Introduction
This guide is intended to provide a comprehensive description of theencounter with Iron Juggernaut in Siege of Orgrimmar. It is targeted at anyonewho desires to understand the fight mechanics.
This guide is updated for World of Warcraft MoP 5.4.
Before the very gates of Orgrimmar, your raid will have to faceIron Juggernaut, the sixth boss of the instance. The large boss alternates betweentwo phases, one where it is mobile, and a shorter phase where it is stationary.Defeating this boss allows your raid to finally enter Orgrimmar.
1. General Information↑top
1.1. Health Values
| 10-man | 450M |
| 10-man Heroic | 592M |
| 25-man | 1.4B |
| 25-man Heroic | 1.8B |
| LFR | ???M |
1.2. Enrage Timer
This fight has a 10-minute hard enrage timer. There is no soft enragetimer.
1.3. Raid Composition
| 10-man | 2 | 2-3 | 5-6 |
| 10-man Heroic | 2 | 2-3 | 5-6 |
| 25-man | 2 | 5-7 | 16-18 |
| 25-man Heroic | 2 | 5-7 | 16-18 |
2.1. Armor
| Item Name | Armor | Slot | Main Stats |
 Leggings of Furious Flame (LFR, Flexible, Heroic) | Cloth | Legs | Intellect |
 Belt of Ominous Trembles (LFR, Flexible, Heroic) | Cloth | Waist | Intellect/Hit |
 Shock Pulse Robes (LFR, Flexible, Heroic) | Cloth | Chest | Intellect/Spirit |
 Bracers of the Broken Fault (LFR, Flexible, Heroic) | Cloth | Wrist | Intellect/Spirit |
 Earthripper Gloves (LFR, Flexible, Heroic) | Cloth | Hands | Intellect/Spirit |
 Castlebreaker Bracers (LFR, Flexible, Heroic) | Leather | Wrist | Intellect |
 Ricocheting Shoulderguards (LFR, Flexible, Heroic) | Leather | Shoulders | Agility |
 Laser Burn Bracers (LFR, Flexible, Heroic) | Leather | Wrists | Agility |
 Cavemaker Wristguards (LFR, Flexible, Heroic) | Mail | Wrists | Intellect |
 Treads of Autonomic Motion (LFR, Flexible, Heroic) | Mail | Feet | Intellect |
 Minelayer's Padded Boots (LFR, Flexible, Heroic) | Mail | Feet | Agility |
 Precision Cutters (LFR, Flexible, Heroic) | Mail | Hands | Agility |
 Borer Drill Boots (LFR, Flexible, Heroic) | Plate | Feet | Intellect |
 Wall-Borer Bracers (LFR, Flexible, Heroic) | Plate | Wrists | Strength |
 Tar-Coated Gauntlets (LFR, Flexible, Heroic) | Plate | Hands | Strength |
 Demolisher's Reinforced Belt (LFR, Flexible, Heroic) | Plate | Waist | Strength |
 Earthbreaker's Steaming Chestplate (LFR, Flexible, Heroic) | Plate | Chest | Strength/Dodge |
2.2. Weapons
2.3. Amulets, Rings, and Trinkets
3. Overview of the Fight↑top
The fight against the Iron Juggernaut is a purely single-target encounter.There are two alternating phases, and the phase changes are timed, fixed, andcompletely independent from any actions your raid takes.
- The Assault Phase lasts for 2 minutes. This is the phase in which thefight starts. During the Assault Phase, Iron Juggernaut is performs melee attacksand he is mobile.
- The Siege Phase lasts for 60 seconds, and during this phase, IronJuggernaut is stationary and does not melee.
The fight does not become progressively more difficult in any way, and thetwo phases simply continue to alternate until your raid wipes or until the bossdies.
Videos:
- PTR Preview —a short overview of the boss, based on PTR testing, which is extremelyuseful for getting a rough understanding of the fight.
- Video Guide— a video guide of the boss, based on live-realm experience.
4. Class-specific Advice↑top
On our forums, we are maintaining threads with class-specific advice for each of thefights of Siege of Orgrimmar. So, make sure to check them out, and if you have things toshare, do not hesitate to contribute!
 Death Knight | |
 Druid | |
 Hunter | |
 Mage | |
 Monk | |
 Paladin | |
 Priest | |
 Rogue | |
 Shaman | |
 Warlock | |
 Warrior | |
5. The Fight Area↑top
You fight Iron Juggernaut in a large enclosed area outside the gates ofOrgrimmar. The area is large enough that it is possible for players to be out ofrange of healers (we would guess that the area is perhaps even as much as 150yards in diameter, although it is not a perfect circle). The fight area alsohas many obstacles (fences, poles, small mounds of earth, crates, siege engines)which can cause line of sight issues. We advise players to be very mindful of theirposition relative to the healers throughout the fight.
During the Siege Phases, as we will see later on, random players will regularlybe knocked back extremely far away (basically, until they hit an obstacle). Thiscan cause great problems with healing range, so we advise you to try to positionyourselves optimally so that there are obstacles not far behind you to stop yourflight. If and when an ideal tanking location is established, we willupdate the guide.
