Well, this expansion, strats are going to come a fair bit slower as I am with a much more casual raiding guild. But, I am still going to be writing up everything I can - and this one is about MAGMAW!
First up, Magmaw is a giant worm that doesn't move. He has a ginormous hit box, so hunters, be really careful when dealing with the small amount of trash leading up to him. One misclick and you pull the boss and everyone starts wondering why people are dying. It's funny the first time....
Anyway, for some reason people say that Magmaw has 2 phases - I personally find that terminology confusing, so I wont use it. It's not really 2 phases at all. But you will see what I mean when I get to it. Also, I will do a TL:DR at the end which summarises the fight in about 3-4 sentences.
Magmaw is a gear check. It has high but predictable damage output, and it is to some extent a DPS race.
Magmaw can do a few things when he is free to wiggle around and you set up your raid team positioning accordingly.
Shopping list:
1-2 tanks (our team goes with 2, but 1 would also work if you are confident with your skills),
3 healers
5-6 DPS - at least 1 ranged
The positioning is as follows:
Tank is on one side of Magmaw, everyone else (except the one ranged I mentioned) is "behind" Magmaw on the other side. Get as close to the giant worm as you can but don't fall off the edge!!! This, while funny even the 7th time, leads to wipes! The one lone ranged (usually a hunter for obvious reasons, two if you have two hunters) hangs out in range of heals, but at "ranged". There is a bit of broken floor in the middle, hanging around that is a good visual marker.
That's it. Stay with that as best you can. Tank keeps the attention of the boss, the DPS/Healer group don't stand in the poop and the ranged dude also doesn't stand in any poop.
What poop is there?
Well, there are several kinds of poop. There is Ignition, which is fairly obvious as half the room catches on fire. If it is the half that the DPS/Healer group is on, they need to get out of it asap, then move back when it is over.
There is another kind of unavoidable poop that the healers simply have to heal through. You will see it because everyone's health bars will start plummeting. But most everyone is grouped up, right? AoE heals are fantastic here and make that part of the fight almost trivial when done right.
One is especially for the ranged guy. Every... oh 30s or so, Magmaw will cast something called Pillar of Flame at someone at ranged (and if there is no ranged, then it will be in melee which is bad). It's like the steam geysers in Valithria from ICC. You have 4s to get out of the poop on the ground before you get launched into the air.
BUGS!!
From the ground of this event, a whole stack of adds will appear - Lava Parasites. Under NO CIRCUMSTANCES must these little critters be allowed to a) live or b) hit anyone. I can't stress this enough. When they are out, they are the number 1 DPS priority, no matter what else is happening. I mean it.
So, now these adds need to be CCed - slowed, trapped, ice bolted... and more especially, kited. See why I recommended a hunter be at ranged? Whoever is at ranged needs to kite these suckers around, not get hit, and not die. Also, they need to keep enough threat on them all that the DPS in melee are not pulling off the kiter. Every class has something they can do - go research what you can do to help slow or kill these adds. I mean everyone, pallies and rogues included. It is vitally important that these bugs die.
If they touch you, this is what happens: they decide you are a great host for their babies, and stab your stomach and infect you (read the tool tip, it's worth it!), you then get so sick you chuck more parasites everywhere. I mean, seriously awesome stuff, but kind of fatal to your existence and the existence of the raid. This pretty much causes a wipe.
OK got all that?
Not too bad - it's pretty much, don't stand in the poop, kite and kill the bugs.
"The Next Phase"
At some point Magmaw will emote something about exposing his pincers (always a bad idea for the boss to do) which, conveniently, will then EAT THE DAMN TANK. Yes, Magmaw will bend over and chomp on the tank. This debuff is visible on most raid frames - healers, time to focus on the tank. In 30s the tank will irrevocably die so healers, don't worry if your tank suddenly carks it. It just means the DPS are not doing their job.
Huh? What Job?
2 DPS need to be allocated the job of jumping on Magmaw's head. When he bends over to chomp on the tank, a little vehicle arrow will appear when you mouse over him. One at a time, you can jump up on his head, but beware that vehicle icon is not available for long, so you have to be quick.
Once up, your action bar will have a thing to do, which is use constricting chains to tie his head to the spike in the middle there. OK DPS, this is where you need to talk on vent or something. You BOTH have to get your chains on at the same time. If only one gets done, then Magmaw will rip free and well, you have to go again, and since you only have 30s till the tank dies, you really only get one shot at this. The animation that goes along with chaining Magmaw is not short, so talk, and time it together.
Magmaw also likes to headbutt the raid at this point often stunning people. Not a lot you can do about that except wear it. I mean, you can probably dodge away, but I don't believe it is worth bothering with.
Spiked
Let's assume you got it right, and Magmaw is tied to the spike. The target will now change to exposed something or other - be sure that you are DPSing the right thing! Because, while Magmaw is chained down, you are doing double damage. Also, there is zero healing required at this time, so healers, you will need to use this tome to regenerate mana however you do it.
CAVEAT: If there are parasites up - no matter what happens, they are a DPS target priority. The only 2 people excused from dealing with parasites are the DPS jumping on Magmaw's head. Even then, they need to get their job done asap and get back onto the parasites.
Eventually, Magmaw will break free, and we are back to dealing with him as usual. This is where my group uses a second tank to ease the pain of the being munched on debuff. But if you are confident, you can use the same tank.
Threat Dump!
DPS - be very careful of threat - there is a aggro dump when Magmaw is chained (I think it is at that point) and it CAN turn around and snot you for about 120k on cloth if the tank it not quick enough on the taunt. Possibly not enough to kill you, but it will give the healers the scare of their lives.
TL;DR
OK maybe more than 3-4 sentences...
- One ranged for kiting parasites (priority kill targets), hunter best.
- Rest group up "behind" Magmaw.
- Don't stand in the poop.
- 2 DPS jump up asap, coordinate chain activation (30s Max time for this).
- Burn Magmaw (parasites die first).
- EEEP! Aggro Dump!!!
- Rinse, repeat.
- Collect bad RNG loots.
