Wowpedia

We have moved to Warcraft Wiki. Click here for information and the new URL.

READ MORE

Wowpedia
Register
Advertisement
BossBaleroc
Image of Baleroc
Title <The Gatekeeper>
Gender Male
Race Fire elemental (Elemental)
Level ?? Boss
Reaction Alliance Horde
Location Mortal's Demise, Firelands
Status Killable

Baleroc, the Gatekeeper, is a fire elemental boss of the Firelands raid instance. He uses two Volcanospike swords as his personal weapons.

World first heroic kill on 25-man achieved 7.7.2011 by Method - EU-Xavius.

Background[]

"Baleroc stands before the gate to Sulfuron Keep, amidst a river of combustion that serves as the Sulfuron moat. The bridge to Ragnaros’s blistering chamber can only be crossed by those who find a way to put an end to this towering elemental monstrosity.[1]

Adventure Guide[]

Baleroc earned a reputation as a merciless combatant during the elemental wars of ancient Azeroth. Now that he is confined to the Firelands, Baleroc's sanity has dwindled. Few elementals dare disturb him, fearful that they will become victim to his battle lust.

Abilities[]

In all difficulty settings, Baleroc has a hard enrage timer of 6 minutes.

  • Spell shadow unholyfrenzy Berserk — Increases the caster's attack and movement speeds by 150% and all damage it deals by 500%. Also grants immunity to Taunt effects. Cast after 6 minutes of combat.
  • Ability mage livingbomb Blaze of Glory — Baleroc's assault periodically awakens a burning spark within his current target, increasing the target's physical damage taken by 20%, but also raising their maximum health by 20%. Every time Baleroc applies Blaze of Glory, he gains an application of Incendiary Soul.
    • Ability mage firestarter Incendiary Soul — Every time Baleroc applies Blaze of Glory, he gains an application of Incendiary Soul, increasing his Fire damage dealt by 20%.
  • Inv jewelcrafting shadowsongamethyst 01 Shards of Torment — Baleroc summons a crystal amongst his foes, which continually channels a shadowy beam on the nearest player. In 25 player raids, Baleroc summons two crystals.
    • Spell shadow twistedfaith Torment — The Shard of Torment inflicts 4000 Shadow damage per application to the nearest player, stacking once per second.
    • Spell shadow gathershadows Tormented — When Torment fades from a player, they are afflicted by the Tormented effect, which increases their Shadow damage taken by 250% and reduces the player's healing done by 50% for 40 sec. (Heroic-mode Only) Direct melee contact with any other player will apply a fresh copy of the Tormented effect to that player.
    • Spell fire twilightnova Wave of Torment — If no player stands within 15 yards of a Shard of Torment, the Shard pulses this effect, inflicting 15000 Shadow damage each second to all players.
    • Inv elemental mote fire01 Vital Spark Healer Alert — If a player casts a direct heal on someone being damaged by Torment, the healer gains an application of Vital Spark for each three stacks of Torment on the target. Casting a single-target direct heal on a target affected by Blaze of Glory will trigger Vital Flame.
      • Inv elemental primal fire Vital Flame Healer Alert — Vital Flame increases healing done to targets affected by Blaze of Glory by 5% per stack of Vital Spark consumed, lasting for 15 sec. When Vital Flame expires, it restores the Vital Spark stacks consumed to create the effect.
  • Blades of Baleroc — Baleroc periodically empowers one of his blades with Shadow or Fire energy, and wields it alone for 15 sec.
    • Spell shadow curse Decimation Blade — Baleroc's melee strikes do no Physical damage but instead inflict Shadow damage equal to 90% of the target's maximum health, but always at least 250000 damage. This damage cannot be resisted or mitigated but can be dodged. Baleroc's time between attacks increases by 100% while this effect is active.
    • Inv sword 09 Inferno Blade — Baleroc's melee strikes do no Physical damage but instead inflict 100000 Fire damage.
  • Spell nature timestop Countdown Heroic Difficulty —  Baleroc links two players to each other for 8 sec. If the chosen players move within 4 yards of each other, the effect dissipates harmlessly. If the effect runs its full course, then both players explode, inflicting 100000 Fire damage to all players within 100 yards.

