[Guide] Culling of Stratholme Timed Run Walkthrough

[LiquidShizzles]

Hey guys, this is just a guide to help ensure you success in Stratholme and help you get your mount It will cover basic tips to ideal kill orders. Please, enjoy


[THE GROUP SETUP]

It is ideal to have a dedicated group who will, even when they have their mounts, come back day after day until everyone in the group has their own.

- A paladin tank is perfect as it is all multi-tanking. (I did it as a warrior...so a paladin should do it no problem)
- Any healing class will do as it should only be the tank taking damage throughout the instance.
- A hunter
- A mage
- A shadow Priest/warlock.

Please note: These are not the ONLY classes it is possible with - this is just the perfect group. I've done it with 2 rogues a hunter and myself (warrior).


[BASIC TACTICS]

There are 2 main parts to the instance. There is the "Town Square a.k.a Normal Stratholme" part and the "House/Burning alley a.k.a F***** up Stratholme".

You will have approx 11 minutes to clear each of these zones (22 minutes in total). This gives you 2 minutes in which to kill the Dragon at the end, to get your mount!

You will need all of your group at the top of their game and make sure that the healer is ALWAYS close to the tank, that way you can pull even if DPS need to catch up.

There is a simple tactic I use for my kill order in the first part of the instance.
- Giant Spiders First
- then the Casters
- then the Abominations
- Lastly the Ghouls.

Once your group understands this you wont need to bother with marking and you can kill the mobs faster.

[FIRST PART RUN THROUGH]

DO NOT LOOT ANYTHING UNTIL YOU ARE FINISHED IN THE INSTANCE, IT SLOWS YOU DOWN.

This part consists of 8 waves of small groups of mobs and 2 bosses (10 waves in total). A wave will spawn just near the archway to the right (as you come inside the instance..run down the path a turn right). This is the first wave, it consists of 3 ghouls.

The ghouls are pretty easy to kill and don't hit very hard. Once this wave is dead another will spawn, Arthas will yell the waves location and a marker will be put on your Minimap. AS SOON AS YOU SEE THE LAST MOB OF A WAVE GETITNG LOW ON HEALTH START WATCHING YOUR MINIMAP. You want to get to the next wave A.S.A.P.

There will be 4 waves of mobs, gradually increasing in difficulty. They will contain Abominations/warlocks and Crypt Fiends. The warlocks die real easy so kill the crypt fiends off first, these hit hard and take a few seconds to kill. The abominations hit quite hard but any tank/healer combo worth their salt should be able to survive them without any problems.

You have roughly 45 seconds to kill each wave off.

After the fourth (4th) wave is dead the first boss "Meathook" will spawn. He hits quite hard and very fast (it's basically a mini Patchwerk) but he also puts the person FURTHEST AWAY from him in chains. If this is your healer they will not be able to heal themselves. ALWAYS make sure a ranged DPS is further from the boss than your healer. You should kill him in 1:20 or less. Any longer and you may not make the timer. Remember to NOT loot the boss yet.

After Meathook is dead you will have exactly 1 minute before the next wave spawns (number 6). This is the time when you can take a short mana break. Run to the archway near where the first wave spawned and drink there. This is the only spot that the Zombies don't spawn in.

After that minute is up you go back to nuking waves until wave number 9 is dead. The tenth (10th) wave is the Warlock Boss (his name escapes me). He basically casts shadowbolts that hit for about 5k. These can be spell reflected etc...

He also summons ghouls, don't even worry about them - keep nuking the boss. The ghouls will explode for reasonable damage - nothing too horrible. Once he is dead head to the next marker on your map, this is the town hall. REMEMBER NOT TO LOOT!

[THE SECOND SECTION RUN THROUGH]

You should have 9-12 minutes left on the timer here (any less then GOOD JOB!)

Now you should be at the town hall, waiting for Arthas. While he gets his ass over there you can have a short mana break. But as SOON as you see him getting closer be ready to tell him you're ready to proceed. This is the section that takes the longest cos of bloody Arthas .

