Everyone reacted at different speeds, and not everyone had the same connection quality.
Gabryell had warned the raid to get away from Onyxia's head well in advance, but when Deep Breath finally came, some players still couldn't dodge in time.
"Holy shit, that was terrifying!"
"Ah! I'm dead!"
"That damage is insane!"
"Scared the crap out of me! Thank God I had Divine Shield!"
Fewer people died to this Deep Breath than the one they'd faced last time, but it still killed more than ten players.
Losing that many people at once was a massive blow. Their DPS dropped sharply, and their healing capacity took a serious hit.
Gabryell glanced at the raid frames.
Fourteen dead.
Nine DPS. Three healers.
And... what the hell? Two tanks?!
"David, Night! What are you two doing standing around by the egg caves? You have to dodge Deep Breath too!"
The two dead tanks were David and Nightlord, who had been assigned to handle the whelps.
Instead of moving with the rest of the raid, they'd stayed outside the egg caves, waiting for the next wave to spawn.
And when Deep Breath came, neither had gotten out of the way.
So what if they were tanks? So what if they had more HP?
Deep Breath would roast them just as easily as anyone else.
Gabryell shook his head.
As expected, explaining a strategy didn't mean everyone could execute it.
Onyxia was a T2-tier boss, after all. She was harder than most of the bosses in Molten Core.
"Carlos, Susie, you two take over the whelps when they spawn. Everyone else, don't give up! We can still do this!"
Gabryell was mostly trying to keep their spirits up.
With only twenty-six players left, their chances of actually winning were practically nonexistent.
A twenty-six-player raid might have a chance if everyone had solid MC gear and enough experience to clear the entire instance.
This group wasn't there yet.
"Let's see how far we can get. For now, just focus on bringing Onyxia down and reaching Phase 3."
That was all Gabryell really wanted anymore.
If they could at least reach Phase 3, everyone would get to see how the final part of the fight worked.
And since their raid leader hadn't given up, the others weren't about to quit either.
They kept fighting.
"Good! DPS, give it everything you've got! If we can get her back on the ground, I'll count that as a win!"
With so many damage dealers dead, their DPS had slowed to a crawl.
And the longer Phase 2 dragged on, the more whelps they'd have to deal with.
"Carlos, Susie, bring the whelps into the middle! Stack them up so we can AoE them down!"
"We've still got five Mages. That's enough!"
With only five Mages left, splitting them between the two sides would take far too long.
They needed to gather the whelps in one place and burn them down together.
"Fuck! I just got killed by a Fireball!" DeathScum shouted.
Losing three healers had put the survivors under tremendous pressure.
They had to keep Carlos and Susie alive while the tanks dealt with the whelps, leaving little room to save anyone caught by a Fireball.
DeathScum sounded miserable.
"I already used my Major Healing Potion earlier. If I'd still had it, I wouldn't have died!"
Another DPS down.
Wonderful.
Their damage was even worse now.
Gabryell checked Onyxia's health.
Fifty-two percent.
At their current pace, another wave of whelps would probably spawn before they could force her to land.
"Keep attacking!"
He wasn't thinking about killing Onyxia anymore.
He just wanted everyone to experience Phase 3.
They could still fight on, but only if Onyxia didn't use Deep Breath again.
Another one would almost certainly kill more players.
Once the whelps were cleared, the healers could finally turn their attention back to the rest of the raid.
They were already drinking Major Mana Potions on cooldown, but their mana pools were still running dangerously low.
"Luna, Innervate me!" ServerHeals called.
Two healing Druids and one Priest had died to the earlier Deep Breath.
That left Lunatori as the only Druid still alive who could cast Innervate. As for the Paladins caught in the blast, the ones who survived had Divine Shield to thank.
"Got it."
Lunatori immediately cast Innervate on ServerHeals.
Gabryell didn't object.
Giving it to a Dwarf Priest was the right call.
Besides, by the time they recovered from this wipe and prepared for another pull, Innervate would be off cooldown again.
There was no point saving it.
"Everyone, spread out! Don't stack on top of each other!"
"Just stay within thirty yards of Onyxia. The healers are struggling enough already. Stop making three or four people eat the same Fireball!"
"Spread out as much as you can. Ideally, only one person should get hit each time!"
Every time a Fireball caught several players, the healers had to spend even more of their dwindling mana keeping everyone alive.
If this continued, their remaining DPS would die before Onyxia even reached Phase 3.
48%.
47%.
46%.
Gabryell watched Onyxia's health slowly tick down.
With every percentage point, their chances of forcing her to land grew a little better.
"Come on, everyone! Hang in there! Just a few more percent and she's coming down!"
44%.
42%.
Onyxia was almost ready to enter Phase 3.
A relieved smile spread across Gabryell's face.
They'd actually made it this far.
Even if they couldn't kill her, reaching the final phase would be a victory in itself.
Unfortunately, he celebrated a little too early.
Just as Onyxia's health dropped to forty-one percent, she prepared another Deep Breath.
Onyxia takes in a deep breath...
"Oh, you've got to be fucking kidding me!"
"EVERYONE MOVE! GET AWAY FROM HER HEAD AND TAIL!"
"TO HER SIDES! HUG THE WALL!"
