This is a World of Warcraft classic guide for Viscidus who is an optional boss in the 40-man raid, The Temple of Ahn’Qiraj (AQ40).
Overview
Viscidus is a giant slime with a couple of interesting mechanics which were new to wow at the time of release.
Viscidus is one of the few encounters where Horde have a distinct advantage over Alliance due to Shaman’s being able to cleanse poison on their entire party at once when they drop a poison cleansing totem.
Similar to Huhuran, Viscidus will require the raid to prepare nature resist sets as well as frost damage sets prior to the raid.
We also use 20 or more engineers to trivialise the encounter when Viscidus breaks apart. More detail below.
Abilities
Slimy: All damage done to Viscidus is reduced by 50%
Poison Shock: Instant AoE ability that deals 1200 Nature damage to everyone within 15 yards of the boss. This ability occurs every 10-12 seconds and can be mitigated with nature resist gear.
Poison Bolt Volley: Another instant AoE ability that will hit everyone in the room for 1500 Nature damage and apply a poison DoT spell that does 500 nature damage every 2 seconds over 10 seconds (total 2500 damage). This ability gets cast every 10 seconds and can be mitigated with nature resist gear. The DoT spell can be cleansed.
Toxin Clouds: Viscidus shoots a single poison bolt out at a random target every 30-40 seconds. This spawns a toxic cloud at that location. Everyone within the cloud will take 1500 nature damage every 2 seconds and their movement speed will be slowed by 40%. This damage is non-resistible and the clouds will slowly move around the room for a short time before de-spawning.
Freezing Viscidus
Viscidus has a unique weakness in that he is vulnerable to frost attacks. When he has been hit by 200 frost damage abilities he will freeze solid.
Viscidus will use the following emotes which indicate different stages as to how close he is to being frozen solid.
"Viscidus begins to slow."– Will occur after 100 frost attacks. The boss’s movement and attack speed are reduced by 15%. If the next emote isn’t achieved within 15 seconds, the boss will thaw back to normal.
"Viscidus is freezing up."- Will occur after another 50 frost attacks. The boss’s movement and attack speed are reduced by 30%. If the next emote isn’t achieved within 15 seconds, the boss will thaw back to the previous stage of freezing.
"Viscidus is frozen solid." - Will occur after another 50 frost attacks. Viscidus is frozen and can no-longer move, attack or use any of his abilities.
Shattering Viscidus
Now that Viscidus is frozen, he must be shattered before he thaws out.
In order to achieve this, the entire raid (including casters/healers/hunters) will need to melee the boss. 75 melee attacks are required.
When enough melee attacks have been dealt Viscidus will explode into small slimes around the room. One slime will spawn for every 5% of HP Viscidus has remaining. These slimes do not attack of deal damage.
The slimes will begin to move into the centre of the room, starting slow then gaining speed over time. Once they reach the centre they will form as Viscidus again. Viscidus will lose 5% of his max HP for every slime that is killed before reaching the centre.
Each slime has around 12k HP and only killing one completely, results in Viscidus losing HP.
Viscidus can only be killed when he is shattered under 5% HP.
Strategy
Positioning / Group Assignments
The boss should be tanked in the middle of the room with the ranged groups spread out in group specific positions in a semi-circle around the boss. Druids/Shamans/Paladins will need to be assigned to cleansing poison off specific groups.
Melee will need to be in full nature resist gear (atleast 200 unbuffed). They will also need to be using frost oil on their weapons to contribute to the total number of frost attacks.
The ranged groups should be wearing any high-quality NR gear they have available.
The Fight
Everyone should be on their mounts and run in after the main tank. The main tank should move Viscidus to the centre of the room while the raid gets into good positions.
It is the goal of the raid to freeze and shatter Viscidus as fast as possible. Therefore mages should be casting rank 1 frost bolts, warlocks should be using frost damage wands as well as healers (when there is no healing to be done). Melee should also be using frost oil combined with weapons that deal frost damage procs.
When Viscidus has been frozen solid then the raid can fall in and start melee attacks. When Viscidus shatters into smaller slimes, the raid needs to be in the centre of the room.
The small slimes will start to move towards the centre and once they are in range all engineers will need to use a goblin sapper charge and all classes should use any instant-cast AOE abilities they have.
If done correctly the raid should have killed the majority of the slimes and Viscidus will be left with less than 10% hp. At this point the raid will need to focus on freezing and shattering Viscidus once more to defeat him.
If the raid does not have enough engineers to deal the damage required then a different approach needs to be taken where 3-4 assigned groups each assist a player with the aim of single-target damage to kill one slime every time there is a split. This means 3-4 slimes should die each split and Viscidus will take 3-4 phases freeze/shatter phases to finally kill, making the fight longer and more difficult.
Good luck!
Notes:
- A single poison bolt signals the landing point for a toxin cloud. Keep an eye out for these and you can pre-emptively move out.
- If you don’t have enough classes that can cleanse poison then an alternative is to have melee groups stay outside of the room to avoid poison bolt volleys. They can then come in when Viscidus is frozen solid.
- Only 205 Engineering skill is required to be able to use Goblin Sapper Charges. It is a worthwhile investment to be able to cheese the encounter in this way.
- There are also plenty of videos online to put things into perspective.
Good Luck!
~Sanctus