Thorim phase 2 will start.  You have about 5 seconds before Thorim jumps down into the middle.

Phase 1 - Arena

The arena team is everyone not going into the tunnel.  This should consist of 1-2 tanks, 8-9 dps and 4-5 healers.  

There are 4 types of mobs in arena: Dark Rune Commoners, Dark Rune Evokers, Dark Rune Warbringers and Dark Rune Champions.  

Dark Rune Evokers have ~160k hp and have 3 main abilities: Runic Shield, Runic Mending and Runic Lightning.  Runic Shield absorbs 120k magic damage and reduces physical damage taken by 50% for 6 seconds (can and should be spell stolen or purged).  Runic Mending heals a friendly target for 18.5-21.5k and an additional 6k per second for 15 seconds.  Runic Lightning is a lightning bolt for 8-10k nature damage.

Dark Rune Commoners have ~25k hp and 2 abilities: Pummel and Low Blow.  Pummel is like the warrior ability where it inflicts minimal damage but interrupts spell casting in that school for 5 seconds.  Low blow inflicts low physical damage and reduces all damage done by 3% for 20 seconds.

Dark Rune Champions have ~300k hp as well as dealing the highest melee damage (averaging 7k on a tank) and 3 abilities: Whirlwind, Mortal Strike and Charge.  Whirlwind is a standard one-hit whirlwind with a 2 second channel before the hit; this ability hits melee for an average of 8k.  Mortal Strike deals 250% weapon damage and reduces healing on the target by 50% for 5 seconds; this ability will hit the tank for ~13k.  The Charge ability inflicts normal physical damage plus 75 and stuns the target for 2 seconds dealing on average 8-10k.  It is possible for the Champions to Charge+Melee, Charge+Mortal Strike or Charge+Whirlwind.  The first two will almost always kill the target.  A Charge+Whirlwind will not likely kill anyone but will leave people at very low amounts of health.  

Dark Rune Warbringers have ~190k hp, a low damage melee swing (~5k on tank) and 2 abilities: Runic Strike and Aura of Celerity.  Runic Strike deals nature damage equivalent to weapon damage plus 1000; this attack hits the tank for ~11k.  Aura of Celerity is a buff that increases nearby allies’ melee, ranged and casting speed by 20%.  This buff can and will stack on the mobs in the arena.  

Thorim himself will also be participating in the arena.  He will activate certain lightning towers which will glow and Lightning Shock players for ~3k every few seconds as long as they are in range; ~15 yards.  He will also Stormhammer random targets in the arena.  The target of the Stormhammer will take 2.5k damage and be stunned for 2 seconds.  Anyone near the Stormhammer target will be afflicted with Deafening Thunder; taking 4.6-5.3k nature damage and increasing spell cast times by 75% for 8 seconds.

The mobs in the arena will drop down in waves.  The first mob to jump down will be an Evoker followed shortly by a Warbringer, next will be a group of 8-12 Commoners followed shortly by a Champion.  Dps should focus down Evokers first, followed by Champions, if there are none of these mobs then focus Warbringers only until another Evoker or Champion enters.  AOE should only be used right after a group of Commoners jump down, otherwise focus fire.  There should be enough dps in the arena so that there are never 2 Evokers or Champions up.  There will likely be 2 Warbringers up at most times, which is fine; Evokers and Champions are the priority.  

Positioning in the phase 1 arena is not a crucial as phase 2 is.  Ranged will want to be close enough that any mob on them can be picked up easily but should not stand near Champions and should spread out a bit (but not too much) so everyone isn’t effected by Deafening Thunder at the same time.


When the tunnel team is about to engage Thorim the arena team should move into their phase 2 positions and the initial Thorim tank should have him targeted and ready to taunt as he jumps down.  If Thorim moves even an inch the safe zones in the diagram will be shifted and all groups will have to move accordingly.  It is much better to never let him move.  Clean up any arena mobs still left from phase 1 in the arena and begin Dps’ing Thorim.  Thorim’s soft enrage begins as soon as he drops into the arena so if you have extra time to get him into hard mode you can let the arena team do a little clean up before engaging him.

MIND CONTROL TIPS
The shadow priest in charge of mind controlling should move into position and mind control the Warbringer with the highest HP.  As long as the Warbringer has more than 35% hp, it should never need a heal.  Make sure to get Aura of Celerity up as soon as possible.  The Warbringer’s melee and Runic Strike will likely outdps what the shadow priest would do on his/her own so make sure to use these; just be careful that you give the tanks time to get aggro as Runic Strike can crit upwards of 20k.  Make sure to toss a couple buffs on the Warbringer to increase it’s dps (battle shout/might, kings, mark of the wild).

