Hakkar the Soulflayer

From WoWWiki

Hakkar the Soulflayer, the Blood God of the Gurubashi Trolls, is a malevolent and destructive deity that controls the Gurubashi Empire's fallen capital of Zul'Gurub.

Contents 1 Background 2 Abilities 3 Strategy 4 Helpful macros 4.1 Mage sheeping of Mind Controlled tanks 4.2 Priest/Paladin dispel of sheeped tanks 5 At 70 6 Quotes 7 Loot 8 Trivia 8.1 Faceless One 8.2 Houndmaster and Soulflayer 8.3 Mythological Basis 9 External links

Background

Hakkar is a powerful entity in the history of Azeroth, and old god to the trolls^{LoC 59}. Brann Bronzebeard believes that he may be a son of an Old God or even an Old God himself.^{HPG 185}.

The long centuries following the Great Sundering of the world were difficult ones for the troll race. Famine and terror were commonplace within the broken kingdoms. The Gurubashi trolls, driven to desperate ends, sought aid from ancient, mystical forces. Though both of the troll kingdoms shared a central belief in a great pantheon of primitive gods, the Gurubashi fell under the sway of the darkest one.

Hakkar the Soulflayer, a vile, bloodthirsty spirit, heard the trolls' call and decided to aid them. Hakkar gave his secrets of blood to the Gurubashi and helped them extend their civilization across most of Stranglethorn Vale and certain islands of the South Seas. Though he brought them great power, Hakkar wanted more and more for his efforts.

The bloodthirsty god demanded souls be sacrificed to him daily. He dreamed of gaining access to the physical world so he could devour the blood of all mortal creatures. In time the Gurubashi realized what kind of creature they had courted with -- and turned against him. The strongest tribes rose up against Hakkar and his loyal priests -- the Atal'ai.

The terrible war that ensued between Hakkar's followers and the rest of the Gurubashi tribes is spoken of only in whispers. The budding empire was shattered by the magic unleashed between the angry god and his rebel children. Just as the battle seemed most hopeless, the trolls succeeded in destroying Hakkar's avatar and banishing him from the world.

Even his Atal'ai priests were eventually driven back to the capital of Zul'Gurub and the swamplands of the north.

Though the priests were defeated and ultimately exiled, the great troll empire collapsed upon itself. The exiled priests fled far to the north, into the Swamp of Sorrows. There they erected a great temple to Hakkar - where they could prepare for his arrival into the physical world. The great dragon Aspect, Ysera, learned of the Atal'ai's plans and smashed the temple beneath the marshes. To this day, the temple's drowned ruins are guarded by the green dragons who prevent anyone from getting in or out. However, some of the fanatical Atal'ai have survived Ysera's wrath - and recommitted themselves to the dark service of Hakkar.

Their spiritual leader, Jammal'an, had what he called a prophecy. He believed the summoning of Hakkar will bring the Atal'ai immortality.

They even prepared a dark ritual to call the Avatar of Hakkar back into the physical world, but it was finally interrupted by a group of heroes, invading the temple.

In recent times, the Atal'ai priests discovered that Hakkar's physical form could only be summoned within the ancient capital of the Gurubashi Empire, Zul'Gurub. Unfortunately, the priests have met with recent success in their quest to call forth Hakkar -- reports confirm the presence of the dreaded Soulflayer in the heart of the Gurubashi ruins.

In order to quell the blood god, the trolls of the land banded together and sent a contingent of High Priests into the ancient city. Each priest was a powerful champion of the Primal Gods -- Bat, Panther, Tiger, Spider, and Snake -- but despite their best efforts, they fell under the sway of Hakkar. Now the champions and their Primal God aspects feed the awesome power of the Soulflayer. Any adventurers brave enough to venture into the foreboding ruins must overcome the High Priests if they are to have any hope of confronting the mighty blood god.

The Wind Serpents are the cousins of him and their spirits are linked to him.

Abilities

• Corrupted Blood: 875-1125 direct shadow damage plus a 200 every 2 seconds shadow DOT that hits a player and several players around. Corrupted Blood in its previous state has become well known due to the small scale epidemic it caused.
• Blood Siphon: Every 90 seconds from the time that Hakkar is pulled he will cast Blood Siphon on the entire raid. In its base state this is a 8 second channeled drain that deals 200 damage per second, stuns, and heals Hakkar for 1000 health per second. However, if the player has been infected with Poisonous Blood (released as a cloud around the corpse of a Son of Hakkar) then the Blood Siphon changes its effect. The stun remains but it now does 200 damage per second to Hakkar. Blood Siphon will appear as a debuff for each person affected. The number of these debuffs will remove nearly all existing ones.
• Cause Insanity: A 10 second non-dispellable mind control with a 150% movement and 100% attack speed increase, this is cast approximately every 10 to 15 seconds on the person currently highest on the aggro list. While mind controlled, the person temporarily loses aggro - however he will re-gain aggro once mind control expires.
• Enrage: After fighting for 10 minutes, Hakkar enrages, greatly increasing his damage output. This ability will generally wipe the raid. He will hit a Tier 1 plate warrior for a 7500 crushing blow. Hakkar's enrage does not seem to affect his defense, so he can still be killed if enough damage can be done to him before he kills everyone.
• Will of Hakkar: Takes control of a humanoid enemy up to level 65 for 20 sec.

