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April 04, 2009, 08:35 PM

#1 (permalink)

Swoop

Character Info
Crest
70 Undead Warlock
Aman'thul Oceania PvE
Profile: Blizzard Armory

Hodir - Boss Strat

Hodir

While there's not a lot of information, Hodir, strangely enough, appears to be the creator of the “Sons of Hodir”. (who you're probably well and truly sick of after grinding to exalted with them for their shoulder enchants!) He is one of the three watchers who has been subverted by Yogg Saron. He may also be the original Greatfather Winter, as revered by the dwarfs in lore.

Hard Mode
Hodir's hard mode sounds pretty straightfoward: Kill him in under 3 minutes to obtain a chest with extra loot, ala timed ZA runs. Managing to accomplish this is not so easy.
General Information

Trash
The path to Hodir will involve a several trash encounters. Two Champions of Hodir patrol the corridor, along with three packs which contain one Winter Revenant and three Winter Rumblers. In addition to these wandering pats, there are snow mounds along the hallway. When players get close enough to them, they will spawn 5-10 Winter Jormungar. Mounds which haven't been triggered have a white cloud above them. There is a “hidden” mound just inside the entrance to the hallway leading to Hodir; players just need to keep an eye out for the white cloud in order to locate it.

Champion of Hodir
Link: Champion of Hodir
Hitpoints: Normal - 943k. Heroic – 2.2 million
Notes: These mobs come by themselves, with no other adds. The Freezing Breath attack will target a random player.
Abilities

Stomp (0.5 second cast) - Stomps the ground, knocking enemies within 50 yds. into the air and inflicting (Normal 8000 Heroic 12000) Frost damage.
Freezing Breath (channeled) - An icy breath that freezes targets in place in a cone in front of the caster, inflicting 14000 Frost damage over 5 sec.

Winter Revenant
Link: Winter Revenant
Hitpoints: Normal - 234k. Heroic – 625k
Notes: The Revenants wander with three of the Winter Rumblers. The Rumblers can't be AoE'd down until the Revenant is dead, due to the shielding aura it generates.
Abilities

Blizzard (1.3 second cast) - Calls down a blizzard that lasts 6 sec., inflicting Frost damage every 2 sec. to all enemies in a selected area. (Normal 5088 to 5912 Heroic 6475 to 7525)
Whirling Strike (instant) - Inflicts 50% weapon damage to enemies within 10 yards, and knocks them back.
Shield of the Winter Revenant (aura) - Shields friendly creatures near the Winter Revenant, reducing the damage they take from area of effect attacks by 90%.

Winter Rumbler
Link: Winter Rumbler
Hitpoints: Normal - 195k. Heroic – 521k
Notes: Come in packs of three along with a Winter Revenant.
Abilities

Cone of Cold (instant) - Inflicts Frost damage to enemies in a cone in front of the caster, reducing their movement speed by 50% for 8 sec. (Normal 2700 to 3300 Heroic 3600 to 4400)
Snow Blindness (0.5 second cast) - Blinds an enemy target with snow for 2 sec, inflicting Physical damage. (Normal 4250 to 5750 Heroic 5950 to 8050)

Winter Jormungar
Link: Winter Jormungar
Hitpoints: Normal - 91k. Heroic – 221k
Notes: These mobs are spawned from snow mounds on the way to Hodir. They are triggered when a player goes close enough to them. Once triggered, 5-10 of the Jormungar will be spawned. They are relatively easy to take down so long as you're ready for them.
Abilities

Acidic Bite (instant) - Inflicts Nature damage to an enemy, reducing its armor by 1000 for 30 sec. Stacks up to 5 times.

Hodir

The Hodir encounter has no adds that need killing, but it does have friendly NPC's who should be rescued and protected throughout the fight, as they greatly assist the raid. There's no clearly delineated phases, although you could consider the period when Hodir is using Frozen Blows as a separate phase.

Notes: Hodir has a 9 minute enrage timer on normal and heroic. He has two chests up when killing him as normal, and at the three minute mark, he will destroy one, hence ending any chance at completing the hard mode.

