Grim Batol (instance)

Grim Batol
GB, GBD
Location	Grim Batol, Twilight Highlands [19, 54]
End boss	Erudax
Instance info
Type	Dungeon
Advised level	85
Player limit	5
Bosses
General Umbriss Forgemaster Throngus Drahga Shadowburner Erudax (lore) (lore) (lore) (lore) Loot

Grim Batol is a dungeon in the Grim Batol complex revealed in World of Warcraft: Cataclysm.

Background

During a bloody civil war among the three dwarven factions of Ironforge, the Bronzebeards ousted the Wildhammer and the Dark Iron clans from the ancient corridors of the mountain city. In the wake of the defeat, the Wildhammers ventured north and forged a new home, Grim Batol, in the mountains of what is now the Twilight Highlands. However, although they worked tirelessly to create a better future for themselves, the Dark Irons, who established the city of Thaurissan in the Redridge Mountains, could not move beyond the memory of their defeat. Consumed by the desire for revenge and desperate to control the entire dwarven region of Khaz Modan, the Dark Irons led a two-pronged assault on the Bronzebeards in Ironforge and the Wildhammers in Grim Batol. Despite their past differences, these two embattled rivals joined forces and drove the Dark Irons out of Khaz Modan, decimating the armies of the treacherous clan's sorcerer-thane, Thaurissan. Yet victory carried grave consequences. Although Thaurissan's wife and queen, Modgud, was slain during the attack on Grim Batol, her death tainted the mountain fortress. While the Bronzebeards rebuilt their glorious city of Ironforge, the Wildhammers felt forever changed by the horrors they witnessed at Grim Batol. They fled their cursed home and never returned.

The abandoned city's defiled corridors later became home to a number of nefarious plots. When the Demon Soul was discovered by the Dragonmaw clan and used to force Alexstrasza's drakes to serve the Horde, Grim Batol acted as the red Dragon Aspect's torturous prison. The Dragonmaw held Grim Batol through the Second War, before they were driven out by Deathwing, who planned to steal Alexstrasza's eggs. Yet as Deathwing carried out his plan, the Demon Soul was destroyed, and the powers locked within were returned to Alexstrasza, Ysera, Nozdormu, and Malygos. Deathwing narrowly escaped an assault by the four re-empowered Dragon Aspects, although he did not leave empty-handed; in his grasp were the eggs of Alexstrasza. For their vile transgressions, the fleeing Dragonmaw were shown no mercy, and the struggle came to a quick end. Members of the red dragonflight were left behind to keep watch over Grim Batol, and for years they successfully guarded its desolate halls from further intrusion... until the arrival of the Twilight's Hammer, a sinister cult who worshipped Azeroth's malefic Old Gods.

The cult, seduced by Deathwing's thirst for absolute domination over Azeroth, has claimed the Twilight Highlands as its base of operations. The black dragonflight has driven off the agents of the red dragonflight who guarded Grim Batol so that it may be used as a fortress for training Deathwing's minions. The halls of Grim Batol run so deep into the highlands that it is unknown to what twisted end the Twilight's Hammer is using this doomed dwarven marvel.

Called to action by the red dragonflight in the Twilight Highlands, players will be charged with putting a decisive end to the foul machinations developing within the level-85, 5-player dungeon of Grim Batol. The ferocity of the enemies within should not be underestimated, and with the assistance of brave Red Drakes and a handful of explosives, players can thin the ranks of Grim Batol's occupiers through bombing flights into the ruined city's corridors. Regardless of how successful these attacks might be, General Umbriss will not allow his army to fall so quickly. In the end, adventurers will be left to their own devices, venturing into the darkest recesses of the dwarven fortress, where a nightmarish enemy is taking shape. Will you be able to uncover Grim Batol's secrets and emerge unscathed, or will your destiny be sealed within this tortured city, like so many brave heroes before you?

Encounters

Dropping bombs

After several trash mobs, you will mount a dragon and follow a set flight path, dropping bombs on the mobs below to lower their health. After your flight is complete, you will return to where you mounted the dragons and kill the mobs you weakened.

