Amber-Shaper Un'sok Detailed Strategy Guide (Heroic Mode included)

Last updated on Jan 10, 2013 at 17:04 by Vlad 53 comments

Table of Contents

Boss Icon - Amber-Shaper Un'sok

Introduction

This guide is intended to provide a comprehensive description of the encounter with Amber-Shaper Un'sok in Heart of Fear. It is targeted at anyone who desires to understand the fight mechanics.

This guide is updated for World of Warcraft WoD 6.1.2.

Amber-Shaper Un'sok is the fifth boss in the Heart of Fear raid instance. This is a very complex encounter, where you will have to face several adds, and deal with many interesting abilities.

The fight is strenuous for all your raid, but we feel that it is DPS players and healers who will be tested the most.

1.

General Information

1.1.

Health Values

Difficulty Un'sok Mutated Construct (base) Amber Monstrosity Living Amber
10-man 218M 6.5M 65M 632K
10-man Heroic 340M 9M 109M 750K
25-man 654M 25.5M 196M 2M
25-man Heroic 1B 25.5M 327M 2.3M
LFR 350M 14.6M 137M 1.6M
1.2.

Enrage Timer

We currently do not know what the enrage timer is, but it is at least 9 minutes.

1.3.

Raid Composition

Difficulty Tanks Healers DPS
10-man 2 2-3 5-6
10-man Heroic 2 2-3 5-6
25-man 2 5-6 17-18
25-man 2 5-6 17-18
LFR 2 5-6 17-18
2.

Loot

In addition to the items listed below, Mel'jarak drops the tokens that you will need for buying your Tier 14 Legs parts.

2.1.

Armor

Item Name Armor Slot Main Stats
Belt of Malleable Amber Icon Belt of Malleable Amber (LFR, Heroic) Cloth Waist Intellect/Hit
Treads of Deadly Secretions Icon Treads of Deadly Secretions (LFR, Heroic) Leather Feet Agility
Monstrous Stompers Icon Monstrous Stompers (LFR, Heroic) Mail Feet Agility
Shoulderpads of Misshapen Life Icon Shoulderpads of Misshapen Life (LFR, Heroic) Plate Shoulders Strength/Mastery
2.2.

Weapons

Item Name Type Main Stats
Un'sok's Amber Scalpel Icon Un'sok's Amber Scalpel (LFR, Heroic) Dagger Intellect/Spirit
Scimitar of Seven Stars Icon Scimitar of Seven Stars (LFR, Heroic) One-Hand Sword Strength/Mastery
2.3.

Ring

Item Name Type Main Stats
Seal of the Profane Icon Seal of the Profane (LFR, Heroic) Ring Intellect/Spirit
3.

Overview of the Fight

The encounter against Amber-Shaper Un'sok (henceforth referred to simply as Un'sok) is a three-phase fight.

Phase One starts when the boss is engaged, and lasts until the boss reaches 70% health. During this phase, your raid will mainly have to kill small adds and avoid damaging ground effects.

Phase Two starts when the boss reaches 70% health, at which point he summons an add. Phase Two ends when the add is killed by your raid. During this phase, Un'sok takes 99% reduced damage.

Phase Three starts when the add that the boss summons at the start of Phase Two is killed, and lasts until Un'sok dies. This is a very intense phase, for both healers and DPS players. During this phase, the boss gains a sizeable increase in his damage.

Throughout the fight, Un'sok will regularly transform random raid members into a type of elemental mob, called a Mutated Construct. When transformed in such a way, the player can use certain special abilities, and must perform a very complex role. In fact, the players who are transformed into Mutated Constructs play the most important part in the encounter, so it is imperative to have an excellent understanding of the Construct.

Because the tank is regularly turned into a Mutated Construct, and also due to an ability that the boss casts in Phase Two that targets the current tank and incapacitates them, your raid will require two tanks for this encounter.

4.

Mutated Construct

4.1.

Overview

Every 50 seconds, during Phases One and Two, and more often, during Phase Three, Un'sok will cast an ability called Reshape Life Icon Reshape Life. This ability targets a random raid member, and transforms that player into a Mutated Construct. During Phase One, the ability only targets tanks (provided that both tanks are not already Mutated Constructs), while in Phases Two and Three, it can target anyone in the raid.

