Unnaturally Cold
A little bit of news before I get into last night’s raid. I’ve got a major post coming out on Monday. You don’t want to miss it!
Now, last night was a strange night for Team Ellevis. We had killed every boss available in Coliseum on Tuesday, so we headed back to Ulduar on Thursday.
We knocked out Flame Leviathan and headed over to XT. We've been doing XT Hard Mode for months now, but we still have a couple of people who need loot off him. For some reason, it just wasn't clicking last night on XT.
XT is one of those fights that tough on a tank because we really aren't in a critical role. I know that probably sounds weird, but basically I stand there and work on my Threat rotations. Oh, we have to be alert to using our cooldowns if we get low, but whether or not we are going to kill the boss is much more dependant on the other raiders handling the Light Bombs, Gravity Bombs and Sparks. It's a fight that's all about execution, and for whatever reason, we were just off our game last night.
After several unsuccessful attempts, we decided to just kill him normally. I'm sure the guys wanting Hard Mode loots were disappointed, but it was time to move on.
I think the guys may be getting a little tired of Ulduar. As we pulled trash our Mage would constantly try to pull extra groups and see if we could handle it. He might have been a touch bored.
We did Open Arms on Kologarn (kill him without killing his arms). I had to really watch my AoE as both Consecration and Hammer of the Righteous would hit the arms and we didn't want one of them dying from collateral damage. Even with just Holy Shield, Shield of the Righteous and Judgment, I was able to hold threat.
For Auriaya, we did the Nine Lives achievement. I just had to kite the boss to a new spot when the Feral Defender dropped his void zone. We actually had to slow down on DPS so we wouldn't kill Auriaya before we killed the Feral Defender nine times.
Next up was Hodir. After our struggles on XT, I didn't hold out much hope for Hard Mode. I asked Ellevis if we could give it a try. He said we would give it a couple of attempts. The first attempt went really well. I nearly got myself got in an Ice Block during Flash Freeze, but I made it just in time. I believe that Pursuit of Justice made the difference.
We had one person get caught in a Flash Freeze with Hodir at about 45%. We ended up wiping it, but we had new found confidence we could pull it off.
Marksman Hunters are so good for this fight, and we had two of them in our raid. With their Rapid Fire --> Readiness --> Rapid Fire, they poured a ton of damage out early on. The next pull we downed it.
We rezzed the dead and I waited for loot. I already had LOL!!! typed in and ready to send to the raid, awaiting for the announcement that we had gotten a 6th Staff of Enduring Winter on our 6th kill of Hodir Hard. But there it was, Shiver!
I told Ellevis I would be interested in it. It's very similar to the Titanguard. I lose 1 Str, 8 Defense, 6 Hit and pick up a socket, plus 5 Expertise Skill (not rating, skill) from my Dwarf Racial. I threw a Solid Mystic Zircon in there as soon as the raid was over. Now I just need to get the mats together to get Blood Draining put on it. I’ll get a screenshot once it’s all enchanted up.
It was only after the kill that I was reminded that Hodir is one of 4 bosses we need for Champion of Ulduar. . To get Champion of Uludar you have to do each boss with none one dying and it being a one shot. Once you do that once for a Boss, you have credit for it. We have credit for all the bosses in Uludar expect 4. We need Hodir, Mimiron, Iron Council and Yogg. If we do Hodir again, I'm going to tell Ellevis we can forgo Hard Mode and try to get Hodir down for Champion of Ulduar.
Boreal Guard (the Shield that can drop from Hodir Hard) is the last bit of loot I need from Ulduar. It’s every bit as good as the Bulwark of the Royal Guard (Heroic) from Anub'barak in Heroic Trial of the Crusader 10 man. Next week we should be able to down Anub'arak in Normal 10 man and open up Heroic. I firmly believe we'll be able to clear Heroic 10 man at some point. It seems selfish to keep the whole raid from a shot at Champion of Ulduar just so I can get a shot at Boreal Guard, so I'll set my sites on Bulwark of the Royal Guard (Heroic) now.
We can still try to get Mimiron, Iron Council and Yogg this week if we go back to Ulduar on Monday. We've come close on Mimiron a couple of times, and I'm sure if we do Runemaster last, we can get Iron Council. If we forgo Hard Mode, I think we can probably get Hodir, too. Yogg, well that's going to be a tough one.
