The Underbog Strategy Guide
In this article, we'll go over how to easily overcome this 4-boss dungeon with a few tips and tricks along the way!
Group Composition for The Underbog
The Underbog is more forgiving of strict group compositions, not necessarily favoring any sort of "ideal" group for its Heroic difficulty. Even the typical requirement of having a class that can provide a slow for kiting isn't as necessary here as it is in others, except for the beginning of this Heroic, which we'll go over in the trash tips section. You'll mainly want to focus on having at least two classes that can provide interrupts to mobs, as you'll find multiple mobs casting at the same time here. Any class with interrupts like Warriors, Rogues, Shamans, and such will be beneficial here.
There are a variety of Beast and Elemental type mobs here, mainly in the beginning, so having a Druid and Warlock for their Hibernate and Banish can be very beneficial if you lack a slow for mobs. And similar to the rest of the Coilfang dungeons, there are a plethora of mobs that can be Mind Controlled here, so if you have a Shadow Priest in your group, it can make for a lot of fun after the first boss. Along with that, there is plenty you can skip between boss 1 and boss 2 with Mind Soothe, making the priest a high-value class in this dungeon!
For tanks, all three tanks will perform equally well here, with the Druid tank shining the brightest, due to the high amount of damage from trash mobs in this dungeon. The other two tanks will also be perfectly fine, but the Paladin tank may find kiting to be a little more necessary, especially with some trash mobs in the beginning. They will also find the Underbog Lords to hurt them more than their Druid tank counterpart, especially if less geared.
And for healers, all healers are acceptable here, with no particular healer outshining the others. There is a heavy amount of Disease and Poison debuffs in this dungeon, so make sure someone in your party can dispel!
Trash Tips for The Underbog
The most challenging part of this Heroic will be the trash mobs at the beginning and the end. The trash at the beginning can be quite powerful, and it can be very easy to accidentally pull additional packs once you clear the first hallway. The biggest challenge at the beginning will be the packs with Underbog Lurkers and Underbog Shamblers. The former will cast Wild Growth, an enrage that will reduce in damage as they reduce in health, and the latter casts two spells: Fungal Regrowth and Itchy Spores. The first is a very powerful heal, and the other deals significant damage to the player and explodes, dealing damage to the player and those near them.
Both should be interrupted, which is why we initially recommended having at least two classes with interrupts. This is also where slows such as a Hunters Frost Trap or Mages Blizzard will greatly help. Depending on the gear and survivability of your tank, you will want to kite the Underbog Lurkers until their Wild Growth wears off. Strong aoe to lower their HP and reduce their damage buff will make this portion easier. Conversely, you can also use the aforementioned crowd controls, Hibernate and Banish, to mitigate this damage as well.
After clearing out the initial hallway, players will find themselves in a much larger open area. There are patrolling Underbats in this area, so before pulling, make sure you are aware of their patrolling patterns. In this room, it is best to hug left near the water, as you'll only need to pull about 3-4 packs before making your way to the ramp leading up to the first boss.
There is a skip you can do by going through the water, but the amount of time you save by doing this skip, versus just pulling the 2-3 trash packs on the left near the water, is pretty minuscule. And there is a lot of room for failure due to the mobs in the water. However, guarding the first boss, Hungarfen, are two Bog Giants. Players can hug right along the edge and skip these two mobs. If opting out of skipping, it is best to fully focus one down, then the other, versus equally cleaving both, as two will deal pretty significant damage to your tank
Once you start getting to the Naga, this is where Mind Control and Mind Soothe come into play. Almost everything in this area, leading up to Ghaz'an, can be Mind Controlled, and you can Mind Soothe skip a lot of packs in this area to speed up your time here. With Mind Control, there are two ways you can approach this: either you now have a 6th party member to fight alongside you, or you let the rest of the trash pack kill this mob quickly, and eliminate having to deal with it. The most powerful trash mob to mind control will be the Murkblood Oracle, as they have a plethora of powerful damage-dealing abilities!
The Wrathfin Sentrys at the beginning of this area do hit hard, and are immune to Mind Control, so have stuns or slows ready depending on the survivability of your tank! The most annoying trash mob here will be the Murkblood Spearman for two reasons: 1. They cast Viper Sting that will quickly drain a player's mana, and 2, they will throw their spears until the tank is within melee range of them, making it slightly more challenging to pull them back away from patrolling mobs in the area. Tanks should run in and grab threat, and slowly pull these back, making sure the Murkblood Spearman are not stopping to throw spears as they pull away.
After Ghaz'an, we get to a hallway that can either be very easy or a wipefest. There are three different trash mobs here: the Fen Ray, Lykul Wasp, and Lykul Stinger. The easiest way to clear this hallway is to pull each trash pack far back to avoid the patrolling packs coming in, or the very dangerous Psychic Horror taking players into other packs, from the Fen Rays. This is classified as a "Horror", not a Fear, so Tremor Totem and Fear Ward will not prevent this. However, it is a Magic debuff, so it can be dispelled!
And then finally, we have the two Underbog Lords before the final boss. These will TRUCK your tanks. We recommend using any damage-dealing and damage-negation cooldowns on these mobs, as they deal way more damage than the final boss does. Do not tank these against the wall. If they hit their Knock Away on the tank, the tank should not run back towards it. Use this time to get healed back up as the Bog Lord approaches you.
Boss Tips for The Underbog
The bosses in this Heroic are fairly simple and do not deal massive damage to your party. On top of that, there are no additional mechanics in Heroic minus one from the final boss. But besides that, it is just more damage dealt from the same mechanics in Normal mode.
For Hungarfen, nothing changes except for more frequent spawning of Underbog Mushrooms. Most groups will defeat him before he casts Foul Spores, but if he does cast this, then make sure no one is in melee range, as it will heal him. Although this might seem to skew people away from a melee-heavy group, it really is not an issue.
For Ghaz'an, tanks should have him positioned against a wall to avoid getting knocked into the waters below. For everyone else, treat this boss like Onyxia with positioning, as you do not want to get hit by Tail Sweep! For Paladin tanks, should this boss take longer to defeat, you should not cast Avenging Wrath and instead have a Divine Shield cast and cancel macro to remove the stacking debuff, Acid Breath, off of you instantly, should the stacks get too high.
The next boss is very simple. Ignore Claw and fully focus on Swamplord Musel'ek, and dispel his Hunter's Mark off whoever gets it before he casts his Aimed Shot. Claw does not do much damage, but can knockback players. If you opted into skipping trash prior, keep in mind that the boss arena is very cramped, and players should tuck into the corner as much as possible, especially to avoid the patrolling Underbog Lord nearby! After he falls over, quickly take down and free Claw.
The final boss, The Black Stalker, is pretty simple as well. Their abilities are negligible, and most groups will defeat him before his Spore Striders are summoned. If they are, continue to focus on the boss down first, then the adds after.