The Mutated Construct (which is under the full control of the transformed player) has a unique resource, called Willpower. This resource must be used wisely, and it is the key to defeating the encounter. Willpower starts out at full capacity when the player is first transformed, and then slowly decreases over time. When the Mutated Construct runs out of Willpower, the transformed player is instantly killed.

The only way to avoid being killed is to use one of the Mutated Construct's abilities, which causes the player to leave the Mutated Construct. This ability is only usable when the Mutated Construct is below 20% of its maximum health. The implication of this is that the raid will have to DPS the Construct, ensuring that the transformed player can exit it before running out of Willpower.

If the Mutated Construct is killed (i.e., if the transformed player has not exited the Construct himself), then the transformed player will also die.

In addition to using this ability before their Willpower runs out, the transformed player has 3 abilities that they can, and should use, in specific ways, throughout the encounter.

It is important to note that Un'sok will continue to cast Reshape Life even if there is already a Mutated Construct present, meaning that there can be two or more Mutated Constructs active at the same time.

4.2.

Abilities and Mechanics

The Mutated Construct is hostile to both the rest of the raid, and to the boss. This is relevant, because the Construct must attack the boss, and the raid must attack the Construct.

Of the 4 abilities that the Mutated Construct has, one generates Willpower, one costs Willpower, while the other two neither generate Willpower, nor cost any.

  • Consume Amber Icon Consume Amber causes the Mutated Construct to absorb a pool of Burning Amber Icon Burning Amber (a type of void zone that is present in the encounter). Doing so generates 20 Willpower, but also increases the Mutated Construct's maximum health by a small amount (around 5%), also healing it for that amount in the process. Consume Amber has no cooldown, and no Willpower cost. As you can guess, the fact that the Construct is healed, and its health increased is detrimental to your raid, because it means that additional damage must be done to the Construct so that the transformed player can leave it. Despite being detrimental, it may sometimes be required to use Consume Amber, if the Mutated Construct is not low enough on health that the transformed player can leave it before their Willpower runs out. This situation could happen if the raid does not DPS the Construct, for some reason.
  • Struggle for Control Icon Struggle for Control costs 8 Willpower and is a self-interrupt. This ability is useful, because the Mutated Construct sometimes casts an ability called Amber Explosion Icon Amber Explosion, which deals high raid-wide damage (remember that the Construct is hostile to the raid, so it can damage them). This spell cannot be interrupted through any other means. Using Struggle for Control also increases the damage taken by the Construct by 100% for 5 seconds.
  • Amber Strike Icon Amber Strike is a single-target attack, with a 6-second cooldown. This deals a large amount of damage to the target. The attack also applies a stacking debuff on the target, called Destabilize Icon Destabilize, which increases its damage taken by 10% per stack, for 12 seconds (there appears to be no cap to the number of stacks). Additionally, Amber Strike interrupts the target's spellcasting. This is particularly useful in Phase Two, as the add (spawned by the boss in this phase) regularly casts a very dangerous raid-wide damaging spell that cannot be otherwise interrupted. This ability is also called Amber Explosion Icon Amber Explosion, and it is almost identical (there is a slight difference in the damage value) with the ability that the Construct casts.
  • Break Free Icon Break Free is an ability that causes the transformed raid member to break free of the Mutated Construct. The Construct must be below 20% of its maximum health for this ability to be usable.

Finally, it is not possible for the Mutated Construct to act as a tank, as both the boss and the add from Phase Two have the Destroy Will Icon Destroy Will ability, which causes them to drain 40 Willpower from the Construct each time they melee it.

4.3.

Role

The role of the Mutated Construct will become more obvious to you as you learn to understand the various mechanics of the encounter, and we will detail this every step of the way. Even though the Mutated Construct will usually target a tank, every player in the raid must be prepared to use the Mutated Construct, should they have to.

While the assignments of the Construct will vary somewhat in each phase, there are a few general guidelines we can provide.