Phase 2

As soon as someone from the tunnel team hits Thorim you have about 5 seconds before he jumps down and phase 2 starts.  Thorim has 3 abilities during this phase:

• Chain Lightning – deals Nature damage increasing by 50% per jump.  This ability is why there are groups of 2 or 3.  If this ability jumps to a 4th target it will hit for 30k+.
• Lightning Charge – You will see a stream of lightning coming from one of the lightning orbs around the room, after a few seconds Thorim will receive a charge from this orb.  The charge pattern will be in a large cone with Thorim being the tip and the lightning orb being the base, unlike normal mode, the damage done by the charge will kill almost anyone from the very beginning.  Groups must move to their designated positions before this happens.  Every time this happens Thorim will gain 1 stack of the Lightning Charge buff, increasing his melee damage and swing speed by 15% and nature damage by 10%.  On a 15 second timer.
• Unbalancing Strike – A melee attack that inflicts 200% weapon damage and leaves the target unbalanced, reducing their defense skill by 200 for 15 sec.  Has a 15 second cooldown, comes 5 seconds after Lightning Charge, cannot be dodged or parried but can miss

In the hard mode, Sif will also be in the arena, she is not targetable and you cannot kill her.  She is quite the nuisance.  Her abilities include:

• Frostbolt Volley – inflicts 11-14k damage to nearby enemies, slowing their movement speed for 4 seconds
• Frostbolt – inflicts 11-14k damage to a single enemy, slowing their movement speed for 4 seconds
• Frost Nova – inflicts 14-16k damage, rooting them in place
• Blizzard - 5-7k damage per second and slows movement speed, travels in a pattern around the outside edge of the room
• Blink – Teleports Sif to another location in the arena.  She will Blink just before casting a Frost Nova.

Take note of the positioning diagram at the beginning of this guide.  Make sure everyone knows exactly where they are standing and exactly where they are moving before you get to phase 2.  
Sif’s combos can be very deadly.  One player can be hit by her single target Frostbolt, Volley and the Nova in a couple of seconds; this will likely kill the player hit with the single target Frostbolt.  If your raid healers are unable to keep everyone alive effectively you can have dps wear 1-2 pieces of frost resist gear.  This will make the raid damage much more manageable.  The Aura of Celerity from the mind controlled Warbringer will more than make up for any pieces swapped for FrR.  Aside from wearing FrR keeping everyone topped off at all times is the best you can do.  Be sure to keep an eye out for players getting nova’d in an area that is about to take a Lightning Charge.  This will need to be dispelled immediately or those players will die.  Running into Blizzard away from a Lightning Charge is better than running into another group of players. If you are using FrR, the Blizzard ticks are not a significant source of damage.

Thorim tanking is done by alternating two tanks.  As soon as one tank is hit with Unbalancing Strike the other tank should taunt off and tank Thorim until the next Unbalancing Strike.  Unbalancing Strike deals a significant amount of damage as well as allowing that tank to be crit so you will need to get Thorim off the tank with the Unbalancing Strike debuff as fast as possible.  Unbalancing Strike has a 15 second cooldown and will happen about 5 seconds after a Lightning Charge.  Unbalancing strike cannot be dodged or parried but it can miss.  If this happens the current tank will stay on Thorim until the next Unbalancing Strike happens.  It is recommended to have 1 MT healer switch to the current offtank right before an Unbalancing Strike so when the transition occurs there are heals already incoming.  Having shields (earth shield, power word:shield, etc) on the offtank is recommended to help the transition.  It is also recommended to have 2 healers that can provide the 25% armor buff to the tanks (Ancestral Fortitude and/or Inspiration).  

Thorim does have a hard enrage timer but in hard mode you will not last that long.  His soft enrage is the stacks of Lightning Charge he will be gaining as the fight progresses.  At 7 stacks of Lightning Charge the Unbalancing Strike will likely one shot any tank with no cooldowns on him or her.  A cooldown rotation will need to be setup beforehand, cooldowns that increase tank HP or healing received should be used earlier with damage reduction cooldowns used later.  From 7 stacks to 12 stacks a tank or healer cooldown will need to be on the current tank about to take an Unbalancing Strike.  From 12-15 stacks there will need to be a cooldown on the tank at all times.  Once you hit 15 stacks your tanks will be dying.  At 15 stacks Unbalancing Strike will be hitting for ~60k with no damage reduction cooldowns.  Thorim’s normal melee will also be 225% stronger and faster making tank healing impossible.  You will need to have enough dps to kill Thorim before this happens.   You can have a paladin bubble+taunt for a few extra seconds of dps if needed.  

On paper the Thorim hard mode encounter can seem daunting but once you master the positioning, healing and cooldowns the fight is quite fun.  Thanks for reading the Wowraid.com Thorim Hard Mode guide and good luck getting your Heroic: Lose Your Illusion.

Tips:

• If you make it to past 50% you can soulstone your tanks in case one dies.  They should be able to get up and buffed before the next Unbalancing Strike and continue tanking.
• If you have a druid with excellent pvp gear it is possible to do the fight with no tank transitions.  Depending on your guild this may be an easier strategy than using two tanks.
• Even though the tanks look like they’re in a completely safe zone in the diagram it’s possible to take a Lightning Charge in that position. Taking two steps away from the Lightning Charge should keep Thorim in place and ensure that you never eat a Lightning Charge.  Always move back into position after the charge so you don’t Chain Lightning one of the melee groups.

