WoW Cataclysm Guide - Ascendant Council (Bastion of Twilight) raid guide

[@markmoretti27]

I still remember the first time I saw this, way back when... “hero bear” or “be the bear” became a running thing between my friends and I whenever we played and something clutch happened. Many people don’t, but I look back at cata very fondly. You are missed totalbiscuit; I hope you’re in a better place now. Thank you for this memory, and for the memories you have given thousands others... you are not forgotten. Rest In Peace.

[@powergod897]

Rip John, I miss you. I will never forget your legacy

[@KraeganWolf]

For anyone watching this video now, the 'Hero Bear' music is from the Shining Force 3 Original Soundtrack titled 'The Mercenary Soldier.' You're Welcome.

[@cynicalbrit]

@Deathrevelation Urghhh.... it should be fairly obvious that I slow the video down to show the loot.

[@cynicalbrit]

@Runmanaburn Because regardless of how aspergers a small number of people get over the occasional backpedal, it actually doesn't matter at all.

[@cynicalbrit]

@Zerathil Because there were tons of mistakes that I made, right? Oh wait, no there weren't. It must be awesome to be a spectator that does nothing but nitpick though. I bet if we watched you play we'd find plenty of things to bitch about too. Pedantry, how does it work?

[@cynicalbrit]

@thedruery I don't have any mage videos at all.

[@cynicalbrit]

@Ghostkiller5555 No, they did not. And the game came out in late 2004. The only raid bosses that dropped blue items were 20-man bosses and even then they still dropped epics as well from time to time.

[@SneakyArtillery]

I know this sounds dumb but I hope these videos stay around for a long long time. This was my first mmo I fell in love with and TB/Jesse cox were my guides for raiding. I still raid today and I always come back to these videos remembering how much I loved watching these. Thank you

[@cynicalbrit]

@RoadRageRocker Yes because it is Hero Bear.

[@spoxi5098]

Every so often i find myself coming back to TB's videos of old wow Content. Especially with wow classic coming closer to cata. We all miss you, thank you for making me fall in love with WoW.

[@cynicalbrit]

@Runmanaburn Because I have enough keys on my G11?

[@cynicalbrit]

@Ahoydizzle Levitate breaks on damage, of which there is quite a lot, so not really.

[@cynicalbrit]

@TheRagekill Maybe when it's not so unbelievably bugged. That fight is RNG right now as to whether or not your healers get randomly dced and you wipe.

[@cynicalbrit]

@disrook it's a window at the bottom of the screen which tells you my sp, crit, haste, hit and burn

[@Odinsson2011]

Hey man great vid. I truly enjoy watching them because you do your best to show all of us the content and everything you can and you are also very entertaining while doing so. Hope to see plenty more from you TB.

[@cynicalbrit]

@Ghostkiller5555 Ridiculous claim. Initial items from raids in vanilla were all epics until they brought in the 20 mans, which were considered a bridge between 5-mans and 40-mans, which did drop blues.

[@cynicalbrit]

@hilger3 Well yeah... as explained, you dps each of the 4 council members down to as close to 25% as possible to ensure the last phase isn't hard, because he gains their combined remaining health as his final HP. Screw that up and you end up getting something you can't beat.

[@Vinnyd999]

13 years later just found this, thank you and RIP brother

[@cynicalbrit]

@hellotheresirdude No, because I'm not a retard that takes healing offhands.

[@cynicalbrit]

@TheSnapple what?

[@cynicalbrit]

@KamistraWoW ya and half the vanilla bosses were dull as shit so *shrug*. Are they AQ40/thegoodbitofBWL/Naxx 1.0 level? Yeah, they're good.

[@CaelestraszRS]

HERO BEAR! That was an amazing ending to the raid fight. Last phase does look crazy as you mentioned. Props on another great video!

[@cynicalbrit]

@InaboxPayne BoE blues do not count.

[@cynicalbrit]

@Bloodkeeper10 Not really.

[@cynicalbrit]

@paalbananas You do not understand how KZbin works.

[@Syncness]

On behalf on the WoW community, we thank you for these continuous Beta updates and beta raid guides. Thank you.

[@tessmoniques]

I really like the voice and the clarity of ur explanations. and to my surprise it wasnt very cynical at all..lol. I will def add ur vids as my first go-to for boss explanations. grats!

