The lava packs in Molten Core consisted of Firewalkers, Flameguards, Lava Elementals, and Lava Reavers.
They were the deadliest elite trash in MC, practically guaranteed to claim at least one body.
"The addon got another update today. Let me show you what changed."
To speed up their progress through Molten Core, Gabryell had added raid target markers to the addon before Blizzard officially introduced them.
He started by marking the four tanks.
Carlos got Skull.
Susie got Moon.
David got Circle.
Nightlord got Star.
"We'll just call them Skull, Moon, Circle, and Star."
Gabryell had simply borrowed the same raid target icons Blizzard would introduce later.
David immediately protested.
"Hold on. Skull, Moon, Star... sure. Why am I the Circle? Shouldn't mine be the sun? I'm the blazing sun watching over the whole raid."
Susie shot him down without hesitation.
"Bullshit. Circle fits you perfectly. It's just as round as your face."
After Susie shut him down like that, David didn't dare argue and went looking to Mushy for sympathy.
"These markers will make it much easier to tell targets apart."
Gabryell turned toward the lava pack ahead and marked the mobs.
Firewalker got Skull.
Flameguard got Circle.
Lava Elemental got Moon.
Lava Reaver got Star.
"Smooch, whenever you're pulling packs like this, mark them the same way."
He wanted the Hunter responsible for pulling to get used to the system first.
"Skull is the first kill target."
"Got it."
"Just copy my markers. Makes the calls easier."
"Got it."
With that settled, Gabryell started laying out the pull.
"Look at the pack ahead. Four mobs. Two fire mobs, two rock elementals. We kill the fire mobs first, then deal with the rocks."
"Carlos takes the Firewalker. Susie takes the Flameguard."
He paused and waited for both tanks to answer.
"Okay."
"No problem."
Only then did he continue.
"We leave the two rock elementals alone at first. I don't need Warlock DPS here. Your entire job on this pull is Banish."
He still wasn't completely reassured, so he assigned them one by one.
"Desert, Banish the Lava Elemental. FirstDate, take the Lava Reaver. Shadowlord, if either one resists, cover it immediately."
Warlocks were the real MVPs against lava packs.
A raid normally wanted at least two. Bring one fewer and the pull became dramatically harder.
The rock elementals hit hard on their own, and Lava Elementals could also lock people down with Pyroclast Barrage.
Let one loose in the back of the raid and healers or ranged could disappear fast.
Gabryell didn't care about Warlock damage here.
Their entire job was Banish.
"If everything's clear, type one."
He wanted to make sure all three had heard him.
One after another, the Warlocks typed:
"1."
"1."
"1."
Gabryell fired off the addon's ready check.
One person still hadn't responded.
"DaVinci, you there?"
A few seconds passed before DaVinci finally checked ready.
"Yeah. Just went to get some water."
Gabryell laughed.
"I thought you got so excited over those Cloudkeepers that you ran off to the bathroom to calm yourself down. From now on, if you need water, have to answer the door, hit the bathroom, or your girlfriend drags you away for some 'quality time,' say something in raid chat first. That way I know where you went instead of watching you mysteriously disappear."
"Got it. I'll say something next time."
OldSeven immediately jumped in.
"Coldhands, you hear that? Guild Leader was basically talking about you. For the sake of the guild, hurry up and break up with your girlfriend."
Coldhands showed absolutely no shame.
"Relax. If that happens, I'll only be AFK for a minute. I'll be back before it affects the raid."
Fearless's main raid really was full of characters.
Every one of them was more shameless than the last.
"Back to the pull. Skull first, then Circle. Once the Firewalker and Flameguard are dead, we switch to the two mobs the Warlocks are keeping Banished."
Gabryell was still worried something might go wrong with the crowd control.
"David, Night, stay with the raid. If one of the rock mobs breaks out and the Warlock doesn't get another Banish off immediately, grab it."
They weren't expected to tank the elementals comfortably.
They only had to keep them busy long enough for the Warlock to recast Banish.
