Maexxna

Maexxna is a monstrous spider and the last boss of the Spider Wing (the Arachnid Quarter) of Naxxramas. Her web-covered lair is the end of the wing, and her fight is short and brutal. Every 40 seconds she stuns the entire raid in a spray of webs, and the main tank has to survive those eight helpless seconds with whatever healing was cast beforehand.

Background

Maexxna is a huge spider taken long ago from the depths of Northrend's mountains. The Scourge brought her into the necropolis, where she breeds her young and feeds them on anyone foolish enough to enter. Her spiderlings become the countless spiders that Kel'Thuzad uses for his own ends, and her venom supplies the poisons brewed by Grand Widow Faerlina. Unlike most of the bosses in Naxxramas, she was never a person, and the game counts her as a beast rather than undead.

Abilities

• [[forever:spell:28622]]: 20 seconds into the fight, and every 40 seconds after that, she flings three players to the web wall and wraps them in cocoons. Trapped players take nature damage until someone destroys their cocoon from outside.
• [[forever:spell:29484]]: every 40 seconds she sprays the whole raid with webs, stunning everyone for 8 seconds and dealing nature damage. It can't be resisted.
• [[forever:spell:28741]]: a cone of poison in front of her.
• [[forever:spell:28776]]: cuts the healing her target receives by 90% for 30 seconds. It's a poison and can be cured.
• Spiderlings: 30 seconds in, and every 40 seconds after, eight to ten [[forever:npc:17055]] hatch. They attack quickly and have little health.
• Enrage: at 30% health she enrages, attacking faster and hitting much harder.

Strategy

The fight hinges on Web Spray. During the eight seconds that everyone is stunned, no one can heal, so the tank lives or dies on what was cast before it. Just before each spray, druids and priests put every heal over time they have on the tank, Regrowth, Rejuvenation and Renew, and someone removes Necrotic Poison with Abolish Poison, which keeps curing during the stun. Some players used a Flask of Petrification to be immune, or were trapped in a cocoon and so escaped the spray.

The tank turns Maexxna away from the raid so Poison Shock hits only them, and the raid stands behind her near the wall, close enough that players thrown to the web wall stay in range of healers. A few hunters and ranged damage dealers are assigned to break the cocoons as soon as they form.

The spiderlings arrive about ten seconds before each Web Spray. Mages Frost Nova them, a warrior or paladin gathers them, and area spells kill them before the stun. Any left alive will chew through stunned players.

At 30% she enrages, and a Web Spray during the enrage can kill even a well-healed tank. Many raids slowed their damage near 33%, waited for a spray, then used every cooldown to kill her before the next one.

Loot

From our database (patch 1.12):

Maexxna drops the Tier 3 glove tokens (see Tier Sets). The [[forever:item:22954]] is a melee trinket with hit and critical strike chance, which raises attack speed by 20% when used, popular with rogues and hunters. The [[forever:item:22804]] is a dagger with attack power, and the [[forever:item:22807]] a caster sword with 95 spell damage and healing. The [[forever:item:22726]] is a piece of Atiesh.

Quests

• [[forever:quest:9229]]: she has a small chance to drop [[forever:item:22708]], which starts a quest at Light's Hope Chapel.
• Tier 3: her tokens go into quests such as [[forever:quest:9040]] for warriors and [[forever:quest:9100]] for mages.

Sources

• Maexxna (Classic), Warcraft Wiki
• Maexxna, Warcraft Wiki