Draigoch and You! A Guide to Dragon Slaying

[Calding]

Draigoch and You!
(A Guide to Dragon Slaying)

"Come for your share of riches? Seek you your place in history as a slayer of dragons?" - Draigoch the Red

Draigoch, to those that have yet to face him, can seem like a daunting opponent. In actuality, Draigoch is fairly easy to kill simply by making sure to follow a few instructions. This guide will serve to acquaint those that have no prior experience with the Draigoch Raid with the basics. Remember, no guide is a substitute for experience, but preparedness does go a long way.

This guide is broken down in several posts for coherency. Every person should read at least the following:

• Before the Raid - Individual
  
• Inside the Lair - Read Completely
  
• Strategy - All Phases (Your group only)
  
• Roles - The role you will be playing
  
• Things to Remember - Read Completely

All are welcome to read everything posted, but everything that is necessary is within the five sections listed above.

[Calding]

Before the Raid

The Individual
There are several things each player will want to do in the days before the Draigoch run, as far as personal preparedness is concerned. The following is fairly loose, but highly recommended to those with no experience.

• Get your morale and mitigation as high as possible! Draigoch is not a DPS race, so having 2000 of your DPS stat won't help if you can't survive Draig's attacks. Vitality, Morale, and Physical mitigation are your friends. It is recommended to all that they get at least 6k morale, and the more damage you can absorb, the better.
  
• Stock up on potions and food! Draigoch is a very long battle, and to help the healers out, make sure to bring plenty of potions. Additionally, there will be a lot of downtime during the fight, so you can eat food every few minutes. It is highly recommended to bring regeneration food to keep you going.
  
• Virtues will help greatly! Pretty much every class will want to slot the following virtues: Innocence, Zeal, and Loyalty. This will increase vitality, armor, and physical mitigation - the three most important stats for running Draigoch. There are very few exceptions to this rule, so make sure to level them up and slot them come raid day. The remaining 2 slots should go toward either your primary stat, or more health via the Valour virtue if you are low.
  
• Know the strategy! Knowing every detail is not important, but at least have a general idea of what to expect. The strategy will be covered below and in guides around the internet. The more you read up on it, the more prepared you will be. Make sure to not skip this step, as it is the most important!
  
• Do the prerequisite quests! You can not attend the raid without first doing 3 quests. The quests start with a woman in Galtrev near the inner gate and will send you to Nar's Peak and eventually the lair of Draigoch.
  
• Set up your Chat Window! This is optional, but recommended. By default, every chat is filtered into one window. To make sure you can see the raid leader's instructions in chat, make a separate tab of chat with minimal filters. Do not have kin chat, GLFF, tells, and other chats running in the same window or you risk missing an important text instruction.

The Group
After each individual prepares himself, the group must meet some requirements. The group should roughly consist of the following:

• One Tank - You only need and want one tank for this run. Any other Guardians or Wardens will need to trait for DPS. There are ways to run it with multiple tanks, but with only 12 spots, it greatly hampers the group, especially since each tank will need a healer.
  
• Three or Four Healers - Ideally, you will want at least three healers. You will need one healer for raid group one, one for raid group two, and one specifically for the tank. A Captain can keep the tank healed enough to serve this purpose. A Hands of Healing Captain can also suffice for a main group healer, supplemented with a Revealing Mark.
  
• At least One Captain - A group can run without a captain, but it is a liability. Captain's in-combat rez skills plus their buffs help out greatly. Additionally, the Captain's Revealing Mark can help the healers out tremendously. Having two Captains means one can stay with the tank, so that is highly recommended.
  
• At least One Burglar - Draigoch has a series of FMs that need to be triggered, or the fight takes 3 times as long. Without a Burglar, FMs are very hard to come by. Having two Burgs is highly recommended, though a Guardian's To The King ability can serve as an FM starter if needed.
  
• All the rest, DPS - After the most important roles are filled, DPS comes in. Everyone except the healers should trait for the maximum damage possible. There is absolute zero chance to steal aggro during this fight, so go all out.

The 12 members of the raid will be in two groups which will be equally as important as the whole raid makeup itself. The groups should be as follows:

Group One (FM Group)

• Burglar
  
• Burglar/Other FM/DPS
  
• Captain/DPS
  
• Healer
  
• DPS
  
• DPS

The FM group should consist of the FM Starters, a healer, support, and DPS. Preferably, make this group full of people with the most experience, and the least lag, as they have the second most important job (besides the tank).