Gabryell was furious.
They'd been so close to forcing Onyxia to land, and now another Deep Breath was coming.
All he could do was get as many people out of the way as possible.
If even a handful survived, they might still be able to push her into Phase 3.
Our DPS is just too damn slow.
He knew why this was happening.
The first Deep Breath had killed so many players that their damage had collapsed.
That had dragged out Phase 2, giving Onyxia more opportunities to select Deep Breath again.
Gabryell had no trouble dodging it himself.
The rest of the raid wasn't so fortunate.
As the second Deep Breath swept across the chamber, roughly six in ten of the twenty-five remaining players had their health bars wiped out.
Those who failed to escape were swallowed by the flames.
"DON'T PANIC! JUST ONE MORE PERCENT!"
"GET HER DOWN! AT LEAST LET'S SEE PHASE 3!"
They were too close to stop now.
If they gave up without even seeing how Onyxia behaved after landing, the entire attempt would feel wasted.
Only eleven players were still alive.
Fortunately, Carlos and Susie were among them.
At least the two surviving tanks would get some firsthand experience picking up Onyxia after she landed.
"She's coming down! Carlos, Susie, get ready!"
"Both of you try to pick her up! I don't care who gets aggro!"
They only had five DPS left, but taking off that final one percent was still possible.
40%!
Onyxia landed!
"EVERYONE WHO CAN DROP AGGRO, DO IT NOW!"
"STOP DPS! LET THE TANKS PICK HER UP!"
Gabryell checked Onyxia's target.
She was looking straight at him.
Instead of immediately using Ice Block, he Blinked toward the twelve o'clock position.
This was a perfect chance to demonstrate the positioning he'd explained earlier.
"See that? The boss is targeting me right now!"
"From now on, whoever she targets needs to run straight to twelve o'clock!"
"Don't let her head face the raid! Bring her over here so the tank can pick her up without getting knocked back and losing aggro again!"
Gabryell kept moving, drawing Onyxia away from the remaining players.
"Carlos! Susie! Grab her! NOW!"
He couldn't hold out much longer.
Gabryell activated Ice Block on the spot.
With everyone else holding their attacks, Onyxia was still focused on him. Without Ice Block, her next breath could have killed him.
Carlos and Susie rushed in, both working to pick up the boss at the twelve o'clock position.
By the time Gabryell's Ice Block was about to expire, Susie had successfully taken aggro.
She hadn't been hit by any Fireballs during Phase 2, so she'd retained more threat than Carlos.
The moment Ice Block ended, Gabryell Blinked away and narrowly escaped death.
"Healers, keep Susie alive!"
"Carlos, move to the side and start DPSing. Everyone on the right, cut across under the dragon's belly and regroup on the left!"
Since they hadn't wiped yet, they might as well keep going.
Every extra second would give the survivors more time to see how Phase 3 worked.
Unfortunately, only four healers remained.
And all four were practically out of mana.
Susie's health bar was plunging toward zero, recovering slightly, then dropping again.
Over and over.
"I'M POPPING SHIELD WALL AND LAST STAND!"
Susie couldn't take the punishment any longer.
She activated both defensive cooldowns.
But even that wasn't enough.
The healers were completely drained.
It didn't matter how much damage Susie reduced if nobody had enough mana left to keep her alive.
Then Onyxia unleashed Bellowing Roar.
The two surviving Dwarf Priests and both tanks were protected, but everyone else was caught by the Fear.
"EVERYONE, LOOK AT THE FLOOR!"
"SEE THOSE CRACKS? FIRE COMES OUT OF THEM!"
"DON'T STAND THERE! WATCH ME! HUG THE WALL!"
Gabryell had positioned himself right up against the wall.
Even while feared, he couldn't run very far. He stayed clear of the cracks and avoided the flames erupting from the floor.
It was exactly the kind of demonstration he'd wanted them to see.
And at this point, they'd seen enough.
They'd reached Phase 3.
They'd watched a tank pick Onyxia up after she landed.
They'd seen her Fear and the fire erupting from the ground.
For this attempt, that was already an achievement.
Everyone had done what they could.
But with the healers completely out of mana, there was nothing left to save them.
The moment Shield Wall expired, Susie's health vanished.
She dropped dead.
With Susie gone, Onyxia turned toward the healers.
Her massive head swung around.
Another breath of fire tore through the remaining group.
And just like that, everyone was dead.
A complete wipe.
Gabryell wasn't disappointed.
If anything, he felt relieved.
At least they'd made it into Phase 3.
Now everyone had a rough idea of what to expect during the final part of the fight.
"Alright, everyone. Release and run back."
Even with Soulstones available, there was no realistic way to recover the raid from that position.
They'd have to make the corpse run.
"The first step is always the hardest," Gabryell said.
"As long as we can start reaching Phase 3 consistently, we've got a real shot at killing her."
He was confident that a few more attempts would make a difference.
Everyone would gradually become more familiar with Onyxia's mechanics.
They'd learn when and where to dodge Deep Breath.
More players would survive Phase 2.
And eventually, they'd enter Phase 3 with enough people alive to finish the fight.
Once they reached that point, bringing down the Black Dragon Princess would only be a matter of time.