Healing Ahune: A Priest Primer

Post by Osprey

Picture Credit: WoWHead, by zenvirus

Good morning, Class. Today, we’re going to skip the discussion of the Midsummer Fire Festival. If you need a refresher on any of the details, I encourage you to read Professor Dwarf Priest’s most excellent treatise on the Festival.

Instead we are going to focus on how to keep your party alive while combating the evil elemental lord of ice.

Last things first: Healing this fight on heroic is identical to healing on normal, except worse. There seem to be more adds (although I’ve never had time to count them), and more spikes (more on spikes in a moment). However, I haven’t had the opportunity to heal a heroic Ahune since defeating him on normal mode.

This fight has two phases, which repeat. If you don’t have Ahune down by the end of the third cycle, Elune help you. You are not ready. (This goes double if you have a Frost Mage in your group: Ahune and his minions are immune to frost. Go figure.)

In the first phase, after an eligible party member summons (challenges) him, a rock (ice) elemental elite emerges. The main tank fights him, and you may or may not have melee DPS on the elite as well. In addition to the elite, two or three smaller elementals emerge, in several waves. These smaller elementals have only about 2K health, and should be taken out easily by ranged (or melee) DPS. AOE can work, but fast- or instant-cast spells may be more effective. If your tank is a Paladin, she should be Consecrating at every opportunity.

Once the elite is down, phase two begins as Ahune’s Core emerges. It’s a bright blue object in the center of where Ahune appears. As soon as the core appears, everyone must focus fire on the core. "Everyone" includes you, my little priestly snowflake. (Umm…DPS should be sure all the mini-elementals have been dispatched; I almost died in one fight due to this oversight.)

Everyone should be using, not their highest damage attack, but their highest DPS attack: The core takes 4 times more damage in this phase, and it only lasts a few seconds. For Priests, this means Smite. Spam that sucker. This is your one time to shine in DPS—grab all you can get. However, before you throw up that first Smite, launch your Shadow Fiend. If you can be at or very close to full mana when the second cycle starts, you will probably be able to successfully heal your group through the entire fight.

By the end of phase two (first cycle), Ahune should be below 50 percent. If he isn’t, kill faster in the second cycle, because in the third cycle, you get MORE adds than in the first two. It really sucks to have him down to 2 percent at the end of the second cycle and not prevail, because the adds wiped you in the third cycle.

So that’s pretty much how the fight looks from where you run. Notice I didn’t say from where you stand, because if you stand still, two things will happen (and probably a very undesirable third): You will draw a lot of aggro as you heal, and you will be tossed into the air as ice spikes appear and explode under you.

Speaking of those spikes: Supposedly, you have 3 seconds to move once it appears. I think it’s more like you have 1 to 3 seconds. And here’s a tip: Stay as much as possible towards the left-center of the combat area. The reason for this is, the spikes don’t throw you straight up. If you hang out on the right edge, you will be thrown into the water. That means for 10-20 seconds as you flail around in your robes, trying not to drown, your party is without your healing.

Alright, so how, exactly, do you heal this fight? Carefully, my friends, carefully. This is the most mana-intensive fight I’ve ever done. I never go OOM; in this fight, I am almost always under 1K mana at the end of the fight (unless I just popped a second mana pot as the cooldown was up). 

First, Prayer of Mending: Use it every time the cooldown is up. Even if you cast it on yourself, fire that frisbee every single opportunity you have. Having said that, you can probably guess what’s next: Renew. Cast it on everyone as often as you can. It should be enough most of the time. Next, Flash Heal. For your ranged DPS especially, this should be enough (if you’re doing the first two things I mentioned). No it’s not our most mana-efficient spell. But it’s quicker than a Greater Heal. Finally, Binding Heal. If you have to heal yourself, try to use a binding heal. Even if no one else needs it, bind the tank or melee DPS. Binding heal takes a bit to cast; try to heal two people with it. Chances are good your target will take damage before the cast completes, so you’ve probably topped off someone’s health.

This fight isn’t about efficiency, it’s about time, and you don’t get a lot of it. If you’re just starting a Greater Heal when one of those spikes lands by you, guess what? No heal, and you’re flying through the air. Those are Bad Things. If you have to cast a lengthy heal, make it a Flash. Of course, there’s an exception: Your tank (and possibly melee DPS) will take spike damage (no, not from the ice spikes, but from an AOE from the elemental). If your renews and flashes are going well, you might be able to get by with Flash or Binding heals; chances are, though, you WILL have to toss in the occasional GH. 

If When you are tossed by an ice spike, don’t admire the scenery. You can’t cast while flying so try to figure out what you need to do as soon as you land. Did someone just take spike damage? What’s YOUR health? (Spikes cause a bit of damage, but shouldn’t be critical.) Where are you going to land? If it’s going to be close to the right side, be ready to move towards the center. Toss a PoM as soon as you land and pick a Renew target too (perhaps yourself). The point is, make the interruption to your healing as short as humanly possible (or whatever race you may be). 

By now, you’ve probably figured out you’re going to be doing a lot of healing. (Did I mention you’re going to use a lot of mana? It’s not for those Smites in phase two, believe me.) You’ve used your Shadow Fiend in phase two of the first cycle; it’s not going to be available again in the fight. You know your rate of mana use and regeneration best, but I would suggest you pot in the second cycle as soon as you know it will fill you up. The first 90 seconds of the cooldown won’t be a problem, but those last 30 seconds could last forever. And if (Elune forbid!) you should go to a third cycle, you will probably have to pot again.

Oh yeah…I almost forgot… Quick quiz: What happens when you do lots and lots of healing? You there in the second row…yes, you…RIGHT!! You draw aggro!! And as we all know, aggro on a clothie is a Very Bad Thing. Use Fade, Power Word: Shield, and Psychic Scream as much as and as often as you need. And you WILL need to use them all! Unfortunately, adds will escape the tank and DPS folks and they WILL make a beeline to you. You will almost always see them coming, so you should have time to react with Fade and/or Shield, and if those aren’t available, Scream. If all else fails, run to your tank. I’ve heard prayer helps too.

Now if you’ve followed my suggestions closely, you should be able to take down Ahune. And I hope and pray that you don’t get The Frost Lord’s War Cloak five times in a row, as my groups did.