Struggling to get a 99 parse on firemaw? Here’s the easy path to an (almost) free 99 parse.
Stack fire resist to 157
What kills your dps on Firemaw is stepping out to reset your flame buffet debuff stacks. Fire resist stacking means you get stay in the entire fight and never lose dps uptime. This is basically a free 99 ranked parse since most rogues will not match your uptime on Firemaw.
157 fire resist is the magic number to reach the 315 fr cap with buffs.
157 fr gear + 15 juju ember + 60 shaman/pally buff + 83 ubrs buff = 315 FR
At 315 fire resist you have a 75% chance to resist a flame buffet cast. You’re stacking FR aiming to resist enough flame buffet stacks in a row that the debuff resets by itself. It’s still a little RNG, but at 315 FR it should happen at least once most fights, unless you get bad luck.
This is what an ideal Firemaw fight looks like once you have your fire resist set. Notice my flame buffet stacks reset once at 54 seconds and never went beyond 5 stacks.
You can even get away with less than 315 fire resist, especially if your guild kills fast, but it can be risky. I recommend for your first 99 firemaw parse you max your FR to 315 because this is what happens when you get bad rng on resists:
Okay I’m convinced. What fire resist gear do I need?
Below is a list of the most common FR gear options. Your goal is to keep as much dps stats as possible while pushing FR to 157.
Luckily, a lot of rogue tier pieces have FR on it already, so it’s just about mixing and matching the pieces you have with extra FR pieces where needed. Remember, you don’t need every item listed below, just enough to hit 157 fr before buffs.
In addition, Blazing Emblem trinket can be handy if you’re struggling to cap your fire resist to 315 (or if you want to live a little dangerously with less fire resist but more dps gear). It’s right click effect adds +50 FR for 15 seconds and can be clicked to boost your FR when you see your flame buffet stacks are close to running out.
In-depth breakdown of fire resist buffs:
As mentioned earlier, you want 157 FR from gear, then the rest of your fire resist can come from buffs. Your buffs are:
- Juju Ember = 15 fr (Winterspring quested consumable)
- Paladin aura or shaman totem = 60 fr (needs to be in group)
- UBRS buff = 81-83 fr (get before raid)
- Greater Fire Protection Potion = 1950 to 3250 fire damage absorption (use towards end of the fight if your hp drops into danger levels)
Some people have asked about using Magic Resist Potion, which adds 50 fr, but unfortunately it doesn’t stack with paladin/shaman fire resist. However, these can still be handy to pop before the fight if your guild doesn’t usually assign you to a pally or shaman group.
The UBRS fire resist buff explained
Just in case you aren’t familiar with the UBRS fr buff, here’s a quick rundown. A lot of good guilds will have a priest sitting inside UBRS to dish out this FR buff before raids, but it’s also possible to do this buff solo as a rogue.
Watch the video guide to soloing UBRS FR buff as a rogue: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MEFurvlifyI
You want to make it part of your pre-raid world buff run. You can get the buff anytime before the raid, but most people grab it just before the raid because UBRS entrance is right next to BWL.
Step 1: Zone into UBRS and locate a ‘Scarshield Spellbinder’
There are plenty of spellbinders around the zone in area. You should find a level 55 one though if possible. Level 55 spellbinders give 83 FR, while level 54 gives 81 FR.
Step 2: Mind control spellbinder
You can either get help from a priest or if you are an engineer you can use the Gnomish Mind Control Cap. Just be aware that if you do it yourself it does have a chance to backfire. If it does backfire you need to vanish to drop aggro, then camp out for 30 mins while you wait for MC cap cooldown.
If you choose the solo MC cap option, I’d definitely give it a go without world buffs to get used to doing it first.
Step 3: Buff yourself with ‘Resist Fire’
You should have a spellbar appear with your pet’s castable spells. One of them is ‘Resist Fire’. Get the priest (or yourself if you’re doing it solo) to target you then click the Resist Fire buff.
If you’re doing this solo I actually recommend you make the following macro instead of trying to click the buff, because it saves time and you don’t have to worry about messing it up if you have a button macro ready:
/cast [target=player] Resist Fire
Warning: There is a cooldown on the resist fire buff. If you see the spellbinder cast it, then it won’t be castable again within 30ish seconds. You should wait 30-40 seconds to mind control the spellbinder if you see him cast the resist fire buff.
The basic Firemaw strategy
It’s fairly straight forward, but here’s a quick run down of what you’ll be doing.
You’ll engage firemaw, and pray to the rng gods that you don’t get bad luck. Assuming you get average luck you should be able to stay in through the entire fight without needing to hide and reset stacks.
What if my luck sucks?
Watch your stacks. If you get to high-ish stacks and are in danger of death, then you’ll have to step out. The mechanics work just like a normal Firemaw fight without fire resist.
Good luck! With average to good luck, Firemaw should be your easiest 99 parse in BWL.