  • Players must use the Break Free Icon Break Free spell before their Willpower runs out. Since the spell is only usable when the Construct is below 20% health, part of the responsibility belongs to the raid's DPS, who must attack the Construct.
  • Players must always watch for when the Mutated Construct is casting Amber Explosion Icon Amber Explosion, and interrupt this cast with Struggle for Control Icon Struggle for Control.
  • Players should use Amber Strike Icon Amber Strike on cooldown, to stack/refresh Destabilize Icon Destabilize on the boss (and the add in Phase Two), as well as to interrupt the Amber Explosion casts of the add in Phase Two.
  • Players should normally not consume void zones (through Consume Amber Icon Consume Amber), as this makes it so that the raid must deal more damage to the Construct. Consuming void zones can sometimes be beneficial, though, as we explain later on in the guide, especially during Phase Three.

The aim of your raid, throughout the fight, will be to have only one person transformed into a Mutated Construct at one time. As we will see, Phase Three can be an exception to this rule.

5.

Phase One

Phase One begins when the boss is engaged, and ends when the boss reaches 70% health.

5.1.

Abilities

During this phase, Un'sok makes use of several abilities.

  • Amber Scalpel Icon Amber Scalpel targets a random raid member with a beam of amber. The beam follows the player, dealing a large amount of damage every 0.25 seconds at the point of contact, and leaving many small damaging void zones behind it. Some of these small void zones then turn into adds called Living Amber.
    • Living Amber adds fixate on random raid members, dealing low amounts of damage through melee attacks. Moreover, the adds deal a small amount of raid-wide damage every second. Finally, whenever a Living Amber is killed, it deals a large amount of damage to all players within 8 yards of it, and heals all other Living Ambers within 8 yards for 40% of their maximum health. Whenever a Living Ember dies, it leaves behind a damaging void zone, called a Burning Amber Icon Burning Amber. The Burning Amber void zones remain on the floor indefinitely, unless consumed by the Mutated Construct.
  • Parasitic Growth Icon Parasitic Growth is a debuff that Un'sok regularly places on a random raid member. It lasts for 30 seconds, and deals a moderate amount of Nature damage to that player every 2 seconds. While the debuff is active, healing received by the player causes the damage from Parasitic Growth to increase.
  • Reshape Life Icon Reshape Life is the spell that regularly turns a random raid member (a tank during this phase) into a Mutated Construct, as we discussed extensively in the previous sections.
5.2.

Strategy

During this phase, your raid will mostly focus on DPSing the Mutated Constructs, and bringing Un'sok to 70% health. There are many different tasks your players must perform, although each one is rather simple individually. The most complex role belongs to whoever is transformed into a Mutated Construct.

If your strategy is executed correctly, there should always be only one Mutated Construct active at one time.

We will summarise your raid's tasks below, before going into detail.

  • DPS Mutated Constructs as soon as they appear (their in-game name is the same as the name of the player who is transformed), bringing them below 20% of their maximum health (but not killing them). Be mindful that if the Construct consumes any void zones (from Burning Amber Icon Burning Amber), it will heal itself slightly and may need to be damaged further.
  • DPS Un'sok when a Mutated Construct does not need to be attacked.
  • Avoid being hit by the Amber Scalpel Icon Amber Scalpel beam, and ideally kite it away and out of the raid each time it is cast.
  • Kill Living Amber adds to keep the raid-wide damage under control. Killing too many adds will result in a large amount of void zones to avoid, but given the size of the room, this should not be a problem. These void zones are useful for your raid much later in the fight, so having many of them (as long as you can avoid standing in them) is not detrimental at all.
  • Have the Mutated Construct maintain the damage-increasing debuff up on the boss at all times.
  • Heal the players affected by Parasitic Growth Icon Parasitic Growth as little as possible, while keeping them alive. Parasitic Growth can be removed by invulnerabilities such as Divine Shield Icon Divine Shield and Ice Block Icon Ice Block.
  • Make sure that the Mutated Construct interrupts each of its cast of Amber Explosion Icon Amber Explosion, through the use of Struggle for Control Icon Struggle for Control.
5.2.1.

