The Most Horrific Vision of Stormwind

jjanchan2020-04-03T12:34:54-05:00+47via Wowhead

For those gunning for The Most Horrific Vision of Stormwind, I have listed some tips below specifically with regard to the Stormwind Horrific Vision. In conjunction with the guides available (Horrific Vision of Stormwind Strategy and Ability Guide and Horrific Vision Strategies - Extra Zones, Faceless Masks, Consumables, Tips) this will give you a recipe for success.
[h3]Hidden Stormwind Buffs[/h3]
For the first tip, you need to familiarize yourself with all of the "secret" buffs available in Stormwind. They are outlined on the map below.
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[map zone=10488][pin x=54.4 y=58 type=1]Augustus Moulaine (7% Versatility)[/pin][pin x=57 y=49.5 type=2]Angry Bear Rug Spirit (10% Haste)[/pin]
[pin x=60.1 y=37.4 type=3]Minefield Buff (10% Increased Damage Done)[/pin][pin x=61.9 y=76.1 type=5]Neglected Guild Bank (10% Critical Strike)[/pin]
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Buffs:

[npc=157700]: Grants [spell=314203]

[npc=160404] Event: Grants [spell=312355]

Minefield Event: Grants [spell=314165]

[npc=161293]: Grants [spell=314087]

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For TomTom Users:
/way 54.4, 58 Versatility buff /way 57, 49.5 Haste buff /way 60.1, 37.4 Damage buff /way 61.9, 76.1 Crit buff
Below are details on these buffs:

Out of four possible buffs, only two will be available on each run. You can tell if a particular buff is not active if the door to the appropriate building is closed.

For visual learners, this video by Suyocat outlines each buff and where they can be found within the vision.

[spell=314203] (7% Versatility)

[npc=157700] can be found in the building in the southwest part of the cathedral square. It is the building with the mailbox in front. The building is to the left of the cathedral as you face it.

[npc=157700] is fairly straightforward to kill; other than a fear, he doesn't have any concerning abilities to watch for.

[spell=312355] (10% Haste)

This encounter can be found in the northeast section of the cathedral square, to the right of the cathedral as you face it. The building is immediately to the left of the exit leading to the Dwarven District.

This buff takes the longest to get, since you have to fight 3 waves of mobs; walking onto the bear rug spawns [npc=160404]. When killed, 3 [npc=160405] mobs will spawn. After these, roughly 4 total [npc=160416]s and [npc=160420]s will spawn - killing these will grant the buff.

While this make take a little time, it would be worthwhile in most all cases. These mobs don't have all that much health, and getting it at the beginning means 10% extra haste for the whole vision.

Minefield Event (10% Increased Damage Done)

This event is located in the Dwarven District. When you enter the District from the cathedral square, turn left. The first building on the left will be where to look for the open door.

This event involves navigating the path through the mines to the upper level. Once you reach the room on the second floor, step on the green mine to gain the buff.

The mines will do no damage if stepped on, but will teleport you back to the building entrance.

Note that the mines are very sensitive; if you walk too close to one (even if you dont "step" on it) you may trigger it. Give them a wider berth! This will be especially tricky in weeks where [spell=306241] is active.

Once you reach the landing after the first flight of stairs, jump onto the railing to avoid the mines.

[spell=314087] (10% Critical Strike)

[npc=161293], the mob that grants this buff, can be found in the bank in the southwest corner of the Trade District.

[npc=161293] is fairly easy to kill, and doesn't have any concerning abilities.

[h3]Tips and Strategy[/h3]
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Titanic Research Upgrades
In general, the more you have of your Titanic Research Archive, the better. In general, my advice would be to tackle a 5-Mask Vision once you have completely unlocked every talent. Depending on your class and gear level, you can try without all of the talents unlocked, but the absolutely essential talents would probably be [order-advancement=795] (Tier 2) and [order-advancement=792] (Tier 6).
[order-advancement=792]
This is likely the most important Titanic Research Upgrade, and using it optimally is key to succeeding in your Horrific Vision.

