Cataclysm tanking cheat sheet part 4

By popular request, here are writeups for Heroic Deadmines and Heroic Shadowfang Keep.

Also, I’ve updated the older posts with information about what’s different in Heroic mode.  At least… I have for the heroics I’ve done.  Stonecore and BRC just won’t pop… why must I keep getting Halls of Origination?

Heroic Deadmines

Glubtok

• Don’t stand in fire or ice patches.
• In phase 2, bad things include a rotating fire wall.
• In phase 2, tank and AOE adds.

Helix Gearbreaker

• Avoid mines. Fuses indicate time-to-detonate.
• Players with the bomb debuff should explode away from the group.
• There’s a brief Helix-only phase after you kill the Oaf.

Foe Reaper 5000

• Assign a melee dps to control the Prototype Reaper.  He should stand on the ground level and kill adds.
• Run away from the boss’s two abilities.
• Tank the boss halfway up the ramp, with your party towards the top.  Party should run up, tank should run down.

Admiral Ripsnarl

• Kill Vapors ASAP.
• Use tanking cooldowns to survive his stacking buff.

Captain Cookie

• Don’t stand in green stuff.
• Eat the good food to get a haste buff, or remove a stack of the bad food debuff.
• Clear bad food by eating equal amounts of good food, or just eat only good food and treat it as a DPS race.
• Your tank can go DPS for this fight.

Vanessa VanCleef

• Gauntlet phase 1 – Click the steam valves.
• Gauntlet phase 2 – Dodge bad things.  This requires jumping off the right side of the ramp at one point.
• Gauntlet phase 3 – Focus fire the boss, ignore the spiders
• Gauntlet phase 4 – Dodge bad things.  There is a safe spot prior to the last two rotating beams if you need to wait for people.
• Gauntlet phase 5 – DPS race, with an emphasis on the race part.
• Vanessa – Kill adds, leave Blood Wizards alive for the rage zones if you want.
• Vanessa – Use the ropes on the side of the ship when they appear.

Heroic Shadowfang Keep

Baron Ashbury

• Interrupt his heal.
• Interrupt Stay of Execution once your healer has things under control.
• Save DPS/survivability cooldowns for his 25% enrage.

Baron Silverlaine

• Kill the adds.
• He has a Mortal Strike debuff.

Commander Springvale

• Tank him opposite where he starts.  Ranged and heals should stand on his ‘stage.’
• Kill both adds every time they spawn, Officer first.  CC the Guardsman if possible.
• Don’t stand in Desecration.
• Purple Death Vomit is randomly targeted, but roots the boss.  Just run behind him.  Players up on the stage should not be in range.

Lord Walden

• Dispel the poison debuff.
• Dodge ice shards.
• During the green Unstable Mixture, everyone has to stay moving.
• During the red Unstable Mixture, everyone has to stand still.

Lord Godfrey

• Tank and AOE ghoul adds.
• Decurse.
• Run behind him during Pistol Barrage.

cataclysm tanking cheat sheet part 3

Lets finish this off…

Grim Batol

General Umbriss

• Healers should keep everyone topped off – he has a dot that lasts until the target is healed to full.
• Spread out – strafe away from incoming Blitzs.
• Tank and splash-damage down the troggs.  They’re not worth focusing.
• Enrages at 30%, cannot be dispelled.
• Heroic: Ranged DPS should pull the purple troggs away and kill them.  They splash an enrage buff to nearby mobs when they die.

Forgemaster Throngus

• Don’t stand in cave-ins.
• Sword phase – high incoming tank damage, dispel his magic debuff.
• Mace phase – kite him, keeping the trail of fire in mind.  Heal impaled targets.
• Shield phase – everyone should stay behind the boss at all times.
• Heroic: Heal through the group damage during the shield phase.

Drahga Shadowburner

• During the orc phase, Kite (snares work) and kill Invocations of Flame.
• During the dragon phase, don’t stand in fire.  The dragon lands roughly in the center of the room.
• All party members must look out for her randomly targeted flame breath.
• Heroic: Nothing special.

Erudax

• Dodge Binding Shadows (purple spots on the ground).
• Eat the knockback – don’t back up to a wall, don’t charge.
• Everyone should stand in the purple spot that he drops prior to Shadow Gale.
• Snare (but don’t stun) the adds before they hatch eggs.
• Heroic: Two adds spawn at once.  Killing them in time is more difficult.

Halls of Origination

Temple Guardian Anhuur

• Spread out (15 yards) to avoid Divine Reckoning.
• Don’t stand in fire.
• One dps should drop off each side to pull a lever during the shield phase.
• Heroic: Two players per side during the shield phase – one pulls the lever, the other kills adds.

Earthrager Ptah

• Phase 1 – watch the cleave.  Heal through the party damage.
• Phase 2 – tank and AOE the adds.  Skeletons are elite.
• Heroic: Avoid dust clouds/spikes/whirlwind during phase 2.

Anraphet

• Spread out (5 yards), run out of Alpha Beams, don’t stand in void zones.
• Dispel the dot on the tank.
• Heal through Omega Stance.  DPS should continue to DPS.
• Heroic: Nothing special.

Isiset

• Don’t stand in laser beams.  Kill (no tank needed) the adds.
• Look away from Supernova (like Eadric in ToC).
• During the split phase, killing adds removes one of her abilities (adds, shield, starfall) while strengthening the two that remain. Tailor the kill order to your group makeup:
  • Caster-heavy? Kill shield first.
  • Got a great healer? Kill starfall last.
  • Cleave/passive AOE heavy? Kill adds last.
• Heroic: Nothing special.

Ammunae

• Interrupt and dispel Wither.
• Kill seed pods as they spawn – /target Seedling Pod.
• Kill the spores, kite the lashers through spore death clouds.  Or just ignore them and zerg the boss.
• Heroic: Lashers hit significantly harder.

Setesh

• Boss is untankable – just tank adds.
• DPS should focus on the boss.
• Tank should kill small adds, and kite big adds.
• Avoid anything that’s green or purple.
• Heroic: Killing portals is DPS’s highest priority.  Interrupt Void Seekers if they are allowed to spawn.  Adds move more quickly – use AOE slows (frost trap, earthbind) to kite, or just tank them all.

Rajh

• Dodge tornadoes.
• Heal through the AOE damage.
• Spread out, and run away from Infernal Leap.
• Interrupt Summon Sun Orbs.  If one spawns, run away from it.
• DPS should save cooldowns for Blessing of the Sun (cast when he is out of energy).
• Heroic: Nothing special.