Strategy[]

Tanking[]

Baleroc is a 2-tank fight with an Blaze tank and a Decimation tank.

The Decimation Blade mechanic motivates you to have one tank who has a little over 250K health so that he can survive Decimation Blade. The other tank will gain stacks of Blaze of Glory which will eventually cause him to have much more health.

The Decimation tank should start the pull and stack Blaze of Glory until he has just over 250K health. At this point the Blaze tank can wait for safe time (not during an impending Decimation Blade) and taunt off the Decimation tank.

If the Blaze tank were struck with Decimation Blade late in the fight he would suffer much more than 250K damage, causing unnecessary load on the healers. Conversely, if the Decimation tank were struck by Inferno Blade, he might not have enough health to survive the Incendiary-Soul-augmented damage. This tank swap might remind raiders of the Chimaeron Break/DA tank option.

When Baleroc empowers his blade, it will be random whether he chooses Decimation Blade or Inferno Blade (note: the first blade will always be Inferno Blade), but you do have a warning to give you time to taunt. Once his blades are empowered they are in that mode for 12 seconds. This means that the Decimation tank can take a total of 3 strikes that do >240K damage. This damage cannot be reduced by cooldowns, absorbs, or blocks, but fortunately it can be dodged or parried. Unfortunately this is not reliable, so healers still need to get him back >90% health during the 5 seconds between swings. If the healers are having difficulty doing this reliably the Blaze tank can taunt until the Decimation tank is restored. This is a desperate tactic because the healers then have to heal up the Blaze tank from near death, and in the late stages of the fight it is not unusual for the Blaze tank to have more than a million health.

The random nature of the blades and the chance to avoid Decimation Blade does, along with the rapidly ballooning healing output, does mean that losing the Decimation tank late in the fight is not necessarily an instant wipe. The Blaze tank can survive a single Decimation Blade, and healers can often (though with difficulty) manage to heal through the vastly increased damage if they've been stacking Vital Spark properly, and it's possible to randomly get Inferno Blade (instead of Decimation Blade) repeatedly. In addition, if a tank is resurrected, he retains his stacks of Blaze of Glory, so it is possible for him to resume his role.

Shards of Torment[]

Baleroc drops Shards of Torment: 1 in 10-man, 2 in 25-man. The shards will spawn on the closest non-tank to Baleroc, generally one of the melee, so it is a good idea to have the melee stack up at a particular location before each shard spawn to ensure a predictable location.

If no one is near a Shard of Torment, it inflicts Wave of Torment upon the entire raid. Do not let this happen. When players are in range of a shard the closest one gets stacked with Torment. Torment must be taken by DPS. Healers and especially Tanks never ever want to get Torment, because the Tormented debuff that follows halves their healing performed and will cause the Tank to take deadly damage from Inferno and Decimation Blade.

The stacks of Torment cause increasing shadow damage. The shard "tank" wants to let Torment stack as high as possible before running away and letting another DPS "tank" the shard. The high stacks of Torment allow healers to stack Vital Spark faster. Each shard will apply a total of 24-25 stacks of Torment, so either 2 dps taking 12 stacks apiece (topping out at 48000 shadow damage per second to the shard tank) or 3 dps taking 8 stacks apiece (topping out at 32000 shadow damage per second to the shard tank) is recommended. An alternate strategy is to have one dps with a large damage reduction cooldown (a Retribution paladin with Divine Protection glyphed is a good candidate due to the short CD) take 15-18 stacks, with another dps taking the remaining 8-10. This allows healers to gain an extremely large number of Vital Spark stacks from that shard phase.

Once a player has stopped tanking a shard, they will lose their Torment stacks after 1-2 seconds and gain Tormented instead. Tormented significantly increases shadow damage taken, meaning it would be a really bad idea for a Tormented player to get any Torment stacks until the Tormented has fallen off. This means that DPS will have to take turns tanking the shard. However it is important to note that the Torment channel does not refresh the Tormented debuff. This only happens if you gain, then lose the Torment debuff. Tormented lasts 40 seconds. If using 3 DPS per shard (8 stacks each), this means a minimum of 5 dps will need to be in the shard rotation, as the Tormented debuff will fall off again just as the first player needs to take it from the 5th.