[@cynicalbrit]

@windfiresteel Yeah, add more shit. That was hard... I should be a designer.

[@SILENTIMACT74]

That was the most fun i have ever had watching a vid. I can't wait to actually play it when Cata goes live!

[@Runmanaburn]

@TotalHalibut I guess you misunderstood what I was saying. When I said "..and not "S" key," that was supposed to be a whole different question. What I was saying, was why do you still "S" key after 6 years of playing this game?

[@tehoken]

looks like a great fight :D can't wait to try it out :D quick question on phase two, when you're swapping between the two 'debuffs' does even the tank need to run about. or can he just soak the damage and get healed through? Maybe pop a CD or two to help out. P.S. I recon the water boss is supposed to be pronounced Fel-oo-dee-us

[@ZombieBrainsDev]

Thanks Biscuit, these raid videos are my favorites.

[@Runmanaburn]

@Dizturb3dWun 1) I wasn't talking about what type of keyboard he was using, lol. 2) Yes, I have a rogue, and warrior. And what was the point of that question? Are you possibly trying to say that it's hard to not "S" key or something on a melee class?

[@TehLB]

Nice to see they're reusing the fire/poison tactic from Acidmaw and Dreadscale. That was a pretty neat ability. Secondly, could you also jump to avoid the quake or use a priest levitate in a pinch? Is the tank required to play with these mechanics or could he or she eat them? (As it stands right now, given it isn't an insta-kill)

[@Alibanini]

@Essenji It wasn't made for the purpose of pugging, but it with the new raid lock out system, would you not argue that Blizzard are leaning towards pugging? It may not be hard to avoid things, but you theres always people (even in guilds), who will not be paying attention, more so in PuGs. Also, what if people get lag spikes or disconnects? I'm sure you'd love to wipe because someone lagged out and was hit by an insta-kill ability.

[@cynicalbrit]

@paalbananas When you post 20 seconds after the video goes live with a ridiculous claim like that, you just make yourself look stupid.

[@argottobob]

@Runmanaburn I would not call it a bad habbit if it doesn't matter in a fight. It didn't cause him any grief or loss of dps/more damage taken that I could see. Just because someone has been playing 6 years doesn't change their play style. Not like it is a huge deal in PvE anyway.

[@Bubbzgirl]

You so could be a sports commentator!!! I was more interested in your commentary during phase 3 than the strategy itself :) Thanks for the amusing guide!

[@cynicalbrit]

@MohoFlaggins You can run WoW on almost anything :/

[@WeriikClaire]

Do you have any plans to make a video of Deathwing destroying a zone? I know people would like to see it but it is kinda random when it happens.

[@trunksomega2002]

Where does the sword that the pally cow was using come from? I will be going for that straight away when cata hits.

[@Pzypro]

What interface addon are you using? I really like the small, middle action bars and actually the entire setup... Or do you just have really high screen resolution? oO And thanks for the guide of course.

[@TerhenNefarious]

@SupaPres how about extra abilities? or even fighting all 4 at once? They can do things other than damage increases.

[@MeakisTV]

@TotalHalibut ok i played vanila but it seems i wasn't at the very start so at the start ( 2003 it came out i started in spring 2004-2005) when there were only 40 man and 5 mans it seems but still some bosses did drop blue stuf right ?

[@Lancemasterz]

@tomino98 In 4.3, Fireball got buffed significantly, some 17% in fact, which only solidifies its position atop the fire mage rotation; In 4.3.2 however, Fireball gets nerfed by only 6%, not nearly a huge enough difference to make any change in the rotation/spell selection.

[@neithskye]

I only played healers -- Holy Paladin main, Holy Priest, Resto Druid. The Ascendant Council was far and away one of my favourite fights. The last phase especially was fun as all heck to heal.

[@Draedo]

So overall with what you have seen from the Cata raids, Can we expect actual fun and not easy free loot unless we put it on heroic?

[@MrCYNICALbrit]

@TotalHalibut i'm sure you have noted this already but, in your opinion do you think that the raiding so far in the beta is, lets say, "on par" with difficulty, skill level required and attention of the entire raid on EACH and EVERY boss in what is open for tests at the moment.

[@cynicalbrit]

@Zerathil I'm thinking of you wiping over and over again and smiling. I guess people who don't know what it's like to do bosses for the first time without the aid of crutch mods and guides shouldn't really discuss beta raiding.