Lost City of the Tol’vir

General Husam

• Don’t stand in dust clouds.
• Heroic: Traps pulse largely before they explode – don’t stand in those either.

High Prophet Barim

• Spread out to mitigate Plague of Ages.
• Don’t stand in red beams.
• In phase 1, kite the phoenix add – don’t bother killing it.
• In phase 2, DPS the small adds first, and the shadow phoenix second.
• In phase 2, don’t stand near the boss.
• Heroic: The above strat works.  I actually haven’t seen this one on normal, so I don’t know what’s different.

Lockmaw and Augh

• Both – don’t stand in dust clouds – drag the boss out of them.
• Lockjaw – AOE the small adds quickly.
• Lockjaw – remove his enrage.
• Both – dispel Paralytic Blow-dart
• Augh – kite whirlwinds.
• Augh – hits very hard – make him chase you after whirlwinds.
• Heroic: Nothing special.

Siamat

• Tank melee adds, DPS tanks and kills caster adds.
• Avoid the hurricanes that spawn when caster adds die.
• Spread out to mitigate caster adds’ chain lightning.
• Once the boss becomes vulnerable, burn the boss, ignore the adds.
• Heroic: Nothing special.

cataclysm tanking Cheat Sheet Part 2

Two more dungeons!  MMO Champion has excellent videos of all of the Cataclysm dungeon bosses if you haven’t seen them yet – for real live previews, head over there.  However, for the ADD-afflicted folks like myself (I did used to be DPS after all), here are the cliffs notes:

The Stonecore

Corborus

• One dispel will remove all stacks of his healing debuff.
• Don’t stand in pink shards.
• During the burrow phase, tank and AOE small adds.
• During the burrow phase, don’t get hit by the boss (dust clouds warn you before he surfaces).
• Heroic: Kill the pink shards ASAP.

Slabhide

• Not much to do as a tank – just face him away from the group (he breathes).
• Don’t stand in fire – shadows and dust clouds give preemptive warnings.
• The stalactites do count towards line of sight – try not to torture your healer.
• Heroic: Use the stalactites to LOS Crystal Storm.

Ozruk

• Run out of shatter – 15 yards.
• Ranged and melee dps have to watch out for spell reflect and thorns respectively.
• Spell reflect can be shield slam/purged.
• Ground slam is a frontal cone – dodge it by running through him.
• He enrages at low health.
• Heroic: Ground slam must be dodged.  Shatter must be out-ranged.  Melee DPS should keep stacks of the thorns-dot on themselves to cancel paralyze.  Ranged DPS can dot themselves (spell reflect) to cancel paralyze if necessary.

High Priestess Azil

• Dodge giant rocks.  Don’t stand in void zones.
• Adds come from the south end of the room – position void zones and yourselves accordingly.
• Tank adds if no void zones are available.
• Interrupt force grip if possible.
• Decurse if possible.
• Heroic: Interrupting force grip is very important.  More void zones on heroic means easier add management.

The Vortex Pinnacle

Grand Vizier Ertan

• Stack up in the center (Added note: If you stack up in the target circle during the collapse, you will not be hit by the tornadoes)
• You can either heal/cooldown through the ‘collapse’ phase, or have everyone run out temporarily.  Use gaps in the circle when running out.
• Heroic: Nothing special.

Altairus

• He breathes – keep him pointed away from the group.
• Dodge tornadoes.
• You want to face him perpendicular to the wind, so that you are just barely upwind.  The rest of your group should stand upwind at his tail.
• Heroic: Nothing special.

Asaad

• Stand in the electricity triangles that he makes.
• Otherwise, spread out to mitigate chain lightning.
• Heroic: Jump just before he finishes casting static cling to avoid the spell.

Cataclysm tanking cheat sheet

This post is written by Idkittens.  Id has been a member of Business Time since March.  He is also known under the name Dirtface for the habit that his warlock had to face his demise after pulling from our tanks.  In order to keep him alive in Cataclysm, he has now moved to our tanking team with his Death Knight.  He’s an outstanding player and strategist and I’m very happy to be hosting his guest post today.

The general consensus of the Internet seems to be that the Cataclysm dungeon bosses aren’t particularly difficult.  However, I am a perfectionist, and I prefer to look like I know what I’m doing… and lord knows Voss does.

I put together a cheat sheet – cliffs notes for all of the bosses you’ll encounter in normal Cataclysm dungeons.  This is TLDR in the extreme – but it should be everything you and your group needs to know in order to survive.  It doesn’t hurt to perpetuate the illusion that we tanks are always prepared… always well researched… always know what we’re doing.  Even if we are just copying and pasting.

ON THAT NOTE… please, for the sake of the kittens, please learn the routes to the dungeons.  This guy is going to be relying on you for directions when you wipe.  We must look like we know our stuff!

Blackrock Caverns

Rom’ogg Bonecrusher

• Clear the room, he calls adds.
• Be aware of the mortal strike.
• Be aware of the PBAOE (Point Blank AoE) quake, 40 yard range.
• When he pulls you to him, he’ll root you with Chains of Woe, then AOE the group.  Kill chains (single target, don’t AOE), then run away from the boss.
• Heroic: He summons adds, which can (and should) be killed by rooting them after breaking his chains (which must be done more quickly).

Corla, Herald of Twilight

• She has 2 adds – players have to stand in front of their beams to block them.  I recommend using the tank and a ranged dps.
• Party members cannot get 100 stacks of the beam debuff – step out of the beam until your debuff drops if you get above 80.  Other party members should pick the beams up when this happens.
• The boss will death grip and fear your party members, making beam-blocking more difficult.  Err on the side of caution.  Try to interrupt her abilities.
• Heroic: There is a 3rd add.  If you have a good tank and healer, you can simplify the fight by letting it evolve and killing it.  (Do this to all 3 adds to get the achievement.)

Karsh Steelbender

• Kill his trash by pulling the conflagrations away from the alloys.
• To damage him, you have to drag him through the central pillar of fire to stack a debuff on him.
• When his stacks drop, fire shoots out of grates on the ground.  Don’t stand in it.
• He cleaves.
• Heroic: When his debuff stacks drop, he spawns adds.  Manage this either by killing the adds (they drop a lava puddle that behaves similarly to the central pillar) in a good place, or by building stacks slowly throughout the whole fight (and never letting the debuff drop).  With practice, you can easily move him quickly enough through the pillar to get only 1-2 stacks at a time.

