All Aboard The Turret Train: A Guide to Grimrail Depot Heroic Mode

Warlords of Draenor has now been out for about a month, and many players find themselves at level 100, taking on dungeons, and in due time, raids. However, rushing face first into a dungeon without knowing the strategies needed to overcome the dungeon’s bosses can be somewhat perilous and may result in multiple deaths without really learning anything. Therefore, this will be the first installment of a series of guides detailing how to overcome these dungeons as easily as possible. Without further ado, let us begin!

Before the first boss, you have to clear out a few packs of mobs. These are relatively easy, as long as you keep an eye out for the pesky Grimrail Technicians. These green guys will periodically run to a nearby iron star and attempt to activate it. Succeeding to do so will result in heavy damage to the party. Luckily, they can easily be stopped by stunning them or otherwise interrupting them while they attempt to activate the metal balls of death.

Boss #1: Railmaster Rocketspark & Borka

Rocketspark and Borka is a 2-unit boss fight which is relatively simple for classes which do not rely on channeling anything. As soon as you engage, Rocketspark, the Goblin foreman, will activate his jetpack and fly to different elevated spaces all over the area where the fight takes place. Therefore, he should be the target of ranged damage dealers, while the melee heroes should focus all of their damage on Borka, the enormous orc. During this, everyone should be mindful of the small red circles on the ground, which indicate where the rockets shot by the foreman will land, and move away from them. This is relatively easy, as the AoE for the rockets is fairly small.

Spellcasters and especially healers need to be aware of Borka’s Slam ability as it will interrupt spellcasting. Make sure you are not casting anything when he uses this. In addition, this deals a reasonable amount of damage to all players, so make sure to heal everyone up after Slam has been used.

Eventually, Rocketspark will wind up an X21-01A Missile Barrage, starting to deal damage to two targets every second for 1 minute. More importantly, he will stay put in one place. Sometime during this, Borka will start channeling a Mad Dash, where he rushes over his target, dealing a fair bit of damage. This, however, is a necessary evil, as the tank MUST position himself in a way which will ensure that Borka runs into where Rocketspark is standing. After Borka runs into Rocketspark, the foreman will be stunned and take twice as much damage while he is stunned. Use this time to get some serious damage done to him. When the stun wears off, repeat the steps detailed above.

When one of Borka & Rocketspark dies, the other will gain extra powers. For instance, should Rocketspark die first, Borka will gain a significant buff to damage and attack speed. Therefore, it is recommended that you kill both characters at roughly the same time. If, for instance, Rocketspark is dying more quickly than Borka, have the ranged shift focus to Borka to make this encounter less of an issue once one of the two characters is killed.

Video courtesy of ZaFrostPet

On the Grimrail

After you defeat Rocketspark & Borka, you will jump onto the train itself. In here, you will have to defeat several minions inside three train carts before you reach the second boss. Important things to note here is that the Grom’kar Cinderseers cast Flame Wreath, which burns the ground. You need to either make sure they go down before they can do this, or that you move out of the literal ring of fire as soon as possible.

In addition, the Grom’kar Gunners periodically channel a powerful Shrapnel Blast which deals a significant amount of stacking damage. However, the gunners are rooted in place while doing this and cannot turn, so as long as the tank faces them away from the rest of the group and moves away from the blast while this is being channeled, you should be fine.

Boss #2: Nitrogg Thundertower

This boss has three phases, with phase two being the most complicated one. During phase one, Nitrogg does not do anything special except throwing Blackrock Mortars and Grenades, which should be avoided. Try not to stack up on each other to make things easy for your healer during this phase. At 60% health, Nitrogg moves to the back of the cart, and more specifically, into his Assault Cannon, starting phase two.

During phase two, reinforcements in form of Grom’kar forces will continually enter the cart. The most important ones here are the Gunners, Boomers and Grenadiers. Upon death, one can loot their corpses, picking up either Mortar Shells from Boomers and, well, Grenades from Grenadiers. When you get a Mortar Shell, jump into a Blackrock Turret and target the Assault Gun and use the Turret’s second ability to deal damage to the Assault Cannon. You can also use the Grenades to deal a significant amount of damage to the troops, easily dispatching them. The Gunners are just like the ones you faced before, so use the same methods as earlier on the train, and you will be fine.

Nitrogg does not sit idly by during phase two. He keeps targeting someone with Suppressive Fire, which deals quite a respectable amount of damage if they are out in the open. Luckily, this can easily be avoided by standing between one of the pillars of the cart. However, do keep in mind that while you are targeted with this, you cannot jump into a turret. Do not make the mistake of going out in the open thinking that the turret will protect you while the Suppressive Fire is targeting you. It will not.

In addition, the Assault Cannon will also use a Slag Blast to cover a section of the cart in fire. This needs to be avoided at all costs, so move from the section when the flames start spreading. After being hit by three Mortar Shells, the Assault Cannon will be destroyed and phase three will begin. This phase is just like the first one, so if your party makes it to phase three unscathed, you should be able to easily dispatch Nitrogg.

This time, Vyyse Mal'Ganis shows us how to take down Nitrogg.

P.S! if you have the daily quest which requires you to take an iron cannon from the Depot to a quest giver in your tavern, this can be found to the right of the Assault Cannon.

Boss #3: Skylord Tovra

Now we come to the final boss of this dungeon, Skylord Tovra. This fight requires situational awareness as well as a great deal of moving around. Other than that, it is a relatively simple fight. Tovra rides in on the scene as you clear out all of the mobs on the final train cart, entering on her Rylakk. However, the fight with Tovra will take place on the ground, or, to be more specific, the train.

The first and foremost thing to watch out for during the fight with Tovra is her Rylakk Rakun, which will periodically fly over the cart, electrifying parts of it in the process. When this happens, move out of the affected areas as soon as possible. In addition, keep a lookout for the Freezing Snare Tovra throws on the ground, as it freezes everyone within 6 yards in place for 6 seconds when activated. Should the Snare be triggered in an electrified area, the results will be devastating. In addition, every time Rakun flies over, a larger portion of the cart will get covered by electricity. This serves, in a way, as a soft enrage timer for the fight.

Another important thing to avoid is Tovra’s Spinning Spear, which is thrown towards a player, penetrating armor and dealing a decent chunk of damage if it connects. Lastly, on heroic mode, Tovra also uses Hunter’s Mark on a player, who she later throws an Explosive Spear at, which deals fire damage to everyone within 8 yards. When this happens, the player targeted needs to move away from the rest of the group.

If you successfully deal with these abilities, Tovra should be easily dealt with, the train will be destroyed, and you will (hopefully) receive plenty of loot for your efforts. Oh, happy days!

Once again, Vyyse Mal'Ganis shows us how it's done, including the awesome cutscene at the end of the dungeon!

I hope you enjoyed this guide. If you have any suggestions on how this could be improved, please let me know in the comments!

Nosgoth beta key: TAXOLA-220-JAVELU-036