6. Assault Phase↑top
The Assault Phase is the first phase your raid will have to face when startingthe fight. This phase lasts for exactly 2 minutes (indicated by the boss'increasing energy bar, which serves no other purpose than to show players how longis left in the phase). After 2 minutes, the boss immediately goes into theSiege Phase, without any sort of transition phase. Likewise, when returning to theAssault Phase later on, there is no transition phase of any kind, and the switchis seamless.
6.1. Abilities
During the Assault Phase, Iron Juggernaut uses several abilities against yourraid.
Flame Vents is a frontal cone attack that Iron Juggernaut regularlycasts. In addition to dealing high Fire damage, this spell also applies a stackingdebuff on affected players, increasing their Fire damage taken by 10% per stack,and causing them to take moderate Fire damage every second. This spell requires atank switch.
Borer Drill is an ability that Iron Juggernaut uses roughly every 20seconds. The boss causes several earth spikes to travel along the ground inseveral directions, dealing high Physical damage to any players who are hit bythem.
Laser Burn is a nuke that deals high Fire damage to random raid members,and that also leaves a Fire damage DoT on these players. It is unavoidable.- Mortar Cannon is a shadow crash sort of mechanic. The boss targets arandom ranged raid member, and he fires a projectile at their location. Theprojectile lands 3 seconds later, dealing very high Fire damage in an 8-yardradius. The boss casts this ability roughly every 12 seconds.
- Crawler Mines are small adds that Iron Juggernaut spawns in randomlocations behind him. The adds spawn in groups of 3, roughly every 20 seconds.These adds cannot be killed, they do not attack, and they do not need to be tanked. The adds remain stationary where they spawn, and, 6 seconds later they explode,dealing very high raid-wide Physical damage. This explosion can be prevented ifa player stomps a mine into the ground (by right clicking it while in itsmelee range). Doing so causes that player to take an extremely high amount ofdamage (1,250,000 Physical damage) and be knocked up into the air.
6.2. Strategy
Iron Juggernaut should be facing away from the raid at all times, sincehis frontal attack, Flame Vents, must be avoided. Tanks should perform aswitch when the current tank has 3-4 stacks of the debuff applied by FlameVents.
The raid should be positioning in an arc behind the boss, spread out 8 yardsapart (so that as few people as possible need to move in order to avoid the damagefrom Mortar Cannon). When Mortar Cannon is cast, the players in the affectedarea (marked by a large red circle) should move away quickly.
Players will have to be very careful to avoid the earth spikes from Borer Drill. Their movement can be quite erratic, so players will need to bereactive.
Healers will have to react to the damage from Laser Burn, which isunavoidable (and the DoT of which cannot be dispelled), but given the overalldamage in this phase (provided that Mortar Cannon and Borer Drill are beingproperly avoided), this should not cause problems.
Finally, your raid should designate a player to detonate the Crawler Mineseach time they spawn. The ideal player for this job is the tank who is currentlynot tanking the boss, since their very high health, as well as their damagereduction capabilities make it easy for them to survive. Alternatively, you maybe able to use players with immunities for the task, but given the frequency ofthe Crawler Mine casts, we are not sure that this will be feasible.
7. Siege Phase↑top
The first Siege Phase starts 2 minutes after the start of the fight, and itlasts for precisely 60 seconds (this is also indicated by the boss' energy barwhich, during this phase, decreases steadily). When the Siege Phase ends, the bossenters the Assault Phase.
7.1. Abilities
During the Siege Phase, Iron Juggernaut uses 6 abilities against your raid.He continues to use Crawler Mines just like before, and he has some newabilities.
Seismic Activity is a constant raid-wide damaging aura that is presentduring this phase. It deals a moderate amount of Physical damage everysecond.- Shock Pulse is a spell that Iron Juggernaut often uses. It knocks allraid members back a very great distance.
Demolisher Cannons is a nuke that Iron Juggernaut often uses. It dealsmoderate Fire damage to random raid members, and to any other players in a 6-yardradius. It is unavoidable.
Cutter Laser is a damaging laser beam that Iron Juggernaut uses to chasea random player for 10 seconds. At the point of impact, the laser deals a highamount of Fire damage every second.
Explosive Tar are damaging and slowing void zones that Iron Juggernautcreates. While these void zones do low damage, they explode if they come in contactwith a Cutter Laser, which causes them to deal high raid-wide Fire damage.
During this phase, Iron Juggernaut is stationary and he does not need to betanked.
7.2. Strategy
During the Siege Phase, Iron Juggernaut will remain fixed in place at thelocation where he was at the end of the Assault Phase.
Tanking is not required during this phase, so your tanks should simply try toDPS the boss and handle the Crawler Mines. Ranged raid members should bespread out around the boss to minimise the damage taken from Demolisher Cannons.
