A few nights ago, we ventured back into Zul'Aman for the second time in as many days. We made quick work of Nalorakk, falling short of the 20 minute timer by just a couple minutes. We then worked our way through the gauntlet twice getting in quite a few attempts at Akil'Zon. Unfortunately, we were unable to get him under 40%. The fight itself has a few confusing components, and I'm still trying to figure out how exactly we as a team can handle the fight.

I've heard of a few different strategies, but we haven't had much luck with any of them. We've tried killing the eagles and also leaving them alone. We've tried huddling up in anticipation of the storm and we've tried spreading out. We've basically tried everything we've heard of or thought of, but nothing has come of it yet.

What's most upsetting is when a stupid mistake by any one player dooms the whole raid. We have so few shots at Akil'Zon before having to re-run the gauntlet, it is frustrating when one little mistake by anyone can cause a wipe. I'm hoping that with more practice we'll be able to get this guy on farm, but it just gets frustrating when things don't go as planned.

After doing some further research this weekend, I'm going to try wearing some different items to give myself some extra stamina (I haven't run any arena games on either of my teams this week - something I really need to do to get those points - hopefully tonight some players of the 5v5 team will be available after Gruul's Lair). With some PvP gear on, I might be be able to survive some more eagle swoops without taxing the healers. I just ran some quick comparisons and if I can get the Trial-Fire Trousers along with the Collar of the Aldor, I will lose some hit and crit ratings, but gain stamina, intellect, spirit, and damage. I already have the Trousers, and would just have to hope the Curator finally decides to cooperate the next time through Karazhan.

The next step up would be the Vengeful Gladiator's Silk Trousers with the Collar of the Aldor. Again, I lose some hit rating, but gain in every other category, including 43 stamina (versus a gain of 26 stamina with the other combination).

The last combination I could work with is Vengeful Gladiator's Silk Trousers and Vengeful Gladiator's Silk Cowl. Here I gain a whopping 72 stamina and 37 intellect, but at a cost of 54 hit rating (same as the Silk Trousers and Collar) and 3 damage. I do gain 37 intellect though, which helps augment some of the losses.

The other nice thing about any of the three combinations above is I am able to use the Chaotic Skyfire Diamond which does give me an extra 12 critical strike rating and, if I do crit, an extra 3% damage. And when I'm doing upwards of 4200 on crits, that's an extra 126 damage. With a critical strike chance of about 30% with raid buffs, that's an addition of 38 damage - period. So while the second and third combinations include a loss of 8 damage and 3 damage, respectively, the addition of the meta gem more than offsets those losses.

I think my preferred combination would be the second option. If I could get the Silk Trousers and the Collar, I would gain a lot of stamina and intellect, lose a lot of hit, but gain a little crit and about 30 damage. The best part of all is I would have a 100% chance to avoid interruption of fireball - which would be absolutely amazing as those stupid eagles swoop down on me. Perhaps the Curator will hear my pleas for him to drop the helm and I'll be the only one needing it. Unfortunately, even if I do get in the games needed in 2v2 and 5v5 tonight, I don't think I'll make it to the 1875 arena points needed to purchase the pants. I will have them in two weeks though. My only hope would be to get a 3v3 going quickly tonight and get a few extra points from there.

Either way, even if I do my best to research the fight, gear myself differently for extra stamina, and know when to move, I can only do so much. I'm not sure why we don't require the other raiders in the group to be similarly prepared. I know when the thunderstorm is going to come and can be ready for it. I know when I'm too close to other people so I don't get hit by chain lightning. I'm ready and have done my research. Hopefully we can take him down soon.

((For those that haven't yet, download BigWigs - you shouldn't be doing instances without it!))