Link: Hodir
Hitpoints: Normal – 8.1 million. Heroic – 32.4 million
Notes:

Abilities

Biting Cold (instant cast) – Deals increasing periodic damage to stationary enemies. Movement diminishes this effect. This is a permanent aura that is always in effect.
Freeze (instant cast) – Inflicts 5550 to 6450 Frost damage to nearby enemies, immobilizing them for up to 10 sec. The immobilsation effect is magic-based and can be dispelled.
Flash Freeze (9 second cast) - Encases the target in a block of ice. If the target is already in an Ice Block, then they will be instantly killed. The iceblocks have Normal 35000 Heroic 44000 hitpoints, and can be destroyed by players or NPCs.
Icicle (environmental) – Throughout the fight, Icicles will fall from the ceiling, dealing 14000 damage to all players within 7 yards of where they land, and knocking players back. However, when Hodir is casting Flash Freeze, they leave behind Snowdrifts.
- Snowdrift – Left behind after the Icicle effect. Players standing on this will be protected from Hodir's Flash Freeze effect.
Frozen Blows (instant cast) - Physical damage reduced by 70%, but attacks deal (Normal 31062, Heroic 40000) additional Frost damage. In addition, all enemies suffer 4000 Frost damage every 2 sec. Lasts 20 sec.

Friendly NPCs
Mages
Alliance: Missy Flamecuffs, Sissy Flamecuffs
Horde: Amira Blazeweaver, Veesha Blazeweaver
Hitpoints: 50,400
Notes: The mages are easily the most important NPC's in this encounter. They provide a large boost to your raid caster DPS due to their Toasty Fires In addition to the raid DPS boost, they will unfreeze people and NPCs trapped in Ice Blocks from Flash Freeze.

It's also important to note that the Toasty Fire buff doesn't affect everyone standing around the fires, so don't assume that you have it just because you're standing near the fires; check your buffs.

Abilities

Fireball - Hurls a fiery ball that causes 3570 to 4830 Fire damage and an additional 1800 Fire damage over 6 sec.
Melt Ice - Attempts to melt a nearby Flash Freeze, inflicting Fire damage equal to 100% of its total health over 10 sec.
Conjure Toasty Fire - Conjures a Toasty Fire nearby that warms friendly units, preventing the effects of Biting Cold. Toasty fire can be extinguished by falling ice or Flash Freeze.
- Singed – Players affected by the Toasty Fire buff gain the ability to apply this to Hodir on each spell cast. Singes the enemy, inflicting 3000 Fire damage and increasing damage taken from magical spells and effects by 2% for 25 sec. Stacks up to 30 times. Has a 30% application chance.

Shaman
Alliance: Elementalist Mahfuun, Elementalist Avuun
Horde: Spiritwalker Tara, Spiritwalker Yona
Hitpoints: 50,400
Notes: The Storm Cloud buff is probably of most benefit to melees, so if a ranged DPS gets it, they should move in to where the melee are to enable it to affect them as well. This tactic depends on your raid makeup as to how effective it is.

Abilities

Lava Burst - You hurl molten lava at the target, dealing 4250 to 5750 Fire damage.
Storm Cloud - Conjures a storm cloud charged with lightning bolts on a random friendly player. While enveloped in this cloud, up to 6 friendly units the player touches will be struck by lightning and charged with Storm Power, increasing their critical strike damage by 135% for 30 sec.

Priests
Alliance: Field Medic Penny, Field Medic Jessy
Horde: Battle-Priest Eliza, Battle-Priest Gina
Hitpoints: 50,400
Notes: Useful for dispelling Freeze and for the healing they can assist with, but nowhere near the utility of the mages.

Abilities

Smite - Inflicts 3400 to 4600 Holy damage to an enemy.
Greater Heal - Calls upon Holy magic to heal an ally for 19000 to 21000 .
Dispel Magic - Dispels magic on an ally, removing 1 harmful spell.

Druids
Alliance: Eivi Nightfeather, Ellie Nightfeather
Horde: Tor Greycloud, Kar Greycloud
Hitpoints: 50,400
Notes: Casters will benefit the most from this effect. Given that it hits a random spot, it's unlikely that melee would have access to the buff. Bear in mind that haste has much less benefit to hunters than to caster DPS.

Abilities

Wrath - Blasts an enemy with lightning, inflicting 1913 to 2587 Nature damage.
Starlight - Envelops a location in starlight for 1 min, increasing attack and casting speed of friendly units within it by 100%.