DPS Priority

The idea is to strike a balance between killing Living Ambers, DPSing Mutated Constructs, and DPSing Un'sok. The more Living Ambers you kill, the more void zones your raid will have to maneuver around. Fortunately, this is not usually a concern, since the room is very big. Also, remember to account for the void zones that will be generated throughout Phase Two.

The first priority during this phase is to always bring the Mutated Construct to 20% of its maximum health or lower. This is important because only then can the player inside it exit the vehicle. If they fail to exit the vehicle before their energy runs out, they will be instantly killed.

DPS players will also have to kill Living Ambers. Your raid leader will probably decide how many such adds should be kept alive, depending on the amount of damage that the raid can handle. When killing Living Ambers, keep in mind that you cannot AoE them, because each dying Amber heals other Ambers around it for 40% of their maximum health. Also be mindful of the rather large amount of AoE damage that the Living Ambers deal around them when they die.

Finally, your raid will DPS Un'sok whenever one of the above targets does not need to be attacked.

5.2.2.

Mutated Construct Role - Tanks

Only tanks can be made into Mutated Constructs during Phase One. As a Mutated Construct, there are several things you must do during this phase.

  • Always interrupt your Mutated Construct when it begins to cast Amber Explosion Icon Amber Explosion by using Struggle for Control Icon Struggle for Control.
  • Use Amber Strike Icon Amber Strike on the boss on cooldown, to stack the debuff that it applies as high as possible.
  • Keep in mind to begin auto-attacking the boss as well (either by right-clicking him, or through the use of a keybind).
  • Be aware that you must leave the construct before you run out of Willpower, by using Break Free Icon Break Free. You can only use Break Free when you are below 20% health, something for which you will rely on your raid members.

Your goal should be to ensure that the Destabilize Icon Destabilize debuff applied by Amber Strike Icon Amber Strike never runs out on the boss, so that it can stack very high. In order for this to happen, the tank who is currently a Mutated Construct must delay leaving the construct, so that they can continue to stack Destabilize right up to the point when the other tank is turned into a construct. In other words, as a Mutated Construct in this phase, you should consume one or two void zones to replenish your Willpower, and aim at remaining in the construct until there are about 5 seconds left to the next Reshape Life Icon Reshape Life cast. Your raid's DPS players will have to be aware of this, and make sure not to kill your Mutated Construct.

Following the above-mentioned steps, when the next tank becomes a Mutated Construct, they should have several seconds to refresh the debuff on the boss, and so on.

Doing this will make Phase One go by much faster, but it is hardly a requirement, so do not worry too much about it.

Make sure that you do not accidentally use Amber Strike Icon Amber Strike on fellow raid members. They are hostile targets, so you will have to be a bit careful.

5.2.3.

Healing Concerns

Healers will have to contend with the following sources of damage in this phase:

  • steady tank damage on Un'sok's tank;
  • steady raid-wide damage, depending on the number of Living Ambers that are alive;
  • high damage on random raid members who are affected by Parasitic Growth Icon Parasitic Growth, and who cannot be healed abundantly;
  • avoidable damage from players getting hit by Amber Scalpel Icon Amber Scalpel;
  • avoidable damage from the explosions dealt by Living Ambers within 8 yards of themselves, when they die;
  • avoidable damage from standing in the void zones left behind by dead Living Ambers.

A few notes regarding Parasitic Growth Icon Parasitic Growth are in order. Firstly, as we mentioned earlier, it can be removed by abilities such as Divine Shield Icon Divine Shield and Ice Block Icon Ice Block. Secondly, using absorption effects on players affected by Parasitic Growth does not trigger the debuff's effect, so Power Word: Shield Icon Power Word: Shield and Sacred Shield can be used to great effect to mitigate damage on these players without causing additional damage.

Hand of Purity also works well against this debuff, and can almost negate the final 6 seconds of the debuff's duration.

Finally, we feel it is necessary to state that any overhealing done to players affected by Parasitic Growth will still stack the debuff on them, so you must be careful.

6.