Beauty

• Pull and kill the 3 puppies in front of Beauty.  Beauty will not aggro.
• Beauty can be pulled without aggro’ing Runty (the puppy behind her).
• You must leave at least one puppy alive, or she will enrage and wipe the group.
• She has a fear, a PBAOE knockback, a charge, and an ‘explodes when dispelled’ debuff.
• Heroic: The puppies and the boss are linked – crowd control what you can, kill the puppies first.  Runty is not linked and can still be used to avoid the enrage.

Ascendant Lord Obsidius

• He comes with two unkillable adds that stack a healing debuff on their target.
• Ranged should kite the adds – they don’t have a normal aggro table, but instead follow whoever hit them last.  This makes kiting easy.
• Adds can and should be snared and rooted.  They hit reasonably hard on non-tanks.
• The boss will switch bodies with an add periodically – just switch targets.
• Boss abilities include a knockdown, a dot, and Thunderclap.
• Heroic: He comes with a 3rd add.

Throne of the Tides

Lady Naz’jar

• Interrupt Shock Blast – it hurts.
• Run out of blue circles.
• At 60% and 20%, summons adds and shields herself.  2 are casters – they should die first and only require provisional tanking.  The 3rd is a melee add with a low-health enrage.  Adds can be CC’d.
• Heroic: Dodge water spouts in the add phase.  The further away from her you are, the easier this gets.

Commander Ulthok

• He casts Dark Fissure, similar to Anub’arak’s Slam.  Don’t get hit by it.  It spawns a powerful void zone on the ground as well.
• He grabs party members, carrying them around for a while, then dropping them.  Make sure they don’t get dropped in void zones.
• He slows you, making Dark Fissure dodging more difficult.
• Heroic: Dark fissures slowly expand over time.  Start the fight by pulling him towards Naz’jar’s room, then kite towards the elevator.

Erunak Stonespeaker (and a squid)

• Face him away from the group – he has a breath-like attack.
• Interrupt his nuke, and avoid earth shards (a ground-traveling damage spell).
• At 50%, the squid will leave Erunak – tank’n'spank the squid until it mind controls a party member.
• When a party member gets MC’d, DPS them down to 50% to knock the squid off again.  Resume tank’n'spank.
• Green clouds will silence/pacify you.  Don’t stand in them.
• Heroic: Nothing special.

Ozumat

• In phase 1, tank and kill adds.  DPS order is murlocs, small faceless ones, big faceless ones.
• The big add will fly up and crash to the ground several seconds later – run away from the crash.
• In phase 2, DPS should kill the faceless one adds.  The tank should kite the demons.
• Phase 3 is a race against time – all players, including you, should switch to the boss at the edge of the room.  Use cooldowns to help out your healer if the fight drags on too long.
• Heroic: Nothing special.
• Death Knights: You can solo the last phase, even on heroic.  Spam death strike, and AMS to drop your debuff stack.

Cataclysm Dungeons Gear list for tanks

One thing that’s a constant for warriors especially and tanks in general is we’re very dependant on our gear.  Since we’re only a week away from the sprint to 85, I have started putting my lists together.

Here is the list of all the tanking gear (for warriors, Relics, Librams, 2H weapons and leather not included) to be found in the initial dungeons.  As you can see, even the lowest piece is better than the best pieces we received from the Lich King himself.

I think my first priority will be to get myself a new weapon.  The itemization on the new weapons is better adapted to our needs following the 4.01 changes.  We need a slower weapon with Strength and tanking stats and there is nothing to my knowledge that has this itemization in Wrath.

I am hesitating between doing a mad rush to 85 by questing and then instancing or intersperse some instances in between quests.  What do you guys think?

So, the following list is what can be found in dungeons.  Later this week, I will add the craftable items (Yes, including the engineering goggles) and the Justice Points items.

Blackrock Caverns (80):

• Rom’Ogg Bonecrusher: Shield of the Iron Maiden (Shield) (Heroic version)
• Corla, Herald of Twilight: Signet of Transformation (Ring) (Heroic version)
• Karsh Steelbender:Burned Gatherings (Cloak) (Heroic version)
• Beauty: Beauty’s Plate (Chest) (Heroic version)
• Ascendant Lord Obsidius: Raz’s Pauldron (Shoulder) (Heroic version)
• Ascendant Lord Obsidius: Carrier Wave Pendant (Neck) (Heroic version)

Throne of the Tides (80)

• Lady Naz’jar: Entwined Nereis (Ring) (Heroic version)
• Erunak Stonespeaker: Porcelain Crab (Trinket) (Heroic version)
• Ozumat: Triton Legplates (Legs) (Heroic version)

The Stone Core (81)

• Corborus: Phosphorescent Ring (Ring) (Heroic version)
• High Priestess Azil: Leaden Despair (Trinket) (Heroic version)
• High Priestess Azil: Elementium Fang (Sword) (Heroic version)

The Vortex Pinnacle (81)

• Altarius: Axe of the Eclipse (Axe) (Heroic version)
• Grand Vizier Ertan: Headcover of Fog (Head) (Heroic version)
• Asim al Akir: Heart of Thunder (Trinket) (Heroic version)
• Asim al Akir: Billowing Cape (Cloak) (Heroic version)
• Trash: Darksky Treads (Boots) (Heroic version)
• Trash: Thundercall (Gun) (Heroic version)

Grim Batol (83):

• General Umbris: Umbris Band (Ring) (Heroic version)
• Forgemaster Throngus: Throngus’s Finger (Trinket) (Heroic version)
• Drahga Shadowburner: Earthshape Pauldrons (Shoulder) (Heroic version)
• Erudax: Mark of Khardros (Trinket) (Heroic version)
• Erudax: Mace of Transformed Bone (Mace) (Heroic version)
• Trash: Shroud of Dark Memories (Cloak) (Heroic version)

Halls of Origination (83):

• Anhuur: Darkhowl Amulet (Neck) (Heroic version)
• Earthrager Ptah: Bulwark of the Primordial Mound (Shield) (Heroic version)
• Anraphet: Alpha Bracers (Wrist) (Heroic version)
• Isiset: Armguards of Unearthly Light (Wrist) (Heroic version)
• Setesh: Helm of Setesh (Helm) (Heroic version)
• Rajh: Fingers of Light (Gloves) (Heroic version)
• Rajh: Sun Strike (Sword) (Heroic version)
• Trash: Temple Band (Ring) (Heroic version)

Lost City of Tol’Vir (83):

• Lockmaw: Sand Dune Belt (Belt) (Heroic version)
• Siamat: Ring of Three Lights (Ring) (Heroic version)
• Trash: Impetuous Query (Trinket) (Heroic version)

Shadowfang Keep (Heroic):

• Baron Ashbury: Gloves of the Greymane Wall (Gloves)
• Baron Silverlaine: Baron Silverlaine’s Greaves (Boots)
• Lord Walden: Iron Will Girdle (Belt)

Deadmines (Heroic) (Really not a lot for plate tanks)

• Admiral Ripsnarl: Smite’s Reaver (Axe)
• Captain Cookie: Cookie’s Tenderizer (Mace)

Professions for Tanks

Choosing a profession is often a really tough decision.  There are many factors to take into account.

