Today, I present to you, a guide for taking out Flame Leviathan with 3 or 4 people. 3 is fairly easy. 4 is cake. If you do the trash without losing any vehicles, and you one-shot FL, this can be done in about 30-45 minutes.
Why:
Split about 175g
2 item level 219 pieces of gear or Abyss crystals
Assorted bars and eternals (I've seen the stuff below)
- 20x Saronite
- Titansteel bar
- 5-8 eternals
- 15-20 Volatile Blasting Trigger
What you need:
2 geared people
1 or 2 filler people
What you really want to bring:
Enchanter (to DE epics)
Engineer (to de-engineer)
Clearing Trash:
The easiest thing to do here is have the two geared people drive Demolishers and the other people in choppers. Have the choppers drive around with speed boost and round up just about everything they can get before getting to the giant spider-like robots. Demolishers should just use the #1 attack until a Colossus gets into range. Then, switch to the #2 attack (pyrite). Try to pull the spider bots individually, and take them out fast with #2. When the flying mobs spawn, switch to the passenger seat and use the anti-air cannon (#2) to get them down fast. Repeat until you get to the last 2 Colossi.
Preparing for the pull:
Before you pull the last two Colossi, you should have the extra people get into the passenger seat of the Demolisher. Have one Demolisher in the left corner and one in the right corner. Have the passengers shooting down pyrite (and refreshing your energy) as you take out the colossus.
Taking him out:
Once FL comes out, just spam #2. Make sure you keep it stacked to 10. Passengers will need to chain in more pyrite in order for you to keep the debuff up. He will start to pursue one of the Demolishers. Back up as far as you can into the corner . Do not try to get away, just keep unloading the pyrite.
Driving a Demolisher alone:
If you are 3manning this, you will have 1 demolisher that has no passenger. If you run out of pyrite, switch to the passenger seat to chain some more in. Do this as soon as your last pyrite is fired and only grab in one new pyrite. Doing so will give you time to get back into the driver seat and fire off more pyrite before the 10-stack wears off. One caveat is that the Demolisher has very little HP with no one in the drivers seat, so don't attempt this if he is actively hitting you.
Some tricks/tips:
If you wipe, you'll have the full set of vehicles very close for the next attempt. Drive all the vehicles just inside the perimeter.
Doing the above will give you somewhere to go if FL destroys your ride.
Paladins can Divine Shield to give them time to get to another vehicle
Priests can shield, PoM, Renew, and Holy Nova (I think dispersion works also).
Warriors can Shield Wall (if you remember to put a shield on and get in Defensive Stance).
So there you have it. If it's the weekly raid quest, you don't have to find much of a group anymore. Any way you look at it, it's quite a bit if extra cash or mats for not a whole lot of effort, but a whole lot of fun.
If you have any questions or additional tips, please leave them in the comments.
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Saturday, March 27, 2010
New Tricks for the Old Guild
Last night, my little guild cleared the first wing of ICC in 2.5 hours. This might not sound like too much of a feat, but let me explain.
This was the first time Knights of the Serpent has fielded a full 10-main raid since the early days of Naxx. This was the first time six of the ten had even attempted Marrowgar. We were two healing it. We had a couple undergeared dps.
The end result was no more than 3 attempts on any fight (2 on Marrowgar, 2 on Deathwhisper, 2 on Gunship, and 3 on Saurfang).
I was so proud, happy, and excited of/for our two healers. I was very doubtful that they'd be able to pull it off because I had seen the difficulties 2 healers have on the first two fights. They both stepped up to the plate to show me that they are epic healers.
My bear offtank did a supurb job with his assignments. He was quick to pick up any stray mobs. Best of all, he was perfect on taunts for Saurfang. I was doing quite poorly on my taunts and it led to a wipe once.
The DPS consistently performed excellently. I was surprised that our undergeared DPS contributed so greatly.
This guild used to be one of the top 25-man guilds in BC. Our goal for LK was to be one of the top 10man guilds on the server. We may be getting a late start, but I'd say we're on our way.
Congrats to everyone on the loot you received. Thank you for making your old raid/guild leader proud.
This was the first time Knights of the Serpent has fielded a full 10-main raid since the early days of Naxx. This was the first time six of the ten had even attempted Marrowgar. We were two healing it. We had a couple undergeared dps.
The end result was no more than 3 attempts on any fight (2 on Marrowgar, 2 on Deathwhisper, 2 on Gunship, and 3 on Saurfang).
