Naxxramas Raid Guide - Maexxna

Maexxna is the third and final boss you will come across in the Arachnid quarter of Naxxramas.  I have mixed feelings about Maexxna, in some ways her fights can be incredibly fun, but on the other some of her abilities can be extremely hard work and upsettingly frustrating.  When you first try to take down this boss it may be a good idea to go easy on the potions untill your raid group knows exactly what they are doing and how to avoid the all too easy to encounter random even wipes that can end an otherwise successful attempt on Maexxna.

While her health is relatively low, at around 7.5 million, the Maexxna boss fight is extremely intensive, especially with necrotic poison, an irritating debuff which I will make light of in this boss killer guide.

In the 25 man version of the Maexxna  you will be facing a boss with (what initially seems like) a measely 7,600,000 hp.  Do not be fooled though, this bosses abilities are pretty fearful for even the most experenced of raid groups.

So lets take a look at some of Maexxna's abilities in the 25 man Naxx raid.

• Web Wrap  - Cast initially on the 20 second mark and recast every 40 seconds afterwards, Maexxna's Web Wrap hurls two of your raid members against the western wall.  When they hit this they become encased in a cocoon which fully incapacitates them while causing 2475 to 3050 nature damage every two seconds.  Fortunately these cocoons spawn in the same place every time and only have around 15k health so can (and must) be destroyed swiftly.
• Web Spray - Webspray is used once every 40 seconds and incapacitates every raid member, tank included, for 6 seconds, dealing 2188 to 2812 nature damage in this process.  This is unfortunately unavoidable by any means that would not seriously hinder the raid group.  Before this hits all healers should unload their healing abilities onto the tank.
• Poison Shock - An AoE cone effect that reaches for 15 yards infront of Maexxna dealing 4550 to 5850 nature damage. This is cast every 10 seconds so a healer can be prepared for this by casting a large heal in advance before it hits.
• Necrotic Poison - The Necrotic Poison ability is by far the highest cause of wipes on Maexxna. This reduces healing taken by 90% on a target within melee range and infront of Maexxna, and unfortunately this tends to be the tank.  This needs to be dispelled instantly to avoid unnecessary deaths in your raid.
• Frenzy - When Maexxna hits 30% health she will go into a frenzy, this increases her damage by 75% and haste by 50%, this is indicated by her growing in size.  For this reason it is important to hold DPS at around 33% until a final web spray occurs so your tank does not get hit by frenzy while the healers are out of action.

• Maexxna Spiderlings - at thirty seconds into the fight, and every forty seconds after that Maexxna will spawn 8 Spiderlings these hit for 2k on cloth and hae about 14k Hp.  To avoid this your mages should be ready with a frost nova around Maexxna just before spawn so the DPS can take them out before the next web spray (10 seconds later).

Considering the complexity of this fight the ten man version of the Maexxna fight seems to have very little reductions in comparisson to the ten man, Don't worry though it is still more than do-able.

In the ten man raid version of Naxxramas Maexxna  has around 2,500,000 hit points, not a huge amount but still more than enough considering this fight's complications.  So lets take a look at some of the Maexxna abilities you will have to face in 10 man Naxx.

• Web Wrap - Webspray is cast 20 seconds in to the fight and every 40 seconds afterwards.  In the 10 man version of Naxx it only sends one person towards the western wall, here the player will be cocooned and incapacitated untill released by the DPS.  The cocoon causes around 2475 to 3025 nature damage every 2 seconds and has around 6000hp 
  
• Web Spray - Maexxna casts web spray every 40 seconds, this incapacitates everyone, tank included for 6 seconds  while dealing 1750 - 2250 nature damage to everyone in the raid group.  Again, this cannot be resisted in any way that will not significantly hinder your raid group.
• Poison Shock - A Nature damage cone AoE That causes 3500 to 4500 damage to all players within 15 yards infront of Maexxna.
• Necrotic Poison - This is not quite as bad as the 25 man raid version's 90% healing reduction on Maexxna.  In the ten man version of Naxx Necrotic Poison reduces healing by 75% for 30 seconds, a significant but slightly easier to deal with amount.  Abolish poison is by far the best way to keep this at bay and can be applied to targets infront of Maexxna, though you may usually find that this will be the tank.
• Frenzy - At 30% Maexxna will frenzy, this will increase physical damage dealt by 50%, haste by 50% and is generaly the most crucial phase of the fight.  As with the 25 man version of Maexxna it is important to wait at around 33% health for oen last web spray before reaching the 30% frenzy trigger.
• Maexxna Spiderlings - At the 30 secodn mark and then every 40 seconds afterwards Maexxna will spawn 8 Maexxna Spiderlings.  These hit for about 1k on cloth and have around 7k hp.  These should be frozen by a mage, and can infact by solo'd by a sufficiently geared one.  It is generally considered easiest to nuke these however.

This is an incredibly quick boss fight, but there is a lot you need to watch out for during that time.  The hardest part of the entire raid is by far keeping the tank alive through web spray.  Your healers must be on the ball with HoT's before the web spray kicks in, failure to do this can easily result in a wipe.

The best way to position your raid group is to take Maexxna close to a wall and have the tank face her towards the centre of the room.  The rest of the raid should position themselves behind Maexxna to avoid some of her more devastating effects.  30 seconds in to the fight your mages must be close to Maexxna to frost nova the Maexxna Spiderlings, these should be AoE'd or nuked to death within 10 seconds so they do not attack during Web Spray (While the healers are incapacitated).

Remember to keep abolish poison up on the tank and those hit by necrotic poison, there is a lot of burst raid wide damage in this fight so you need to keep everyone topped up and heal ready.  Also ensure your DPS are ready to release anyone from Web Wrap, for this your dps need only fire a quick burst of damage towards the trapped person if DPS focus on this the trapped player should be released within seconds.

When it comes to dealing with frenzy you should hold off the DPS at 33%, allow a web spray to go past and then finish Maexxna off, failure to do so could result in your tank taking increased frenzy damage while healers are incapacitated.

Once you have got pas tthe main aim of arranging your raid to survive the web sprays with their attached problems this is just a tank and spank fight!

The 10 man strategy to Maexxna is very similar to the 25 man strategy, the only real difference is that with only one man thrown against the wall in one of two positions it may help to have ranged dps deal with the cocooned raid members.