What is your level?

A character that’s levelling will be travelling through most of the game’s world which will allow him to level a gathering profession easily, while questing.  Herbalism, Skinning and Mining are very good professions to gradually level with your character.  Enchanting is also fairly easy especially if you happen to use LFD a fair amount.  The ability to disenchant your quest rewards is probably also the best way to keep your bags clean.

Are you end game raiding?  Are you into making money?  Are you into roleplaying and is your profession part of your character’s story?

For example, I remember a tank who absolutely loved tailoring.  A rare choice to be sure, but he liked it.  Would I advise this for someone interested in endgame raiding?  Probably not.

There are many blogs out there who can teach you how to make money using your professions.  My focus will be on the end game raiding in Cataclysm.

Alchemy

• Mixology: Double duration on Flasks and Elixirs and enhanced effects

Blacksmithing

• 2 extra sockets which can be for gems of any colour with Socket Bracer and Socket Gloves.

Enchanting

• Enchant rings with two different options:
  • Enchant Ring – Greater Stamina: Stamina +60 (Total of +120 stamina)
  • Enchant Ring – Strength: Strength +40 (Total of +80 Strength)

Engineering

• Rhidach at Righteous Defense has a great Engineering Guide for Tanks.  Since I would not do it justice, I’ll simply link it.
• The jist of it is Engineering seems like it’s going to be even more fun than in Wrath.  The main tanking items that have no risk of blowing up in your face are the rocket boots which now become a nitro belt, a new pair of great looking tanking goggles and an enchantment for gloves that gives you 1200 armour for 12 seconds every minute.

Herbalism

• Lifeblood gives you a self heal (One minor wound) and 240 haste for 20 seconds every 2 minutes.

Inscription

• Inscription of the Earth Prince: Stamina +195 dodge +25
• The normal reputation shoulder enchant is Greater Inscription of Unbreakable Quartz.  It’s a net gain of 120 stamina and one less reputation grind.

Jewelcrafting

• As before, you gain the ability to have 3 special gems.
• As a tank, your choices are:
  • Solid Chimera’s Eye: +101 Stamina (Normal gem is +60 Stamina, a net gain of +41 Stamina Or a total of 123 Stamina for 3 gems)
  • Bold Chimera’s Eye: +67 Strength (Normal gem is +40 Strength, a net gain of +27 Strength)
  • Precise Chimera’s Eye: +67 Expertise (Normal gem is +40 Expertise, a net gain of +27 Expertise)
  • Subtle Chimera’s Eye: +67 Dodge (Normal gem is +40 Dodge, a net gain of +27 Dodge)
• You can use any combination you desire with a maximum of three gems at a time.

Leatherworking

• Bracers: Draconic Embossment – Stamina +195 Stamina
• The normal Stamina enchantment for bracers will remain our current +40 Stamina so this is a whopping net gain of +155 stamina.

Mining

• Mining is simple. Toughness: + 120 Stamina.  ’Nuff said.

Skinning

• Skinning offers Master of Anatomy, a Critical Rating +80.  Not really a tanking profession.

Tailoring

• Embroidery on your cloak will give you Swordguard Embroidery a proc for +1000 AP.  Again, this is not the best for most tanks.

Summary

As you can see above, there is no one right answer (Although there are some that do seem wrong).  Vosskah is a Blacksmith and a Jewelcrafter at the moment and seeing the above table, he will keep those two professions going into Cataclysm.  The reason why I prefer those two professions above the others are that they give the player a wide variety of options to play with.  If you want to have the highest stamina, Leatherworking is the best.  If you hate grinding a reputation, then Inscription is very good.  If this is your only character at maximum level, then Mining is a great choice.  But Jewelcrafting and Blacksmithing allow you to have extra hit, stamina, some strength, etc.  It all depends on what you need at the moment.

I will give an honourable mention to Engineering simply for the fun factor.  It is a very strong tanking profession, but it’s also a great way to have fun while tanking.  I always say that “Tanking is Serious Business” but there is a part of me that envies two of the tanks in our team when they fire up those rocket boots and leave me in their dust.  I do have my trusty combo charge/intercept/intervene though.

Well that’s a kick in the codpiece!

I was working on a new post about professions for tanks but it will have to wait.

The release notes for patch 4.03 are out and they’re none too tender with warriors.  Now, I know that I keep saying how great we are but to be honest, I thought we were simply in a good spot, pretty much on par with Pallies and DKs.  Then this dropped on our head:

Warrior

• Cleave damage has been reduced by approximately 17%.
• Execute damage has been reduced by approximately 17%.
• Heroic Strike damage has been reduced by approximately 17%.
• Overpower now does 125% weapon damage, down from 150%.
• Rend base damage has been reduced by approximately 17% and percent of weapon damage per tick lowered to 25%, from 30%.
• Shield Block now only increases block chance by 25%, but excess block that pushes avoidance plus block to over 100% is now converted to critical block chance.
• Slam now costs 15 rage, down from 20, and now does 125% weapon damage, down from 150%.
• Victory Rush damage has been reduced by approximately 17%.
• Whirlwind now does 65% weapon damage, down from 75%.

Arms

• Mortal Strike now does 150% weapon damage, down from 185%.
• Second Wind now heals for 2/5% of total health, down from 5/10%.
• Strikes of Opportunity now does 100% weapon damage, down from 115%.

Fury

• Blood Craze now heals for 1/2/3% of total health, down from 2.5/5/7.5%.
• Bloodthirst damage has been reduced by approximately 17%.
• Raging Blow now does 110% weapon damage, down from 150%.
• Unshackled Fury now gains approximately 50% more benefit per point of Mastery.

Protection

• Critical Block now grants an equal amount of block chance and critical block chance (1.5% each per point of Mastery).
• Devastate no longer provides bonus threat.
• Shield Slam: Contribution of attack power reduced to 60%, down from 75%, and base damage brought up so that a level 85 warrior in Heroic dungeon gear deals the same damage with no Vengeance, but Vengeance has less impact. In addition, Shield Slam no longer generates 30% bonus threat from its damage.
• Vigilance no longer provides 3% damage reduction, but still refreshes Taunt and provides Vengeance.

