Iron Maidens (Blackrock Foundry) Strategy Guide

By Wowhead Updated: 2018/05/12

Admiral Gar'anMarak the BloodedEnforcer SorkaBlackrock FoundryBeastlord DarmacOperator ThogarBlackrock FoundryWarcraft LogsLoot and RewardsSeal of Tempered Fate Bonus RollsIron Maidens

LFR (655)

Cloth: Deckhand's Cord, Incendiary Leggings
Leather: Gauntlets of Flickering Blades, Grapeshot Hood
Mail: Bombardeer's Targeting Helm, Rogg's Earthen Legguards
Plate: Impaler's Greatboots, Vortex Plate Helm
Neck: Sorka's Ear Collection
Cape: none
Ring: none
Trinket: Blackheart Enforcer's Medallion
Weapons: Battle Medic's Wand
Armor Token: Tier Gloves

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

Cloth: Deckhand's Rope Belt, Turret Mechanic's Legwraps
Leather: Sorka's Nightshade Cowl, Treads of the Dark Hunt
Mail: Bloodwhirl Bracers
Plate: Bloodsoaked Heart Protector, Uktar's Belt of Chiming Rings
Neck: none
Cape: Cloak of Sanguine Terror, Drape of the Dark Hunt
Ring: Uk'urogg's Corrupted Seal
Trinket: Vial of Convulsive Shadows
Weapons: Sorka's Chainfist, Gar'an's Brutal Spearlauncher, Koloch Na, the Blood Feast
Armor Token: Tier Gloves

Sigil of the Black HandSigil of the Black HandElemental Runelegendary questlineMight of the Elemental LordsBlackrock FoundryHighmaulGlory of the Draenor RaiderGorestrider GronnlingIron MaidenBe Quick or Be DeadBlackrock FoundryHighmaulMythic Draenor RaiderReturn to Table of ContentsNotable Trash MobsAquatic Technician

Iron Dockworkers will Throw Crates at their current threat target, dealing moderate Physical damage

Iron Earthbinders will summon an Inferno Totem, which casts a slow, uninterruptible Inferno, then disappears

Players can attempt to quickly kill the Inferno Totem to avoid Inferno

Earthbinders also target other enemies and cast Earthen Barrier, which should be interrupted

Iron Maulers melee the tank for very high damage

Iron Taskmasters use Reaping Whirl, leaving a dangerous stacking bleed on all players within 8 yards

Reaping WhirlInferno TotemReturn to Table of ContentsIron Maidens Tips & Strategy

For most of the fight, players will be fighting all three bosses

At 1:00, 4:20, and 7:40, one of the bosses will board the nearby Dreadnaught ship

The boss with the lowest health at the time will go to the ship, but no boss can go twice

If any boss's health drops below 20%, all bosses will ignore the next scheduled Dreadnaught phase

There is little value in controlling which boss is sent at which time, although Sorka > Garan > Marak is a popular order

A small group of players must travel to the Dreadnaught to prevent the boss from Warming Up and killing the raid

For more details on what these players must do, see the Dreadnaught Team Responsibilities section below

Initially, approximately 8 small targeting reticules appear to show the destination of the Bombardment Pattern: Alpha

The Bombardment Pattern: Alpha bombs soon land, dealing Bomb Impact damage to nearby players

Players should move out of these red circles to avoid Bomb Impact damage

Shortly after the Bombardment Pattern: Alpha bombs land, the Dreadnaught fires Bombardment Pattern: Omega, a large wave of approximately 30 bombs

The locations where the Bombardment Pattern: Alpha bombs landed are the only areas safe from the Bombardment Pattern: Omega's Bomb Impact damage

As the Bombardment Pattern: Omega wave of bombs lands, the Bombardment Pattern: Alpha bombs become armed, turning red and shaking

Players must move onto the freshly-landed Bombardment Pattern: Omega bombs to avoid taking Detonation Sequence damage from the armed Bombardment Pattern: Alpha bombs when they explode

The Bombardment Pattern: Omega wave arms itself shortly after, and players must now move to the locations of the just-exploded Bombardment Pattern: Alpha to remain safe from Detonation Sequence damage

This cycle repeats until the Dreadnaught team has completed their task

The remaining bosses continue to use their abilities throughout the Bombardment phase as well

The bosses do not share a health pool, but players should DPS the Maidens down evenly for the first 80% of the fight

When one of the bosses reaches 20% health, all three bosses gain the Iron Will buff, setting them to 100 Iron Fury and granting their abilities additional damage every 20 seconds

This serves as a soft enrage mechanic, and once it occurs, players should quickly kill the Maidens one by one to remove mechanics from the fight

At 30 Iron Fury and again at 100 Iron Fury, each boss gains a new ability.

