Gruul (Blackrock Foundry) Strategy Guide

By Wowhead Updated: 2018/05/12

GruulBlackrock FoundryOregorgerBlackrock FoundryGruulWarcraft LogsLoot and RewardsSeal of Tempered Fate Bonus RollsGruul

LFR (655)

Cloth: Cave Smasher Leggings, Rockfall Girdle
Leather: Gaze of the Gronn Killer, Grips of Shackled Power
Mail: Delver's Belt, Spelunker's Chestguard
Plate: Gruul's Smallest Shackles
Neck: none
Cape: Cloak of Unfulfilled Potential
Ring: Eye of the Gronn
Trinket: none
Weapons: none

Normal, Heroic, Mythic (670, 685, 700)

Cloth: Cavedweller's Climbers, Flare-Eyed Hood
Leather: Vest of Forceful Fury
Mail: Gronn-Skin Crown, Spaulders of Reflected Stone
Plate: Bracers of Martial Perfection
Neck: Darklight Necklace, Gruul's Lip Ring
Cape: Gronn-Stitched Greatcloak, Runescribed Gronncloak
Ring: Phosphorescent Seal
Trinket: Meaty Dragonspine Trophy
Weapons: Inferno-Flame Staff, Taner's Terrible Spine

Elemental Runelegendary questlineMight of the Elemental LordsBlackrock FoundryHighmaulGlory of the Draenor RaiderGorestrider GronnlingGruulThe Iron PriceBlackrock FoundryHighmaulMythic Draenor RaiderReturn to Table of ContentsNotable Trash Mobs

Ogron Hauler deals heavy tank damage, and should be faced away from the raid for Slag Breath. Overhead Smash will damage melee, while Ground Stomp damages the ranged.

Workshop Guardians debuff tanks with Grievous Mortal Wounds, and cast Spinning Blade that players must move out of.

Iron Flame Binders deal heavy damage with Lavaburst, sometimes at random targets.

Iron Slag-Shapers channel Rain of Slag, dealing very heavy AoE damage to the entire raid. This can be interrupted.

Ironworkers use Hammer Throw against their threat target, and cast Explosive Ore on random targets.

Gronnling LaborerIron JourneymanKarnor the Cruel

Iron Journeyman deals heavy melee damage to the tank, but no raid/AoE damage, and is fairly inconsequential.

Gronnling Laborers will frequently use Gronnling Smash, dealing very heavy, periodic raid-wide AoE damage.

Karnor the Cruel will use Chain Volley and Killing Spree to deal heavy raid-wide AoE damage.

Chain VolleyGronnling SmashReturn to Table of ContentsGruul Tips & StrategyGruul's LairPetrifyShatterPetrifying Slam

The chosen players are knocked back and will gain Petrify, which accumulates one stack per second.

Each stack reduces players' movement speed by 20%, and at 5 stacks, players gain Petrified, and are immobilized and incapacitated.

Gruul will Shatter the Petrified players, dealing heavy damage to these players and anyone within 8 yards of them.

Players must quickly react to Petrify, and move away from the raid and away from each other.

Personal damage reduction cooldowns can be used before players are fully Petrified, to assist in mitigating Shatter damage.

Inferno Slice

The tank must point Gruul at a pile of players to share the damage and survive.

The Inferno Slice DoT lasts for 30 seconds and will stack, dealing additional damage if refreshed.

Inferno Slice occurs about every 15 seconds, so players can soak alternating Inferno Slice casts.

Split the raid into two groups, one on either side of the boss.

Tanks should face Gruul towards one group for the first Inferno Slice, and towards the other group for the second Inferno Slice.

Reposition into your Inferno Slice groups after any mechanic that forces movement.

Tanks struck by Inferno Slice also receive the Inferno Strike debuff, and should swap duties after reaching 3 stacks.

Overhead Smash

When Overhead Smash occurs between Inferno Slices, there is plenty of time for the raid to move out of the Smash and regroup for Inferno Slice.

