Ancient Core Hound
Level: 62 Elite
These ferocious dogs have a frontal bite AoE and a random effect AoE. Furthermore, they use a frontal fire AoE which is quite devasting if hitting the entire raid-group. Have the main tank keep the Hound turned away while everyone else attacks from the back. Some AoEs may make the fight more annoying, but keeping aggro is all this is required. Ancient Core Hounds stop respawning after Magmadar has been killed. However, before you manage to kill Magmadar, those beasts respawn in approximately 18 minutes and timing the respawn is absolutely crucial to any raid new to the Molten Core.
Note: If you kill Magmadar and any Ancient Core Hounds still live, when you return the next day, they will have despawned. The exact despawn timer is unknown.
Background
Ancient Core Hounds are ponderous beasts that roam throughout Molten Core. They are one of the more frustrating elements of Molten Core at first. They come in multiple types and are one of the most fearful adds. They have very fast respawn timers at 18 minutes and the largest of all agro ranges in Molten Core. However, they soon become a non-issue once you kill Magmadar.
Attacks
Attacks come in several flavors. You never know what type of Ancient Core Hound you will get until you fight him. They have a frontal bite attack that will attack most people in the front 180 degrees.. It is a good idea to keep these beasts facing away from the raid. His normal hit deals 200 - 300 damage to a tank. Every Ancient Core Hound also has a long range fire AE that does about 800 damage.
They can also have one of the following AEs:
- Ground Stomp - 5 sec stun
- 200 fire resist debuff
- 50% spell and melee slow
- Ancient Despair - 3 seconds of confusion
- Withering Heat - Maximium hitpoints reduced by 15% for 1 minute (Magic dispellable)
- 50% less int/spirit
Strategy
Basic strategy is to simply have one tank at the front of the beast and everyone else behind. About the only AE worth dispelling is the 200FR debuff as that can greatly increase the damage taken from his fire AE. This mob goes down very fast and we don't bother with them too much anymore since they don't respawn once Magmadar is dead.
When we get an Ancient Core Hound add, we move quickly to reach it before it gets to the camp. You do not want a Core Hound in camp casting an AE stun or confusion when already engaged with another mob. Two healers is sufficient to keep a tank up on one of these.