This Tormented debuff also means it is extremely important that the Decimation Blade tank doesn't accidentally take a tick of the shard and gain the debuff, as Decimation Blade will one-shot that tank with it up.

On Heroic mode, Tormented will spread to all nearby players. Because of this, extra care needs to be taken that Tormented Players are stacked away from other players (but not too far, due to Countdown), that the tank(s) never get Tormented, and that healers get it as little as possible.

Healing[]

Healers can be divided into two teams. One team will heal the boss tank while the other team heals the shard tanks suffering from the Torment debuff.

Using direct heals (not AoE or HoT heals) on a player with Torment stacks Vital Spark.

When a healer with Vital Spark casts a heal on a player with Blaze of Glory (either of the boss tanks) then it converts spark stacks to Vital Flame, increasing healing done to the Blaze of Glory player.

After 15 seconds the Vital Flame will convert back into Vital Spark with the same number of stacks it had previously.

Once the Vital Flame ends the healing teams should swap duties. The ones that were previously stacking Vital Spark by healing Torment victims should start healing the boss tanks and activate their Vital Flame. The ones that were healing the boss tanks should start healing Torment victims and stack more Vital Sparks. Alternatively, to reduce target swapping and ramp-up time on healing, healers can stay on the tank for two Vital Flame cycles, then swap off for two. This results in healers swapping every 30 seconds rather than every minute. Since the shards last approximately 28 seconds apiece, this swap lines up well with them and can be used as a rough gauge of swap timing.

Countdown[]

If you are a Countdown victim, move to the other player and hold still until the debuff falls off. If you fail to do this, or move too slowly, (or run away too soon), you will both explode and do massive damage to most of your teammates. If one player has Tormented, it is possible with perfect execution to avoid spreading the debuff; however, this can be almost impossible in actual circumstances (for instance, due to latency). Backup healers and soakers must be prepared to take over in case a healer or shard soaker receives Tormented as a result of Countdown.

Enrage[]

On all difficulties, Baleroc has a hard enrage timer of 6 minutes. Notably, his enrage does not immediately wipe the raid, and it is possible with kiting and a good string of avoidance to kill him after his berserk.

Solo strategy[]

Pop CDs on the pull. Get far away from the Crystal of Torment. Baleroc's hitbox is a good distance indicator, as the crystal should be on the opposite side of Baleroc's hitbox from the player. The pulsing Wave of Torment does far less damage than the stacking Torment debuff. The heroic-only Countdown mechanic never comes in to play, as there is only one player to target.

Loot[]