However, every second or third Overhead Smash overlaps with Inferno Slice.

Players must react quickly to dodge the Smash, as Smash and Slice damage in rapid succession can be fatal, but the group should dodge in the same direction to ensure Inferno Slice is split.

Destructive RampageOverhead SmashOverwhelming BlowsOverwhelming BlowsInferno SliceInferno SliceCave InCave InInferno SliceTank Responsibilities

Typically keep Gruul faced away from the raid to prevent excessive Overwhelming Blows damage

Face Gruul towards a group of players for Inferno Slice, and be sure to alternate groups for each cast of Inferno Slice

Tanks should taunt off one another at 2-3 stacks of Inferno Strike initially, then after Overwhelming Blows falls off thereafter

Use strong survivability cooldowns for late applications of Overwhelming Blows, when stacks are high

Move out of Overhead Smash, particularly during Destructive Rampage

If affected by Petrify, move away from other players to avoid spreading Shatter damage

Return to Table of ContentsDamage-Dealer Responsibilities

Use Bloodlust/Heroism/Time Warp at the start of the encounter; movement becomes more hectic later on

Stack on or near other players in your assigned location to ensure you split Inferno Slice damage

Move away from Cave In locations

Sidestep Overhead Smash

If affected by Petrify, move away from other players to avoid spreading Shatter damage

Return to Table of ContentsHealer Responsibilities

The Inferno Slice group will take heavy damage as Slice occurs, and lingering DoT damage after; be sure to top players up before their next Inferno Slice soak

Tanks will take increasingly heavy damage leading up to Destructive Rampage, and may need CDs when their Overwhelming Blows stacks are high

Players struck by Overhead Smash or Cave In will take heavy damage and will need emergency healing

Players who do not spread out properly for Petrify will inflict heavy damage on all nearby allies

Damage reduction CDs should be used to mitigate Inferno Slice, especially if there is a mistake and one group takes two in a row

Healing throughput CDs should be used to top players up after Petrify or Destructive Rampage before the next Inferno Slice, or to recover from a failed Petrify

Stack on or near other players in your assigned location to ensure you split Inferno Slice damage

Move away from Cave In locations

Sidestep Overhead Smash

If affected by Petrify, move away from other players to avoid spreading Shatter damage

Return to Table of ContentsLooking For Raid DifficultyOverwhelming BlowsInferno StrikeInferno SliceDestructive RampageShatterReturn to Table of ContentsMythic DifficultyInferno SliceInferno SliceDestructive Rampage

Have two groups for Inferno Slice soaking, and each group takes 2 consecutive Inferno Slice hits

Have three groups for Inferno Slice soaking, and each group takes a single Inferno Slice in turn

Inferno SliceInferno Strike debuffInferno StrikeInferno SlicePetrifyInferno SliceInferno SliceFlare

There are several furnaces on the perimeter of Gruul's encounter area, and periodically these furnaces will spit out small fireballs that travel in a straight line until reaching the opposite side of the room. If the Flare passes through or near a player, it will deal that player damage and leave a debuff that will cause the player to take 20% additional fire damage.

This can make Inferno Slice fatal, so a player affected by this debuff should use personal cooldowns to soak Inferno Slices until the debuff expires.

Tanks are likely to have to move occasionally when Flares pass directly through the boss, and players will need to be aware of Flare paths when spreading out for Petrify or moving to avoid Overhead Smash and Cave In mechanics.

Flareevery playerPetrifyStampeding RoarMethod's Mythic Gruul GuideInferno SliceReturn to Table of ContentsAbout the Author:Restoration Shaman@healiocentrichealiocentric ... a blog that revolves around healing

Comments

Comment by Dreins

So, they decided to change Cave In? I really liked the version on videos from beta, the new (actually, as old as BC) is just boring.

