Weekly raid: Lord Marrowgar must die!

This time Blizzard sends us in to Ice crown citadel to handle Lord Marrowgar, the first boss in ICC.

Lord Marrowgar has 6972500 hp in 10 player normal mode and 23700000 hp in 25 player normal mode.

Lord Marrowgar is a fairly simple encounter that should not give any guild prepared for Icecrown Citadel much difficulty.

Tanking

Tanks need to stand on top of each other to soak Saber Lash. If you are short on tanks and the raid has plate DPS available, one can be put in front of the boss with the tanks to help soak the Saber Lash damage. If said DPSer has a tanking set, equipping a piece or two to increase their HP is an option should they be taking too much damage. Note that the tanks will take substantial damage during the fight - using an off tank of this sort is not advised, as it will make healing even more difficult, although it is better than insufficient tanks.

It is entirely possible to single tank Marrowgar, in 10man, should the tank be sufficiently geared. In 3.3(a) Marrowgar's damage was further reduced, making this an even more viable strategy. Be advised that although this frees up another DPS in your 10man raid, the tank will take heavy damage.

The key to the fight is managing the transitions between the Bone Storms and going back to the Bone Graveyard phase. You have 10 seconds from the end of Bone Storm until Lord Marrowgar starts casting Saber Lash again (until then he simply melees his target) - the tanks need to pick him up and position themselves together in that time. (The 10 second grace period also applies to the beginning of the encounter, counting from when he is first aggroed, giving the tanks time to set themselves up.)

Tanks should avoid sandwiching themselves between Marrowgar and a wall. The trails of fire need a place to land behind the tanks, or they will be cast inside the hit box, affecting the tanks.

DPS

Lord Marrowgar has a gigantic hit box You will want to have a dedicated 'spike team' - chosen dps members who will kill the Bone Spike Graveyard as soon as it impales a player. If you're doing 10-man without a dedicated spike team, the melee need to be grouped near the healers until you out-gear the encounter, or are attempting his heroic mode. Melee can choose to stay close to the boss to avoid the Coldflame, which startsstay out of range of the 8 yd Coldflame and still attack the boss.

Lord Marrowgar description and video.

Picture and information from wowwiki.com, video from tankspot via You tube