User:Serillian/Battleguard Gri'mak

This article is fan fiction.
The contents herein are entirely player made and in no way represent official Warcraft lore or history. The characters and events listed are of an independent nature and are applied for roleplaying purposes only.

This article or section includes speculation, observations or opinions possibly supported by lore or by Blizzard officials. It should not be taken as representing official lore.

Battleguard Gri'mak
Title	<Qri'thik War Hero>
Race	Mantid (Humanoid)
Level	?? Boss
Location	Gri'mak Arena, Temple of Qri'vexx
[[Temple of Qri'vexx|Temple of Qri'vexx]] {{Temple of Qri'vexx}}

Temple of Qri'vexx
ToQ
Location	Southeastern Dread Wastes
End boss	Empress Qri'vexx, Sha of Terror
Bosses User:Khaydarin/Template:TempleOfQrivexx

Battleguard Gri'mak is the fourth boss encounter in the Temple of Qri'vexx. He is favored among his people and is revered as a hero of the mantid. His warrior skills will put his enemies to the test.

Background

One of the stronger mantid to return from the wall, Gri'mak has been chosen by the mantid to become a teacher to lesser warriors and squires. With an arena to his name, Gri'mak brings his knowledge to bear and imparts it on his fans. Striving for something more, Gri'mak welcomes outside challengers (provided they can make it past the Centurion) and intends on doing respectful battle with them. With all evidence pointing towards him being free of Sha corruption, Gri'mak has his choices to make and only serves Qri'vexx long enough to gain followers for his cause. With the invasion of the temple, Gri'mak hopes these invaders will give him a good challenge to entertain him and his crowd. Those who defeat him in honorable combat will gain his favor regardless of race: he can use what "allies" he can get to set his plan of overthrowing Empress Qri'vexx into motion.

Abilities

Battleguard Gri'mak enrages after 9 minutes of combat. The war hero enrages after 12 minutes on LFR difficulty.

•  Battle Fury  —  As Gri'mak fights in combat, his combative fury grows. All damage dealt is increased by 1% for every time he lands a damaging melee attack. Gri'mak will gain additional applications of this effect if he does damage to players with his signature attacks. Stacks 100 (LFR: 50 /: 500) times.

•  Furious Strike  —  Gri'mak unleashes a powerful blow on his target, dealing 550,000 (LFR: 275,000 /: 1,100,000) Physical damage and sends the target into a furious rage. The affected target deals 20% additional damage per stack lasting 15 seconds. Stacks up to 5 times. 5 second cooldown.
  •  Release Rage   —  If a player receives a 5th application of Furious Strike, they will burn out with full rage. Inflicts 2,500,000 (LFR: 1,250,000 /: 5,000,000) Physical damage to all players within 10 yards and instantly kills the player releasing the rage.

•  Shattering Cleave  —  Gri'mak carves his enemies, dealing 900,000 (LFR: 450,000 /: 1,800,000) Physical damage split between two targets. The primary target suffers the Shattered effect, reducing armor by 50% for 12 seconds. 15 second cooldown.

Signature Attacks

Every minute of the encounter with Gri'mak that passes by, he will use one out of three special attacks against his enemies.

•  Arcing Strike  —  Gri'mak selects a random player and focuses his next attack on them. After 3 seconds, Gri'mak unleashes a devastating cleave attack on them. Deals 4,150,000 (: 7,450,000) Physical damage divided evenly between all targets within 8 yards of the primary victim. In addition, for each target hit by this attack, the damage bonus of Battle Fury increases by 1%. 25-man: Deals 8,450,000 (LFR: 2,050,000 /: 14,900,000) Physical damage divided evenly between all targets within 8 yards of the primary victim. Battle Fury's damage bonus increases by an additional 1% for every target hit by this ability.

