Beastmaster Durzag/Strategies

Beastmaster Durzag is one of the two Raids bosses that can be fought on Mazcab. He must be fought in a 10-man team and the team must be organized through the grouping system, or they will not be allowed in.

Notes/Tips

 * Durzag is affected by Blood Necklace, deflection prayers, weapon poison and Dreadnips.
 * Always prioritize the Chargers and Airuts before main opponents. The Chargers do increased damage to their target over time. In addition, the Airuts in the arena are stronger than the ones found elsewhere, and their rapid pummels can easily kill an unsuspecting player.
 * Durzag's "pets", Tuz and Krar, should be focused before Durzag, and the first pet should be brought to 200K, 2nd pet should be brought to 100K. However, they must be left alive until Durzag reaches 750k health or he will receive a massive damage buff. The 200K/100K health provides a buffer so pet tanks can continue tanking/stalling the pets and damaging them to build adrenaline without killing them. At 750k health, Durzag becomes immune to direct damage until Tuz and Krar are finished off.
 * Enslaved Goebies will assist you throughout the pre-phase fight, however they are quite weak and are more of a distraction for the pre-phase units.

Roles

 * Two main tanks (two or three backup) - These maintain Durzag's focus in a corner far from the pets. The Tanks will use Provoke to draw Durzag's aggression off one tank whilst using Resonance, Devotion, and Barricade, among other defensive abilities while using Freedom to keep rage down.
 * Solo tanking Durzag with the walking method is no longer possible as with the October 19th patch notes, Durzag will now trample anyone who stands too close to him. Solo tanking is difficult but possible with a signficant amount of dreadnips used on the team after 750k health.
 * Two pet tanks - One tank per pet, with one also tanking Cormes. These must repeatedly voke the pets away from other players and Durzag, keeping their attention in a corner far from the boss. To note, Cormes uses range and is weak to melee, Tuz uses mage and is weak to range, and Krar uses range and is weak to mage. The order the last two pets spawn is random.

Horde Phase
To begin the fight, talk to the trapped goebie in the middle of the arena. Once you free him, he will run off to find his friends and they will all come out in panic. A bar above will tell the team to kill 39 Tuska-related units, which are enhanced Airuts (same stats as a normal Airut but hits much harder) and Chargers will appear from the gongs that the goebies came out of.

Halfway through the bar (~21 units remaining), Cormes will appear, always from the western gong, and should be tanked by a player standing in the northwest or southwest corner. All other players should stand so Cormes is not facing them; all pets will launch attacks at every player they can see. When more airuts spawn, DPS should prioritize killing them, as they have greater KO potential than Cormes. When Cormes appears, ignore the supporting Chargers that appear and simply kill it. Once all 39 Tuska-related units are killed, Durzag will appear with one of his pets. Kill Cormes when Durzag appears.

Until the main fight starts, it is recommended to pray accordingly to the Airut's attack style, as their enrage ability can deal upwards of 4000+ damage per hit if not reduced by protection prayers. These airuts also do not give any warning when they are about to use their ability, so they should watch their attack animation to tell if they are using it or not. If a teammate is being attacked by two airuts, immediately provoke one of them off, as tanking a melee and ranged airut simultaneously is almost certain death.

After Boss Spawn
Durzag himself has 1,500,000 lifepoints and his two remaining pets have 700,000 lifepoints each. When Durzag and one pet appear in the northeastern corner, the arena will be lined up with 20 cages containing Chargers. Chargers can be released and attacked to kill them; it is highly advised to do this because failing to do so when Durzag hits the gong will result in them all appearing at once and swarming the players for stacked melee damage. The DPS should focus on opening the cages and killing the Chargers to prevent them from dealing stacked melee damage upon being released.