Comment by Dayani

Just one thing I want to add, but that I'm not sure is a solid enough strategy for most groups to use, so I'm reluctant to put it directly into the guide:

You can use tanks to solo-soak Inferno Slice, at least on Normal difficulty. The tank will need a powerful cooldown, since the total Inferno Slice deals upwards of 1,000,000 damage, and it may be simpler to use three tanks with this strategy, so that each tank takes one Slice every 45-ish seconds and hopefully will have powerful cooldowns available more often. Healers will probably need to provide whatever external CDs they can, especially if the tank doesn't have a major CD available for their soak.

This strategy has the advantage of allowing melee DPS to remain behind the boss, and eliminating the vast majority of raid damage. All that is left is Petrify/Shatter, which is light damage when handled correctly, and the wholly avoidable damage of Cave In and Overhead Smash.

The disadvantage is that if tanks mess up their cooldown timing or taunt timing and soak two in a row, they'll die, and once one tank dies, the other tank is likely to die unless players are very quick with a combat resurrection.

But, this is in fact possible, and I'm sure people will want to try it on more difficulties, so while I don't recommend it, I should at least acknowledge it. I'll be interested to hear from more raids who try this strategy and what their experience was like! :)

Note: this is untenable on Mythic difficulty, as there is an anti-solo-soak mechanic that causes Gruul to use Inferno Slice more frequently if fewer than 4 people soak it.

Comment by 1088702

Very, very nice guide. Looking forward to do this fight in February!

Comment by Somavian

Does anyone know if spell immunity cooldowns like Cloak of Shadows block Inferno Slice? If so, would the blocked damage be eliminated entirely or simply split between the rest of the group as if there were one less person?

Comment by 380942

Ok, I want to try to solo-soak this slice on my DK, although I don't have appropriate stamina trinkets...

~500k hp+Bone Shield+Rune Tap+Defile+AMS... perhaps Absorb glyphed AMS...
Granted that AMS is 250k spell hp, the total health for spell component I'll have is ~750k, 1mil with Absorb glyph.
BS+RT+Defile is approximately 70% effective damage reduction, unless BS+RT stack multiplicatively or have DR, while Defile is separate 10% absorb.
Slice deals, at least according to default tooltip - 450k physical and 800k spell damage.
Physical damage will be reduced by ~50% through armor, and along with total damage reductions from stances\passives, let's round it down to 200k physical damage +700k spell damage.
70% reduction will make 200k into something like 75k, while 700k will be ~300k spell damage.
This will leave me taking only 50k spell damage without Absorb glyph, and 75k physical damage. Should be fun. Pointless, yes, but fun.

Comment by Pelontir

Great guide as always! :-)

One thing is missing in the loot table I think: the 1 handed strength weapon that drops on normal difficulty and higher.

Comment by Zeraveth

More awesome guides from Dayani! As always, easy on the eyes and doesn't involve a lot of unnecessary stuff.

Killed this guy on heroic last night with my guild, we wiped for like an hour because our tanks couldn't move quickly enough to get the slice to hit the soak group, or they moved too quick and the soak group was hit by Overwhelming Blows. So for those who are struggling with the same thing, we did this:
Have your off tank stand in the group taking the next Inferno slice, just as Gruul starts to channel the ability, the off tank taunts him and he will instantly turn to the group, making sure he hits them with Inferno Slice. Then your main tank taunts back to avoid Overwehlming Blows in the soak group, rinse and repeat.

Comment by SloppyBeaver

Gruul Tanking Guide Normal & Heroic -Blackrock Foundry - Sheil

Comment by 1440472

One Tactic that we tried on HC Gruul was to have a the raid split on either side of him as normal, one tank in front of him for the smashes, and the OT in one of the groups.
What we did was to have the OT taunt the infernal strike whilst in the group and MT taunt back.
The OT would then move to the other group and repeat, but on the 3rd Infernal Strike the MT wouldn't taunt back and they would swop positions.

We got him down on the 2nd attempt using this tactic so i hope this helps.

Comment by 1443233

Great Overview.