If the High Priests around Zul'Gurub are not killed before Hakkar, then he is granted several powerful abilities which combine to make the fight near impossible.

• High Priestess Jeklik(Bat Aspect) - 1200-2000 AoE damage + 8s silence.
• High Priest Venoxis(Snake Aspect) - 800 damage poison to the raid.
• High Priestess Mar'li(Spider Aspect) - 6 second stun against current aggro holder. (Prior to patch 1.12, there was additionally a complete aggro reset).
• High Priest Thekal(Tiger Aspect) - Frenzy, increasing attack speed by 150%.
• High Priestess Arlokk(Panther Aspect) - 2 second gouge (aggro wipes the main tank)

Strategy

The fight revolves around the Blood Siphon. You need to ensure that the entire raid is poisoned by a Son of Hakkar's poison cloud before each Siphon. To enable this, you will need one person to pull a fast re-spawning Son from the left and right platforms to the raid so it can be killed. The entire raid should get the poison from the ensuing cloud while ensuring that the entire raid is not poisoned for too long, due to the damage caused. There are two common strategies for this.

1. Using a hunter or mage to pull a Son a few seconds before the Siphon, then the raid kill this as soon as it arrives and gets the poison.
2. Using a hunter to pull a Son immediately after a Siphon (or prior to starting the fight) then to have this Son sheeped or hibernated near to the raid and killed several seconds before the Siphon is due. The Siphon process will remove the poison, so it is possible to keep the damage from the poison to a minimum if the Son is killed only very shortly before siphoning. It is important to pull a new son only AFTER the siphoning, if pulled before there is a risk of it unsheeping during the Siphon while everyone is defenseless.

Hakkar himself needs to be held by 2 or 3 tanks due to him Mind Controlling the current tank, which will cause him to switch to next person on the aggro list. Hakkar's Mind Control is technically considered to be a Charm effect, so druid tanks are not immune to it. When a tank is Mind Controlled, he should be sheeped by a mage to prevent him causing too much damage to the raid. This sheep should be dispelled when Mind Control fades. Additionally, due to this Mind Control it is necessary to have warriors burn their Intimidating Shout as soon as it cools down to prevent the raid being feared. Hakkar will also frequently spit Corrupted Blood at members of the raid, dealing a large amount of shadow damage. Spreading the raid to limit the number of people who can be hit can help but also causes problems collapsing back to receive the poison. The best strategy is to keep the priests in the center rear, so they don't have to move around to get the poison, and spread the ranged DPS out to both sides, and closer to Hakkar. As with many boss fights, limiting the damage the AoE attack does it crucial. The Corrupted Blood attack does about 2000 points of damage to a player in total, and if 15 people get corrupted this means a total of 15,000-30,000 HP (depending on how fast it gets cleansed) which need to be healed. Since this happens every 20-30 seconds, this puts a massive load on the healers.

The fight itself requires relatively little DPS, although there is a 10 min Enrage. Hakkar has about 745804 HP. He will do around 1/4 of the damage himself via Blood Siphon assuming everyone in the raid gets the Poisonous Blood each Siphon. As a worst case scenario no more than 3 people can be without the poison, or Hakkar will heal each Siphon.

This goes without saying, but if at any time you're left with one tank, and the boss isn't at very low HP, a wipe is inevitable. Reset by running down the stairs. Hakkar's the first boss you'll come across that's untauntable, therefore it's impossible for a just-ressed tank to gain enough aggro to tank him - and, of course, he hits hard enough to make healing any randoms that get aggro during mind control into a nightmare. In order to prevent tank death, it is advisable to have at least 6 main healers in the raid. The majority of failures on Hakkar happen because of tank death.

Note that Hakkar can be reset by pulling him down the stairs.

Helpful macros

Mage sheeping of Mind Controlled tanks

Targets both Main Tanks and sheeps which ever is Mind Controlled.

/tar MT1
/cast [harm] Polymorph(Rank 1)
/tar MT2
/cast [harm] Polymorph(Rank 1)

Place the names of your 2 tanks in for "MT1" and "MT2" (if you have more than 2 tanks then add additional lines for them)

Priest/Paladin dispel of sheeped tanks

This must be pressed twice. Once before the sheep breaks, and once after.

NOTE: <<UNTESTED>> <<This will mess up your current target>>

/cast [target=focus,exists,help] Dispel Magic
/clearfocus [target=focus,exists,help]
/tar MT1
/focus [harm]
/tar MT2
/focus [harm]

If you are a Paladin, replace "Dispel Magic" with "Cleanse" and it will work.

Again, place the names of your MTs in there, and add additional lines if you have additional MTs.

At 70

It's possible, with a small raid and high DPS, to DPS through his blood siphon without the need for poisoning the raid. However, this does make the fight much more difficult.