 General Umbriss

Strategy:

This boss is has a fairly simple strategy. After you engage him, he will summon adds partway through the fight, and multiple times after if allowed to do so. Four adds will spawn. Three of these adds (the normal troggs) should be killed, and the fourth (malignant trogg) should be cc'ed or dealt with by an offtank. Killing this trogg near the boss, he will gain a 100% damage bonus (according to wowhead.)Holding the malignant trogg instead of killing it prevents more adds from spawning. At 30% Umbriss goes into a Frenzy- he will get a 50% speed bonus and a 50% damage bonus, but he will stop sumoning adds, even if you kill the malignant trogg. During the encounter, players should avoid General Umbriss's Blitz attack, in which he targets a random player and charges them. This attack causes around 30k in physical damage and makes the player airborne, causing more damage when they land. He will also cast Ground Siege at a random player, causing about 35k in damage and stunning the target.

Attacks:

• Bleeding Wound – General Umbriss savagely attacks his current target, inflicting his normal melee damage and an additional 5550 to 6450 Physical damage every 2 seconds for 10 sec. Healing the afflicted target to above 90% of their maximum health also removes the effect.

• Blitz – General Umbriss sets his eye on the location of a random player, then charges to that location. When Umbriss reaches the location, he inflicts 29250 to 30750 Physical damage and knocks up and away any player within 6 yards.

• Ground Siege – General Umbriss faces the location of a nearby random player, and then unleashes a massive ground tremor towards that location. The tremor inflicts 34125 to 35875 Physical damage and stuns any player within a 20 yard long and 60 degree wide cone for 4 sec.

• Frenzy – When General Umbriss reaches 30% of his remaining health he enters a frenzy, increasing his attack speed by 50% and damage by 50% until the encounter ends.

• Summon Skardyn – General Umbriss periodically calls for the Troggs from the ruins behind him to join the fight. One Malignant Trogg and three Trogg Dwellers leap down and join the fight.

• Malignant Trogg – Malignant Troggs have low health and are cursed with Modgud's Malice.

• Modgud's Malice – When a Malignant Trogg dies, it casts Modgud's Malady on all players within 8 yards. In Heroic Difficulty a dying Malignant Trogg will also cast Modgud's Malice on General Umbriss and Skarydn Dwellers within 8 yards. Modgud's Malice increase General Umbriss' damage by 100% for 20 sec. and transforms Skardyn Dwellers into Malignant Troggs.

• Modgud's Malady – Modgud's Malady inflicts 11700 to 12300 Shadow damage every 2 seconds and reduces the movement speed of the affected player by 50% for 10 sec.In Heroic Difficulty Modgud's Malady stacks up to 10 times.

• Claw Puncture – A Malignant Trogg sinks its claws into its current target, inflicting 487 to 512 Physical damage every 3 seconds for 6 sec. This effect stacks up to 10 times.

• Trogg Dweller – Trogg Dwellers have low health.

• Claw Puncture – A Trogg Dweller sinks its claws into its current target, inflicting 487 to 512 Physical damage every 3 seconds for 6 sec. This effect stacks up to 10 times.

Source: [1]

 Forgemaster Throngus

Strategy:

Strategy is dependant on the weapon he equips. Some general reminders are to avoid the Cave-ins caused by Throngus's Mighty Stomp, and to avoid any ground aoe.

Attacks:

• Mighty Stomp – Throngus stomps his foot on the ground, triggering the walls of Grim Batol to Cave In. Throngus will not Mighty Stomp if he has his shield equipped.

• Cave In – After the Mighty Stomp of Throngus weakens the walls of Grim Batol, pieces of stone begin to fall on top of a player in a 5 radius area. Players who continue to stand in that area take 4750 to 5250 Physical damage every second.

• Pick Weapon – Throngus has several fearsome weapons at his disposal. Periodically during the encounter, he randomly chooses between a massive Shield, a pair of Swords, or a punishing Mace. The chosen weapon grants him new abilities for a short duration of the encounter.

Shield Abilities

• Personal Phalanx – Throngus points his shield at a random player every 10 seconds. Damage dealt to Throngus by a player standing in front of the shield is reduced by 99%.