Now, last night was a strange night for Team Ellevis. We had killed every boss available in Coliseum on Tuesday, so we headed back to Ulduar on Thursday.
We knocked out Flame Leviathan and headed over to XT. We've been doing XT Hard Mode for months now, but we still have a couple of people who need loot off him. For some reason, it just wasn't clicking last night on XT.
XT is one of those fights that tough on a tank because we really aren't in a critical role. I know that probably sounds weird, but basically I stand there and work on my Threat rotations. Oh, we have to be alert to using our cooldowns if we get low, but whether or not we are going to kill the boss is much more dependant on the other raiders handling the Light Bombs, Gravity Bombs and Sparks. It's a fight that's all about execution, and for whatever reason, we were just off our game last night.
After several unsuccessful attempts, we decided to just kill him normally. I'm sure the guys wanting Hard Mode loots were disappointed, but it was time to move on.
I think the guys may be getting a little tired of Ulduar. As we pulled trash our Mage would constantly try to pull extra groups and see if we could handle it. He might have been a touch bored.
We did Open Arms on Kologarn (kill him without killing his arms). I had to really watch my AoE as both Consecration and Hammer of the Righteous would hit the arms and we didn't want one of them dying from collateral damage. Even with just Holy Shield, Shield of the Righteous and Judgment, I was able to hold threat.
For Auriaya, we did the Nine Lives achievement. I just had to kite the boss to a new spot when the Feral Defender dropped his void zone. We actually had to slow down on DPS so we wouldn't kill Auriaya before we killed the Feral Defender nine times.
Next up was Hodir. After our struggles on XT, I didn't hold out much hope for Hard Mode. I asked Ellevis if we could give it a try. He said we would give it a couple of attempts. The first attempt went really well. I nearly got myself got in an Ice Block during Flash Freeze, but I made it just in time. I believe that Pursuit of Justice made the difference.
We had one person get caught in a Flash Freeze with Hodir at about 45%. We ended up wiping it, but we had new found confidence we could pull it off.
Marksman Hunters are so good for this fight, and we had two of them in our raid. With their Rapid Fire --> Readiness --> Rapid Fire, they poured a ton of damage out early on. The next pull we downed it.
We rezzed the dead and I waited for loot. I already had LOL!!! typed in and ready to send to the raid, awaiting for the announcement that we had gotten a 6th Staff of Enduring Winter on our 6th kill of Hodir Hard. But there it was, Shiver!
I told Ellevis I would be interested in it. It's very similar to the Titanguard. I lose 1 Str, 8 Defense, 6 Hit and pick up a socket, plus 5 Expertise Skill (not rating, skill) from my Dwarf Racial. I threw a Solid Mystic Zircon in there as soon as the raid was over. Now I just need to get the mats together to get Blood Draining put on it. I’ll get a screenshot once it’s all enchanted up.
It was only after the kill that I was reminded that Hodir is one of 4 bosses we need for Champion of Ulduar. . To get Champion of Uludar you have to do each boss with none one dying and it being a one shot. Once you do that once for a Boss, you have credit for it. We have credit for all the bosses in Uludar expect 4. We need Hodir, Mimiron, Iron Council and Yogg. If we do Hodir again, I'm going to tell Ellevis we can forgo Hard Mode and try to get Hodir down for Champion of Ulduar.
Boreal Guard (the Shield that can drop from Hodir Hard) is the last bit of loot I need from Ulduar. It’s every bit as good as the Bulwark of the Royal Guard (Heroic) from Anub'barak in Heroic Trial of the Crusader 10 man. Next week we should be able to down Anub'arak in Normal 10 man and open up Heroic. I firmly believe we'll be able to clear Heroic 10 man at some point. It seems selfish to keep the whole raid from a shot at Champion of Ulduar just so I can get a shot at Boreal Guard, so I'll set my sites on Bulwark of the Royal Guard (Heroic) now.
We can still try to get Mimiron, Iron Council and Yogg this week if we go back to Ulduar on Monday. We've come close on Mimiron a couple of times, and I'm sure if we do Runemaster last, we can get Iron Council. If we forgo Hard Mode, I think we can probably get Hodir, too. Yogg, well that's going to be a tough one.
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