[order-advancement=792], when it is not on its internal cooldown, has a high chance to proc after killing any mob (including critters and [npc=158478]s on the ground).

Once procced, this ability will prevent all loss of Sanity for 20 seconds, including the passive Sanity drain from the zone you are in.

After it expires, the internal cooldown is triggered, and it will not trigger again until this 60 second cooldown has passed.

Using a Weak Aura to track this ability is very helpful, as you can trigger it at the best times during your runs (i.e. before engaging an Elite, particularly one that has high sanity drain). See the Weak Aura section below.

In general, I would go out of my way to ensure that the internal cooldown has passed and deliberately proc [order-advancement=792] for the following encounters:

[npc=152939] (Mage Quarter)

[npc=156949] (Old Town)

[npc=158136] (Trade District)

Special Mention: [npc=152809] (Old Town) - Makes this encounter much less punishing

[order-advancement=805]
In order to optimize this Research Upgrade, it is important to manage and monitor your Sanity level.

A Weak Aura to track your Sanity level makes this much easier, as it ensures you don't have to constantly mouseover your Sanity bar. See "Weak Auras" below for details.

As killing an Elite grants 200 Sanity, you want to ensure you are low enough to make maximum benefit of this.

If your Sanity bar is nearly full when you are about to engage an Elite, it may be worthwhile to clear other mobs in the meantime and then come back to the Elite.

Conversely, if you are getting low on Sanity it may make sense to bypass some mobs/non-elites to kill an Elite first before going back to the mobs again.

[npc=158284] is a patrolling Elite that can be a huge boon for a relatively painless extra 200 Sanity as you are moving to or from the Trade District. See the section below for details.

[order-advancement=791]
I won't mention when you should be using your orbs (as in a specific spot in the Vision), because that can change from run to run based on how things go for you. Instead, here are some tips when using this ability.

I would typically plan to drop an orb once I am reaching 100 Sanity or less, assuming you are not just about to kill an Elite with [order-advancement=792] ready to proc.

Remember that with [item=174081] active, an add can randomly spawn and put you in combat, preventing you from using an orb! Plan around this and drop the orb right after killing this mob when possible.

Having a timer weak aura (like the one I have listed below in the "Weak Auras" section) can give you a much better idea how much time you have before you reach 0 Sanity. Be sure to pay attention to it!

Remember that while you are standing in an orb, you are constantly gaining Sanity, healing a large amount, and are subject to NO madnesses (the orb acts like a mini-zone that is outside of the Vision altogether). As such, I tend to drop and orb such that I can stand in it and pull mobs/an Elite and start damaging it while I'm being topped up.

The healing is so strong, that you can pull a fairly large group and not have to worry about damage. If you do this, however, you want to make sure many of these mobs are dead by the time the orb expires.

Be careful about pulling certain mobs/Elites when in an orb, especially if they have abilities that will pull you out of it! One notable example is mobs in the Old Town section that have a grappling hook ability.

Route and Order of Districts

At the very beginning of the Vision, I often run through the cathedral square collecting mobs before going down an tunnel leading out of cathedral square and out of line-of-sight, thus forcing the mobs to group up. At this point it's worthwhile popping minor damage cooldowns to kill the group of mobs. The size of group you want to pull will depend on your class and spec, and any mass crowd control you have available to you.

My biggest piece of advice is to tackle the Mage Quarter first.

This is (in my opinion) the most challenging section of the Vision, and it is likely where you will most want to have your "cheat death" ([order-advancement=795]) available if things get hairy.

I find that it is useful to use Bloodlust/Heroism/Time Warp/Drums of Fury on [npc=152939], very likely one of the nasiest Elites in the Vision, particularly for casters. This ensures that Bloodlust/Heroism/Time Warp/Drums of Fury is up again for [npc=152718] at the end.