• Flaming Arrow – While Throngus has a shield equipped, archers constantly fire flaming arrows from overhead windows at random players. Each flaming arrow inflicts 9750 to 10250 Fire damage.

• Flaming Shield – A 60 degree cone of fire erupts forward from Throngus' shield, inflicting 14625 to 15375 Fire damage every second to any enemy target engulfed by the fire.

Swords Abilities

• Dual Blades – Throngus wields a flaming sword in each hand, granting him the ability to attack simultaneously with each weapon. His melee damage is reduced by 20% during this time.

• Thrash – Throngus will occasionally attack an additional two times when he swings his swords.

• Disorienting Roar – Throngus lets loose a tremendous roar, decreasing the attack and cast speeds of players by 115%. Players may remove this effect by casting a spell or using an ability. In Heroic Difficulty Disorienting Roar reduces attack and cast speeds of players by 150%, and each time a player casts a spell or uses an ability the amount of the reduction lowers by 115%.

• Burning Flames – The fiery blades burn the target of Throngus' melee attacks, inflicting 2925 to 3075 Fire damage every 2 seconds for 10 sec. This effect stacks, but a single dispel effect removes all stacks.

Mace Abilities

• Encumbered – The incredibly massive weight of Throngus' mace decreases his movement speed by 70%, but increases his melee attack damage by 200%.

• Impaling Slam – Throngus jumps to a random target, impaling them on his mace and inflicting 7800 to 8200 Physical damage every 1 seconds for 5 sec.

• Lava Patch – As Throngus moves with his fiery mace, he leaves patches of fire on the ground. These patches deal 8287 to 8712 Fire damage every second to any player who stands in them.

Source: [2]

 Drahga Shadowburner

Strategy and attacks:

Phase 1: Caster Phase

• Burning Shadowbolt will be Drahga's primary method of attacking. Those can be interrupted, so if you have an interrupt, you can make your healer's job a little easier.

• The orc will also use Invocation of Flame. This will mark a location on the ground with fire. After a few seconds, a fire elemental will spawn from the flames and will choose a random player, shooting a red beam towards them. All DPS except for the target should quickly switch to the add and slow/snare/stun it, while burning it (pun!). If an Invocation reaches its target, it will explode and likely kill everyone around it.

Phase 2: Dragon Phase

• At 25% Drahga will jump off his platform, summoning Valiona to catch him. You will need to fight the dragon now.

• Keep Valiona near the center of the room, and have everyone stay in her general vicinity. Invocations of Flame will continue to spawn, and they need to handled swiftly like in the first phase.

• Valiona will occasionally use Shredding Swipe on her tank, dropping a puddle-looking rift to the twilight realm on the ground. The tank and everyone else caught in it will be slowed down significantly and should escape quickly, since being targeted by an Invocation of Flame while inside the slowing zone may be deadly.

• Finally, Valiona will use a very wide frontal breath attack, Devouring Flames, that will damage everyone in front of her - not only those in a frontal cone, but everyone in front.

• When Valiona gets low on health, she will drop Drahga on the ground and fly away. Simply finish him off.

Source: [3]

 Erudax

Strategy:

• If you see the boss looking at you, strafe to the side - he will cast Binding Shadows at your location. This will root you in place and heal the boss. And while the roots are a magic debuff and can be removed, there is no reason to heal Erudax.

• Enfeebling Blow will knock your tank some distance back and debuff them with Feeble Body. Backpedal a little bit and simply wait for Erudax to walk back to you.

• Shadow Gale is the big move in this fight. At the beginning of the cast, Erudax will spawn a small purple void zone-looking circle on the ground. Everyone needs to get to it as quickly as possible, as the boss will cast a huge AoE that will likely kill everyone not standing in the circle. For the duration of the AoE, Erudax will take double damage.

• Immediately after the Shadow Gale, Erudax will summon two Faceless Corruptors. Your DPS - and even your tank - needs to be very quick in getting to them and slowing them down. Note that stuns, standard CC, and roots don't work on them - only slowing effects. The two will spawn at the door and split up, walking up to the Twilight Eggs on both sides of the room. Your job is to kill them before they reach the eggs and manage to hatch/corrupt them. If they manage to hatch an egg, you will have to deal with a few unkillable whelps adding unneeded AoE damage to your encounter.