For David and Night, this was about as boring as tanking got.
If the Warlocks did their jobs, the two of them would spend most of the pull standing around and waiting for something to break loose.
"Smooch, you pull."
Hunters were the safest choice for pulling lava packs here.
A tank walking up and face-pulling the group could easily get one-shot.
"Going."
Smooch had just started moving when Gabryell stopped her.
"Wait. Boss is coming."
A few moments later, Baron Geddon came patrolling past.
Smooch had never pulled one of these packs before, and Gabryell didn't want her accidentally dragging Geddon into the fight.
Safer to let him pass first.
"That thing is huge."
For most of the raid, this was their first proper look at Molten Core's fifth boss.
"Be careful here. Geddon patrols back and forth, so nobody pulls him."
"And when Carlos and Susie pick up their mobs, drag them back toward us. Tank near the cave entrance. Don't leave them way out there or melee is going to hate you."
He added one more warning.
"And don't hug either wall at the entrance. You'll LoS the healers and die."
It was worth saying.
New tanks loved dragging mobs against the sides of the cave entrance, only to discover that the healers standing in the passage couldn't see them.
Tank dropped.
Raid wiped.
Completely avoidable.
Baron Geddon drifted past the raid without a care in the world and continued on his patrol.
Once he was far enough away, Gabryell gave the call.
"Smooch, bring them back."
She moved forward and pulled the nearest lava pack.
"Tanks and Warlocks, get your targets. Don't drag anything left. There's another pack over there."
The group Smooch had pulled was directly in front of them.
Another lava pack stood off to the left.
One careless move and they would have both.
"Melee, watch your positioning. We've done enough dungeons by now. Stop standing in front of mobs unless you're trying to get yourself killed."
Two melee players had already run in front of the Firewalker to attack.
They were still far too green.
Apparently, dying hadn't taught them enough yet.
Carlos picked up the Firewalker.
He had assumed it would be more or less like the Firelord they had just fought, so he didn't immediately turn it away from the raid.
The Firewalker was the real monster of the lava pack.
If those four mobs were a gang of spoiled rich kids, the Firewalker was the one calling the shots.
The Flameguard was his right-hand man.
The two rock elementals were basically just along for the ride.
And what did the rich kid do best?
Throw money around.
That was basically how the Firewalker treated Fire Blossom.
It tossed them out like they cost nothing.
And if one wasn't enough, sometimes it threw out two.
"I'm dead! What the hell? How did I die?"
MagicGirl vanished almost instantly.
Carlos still hadn't turned the Firewalker away from the raid, and she had gotten unlucky enough to eat two Fire Blossoms back-to-back.
A single Fire Blossom hit for roughly three thousand damage.
Two in a row could one-shot almost anyone but a tank.
With the raid's current health pools, even Power Word: Shield might not save someone.
MagicGirl didn't have Ice Barrier up.
The two hits landed so close together that she never even had time to Ice Block.
"Carlos, Susie, turn your mobs around!"
Gabryell wasn't going to stand there and watch half the raid get blown up.
Both tanks immediately started repositioning.
Flameguards didn't have Fire Blossom, but they did have Cone of Fire.
Anything standing in front of one could take roughly fourteen to sixteen hundred Fire damage at once.
With so little room to work with, one bad cast could chunk several players and put even more pressure on the healers.
Carlos and Susie hurried to turn their mobs away from the raid.
Then the Firewalker cast Fire Blossom again.
"Yeah, that damage is ridiculous."
Two hits.
Again.
A Warlock dropped instantly.
"Shadowlord, Banish Moon!"
Gabryell shouted the call immediately.
This time, DesertWanderer had died while casting Banish.
The Lava Elemental was loose.
It caught the nearest player in Pyroclast Barrage, stunned them, then charged over and finished them with a couple of heavy swings.
The pull had barely started.
Three people were already dead.
No wonder lava packs had the highest body count in Molten Core.
These four were absolute bastards.