Tempest Keep: The Botanica - Instance Guide

As arguably the easiest of the Tempest Keep instances, The Botanica will likely be your first destination when you decide to begin probing Kael'thas Sunstrider's fortress. Filled with incredible plantlife and the fantastical architecture of all of Tempest Keep, the beautiful halls belie the dangerous blood elves and demons to be found within The Botanica.

Gaining Access to The Botanica

As with all Tempest Keep instances, all members of the group require a flying mount to access The Botanica. It is found off the eastern edge of Netherstorm. Since a flying mount is required, all members of the group must obviously be Level 70. The Botanica can be conquered with relative ease by most any group, but a mage or hunter skilled at trapping can be useful for mitigating a few of the larger pulls of humanoids, or a warlock for a couple large pulls of demons.

Trash in The Botanica

Much of the trash in The Botanica is pretty standard, though there are a few mobs of note, mentioned in order of appearance in the instance: Bloodwarder Menders can be Mind Controlled to give a buff to your spellcasters that provides 295 spell damage for 30 minutes. Bloodwarder Stewards can do a very powerful whirlwind that shoots arcane bolts at a random target; it's probably best to crowd control them until the other mobs in the pull are dead. Sunseeker Botanists can heal, and Sunseeker Chemists throw a fairly powerful potion that creates a damaging poison cloud on the ground that it's best to get out of. Sunseeker Channelers and nearby Nethervine satyrs have a buff when glowing red that can create tough times for your group; wait until they stop glowing to pull them. Sunseeker Gene-Splicers frequently summon Mutate Horrors, making them a primary target. Mutate Fear-Shriekers can, as their name implies, fear, so pull them back away from any possible adds to avoid a bad situation.

Bosses in The Botanica

Commander Sarannis

The first half of the fight is little different than a normal mob, merely tank and spank. At 50% she summons three adds: An elite Bloodwarder Mender as seen earlier in the instance, and three weaker non-elite mobs. Depending on your group, you can either kill the adds while the tank continues on Sarannis, or use fears and other crowd control to keep the adds busy while you finish killing the boss. Either way works, and you shouldn't have much trouble with either method.

High Botanist Freywinn

Considerably more difficult than the first boss, Freywinn takes a bit of strategy. As soon as the fight begins, he starts spawning very weak Seedlings of various colors that do just as various unpleasant things to your group. They never stop while he's in his Night Elf form, so assign one member of the group to kill them as they appear. Eventually he turns into a Tree of Life, becomes immune to all damage, spawns three Frayer Protectors, and channels Tranquility, healing both himself and any Frayer Protectors in his line of sight. As he changes forms, all group members should run behind one of the nearby corners; the Protectors will not be healed by Tranquility, and can be quickly killed. Once all three are dead, Freywinn goes back to his Night Elf form and the cycle starts over. It can be a long fight depending on your group's damage, but as long as everyone is quick to kill the Seedlings and Protectors and get out of line of sight it's not bad at all.

Thorngrin the Tender

Anyone who's done Dire Maul East has a good idea what to expect here. He has two special moves: He'll stand still and Hellfire, doing relatively heavy damage, but it's very easy to get out of. Just be sure that any ranged DPS stops as well, since the tank can't be in gaining aggro. He also sacrifices a random group member -- not the tank, as long as he has aggro -- to his podium on the "stage," where over several seconds they take damage equivalent to a large percentage of their health. As long as the healer throws a few heals to whoever's being sacrificed, and everyone is careful to get out of the Hellfire quickly, it's a fairly simple fight.

Laj

The battle with Laj is more slow than it is difficult. Laj itself periodically changes colors, and the color indicates a high resistance to a particular school of magic, black being Shadow, orange being Fire, blue being Ice, and so on. In addition, Laj will summon one add to each of the smaller podiums in front of the "stage" to shoot ranged thorns at the group. They're weak, but take a few hits to kill. Assign one group member to each podium to kill the add that spawns there, while working in hits on Laj when they can. The tank takes very little damage, so while the fight is long due to high resistances, distracted DPS, and high hit points in general, healing stamina shouldn't be an issue. Just keep wearing him down.

Warp Splinter

The final boss in The Botanica is also the most difficult. The tank should tank Warp Splinter where he starts, but facing towards the back of the room away from the rest of the group, lest he periodically shoot an Arcane Volley at everyone. All ranged should be at max range, for Warp Splinter occasionally does a Warstomp that stuns everyone within a fairly large radius; melee will have to take the stun. Every once in a while Warp Splinter summons six very slow-moving Saplings, which usually immediately target the healer (but can be very easily avoided with fears, traps, or simple kiting). While the saplings themselves aren't very dangerous, after 20 seconds, they despawn and Warp Splinter is healed for a certain amount of health for each of them still alive. You have two options: Ignore the Saplings and continue attacking Warp Splinter, or kill as many as you can to stop him healing so much. The former is probably easier if your group's DPS is high enough, or if you have a Rogue using Wound Poison or a Warrior with Mortal Strike to reduce the amount he heals by 50%. If the DPS or your healer can't last long enough using this method, you might have more success killing the trees directly to reduce his healing done. It can be a difficult fight, but nothing too taxing. Once he's down, you officially conquer The Botanica. Congratulations!

There's really nothing to The Botanica, just find a good group, or even a decent group with a good strat and you'll find victory. Good luck in Tempest Keep, The Botanica, or wherever you travels lead you!