•  Twisting Steel  —  Gri'mak spins around in a whirlwind of steel that deals 150% weapon damage to all nearby enemies every 0.5 sec. for 15 seconds. During this attack, the Battleguard fixates on random players every 3 seconds and any player damaged by this attack causes Gri'mak to gain additional applications of Battle Fury per player. At the completion of this attack, Gri'mak will be rendered Exhausted. This effect stuns him and causes all damage against him to do 100% (LFR: 50% /: 200%) additional damage lasting 20 seconds.
  •  Incite Rage  —  The next Qri'thik Fanatic that joins the arena battle will go into a rage after seeing their idol suffering from the effects of Exhausted. Damage done by the Fanatic is increased by 30% and attack speed improves by 75% until the mantid is killed.

•  Fury Charge  —  Gri'mak rushes to a random player that is more than 30 yards away from him, dealing 150,000 (LFR: 75,000 /: 300,000) Physical damage and leaving the target Weakened. This effect causes that player to take 400% increased damage from the next Fury Charge attack for 15 seconds. Gri'mak gains an application of Battle Fury each time he damages a player with this ability. Gri'mak will use this ability every 5 seconds until he is ready to attack with another signature ability. If there are no players to target with this ability, Gri'mak will call down 5 Qri'thik Fanatics every 5 seconds until a player is outside the 30 yard radius.

Gri'mak's Shouts and Roars

Every 20 seconds, Battleguard Gri'mak casts a random Shout or Roar ability that varies in effect.

•  Staggering Shout  —  Gri'mak unleashes a Staggering Shout loud enough for all to hear in his arena. Enemies within 100 yards suffer 400,000 (LFR: 200,000 /: 800,000) Physical damage and interrupts all spellcasting for 6 seconds. Players can use Gri'mak's Banners to block line of sight of this attack.

•  Dazing Roar  —  Gri'mak releases a mighty roar for all to hear. Inflicts 100,000 (LFR: 50,000 /: 200,000) Physical damage and reduces the movement speed of all players within line of sight by 60% for 12 seconds. Players can use Gri'mak's Banners to block line of sight of this attack.

•  Disrupting Shout  —  With all his might, Gri'mak unleashes a disrupting shout for his enemies to succumb to. Drains up to 150,000 Mana and inflicts Physical damage equal to 200% of the amount drained. When affecting players without Mana, drains up to 50% Energy, Rage, Focus and Runic Power and inflicts 60,000 (LFR: 30,000 /: 120,000) Physical damage for every 10 Energy, Rage, Focus and Runic Power drained by this ability. Players can use Gri'mak's Banners to block line of sight of this attack.

•  Sonic Roar  —  Gri'mak releases a powerful roar empowered by sonic energy. Deals 300,000 (LFR: 150,000 /: 600,000) Physical damage to all players, with the damage reduced based on distance from Gri'mak, and knocks them down for 1 second. This roar is powerful enough to causes the body to shut down temporarily, stunning players for 5 seconds. This effect will only occur if players are facing the war hero. Players can use Gri'mak's Banners to block line of sight of this attack.

Gri'mak's Banners

Every 30 seconds, Gri'mak will throw down a banner that grants a random effect and inspires a Qri'thik Fanatic to join the fray. The banner itself can be attacked to destroy it. Battleguard Gri'mak will only throw down a banner if there is no banner present in the arena. Gri'mak will throw a banner down regardless if there is a banner present in the arena. This banner will grant him a secondary effect until destroyed. In addition, a thrown banner will also inspire a Qri'thik Blade Reaver to join the battle.

•  Gri'mak War Banner  —  Gri'mak tosses a banner that can be attacked by players in an attempt to destroy it. The banner also blocks line of sight from Gri'mak's Shout and Roar abilities. The banner will also grant a random effect to Gri'mak when thrown down.
  • 7,880,000 (10-man Normal)
  • 11,540,000 (10-man Heroic)
  • 11,820,000 (25-man Raid Finder)
  • 15,760,000 (25-man Normal)
  • 23,080,000 (25-man Heroic)

•  Crushing Rage  —  When the War Banner grants Gri'mak the Crushing Rage effect, all damage inflicted by him causes him to gradually enrage, increasing damage done by 10% per stack. Stacks up to 5 times. Lasts until the Banner is destroyed.