I’m sorry, but are you kidding me?

I’ll focus on the Protection Warrior part as this is the topic of this blog.  I just finished doing Heroic Lich King twice and Business Time had decided that we were done with ICC and were now just raiding to hang out or get one more Warhorse out of TotGC.  I’m glad that we’re done now as it would have been quite difficult to do it after this patch.

In phase 1 of our H LK fights, I was tanking the Horrors and Ghouls.  Since the number of enemies to tank was quite large, I was using Cleave continuously to supplement Thunderclap and Shockwave.  I still lost a lot of Ghouls to healer aggro that had to be taunted back.  This is a nerf to our AoE threat.  Warriors were never the AoE kings so that hurts.  Also, those who used the Blood and Thunder Talent are also having their Rend effect nerfed.

For single targets, I am quite happy that Shield Slam will no longer be so dependant on Vengeance but again, I thought we were in a good place single target threat wise.  I am also not a fan of baked in threat bonus so I’m happy it’s going away but I am concerned about keeping that threat up if there is no compensation on the damage side for the lost threat.

I usually try to be positive about changes but you must admit that this one is a hard one to be positive about.  If we had been dominating (Like Fury Warriors), I would agree that a nerf was needed but this doesn’t feel warranted except if they were seeing huge discrepancies on the Beta at 85.

This is my gut feel reaction so I could be wrong and I’ll be doing some more research to be sure.  Right now, it sure feels like taking a mace blow in the codpiece.

Moving Right Along

This is part two in a series of guest/jointly written posts from Vidyala, formerly of Pugging Pally and now writing at Manalicious. All italics in the post are Vosskah’s contribution. If you missed part one you can read it here: Looking to be a great warrior?

I said I’d be warrior tanking, right? I didn’t necessarily say I’d be warrior pugging. I have done some pugging. The last few levels have been really nice, though, because I had the opportunity to run with friends for most of it. I’ve done instances with Rades, Redbeard, Lara, Anea, and Voss himself. (He made a lowbie warrior, don’t ask). Below are the talents and glyphs I have cleverly chosen Voss told me to take. I told him he’d better write about them himself because I don’t want to spread rampant misinformation.

Glyphs and Talents

Glyph of Shield Slam This is your primary single target threat weapon.  An additional 10% damage is a very welcome addition.

Glyph of Thunderclap The old instances are all made with packs of trash.  This is your best AoE aggro tool until you get shockwave at level 69.  More range with your thunderclap means you have a better chance of grabbing that mob that could be heading towards your healer.

Glyph of Battle The minor glyphs are really not that wonderful.  Battle Shout is the first shout you have, might as well keep it up longer so you don’t have to think about it so much.  In the new reality of 4.0 though, Battle Shout gives you rage instead of costing you rage.  This means you should use it a lot more often.  It’s not just a question of keeping the buff up.  It’s giving you the resources you need to keep everyone’s attention on you.

I have maxed out Shield Specialization as well as Hold The Line.

This is again, as explained in previous posts, a question of generating as much threat as possible.  In all of the instances Vid ran with her warrior, she was never even remotely in danger of dying.  The biggest issues she ran into were mostly threat related when facing DPS that were 6 levels higher than her.  I was wrong in my second post.  Shield Specialization is the most important in the second tier and I would follow with Hold the Line.  I would keep Gag Order for later.

Levels 20-27

My tanking odyssey continues. I had an unexpected boon in the form of Wailing Caverns – you can’t queue for Wailing Caverns until you “discover” it. Not exactly in a rush to discover this twisted turd of an instance, I decline to do so, and thus never have to tank it! (I’m sorry, I really don’t like Wailing Caverns). Here are the instances I have tanked.

Shadowfang Keep

This instance is a bit complicated to navigate but it’s not too bad. It has many wandering patrols. Here I had my first encounter with a really annoying person…actually not a DPS, the healer – a paladin – wielding a two-handed battle axe and jumping in my face the entire time.

The JUMPING. He never stopped jumping. This story has a happy ending, though. As we approached the outdoor battlements that lead from one building to another, we attacked a group precariously close to the edge. The healer bounced up, up…and off. I wish it had killed him, but I still laughed really hard anyhow. Poetic justice for the insatiable jumper!

Contrary to what the previous entry would have you believe, I did not make a skeleton warrior. Three guesses what I *did* make.

Blackfathom Deep

This instance wasn’t bad once I remembered the correct way to go; tanking this is fairly straightforward. The only part that’s potentially hairy is once you leave the naga/satyr section of the instance and head into the “Twilight Cultist” section. Some of these are runners and they are fairly tightly packed. I tried to use the corners to my advantage – particularly once you head up the steps and are facing the groups on the walkway with the big columns. You can line of sight these guys around the columns, and I recommend you do so! It makes life easier for your healers. Anea actually complimented my LoS pull here and I had to admit, “Voss told me to do it.”

You can do a similar thing once you reach the building where Twilight Lord Kelris resides. LoS these various casters out into the little corridor with your group (if they are patient enough to wait). Your ranged weapon is your friend, and maintaining control over these groups will ensure no ridiculous hilarity. Similarly with the candles – you will likely run into people who insist they should be lit at all at once! …Don’t let people do this. You can use a nice shield slam on one group of mobs as they enter, and then strafe over to the other pack to Thunderclap them. You should have the rage to do that. The rest of the instance is cake! I ran it a few times, with pugs, friends, a mixture, and with only friends.

One of the things I enjoy the most while tanking is when I can execute the perfect pull.  A tank needs to be aware how the fight will unfold before the pull.  The tank needs to know who are the ranged enemies and what trick should be used to group them with the rest of their friends.  Ciderhelm put together a very good video explaining this:  TankSpot’s Tanking Reference: Awareness & Camera Control.  I highly recommend it.  Ciderhelm also used to have a video about pulling techniques for warriors but I have not been able to locate it in a while.

Stormwind Stockades

This instance has the potential be annoying/frustrating. On the one hand, it’s very straightforward. Simple rooms, interminable rooms full of things. On the other hand, most of these will run if they can, and annoying half-walls at the back of each room can present LoS issues. I tended to run into each room, shield slam one of the first prisoners and then move back a bit to Thunderclap the rest. (You see, I absorbed Voss’ insistence about Shield Slam). You can hit them through the wall sometimes, you can also try to run in to where they are but then you might be cutting yourself off from your healer. Just play it smart.

