How to Kill Moroes and Friends in Karazhan

So you've killed the Huntsman and are moving on to Moroes. This fight is more forgiving in terms of gear, but it's more demanding in terms of coordination and execution.

There's a lot going on. If people know what to do and they execute their jobs, it will go smoothly. Failure to do so will result in many headaches.

In short, the fight goes like this. A tank and off-tank pick up Moroes. The adds are crowd controlled and/or killed. Garrotes are cleared or healed through. With proper execution, Moroes dies and loots are collected.

Controlling the Adds

Moroes comes with four friends - and controlling these adds is one of the most important aspects of the fight.

You'll end up with a random selection from six possible adds. Check wowwiki if you want full details, but here's how to deal with them.

First, assess your control possibilities. Shackle is perfect, and Freezing Trap is a good short term solution. They are vulnerable to root effects and stuns, so kiting and stun-locking are very possible. Finally, you do have two tanks, right? They can hold on to one or two.

The biggest threat of the bunch is Dorothea Millstipe. She has a nasty mana burn - interrupt it at all costs. Kill her first, no matter what. This is a good place to use a kiter (Frost Mage/Hunter/Shaman) or a stun-lock crew (two Rogues are fine).

Baron Rafe Dreuger should go down second. He will stun his current target, which can make controlling him problematic. Use some temporary crowd control (Freezing Trap or Turn Evil) to keep him busy until he is up to be killed.

Lord Robin Daris is the third major threat. He Mortal Strikes and Whirlwinds. It's simplest to keep him crowd controlled the whole time - use your shackle here. If you can't permanently control him, kill him after Rafe and Millstipe.

The other three adds are no big deal. You can either crowd control them, if you have enough, or have the tanks pick them up until the initial kill targets are down. The tanks just need to generate enough threat to keep above the healers - the DPS can kite them around when it's time to kill.

Important Note: If you use Turn Evil, there is a chance that a mob will run outside the room and reset the encounter. Eugh. Use this as a last (and temporary) resort for crowd control.

Pulling and Tanking Moroes

There should be two tanks assigned to Moroes. He will periodically Gouge the main tank, causing him to turn around and smack the second target on the threat list. Hopefully this is your off-tank and not a squishy healer.

The pull should be initiated by one of the two tanks, so that it is easier to gather up any loose adds. Once the pull is made, kiters and crowd controllers can pick up their targets.

Moroes doesn't hit very hard, so the off-tank should be wearing gear optimized for threat. He or she won't be tanking for long, and it's more important to stay above the DPS on the aggro table.

Dealing with Garrote and Blind

After the adds, the most important part of this fight is dealing with Garrote and Blind.

Every so often, Moroes will randomly blind someone in melee range. Just like the Rogue's ability, this temporarily disorients them. It's a poison, so it is curable. It should always be cured if it hits the off-tank. If not, it's possible for both tanks to be immobilized (Gouge and Blind), letting Moroes run rampant through the squishies.

Moroes will also periodically vanish and Garrote someone. This leaves the person with a long and mildly painful bleed effect. You now have two options: clear it or heal through it.

There are several options for clearing the Garrote. Mages can Ice Block, Dwarves can Stoneform, and Paladins can Divine Shield. Paladins can also clear another person's Garrote with Blessing of Protection.

At least one Blessing of Protection should be saved for the healers. They will be necessary to heal through the Garrote on other raid members, so you don't want to lose them.

If a person cannot clear the Garrote and there are no Blessing of Protections left, there is no alternative but to heal through it. It deals 1k damage per tick, every three seconds. This is easily dealt with by a Druid or Priest using HoTs, but a Paladin can rotate through the targets and use Flash of Light to keep them up.

Important Note: Do not clear the Garrote off the main tank. The damage increase is minimal, but it will help reduce the impact of the Gouges. Gouge breaks on damage, so a Garrote will guarantee that the tank is out of commission for no more than three seconds.

Collect Loots and Move On

When Moroes hits 30%, he enrages. He does a bit more damage. No big deal... just keep killing.

Once he is dead, you'll want to kill any adds that are remaining. Then loot and hope you got your Lucky Pocket Watch and Mongoose Enchant.

To recap, there are two key elements in the fight.

First, the adds must be controlled and killed quickly so that the raid can focus its attention on Moroes.

Second, Garrotes must be dealt with. Clear them off everyone but the main tank when possible. Keep the healers alive at all costs. Use HoTs to heal through the Garrotes that can't be cleared.

Do this, and you're golden. It is simply a matter of execution, and a little bit of luck.

Once you've got Moroes down, why don't you read up on some other Karazhan boss strategies and move on to the Maiden of Virtue.