•  Blood Shout  —  When the War Banner grants Gri'mak the Blood Shout effect, he will periodically release a shout strong enough to burst the blood vessels within his enemies ears. Deals 100,000 (LFR: 50,000 /: 200,000) Physical damage and bursts the blood vessels in the ears of all players. This causes them to bleed for 60,000 (LFR: 30,000 /: 120,000) Physical damage every 0.75 sec. for 7.5 seconds. In addition, this effect will also reduce attack and casting speeds by 20% for the duration. After 5 stacks, players cannot cast spells or attack for the duration. Lasts until the Banner is destroyed. Used every 5 seconds.

•  Flurry  —  When the War Banner grants Gri'mak the Flurry effect, his attack speed is increased by 50% while every 4th melee swing causes Gri'mak to strike 3 times. Lasts until the Banner is destroyed. : Gri'mak strikes 6 times on every 4th melee swing.

•  Blade Hurl  —  When the War Banner grants Gri'mak the Blade Hurl effect, Gri'mak throws his weapon at a distant player's location, inflicting 400,000 (LFR: 200,000 /: 800,000) Physical damage to enemies within 8 yards of the impact point. At this point, Gri'mak begins to attack unarmed, unable to use his weapon-related abilities. After 10 seconds, Gri'mak charges for his weapon, knocking all players back near the blade. Lasts until the Banner is destroyed. 15 second cooldown.

Qri'thik Fanatic

When a War Banner is thrown down, Gri'mak's fans will cheer him on. The burst of praise will also motivate a Qri'thik Fanatic to join the arena.

• Qri'thik Fanatic —  When a War Banner is thrown down, these mantid fighters will join their idol in combat. They are susceptible to all forms of crowd control. One Fanatic joins the battle each time a War Banner is thrown.
  • 21,450,000 (10-man Normal)
  • 37,500,000 (10-man Heroic)
  • 32,175,000 (25-man Raid Finder)
  • 42,900,000 (25-man Normal)
  • 75,000,000 (25-man Heroic)

•  Fan Frenzy  —  Being near their warrior idol causes Qri'thik Fanatics to go crazy. Increases their attack speed by 100% if they are within 15 yards of Gri'mak.

•  Grievous Slash  —  The Fanatic performs a wounding strike on their target, dealing 150% weapon damage and causing them to bleed for 40,000 (LFR: 20,000 /: 80,000) Physical damage every 1.5 sec. per stack until they are healed above 70% (LFR: 50% /: 90%) health. 4 sec cooldown.

•  Mimic Battle Cry   —  Being fans of Gri'mak, the Qri'thik Fanatics will copy their idol's Shout or Roar ability, but each time they do so, all damage they inflict with autoattacks is reduced by 10%. Stacks up to 5 times lasting 45 seconds.

Qri'thik Blade Reaver

As a War Banner is thrown down, a Qri'thik Blade Reaver will join the Fanatic in battle with Gri'mak.

• Qri'thik Blade Reaver  —  These powerful mantid are physically intimidating and train directly from Gri'mak himself. They carry amber-forged blades and wear amber-forged armor created by Pri'jirelk.
  • 98,300,000 (10-man Heroic)
  • 196,600,000 (25-man Heroic)

•  Amber Strike   —  The Blade Reaver releases a mighty weapon strike on its target, inflicting 545,000 Physical damage and splashing liquid amber on the target. This burning liquid sears the target's armor, reducing its effectiveness by 15% per stack lasting 20 seconds. Stacks up to 6 times.

•  Proving Oneself   —  If the Blade Reaver is within 20 yards of Gri'mak, this inspires the mantid to attempt to prove its strength to his mentor. Attack speed increases by 50% and the Blade Reaver will use its abilities twice as often. Additionally, the Blade Reaver cannot be stunned while under this effect.