Strategy
Suggested Raid Composition
Normal Mode:

1-2 tanks (1 in Frost Resist gear)
2 - 3 healers
5 - 7 DPS

Heroic Mode:

1 - 2 tanks (1 in Frost Resist gear)
6 - 7 healers
16 - 18 DPS

The Fight
When the fight first starts, there are 4 (8 in heroic mode) NPCs trapped in ice blocks. Freeing these should be your first priority once the fight is engaged. Do not try to free them before engaging, or they will despawn! Throughout the entire fight, players will be affected by Biting Cold which will deal increasing amounts of frost damage for every stack on a player. This is similar to Keristraza in Nexus, except that this time, moving only removes one stack at a time. You will need to keep moving until all the stacks drop off. Luckily, this is a fairly movement intensive fight, so you shouldn't have too much trouble keeping the stacks down. The only way to avoid the biting cold is to stand near the Toasty Fires which the mage NPCs lay down. Make sure you actually have the buff before you decide to stand still, as it is limited in how many players it affects.

In addition to the Biting Cold, Icicles will be constantly falling on the raid. They are preceded by snowflakes coming down along with a ground effect, which gives players an indication of where they are, and that they need to move before the Icicle falls. When Hodir is casting Flash Freeze, Icicles with a noticeable larger ground effect will fall, leaving behind a Snowdrift. All players need to run onto the nearest Snowdrift in order to be protected from the Flash Freeze effect. The Toasty Fires do not protect players from the Flash Freeze effect, and they will be extinguished by it.

After a Flash Freeze, all the NPC's will be frozen as well, and you need to get them out. The most important one is the mage, as they will assist in unfreezing the rest of the NPC's. (and any raid players who were unlucky enough to be caught in the effect) Flash Freeze has a 30 second cooldown, and it will be cast quite regularly, every 30-45 seconds. You can't rely on the mage NPC(s) to unfreeze everyone before the next cast, so all DPS need to make sure that they break the ice blocks on raid players and any NPC's you wat to keep as well. Any players or NPCs still in an iceblock when the next Flash Freeze is cast will be instantly killed.

Periodically, Hodir will cast Frozen Blows on himself, along with an emote to indicate that he has cast it. This effect signifiantly reduces his physical melee damage, (by 70%) but adds up to 40,000 frost damage to his successful melee attacks, plus causing 400 damage to all raid members every 2 seconds. There are a few ways to handle this phase, and it all depends on your raid makeup. The most common method is to have a tank in frost resist gear, who will taunt and tank Hodir throughout the duration of this effect. Combined with a paladin aura or shaman totem, tanks can reach the frost resist cap and still remain def capped as well. The Frozen Blows phase of this encounter is very healing intensive, so be prepared to pop a potion / healthstone in order to stay alive if your're close to death.

It is quite possible to have a single tank the whole way through the encounter. For Plate tanks, if they can remain frost resist capped and defense capped with gear and aura/totem, then it is probably simpler to have the one tank the entire fight. Even if not fully frost resist capped, a tank with 45k+ hitpoints should be more than enough to soak up the extra damage, when combined with whatever frost resist they do have.
Feral druids have the easiest time gearing for this encounter, since they are crit immune through talents, and can focus on simply building up frost resist gear and stamina. Since the resist gear also has large amounts of stamina, it will generally make up for lost avoidance stats.

Rinse and repeat the above steps until Hodir is killed, or you run out of time. Ideally, the former.

Most of the raid damage can be healed through relatively easily, especially since your ranged DPS can avoid most of the AE damage by standing near the Toasty Fires when possible. It is worth marking the mage before you start the encounter, so that whoever is assigned to be in the Toasty Fire knows where they are at all times. This will also assist in quickly freeing the mage from the Ice Block after a Flash Freeze.

Tips

Survival hunters are perhaps the best ranged DPS to have standing in the Toasty Fires from the mage NPCs. Each tick of Explosive Shot has a chance to apply the Singed debuff to Hodir, and they gain the least benefit from the bonus haste the Druid's Starlight buff provides.
Classes who can dispell the Freeze effect need to be ready to use their dispells on any raid member caught. Anything which reduces the damage taken is important here.
Classes that can dispell the Freeze effect should be your first priority to remove if they are caught in a Flash Freeze.
Setting “Projected Textures” on in the interface menu is highly recommended, as it will allow players to easily see where the Icicles are going to fall. (ESC to menu → Video → Effects → Tick the box “Projected Textures” in the bottom right)
Normal immune mechanics (Ice Block, Pally Bubble, etc) will remove the effect if you are Flash Frozen.
At the start of the encounter, stack as many ranged DPS as possible into the Toasty Fires to apply the maximum stacks of Singed to Hodir as quickly as possible. After that, have at least one player assigned to the Toasty fire at all times, in order to keep the debuff on Hodir.
This fight is quite hard on the healers, so make sure to avoid taking unnecessary damage; pay attention to keeping your debuff stacks down by moving regularly and avoid falling icicles.
While learning the fight, raid members can try wearing one or two pieces of frost resist gear to help out the healers.
It is possible to beat Hodir without utilising any of the NPC's, so if your raid is dying because they're concentrating too much on dealing with the buffs or freeing the NPC's, consider trying it without using them.

