ILS ONT DÉTRUIT NAXXRAMAS (Nouveau Record du Monde)

This video discusses a new speedrun record for Naxxramas in World of Warcraft Classic, achieved by the guild "Eternal." The new record stands at 37 minutes and 38 seconds, surpassing the previous record held by "Five Thunder Please" by approximately 15 seconds. This speedrun category is unique as it involves over 40 players and allows only one attempt per week, making each run incredibly high-stakes. The speaker watched explanations from one of the runners, ATD, a Fury Warrior, and aims to break down the strategies for a broader audience. The run was completed on the Classic Anniversary servers, just before the transition to The Burning Crusade Classic. Fury Warriors are highlighted as the most effective class in WoW Classic, dominating the raid composition with about 80% of the group being Fury Warriors. The raid also includes Rogues, Priests (primarily for healing), and a single Druid, likely for buffs like Mark of the Wild and Thorns. A key aspect of these Naxxramas speedruns is meticulous pre-planning and execution. The timer starts as soon as the first damage is dealt or received by a mob or player. Players are fully buffed, often having around 40 buffs active, which is a testament to the extensive preparation involved. The strategies often involve specific players breaking away from the main group to pre-pull mobs, saving precious seconds. For example, a Paladin might use an invisibility potion to pull numerous trash mobs and then use Divine Shield or Divine Protection to survive, allowing the rest of the raid to bypass these trash packs and focus directly on bosses. This type of coordinated sacrifice, where a player might die to save time, is common and calculated, not indicative of failure. The speedrun also incorporates mechanics similar to Mythic Plus dungeons, where a certain percentage of trash mobs must be killed, preventing full skips of non-boss encounters. This necessitates strategic pulling and clearing of specific groups of mobs. For instance, mages might be assigned to pull specific Necropolis Acolytes that are not directly on the path to the next boss, solely to meet the required mob percentage. Micro-optimizations are critical throughout the run. During the Maxxna encounter, players use "snowballs" to quickly cancel knockbacks from the boss's abilities, allowing them to remain in place and maximize DPS. Other examples include Paladin tanks pre-pulling abominations to save time and the extensive use of consumables like Sappers and Holy Water from Stratholme. Every player has a specific assignment for trash packs, ensuring efficient clearing. The run is not always perfect, and there are elements of RNG. Boss abilities can sometimes trigger at random intervals, leading to minor setbacks. For example, the raid experienced a death on Gothik during one of their practice runs. Despite these imperfections, "Eternal" managed to secure the world record. ATD emphasized that each Fury Warrior in the group is an excellent individual player, fully aware of their role and assignments. Against bosses like Egan, players use "Lip" potions to prevent teleports, allowing them to stay in melee range and maximize DPS. Bosses are typically defeated within 30 seconds. Looting is entirely skipped, as the sole objective is speed. The Lotheb encounter highlights the strategic use of spores for damage amplification. Players position themselves to detonate these spores, gaining critical strike and damage bonuses to quickly burst down the boss. The sheer amount of DPS from the heavily geared Fury Warriors (many with gear from AQ40 and Naxxramas) means that the game’s original design was not equipped to handle such optimized group compositions. An interesting detail is the use of rare, single-use quest rewards, such as the "Fish Liver Oil" which provides a 10% attack speed boost for 30 seconds with a 30-minute cooldown. Some players saved this item, obtained from a low-level quest, specifically for crucial moments like the Kel'Thuzad fight, demonstrating the extreme lengths of optimization. The run showcases intricate mob positioning and control, especially in areas like the four horsemen wing. Priests play a vital role in manipulating mob patrols. Mobs far from players are rendered almost immobile by a hidden debuff, reducing their movement speed by 99%. Priests use Mind Control on these distant mobs to "charge" them, bringing them to normal speed and allowing them to be positioned perfectly for the raid's arrival, thus preventing delays. This "pixel-perfect" patrol management avoids unwanted pulls and saves time. Even with meticulous planning, unexpected events can occur. During one proximity pull, a Fury Warrior with high threat unexpectedly pulled mobs, leading to a death. This illustrates that even a world-record run can have unscripted moments. The speaker also notes that the Classic Anniversary servers, unlike the 2019 Classic release, do not have a debuff limit (8 or 16 debuffs on a boss), allowing every Fury Warrior's "Deep Wounds" bleeding debuff to apply, significantly increasing overall DPS. This difference means that Classic Anniversary speedrun times are not directly comparable to 2019 Classic times. The Four Horsemen encounter demonstrates synchronized clearing, with two horsemen being killed simultaneously. The strategy involves managing protective walls that appear on certain horsemen, ensuring they fall as other mobs are defeated. The final wing, leading to Patchwerk, Gluth, Thaddius, Sapphiron, and Kel'Thuzad, is considered the hardest. Patchwerk, a massive health sponge, is tackled with a unique strategy: all DPS players stand in the green slime, taking damage to lower their health. This ensures that Patchwerk targets the designated tank (who is typically a full DPS Warrior with three dedicated healers), maximizing the raid's damage output. Fury Warriors continuously use Bloodthirst, their primary DPS ability, which also heals them, allowing them to sustain the low-health strategy. The run concludes with Kel'Thuzad, the final boss. This fight also has RNG elements, particularly regarding the duration of his initial invincible phase and the frequency of his melee-range void zones. Despite the inherent randomness, "Eternal" completed the raid in 37 minutes and 39 seconds (or 38 seconds, depending on the recording), securing the new world record. The speaker expresses admiration for the dedication and strategic depth involved in such a 40-person speedrun, especially given the limitation of one practice attempt per week. He questions if any other video game speedrun involves such a large number of participants and such stringent training conditions. The continuous discovery of new meta changes and optimizations for a 20-year-old game is highlighted as a beautiful aspect of speedrunning. The immense pressure on the players, knowing it was their last chance on the Classic Anniversary servers, adds another layer to their achievement.