•  Amber Expulsion   —  The Blade Reaver uses its amber energies to conjure a massive ball of amber liquid and sends it into the air. After 4 seconds, the ball explodes and sends bolts of searing liquid at all players, dealing 1,500,000 Firestorm damage and burning the armor off of each target. Armor is reduced by 100% for 20 seconds. 2.5 sec cast. 20 sec cooldown.

•  Bladed Frenzy  —  When the Blade Reaver reaches 20% health, it goes into a killing frenzy. This increases its damage by 65% and prevents it from falling victim to Crowd Control effects.

Strategy

A regular raid composition can be used for this encounter. Gri'mak can be tanked anywhere in the arena but keeping him in the center is best along with the raid stacked up. Players don't need to stack up right away but for certain abilities, it is advised to do so.

Gri'mak has a power bar that indicates his current Battle Fury percentage. Each melee attack that lands increases his damage by 1%. This increases as he damages players with his Signature attacks.

His first ability, Furious Strike, is the standard "tank-switch" ability. It progressively increases the damage the tanking player deals by 20% per stack but at 5 stacks, Release Rage occurs which kills the player and deals lethal damage to anyone near them. This should never happen as tanks can switch off each other at 4 stacks. Tanks will also need to switch early when Shattering Cleave occurs as the tanking player loses half of their armor. The tanks need to stay stacked up on each other to split the damage this cleave deals. Shattering Cleave happens about every 3rd Furious Strike and tanks should coordinate around that as the reduced armor could be problematic, especially if handled poorly.

Shouts and Roars

Early into the pull and every 20 seconds afterwards, Gri'mak will cast a random Shout or Roar ability, each of which can punish poor raid play. These shouts and roars can be prevented by the banners Gri'mak will toss down during the encounter. However, the first shout will occur before a banner is thrown down so the raid will have to deal with it and depending on which one he will use, that first shout/roar can easily cause problems within the raid. Fortunately, Gri'mak will never use the same shout/roar back to back.

If Gri'mak uses the Staggering Shout ability, anyone in the middle of a cast will be interrupted and prevented from casting again for 6 seconds. This shout hits extremely hard, further increased as Gri'mak's Battle Fury grows. Any form of cooldown, personal or raidwide, must be used to survive this damage later on in the encounter.

If Gri'mak uses the Dazing Roar ability, everyone hit by this attack will be dazed by 60%, which may prevent people from moving to the banner to block line of sight. This hits the softest but the snare can be a problem for those who can't get behind the banners in time (it won't count if this is the first roar used before the banner).

If Gri'mak uses the Disrupting Shout ability, this drains up to 150k Mana from mana users (Ret Paladins and enhance Shamans suffer from this effect too and all of their mana is drained by this ability) and inflicts Physical damage equal to 200% of the amount drained. This attack alone can nearly kill (and it will as Battle Fury grows in power) players with more than half of their mana so they will have to make sure they are under 50% Mana by the time Gri'mak uses another shot/roar attack. For those without Mana, this attack drains up to half of their Energy, Rage, Focus or Runic Power and deals about 60,000 Physical damage for every 10 Power resource drained. This won't be much of a problem as classes who use Energy, Rage, Focus and Runic Power will constantly use up their resource. This attack will be harmless once players are blocking line of sight via banners.

If Gri'mak uses the Sonic Roar ability, this deals damage based on distance from the boss along with knocking them down. If anyone is facing the boss, including those LoSing using the banner, they will be stunned for 5 seconds so make sure players are facing away from him at all times. While using the banner to block line of sight of Gri'mak is helpful, the banners themselves provide additional problems for the raid to deal with as well and players may not always get to have a banner out.

War Banners of Gri'mak

The banners, while they block line of sight from the Shout and Roar attacks, grant Gri'mak random abilities each time they are thrown out (which is every 30 seconds). Depending on the ability granted, the banner will have to be destroyed or kept up for quite some time. Each time the banner is thrown down, they will also spawn a Qri'thik Fanatic add.

Crushing Rage will grant Gri'mak a 10% damage increase per stack up to 50% increased damage. This ability calls for the banner to be destroyed before it reaches maximum stacks as Gri'mak will deal dangerous damage, especially combined with his ever growing Battle Fury effect.