Group Two (Tank/Non-FM Group)

• Guardian/Warden
  
• Captain/Healer (with tank)
  
• Captain/DPS (with main group)
  
• Healer (with main group)
  
• DPS
  
• DPS

The tank's group will have the tank and the tank's healer, in addition to whoever else is not in the FM group. This group will not be together. The tank and his healer will be at the top with Draigoch's head while the remaining 4 members will be with the FM group below at Draigoch's claws.

[Calding]

Inside the Lair

Before the Fight
The day of the raid, once you enter, there will be several steps before you even fight the Great Wyrm himself. Make sure to be familiar with the following before the raid starts.

After Draigoch gives his opening speech, the raid will need to run a gauntlet through his fire breath. Like Smaug, Draigoch will emit a glow from his eyes when he is searching for prey. This will be shown by a beam of light through a series of holes. When an area is lit up, Draigoch is looking that way. Do not run past when this happens! Wait between the openings in the wall for him to move, then run past. Exercise caution. Slow and steady here is better than moving quickly. If needed, only move 1 space at a time, and wait for him to switch. Important: Let the healers go last through the gauntlet and do not release. A healer can rez a downed player, so if they wait until last, this assures that people need not start over and run all the way through.

Once through the gauntlet, the raid must stand on a cracked stone so it collapses, leading into the main raid area. Follow the circular path around to a treasure chest.

Do not touch the chest! It is not a deed item - it starts the fight!

Use the area near the chest as a staging area for the raid. It is here that the leader will assign roles and swap groups around for the optimum experience. It is here also that Hope Tokens and Lore Scrolls will be read, as well as all buffs applied. Many leaders take a break here for people to go AFK and take a bio break, grab a drink or a snack, etc. Once the fight starts, it can be roughly an hour from start to finish, with no extended breaks. Please take care of anything that may be an issue before starting the fight. If for any reason you might have to leave within the next hour, it is generally best to step out of the raid and let someone fill your spot. If you drop during the fight, that position can not be filled mid-raid, so the group will be short for the remainder of the battle.

When all are ready, everyone but the tank and tank's healer should head down to the next floor and prepare to fight Draigoch's Claws. Once in position, the tank will click the treasure chest and Draigoch will give a speech.

[Calding]

The Strategy

Phase One - 100% to 75% health
Phase one starts when the treasure chest is clicked and is health-gated until Draig takes about a quarter of his maximum health. This phase is the easiest, but the phase in which most of the important things get done.

Up Top (Tank)
The tank and healer will be up top as the fight starts. The healer should be away from the opening where Draigoch is, off to the side. Keep the tank within healing range, but not too close to where you are taking damage - the tank is the only one with you up there and he certainly will not be able to rez you.

The tank's job is, surprisingly, more of a "lookout" role than a normal tank role. You simply have to stand up there and keep Draigoch distracted, and watch his movements. You are not trying to aggro him. Aggroing Draigoch means you will take massive amounts of damage. The specific "tells" for Draigoch's movements are listed below in the Tank role section. Your job is to track his movements and follow him to keep the head busy while the DPS group looses his footing below. You must also relay Draigoch's movements to the DPS group so they know where to go as well. Every minute or so, Draigoch will fly up and move left or right, so you must follow him left or right accordingly. Again, the tells are linked below in the Role section.

The DPS group will cause Draigoch to "flop" to the ground at times. During this flop, the tank and healer need to head back to the starting position. The starting position will always be on the West side of the ring and the treasure chest that starts the fight will be there as a reminder.

Down Below (DPS/FM)
The DPS group's job is to take out Draigoch's claws, causing him to lose his footing, allowing the raid to strike him while he is down. Everyone will move together and stack in melee range on one claw at a time. After each claw kill, the group will move as one to the next claw and repeat.

Every minute or so, Draigoch will fly up and the tank will tell you where he is going. The group will head in the proper direction and continue where they left off - the claws will still have the same health from when the raid attacked them - until all four claws are down. At this point, Draigoch will flop to the ground, opening him up for attack.

The Flop (DPS/FM)
While he is down, the FM group will be executing their FMs. A few important things must happen to assure this proceeds as normal. Firstly, absolutely no stuns on Draigoch's Body. Any attack that has a stun component can mess up the FM group by making him immune. Secondly, group two should hold DPS until the leader says to attack. All skills have a small chance to trigger an FM, and if the non-FM group accidentally triggers an FM, that means waiting 20s before another can be done.

The FM group should hopefully trigger 2 FMs per flop. The FM leader will post the correct order, so make sure you know what you are going to hit beforehand. You will have about 20 seconds between FMs to memorize this. A missed click is a failed FM, prolonging the fight. If all goes according to plan, all 12 FMs can be completed before phase 3. This is the goal, so DPS very slowly.

