Omnotron Defense System DPS Strategy Guide

Introduction

This guide is intended to provide a comprehensive description of the encounter with Omnotron Defense System in Blackwing Descent. It is mostly targeted to DPS who desire to have a short but detailed overview of what is expected of them during that fight.

This guide is updated for World of Warcraft WoD 6.1.2.

From a DPS player perspective, this encounter involves a lot of movement and very good situational awareness. It is imperative that you know when to switch targets and that you do so at the right time - failing to do switch targets can and often will cause your raid to wipe.

This fight is a council type encounter, where you will be faced with four construct bosses, who from this point on will be called "trons", two of which will be active at any one time (with the exception of the pull, when only one will be active).

Each of the trons possesses three abilities, and the challenging aspect of this encounter lies in your raid's reactivity to the combinations of trons and therefore mechanics. Because of this fact, no long-winded strategy must be mastered and your raid's success will come simply from all raid members being sufficiently alert.

Before delving into the specific mechanics of each tron, it should be pointed out that each of the trons will shield themselves regularly throughout the encounter, specifically when their ever-decreasing energy bar reaches 45 energy. This shield is active for 10 seconds (or until broken by damage) and attacking the tron while the shield is active will have a detrimental effect on your raid. As such, it is imperative that you cease all attacks on the tron once it becomes shielded. Pet or minion attacks do not trigger the shields' negative effects, and neither do DoTs.

Magmatron is the fire tron and he presents two important mechanics in addition to his shield. The first is called Incineration Security Measure which is a raid-wide damaging fire attack which will be cast repeatedly throughout the fight. There is nothing that you should do about this mechanic as a DPS player, other than attempting to minimize the damage you take through use of personal defensive cooldowns such as Barkskin for Druids or Icebound Fortitude for Death Knights.

Magmatron's second and far more deadly mechanic is Acquiring Target. When this occurs, Magmatron will target a random raid member and channel a spell for 4 seconds, after which he will blast the target and anyone in the path of the target or in the target's vicinity with a very large amount of fire damage for 4 seconds. Whoever is targeted by this ability should aim to ensure that no other raid members get damaged by it by positioning themselves in an isolated location. It is your duty as a raider to avoid people being targeted by Acquiring Target and ensure you do not take damage from it.

It is worth noting that the damage from Acquiring Target can be fully avoided (indeed, the tron will simply stop casting the spell) through use of invulnerabilities and its damage can and should be greatly reduced through use of other damage reduction cooldowns. Below you will find a list of abilities useful against Acquiring Target.

Complete damage removal:

• Divine Shield for Paladins;
• Ice Block and Invisibility for Mages;
• Feign Death and Deterrence for Hunters;
• Vanish and Cloak of Shadows for Rogues.

Significant damage reduction:

• Dispersion for Priests;
• Icebound Fortitude and Anti-Magic Shell for Death Knights;
• Divine Protection for Paladins;
• Survival Instincts or Barkskin for Druids;
• Shield Wall for Warriors.

Toxitron's most relevant mechanic for DPS players is his Poison Protocol which results in the boss spawning 3 (5 in 25 man) adds which fixate on random raid members and follow them until they die or reach their target. On reaching their target they cause a very high amount of damage in a small radius and effectively kill their target and anyone in close proximity. As a DPS player it is your job to focus on these adds the moment that they spawn and use any abilities in your arsenal to slow their movement while killing them. If you yourself are targeted by one, you should make sure that you do not lose track of its position while DPSing and end up getting hit. If you are a melee DPS class, you should move away from Toxitron while the adds are spawning and choosing their targets so that if you are chosen you are not too close to the add and are unable to run away.

Toxitron also casts an ability called Chemical Bomb which places a green gas cloud at the targeted location which increases the damage taken by anyone inside the cloud by 50%. If you find yourself targeted by the cloud simply move out of it.

Electron uses two abilities while he is active, both of which are damaging to your raid if you are stacked, so be prepared to move away from other raid members at a moment's notice.

His first ability is called Lightning Conductor and it is fairly straightforward. Electron will place a debuff on a random raid member which will cause them to deal damage to all raid members around them for 10 seconds. If you are the target of this ability you should immediately move away from any raid members, and you should make sure you avoid taking damage from this ability if someone else is targeted by it as well.

Electron's second ability is called Electrical Discharge and it works like a chain lightning, striking a random raid member and chaining to up to two other players in an 8-yard range of the initial target, causing increasing damage. This ability is the reason why your raid should be spread out while Electron is active, however during Arcanotron's Power Generator the benefits of everyone being in the vortex may outweigh the damage taken from Electrical Discharge.

Arcanotron's first ability called Arcane Annihilator presents specific importance to you if your class can interrupt spell casts, but is otherwise of no importance whatsoever. Arcanotron will cast this spell very often and it is highly recommended that as many of the casts as possible are interrupted; to this end, if you have the capacity to do so you should enter into an interrupting rotation with your tank and any other DPS players to ensure that no spell casts go uninterrupted.

Arcanotron's second ability is called Power Generator and it appears in the form of a shining purple vortex on the floor. Standing in the vortex provides you with extra 50% damage done as well as increased mana regeneration. You should aim to move inside these vortexes whenever possible in order to maximize your damage output, but be mindful that you may need to move out of the vortex should you be the target of Lightning Conductor or Acquiring Target.

Arcanotron's shield requires special mention. While shielded, any attacks on Arcanotron will cause him to stack a buff on himself called Converted Power. This buff makes his Arcane Annihilator very deadly and therefore he should not normally be attacked while he is shielded. However, it is a viable strategy to continue attacking during the shield and having one or more mages spellsteal his stacks of Converted Power. This way your mages will gain the benefits of increased damage done and casting speed while your raid will be able to continue focusing on the same tron. This tactic is less efficient but still viable if you have a shaman purging the stacks.

• Save your DPS cooldowns for when you can be in a Power Generator and ideally for when the targeted tron is also under the effects of a Chemical Bomb.
• Mages can purposefully attack Arcanotron while his shield is active, thus granting him stacks of Converted Power and then immediately spellstealing them. Do note however that stacking more than one or two stacks on Arcanotron will render interrupting his Arcane Annihilator very difficult, so proceed with caution.
• You can attack Toxitron while he is shielded, gaining stacks of Soaked in Poison which will increase your damage done. However remember that you will also damage yourself in the process, do not stack them too high

As you can see, this fight is all about proper reaction to boss abilities and in general damage mitigation. To summarise, make sure you prioritise bursting the adds spawned by Toxitron and moving away from your raid members to avoid damage from Acquiring Target, Electrical Discharge and Lightning Conductor.