If Gri'mak is granted his Blood Shout ability, he will occasionally deal AoE damage to the raid and apply a strong DoT along with a stacking debuff that lowers attack and casting speeds. If this ever reaches 5 stacks, players cannot attack or cast and they will not be able to do any damage or healing. This debuff only lasts 7.5 seconds but the shout is used every 5 seconds so players will be silenced and pacified indefinitely, eventually wiping the raid. The banner must be destroyed before this debuff reaches 5 stacks.

When the banner grants Gri'mak Flurry, his attack speed increases by 50% and every fourth melee swing causes Gri'mak to attack 3 times. While easily healed through, this can be quite a problem as his Battle Fury grows in strength, threatening to kill a tank or bring him real close to death. When combined with Furious Strike or Shattering Cleave, the damage can kill fast. Cooldown usage can help counter and prevent any sudden spike in damage.

The last ability the Banner can grant Gri'mak is the Blade Hurl ability, he will throw his weapon targeted at a player's location. He starts to fight unarmed for about 10 seconds. During this time he does not use any weapon strikes or other related abilities, giving tanks a short break before he resumes fighting with such abilities again. However, his Shouts and Roars will continue to be used. This granted ability is probably the least threatening of all possible abilities that can be given to him. The good side of this is that Gri'mak will not throw another banner down until the previous is destroyed so the raid can keep this banner out until the boss is beaten.

Qri'thik Fanatic

Whenever a War Banner is tossed down, a Qri'thik Fanatic will join the fight as well. This add can be crowd controlled in every possible way. It would be best to quickly kill the fanatic to eliminate unwanted damage from it. If possible, keep the fanatic more than 15 yards away from Gri'mak or else it will gain the Fan Frenzy ability and attack 100% faster.

The fanatic will also apply a stacking bleed effect which can only be removed when the victim is healed past a certain threshold (70% for Normal). Killing the Fanatic and keeping it stunned at the same time will prevent the majority of the add's damage. Once killed, they will no longer spawn until another Banner is thrown down.

Signature Moves

Every minute of the encounter, Gri'mak will use one of his three signature moves against the raid. They all will put pressure on the raid but are easily handled with smart cooldown usage.

Arcing Strike is the stack up ability players must quickly react to. Gri'mak marks a player and after 3 seconds, he will deal a massive amount of damage to that player, splitting the damage with everyone 8 yards close. Gri'mak will then gain applications of Battle Fury equal to the number of players struck by this attack. Since everyone will need to split the damage with this attack, Battle Fury will jump in stacks each time he's about to perform this attack. A raid cooldown will be needed to survive the damage of this attack during later points of the encounter.

Another signature move Gri'mak may use is the Twisting Steel attack which is a fixate whirlwind. He damages anyone near him while changing targets every few seconds. Players should spread out and run if they get targeted. For every player hit by this ability, Battle Fury grows even higher. Following this attack, Gri'mak suffers from Exhausted and takes an increased amount of damage. This allows players to "catch up" before the Battle Fury effect grows to high to survive. In addition, the next Qri'thik Fanatic that joins the fight gains a strong enrage ability that makes him more stronger until killed.

The final Signature attack is Fury Charge which targets a random player outside 30 yards and deals moderate damage to them and increasing the damage they take from another Fury Charge by an absurd amount. Because of this, a rotation of players is needed to counter this attack until another minute passes in which he will use another signature move instead. In addition, if players fail to go outside the 30 yard range needed for Fury Charge, Gri'mak will summon 5 Fanatics to effectively wipe the raid (as some of the adds will be close to Gri'mak and gain the Fan Frenzy effect).

Heroic Changes

• Battleguard Gri'mak will throw down a war banner regardless if there is one already present, preventing players from leaving one banner up the whole time.
• In addition to Qri'thik Fanatics joining the fight each time a banner drops, a Qri'thik Blade Reaver will attack players as well. This new add has abilities that can easily wipe a raid that doesn't pay close attention to it.
• Qri'thik Fanatics will also cast Mimic Battle Cry that copies the Shout or Roar ability used by Gri'mak, this forces players to LoS both the boss and the add when the shout/roar goes out.