I miss a print button :/

Comment by bazzyl

Just finished my first LFR Slagworks:

Trash and Oregorger Part 1: http://youtu.be/30UWJ8Pi_3E
Oregorger Part 2: http://youtu.be/lJjcm38zIYk
Gruul: http://youtu.be/DsunktWcphI
Blast Furnance: http://youtu.be/_D2G5nfArN0

Now off to normal one :)

Comment by Dayani

Just a note for groups trying Mythic Gruul:

Prior to Patch 6.1, the debuff gained from Inferno Slice on Mythic difficulty would last 40-42 seconds, which made a 2-group, 2-stack strategy untenable - the debuff would never fall off. That's why early guides (including this one) recommend a 2-group, 3-stack strategy, or a 3-group, 2-stack strategy, or had complicated setups where four players with powerful survivability cooldowns would soak some Slices and clear the debuffs with immunities.

In Patch 6.1, a hotfix was applied to revert the Inferno Slice debuff duration to 30 seconds, the way it is on LFR/Normal/Heroic difficulties. This makes the fight much simpler for healing and group organisation. A simple 1-1-1 strategy produces the lowest raid damage overall, while a 2-2 strategy preserves the simplicity of a group's already familiar Heroic tactic.

I've updated the guide to reflect the change. I suspect Inferno Slice will stay at a 30-second duration for the remainder of the raid's relevancy. Remember that guides not updated since 6.1 may be providing advice for a harder version of the encounter than what players will now experience!

Comment by 1135007

more rehashed content, qq

does this mean old gruul in current outland is unplayable? how confusing

also this means that gruul in the past was stronger than he is now. god this lore has become so bad

Comment by 1460618

Achivements! have fun

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=izTCezPlX2w

Comment by 333246

Seems to be a tanking bug or problem :
few people have mentioned on us and eu forums that they stand with the group tanking but take a full hit from inferno stirke > Like say 600k plus.

It would seem if you stand too close to Gruul while tanking and soaking slice you can get hit in the back. thus making a crit hit ( yes i know crit hits dont show on logs but it still is double the amount you should take)

My advice if to stand far enough away so you not touching his inner red circle. If you look at Gruul hes leaning over so if you too close hes leaning over you.
I personally think its a bug or flaw and blizzard need to fix it

Comment by mikedarling905

One thing I noticed on LFR is that, EVERYONE is so spread out. For a great success I wish people moved in 2 piles of groups. Just makes it easier for the tanks :) Lets think of the tanks!

Comment by 1194084

It is possible to do Mythic with 4 tanks while solo-soaking every Inferno Slice. The good thing is that due to the anti-solo-soaking mechanic, there will be 12 Inferno Slices in one p1, but Gruul will not use any of his other p1 abilities because he is too busy on Inferno Slice, so the rest of the group won't get much damage and you can have just 3-4 healers. The only damage non-tanks face will be those flares, which are easy to dodge and not fatal. During the Rampage phase you may need to use group healing cds.

Here is an example of how our raid solo-soak in First P1:

Time	Slice No.	Tank and ability
0:12	1	DK1:Vampiric Blood+Defile++Icebound Fortitude
0:19	2	DK1:Vampiric Blood+Defile++Anti-Magic Shell
0:28	3	DK2:Vampiric Blood+Defile++Icebound Fortitude
0:36	4	DK2:Vampiric Blood+Defile++Anti-Magic Shell
0:44	5	Monk1:Fortifying Brew+Guard+Blessing of Sacrifice from Paladin
0:51	6	Monk1:Fortifying Brew+Guard+Diffuse Magic
0:58	7	Monk1:Zen Meditation
1:06	8	Monk2:Fortifying Brew+Guard+Blessing of Sacrifice from Paladin
1:13	9	Monk2:Fortifying Brew+Guard+Diffuse Magic
1:21	10	Monk2:Zen Meditation
1:29	11	DK1:Vampiric Blood+Defile++Anti-Magic Shell
1:38	12	DK2:Vampiric Blood+Defile++Anti-Magic Shell

Gruul (Blackrock Foundry) Strategy Guide

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