The Maidens gain 1 Iron Fury every 6-7 seconds

The Maidens reach 30 Iron Fury and gain a new ability at approximately 3:10

When at least one boss reaches 20% health, or at 10:55, whichever comes first, the Maidens will reach 100 Iron Fury

Blood RitualBlood Ritual

Additionally, the closest player to Marak in this line will be struck by Crystallized Blood

The Marak tank should stand in the Blood Ritual path and soak the Crystallized Blood

Other players should be sure to stay out of the path

The Blood Ritual target should move to a designated location to make the soaking easy

Rapid Fire

The targeted player will be notified by a boss emote ("Admiral Gar'an looks towards you and readies Rapid Fire!") 3 seconds before the Rapid Fire debuff is applied

The Rapid Fire debuff also places an arrow on the targeted player's head so other players can react

Shortly after the debuff is applied, Gar'an will begin bombarding that player's location with a series of 10 explosive shells

The targeted player must run along the edges of the room to avoid being struck by, or striking other players with, the Rapid Fire shells

Speed boosting buffs are helpful in avoiding damage

Blade DashBloodsoaked Heartseeker

After five seconds, Marak will throw her weapon at the targets, inflicting very heavy Physical damage

Damage is reduced based on the distance between the three targets

The targeted players should spread out around the platform to minimize this damage

Convulsive ShadowsConvulsive Shadows

Convulsive Shadows damage is very strong for the first tick, 2 seconds after the debuff is applied

The targeted player should use a personal damage-reduction cooldown to help healers handle the damage

If the debuff is dispelled, it will instantly deal Shadow Explosion damage based on the number of stacks remaining

This increases the damage dealt by the ability overall, so should not be dispelled

Penetrating Shot

8 seconds later, Gar'an will fire a carefully aimed shot at the targeted player, dealing extremely heavy damage

Players standing in the beam will split damage with the player

Any player not currently targeted by another debuff should stand in the Penetrating Shot beam to help soak the damage

Healers should be prepared to heal the raid after the Penetrating Shot is fired

Iron WillSanguine StrikesDark HuntClarity of WillPower Word: ShieldDeploy TurretDominator Turret

The Dominator Turret will rotate, firing projectiles every second

This creates a circular pattern of slow-moving projectiles that players must dodge

The Turret should be killed quickly to prevent damage

Stack the bosses together in a central location; players should DPS the Maidens evenly for most of the fight

Ranged DPS and healers should stack in a tight pile near a wall

Designate a direction for players targeted by Blood Ritual to run to

The Marak tank should position to intercept Crystallized Blood in the line between Marak and the designated location

Players targeted by Rapid Fire should kite the shells away from the raid, and away from the Blood Ritual location

When a boss goes to the Dreadnaught, send the Dreadnaught team on the Loading Chains, and the remaining players must dodge Detonation Sequence

Players targeted by Rapid Fire must spread out along the edge of the platform, being careful not to stand in the Blood Ritual path

Players targeted by Penetrating Shot should move to the back of the ranged pile so that the damage will be split by all ranged

When the Iron Maidens gain Iron Will, use Bloodlust/Heroism/Time Warp to kill the lowest-health Maiden quickly

Players should be careful not to trigger Iron Will during a Dreadnaught phase, as the boss who returns from the Dreadnaught will be on naturally higher health and may be empowered for too long

Iron WillDetonation SequenceReturn to Table of ContentsTank Responsibilities

Admiral Gar'an is not tankable; one tank must tank Enforcer Sorka and the other must tank Marak the Blooded

The Marak tank must be sure to intercept Blood Ritual so that no other player is struck by Crystallized Blood

When the Maidens reach 100 Energy, the Marak tank should chain together powerful survivability CDs to reduce raid damage from Sanguine Strikes

When a Dominator Turret spawns, move tankable bosses away from it so tanks & melee can dodge the projectiles

