Hello and welcome to the Onyxia guide from learn2playwow.com.
Onyxia is a 3 phased encounter that is very similar to the level 60 version of this boss.
In phase 1 the boss is grounded and behaves in many ways like Sapphiron from Naxxramas. Get to close to the front of the boss and you will get cleaved. Stay at the back and you will get a tail swipe. Thus, melee should dps from the sides.
If a melee does get tail swiped he will usually end up among whelps. This is not ideal because too many whelps can cause problems, so try to avoid that. Still, if tail swiped you need to quickly get back to the group where the offtank can pick up the whelps and the other dps can help take them down.
Phase 2 begins when Onyxia reaches 65% health. At this point she will lift herself up and will start hovering above the raid. Melee dps will no longer be able to attack her thus they will focus on adds. Ranged can still dps Onyxia.
The most important mechanic of this phase is the Flame Breath ability. You will need to quickly notice which way Onyxia is facing and move out of the way. Pay attention to the default warning “Onyxia takes a deep breath”.
You will have to deal with two types of adds. The whelps and the Lair Guards. Since the melees can’t really dps the boss they should try to focus on these adds. You will need 2, 3 tanks if you wanna be safe, as the whelps can easily get out of control and the Lair Guards need a dedicated tank.
The Lair Guards can be disarmed and should be dpsed down quickly by melees. However what’s really important to notice about them is their Blast Nova aoe attack. Do not underestimate the 10 yard range of this attack.
If you are a melee dps-in the Lair Guard then you should notice the cast bar and move out range in time. Ranged and healers that are not dps-ing the Lair Guards should always stay at 10 yards + from them.
As around 40 whelps spawn every 90 seconds it is important to aoe dps them efficiently. Classes that don’t have good mass aoe abilities should stay on the Lair Guards. Classes with good mass aoe should focus on the whelps. Rogues will be very effective with Fan of Knives, Mages can cast Blizzard and Boomkins can use Hurricane. Dk’s can round up the aoe attacks with Death and Decay and Pestilence.
Phase 3 begins when Onyxia reaches 40% Hp and lands. Since the boss retains the abilities used in phase 1, play this phase like you played in phase 1. However this time there will be a couple of new abilities that you will need to deal with.
Most notably Onxia will periodically fear the entire raid. Feared healers coupled with a feared tanks can wipe the raid. Warrior tanks can break out of fear using berserker rage. However, for the healers the situation is a bit more complicated. You can have fear ward refreshed as phase 3 starts and you can also use tremor totem. Additionally all healers can try to place some hots on the tank.
If you do have 2 - 3 tanks still alive at this stage then you shouldn’t be too concerned as if one of them dies then the other can pick up the boss.
During this phase you will also notice the lava erupting from the cracks in the floor. Players will take a manageable 5k damage if hit.
This has been a guide from learn2playwow.com , thanks for watching.