More than anything the most helpful thing I found in Stocks is to really stay ahead of your group. Just always keep them on their toes, move on quickly to the next pack so they never get a chance to pause and think, “Say, I should attack this before the tank does…”

Gnomeregan

Ah, my old nemesis, we meet again. I honestly think I would not have been able to complete this instance without the Lara’s assistance. I told her before we even queued that I am apt to get lost and that Gnomeregan is the worst for me. She assured me that she knew her way through the instance and could help me lead the way – and she did; like a gentle dwarven sign post she would run ahead and pause at our intended location, and mark creatures that we needed. A few times she asked me quizzically, “?” or, “Are you going that way for a particular reason?”

Nope, no particular reason, except that I don’t know where I am going. I really tried to remember the way that we were going in case I have to go back without her. Except I hope that I don’t have to go back without her. Our first run included some mild loot drama – a feral druid rolled Need on a pair of cloth boots. The hapless druid was harangued by myself, the priest healer, and Lara for a good five minutes. “I can heal too,” he said.

“But that’s not what you’re doing now, is it?” Eventually this degenerated into the priest ranting about people needing on gear, at which point she/he became belligerent and opted to make my life difficult by running ahead to aggro mobs and act as if she were the tank. I told her pointedly, “I’m sorry if I’m not going fast enough for you, but you aren’t making this any easier.”

I hate when DPS pull for me. I hate it so much. It throws off my groove. It steals rage from me. It is unspeakably annoying. If you are a DPS, don’t do this. If you are a healer, don’t heal DPS who do this, and if you are a tank – I’m sorry.

Razorfen Kraul

This is another instance I tend to get lost in. Fortunately for me, I had Lara by my side again, and for the brief moment she had to go AFK I just headed towards the nearest pigs and killed them. I feel I’m sort of getting the hang of some of this tanking stuff. It’s like a small light bulb going on. (Very small). I know that I’m learning when I say, “Hmm, that one’s a caster, isn’t it?” and Voss looks over and says, “Yup!” and I know that means I have to go to it. The toughest thing for me is moving as a melee DPS or tank would. I was trying to turn the mobs for the melee DPS sometimes but I was inconsistent about it and this is something Voss pointed out to me – a finer point, if you will. I am coming at this whole venture with an attitude of wanting to learn and knowing that I am far from perfect so I will gladly ask for criticism about my performance or guidance where it’s needed! RFK went off without a hitch, the people were nice and friendly. Most instances have been incredibly smooth, truthfully. The biggest pitfall I am having is, well, actually there are a few things.

1) Absolutely no sense of direction whatsoever. I downloaded the Atlas addon, but the fact is that even the time it takes to open up and look at where bosses are – most groups are not going to wait. The only way I’m able to keep them on their toes is through rush rush rushing. If I don’t go – they start going without me. So I don’t know if I’m going to have to start studying up or what – I look forward to the Scarlet Monastery instances since I know those pretty well.

2) Rage generation: I am having times where I have so much rage I don’t know what to do with it, and other times when I am staaaaarved. That’s what I asked Voss to write about.

3) Keeping an eye on my rage: I don’t usually use a HUD on any of my characters because I haven’t found it absolutely necessary. Now I don’t always know how much rage I need.

4) Movement. I’m trying really hard to not put my back to things and to move smoothly but it’s just not something I often have to think about as a healer/ranged caster.

My next level (level 29!) should allow me to get the awesome talent Warbringer, so I am greatly looking forward to that.

I think that item 2 is wrong.  It’s not as much a problem of rage generation but of rage management.  Yes, a HUD will help you get attuned to how it flows depending on your actions.  In this case, it’s a problem that most new Protection Warriors face:  Starting a pull with absolutely no rage to work with.

There are many things that can be done to alleviate this.  Before level 29, you can change to battle stance, charge and then change back.  To be honest, it’s a pain in the butt and it becomes much smoother as soon as you get Warbringer at level 29.  So, yes, you can charge.  You can use Battle or Commanding Shout to generate some rage.  These are all very good way to generate rage.  There is another way to go though: Do not spend all of your rage to finish a trash pack.

The tank’s job is not to kill the enemies as much as it is to keep control of the situation.  You do not have to press a button all the time.  At the end of a pack, when you have plenty of aggro on mobs, you can let your last couple of hits be white hits, giving you rage, while your dps finishes them.  Of course, keep an eye on your threat so that they don’t pull from you.  But if you’re aware that the fight is almost over and have already planned your next pull, you can start moving as soon as the mob is down to your next target, thereby starting the fight with enough rage to cement the enemies on you and moving fast enough to keep your group on their toes.  A group that feels that the tank is moving at a fair pace has much less chance to become creative and pull for you.

As for number 4, to be honest, I learned movement in PvP.  I am awful at it, but it forced me to learn to move and adapt very quickly.  You learn to run, jump/turn/run, charge/intercept/intervene.  It’s a wonderful and merciless school.

Looking to be a great warrior?

“Looking to be a great warrior? War does not make one great.” -Exodar Peacekeeper

This is part one of a series of guest posts from Vidyala, formerly of Pugging Pally and now writing at Manalicious.

People ask me all the time about my Pugging Pally. Am I still pugging? Do I intend to pug from 80-85? Why don’t I write about pugging? (In short: Bring back THE PAIN, we enjoyed laughing at you!)

Recently, I’ve been thinking. I have plenty of DPS characters. I have plenty of tank-capable classes. But I don’t really have beyond a rudimentary understanding of how to tank. I had a brief flirtation with a little Tauren druid tank, but it ended up petering out. Vid herself did a bit of tanking along the way – very little. I feel as if tanking is something you really have to commit to, dive into it, and be really determined how to learn. I’ve always avoided doing it, by and large – because it freaks me out. When I was first trying a bit of druid tanking, I sat there for five minutes psyching myself up before I clicked “find a group.”

Tanking is the most responsible role in the game. Yes, healers also have a lot of responsibility, but it’s different. It’s not nearly as mobile, reactive, or stressful. This could just be because I am more comfortable healing. It probably is! Regardless, I’ve thought off and on about trying a lowbie tank.

So here we are. The same way people ask me about pugging, they ask Voss about warriors, lowbie warriors, specs, and strategies. Voss likes warriors, but he doesn’t have very much time for alts. An ingenuous idea was born! Perhaps it will fizzle before “the end.” In this case I am very much about the journey. I don’t care if this character makes it to 85 and it takes a year or more. The purpose of this character is for me to conquer my aversion to tanking, dive into LFD and see what happens. It may also prove to be another interesting experiment in social interaction and leadership. Don’t forget, I’m someone who could get lost in a phone booth. It was part of what kept me from tanking before!