Quotes

Intro

• Blade Squire Sik'alkik yells: Master Gri'mak! We have i-i-intruders in the arena! How would you have us d-deal with them?

Battleguard Gri'mak yells: Not to worry, squire. They have come to put an end to Qri'vexx.

• Blade Squire Sik'alkik yells: W-w-what? But we mustn't let that h-happen! You've g-got to stop t-them!

Battleguard Gri'mak yells: These outsiders know of the corruption of the Empress. Under orders of the Klaxxi, they must see to it that Qri'vexx is killed.

• Battleguard Gri'mak yells: Squire, I want you to leave this place and do not return! I must "confirm" my suspicions about our visitors.

Blade Squire Sik'alkik yells: Um, a-at once, l-l-lord Gri'mak!

• Battleguard Gri'mak yells: Invaders! Welcome to the Gri'mak arena, named after yours truly! I do hope you stay awhile and allow me to give my crowd a fantastic show!

• The arena stands fill with Qri'thik Fanatics and Blade Reavers. They emit a chant that may indicate cheering.

Aggro

• Let's give them a show, shall we?!

• Good, let us see how well you handle yourselves!

Performing Signature Attack

• How clever are your tactics?!

• Beware the blade!

• Can you withstand my might?!

Casting a Shout or Roar

• Gri'mak lets loose a Staggering Shout!

• Gri'mak casts Dazing Roar!

• Gri'mak releases a Disrupting Shout!

• Gri'mak unleashes a mighty Sonic Roar!

Throw War Banner/Call Qri'thik Fanatic

• Come to me, Qri'thik!

A Qri'thik Fanatic leaps down from the stands!

• A warrior must always have a war banner with him to demoralize his opponents!

Gri'mak has thrown a War Banner down! Use it to block line of sight to Gri'mak's Shout and Roar abilities or destroy it to stop him from using abilities granted by it!

Call to Blade Reaver (Heroic)

• Blade Reaver, you may join this battle!

• Even the strongest of mantid work under my teachings!

Player killed

• When you got to go, you got to go!

• May your loved ones remember your courage and strength!

• Only the dead have seen the end!

• Bravery in an outsider like you. Admirable.

30% Health

• Your combined strength is impressive! Can we give it our all at this point?

Berserk

• It's been fun, outsiders, but all good things must come to an end!

Defeat

• Ack! Well done! I hadn't fought that hard since I went up against Ta'yak in years past!

Now that you have bested me I must tell you the truth about what has happened here!

The Empress, she has gone mad. Much like that dreaded Shek'zeer. I believe that this is the work of the Sha!

• I am not your enemy! I have only remained here to see to it that I gather up enough forces to overthrow and kill Qri'vexx!

My Fanatics and Blade Reavers. They have agreed to assist me but only after I have gained outside help! I cannot do this alone.

I have heard of your Klaxxi allies and how they have defied and defeated the last Empress within her own territory! I must speak with them but I will guide you to your next target.

Outro

• Gather up what forces you can and meet me near the Amber Rise. We will strike at Qri'vexx and all who continue to follow her!

Farewell, for now.

Achievements

• Heroic: Battleguard Gri'mak - Defeat Battleguard Gri'mak in the Temple of Qri'vexx on Heroic difficulty.
• Proper Respect - Have the entire raid salute to Battleguard Gri'mak on Normal or Heroic difficulty each time he loses 10% health, and then defeat him.
• A Weak Technique - Defeat Battleguard Gri'mak on Normal or Heroic difficulty on multiple visits to the Temple of Qri'vexx while he is currently using the following Banner-granted abilities during the time of his defeat.
  • Defeat him while he has the Crushing Rage ability
  • Defeat him while he has the Blood Shout ability
  • Defeat him while he has the Flurry ability
  • Defeat him while he has the Blade Hurl ability