Phase Two

When Un'sok reaches 70% health, he shields himself through Amber Carapace Icon Amber Carapace, becoming practically immune. He also summons a large add, called Amber Monstrosity. The phase ends (and Un'sok is once again attackable) when the Amber Monstrosity is killed. The death of the Amber Monstrosity triggers Phase Three.

6.1.

Abilities

During this phase Un'sok continues to use all his abilities from Phase One, namely Amber Scalpel Icon Amber Scalpel (including the resulting Living Amber adds and all the mechanics that these adds entail), Parasitic Growth Icon Parasitic Growth, and Reshape Life Icon Reshape Life. Reshape Life can now target any raid member, including healers (which can be quite problematic).

In addition to this, the Amber Monstrosity uses several abilities against your raid.

  • Amber Explosion Icon Amber Explosion is cast by the Amber Monstrosity roughly every 50 seconds. Just like the Amber Explosion cast by the Mutated Construct, this ability deals a high amount of raid damage. It is interruptible by Amber Strike Icon Amber Strike, the ability available to the Mutated Construct.
  • Massive Stomp Icon Massive Stomp is cast by the Amber Monstrosity every 20 seconds. It deals a large amount of Physical damage to all enemies within 15 yards, and also knocks them back.
  • Fling Icon Fling is cast by the Amber Monstrosity roughly every 40 seconds. The Amber Monstrosity picks up its current target (the tank), and throws them to a random location in the room. When landing, the target deals a large amount of Physical damage to all players within 8 yards of the point of impact, and stuns them for 3 seconds.
6.2.

Strategy

During this phase, your raid will have to handle all the abilities from Phase One, while also dealing with the several abilities that the Amber Monstrosity brings. The focus in this phase is to kill the Amber Monstrosity, in order to push Un'sok into Phase Three.

The Amber Monstrosity adds a few constraints for your raid.

  • Ranged DPS players and healers should be at least 15 yards away from the Amber Monstrosity, so that they do not get damaged and knocked back by its Massive Stomp Icon Massive Stomp.
  • The tanks must be prepared for the fact that Amber Monstrosity will regularly pick up and throw its current tank. The thrown tank will also be stunned for a few seconds at their landing location.
  • The player controlling the Mutated Construct must be prepared to interrupt the Amber Monstrosity's Amber Explosion Icon Amber Explosion every time it is cast.
6.2.1.

Mutated Construct Role - Everyone

Anyone except the tanks is susceptible to being turned into a Mutated Construct during this phase.

There are several things that the Mutated Constructs must do.

  • Always interrupt your Mutated Construct when it begins to cast Amber Explosion Icon Amber Explosion by using Struggle for Control Icon Struggle for Control. This ability happens frequently, but boss mods are accurate in announcing the timer.
  • Use Amber Strike Icon Amber Strike on the Amber Monstrosity to stack the debuff that it applies. While you want to maximise the applications of the debuff, remember that it must be used on the Amber Monstrosity every 45 seconds or so in order to interrupt its casts of Amber Explosion Icon Amber Explosion, so it cannot be freely spammed (see more below).
  • Interrupt the Amber Monstrosity's Amber Explosion casts. It is likely that you will have to interrupt only one or two while you are in the Mutated Construct. Watching your boss mod timers will allow you to maximise the usage of Amber Strike.
  • Keep in mind to begin auto-attacking the boss as well (either by right-clicking him, or through the use of a keybind).
  • Be aware that you must leave the construct before you run out of Willpower, by using Break Free Icon Break Free. You can only use Break Free when you are below 20% health, something for which you will rely on your raid members.

Ideally, you should attempt to stack the debuff as high as possible on the Amber Monstrosity, and this also involves refreshing it just before you leave the Mutated Construct, and leaving the Mutated Construct close enough to when the next Mutated Construct is created, so that they can re-apply the debuff before it runs out. In reality, this means that you will probably have to consume one or two void zones to prolong the time you can stay in the Mutated Construct and apply the debuff. Your DPS raid members must make sure not to kill off your construct before it is time for you to leave.

The above-mentioned strategy (staying inside the constructs long enough to maintain the stacks on the Amber Monstrosity) is hardly required for the completion of the Normal mode of this encounter, so you should not worry too much about it. Doing it properly, however, will result in a much shorter Phase Two.