He will walk into the house and start some dialogue with 3 mobs. The one in the middle is your first kill. The kill order here is just casters and then everyone else.

NUKE these mobs down and run to the top of the stairs and wait for Arthas. He will arrive with you and more mobs will spawn. Nuke these down and run to the start of the passageway leading to the next room.

In this passageway Arthas will walk into the middle and perform some dialogue, then 4 mobs will spawn at either end of the passage. The tank should pick up the casters at the back and let the dps nuke them while he tanks the other 2 mobs.

Once you are in the next room some MORE mobs will spawn. There will be 5 or 6 and should be AOE'd to hell, cos once they are dead the boss engages himself.

This boss is basically a tank and spank but you all stay CLUSTERED together. This is because he does a charge thing much like Zul'Jin's catform in Zul'Aman. If you are grouped up you can still nuke him while he is charging. He also does a timestop which obviously stops all damage for a second or 2. This shouldn't matter if you have decent DPS.

You have about a minute to kill this boss. AS SOON AS HE IS GETTING LOW ON HEALTH (1-3%) HAVE A DPS READY TO TALK TO ARTHAS WHEN THE BOSS DIES.

Arthas will mention a bookcase, so run to the bookcase near the table and run forward into it. As soon as Arthas opens it just RUN AS FAST YOU CAN (Aspect of the Pack helps alot) to the end of it. The tank and healer should jump down and start chain pulling the groups. Let the slowest person talk to Arthas (YOU MUST SPEAK TO HIM).

This section is where you really test your tank and healer. Have your tank walk backwards and chain pull every mob in sight. Pull more and more until your healer says stop. Your DPS has to NUKE NUKE NUKE through this part.

There will be an archway where Arthas tells you to have a rest - DON'T. Keep pulling past the archway and round the corner. At the end of that corner AOE all the mobs down and RUN RUN RUN!!

You should have 2-4 minutes left on the timer so run TOWARDS where you ace Mal Ganis...but turn LEFT. Up this road is where the Infinite Corrupter is. Pull him - literally ANYONE pull him - and have the tank pick him up. Kill him in the time you have left and BAM! You got yourself a mount

Any and all feedback is appreciated

- Shizzles.

[omgcool7]

awsome guide hope it aint no copy/paste..nwayz +rep just got my mount yesterday so i wont be needing this but its good guide!

[LiquidShizzles]

Of course it isn't a copy and paste Wouldn't bother finding a good guide to copy and paste from lol. Much easier to just write it myself

[Century]

good guide i will most likely use this thanks a bunch +2rep for you =D

[Happyhappy]

thanks, this should do.

[fatality3]

The last few texts of purple kinda hard to read. Although very nice guide. I have done this timed cot run several times and once even with a full melee group (Shammy, Rogue, Warrior) they were all 25man naxx gear however it does show that any group can do it as long as you know what to do you should be fine.

[reagansmash94]

Yea i have a weakly group i do it with Me an Unholy Dk, Warrior Tank, Druid Healer, Rogue, Warrior Dps so all melee and we have no problem we are mostly decked out in epics but the main strategy is move in one pack with lots of speed and good dps the group composition does not matter that much.

[khangging]

I'd just like to add that when Arthas yells the location of the next waves, it'll help to know where they are (even though they are placed on your minimap, I find it easier to just read the chat and go there), also the healer should be one of the faster people in the group, else your group will most likely fail (personal experience :P)

When coming in from the front entrance;
King Square's Fountain and Market Row Gate are to the left;
Festival Lane Gate is the archway just to the right;
Elder's Square and Town Hall is to the right.

Also during the gauntlet, I find it best for the healer, and the tank to only stop at abominations/spiders, else pull whatever's in site.

The best healer for this place IMO, would be a shaman for bloodlusts. Save it for the infinite corruptor and things seem to go well.

Sorry, I don't mean to hijack your thread, I found it quite useful, but I just wanted to add some pointers.

[Imakepigsfly]

is it possible to do it as a raid?

[LiquidShizzles]

is it possible to do it as a raid?

No.

(filler)