Phase 1: Pre-fight

It can be good to hold the Jormungar off to one side, or to sheep an add and use this period to arrange your groups for phase 2.

Each week we hold off on starting the fight in order to confirm positioning. Everyone has done it, but there's always a bit of variance and it helps to make sure you're set up optimally.

Phase 2: Arena/Tunnel

Your group splits into two clumps, but the tunnel's DPS matters more than normal since you need to make a tight timer.

The Tunnel

Bring 1-2 healers, 1-2 tanks, and 7-8 dps. We prefer to bring 2 healers, 2 tanks, using 1-2 plate DPS as "DPS tanks" (helping to pick up mobs but in full DPS gear and DPS spec.)

These "DPS tanks" can be helping in either the tunnel or the arena (or both.)

Your tank(s) in the tunnel need to pull aggressively: be ready to have more mobs in camp so the dps never have to stop dps'ing.

Don't bother tanking the acolytes: they spend most of their time casting and ranged can handle them even when they're not.

Acolytes always need to die first.

If you're using two tanks (or a tank and a plate DPS), two healers like we do:

When the second trash pack is being killed, a tank should go up and get the first miniboss. This stops him from sending his boulders down the sides at the raid and means the DPS can switch seamlessly to killing him.

Once the second miniboss is dead, one tank pulls the trash and the other goes up top with a healer to start building threat on the second miniboss.

Once everything is dead, you need to trigger thorim before the timer wears off. If the timer is tight, you can use sprint and blink, or you can hit him with a spell from range. All you need to do is aggro him.

The Arena

We only use one full tank in the arena, but we have at least one plate DPS who is helping to pick up the smaller adds.

The full tank picks up the Warbringers and Champions, making sure to tank them in the middle to keep their whirlwind away from your healers and ranged classes.

Our arena tank uses a top-down view, camera zoomed way out, and picks off the incoming mobs he needs to tank with his mouse. This is far faster than tab-targetting.

A DPS DK or Warrior can help pick up the other mobs, keeping them off squishier melee and healers.

Healers should make sure they don't all stand on one side: Stormhammer hitting all healers at once may cause a wipe.

Prefer using instant-cast healers in the arena, since they're unaffected by Stormhammer.

Remember that the center is safe from the AE effects, and clumping in the center can increase the healing from AE heals: but if you keep everyone in the middle, your healers need to be extra-careful not to get whirlwinded.

Phase 3: Boss

Thorim Hard Phase 3 Positioning

This is the meat of the fight.

Your raid needs to be in tight clumps around the room: ideally no more than three in each clump.

At the start

Make sure your DPS first kills any adds left up.

Positioning

Hold off one mob that you don't kill in Phase 0 to work out positioning before the clock starts ticking. We do this each week because attendance changes slightly each time.

The mind-controlling priests can clump up and avoid all lightning charges.

The group near the tunnel entrance should be the main tank healers: they can back up slightly, right at Blizzard range, and have only very small movements to make, if any, for Lightning charge.

The two groups near the priests have a very small space in which they can be to avoid having Blizzard on them and simultaneously avoid chaining lightning to the melee/tanks.

Lightning Charge

When melee gets a lightning charge in their area, they run to the other clump and then run back as fast as possible, hoping that Chain Lightning doesn't go off in the meantime (it rarely does.)

Ranged go sideways and stand behind another group -- not too close however, you don't want to increase their clump for chain lightning. It doesn't matter which group you stand behind, just get out of charge and away from someone else (unless it's the 1-2 spriest clump, you can stand with them.)

Tanks just stand there, as do your mind controlling priests.

Blizzard

Ranged need to try to avoid it.

Most of the positions will do so easily. The ones near Thorim's platform may need to creep up a bit to make sure they're not getting hit.

Frost Nova

Sif will frostnova at her feet. This is important: it means you aren't ever surprised when you're frostnova'd.

She blinks in, pauses a bit, and then casts frostnova.

Be alert: if a group gets nova'd while charge is going out, then need very fast dispells.

Frostbolt Volley

There's not much to this ability other than that it adds to the general raid damage and gib factor. With this positioning strat you don't move that much, so the snare isn't that significant.

Soulstone/Brez tanks

They're probably going to die. It's okay that they die.

If you have multiple warlocks, use a soulstone as soon as P2 looks "solid" on your best-geared tank.

Burn battle rezzes on dead tanks if you need to -- you always want two tanks alive and buffed, since the mechanics of the fight mean it's very easy to lose a tank.