Source: [4]

Attacks:

• Binding Shadows – Erudax launches a mass of Binding Shadows at the location of a random player. When the shadows reach the targeted location, the shadows drain 4875 to 5125 life every 1 second and immobilize every player within 8 yards of the targeted location. Erudax heals for three times the amount of life drained by the shadows.

• Enfeebling Blow – Erudax lashes out with an enfeebling blow, inflicting 75% of normal melee damage, the Feeble Body effect, and massively knocking back his current target.

• Feeble Body – The target of Enfeebling Blow is inflicted with Feeble Body, increasing the damage the player takes by 100% for 3 sec.

• Shadow Gale – Erudax begins to gather shadows at a random location within his room, and then 5 seconds later that location becomes the eye of the Shadow Gale. Erudax channels the storm for 10 sec., and damage dealt to Erudax while channeling is increased by 100%. Players located within the eye of the storm take no damage, but the storm inflicts 2925 to 3075 Shadow damage every 1 second and increases their Shadow damage taken by 50% for 3 sec. The chaotic energy of the storm also increases the movement speed of players outside the eye by 50%.

• Faceless Corruptor – After Erudax completes his channeling of the Shadow Gale, a Faceless Corrupter rushes into the room from the room's entrance hallway. The Faceless Corrupter ignores the players, moves to either the right or left side of the room, and begins to channel Twilight Corruption on one of Alexstrasza's Eggs.If the Faceless Corruptor successfully corrupts an egg, then two Twilight Hatchlings emerge from the egg and the Corruptor begins to attack the players.In Heroic Difficulty two Faceless Corrupters enter the room instead of one.

• Twilight Corruption – The Faceless Corruptor channels onto one of Alexstrasza's Eggs, draining 11% of the eggs life every 1 second for 10 sec. If the egg reaches zero remaining life, the egg hatches and two Twilight Hatchlings fly up into the air.

• Alexstrasza's Egg – Faceless Corruptors channel Twilight Corruption on Alexstrasza's Eggs to create Twilight Hatchlings.

• Twilight Hatchling – These newly created hatchlings periodically cast Twilight Blast on players.

• Twilight Blast – A Twilight Hatchling blasts a random player below for 9750 to 10250 Shadow damage.

• Umbral Mending – After a Faceless Corruptor successfully corrupts an egg, it will cast Umbral Mending on Erudax. The mending spell heals Erudax for 20% of his maximum health.

• Siphon Essence – After a Faceless Corruptor successfully corrupts an egg, it will cast Siphon Essence on a random player and drain 8775 to 9225 life every 1 second for 4 sec. The Faceless Corruptor heals for three times the amount of damage dealt.

• Shield of Nightmares – Erudax shrouds all nearby Faceless Corruptors with the essence of nightmares for 4 sec. Any player that attacks or casts a harmful spell on a shrouded Faceless Corruptor causes the nightmares to manifest and immediately inflict 19500 to 20500 Shadow damage on every player.

Source: [5]

Reputation

Defeating all the bosses in the instance and skipping the relatively standard number of Trash mob groups should yield about 1560 Reputation with a Tabard, before the Human racial passive Diplomacy and the Guild Perk - Mr. Popularity are taken into account.

Geography

Location: Twilight Highlands. Northwestern portion, north of the Bastion of Twilight and south of the Vermillion Redoubt. It’s exactly where it was before the Shattering, just now designated as part of the Twilight Highlands instead of Wetlands. Cataclysm Dungeon Location Gallery.

Map

Trivia

Grim Batol seems to re-use Ironforge's design and architecture, much like Shadowforge City and Thor Modan.

Media

Images

Videos

Various walkthroughs / guides

Entrance location

External links

  Archive.org Grim Batol

  Archive.org Grim Batol

• Wowhead
• Thottbot
• WoWDB

Very short, copy-and-pasteable tactics for Grim Batol - MMO Melting Pot