Return to Table of ContentsDamage-Dealer Responsibilities

Cleave/multi-target DPS is recommended; the Maidens do not share health, but should be DPSed down fairly evenly

Melee DPS should avoid standing between Marak and the Blood Ritual target

If targeted by Blood Ritual, move to the designated location so the tank can intercept Crystallized Blood

If targeted by Rapid Fire, move out of the raid quickly and keep running until the debuff fades

If targeted by Penetrating Shot, stand still so ranged DPS and healers can intercept the attack and split the damage

Kill Dominator Turrets when they spawn

If targeted by Convulsive Shadows, use a personal damage-reduction cooldown to survive the damage

If targeted by Bloodsoaked Heartseeker, run away from the other targeted players to minimize damage

If targeted by Dark Hunt, use a personal damage-reduction cooldown as the debuff is about to expire

During Detonation Sequence, move into safe spaces to avoid taking fatal damage from the bombs

If assigned to the Dreadnaught Team, use the Loading Chains when a boss moves to the ship

Return to Table of ContentsHealer Responsibilities

Track the Blood Ritual, Bloodsoaked Heartseeker, Convulsive Shadows, Dark Hunt, Rapid Fire, and Penetrating Shot debuffs

Players targeted by these debuffs will require additional healing

On Normal and Heroic difficulties, it deals more damage to dispel Convulsive Shadows than it is to let the debuff run its course; simply target the affected player and heal them through the DoT

Heavy damage is likely to occur during Detonation Sequence; raid CDs may be handy here

After Marak gains Sanguine Strikes, use damage-reduction CDs like Ironbark and Hand of Sacrifice on the Marak tank to lower raid damage

Be sure to have raid CDs available during the final phase, when Sanguine Strikes is dealing raid-wide damage

If targeted by Convulsive Shadows, use a personal damage-reduction cooldown to survive the damage

If targeted by Bloodsoaked Heartseeker, run away from the other targeted players to minimize damage

If targeted by Dark Hunt, use a personal damage-reduction cooldown as the debuff is about to expire

During Detonation Sequence, move into safe spaces to avoid taking fatal damage from the bombs

If assigned to the Dreadnaught Team, use the Loading Chains when a boss moves to the ship

Return to Table of ContentsDreadnaught Team Responsibilities

Before beginning the fight, players should choose a healer and up to five DPS to comprise the Dreadnaught Team

Choose a mobile healer and strong, mobile DPS; interrupts are also important for one boat phase

When one of the bosses leaves the encounter area - at 1:00, 4:20, and 7:40 in the fight - these players should ride the chains in the southwest corner of the platform to get to the Dreadnaught

The Dreadnaught team must quickly defeat the Deckhands on board the ship and click on the ammunition at the front of the boat to prevent the boss from completing Warming Up

Players have approximately 90 seconds to complete this task

When successful, players will be automatically returned to the encounter area

Use a personal CD when you return, since Detonation Sequence will be occuring

Admiral Gar'an's Dreadnaught Phase:

No tank is necessary; send 5 DPS and 1 healer

Prioritize interrupts on Battle Medic Rogg's Earthen Barrier and Protective Earth casts

Interrupt Rogg's Chain Lightning if you have enough interrupts to safely do so

If targeted by Uktar's Grapeshot Blast, position yourself so other players are not affected

Marak the Blooded's Dreadnaught Phase:

Send Marak's tank, 1 healer, and 4 DPS

Corrupted Blood pools will spawn beneath every player's feet every few seconds

Move Uk'urogg out of Corrupted Blood pools that spawn nearby

Players should move constantly to avoid Corrupted Blood damage

Enforcer Sorka's Dreadnaught Phase:

Send Sorka's tank, 1 healer, and 4 DPS

The tank must intercept Deadly Throw

Players targeted by Deadly Throw should stay still so the tank can easily intercept the attack

Kill Iron Eviscerators, while cleaving on to Gorak when possible

If focused by an Iron Eviscerator's Fixate, kite the Eviscerator in a small circle around Gorak

Detonation SequenceReturn to Table of ContentsWhen to Use Bloodlust/Heroism/Time WarpBloodlustHeroismTime WarpIron WillBloodlustHeroismTime WarpIron WillReturn to Table of ContentsLooking For Raid DifficultyLoading ChainnotConvulsive ShadowsReturn to Table of ContentsMythic DifficultyBlood RitualBlade Dash