Useful Macros
Target a mage and put a raid marker on them prior to engaging. If you're running the Heroic version, then make two of these. This will enable you to target and mark them through the Ice Block's theyll be in prior to you starting the encounter.

/tar <mage name>
/script SetRaidTarget("target",<raid target marker number>)

Where <mage name> = one of (Alliance) Missy, Sissy, (Horde) Ameera, Veesha

It's recommended to use a high raid target marker such as 7 or 8, so as not to conflict with any other ones that may be in general use on your raids.

Warlock Role
There's no specific Warlock role in this fight. You're just one of the DPS, so make the most of it and go nuts!

Tips

No tips! Feel free to post a reply with some warlock-specific tips of your own!

Videos

Regardless of the video you choose, I would highly recommend the HD versions if available. They just give such a clearer view of the fights that it more than makes up for the wait to view them.

Tankspot 25 man. I sound like a broken record, but in general the Tankspot videos are an excellent watch.

HotRS 10 man

Warlock Loot - 10 Man
Since you don't actually kill Hodir, loot comes from a spawned chest(s), Cache of Winter.

Warlock Loot - 25 Man

Achievements
The achievements are the same on both normal and heroic modes. The heroic mode achievements simply append “Heroic:”.

Cheese The Freeze - Defeat Hodir without any raid member being hit by Flash Freeze.
I Have The Coolest Friends - Defeat Hodir without any friendly NPC dying.
Getting Cold in Here - Defeat Hodir without any raid member having more than 2 stacks of Biting Cold.
Staying Buffed All Winter - Possess the effects of Toasty Fire, Storm Power and Starlight at the same time.
I Could Say That This Cache Is Rare - Defeat Hodir before he shatters his rare cache.

Credits
Information compiled from WoWHead, WoWWiki, StratFu, and the members of the Warlocks Den. Special thanks to Itkovian of Chairman of the Horde for his WWS parses to track down trash and effects.

Changes
22/05/2009 Added pre-Hodir trash mobs.
01/06/2009 Removed trash due to incorrect information.
02/06/2009 Added correct trash back in.
04/06/2009 Minor fix to raid composition.
05/06/2009 Re-added debuff stacking info
16/06/2009 Reiterated that this is a healing intensive fight. (it's the only one so far that makes me stress as a healer!)
30/06/2009 Minor updates and fixes to the guide

__________________
Why does my Succubus always say, "I'm with stupid"?

Last edited by Swoop; June 30, 2009 at 10:28 AM..

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April 19, 2009, 04:14 PM	#2 (permalink)
Relent Character Info Relent 80 Human Warlock Auchindoun US PvP Guild: Simple Profile: Blizzard Armory Talent Spec: 0/13/58	re: Hodir - Boss Strat Bring four healers to this fight. Otherwise, you will have serious trouble with controlling the raid damage incurred by Frozen Blows. Apart from Frozen Blows, all other raid damage is able to be avoided. Turn up particle effects if your having trouble seeing snow falling to avoid ice sickles. Try not to draw healer aggro by taking undue raid damage- they need their mana for frozen blows. Try hard to take advantage of the moonbeams. These give you a massive, massive haste buff and will greatly ease the already crazy fight by shortening it. Remember, however, that DPS is subordinate to avoiding raid damage so constantly move during your global cooldowns to drop the biting cold stacks one by one (this isnt quite like keristraza in nexus- you have to move all the time because biting cold doesnt drop all at once on movement but only one will drop per movement action.) and avoid any ice sickles that drop on the moonbeams (Yes, they do fall on them too!). From a warlock's standpoint, your pretty much going to be doing what all other dps will be doing. Push as hard as you can throughout the fight- this one is extremely difficult. Sit up in your chair and turn off your music for this one.