I was so proud, happy, and excited of/for our two healers. I was very doubtful that they'd be able to pull it off because I had seen the difficulties 2 healers have on the first two fights. They both stepped up to the plate to show me that they are epic healers.
My bear offtank did a supurb job with his assignments. He was quick to pick up any stray mobs. Best of all, he was perfect on taunts for Saurfang. I was doing quite poorly on my taunts and it led to a wipe once.
The DPS consistently performed excellently. I was surprised that our undergeared DPS contributed so greatly.
This guild used to be one of the top 25-man guilds in BC. Our goal for LK was to be one of the top 10man guilds on the server. We may be getting a late start, but I'd say we're on our way.
Congrats to everyone on the loot you received. Thank you for making your old raid/guild leader proud.
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
Old notes: Fixing Block
Back in July of last year, I spent a lot of time researching how I felt block should be fixed to make it useful and not overpowered. I never got around to actually writing the article, but I thought my notes might be of some interest to someone. I basically came up with a way to fix block, then used CharDev to test out what the results would look like in BiS gear.
Fixing Block:
Warriors and Paladins need 40-50% block rating and 10-15% dodge and 10-15% parry
Blocking needs to block a percentage of incoming damage.
- Same level has 50-75% damage reduction (50 is base, with SBV max contribution 25%)
- +5% for each level below
- -5% for each level above (60% vs raid bosses)
- SBV contribution scaling ends at 3000 SBV
BiS DK (25-man buffed) avoidance gear:
2 piece T8 (shoulders/chest)
26000 Armor (?)
47000 HP
31% dodge
20% parry
BiS Warrior (25-man buffed) block gear:
32000 armor
39000 hp
24% dodge
17% parry
52% block (2156, 18% DR)
Essentially, the DK was my control. Mostly wearing avoidance gear, but gemmed for stamina. The DK had 51% avoidance from dodge and parry (before diminishing returns). The Warrior has 41% with 52% block (geared exclusively for block rating). Against raid bosses, the warrior would be mitigating about 53% of the damage. The Warrior has much less health, so the extra mitigation did not seem to be that imbalanced.
I lot has changed in the game since then (DK health nerf, Warrior health buff). So, this is really more of record of my thoughts back then.
Fixing Block:
Warriors and Paladins need 40-50% block rating and 10-15% dodge and 10-15% parry
Blocking needs to block a percentage of incoming damage.
- Same level has 50-75% damage reduction (50 is base, with SBV max contribution 25%)
- +5% for each level below
- -5% for each level above (60% vs raid bosses)
- SBV contribution scaling ends at 3000 SBV
BiS DK (25-man buffed) avoidance gear:
2 piece T8 (shoulders/chest)
26000 Armor (?)
47000 HP
31% dodge
20% parry
BiS Warrior (25-man buffed) block gear:
32000 armor
39000 hp
24% dodge
17% parry
52% block (2156, 18% DR)
Essentially, the DK was my control. Mostly wearing avoidance gear, but gemmed for stamina. The DK had 51% avoidance from dodge and parry (before diminishing returns). The Warrior has 41% with 52% block (geared exclusively for block rating). Against raid bosses, the warrior would be mitigating about 53% of the damage. The Warrior has much less health, so the extra mitigation did not seem to be that imbalanced.
I lot has changed in the game since then (DK health nerf, Warrior health buff). So, this is really more of record of my thoughts back then.
Friday, March 19, 2010
ICC First Wing Tips
Here are a few things I've learned about the first wing in ICC (I don't even know what the damn name of it is!). These are coming from an entry-level perspective and not a "farming it" perspective.
Marrowgar:
- Establish a movement guide for Coldflame. Most tanks move right on the first Coldflame, then left. Repeat as they diminish. It doesn't matter which way you move as long as you both go the same way.
- Stack all dps on top of each other inside Marrowgar's hitbox. They won't be hit by Coldflame and won't have to move for Bone Spikes (unless there are hunters in the group).
Deathwhisper:
- Stand in between two of the alcoves and Thunder Clap. Then target the 3rd add and Charge or Heroic Throw. (Not so much of an issue in 10-man as 25).
Gunship:
- Don't worry too much about killing the adds on your ship. Once DPS comes back from enemy ship, have them DPS adds to about 10-15%. Wait for the next portal, then kill them off (then you can be bored until the next one).
- When returning from the enemy ship, just walk off the edge. You'll be instantly teleported to the center of your ship.
- If you are boarding the enemy ship, stay near the edge. Healers will be able to reach you and they won't have to get directly into harm's way.