Blood Ritual leaves Marak's Bloodcalling for 1 minute

Blade Dash leaves Sorka's Prey for 4 minutes

Reapplication of these debuffs does not stack, but instead simply refreshes the duration of the debuff

Until a player has cleared their debuff, taking damage again from the same mechanic is likely to be fatal

Players cannot have both debuffs at once; the new one will replace the previous one

Rapid FireBlood RitualBlade Dash

Send melee DPS and half the healers with Marak

When a melee or healer is targeted by Blood Ritual, they should move to be behind the tank, so that only the tank and the target are affected by Marak's Bloodcalling

Once the target has received Marak's Bloodcalling, they can move to the Sorka side of the room, and stay there until Marak's Bloodcalling falls off

Send ranged DPS and half the healers with Sorka

Ranged DPS should spread out around Sorka to avoid spreading Sorka's Prey

Once a player has received Sorka's Prey, they can move to the Marak side of the room, and should stand behind the next Blood Ritual target to clear Prey and gain Bloodcalling

Demonic Gateway can greatly assist in making these swaps quickly to minimize DPS loss

Marak's BloodcallingBlade DashSwirling VortexBlade DashSwirling VortexSwirling VortexConvulsive ShadowsLingering ShadowShadow ExplosionConvulsive ShadowsBloodsoaked HeartseekerVolatile Blood OrbVolatile BloodbathBloodsoaked HeartseekerMarak's BloodcallingSorka's PreyReturn to Table of ContentsAbout the Author:Restoration Shaman@healiocentrichealiocentric ... a blog that revolves around healing

Comments

Comment by McSpike

And if things get tricky...RUN TO THE HILLS! RUN FOR YOUR LIFE!

Also, great and comprehensive guide!

Comment by Dayani

From Rygarius' hotfix blog:

Iron Will now increases damage dealt by 0.5% (down from 1%) every 10 seconds (up from every 20 seconds) after triggering on Normal and Heroic difficulty.

Just throwing this here since any changes to the spell won't show up on tooltips until a proper patch. This doesn't really change any mechanics, but ... you know, accuracy, and stuff.

Comment by 1194084

As far as I know, Feign Death and Spectral Guise can interrupt Penetrating Shot
However, when Feign Death and Spectral Guise is used against Rapid Fire it will make Rapid Fire find a new target.

Comment by mojonox

If your group decides they want to cheat a little on Marak's boat, there is a stack of boxes to the far right on the boat they can jump on to avoid having to move for Corrupted Blood, which will spawn on the floor below the boxes.

Need practice jumping? When you're leaving the Iron Maidens encounter area, turn to your left and the stack of boxes just to the left of the torch is the same model that's used on the ship.

Comment by LynnaMystix43

So I sat down the other day and came up with a pretty snazzy macro for these ladies.

I have my button for this macro on 0, so I'll talk about it as such.

When you hold SHIFT and press 0, it will call out into RW "Gar'an"

When you hold CTRL and press 0, it will call out into RW "Sorka"

And when you hold ALT and press 0, it will call out into RW "Marak"

Currently I'm working on expanding that to where, if you are neither Raid Leader or assist, it will instead call this out into Instance chat.

Dunno if there's a simpler way of doing this, but since i couldn't find anything similar, here ya go!
Just put all 3 in the same macro box and you're good to go.

****Ok. So this DOES give a LUA error of some sort. However, whatever the error is, nothing is breaking or messing up. I tried this out in LFR this afternoon and it worked perfectly. So, just disable LUA error visibility* so you don't get annoyed by it. :) ***
---------------

/run SendChatMessage(SecureCmdOptionParse("Gar'an"),"RAID_WARNING")
/run SendChatMessage(SecureCmdOptionParse("Sorka"),"RAID_WARNING")
/run SendChatMessage(SecureCmdOptionParse("Marak"),"RAID_WARNING")

---------------

*To turn off "Display LUA errors: ESC>Interface>Help>You'll see the option there.

Comment by serenadb83

So this is old content now I know put running for xmog and the last couple of weeks we have not been able to engage the Iron maidens. Can someone please help me? Not sure if were doing the trash too fast or what were doing wrong. Any advice would be gratefully appreciated.

Iron Maidens (Blackrock Foundry) Strategy Guide

Contribute