May 12, 2009, 02:43 PM	#3 (permalink)
Introverse Character Info Corradine 80 Undead Warlock Aman'thul Oceania PvE Profile: Blizzard Armory Talent Spec: 53/1/17	re: Hodir - Boss Strat Which buffs are priority for a warlock in this encounter? Toasty Fires - no need to move, helps to stack Singed debuff on Hodir Starlight - haste buff Storm Power - crazy crits A glance at my guild's WWS seems to favour Storm Power for casters, since the nukes are critting for more than 40k damage. The optimal solution seems to be to try and pick up Storm Power, then find a Starlight buff. How is Biting Cold handled here? Jump after every cast?

May 12, 2009, 03:01 PM	#4 (permalink)
Soulzar Character Info Soulzar 70 Human Warlock Medivh US PvE Guild: Trismegistus Profile: Talent Spec: Destro	re: Hodir - Boss Strat At the start of the fight you want your ranged all in toasty fires to stack the debuff. Once its stacked they need to start jumping into the starlight. Storm power is random As far as I know.

May 12, 2009, 03:06 PM

#5 (permalink)

sighmoon

Character Info
sighmoon
80 Human Warlock
trollbane US PvE
Guild: The Forgotten
Profile: Blizzard Armory
Talent Spec: 00/13/58

re: Hodir - Boss Strat

Quote:

Originally Posted by Introverse

Which buffs are priority for a warlock in this encounter?

Toasty Fires - no need to move, helps to stack Singed debuff on Hodir
Starlight - haste buff
Storm Power - crazy crits

A glance at my guild's WWS seems to favour Storm Power for casters, since the nukes are critting for more than 40k damage. The optimal solution seems to be to try and pick up Storm Power, then find a Starlight buff.

How is Biting Cold handled here? Jump after every cast?

My Guild tried Hodir for the first time last night.
On the first attempt we got him down 13% but it got worse from there.
On the 2nd attmept a healer was by a toasty fire and died.
Getting in the Starlight buff wasnt to hard but I dont think I noticed a difference, was I not standing in it right? I mean really do I have to be in the direct center?

We left feeling so frustrated. We knew he would be a challange for us as are all new bosses. But, this time we have no idea what we were doing wrong.

Tonight when we go we will kill Flame, Deconstructor, Kologarn, The Crazy Cat Lady, then onto Hodir. We can go back to kill Razor, Ignis and the Iron Council later in the week. We want to focus on killing Hodir.

Can anyone here please tell how they did it in 10 man?
Things like
Group make-up
Did you continue to free the trapped NPC's or just initially.
Which buffs are essential to him dieing.
To me it seems the haste one but I really dont know.

Last night we had
Pally tank with full frost resist
Druid, Priest, and Pally healer
Dps warrior x2, boomkin, mage, DK and me a Lock

The Shammies in guild couldnt make it.

If anyone can give some guidance here I would apprecitate it so much

May 12, 2009, 03:57 PM	#6 (permalink)
Serbeus Character Info Serbeus 80 Human Warlock Sargeras US PvP Guild: Avenged Profile: Blizzard Armory Talent Spec: destro	re: Hodir - Boss Strat our guild also had trouble with Hodir last night. The freezing blows thing is a pain for the healers i know but he was hitting the tank like a convoy of trucks. does anybody know if the buffs we can get and also obtainable by him, such as if you stand him in the light, or are they only buffs players can get? Something was hitting i believe the tank over and over again for a huge! amount, an amount you couldn't heal through. anybody know why this is? __________________ Serbeus

May 12, 2009, 04:54 PM

#7 (permalink)

Soulzar

Character Info
Soulzar
70 Human Warlock
Medivh US PvE
Guild: Trismegistus
Profile:
Talent Spec: Destro

re: Hodir - Boss Strat

Quote:

Originally Posted by sighmoon

Did you continue to free the trapped NPC's or just initially.
Which buffs are essential to him dieing.
To me it seems the haste one but I really dont know.

The buffs the NPC give you most definitely helps you kill the boss, and are essential to hard mode. That said.. they are not needed. Our first kills 10 and 25 we left them frozen. We found while people were learning it was easier and more productive to let them focus on not getting flash freeze.. and moving.. instead of dps downtime trying to run around dropping adds out ot eh ice.

May 12, 2009, 04:57 PM	#8 (permalink)
Kneehighdps Character Info Kneehighdps 80 Human Warlock Hellscream Euro PvE Guild: Einherjar Profile: Blizzard Armory Talent Spec: 46/68/28	re: Hodir - Boss Strat The people that get Storm Power needs to go to the melees, since its a maaaaaaaassive damage increase. It affects all around you, not just you