Item Type
Normal Heroic
Inv axe 1h firelandsraid d 02 [Gatecrasher] Inv axe 1h firelandsraid d 02 [Gatecrasher] Agility one-hand axe
Inv offhand 1h firelandsraid d 01 [Molten Scream] Inv offhand 1h firelandsraid d 01 [Molten Scream] DPS caster off-hand
Inv shield firelandsraid d 02 [Shard of Torment] Inv shield firelandsraid d 02 [Shard of Torment] Tank shield
Inv shoulder robe raidmage j 01 [Mantle of Closed Doors] Inv shoulder robe raidmage j 01 [Mantle of Closed Doors] Caster cloth shoulders
Inv chest leather raidrogue j 01 [Breastplate of the Incendiary Soul] Inv chest leather raidrogue j 01 [Breastplate of the Incendiary Soul] Agility leather chest
Inv shoulders leather raidrogue j 01 [Shoulderpads of the Forgotten Gate] Inv shoulders leather raidrogue j 01 [Shoulderpads of the Forgotten Gate] Agility leather shoulders
Inv bracer leather raiddruid j 01 [Glowing Wing Bracers] Inv bracer leather raiddruid j 01 [Glowing Wing Bracers] Spirit leather bracers
Inv chest mail raidshaman j 01 [Gatekeeper's Embrace] Inv chest mail raidshaman j 01 [Gatekeeper's Embrace] Spirit mail chest
Inv boots mail raidhunter j 01 [Decimation Treads] Inv boots mail raidhunter j 01 [Decimation Treads] Agility mail boots
Inv glove plate raidwarrior j 01 [Flickering Handguards] Inv glove plate raidwarrior j 01 [Flickering Handguards] Plate gloves
Inv helmet plate raidpaladin j 01 [Casque of Flame] Inv helmet plate raidpaladin j 01 [Casque of Flame] Spirit plate helm
Inv helm plate raidwarrior j 01 [Helm of Blazing Glory] Inv helm plate raidwarrior j 01 [Helm of Blazing Glory] Tank plate helm
Inv trinket firelands 03 [Necromantic Focus] Inv trinket firelands 03 [Necromantic Focus] DPS caster trinket
Inv summerfest firespirit [Eternal Ember] Quest item
Spell mage flameorb [Living Ember] Trade goods
Inv gauntlets 29 [Gauntlets of the Fiery Conqueror] Armor token
Inv gauntlets 29 [Gauntlets of the Fiery Protector] Armor token
Inv gauntlets 29 [Gauntlets of the Fiery Vanquisher] Armor token
Inv diablostone [Crystallized Firestone] Currency
Shared boss loot
Item Type
Normal Heroic
Inv mace 1h firelandsraid d 03 [Shatterskull Bonecrusher] Inv mace 1h firelandsraid d 03 [Shatterskull Bonecrusher] Agility one-hand mace
Inv sword 2h firelandsraid d 01 [Zoid's Firelit Greatsword] Inv sword 2h firelandsraid d 01 [Zoid's Firelit Greatsword] Strength two-hand sword
Inv stave 2h firelandsraid d 01 [Smoldering Censer of Purity] Inv stave 2h firelandsraid d 01 [Smoldering Censer of Purity] Spirit staff
Inv axe 1h firelandsraid d 01 [Eye of Purification] Inv axe 1h firelandsraid d 01 [Eye of Purification] Spirit one-hand axe
Inv knife 1h firelandsraid d 01 [Avool's Incendiary Shanker] Inv knife 1h firelandsraid d 01 [Avool's Incendiary Shanker] Agility dagger
Inv knife 1h firelandsraid d 02 [Entrail Disgorger] Inv knife 1h firelandsraid d 02 [Entrail Disgorger] Agility dagger
Inv sword 1h firelandsraid d 01 [Firethorn Mindslicer] Inv sword 1h firelandsraid d 01 [Firethorn Mindslicer] Caster sword

Related Achievements[]

Quotes[]

Aggro
You are forbidden from my master's domain, mortals.
Shards of Torment
Fool mortals. Hurl yourselves into your own demise!
Baleroc Readies his Inferno Blade!
Burn beneath my molten fury!
Baleroc Readies his Decimation Blade!
By the Firelord's command, you, too, shall perish!
Berserk
Your flesh is forfeit to the fires of this realm.
Killing a player
  • You have been judged.
  • Behold your weakness.
  • None shall pass!
Death
Mortal filth... the master's keep is forbidden...

Videos[]

10-man Heroic[]

10-man Normal[]

25-man Normal[]

Patch changes[]

  • Cataclysm Hotfix (2011-09-20):
    • Health and damage have been reduced by 25% on normal difficulty. Health and damage have been reduced by 15% on Heroic difficulty.
    • Baleroc now swings 25% slower while Decimation Blade is active.
    • The duration of Tormented has been reduced on normal difficulty.
  • Cataclysm Hotfix (2011-07-26): On 25-player Heroic difficulty, Torment now grants a stack of Vital Spark per 5 applications, up from 3. To compensate, Baleroc’s health has been reduced on 25-player Heroic difficulty.
  • Cataclysm Hotfix (2011-07-08): Death knight Bloodworms are no longer removing stacks of Torment when they explode to heal other players.
  • Cataclysm Hotfix (2011-07-06):
    • Baleroc’s health has been increased on 10-player Heroic difficulty.
    • Baleroc's gate now despawns properly when he resets.
    • Shards of Torment despawn when Baleroc resets even if they are spawned after Baleroc has despawned.
  • Cataclysm Hotfix (2011-07-01): Baleroc's gate will now properly unlock itself again after a wipe, even if Shannox is still alive.
  • Cataclysm Patch 4.2.0 (2011-06-28): Added.

Trivia[]

Baleroc is voiced by Richard Epcar.

References[]

External links[]

Advertisement