A fringe benefit to this (from my perspective, perhaps a greater one for you) is that I am going to seek Voss’ advice about learning how to warrior as I proceed. This will include information about specs, glyphs, gearing, and (judging from the way he was looking over my shoulder this afternoon) also play. We’re going to be “co-writing” these entries, in that I will exclaim over things and he will make sure that no wrong information is included. Because I never claimed to be a warrior, I’m a mage in disguise.

This is what I looked like after LFD chewed me up and spit me out.

Levels 15-18

This is when I first hit LFD! All tank, all the time. Ragefire Chasm is okay. It provides minimal opportunities for getting lost, which is my greatest fear. My first RFC experiences sounding something like:

“Oh god, where is it going!”

“Why am I facing the wrong way?!”

“I can’t hit things when I am facing the wrong way!”

“Where is that ROGUE going?”

“I hate DPS!”

I began this experiment when Voss wasn’t home, although I did consult him with regards to my spec. At level fifteen when I first started LFD tanking, my spec looked like this:

Blood and Thunder – 2 pts

When you Thunder Clap a target affected by your Rend, you have a 50% (100%) chance to affect every target with Rend.

People in lowbie LFD don’t wait for the tank to pull. They don’t necessarily attack the same target the tank is attacking. AoE threat generation is very, very important. With the available tools, rend and Thunderclap become a very solid combination for AoE. This was important to me.

Incite – 2 pts (and another point when possible)

Increases the critical strike chance of your Heroic Strike by 5% (10%, 15%), and gives your Heroic Strike criticals a 33% (66%, 100%) chance to cause the next Heroic Strike to also be a critical strike.  These guaranteed criticals cannot re-trigger the Incite effect.

It’s my understanding that Heroic Strike is an “I Have A Lot of Rage” thing. (LFD provides me with plenty of rage, don’t get me wrong, but not exactly the same thing). When I was first tanking in RFC, I didn’t have a lot of rage – mostly because people kept attacking things before I did. My rage problems seemed to be greatly alleviated within a few levels. At that point, a boost to heroic strike is useful – but mostly I just wanted it to get down to the second tier.

RFC made me feel mostly decorative. Some groups were better than others about at least pretending to want the protection of a tank, but most classes can handle having these elites hitting them in the face if the healer is willing to heal them. I actually had one notable incident with regards to this.

I hate to say it, but the most aggravating people for warrior tanks at this level…are other warriors. In most cases they have the same gear as I do, and functionally the differences between us are little – except that I need rage from things hitting me in the face and I don’t get it when they charge ahead of me into combat. I decided that a battle stance + charge + defensive stance macro was too complicated. The fury or arms warriors or whatever? They don’t have that problem.

So one of my RFC groups had just such a warrior. He was sprinting ahead of me the whole time, charging groups at a pace I couldn’t hope to match. We approach the center of RFC – where the packs start to get complicated with casters, patrols, and high potential for adds. We’re heading along one of the ramps across the lava and I pause – my healer is not within range. I stop, intending to pull a few of them with my crossbow. I may have grinned a little at this point, thinking to myself – Fury Warrior is going to charge in, heedless off the fact that I’ve stopped. Sure enough, he charges the entire pack at an angle, leaving all of us in his dust. Predictably, all five+ mobs begin to eat his face. Somehow… I’m just a tad slow to run in and taunt them off. The healer does not have line of sight on him (this is why I waited for her). The warrior dies. The rest of us proceed to finish off the hostile folks and the healer resurrects him. My only regret about the way the whole thing went is that the healer apologized to the warrior because he died.

Me behind the screen: “Don’t APOLOGIZE to him! He deserved it and he knows it!”

The warrior: “It’s ok, my bad.”

Me: “YES IT’S YOUR BAD.”

Me in party chat: “OK, everyone set?”

When they talked about warrior “rage” bars, I somehow wonder if I wasn’t prepared.

Level 18-20

Today being a day off, I seized the opportunity while Voss was here to try tanking again. This was fortunate, because I had forgotten what my buttons do and also, apparently I was wrong about so very many things. Along with rested XP, one Shadowfang Keep run was enough to get me from 18-20, quite literally dinging twenty as we killed Arugal. It probably helped that I took a wrong turn at some point and so we cleared a bit more trash than was strictly necessary.

My group was actually really nice. Not talkative, but uncomplaining, and very polite at the end. I thanked them for their patience with my noob tanking. At the end, I’ll say I wasn’t awesome but I also wasn’t the worst tank I’ve seen in LFD, mostly because:

1) I had a shield

2) I never left my healer behind

3) I used my taunt button.

Notable quotes from this dungeon run are mostly Vosskah’s.

“Don’t use your Thunderclap now. Save your Thunderclap. Use your shield slam. Do you see how you lost that mob? That’s because you didn’t shield slam it. Shield slam is your friend. You will learn to love it.”

“Did you hear what I said about shield slam? If I don’t hear a CLONKING sound, it’s WRONG.”

“See, now what you want to do is alt-tab to that other guy there – see how your threat on him is getting…oh, you lost him.”

“You only tanked as a pally before, right? Well, that explains it.”

“We are much more active tanks. If you aren’t hitting a button, you’re also doing it wrong.”

“Now that’s the CLONK I like to hear!”

“Do you… We…We need to work on your UI after this. And you need some macros with startattack.”

Me: “But, I asked Noodle if I needed to make startattack macros and he said I didn’t need them!”

“Noodle is a pally and an idiot. You don’t listen to Noodle.”

“Save enough rage so you can thunder clap those adds when they join in. Yes, that is the mark of a good tank – you plan ahead.”

Incidentally, with Voss helping me tank I waver back and forth between intense concentration and hilarity. He makes me think that these entries could turn into a blog all their own a la (Shit My Dad Says): Shit My Tank Says. After all this dinging and instancing, I had another talent point to spend. I was told to put it here.

Hold The Line

Improves your critical strike and critical block chance by 10% for 5 sec (10 sec) following a successful parry.

That means I first put another point in Incite and then a point in Hold The Line. So at level 20, my talents look like this.

I look forward to am scared out of my wits to tank again, but I will attempt to do it. Until then, we agreed to write these posts and have Voss offer some technical commentary after, because that’s his thing. I’m just good at joining up with random people to kill pixels!

Now just to explain a few things in there. (That’s Voss writing here)

Tanks at low level are very rarely in danger of dying.  Any healer worth their salt will keep you alive as long as you don’t let them die/pull a whole room.  That’s why I really emphasize focusing on threat talents much more than survival.  We’ll see how Vid does, but at the moment, I don’t think there will be any survival issues until level 40 or so.