After Mage Quarter, I will usually go counterclockwise, clearing Trade District, Old Town, then Dwarven District.

Depending on what secret buffs are active, you may want to try getting both of those before tackling one or both Lost areas.

In general, I use the portals to teleport back to the cathedral square at the end of both Lost Areas (Old Town and Mage Quarter), but in the Corrupted Areas (Trade District and Dwarven District) I will use the side entrances to reach the next area and ignore the portals.

When you have finished a Lost/Corrupted area and are moving to the next, this is often the best time to eat your [item=174351]. You are least likely to be disturbed by random damage while you are eating in the Tainted areas, which is any area outside of a Lost or Corrupted zone.

Buff potions
There are numerous potions scattered around the Horrific Vision, each granting a specific effect (either positive or negative). There are black, green, red, blue and purple potions.

The various effects granted are as follows:

-100 Sanity (reduced based on cloak level)

+100 Sanity

[spell=315817]: Frequently breath fire dealing damage to nearby enemies. On expiration or removal you will catch fire yourself for a short time.

[spell=315845]: Heals 2% of maximum health every 5 seconds. On expiration or removal will slow movement speed for a short time.

[spell=315849]: Take 5% less damage from all sources. On expiration or removal you will Vomit uncontrollably for a short time.

Note that the very first effect is considered the BAD potion, and should be avoided. Notably, at the very beginning of the Vision there is a dead NPC ([npc=162231]) that can pinpoint which coloured potion will be the "bad" one for your vision (it will change randomly for each new run).

After entering the Stormwind Vision, walking straight down the street will lead you to the corpse of [npc=162231] at [51.6, 58.2], an apothecary who made the mistake of drinking the wrong potion. There will be "Morgan's Note" lying in front of his outstretched hand, and next to him will be the potion that is the "bad" potion for that run. From that point on, every potion of that colour that you come across should be avoided!

If you are using the Weak Aura pack I recommended (see the section below), at this point you click the "bad" potion colour and the Weak Aura will tell you what each colour corresponds with! This can be very useful in tracking down the valuable +100 Sanity potions.

The first time you drink one of the buff potions ([spell=315817], [spell=315845], [spell=315849]) you will get a 5-Minute buff. The second time you click a potion of the same colour, it extend the duration by 15-Minutes.

Given this, if you keep clicking potions of the same colour, you can extend the buff indefinitely until the end of your vision.

When a buff expires or is removed (by clicking off the buff) you are CC'ed for a few seconds - you may run around briefly or be stunned. This can be VERY detrimental in a 5-Mask run, so it is very important to keep track of the remaining time on your buff.

If you keep finding the same potion and extending your buff, this could ensure you don't have to deal with the expiration consequences.

Another alternative is to manually right click the buff when it is soon-to-expire to remove it in a safe place, so that the CC can be dealt with while you are not engaged in combat.

In general, for 5-Mask runs, I tend to avoid the 3 temporary buff potions and only click the +100 Sanity potions. While the buffs the others provide can be useful, I feel there is too high a risk of the buffs expiring at inoppurtune times and causing problems.

With regards to the [spell=315817] potion, there are reports that the Fire Breath can randomly break you out of stealth as a Rogue, Druid etc. As such, those classes may want to avoid this buff,

This video by Suyocat gives a good overview of potions in Horrific Visions.

[img src=https://wow.zamimg.com/uploads/screenshots/normal/918752-drums-of-fury.jpg width=500]
Sadly, Morgan Pestle drank the wrong potion and paid the price.
[map zone=10488][pin x=51.6 y=58.2 type=1]Morgan Pestle[/pin]
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Craggle Wobbletop
[npc=158284] is a Neutral (non-Hostile) NPC that patrols around the outer road surrounding the Trade District (which is considered part of the Tainted area). What makes him special is that he is an Elite, and as such will trigger [order-advancement=805] and grant you 200 Sanity on death! This makes him very worthwhile to tackle.
Craggle travels with a group of Toy bots that need to be dealt with. One in particular, [npc=158285] grants Craggle a damage reduction shield, making him incredibly difficult to kill. Craggle, in turn, grants his Toy bots an aura that increases their health by ten times.

