World of Warcraft

Onyxia is a difficult boss, but also the source of much end-game loot for many epic weapon quests. She also has a chance of dropping the tier 2 helm of any class.

Onyxia's lair has only a handful of NPC's in it; a few dragonkin guards that guard the short pathway to the main lair. Kill these with a coordinated burst of stunning, high damage and keeping casters back.

Onyxia can be divided into three stages.

First Stage: Have the main tank make the run down to greet Onyxia, followed by the remainder of the raid. It is best to have the raid form two groups on the back wall on either side of the main tank. This helps to avoid her frontal swipes and flame breath as well as any tail swipes she uses. It is important and sometimes a challenge to keep focus on the main tank, but hopefully he has enough fire resistance to stay up. Once roughly one third of her health is gone this easy stage is over.

Second Stage: Onyxia will take off into the air, flying high above everyone and situating herself in the northern area. In addition, her little dragon whelps will hatch and begin to swarm in intermittently. Her primary attack during this phase is to fire large bolts of fire everywhere. For this reason, many find it smart to have the raid fan out around the room and avoid a fireball hitting more than 1 person, if any. The tanks should concern themselves with protecting the casters and eliminating the whelps. After another third (or so) of her health depletes she will again land.

Third Stage: The third stage is the hardest, and if a group wipes it is likely from this stage. In addition to some straggling dragon whelps, Onyxia now has an attack which AoE Fears everyone in the room, causing bursts of fire to shoot up from between the ridges in the floor. Walking through a wall of fire hurts you, and such an ability is used very often. Controlling the surround chaos is key here. Focus on downing Onyxia's health and keeping the main tanks up and holding focus. Raid leaders main institute the use of macros designed to designate "No DPS", "Light DPS" and "Heavy DPS" variations to help the tank hold Onyxia's focus.

Eventually, hopefully, Onyxia will die, and your group will jump around cheering. Onyxia can be skinned, yielding leather that can be used to make 18-slot bags and cloaks. One person can loot the Head of Onyxia, which can be turned in at Stormwind/Orgrimmar. The hanging of the head exudes a buff to the entire city called the "Rallying Call of the Dragonslayer" which is a great boon in combat. Many guilds will defeat Onyxia prior to another instance or battleground to gain an edge. In Stormwind, the head will be chained up under an archway to the left of the main pathway into the city. In Orgrimmar, Onyxia's head is placed on a pike near the entrance.

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