[@cynicalbrit]

@MrEduardKhil As opposed to mining ore for ours with loads of 12 year olds around talking about Anal.

[@VolcanicDestrucion]

Can you dodge the Big water in the air that does Waterlogged? Kinda like Rotface's Unstable Slime explosion?

[@Smeksigt1337]

Totalbiscuit, what do you think about this? on HC mode. Glaciate, Thunderschock and Quake kills u (it must do it in normal aswell) but the Thunderschock and Quake aren't predictable :O + the bosses do more DMG and have more HP. did I miss something? :O idk lol

[@Chobonaru]

@TheSnapple You mean something like the wipe-a-thon videos?

[@Haxyn]

@KamekazeKirby trash is pretty easy to determine what to do against it, some CC is needed however and it would take along time to upload

[@Lancemasterz]

@tqui94 At the start of Cataclysm (4.0), Frostfire bolt with the glyph was actually more effective than fireball as a fire mage if you had a high enough item level. In 4.2 and 4.3, this is no longer the case.

[@Kiwani]

@Lancemasterz Yes but fireball got nerfed in 4.3 so wich is stronger now. frostfire bolt or fireball

[@UndercoverMax]

TotalBiscuit has different hosting abilities. In these kind of vids, the raiding ones, he is serious and a good guide. In others like the aszhara walkthroughs, he is funny and a cynical dude. I like them both. Wanted and needed at both kinds of videos.

[@MillionareFTW]

@EhlicksAustovich not an addon, turn it on in the interface idk how tho

[@Herosofdeath]

Always love your work. Thanks for the Raid Info.

[@Whackjood]

'HERO BEAR' was made even better by the dramatic heroic music.

[@whisperingsage89]

Does there need to be as many instant kill mechanics when even the damage causes more strain on healer mana? Or is there enough strain with the normal abilities, and in your opinion those mechanics are easily avoidable enough where the damage it was doing wasn't punishing enough?

[@SuperCrabbycrab]

The fight infrrf looks fun, but is mages fun to play as well? It was mainly spamming frostfire bolt. I play Moonkin, but I was thinkin to level my mage - but now after watching this video, I am not sure if I should, to get more fun in the game.

[@cynicalbrit]

@MrShanden Farmville is a game for casual gamers. Peggle is a game for casual gamers. WoW has never been for casual gamers, it has parts of it that can be easily enjoyed by casual gamers, but it was never designed with casual gamers in mind. Let's also point out the usual dumb fallacy, casual != easy. Casual games have nothing to do with difficulty and everything to do with how much time they require and when.

[@sk33snubben]

What's the addon that make your Fire Bomb icon in the middle, please? Good work on the videos! :)

[@Acez27]

Ascendant Council on hardmode will be quite interesting. Nice video TB!

[@Draedo]

@MrShanden WoW Was designed to be more casual than EverQuest but not to be "A Casual MMO" It was Designed to be difficult, challenging and rewarding. I remember at one point being fully epiced meant you "worked" hard for it and downing a boss was an accomplishment.

[@naustix92]

@Zeldarulah ooooor you can strafe run at same speed and you can instant cast on the boss

[@IbonkDonkeys]

what sword is that on the back of your raid member at 5:48? it looks soo cool.

[@cynicalbrit]

@littledude4eva Runescape is more hardcore than WoW in many aspects, that's a pretty dumb thing to say.

[@Junebug89]

@Emanuel095 What's the point of these kinds of mechanics if they don't actually punish you for failing? Especially in this particular case where they are so easy to avoid, you can literally change to grounded etc with 30 seconds before its going to hit.

[@Raidbossike]

Bllizard could simply but a random cast sequence like the Twin valks and possibly shorten the cooldown between casts as the phase goes on.

[@VanillaBean117]

@mrrodgers0 I've stopped wondering about physics in this game after realizing mages can cast fire spells underwater. You just roll with it.

[@daggereye89]

wow that fight looks amazing, blizzard is probably going buff those abilities in the heroic version. I'm sort of excited about this I'm probably going to raid in cata. Btw what can you get for justice points?

[@Zachoff]

@Super750Moto no that cant be an ability that completely mass resurrects the entire raid/party that TB was showing off in his guild reward video

[@AnotherGeneric]

Down on the second attempt? I haven't played WoW in awhile, but have raid bosses become that easy now?