Both Krar and Tuz have similar attack mechanics to Dagannoth Supreme, so the pet tanks should have them facing away from the DPS group, as they can hit very high even without biting them. Occasionally, they will lose interest in the pet tank and will barge towards other players, so Provoke is required to regain their attention. Players in the way of their barges will be stunned, but will not take any damage. The pets are not immune to stuns, so stunning them will stop them from attacking immediately after barging. Make sure the pet tank is at a fair distance from them, so they will barge at the pet tank and get further away from Durzag, reducing his accuracy.

Durzag's attacks include the following:

Beast punch and Spine fling: Durzag punches his main target and throws spines at a few random targets in the same attack.

Beast Pound: Durzag pounds his main target for heavy aoe damage, this gets more frequent after both pets are dead.

Trample: Anyone who stands too close or stands under Durzag for too long will be hit for massive damage.

The base tank will take Durzag's aggression and lead him to a corner away from the pets. From time to time the other tanks will need to draw Durzag's aggression away using Provoke to keep the main tank from taking heavy damage. Freedom is an absolute necessity as he has enrage mechanics that reset defensive abilities and deals increasingly punishing damage towards his target. Using Freedom will remove one level of rage, thus with experience, the tank will be able to keep Duzag's rage to a minimum. Main tanks should watch out for bites as it means all sources of damage from Durzag (excluding bombs), the two pets and Chargers will increase until their effects pass off.

Once both Krar and Tuz are reduced to around 150,000 lifepoints, the DPS will focus their attention on Durzag, watching out for any frenzies, bombs or charger cages that he throws since the Chargers will deal increasing damage as long as they stay alive. Once Durzag reaches 750,000 lifepoints, kill off Krar and Tuz.

Enrage Phase
At 750,000 lifepoints, Durzag becomes invulnerable to standard damage, so Tuz and Krar must be killed to remove his invulnerability. Killing one of them will cause Durzag's damage to increase and make him use new/enhanced abilities:


 * Bomb throw: Durzag does throw rocket bombs prior to the minions' deaths, however he only throws them one at a time. Once one of them are killed, he starts throwing more bombs, one for every player on the field. The bombs will attempt to follow someone (it does not have to be the nearest person) before exploding, dealing 2000 magic damage in a 4x4 radius (including nearby Chargers) and resetting defensive abilities. It is essential to defuse bombs targeting the main tanks.
 * Frenzy: Durzag starts flailing his arms, similar to the enraged attack from Airuts, dragging players that haven't enraged him, dealing very heavy melee damage on them. Durzag seems to stop using this ability after both pets are killed. If Durzag drags you towards him, immediately pray melee and either surge/escape/run away or use Devotion. You may wish to keep Deflect Melee and one of these abilities in your bar for this purpose. Anticipation blocks the drag, but this attack seems to have unpredictable timing.
 * Cage throw: Like his bomb throw, Durzag throws cages prior to the minions' deaths. He either throws 4-6 cages containing Chargers, or 1-2 cages at select players which will stun them. These cages will open after 15 seconds if not opened early by a player. You may wish to open the charger cages and kill the chargers individually, however most teams choose to ignore chargers when Durzag is below 750,000 health. Opening a cage thrown at a player will free them.

Like other ability-using bosses, these abilities are only used while Durzag is attacking his target; stuns from Dreadnips and walking will reduce the amount of charger cages, frenzies and bomb throws for the fight.

Durzag as well as Yakamaru have enraging mechanics, where damage against you increases over time. Durzag will warn you about increased enrage two times, saying "The beastmaster focuses his rage at you!" and '"The beastmaster is furious with you!" By applying Freedom after each warning, you can decrease the rage state by one level. When the message "The beastmaster has forgotten his rage on you." appears, Durzag's enraging mechanic on that player is reset. Like Yakamaru, these enrage mechanics will send the player's defensive abilities on cooldown and cancel their effects, so it should be used appropriately.

