The wrath of the Leach King is only a week away (I'm very exited).  Meanwhile, since all the raid bosses got really nerfed in the patch 3.02 my guild has been running ZA in the way we've ran Kara before - like all the time :D.  I've so far completed ZA 3 times.  Here are some tips I can give to others in regards to things I've learned.  Most of these things are beyond the basic strategy, and will be more specific to warlocks and perhaps other spell ranged DPS:

• Soulstone the healer/rezzer.  Now that druids can ressurect SS one since he/she can battle res someone else.  Keep the SS up.  It's a simple advice, but easily overlooked especially when you're running the timed event.


• Get the Deadly Boss Mods or some other raid boss add on.  The eagle boss' (Akil'zon) storm is harder to spot now, so if you have DBM you're less likely wipe.


• I still find Imp the best bet to run with as Affliction Lock.  Extra Stamina is always welcome.


• On the dragonhawk boss (Jan'alai) - whatch the bombs.  The main thing is to survive this fight.  Drain life him when he hits you with his fire breath.  Obviously if he hits you with the fire breath run out, don't just stand there and take it.  Healers will be busy keeping tanks up or drain life him when you can, and death coil for the extra life.  When you AOE the hatchlings wait till the tank has some agro.  Although the hatchlings got really nerfed and now go down with a couple of SoC. ( that is realy good, cause i use to die alot by pulling agro when I AOE the hatchlings)


• Once again on the dragonhawk boss, whatch the bombs.  Stop DPS for a sec and focus on avoiding them.  You can't do any dps if you're dead.


• On the Lynx boss( Hallazi) , make sure you've got a macro to target the totem( will post macro when I get home).  Taking out the totem has got to be your #1 priority, since it will wipe everyone if it's not down.  Keep hitting the macro to target the totem, if totem not on, it will keep targeting the boss.


• Hex Lord is probably the toughest fight.  If there is an elemental keep it banished either until people are ready for it or until Hex Lord is down, it's up to your group as far as the preference.  Also put up the curse of elements first on the elemental and then banish.  That way it's less likely to resist.  If you can also though a curse of elements on anything that is getting sheeped, mage will love you for it.


• The new wow interface allows you to have a visual for your focus target.  This is great, as before you could not.  I prefer x-pearl since I can make the debuffs look big and with seconds countdown.  You don't need a complex focus banish macro as long as you put the elemental on focus before fight starts and click on your focus frame when you're ready to re-banish.


• If you have a priest in the group ask for shadow protection, it will help!  If you got a pally, ask for the concentration aura.  And remember to use you're shadow ward.  It's a huge help during the spirit bolts.  It will finish it's cool down before every spirit bolts attach ( which i think is every 45 sec), so you will help your healers a lot if you pop it every time spirit bolts begin to rain on you.


• If possible, place a couple of dots on the hex lord to take down some of his health while you're still dealing with adds.  I would not recomend the CoD since it may pull aggro.


• Zul'Jin is not a dificult fight, and the main thing to remember as a Lock especially if you're affliction is don't use you're instant cast spells during the eagle phase.  During the eagle phase you get hit 1000 damage everytime you cast a spell, so if you cast 5 or 6 DoTs you're gonna die very quickly especially if the AOE hits you ar the same time.  Use you're long casting spells, shadow bolts, haunt, and even ( oh my god!) soul fire.  I think this was the first time in the game where I actually used soul fire.


• The big casting spell goes for all the other casters.  Druid cast moonfire, Mages cast firebolts or even preblast.  Go with the longer casting spells with highest coeficients.

So there you go.  Some of my personal tips for your ZA runs. Have fun, and hope you get the drop you want.