Startattack macros are very important, especially if the person is mostly used to being a range player.  At range, you have the luxury of seeing the packs of mobs hopefully from a distance.  When tanking, you’re usually in a bunch of mobs and it can get hard to see that your character is now standing idle because your target is dead.  Standing idle for other tanks is one thing, but for a warrior it is the absolute worst thing you can do.  Your white hits give you rage.  Yes, you get some from being hit, but again, we’re talking low level here.  Your hits are what gives you the rage you need to do your job.  You’re not hitting someone, you’re not getting your resource replenished and thus you grow weaker.

Easy macros can simplify your life greatly.  Just enter the following for most of your attacks:

/startattack
/cast Shield Slam

Replace Shield Slam with the name of your abilities and put this on your action bars.  You’ll see quickly that it makes a huge difference if you’re not used to being in melee.

As for Noodle being an idiot, well…  I’ll take that one back.  He’s one of the best tanks I’ve ever worked with.  But in this case, because Vid is usually at range and new to melee and tanking, he was wrong.

The Downing of Heroic Lich King

The king is dead!!!  There are not enough exclamation points that I can use to describe the shouts of joy as Arthas used Frostmourne’s power to kill all of us at 10%.  It was deafening.

We had pretty much given up on winning this fight in the 3.x world.  I’m very happy that we got back on track and focused on him again.  Patch 4.0.1 was a very big help, of course.  Our DPS were now strong enough to get us to phase 1.5 without needing heroism and with only 5 of them, leaving an extra spot for a third healer.

I will not try to describe this night as Vidyala at Manalicious already did a great job of it.  I’ll mainly focus on what we tried and what worked out in the end.  The group that worked on H LK and finally killed him was the following:

Tanks

• Vosskah – Warrior
• Noodlestein – Paladin (Was Retribution for some attempts in the past few weeks)
• Meraxis – Paladin (Was not there for the kill but was the tank on our first attempt hitting phase 3 the week before)

Melee DPS

• Draos – Cat druid

Ranged DPS

• Millya – Fire Mage
• Fsob – Arcane Mage
• Shaen – Elemental Shaman
• Dirtface – Warlock
• Kayla – Hunter (Was hit by the midterm boss in the last 2-3 weeks but was with the group on many nights)

Healers

• Panerai – Disc Priest
• Zierlyn – Holy Priest
• Ullariend – Tree Druid
• Alawyn – Tree Druid (Was not available in the last few weeks)
• Ambriel – Holy Paladin (Was not available in the last few weeks)

Phase 1.

Phase 1 was very frustrating for us.  We used the approach of starting the fight at the bottom of the stairs and then moving in three parallel lines towards the back.

• Left line: Healers and ranged DPS;
• Middle Line: Horrors and their tank;
• Right line: Melee dps, Arthas and his tank.

Shadow Traps

• This was our first issue.  It took a bit of time for the ranged dps and healers (usually about 7 people) to learn to move together in a line and avoid the trap zones.

Plague

• Everyone had to move very fast to the horror group.  The ranged dps had to learn to not even finish casting, just run immediately.  Panerai was in charge of dispelling the diseases.

Horrors

• Actually, the problem was mostly how they managed to kill the tank too easily.  While the previous two items were learned fairly fast by the group, we were often victim of the RNG boss on the Horrors where two would enrage at the same time and kill their tank.  Our original setup, prior to 4.0.1 was to have a pally tank the horrors and the warrior tank Arthas.  The reasoning came from our original normal LK kills where the pallies simply had an easier time with the AoE aggro.  In order to address the horror issue, we reversed the roles.  The warrior with its wide array of stuns was better suited for the horrors.  The other trick up our sleeve now was my Vigilance.  By putting Vigilance on the other tank, I now have access to unlimited taunts which now makes the warrior extremely good at picking the ghouls off of the LK tank and bringing them into the middle for disease spreading.
• Even with a warrior’s stuns, we were still getting into trouble when the second horror was spawning.  Panerai (Disc Priest) decided to use a cooldown as soon as they were both on Vosskah.  I kept my shockwave available until his Guardian spirit faded and then stunned the horrors and the ghouls.  If both were still up then, I would use shield wall.
• Ullariend (Tree Druid) would Soothe the horrors when he could spare the GCD.

In phase 1.5, I would bring my posse to the right of the group while the paladin tank would catch the spirits.

Once we managed to consistently get through phase 1, it only took us a couple of hours to learn the rest of the fight.  We had seen phase 2 a few times and phase 3 once, but not often enough to learn them.

Phase 2.

It is very similar to the original fight apart from everything hitting harder and the need to only DPS the val’kyrs until they hit 50% health.

What we did is the paladin continued tanking Arthas and brought him to the middle.  I tanked the remaining Raging Spirit until it had done its conal attack and then joined the rest of the group (Intervene, of course.  Why not do it in style?) for the first val’kyr.

The target priority for the DPS in this phase is: Val’kyr (when carrying someone), remaining Raging Spirit from phase 1.5, and then Arthas.  As in the normal fight, spread out for defiles, group up for val’kyrs and the LK tank must communicate with the healers to properly use cooldowns and deal with the Soul Reaper.

Once the Raging Spirits were down, as a warrior, my priority became to keep stuns and hamstring on the val’kyrs.

We thought about having me use intervene on the paladin tank and used it once but it was not necessary.

Once we neared 45%, we waited for a valkyr to come down and the whole group followed it towards the edge, dpsing it to 50%.  We popped heroism in phase 2.5.  Only one spirit remained starting phase 3.

Phase 3.

This phase is quite different than on normal.  We used a strat that Noodle had gotten from Production Company (Moonrunner US, this links to their Guild Leader’s blog) in this phase.

The killing priorities for the DPS were the following: Vile Spirits coming down, Raging Spirits from phase 2.5, Arthas.

Inside Frostmourne

• We put a star on a tank.  His job was to navigate the group in between the explosions.  The whole group would stack on him with the ranged dps attacking the Wicked Spirits on the run.  It took us a couple of attempts and then it became very easy this way.

Outside and facing the Vile Spirits

• We would group on one side of the platform with Arthas.
• The spirits he would summon would be regrouped on that one side.  We would move the raid to the other end of the platform except for the OT.
• As the spirits are coming down, the OT would stay in the middle of the platform and put up shield wall to soak up the damage.

I was so happy, I forgot to dps the ending!

That was my last objective for Wrath of the Lich King.  It was well worth the hard work and the wait.

Next, we’ll do this fight again for those who weren’t there for the kill but were instrumental in getting us there.  As for my next topics, Wrath is now behind me and I will turn my attention fully onto Cataclysm.