Lore:</>
You chased the Naga all over Vashj’ir until they dove into the Abyssal Maw and attacked Neptulon, which is probably the worst thing that could happen. So, uh, maybe we should go down there and help him?
And that’s what we do, swimming down into the cave system that leads to his palace, killing as many naga and other nasty things as we possibly can to help Neptulon drive them out of his kingd…Is that a giant octopus?! EVERYBODY RUN!
Degree of Difficulty: Easy/Medium
Consistent with most of Cataclysm’s content, there’s a fair amount of trash in Throne of the Tides, but most of it can be engaged in small groups without much interference. Most of the trash won’t give you any problems, but the Faceless Watchers in the (entirely optional) east wing tend to hit for a lot of damage. The Murloc and Tainted Sentry swarms in the first and last corridors spawn constantly until you move past their area.
The difficulty of the bosses in this instance are very much dependant on group coordination. The Naga Lady Naz’jar must be interrupted when casting her lightning spell, you must also watch the ground for her geyser attack, and CC at least one of her adds when she becomes immune to damage. Commander Ulthok, a faceless one, is a fairly simple fight if your tank can keep him kited so the DPS can stay out of the AoE he drops on the ground. Mindbender Ghur’sha is a mindcontrolling octopus, and definitely the most difficult encounter of the instance, though he is skippable. When controlling his host, he does a light cone attack, a heavy cone attack, and a knockback. When loose he is uneffected by any spell damage, a stun AoE, a DoT, and an instant kill mind-control attack (if he’s not DPSed off quickly enough). Ozumat (the aforementioned giant octopus) is an interesting encounter. You start by keeping trash off of Neptulon until phase two, in which the tanks pick up AoE dropping blight bests (healers must be especially on the ball to keep players up during this phase as the AoE can quickly get out of control). During phase three, the players get a massive damage buff and can just wail away at Ozumat. Or whale away, if you prefer.
Special Features:
Using a Scroll of the Highborne Archaeology Item in the clam at the beginning of the instance will grant 10% extra damage to the party against humanoids. Completing this dungeon grants reputation based on the tabard equipped.
Recommended for Levels: 80 (Normal)/85 (Heroic)
As a starter instance for Cataclysm dungeon content, this does its job. You have two fairly simple boss fights at the beginning, one of which (Naz’jar) trains you to develop group strategies that you will use in future content. Then there’s an advanced, but optional boss that really tests your ability to put those skills into practice, and a fairly easy but convoluted end boss.
At this point in the Cataclysm life cycle, it’s hard to recommend running this instance as there are just so many more and better ways to gear up and get points these days. But if you’re new to the game or this level of content, it is a good training wheels instance for you to build on as you get deeper into what Cataclysm has to offer.