Thorim - Phase 1

	Stormhammer Throws a stormhammer, dealing 2451 to 2551 damage to an enemy, knocking down and stunning the target for 2 sec, and causing a deafening thunderclap to all enemies nearby the target.
	Deafening Thunder Inflicts 4625 to 5375 Nature damage to enemies standing in close proximity to a Stormhammer strike, increasing spell casting times by 75% for 8 sec.
	Charge Orb Charges a nearby orb with electricity. That orb will fire Lightning Shock every 1 sec for 15 secs, inflicting 2831 to 3169 Nature damage on a nearby enemy. Counter: move away from the orb.
	Berserk If you take more than 5 minutes to reach Thorim in phase 1, he will use this ability which empowers all adds with the full might of Thorim, increasing damage done by 500%, attack and cast speed by 200% and health by 300%.

Thorim - Phase 2

	Touch of Dominion Subjugates the target to the will of Yogg-Saron, weakening it yet conferring a subtle control. Decreasing Thorim's damage by 40% and health by 30%. This will be applied to Thorim if you reach him in more than 3 minutes.
	Chain Lightning Strikes an enemy with a blast of lightning that inflicts 3700 to 4300 Nature damage. The bolt will arc to additional nearby enemies, inflicting 100% more Nature damage to each successive target.
	Unbalancing Strike Inflicts 200% weapon damage and leaves the target unbalanced, reducing their defense skill by 200 for 15 sec.
	Lightning Charge Absorbs a torrent of electrical energy, inflicting Nature damage to enemies in a cone between the caster and the power source, and increasing the caster's melee damage and attack speed by 15%, and Nature damage dealt by 10%.
	Lightning Charge Absorbs a torrent of electrical energy, inflicting 17344 to 20156 Nature damage to enemies in a cone between the caster and the power source.

Sif

	Frostbolt Inflicts 10500 to 13500 Frost damage to an enemy and reduces its movement speed for 4 sec.
	Blizzard A rain of ice moves around the room, dealing 4813 to 6187 Frost damage every 1 sec. for 10 sec and slowing movement speed by 65%.
	Frostbolt Volley Inflicts 11000 to 14000 Frost damage to nearby enemies, reducing their movement speed for 4 sec.
	Frost Nova Inflicts 14138 to 15862 Frost damage to nearby enemies, immobilizing them for up to 6 sec.

Tip - Sort multiple columns simultaneously by holding down the shift key and clicking a second, third or even fourth column header!

25-Man

Ilvl	Type	Name
80	Armor Tokens	Crown of the Wayward Conqueror
80	Armor Tokens	Crown of the Wayward Protector
80	Armor Tokens	Crown of the Wayward Vanquisher
239	Mail	Pauldrons of the Combatant
239	Leather	Embrace of the Gladiator
239	Finger	Fate's Clutch
239	Crossbow	Skyforge Crossbow
239	Plate	Warhelm of the Champion
239	Shield	Wisdom's Hold
232	1H Mace	Vulmir, the Northern Tempest
226	Mail	Belt of the Betrayed
226	Trinket	Scale of Fates
226	Cloth	Leggings of Lost Love
226	Finger	Sif's Promise

10-Man

Ilvl	Type	Name
80	Armor Tokens	Spaulders of the Wayward Conqueror
80	Armor Tokens	Spaulders of the Wayward Protector
80	Armor Tokens	Spaulders of the Wayward Vanquisher
232	Dagger	Combatant's Bootblade
226	Trinket	Mjolnir Runestone
226	Plate	Gauntlets of the Thunder God
226	Trinket	Sif's Remembrance
226	Amulets	Pendant of the Shallow Grave
219	Cloth	Handwraps of Resonance
219	Cloth	Leggings of Unstable Discharge
219	Mail	Belt of the Blood Pit
219	Leather	Guise of the Midgard Serpent
219	1H Mace	Legacy of Thunder

25-Man

	Heroic: Don't Stand in the Lightning Defeat Thorim without any raid member being struck by Lightning Charge on Heroic Difficulty.
	Heroic: I'll Take You All On Defeat Thorim, the Ancient Rune Giant and the Rune Colossus on Heroic Difficulty.
	Heroic: Lose Your Illusion Defeat Thorim while Sif is present on Heroic Difficulty.
	Heroic: Siffed Force Thorim to enter the arena while Sif is present on Heroic Difficulty.
	Heroic: Who Needs Bloodlust? Defeat Thorim while under the effect of Aura of Celerity on Heroic Difficulty.

10-Man

	Don't Stand in the Lightning Defeat Thorim without any raid member being struck by Lightning Charge on Normal Difficulty.
	I'll Take You All On Defeat Thorim, the Ancient Rune Giant and the Rune Colossus on Normal Difficulty.
	Lose Your Illusion Defeat Thorim while Sif is present on Normal Difficulty.
	Siffed Force Thorim to enter the arena while Sif is present on Normal Difficulty.
	Who Needs Bloodlust? Defeat Thorim while under the effect of Aura of Celerity on Normal Difficulty.

By Stratfu