5 Written by
Anna on
May 31, 2008 – 8:57 am
This is one in a series of posts covering resto-shaman-specific information for tier4 and tier5 boss fights. It will NOT be a boss kill strategy, rather a list of tips and tricks for your friendly neighborhood shaman to make these fights run a little more smoothly.
You can see other Guides (including Gruul’s Lair and all of Serpentshrine Cavern) here.
Welcome to raiding! You’re on your way to Karazhan, likely the first step into a raiding group of more than 5 people you’ve made since level 60… or at all, depending on when you started playing Warcraft! Karazhan is a large castle full of cool lore and cooler music… and about ten thousand bloodthirsty undead. This will cover the first four bosses of Karazhan – that is, everything up to (and including) The Opera Event. You can find parts two and three here.
Before we get started – Make sure you have your Consumables, and that you know enough about Totem Synergy to buff your group appropriately. Also – remember Earthshield and Heroism/Bloodlust!
Read the rest of this entry »
1 Written by
Anna on
May 30, 2008 – 7:41 am
Original tune by Arthur Hamilton
Sung by Julie London and later Ella Fitzgerald
You say your gear is lowly
It isn’t purple, or blue.
Well you can cry me a river
Cry me a river
I’ll cry no river over you
Now you say you’re sorry
For flagging out of the blue
Well you can cry me a river
Cry me a river
I’ve cried no river over you
You stealthed, you stunned me, out of my head
While you never shed a tear
Remember, I remember, all that you said
You told me PVPers were “all scum” -
You got what was coming and then some…
You say you’re getting better
You grind the whole night through
Come on and cry me a river
Cry me a river
I’ll cry no river over you…
I cry no rivers for QQ
I’ll cry no river… over you.
1 Written by
Anna on
May 29, 2008 – 7:58 am
In an effort to bring you Drama-Free and EZ-Mode-Lewt ™ on behalf of Totally Raiding, Inc., I bring you one in a series of class-specific addenda for the boss fights you may encounter. This is not a comprehensive fight guide, and should be read in addition to such; this is merely a guide for hunters as to what you should be doing during the fight to maximize your effectiveness in the ruckus that is this boss fight.
By reading this strategy addendum, you accept that the tactics set out herein are by no means foolproof, depends very much on you not being said fool, as well as other exogenous factors including but not limited to being singled out by the orbs (because it’s always all about you), splash damage, and the general incidence among the population of Adult ADD oh hey look shiny thing.
Welcome to the easiest fight in Tempest Keep. They don’t nickname him “Loot Reaver” for nothing, and if you can handle the SSC bosses, this is free epix all around. Hunters will be partial to the Void Reaver Greaves dropped by this loot piñata.
The pull
You’re probably going to be in one of various groups spread out around the perimeter of the rather large room. The fight takes place in the center of the room, so try to stay at maximum range throughout. This will mean running in a short distance at the pull.
If you’re in the group directly behind VR, note that you’ll not be very far from the robot itself, so make sure that you don’t accidentally facepull by watching the main tank and ensuring he/she gets the initial agro. Then go hog-wild with your DPS and misdirects.
The fight
The encounter does not have different phases and is exactly the same from 100% to 0%. Every so often, VR will knock back the highest agro target, reducing aggro. Work out a MD rotation amongst the hunters and watch the threat meter to stack aggro onto its next target in the tank list. Pay attention to your own aggro, and FD on cooldown as much as you can.
Those Orbs
An Arcane Orb will be fired at a random raid member at least 18 yards away from VR; it takes a few seconds to reach the place where the player was standing. Set your camera at maximum range to watch for these, and if one comes in your direction – even if not aimed at you (say, at maybe a neighbor), run like fuckery for the wall as soon as you see one coming. Turning 90 degrees and strafing away is probably the most effective as backing up is too slow, and turning tail doesn’t allow you to see the fight.
An Orb will splash down where you had been standing for around 6000 damage (on cloth) and is resistible, so you can probably withstand one, but not two. The biggest danger here is running back into a second Orb, so stay alert.
Since the last patch, VR no longer specifically targets a player before casting the Orbs, but it should show up in the combat log again, so addons such as BigWigs or DBM should be useful again to warn you of incoming Orbs – but don’t rely on that. Pay attention, and, in the words of Monty Python, run away!
The pet corner
Standard spank mode. Fire and forget, Kill Command whenever you can. You may need to top up your pet as it will get pounded, but Avoidance will mitigate the damage.
One more thing
Currently the graphics do not match the explosion. The explosion will go off (and cause damage) before the graphic shows the splash. It is best to begin moving within the first second, so as to be well out of range. There is a 10-minute enrage timer on this fight, but most raids with decent DPS (8k overall DPS is all that’s needed) will be well inside the timer, so rather than try to hog the meters, run away if uncertain. Less DPS because you’re moving is infinitely better than NO DPS because you’re dead.
**Belph’s posts will be featured here the same week that Anna’s Resto Shaman vs. Boss posts, in an attempt to be both consistent and informative. Belphzooka (aka Belphegor) is the fearless hunter lead of Totally Raids, Incorporated, and together with Kevin the Ravager and Fang the Bear, keeps us all on our toes and the bosses misdirected to the tanks. Harvey the scorpid is currently in time-out for bad behaviour.
He’s also now my guild leader, but don’t tell anyone else that.
3 Written by
Anna on
May 28, 2008 – 9:16 am
Most solo-class instance groups just don’t work out.
A 5 man group of all Paladins, however, is pure win.
Especially if you’re off doing Stratholme and Scholomance. Last night a group of paladins (two on their charger quests and three who were higher level) stormed through the questline, as well as snagging a dreadsteed for one of the paladin’s warlock alts. It was a night that made me proud to be a Paladin!
Synchronized Bubblehearthing
Aelflaed and her new Charger
Defenders of the Light!
A visit to Uther’s Tomb