6.2.2.

Healing Concerns

In addition to the Phase One healing concerns, healers have to to watch out for the following things:

  • increased tank damage, since the Amber Monstrosity melees;
  • regular damage to the tanks and melee players (as well as any ranged players or healers careless enough to be within 15 yards of the Amber Monstrosity) from Massive Stomp Icon Massive Stomp;
7.

Phase Three

When the Amber Monstrosity dies, Un'sok will enter Phase Three. He will no longer be shielded by Amber Carapace Icon Amber Carapace, being fully damageable once again. The phase lasts until Un'sok is killed.

7.1.

Abilities

At the start of the phase, Un'sok will cast Concentrated Mutation Icon Concentrated Mutation, buffing his damage done and his attack speed by 50%.

During this phase Un'sok no longer casts Amber Scalpel Icon Amber Scalpel, but retains Parasitic Growth Icon Parasitic Growth, and, as we mentioned much earlier, casts Reshape Life Icon Reshape Life much more often. The increased rate of Reshape Life casts will act as a soft enrage mechanic in this phase.

The only added mechanic is Volatile Amber Icon Volatile Amber. Un'sok will regularly cause one of the amber pools located around the edges of the room to explode. This fires a barrage of amber shards at the raid, which strike the first player that they come into contact with. When striking a player, it deals a moderate amount of Nature damage to them.

If the Mutated Construct is hit by Volatile Amber, it is healed for 20% of its maximum health.

7.2.

Strategy

Phase Three is a DPS burn phase. The greatly increased damage that Un'sok deals due to his Concentrated Mutation Icon Concentrated Mutation buff will eventually run your healers out of mana. Additionally, the increased rate at which Reshape Life Icon Reshape Life is cast will make it impossible for your raid to keep up with killing the Mutated Constructs.

You should simply focus on burning the boss and ignoring any damage on the Mutated Constructs. These Constructs should stack Amber Strike Icon Amber Strike on Un'sok as much as possible, and they should consume Burning Amber Icon Burning Amber void zones whenever needed to replenish their Willpower. This is why we advised consuming as few void zones as possible in the previous two phases, namely so that you would have an ample amount during this final phase.

Executing this strategy will result in a kill where you have several players turned into Mutated Constructs.

Players must also be careful to interrupt their own Amber Explosion Icon Amber Explosions by using Struggle for Control Icon Struggle for Control.

8.

Alternative Strategies

There are alternative strategies available for this encounter that revolve around stacking Destabilize Icon Destabilize to very high numbers, and using to shorten the duration of the phases in the encounter.

In one strategy, you should do very little DPS on Un'sok During Phase One, and kill many Living Ambers, until the room has a very high amount of void zones. Then, when Phase Two starts, you should have the first person who is transformed into a Mutated Construct remain in the construct for the remainder of the fight, eating some of the many void zones to replenish their Willpower. This player will focus on stacking the debuff on the Amber Monstrosity, and no one should DPS this player. Subsequent Mutated Constructs during this phase should perform as they normally would. This will result in a short Phase Two, since the Amber Monstrosity will take greatly increased damage.

Another strategy involves stacking the debuff as high as possible on Un'sok during Phase One (by making sure that it never drops off between Reshape Life Icon Reshape Life casts), and bringing Un'sok down to about 72% health. When Un'sok has very many stacks of the debuff (in excess of 60), you should wait for a cast of Amber Scalpel Icon Amber Scalpel and, a few seconds before it is cast, use Heroism Icon Heroism/Bloodlust Icon Bloodlust/Time Warp Icon Time Warp and use all DPS cooldowns to burn Un'sok down during the long cast of Amber Scalpel. If done correctly, Un'sok should be dead or very close to dead by the time that Phase Two begins and he starts taking greatly reduced damage. Even if you fail to kill Un'sok during Phase One, he will die very shortly after the start of Phase Three, making the fight considerably easier. In order to kill him during Phase One, you can take a very low number of healers to the fight (1 in 10-man and 2-3 in 25-man).

9.