[@DreadfulNob]

What addOns are you using? Your world of warcraft looks sooooo cooool!

[@BFDudes]

@Deathrevelation To show the people the loot im guessing, cuz it only happens while the loot is displayed in the videos

[@ssskpgt]

I don't know of him but I can believe it. Keybinding works for some people , and doesn't for others, depends on your play style, equipment and setup.

[@Feinei]

@TotalHalibut actually WoW is a casual game and it always was, a hard game is one that takes you very precise timing and skills to beat where WoW is very simple, do this, do that, dont stand in the fire, win, sometimes there is the part where you need certain qualifications to beat a challange (gear) but that can be achieved by doing heroics/ or a weaker raid

[@KamistraWoW]

are they going to implement heroic modes to all the cata bosses? and are the boss fights just as fun as the vanilla ones?

[@Evilmon2]

The victory music at the end is awesome.

[@xbirthxbyxsleepx]

While I do agree that things need to be challenging, this is a starting raid on non-heroic difficulty. I'm not saying that starter raids/non-heroic bosses should be a complete pushover, but I still think that even though the mechanics do not one shot you, it is still a decently challenging encounter. If the heroic version does not one shot you however, I will be dissapointed.

[@athropos]

@Runmanaburn That's pretty standard for raiders who don't pvp. They usually don't keybind every spell or ability to something easily accessible. If TB was doing PvP my ranting would be endless, but right now it's alright. I bind most of my stuff beyonf 1 to 5 to Q,E,Z,X,C,R,F,V, and then shift-something. For pure PVE, where very few skills need to be twitch activated, TB is fine.

[@pokemoncollector2011]

i want to know his talent tree...for fire. anyone know what points go into on fire mages? (never had a mage)

[@crazymarc420]

What castbar addon are you using ? And i like how it shows the Timers on your CDs.

[@jstaley02]

hi total, Burn in ur little core stats window, thats ur mastery correct? trying to gather an idea of how much to raid with and my premade 85 after reforging has ~20%. thanks in advance

[@ssskpgt]

It doesn't matter, at the end of the day it comes down to your play-style, setup etc. I was among the world first 10 guilds to down Beth'tilac Heroic back in 4.2 and while I key-bind, the hunter who pretty much won us the fight was clicking, and even in the very top, consistent guilds there are healers who click. It's only in PVP, a clicking play-style is significantly at a disadvantage, but this can still be overcome.

[@Haxyn]

@amsterdoomed if its for damage purposes the dk Lendive was doing 15-19k dps

[@disrook]

whats that at the bottom of the screen that says sp, crit, haste, hit, and burn

[@dkre]

@anoriginaldick oh and if your talking about the timers on his actionbars thats omniCC

[@lucario2467]

Total, Can you tell me the name of the Arms warriors big ass sword? it looks superb!:D

[@reboundTTV]

@Alibanini Why not? It builds character. So to speak.

[@ognimoddd]

how do you make it so that you can see the whole fight area and your character from so far away? mine is so close and i cant see shit

[@Profoundsoup]

For your spells do u use your Top number keys or your keypad???

[@xItsLegitx]

What happens if you blink through the Void Zone/Tornado but dont actually land in it. Do you still get the debuff?

[@Lifestealer666]

What add-ons did you use for this video? Id like to use it since my last one went out of date due to new patch. Thanks TB!

[@DracosBlackwing]

I'm curious as to why you think those attacks should kill everyone. I did get that since they're telegraphed like they are, you feel it should be like that in heroic dungeons... after all, if you're doing them then that's what you're after. But that Thundershock did 63k damage. Admittedly I haven't played for a good while, but does a regular player tend to have that much HP by that point? Just want to add that I'm not currently a player of WoW, so these questions are just curiosity.

[@chesteralltheway]

Very entertaining video.Even tho i dont play world of warcraft ,i find these videos really fun to watch.Sometimes it reminds of Project Lore episodes what was on thottbot. Keep up with the good work. Cheers from Serbia :D

[@cantyoutellqs]

hey totalhailbut, i love ur vids, but ive been wondering, what are the "mods" ur talkin about. I know that they show you stuff that the regular client doesnt show, but im wondering how do you get them and how do you put them in ur client.