Rotating tanks is highly useful during the remainder of the fight; a common and effective tactic is to use Devotion to block his punches, then Barricade to block all of his attacks for 20 seconds worth of invulnerability. After the tank's barricade ends, another tank will use the same method until their barricade expires. At least four rotating tanks are needed for this (three works, but DPS will need to volunteer for this). Call out when your barricade is almost expired and have someone else provoke him. While on this phase, rotating tanks should be at a distance from Durzag, his melee attack range increases to 2 spaces from him and deals heavy damage. Walking can be used, but should have at least 2 walkers since Durzag loses interest at his target frequently if this is employed.

Chargers can be dealt with directly by the players or indirectly from Durzag's attacks during the enrage phase; damage must be piled quickly to ensure that the kill will succeed should Durzag kill a player in one hit. Thrown bombs will deal the same amount of damage the player would take to nearby Chargers, while a ground punch by Durzag will deal 4,470 melee damage on them. Devotion is helpful to reduce their attacks while focusing on Durzag.

After the two pets are killed, the whole team should use Protect/Deflect Melee, especially if the team is using the walking method, as Durzag will frequently change targets while being "walked" by the players, and his melee attacks will hit much more harder even without enrage stacked on it, capable of dealing 7,000 damage without any damage reduction per attack. His ranged attacks however, do not seem to increase and stays the same throughout the whole fight, which can be easily recovered through Soul Split (be careful if using it) or from healing items.

The Sign of death does work against Durzag, and can be used as a last ditch option if there are few players left and Durzag himself has low health.

Notes About Pets

 * Cormes: This monster will always appear from the western gate and has 500,000 lifepoints during the pre-fight phase. Killing it does not cause Durzag to use any abilities, but doing so before he spawns will give him a slight buff.
 * Cormes ranged attack has the ability to make the player's legs numb, making it harder to move by reducing run energy by 5% per attack.
 * Cormes mage attack can burn the player's wounds, causing Combust on them. Freedom cures this bleed as normal.
 * Cormes can Barge towards a target, stunning them and any player in their path for a few seconds. Always used when target is at least 7+ spaces away from it.
 * Tuz: This monster may appear with Durzag when he appears via north gate, and has 700,000 lifepoints. Otherwise, it will appear shortly when Durzag calls it.
 * Tuz has the ability to bite the player, causing them to take higher damage for 30 seconds.
 * Tuz can Barge towards a target, stunning them and any player in their path for a few seconds. Always used when target is at least 7+ spaces away from it.
 * Tuz can burn the player's wounds, causing Combust on them. Bleed damage will increase with time, signified by the messages "The beast refuses to stop wounding you deeply!" and then "The beast is tearing you apart!". Freedom reduces the bleed damage, clearing the bleed if the damage is low enough. The player tanking Tuz will have this bleed for most of the fight until Tuz dies and should try to time the use of Resonance when Tuz's basic attacks are about to hit.
 * Krar: This monster may appear with Durzag when he appears via north gate, and has 700,000 lifepoints. Otherwise, it will appear shortly when Durzag calls it.
 * Krar has the ability to bite the player, causing them to take higher damage for 30 seconds.
 * Krar can Barge towards a target, stunning them and any player in their path for a few seconds. Always used when target is at least 7+ spaces away from it.
 * Krar attack has the ability to make the player's legs numb, making it harder to move by reducing run energy by 5% per attack.

The third pet is always spawned by Durzag saying "HEEEEEREEEE BOY!", and a message for whoever he is attacking saying "As Durzag is about to summon his pet, he shatters your defenses.", resetting any active defensive abilities and setting them back on cooldown. The pet that appears will need to be provoked immediately, as it is aggressive and can potentially attack the player while their defensive abilities are on cooldown. If the player tanking Durzag receives a bite during this time, they should immediately call for a provoke.

Feats Challenges
There are 5 special challenges that progress towards "the Daredevil" title. In order to complete the feat, the challenge described must be met AND players must finish the kill.

After the fight
Players can loot Durzag's body or collect from Fetcher outside the instance (Lobby to leave instance). One random entrance in the walls of the arena will take you northeast to the canal access tunnel, leading you to the canals and Yakamaru.