All players should position themselves in such a way that if they aretargeted by Cutter Laser, they have a path to run through withoutdragging the Cutter Laser through any Explosive Tar void zones. Ideally,the laser beam should be kited in such a way as not to interfere with thepositioning of the other players, all while making sure that the player beingchased does not end up in a position where they are likely to be knocked backunfavourably (more on knock-backs below). It should go without saying thatplayers should avoid standing in any of the Explosive Tar void zones.
The biggest challenge during this phase is making sure that no players end upgetting knocked-back too far by Shock Pulse. As such, your raid shouldseek to position itself so that all players have an obstacle a short distancebehind them (whether it be the edges of the fighting area, or another obstacle).If players get knocked back too far, they will end up out of healing range, andthey may well be knocked back again (and again) before they can make it back tothe raid.
Healers will have to contend with the constant raid-wide damage of Seismic Activity, which is even more difficult to heal when you factor inthe many knock-backs that the boss casts. This is the ideal time to usedefensive raid cooldowns.
8. When to Use Heroism/Bloodlust/Time Warp↑top
We recommend using 
Heroism/
Bloodlust/
Time Warp at the startof the fight, in light of the fact that the fight does not become progressively more difficult as it goes on, and also because there are no particularlyproblematic moments. Using Heroism/Bloodlust/Time Warp at the start allows allDPS players to benefit from it the most, since all their cooldowns areavailable.
9. Summing Things Up↑top
In this section, we will very briefly summarise what the players belonging toeach of the three roles have to do during this fight.
9.1. Tanks
- Perform a tank switch on Iron Juggernaut (to handle the Flame Vents ability), and tank him facing awayfrom the raid (only during the Assault Phase).
- Detonate the Crawler Mines (if you are assigned to do so).
9.2. Healers
9.3. DPS
9.4. Everyone
- Avoid ground effects ( Borer Drill, Mortar Cannon, etc.).
- Make sure you are not in a position to be knocked back too far(during the Siege Phase).
- If targeted by Cutter Laser, do not kite it into Explosive Tar void zones.
10. Learning the Fight↑top
By far the biggest hurdle for your raid to overcome is the issue ofpositioning. While most of the other abilities used in the encounter are merevariations on common raid mechanics, the knock-backs can be extremely disruptiveto your raid's learning experience and overall performance.
As we have already stated several times, you will need to find out where it isbest to position the boss, with regard to the obstacles that your raid memberscan make use of to prevent being knocked back too far. Keep in mind that certainobstacles that appear to work actually do not work (your character simply passesthrough them), while others are too low for them to be effective (your characterflies over them), so you will need to experiment a bit.
11. Heroic Mode↑top
The Heroic Mode for Iron Juggernaut presents two additional mechanics, butthe execution of the fight feels very similar to Normal mode.
11.1. Differences From Normal Mode
In addition to the boss having increased health and dealing increaseddamage, there are two new mechanics you need to deal with in Heroic mode.
- During the Assault Phase, the boss uses
Ricochet every 15seconds. This creates a sawblade that moves around quickly (mostly around thelocation of ranged raid members), dealing damage to any players it comes incontact with. - During the Siege Phase, the boss uses
Mortar Barrage,constantly dealing very high damage in random areas of the ground, next to him(note that these do not target the location of raid members). Theaffected areas are marked by red circles, just like the ones affected byMortar Cannon during the Assault Phase.
11.2. Strategy
Despite having to deal with two new Heroic abilities, the fight executionremains almost unchanged.
The best way to deal with the sawblades created by Ricochet is to haveranged raid members spread out slightly, so that any one sawblade does notdamage more players than absolutely necessary. The sawblades move around soquickly that avoiding them is really difficult, but players should try anyway.The damage done by the sawblades must simply be healed through.
Since the explosions created by Mortar Barrage target the ground (andnot raid members) near the boss, and since their number is so great thatmoving around to avoid them all is difficult, an unusual strategy has beendevised which makes this phase quite easy. As soon as the phase starts, yourraid should stack up together in such a way that the first knock-back willthrow everyone at the edge of the fighting area, up against a wall (to avoidfurther knock-backs), and far from the boss himself. The raid should thenremain in this location for the entire duration of the phase, using raidcooldowns to survive the damage. Players who are targeted by Cutter Laserwill need to be quick in moving out of the raid. While doing this strategy,your raid will not do any DPS whatsoever to the boss, but this is not aproblem, since the enrage timer of the fight is a non-issue. The benefit ofthe strategy is that no one needs to worry about avoiding Mortar Barrage.
12. Concluding Remarks↑top
This concludes our raid guide for Iron Juggernaut. We hope you havefound it helpful. Please do not hesitate to post any feedback you may have onour forums.
13. Changelog↑top
- 26 Nov. 2013: Made some improvements to the Heroic modestrategy.
- 15 Nov. 2013: Added Heroic mode strategy.
- 16 Sep. 2013: Made several updates.
- Added 25-man health values.
- Added a link to the video guide.
- Added that Crawler Mines continue to be used in the Siege Phase.
- 29 Aug. 2013: Added Summarising Things Up section.