To deal with the bots, you have two options:

You can distract Craggle by dropping a [item=44606].

This item can be purchased from Toy vendors in Orgrimmar/Stormwind (with the vendor in Stormwind being the real world [npc=52358]!)

Once the Toy is dropped and Craggle encounters it, he will start a long channeled spell while he looks at it. At this point, you can kite away his Toy adds and kill them outside of his aura.

You can crowd control [npc=158284]. [spell=51514], Polymorph, [spell=20066], [spell=115078] or any other similar long-lasting CC will work. After he is CC'ed, pull his bots away and kill them outside his aura.

Craggle's Aura has a 40 yard range. What I would do is pull his Toy adds away until I saw their health total drop, then kill them there.

Both Craggle and his adds have a very sensitive leashing behaviour. If you pull his adds too far from him, they will reset. Further, after you have killed his bots and are attacking him, pulling him too far from his starting position will reset him!

The bots have about 300-400k health each once outside of [npc=158284]'s aura (In a 5-Mask run).

[npc=158284] himself has no concerning abilities, and as such killing him is very easy. This makes the 200 Sanity quite painless to get!

Weak Auras
With the Weak Auras addon, you can add various tracking options to your interface for Horrific Visions. The Horrific Vision Tracker by Fatpala is what I used, although many more are available on Wago.

This aura pack includes:

A [order-advancement=792] tracker, which tells you when your Gift can proc (the internal cooldown is over), and counts down when you have th Gift buff.

A numerical Sanity counter.

Conversion of Sanity to time left, with automatic adjustment for Tainted/Corrupted/Lost areas.

A Potion tracker, which allows you to see what each potion grants you.

To use it, simply click the colour of the "bad" potion when you see it at the start of the Vision, and the the other colours will immediately adjust to provide the correct information.

To install the Weakaura once you have the addon, follow these steps in-game:

Type /wa to bring up the Weak Aura options

Click "Import" at the bottom of the right panel

Paste the string copied from the link (Horrific Vision Tracker by Fatpala)

Horrific Vision Foods
All of the Horrific Vision foods can be situationally useful, and based on your class, you may find there is one or another than best suits your needs.

The various buff foods available are:

[item=174349]: While well fed, regenerate 2% of your max health per sec while in a Vision of N'Zoth.

This food is my go-to as a DPS class. It allows for larger pulls, and with [item=174082] active (All Sanity damage caused by creatures is increased by 400%) the passive regeneration can be a huge boon.

[item=174352]: While well fed, increase movement speed by 20% while in a Vision of N'Zoth.

Most classes will find this food beneficial, especially given many mechanics that require heavy movement.

Dubious Delight: While well fed, reduce the duration of incoming crowd control effects by 20% while in a Vision of N'Zoth.

While most of the CC in a Vision is avoidable, there can be times when things don't go according to plan, and this food can help a little. In general it is probably the least useful Vision food, but it is also the least expensive to make (as it does not require the new fish, Aberrant Voidfin and Malformed Gnasher)

[item=174348]: While well fed, you assume the form of a K'thir, reducing the range that enemies will attack you while in a Vision of N'Zoth for 10 min.

If you don't play a stealth class, this food will allow you to skip some trash packs you might not otherwise be able to bypass, thus saving you time and effort.

The final new food, [item=174351] is a special food and should be discussed in detail:

This food doesn't grant a food buff, but rather grants 100 Sanity if you spend 11 seconds eating it.

Because of this effect, you can eat [item=174351] while you have another buff food active - it will not cancel or negate any other food buff.