Saurfang:
- When a Blood Beast gets halfway between you and the DPS, give it a taunt (as long as you don't need to taunt Saurfang soon). This will give your DPS some more time to take it out.
- Save Shockwave for the Blood Beast spawn. Again, gives DPS more time to kill it.
- For Resto Shaman, Frost Shock the Blood Beasts if they are getting too close to DPS. Immediately follow up with Wind Shear to be sure you don't end up with aggro. *
If you have some other tips for those entering ICC, leave them in the tips.
* You should be able to use this macro because Wind Shear is off the GCD:
/tar Blood Beast
/cast [exists, nodead] Frost Shock
/cast [exists, nodead] Wind Shear
/targetlasttarget
Marrowgar:
- Establish a movement guide for Coldflame. Most tanks move right on the first Coldflame, then left. Repeat as they diminish. It doesn't matter which way you move as long as you both go the same way.
- Stack all dps on top of each other inside Marrowgar's hitbox. They won't be hit by Coldflame and won't have to move for Bone Spikes (unless there are hunters in the group).
Deathwhisper:
- Stand in between two of the alcoves and Thunder Clap. Then target the 3rd add and Charge or Heroic Throw. (Not so much of an issue in 10-man as 25).
Gunship:
- Don't worry too much about killing the adds on your ship. Once DPS comes back from enemy ship, have them DPS adds to about 10-15%. Wait for the next portal, then kill them off (then you can be bored until the next one).
- When returning from the enemy ship, just walk off the edge. You'll be instantly teleported to the center of your ship.
- If you are boarding the enemy ship, stay near the edge. Healers will be able to reach you and they won't have to get directly into harm's way.
Saurfang:
- When a Blood Beast gets halfway between you and the DPS, give it a taunt (as long as you don't need to taunt Saurfang soon). This will give your DPS some more time to take it out.
- Save Shockwave for the Blood Beast spawn. Again, gives DPS more time to kill it.
- For Resto Shaman, Frost Shock the Blood Beasts if they are getting too close to DPS. Immediately follow up with Wind Shear to be sure you don't end up with aggro. *
If you have some other tips for those entering ICC, leave them in the tips.
* You should be able to use this macro because Wind Shear is off the GCD:
/tar Blood Beast
/cast [exists, nodead] Frost Shock
/cast [exists, nodead] Wind Shear
/targetlasttarget
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
AoE Tanking
Without further adieu, my long overdue post on AoE Tanking... for Warriors.
AoE Tanking is about 3 things:
- Group control
- Damage mitigation
- Threat output
The important thing about AoE pulls is making sure that all the mobs are actually IN the AoE. While this seems like an obvious thing to point out, it's surprising to see how often mobs are left out. If you have casters in the group, pull around a corner or charge in (if it's safe to do so). Either approach will bring the group into a small enough circle for your DPS to throw down their AoE.
Positioning yourself within the group of mobs is a very important aspect of AoE tanking especially if there are hard-hitting melee mobs. You need to be sure you are turned in a way that you are able to block attacks (you'll see why soon).
The greatest mitigation tool you have against melee is the armor, but block sure is nice. You'll want to stack a certain amount of block rating and block value for AoE pulls. Most melee doesn't do enough damage to overrun your block value, so it is essentially the same as avoidance, but with 1 huge benefit. Damage Shield. 20% of your SBV automatically to the mob. This doesn't cost rage or a global cooldown and occurs every time you block. Aside from Thunder Clap and Shockwave, this is your only effective AoE threat generator.
Warriors are actually pretty solid when it comes to taking spell damage despite our low health pools. With talents, we can ignore 16% of incoming spell damage. Spell Reflection also lends a hand every 10 seconds for both damage mitigation and threat.
As mentioned above, Damage Shield really is a great threat generator against melee, but useless against casters. Warriors are slightly inferior when it comes to AoE tanking casters (Druids have a no cooldown AoE while Paladins and DKs have an AoEoT (AoE over time)). Shockwave and Thunderclap are on 20 and 8 second CDs, respectively. If we've blown those cooldowns and are still seeing "Losing Threat" we don't have a lot of tools to ensure continued aggro on multiple mobs.
A small amount of threat (around 70) can be generated by applying Battle Shout or Commanding Shout. Reapplying does not generate additional threat, but switching between shouts does. Also, if you have yet to use Demoralizing Shout, that does a small amount as well (around 40).
Some additional tips and tactics:
- Use Thunder Clap before Shockwave because the damage from TC can break the stun. A mob doing no damage is much less of a threat.