Quotes

• "Minions of Hakkar, hear your God. The sanctity of this temple has been compromised. Invaders encroach upon holy ground! The Altar of Blood must be protected. Kill them all!"
• "You dare set foot upon Hakkari holy ground? Minions of Hakkar, destroy the infidels!"
• "PRIDE HERALDS THE END OF YOUR WORLD. COME, MORTALS! FACE THE WRATH OF THE SOULFLAYER!"
• "Fleeing will do you no good, mortals!"

Loot

Hakkar the Soulflayer

Aegis of the Blood God Binds when picked up Shield Off Hand 2959 Armor 61 Block Durability 120 / 120 Requires Level 60 Equip: Increases the block value of your shield by 30. Equip: Increases defense rating by 10. Equip: Increases your block rating by 10.	Ancient Hakkari Manslayer Binds when picked up Axe One-Hand Speed 2.00 69 - 130 Damage (49.8 damage per second) Durability 105 / 105 Requires Level 60 Chance on hit: Steals 48 to 54 life from target enemy.	Bloodcaller Binds when picked up Sword Main Hand Speed 2.00 52 - 114 Damage (41.6 damage per second) +15 Intellect +12 Stamina Durability 105 / 105 Requires Level 60 Equip: Increases damage and healing done by magical spells and effects by up to 33.	Bloodsoaked Legplates Binds when picked up Plate Legs 770 Armor +36 Strength +21 Stamina Durability 120 / 120 Requires Level 60 Equip: Increases defense rating by 15.
Cloak of Consumption Binds when picked up Back 60 Armor +10 Intellect Requires Level 60 Equip: Increases damage and healing done by magical spells and effects by up to 23. Equip: Increases your spell hit rating by 8.	Fang of the Faceless Binds when picked up Unique Dagger One-Hand Speed 1.9 66 - 123 Damage (49.74 damage per second) Durability 75 / 75 Requires Level 60 Equip: Increases your critical strike rating by 14. Equip: Increases attack power by 28.	Gurubashi Dwarf Destroyer Binds when picked up Unique Gun Ranged Speed 2.80 93 - 174 Damage (47.7 damage per second) Durability 90 / 90 Requires Level 60 Equip: Increases attack power by 30.	Heart of Hakkar Binds when picked up Unique This Item Begins a Quest Requires Level 58
Peacekeeper Gauntlets Binds when picked up Plate Hands 550 Armor +12 Intellect +7 Stamina Durability 55 / 55 Requires Level 60 Equip: Increases healing done by up to 59 and damage done by up to 20 for all magical spells and effects. Equip: Restores 4 mana per 5 sec.	Seafury Gauntlets Binds when picked up Mail Hands 310 Armor +9 Intellect +10 Strength +9 Stamina Durability 50 / 50 Requires Level 60 Equip: Increases your critical strike rating by 14. Equip: Increases your spell critical strike rating by 14. Equip: Restores 7 mana per 5 sec.	Soul Corrupter's Necklace Binds when picked up Neck +16 Intellect +8 Spirit +10 Stamina Requires Level 60 Equip: Increases your spell hit rating by 8.	The Eye of Hakkar Binds when picked up Neck Requires Level 60 Equip: Increases your critical strike rating by 14. Equip: Increases attack power by 40.
Touch of Chaos Binds when picked up Wand Ranged Speed 1.50 86 - 160 Shadow Damage (82.0 damage per second) Durability 75 / 75 Requires Level 60 Equip:Increases damage and healing done by magical spells and effects by up to 18.	Warblade of the Hakkari Binds when picked up Unique Sword Main Hand Speed 1.70 59 - 110 Damage (49.7 damage per second) Durability 105 / 105 Requires Level 60 Equip: Increases attack power by 28. Equip: Increases your critical strike rating by 14. "Forged in..." Set: The Twin Blades of Hakkari (1/2)	Zin'rokh, Destroyer of Worlds Binds when picked up Unique Sword Two-Hand Speed 3.80 196 - 295 Damage (64.6 damage per second) +28 Stamina Durability 120 / 120 Requires Level 60 Equip: Increases attack power by 72.

Trivia

Faceless One

According to the Zandalar Troll Melthor, one of his titles is "The Faceless One." Though this in-game text specifically uses the words Faceless One attached to Hakkar the Soulflayer, it not known if he has any connection with the life-forms encountered beneath Northrend. See Faceless One for further information.

Houndmaster and Soulflayer

According to an interview, Hakkar the Houndmaster and Hakkar the Soulflayer are two different entities:

Richard A. Knaak:

"Hakkar first existed in WELL OF ETERNITY, as Hakkar the Houndmaster, my creation. Blizzard must have liked the name, because they accidentally took the name afterward for the troll god. Chris Metzen apologized for the mix-up at the L.A. Festival of Books."

Mythological Basis

Physically, Hakkar seems to resemble the Mesoamerican deity "Quetzalcoatl" or "Kukulkan," both of which can be translated "Feathered Serpent". This fits in with certain aspects from Troll architecture and culture, which resemble those of the Aztec and Maya, both of whom revered the Feathered Serpent. Unlike Hakkar however, Kukulkan/Quetzalcoatl abhorred human sacrifice.

External links