Healing Naxxramas – Maexxna (10 man)
December 2, 2008 by Matticus
Filed under All Stories, Featured, Naxxramas, Raid Strategy
Maexxna is the last boss in the Arachnid Quarter. I don’t know if it’s a he or a she, but I think it’s a she. Let me tell you that she is one heck of a honkin’ big spider.
Tank that boss at a distant pace away. Try to keep the raid near a wall and the tank in the middle. Make sure the tank faces the big Max away from the raid. She’ll periodically do a Spider Wrap cocoon that will temporarily stun players and prevent them from moving or casting spells.
Every so often she’s going to target a player and fling them to a wall. You can adjust the direction you get thrown because it flings you in the direction directly behind you. At the same time this player is going to be wrapped in webbing and will not be able to do anything. Other players in the raid have to go up to the webbing and DPS it down until the player inside is free. If you can afford it, I suggest tasking your strongest ranged DPS on webbing breaking duty. For myself, I used a Hunter for this. Any class will work.
Little mini spiders will periodically show up. Have a mage freeze them up and the raid AoE them down. No mages? Well, then just AoE them down. Frost traps and Earthbind totems for extra marks. Get your secondary tank to drag the suckers toward Maex herself and get the melee in on the action.
At the 30% mark, big M gets even bigger and hits like a freight train. Around the 35% mark, I strongly suggest all DPS to stop what they’re doing. Wait for the next web spray to go off. When that’s over, pop Heroism/Bloodlust, initiate all cooldowns and tip her over the point of no return.
This is where it gets dicey. Pay close attention to the web spray timer. As the countdown gets closer, load up on HoTs on the tank. Have the tank blow their emergency survival cooldowns to try to survive the wrap.
For the next Web Wrap, have a Priest watch the cooldown accordingly. As it counts down, have them light up a Guardian Spirit along with full HoTs. The HoTs should be amplified by an additional 40% and the GS will ensure survivability long enough until players are out of the wrap.
If you have a Discipline Priest, do the same thing. Have them use Pain Suppression instead of GS. Don’t worry about threat. It shouldn’t be a concern here. If Pain Suppression causes your tank to lose aggro, something is very wrong with the tank.
I think a Prot Pally can help if they’re specced accordingly. Make sure that the Prot Pally isn’t the one tanking. A Divine Shield should mitigate further damage done by 30% since some of the incoming damage is redirected to the Paladin. Just make sure they’re not tanking Max.
For Healers
Necrotic Poison – This is the main reason why the tank faces the big M away from the raid. It reduces healing taken by 90%. It must come off. Any Druid, Paladin or Shaman can remove it. She also does a 15 yard conical directly in front of her. That would be the second reason.
If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed or to E-Mail updates on the top right. Thanks for visiting!
I'm Matticus and I play a Dwarf Priest. My home is in Conquest, a raiding Guild that I have founded. Every week, I log 12 hours raiding on Ner'Zhul.
Wynthea is the Troll Priest with the best Mohawk on Nazjatar. Currently, I raid 5 nights a week, and PvP occasionally. I started playing WoW in May 2005, and raiding end-game in May 2007. My guild is currently working through 25-man WotLK content. I've tried playing other classes, but Priests are my passion. I am extremely fond of Dwarves.... especially with Ketchup. 
My name is Sydera and I like to heal things--think Florence Nightingale with foliage. I play a night elf druid on Ner'Zhul, and I raid 12 hours a week. As a guild officer for Conquest, I coordinate healing and recruit new raiders. I started playing WoW in Fall 2005, and it was love at first click. Before I discovered the joys of Broccoli-stalk healing, I raided as a holy paladin, and I now have alts in all healing classes. I have to say, though, bark beats poofy dresses and heavy plate in my book.
Hey matt,
Thanks for the great guide, but I got a comment.
I have read yours, and few others guide and they say for the raid to put there back against the wall, but when my guild did it, we found that the person who would get knocked back and cocooned would hit the wall, then “wall ride” around the room and end up on the other side, out of range of heals and ranged dps.
Now I am not sure if it was are fault, but we figured out that if all the ranged dps was about 20 yards from the wall they get lobbed back wouldn’t wall ride and would end up directly behind us and the hunter we assigned to breaking the cocooned would be in perfect range of the cocoon.
any comments on that?
Valio,
My guild found it was perfectly manageable to keep Maexxna in the center of the room, with her facing the back wall. All other people were at max melee range. Since all of her attacks are conical it wasn’t a problem. Our webbed players would fly back and hit the wall, but a mage could easily pivot and smash the cocoon no problem. I didnt even need to turn to heal the cocooned player. I think it’s easier to stack the raid on the boss because when you get the small adds, the raid’s AOE damage will hit Maexxna as well.
Good luck!
You are aware of the change to Divine Protection (http://www.wowhead.com/?spell=498) now, so that it reduces all damage taken by 50%? Not to be mixed with Divine Shield. It’s effectively a shield wall now. Further, combine that with Lay on Hands and Cleanse on themselves, and it makes a pretty good reason why a protection paladin have a really decent chance of surviving the last wrap.
Ayebas last blog post..What happened to the fish of Zangarmarsh?