- Make sure Vigilance is applied to your best AoE. Alternatively, you can put it on your other tank to give your self a no-cooldown Taunt (especially good for Gothik in Naxx25).
- Rogues and Hunters are your friends. If their MD/ToT is on cooldown, wait a few seconds to pull caster groups.
- Grand Widow Faerlina's disciples that cast the shadowbolts do a funny thing when first pulled. They cast at EXACTLY the same time. This means, you need to save enough rage for those groups to run in and pop Spell Reflect. Once you see most of the group casting put it up, you'll see a whole lot of "Reflect" pop up. It's especially great because they don't even have to be targeting you (assuming you're adequately talented).
If you have tips and tricks that you use, let it be known in the comments.
AoE Tanking is about 3 things:
- Group control
- Damage mitigation
- Threat output
The important thing about AoE pulls is making sure that all the mobs are actually IN the AoE. While this seems like an obvious thing to point out, it's surprising to see how often mobs are left out. If you have casters in the group, pull around a corner or charge in (if it's safe to do so). Either approach will bring the group into a small enough circle for your DPS to throw down their AoE.
Positioning yourself within the group of mobs is a very important aspect of AoE tanking especially if there are hard-hitting melee mobs. You need to be sure you are turned in a way that you are able to block attacks (you'll see why soon).
The greatest mitigation tool you have against melee is the armor, but block sure is nice. You'll want to stack a certain amount of block rating and block value for AoE pulls. Most melee doesn't do enough damage to overrun your block value, so it is essentially the same as avoidance, but with 1 huge benefit. Damage Shield. 20% of your SBV automatically to the mob. This doesn't cost rage or a global cooldown and occurs every time you block. Aside from Thunder Clap and Shockwave, this is your only effective AoE threat generator.
Warriors are actually pretty solid when it comes to taking spell damage despite our low health pools. With talents, we can ignore 16% of incoming spell damage. Spell Reflection also lends a hand every 10 seconds for both damage mitigation and threat.
As mentioned above, Damage Shield really is a great threat generator against melee, but useless against casters. Warriors are slightly inferior when it comes to AoE tanking casters (Druids have a no cooldown AoE while Paladins and DKs have an AoEoT (AoE over time)). Shockwave and Thunderclap are on 20 and 8 second CDs, respectively. If we've blown those cooldowns and are still seeing "Losing Threat" we don't have a lot of tools to ensure continued aggro on multiple mobs.
A small amount of threat (around 70) can be generated by applying Battle Shout or Commanding Shout. Reapplying does not generate additional threat, but switching between shouts does. Also, if you have yet to use Demoralizing Shout, that does a small amount as well (around 40).
Some additional tips and tactics:
- Use Thunder Clap before Shockwave because the damage from TC can break the stun. A mob doing no damage is much less of a threat.
- Make sure Vigilance is applied to your best AoE. Alternatively, you can put it on your other tank to give your self a no-cooldown Taunt (especially good for Gothik in Naxx25).
- Rogues and Hunters are your friends. If their MD/ToT is on cooldown, wait a few seconds to pull caster groups.
- Grand Widow Faerlina's disciples that cast the shadowbolts do a funny thing when first pulled. They cast at EXACTLY the same time. This means, you need to save enough rage for those groups to run in and pop Spell Reflect. Once you see most of the group casting put it up, you'll see a whole lot of "Reflect" pop up. It's especially great because they don't even have to be targeting you (assuming you're adequately talented).
If you have tips and tricks that you use, let it be known in the comments.
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Slammed!
If you've been waiting for a new and insightful post from me, here it is!
Never, EVER use Slam while tanking. You can't dodge, block, or parry while casting. So don't do it.
That's really a joke, I'm sure you all know not to even try that. What I mean by "Slammed!" is that I'm slammed at work, so posting has been hard to do.
I've been trying to sit down and write a post about effective usage of abilities when AoE tanking (along with some sweet trinkets you can use if you have them). I really am excited about this post, so I don't want to rush it. Look for is this weekend!
Never, EVER use Slam while tanking. You can't dodge, block, or parry while casting. So don't do it.
That's really a joke, I'm sure you all know not to even try that. What I mean by "Slammed!" is that I'm slammed at work, so posting has been hard to do.
I've been trying to sit down and write a post about effective usage of abilities when AoE tanking (along with some sweet trinkets you can use if you have them). I really am excited about this post, so I don't want to rush it. Look for is this weekend!
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