When to Use Heroism/Bloodlust/Time Warp

The best timing for Heroism Icon Heroism/Bloodlust Icon Bloodlust/Time Warp Icon Time Warp is probably going to be Phase Three, when the boss' damage is increased and you must finish him off quickly.

However, depending on how much of a strain Phase Two puts on your raid (since you have to deal with added abilities and the Amber Monstrosity), you may choose to use Heroism/Bloodlust/Time Warp then.

10.

Learning the Fight

This is a very complex encounter, so it is probably going to take your raid a number of attempts to get used to the different mechanics. Fortunately, the three phases do not differ very much between one another, allowing you to transition smoothly.

One very important thing that everyone in the raid has to understand is the role and importance of the Mutated Construct. All your DPS players have to know exactly when and why they need to DPS this mob, and everyone has to be prepared for becoming the Mutated Construct. This is important, because whoever is in the Mutated Construct has to regularly interrupt Amber Explosion Icon Amber Explosion, and it is simply not possible to have raid members be unfamiliar with this concept.

Since the boss generally targets tanks with Reshape Life Icon Reshape Life, non-tanks will not have an easy and reliable way to practice being inside the Mutated Construct. As a result of this, the role of the Mutated Construct must be explained every clearly to all raid members.

Additionally, of course, you will have to practice the actual execution of several abilities, such as kiting Amber Scalpel Icon Amber Scalpel in a good pattern, and healing the players affected by Parasitic Growth Icon Parasitic Growth properly.

11.

Achievement: I Heard You Like Amber

The I Heard You Like Amber... Icon I Heard You Like Amber... achievement is part of the Glory of the Pandaria Raider Icon Glory of the Pandaria Raider meta achievement. The achievement requires that you kill Living Ambers on top of each other, in such a way that 8 Burning Amber Icon Burning Amber void zones are stacked on top of one another.

Since the Living Ambers cannot be tanked, and they fixate on random raid members, it is up to these random players to understand what they must do, and execute it accordingly. You will need to designate the location where you wish to stack the pools, and then have players who have Living Ambers on them go to that location, one at a time. Each time a Living Amber is brought to the location, it should be killed.

Because the void zones never despawn (unless they are consumed by the Mutated Construct), there is really no time constraint for how quickly you must kill all the adds.

We highly recommend completing this achievement during Phase One, since this phase is much easier than Phase Two, and the boss does not spawn these adds during Phase Three.

Finally, keep in mind that you must also kill the boss on the same attempt, so you cannot really afford to lose any players in the process (to the many explosions that the Living Ambers will do when they die).

12.

Heroic Mode

The Heroic mode of the Amber-Shaper Un'sok encounter presents quite a big challenge. There are only two important differences from Normal mode, but the increased health of the boss and other mobs contributes to a change in strategy.

12.1.

Differences from Normal Mode

Firstly, the boss and all the adds have increased health in Heroic mode, and they deal increased damage with all their abilities.

Secondly, there are two changes in mechanics from the Normal mode version of the fight.

  • Each Living Amber will come back to life, 30 seconds after it is killed, provided that the resulting Burning Amber Icon Burning Amber void zone that it had left behind still exists (that is to say, it has not been consumed by a Mutated Construct). Until the void zone is consumed, the Living Amber will continue to respawn each time it is killed.
  • During Phase Three, two NPCs (that spawn from the amber pools at the edges of the room) will fixate on two random raid members, and travel towards them. If these NPCs (called Amber Globules) reach the players that they are fixated on, they explode, dealing lethal damage to all players within 30 yards. If, however, the two NPCs come in contact with one another, they both despawn. Additional Amber Globules will spawn after set intervals of time (we suspect that the timer of the ability is 30-45 seconds), but if you execute the fight correctly, this is unlikely to happen.
12.2.

Strategy

You will want to maintain the Destabilize Icon Destabilize debuff on Un'sok throughout all of the fight, from the very first application, all the way through Phase Two, and until the very end of the fight. This will require that your raid members spend longer inside the Mutated Constructs (therefore using up Burning Amber Icon Burning Amber void zones to keep up their Willpower, which in turn prevents the Living Ambers from respawning and overwhelming the raid), and it also causes the boss to enter Phase Three with a huge amount of stacks, causing him to die very quickly.