The flop lasts exactly 75 seconds. When Draigoch gets up, the group should run northwest into the tunnels, up the ramp to the position they started at. From there, rinse and repeat the claw-DPS, moving, and flopping until Phase 3.


Phase Two - 75% to 50% health
If all is going well, the FM group should be at least halfway done by the time Draigoch hits 75% health. The music will change, indicating Phase Two. Draigoch also has callouts for Phase Two, but they tend to not work as intended. The music is the primary means to tell. The goal in Phase Two is to complete all the FMs. It is not the end of the world if this doesn't happen, but it assures a faster Phase Three if it is done this way.

Up Top (Tank)
The tank and healer continue their dance with Draigoch in the same manner. The only difference is that the tells change. Again, these tells are linked later, in the Roles section. Be sure to note how they differ from the Phase One tells. Draig has a nasty damage he does to the raid below this time around, so be quick about moving.

Down Below (DPS/FM)
Phase 2 is exactly the same as Phase 1 for the claw-DPS portion with the exception of taking damage when Draig flies up and moves.

The Flop (DPS/FM)
Phase 2 is exactly the same as Phase 1 for the flop portion. Try to finish all 12 FMs before Phase 3. If all FMs are done, the flops will be used for all out DPS. Use everything you've got. Minstrels use Song of Aid, Captains use Oathbreakers, apply every debuff known to man and hobbit and do as much damage as possible.

Phase Three - 50% to death
Usually about the time the group finishes all 12 FMs, Phase 3 starts. This means everyone will be down on the ground, fighting Draigoch raid-to-dragon. He calls out to "stand and fight" when the phase changes. Do not run back into the tunnels when this happens or you will die.

The Tank
Immediately upon Phase 3 starting, the tank should jump off the cliff, down into the treasure with everyone else. The tank will be at Draigoch's head, opposite the DPS at Draigoch's tail and feet. The tank again will just keep Draigoch busy. This time around, there are no callouts, though. When he flies up, head to the tail with the main group. Watch for the whirlwinds (described in the Roles section) after he flies up. You will need to head opposite of the side where the whirlwinds are, as that is where his head will end up.

The Tank's Healer
The tank's healer still has the same job - they must stay to the side and keep the tank alive. This time, it is complicated a bit, as one side of the arena will be on fire. Make sure to be on the side that is not on fire. To assure this happens, follow the tank away from the whirlwinds and keep within heal range, but not far enough to take damage from Draig's head, as per usual.

Alternately, some healers move with the DPS group at this phase. If this is the case, the DPS group will likely need to adjust their claw rotation so healers can move close enough to the tank at times to throw a few heals.

The DPS Group
The DPS has the same role as well - take out Draig's claws. This time, there is fire to complicate matters. Make sure to stay out of any fire. The fire is pretty far reaching and quite particular about placement, so stay back and ranged attack if absolutely necessary. Err on the side of caution during this phase because Draig has one-shot abilities now.

When DPSing, instead of being in front of the claws like when in the tunnels, the group will want to stack behind the heel of the claw they are DPSing. Draig can swing his head down and kill a whole group if they are too far forward. Staying at the heel (or further when ranging) assures that people will stay alive.

When Draigoch flies up, get to where his tail was. This is a safe spot from his fire. A dark "cool spot" indicates where to stand to avoid the fire. Two whirlwinds will spawn to either the left or right, indicating where Draigoch's tail will be. Naturally, the DPS group wants to be behind Draigoch, so they will go towards the whirlwinds.

Once all claws are down, Draigoch flops as usual.

The Flop
By this time, if not all FMs are done, get them done! Afterwards, DPS like there's no tomorrow. The tank and tank's healer will be able to join the fight now as well, so they can go full DPS too. Use absolutely everything as the raid's disposal and get that lizard down! After each flop, where his head is lying is where the tail will be, so always move left from his stomach.

Usually it takes two to three flops once in Phase 3 to deal enough damage to kill Draigoch. Once his morale hits zero, he will fly up one last time and give a speech. This is the raid's cue to hit the road. Flee back into the tunnels and stand back, because Draigoch is extremely pissed at being beaten and will one-shot anyone who sticks around to see what he does next.

At this point, congratulations are in order and loot can be divided among the raid members.

[Calding]

Roles
There are a few specific things to note for individual classes. Read the tips for your class or role below and make sure to know them.