There is a 3 minute cooldown that is triggered whenever you start eating. Whether or not you eat for the full 11 seconds and get the 100 Sanity, the cooldown will still have been activated.
For this reason, it is essential that you avoid any interruption that would prevent you 11 seconds of undisturbed eating. This could include:

Not moving far enough from a pool dropped by [item=174083] before sitting.

Being at less than 50% Sanity and spawning a mob from [item=174081] that interrupts you. These spawn roughly every 1 minute, so plan accordingly.

Having a zone from [spell=306531] spawn under you, fearing you (Lost Area Madness).

Having a mob from [spell=306954] spawn near you and stun you (Corrupted Area Madness).

Reaching 5 stacks with [spell=311389], causing you to run uncontrollably (Corrupted Area Madness).

To mitigate the above issues, it is highly advised that you eat your [item=174351] in a Tainted Zone (while moving from between Lost/Corrupted Areas) as none of the madnesses will interrupt you.

Barring that, you can start eating right after one of the madnesses listed above procs, ensuring you are undisturbed for the following 11 seconds.

MAKE SURE you actually gain the 100 Sanity before getting up to move. If you watch your eating timer, that can be misleading, as it seems to be in the 11th second of eating that you gain Sanity.

The +100 Sanity is a one-time effect for each [item=174351] you eat; you do not get an extra 100 Sanity for eating for 20 seconds, so there is no need to wait for that.

Miscellaneous Tips

Don't forget to stock potions ([item=168498], [item=168489] etc.) or even lesser versions (Battle Potion of Strength, Battle Potion of Intellect), as they can provide significant DPS boosts for large pulls and Elites.

Flasks are also very helpful, whether the best available (Greater Flask of the Currents, Greater Flask of the Undertow, etc.) or slightly older versions (Flask of Endless Fathoms, Flask of the Currents, etc.)

Abyssal Healing Potions can be a literal lifesaver when you are low on health! Remember that if you are a Warlock (or have a kind Warlock friend) [item=5512] does not share a cooldown with these and other health potions!

It's worthwhile to have Draenic Living Action Potion for a trinket-like ability to break CC's of things get hairy. There are times you might get stunning in some really bad situations, so having these on hand can be critical. Keep in mind that these share a cooldown with combat potions.

If at all possible, use your Sanity Restoration orbs when you are running low on sanity and still have some trash to kill. When you use it right before an Elite/Mini-boss, the +200 Sanity provided by [order-advancement=805] is typically not going to be fully credited as you will be close to max anyway.

To save time, it may be worthwhile to skip chests that are out of the way to ensure you complete the objectives. Further to this, skipping mailboxes (if you don't yet have [item=174653]) is STRONGLY recommended, as it will often waste precious time.

If you want to practice your route, as well as making sure to check for the "bad" potion, hidden buffs, etc. it may be worthwhile doing a few back to back runs, starting with 1-3 masks and adding a mask each run. If you have the vessels to do this, it can help quite a bit (and give you a piece of Corrupted gear each time).

Remember that if you're struggling with a lower rank cloak, it may be worthwhile to wait a week or two. Each progressive rank of the cloak makes this easier, and at level 15 you have a high chance of success if you are careful and follow the above tips.

As mentioned earlier, I like to use Bloodlust/Heroism/Time Warp/Drums of Fury on [npc=152939] at the beginning of the run, and again on [npc=152718] at the very end.

If you aren't a class that has one of these spells, you should pick up Drums of Fury or Drums of the Mountain on the Auction House (whichever happens to be cheaper on your server).

An honorable mention in Stormwind would be [npc=158157] as a mini-boss to use your haste cooldown on. I prefer not to, because he periodically stealths during the encounter and you stand around waiting for him to appear. Nonetheless, some might find him to be more difficult than [npc=152718] or [npc=152939].

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[h3][toggler id=3 hidden]Section Specific Advice[/toggler][/h3]
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The Most Horrific Vision of Stormwind

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