12.2.1.

Managing Destabilize

During Phase One, your two tanks must make sure to stay inside the Mutated Construct right up to the point that the next Reshape Life Icon Reshape Life is being cast, so that they can refresh the Destabilize Icon Destabilize debuff applied by Amber Strike Icon Amber Strike in such a way that it never falls off. To accomplish this, they must each consume one or more Burning Amber Icon Burning Amber void zones in order to replenish their Willpower.

During Phase Two, the main focus must be on keeping up the debuff on Un'sok. There are two ways of getting through this phase.

  • The first way is to have whoever is turned into the Mutated Construct delay their exiting of the Construct until the next Reshape Life is being cast, by consuming void zones (in the same way that your tanks will do during Phase One).
  • The second way is to have the first person who is turned into a Construct remain one for the duration of the phase, consuming void zones throughout the phase, while subsequent Mutated Constructs are broken out as normal.

During Phase Three, your raid should use Heroism Icon Heroism/Bloodlust Icon Bloodlust/Time Warp Icon Time Warp and all offensive cooldowns to quickly burn down Un'sok. There is no effort required in keeping the stacks up during this phase.

12.2.2.

Dealing with Respawning Living Ambers

As we have mentioned above, having your transformed players regularly consume void zones in order to be able to remain in the Mutated Constructs for longer will mean that there will be few, if any, respawning Living Ambers (because a Living Amber will only respawn if its void zone has not been consumed). Given this, you should have very few concerns regarding Living Ambers, and you should never be in danger of being overwhelmed.

12.2.3.

Dealing with Amber Globules

Shortly after the start of Phase Three, two Amber Globules will spawn and fixate on two random raid members. These two players must make sure that they kite their respective globules, as otherwise, they (and anyone else within 30 yards) will be killed. If possible, the two players should follow intersecting paths, in such a way that the two Amber Globules will meet and despawn.

Given the highly increased damage that Un'sok will take during this phase, you will not have to face more than one set of Amber Globules. Also, since Un'sok will die very quickly, the two raid members will usually be able to simply kite the Amber Globules around, without having them despawn.

12.2.4.

Trick for Burning Un'sok's Health

There is a way to take advantage of the fact that Un'sok will not enter Phase Two (therefore gaining his 99% damage-taken reduction) while he is in the middle of a cast. This is of particular interest for the casts of Amber Scalpel Icon Amber Scalpel, which are very long.

A very clever way to burn down a lot of Un'sok's health is to slow down (or altogether stop) DPS when he reaches 71-72% health, and wait for an Amber Scalpel cast to be close. Just as the cast is about to happen, use all your offensive cooldowns, and have everyone burn Un'sok as much as possible.

Due to the fact that Un'sok will have a lot of stacks of the damage-increasing debuff by this point, his damage taken will be very high. Doing this can bring his health down to as low as 30-50%, which means that Phase Three will also be very short.

12.3.

A Variation of the Strategy

As a variation of the above-mentioned strategy, you can intentionally do less DPS than you could to Un'sok during Phase One, allowing for more stacks to be applied in this time. Doing so allows you to burn down a considerable chunk of Un'sok's health just as he transitions to Phase Two, by using the trick that we have explained in the previous section. If you wish to further stress this strategy, you can purposefully prolong the duration of Phase One for so long that the debuff has time to reach a very high amount of stacks. Doing so will allow you to burn down even more of Un'sok's health before he transitions (there are recorded kills, even in Heroic mode, where Un'sok is actually killed before he gets to enter Phase Two).

Further, you can opt not to keep Destabilize Icon Destabilize up on Un'sok during Phase Two (as this requires very good Mutated Construct handling from your raid members), and simply focus on the Amber Monstrosity at this point. This will cause you to undergo a longer Phase Three, but it is easier to execute overall.

13.

Concluding Remarks

This concludes our raid guide for Amber-Shaper Un'sok. We hope you have found our guide helpful, and we remind you that we always award great consideration to your feedback, both on our forums or by e-mail.