Para-gong Show - Tanking Paragons of the Klaxxi

Kalbeari the Prime has a nice ring to it... I think I'll keep it!

Now that Siege of Orgrimmar is finally completely open to the masses with the last LFR wing opening today, there are more folks coming up against the later bosses in the instance. After many boss fights that come down to simple tank swaps, Paragons of the Klaxxi - with its NINE mobs who each have different abilities - can intimidate the best of us. I'm here to help you break this fight down into a manageable order and to walk you through everything a tank will need to worry about.

At any given time, three Klaxxi will be active during the fight (until the end when no more can jump down). That's three mobs that need to be tanked and all three of them do something different. Some Klaxxi can't be tanked after you've tanked their partner while others require tank swaps or massive healer cooldowns.

The order in which the Klaxxi join the fight is static. At first, you will have Rik'kal, Skeer and Hisek. Next to spawn are; Ka'roz, Korven, Iyyokuk, Xaril, Kaz'tik and Kil'ruk.

The kill order Apotheosis uses is this; Rik'kal, Skeer, Hisek, Korven, Iyyokuk, Xaril, Kaz'tik, Kil'ruk and Ka'roz.

Please do keep in mind this is meant as a guide primarily for tanks. If you're looking for a basic how-to, Evrelia Gaming has an overall guide. If you want to know how to heal this fight (and an even more in-depth look at the fight), check out the excellent post by Healiocentric. It is also worth noting that each guide has a different kill order than the one my guild uses.




We start with Rik'kal, Skeer and Hisek. One tank grabs Rik'kal, the other takes Skeer.

Whoever is tanking Rik'kal must use an active mitigation CD during the Injection cast to prevent the debuff from being applied. Active mitigation includes Elusive Brew, Shield Block, Shield of the Righteous, Death Strike and Savage Defense. If the tank does not do this, multiple parasites will spawn and fixate on random raid members
Rik'kal also debuffs the tank with Genetic Alteration - meaning this tank cannot tank Skeer.

The Skeer tank doesn't need to worry about much. Use minor defensive cooldowns for Bloodletting and don't try to tank Rik'kal because you will have Hewn on you!

Hisek stands in the middle and does not need to be tanked. Avoid his Aim line, unless you have been assigned to help split the damage.

Rik'kal dies.

The next mantid to come out after Rik'kal dies, is Ka'roz; pick him up and tank him as best you can. He runs around and is generally a pain in the ass, but not particularly dangerous to tanks.

Skeer dies.

Next mantid is Korven. The tank who handles this mantid must watch the Shield Bash cooldown on DBM and prepare cooldowns accordingly as he will stun you and then use Vicious Assault. We usually have healer cooldowns set up for this, so call for a HoS/PS/Vigilance as you need them. Alternatively, the tank who is tanking Ka'roz can taunt Korven off the stunned tank, avoiding a lot of tank damage to heal through as long as Korven is not facing the stunned tank.

Hisek dies.

After that, Iyyokuk flies down. The only thing to really watch for with Iyyokuk is Diminish - use your self heals and mitigations to make sure you don't get executed!

Korven dies. Tanks can pick up Korven's Master of Amber ability. (When activated the caster encases a friendly target in amber for 5 sec. While the amber holds the target is immune to all damage.) DO NOT USE IT ON YOURSELF. 

Then Xaril drops in. The tank picking him up needs to be aware of Tenderizing Strikes - it means if you tank Xaril, you absolutely cannot tank Kil'ruk. The tank also needs to beware of Caustic Blood, a stacking debuff that will explode once it reaches ten stacks but that can be avoided with active mitigation spells.

Iyyokuk dies.

After that, Kaz'tik joins the fight. He does a frontal damage spell (Sonic Projection), so face him away from the raid. This is also where we start worrying about Mesmerize - if you picked up Korven's ability, use it on the people who are mesmerized to stop them for ~5 sec. If you have anyone get pulled to a hungry kunchong, pick up the mature kunchong that spawns after.

Xaril dies.

Kil'ruk is the last mantid to drop in and once you get here, you're pretty much home free. He uses Exposed Veins which means the tank who picked up Xaril cannot tank this boss. He also stuns you with Gouge and follows up with Mutilate. It's like Korven's abilities, but they seem to do less damage. Call for cooldowns if you need.

Kaz'tik dies.

Kil'ruk dies.

And finally, we kill Ka'roz!



Tanks will have a little dancing to do, but once you get the pickups down it's not too bad. Here's an example of how tanks could handle this fight:

Tank A:
Rik'kal
Ka'roz
Iyyokuk
Kaz'tik
Kil'ruk

Tank B:
Skeer
Korven
Xaril
Taunt Kaz'tik off Tank A

Obviously this can vary, and it doesn't really matter who tanks what as long as you never confuse the ones that debuff the tanks. Those are Rik'kal and Skeer, and Xaril and Kil'ruk. If you are using a different kill order than the one posted here, remember that the order in which the Klaxxi spaw will never change. Good luck, and I hope this quick guide helped you achieve victory!