The Tank
The tank must know a series of "tells" that Draigoch will utilize to indicate where he is going. The tank must run to the correct spot, or Draigoch will do massive damage to everyone, in addition to breathing fire on the tank.

In Phase 1, Draigoch's head will move left-to-right or right-to-left. If Draigoch's moves around to the right, that means he will be moving left, so run around left (clockwise). If he does the opposite, moving left, he is going right, so move right (counterclockwise). A Youtube video (here) illustrates this for one side. It is the reverse for the other side. Always go the opposite way that Draigoch goes during Phase 1. Also important, you must let the group know what you are doing. If you go left, the group will need to know, so tell them through chat or on mic.

In Phase 2, Draigoch will indicate his movements with his claws. A video (here) illustrates the claw motion. At 0:45 in the video, you will see Draigoch put his left claw on the platform (the person who made the video circles the claw with his cursor to show the sign more clearly). This means to go left. The opposite is also true. When Draigoch puts his right claw on the platform, that means to go right. Again, you must let the group know what you are doing, so tell them through chat or on mic.

In Phase 3, the Tank will need to be on the ground with the rest of the group, but opposite to them. The group will be at the tail, and the tank at the head again. Draigoch's "tell" for this is a whirlwind effect after he flies up. The tank will want to head to the main group and wait for the whirlwind to appear. When it does, the tank will need to go to the side where that whirlwind is. The group will head the opposite way. The group will be together, so there usually isn't a callout in this phase, but someone should identify the whirlwind's location.


The FM Leader
When Draigoch goes down, that's the chance to strike him with Fellowship Maneuvers. The FM Leader is in charge of making sure the correct FMs get done in order. The proper order can be seen about halfway down the page in this link (here). The FM Leader should either memorize the order, write it down, or macro it via LotRO's /shortcut and /alias systems (not covered here).


The FM Starter
If you are the raid's FM Starter, make sure to trait for maximum FM output. This means slotting 5 red traits, the red Legendary trait, and Exposed Throat for Burglars, and slotting To The King and Final Straw for Guardians. A Captain in the FM group could go 4 deep in the yellow line for an FM bonus to Kick.


The Healer
Healers in Draigoch focus mainly on AoE healing. Many of Draigoch's attacks will hit everyone in the group, so healing a lot of people at one time is priority. If someone is taking more damage than others, focus on them for a time, but keep your primary concern to AoE healing.

In-combat rezzes are important, so be wary of using them. Save them for an absolute emergency - your leader will tell you when to rez and when not to. In most cases, if someone dies, you can simply wait it out and rez them during a non-combat period.


The Captain
Captains should follow the same rules as the healer - throw as many AoE heals as possible. Revealing Mark will ease the burden of the main healers greatly. It is also imperative that the Captain save his rezzes for dire emergencies. The leader will let you know when to rez and when not to. Save those long cooldowns for reviving a healer or the tank. Oathbreakers make the Phase 3 DPS race go faster.


Everyone Except Tank and Tank's Healer
Everyone should always follow the DPS assist and always stack up together. Even ranged attackers should get in melee range. This helps spread the damage out rather than stragglers getting one-shotted.

[Calding]

Things to Remember
This is a lot to remember, so here's a quick summary to ease what may seem like a lot to handle.

1. Don't Panic - Even if something goes wrong, do not panic. Panic wipes groups. Draigoch is surprisingly very forgiving if the group sticks to the plan and keeps cool. If someone dies, just hang around and recover. Groups can lose half their members and still recover and get everyone revived, healed, and ready to go, but you must remain calm.
   
   
2. Listen to your Leader(s) - This goes hand-in-hand with not panicking. The leader will know what to do in case of emergency, so keep your eyes and ears open for instructions. This also means keeping quiet in mic chat so the leader's instructions can get through. There will be periods where the group can socialize and keep the mood light, but be mindful of whether the leader is trying to
   
   
3. Follow and Stack, the Dragon Slayer's mantra - The whole fight relies on basically 2 principles - following the leader, and stacking atop one another. If everyone sticks together, the fight will go very nicely. If not, people will get lost, spread out, killed, or all three, which is very bad.
   
   
4. "If you are on fire, you are wrong!" - There will be a lot of fire on the floor during this raid. Make sure to watch to see if you are roasting. A DoT effect appears under the power bar, you will hear the sizzle of cooking meat, you will be visually aflame, your morale will be steadily dropping, and your leader will most likely be having a fit. If this is not enough indication to adjust where you are standing, you will die.
   
   
5. Have Fun, Kick Ass, and Eat Dragon for Dinner!

[Blazedancer]

just bumping this post