Ooh Ooh Dream...Walker
I believe you can get me through the night....
Last night was an expensive night for me. I bought the final Saronite I needed to get my Boots of Kingly Upheaval crafted by our resident Guild Blacksmith. He's been unselfishly using his Emblems to buy Saronites to make sure he's got all the patterns we need, and stockpiling Titansteel. A couple of guys pitched in and provided the Eternal Earths I needed so I wouldn't have to buy them off the AH. I've always heard the Tank's gear is not his own, but the guilds. With the Boots it really felt that way.
Then I caved and bought the Lightsworm Shoulderguards. Now the last piece of sub 251 gear on Honors is his Gloves. By the time I had gemmed and enchanted the boots and shoulders I was down about 3k total on the night. But it was gold I was happy to spend. Why else am I saving it up? It's kind of like Hunters who question if they should use Epic Ammo in ICC. Why else did you buy/craft it?
Raidwise, the night started out looking pretty bleak as we had only 6 guys on at raid time. But within a few minutes we had our full 11 online. We had cleared the first four bosses on Tuesday, so we started with the Crimson Halls in the Upper Spire.
We were greeted by a Quest Giver near the entrance to the Crimson Halls for a second week in a row. This quest requires you to kill Blood Queen Lanathel within 30 minutes of stepping into the Crimson Halls. About the only way you can pull that off is one shotting both Blood Princes and Blood Queen Lanathel. We got our first Blood Queen kill last week; a one shot of both bosses was a bit much to ask.
Undaunted we pulled as quickly as we could and prepared to face off with the Three Amigos. We had Jagdelf (SV Hunter) as our Ranged Tank, with Neo (Destro Lock) and Donk (Arcane Mage) playing with the Beach Balls. Jags target got empowered second which made healing him a little sketchy. Boston (Blood DK Raid Leader) called for cooldowns on Jag. I hit Divine Guardian. Start (Resto Shaman) hit him with Nature's Swiftness/Healing Wave, Blackhaus (Disc Priest) put up Guardian Spirit. Amazingly, Jag lived. Everyone did a fantastic job and Blood Princes were a one shot. We moved quickly on up to Blood Queen. The only way we were going to complete the quest was if we one shot her, too.
The attempt went really well until right towards the end. Somewhere in somebody ran the wrong way and we lost Donk (Arcane Mage). I didn't see what happened. Then right towards the end it turned into a gong show. Neo (Destro Lock) did some spell that made it look like he was getting hit by something from Blood Queen which caused Blackhaus (Disc Priest) to get concerned, then one of the DPS bit me which caused me to freak out because I wasn’t generating any threat. Of course, no one else was either at that point. We wiped, but we weren't going to have beaten the enrage timer anyway.
I was using Divine Guardian each Air Phase and I think it was really helping out the healers. I've made a macro that yells "RAID WALL UP" when I use it to help the healers know it's up.
We regrouped and pulled again. The attempt went much better but we were really close on the Enrage Timer. Both Blood Queen and the Enrage Timer were in single digits. I waited until her "THIS ENDS NOW!" emote and hit my Divine Shield. Boston (Blood DK co-tank) hit Anti-Magic Shell. We only needed a few seconds for the DoTs to finish her off. She died within a second or two of enraging.
She dropped another pair of Veincrusher Gauntlets. I had passed the first set to Boston, but I kept this set for myself. I'm not sure if I'll put Armsman (2% threat and 10 parry) on them or go with a 240 Armor Leatherworking Kit. Threat hasn't been a big issue, but the first 10 to 12 seconds of a fight can be a little tight, especially with our very skilled melee DPS like Blueshield (Fury Warrior) and Ofn (Combat Rogue).
After the fight I took a screenshot of my TankadinTPS report. I was really surprised to see Seal of Corruption being the #1 threat ability.
Our next target was Dreamwalker. We felt like we understood the encounter so much better than we had last week. Our healers knew how to handle the portals. Our first attempt we used a 4 healer/1 tank/5 DPS set up. Blackhaus and I stayed out as Holy while Lakini (Resto Druid) and Start (Resto Shamans) went into the portals. I still did a good bit of healing on Dreamwalker thanks to Beacon of Light. We had her up to 90% when Stark died to a combination of Frostbolts and the void zone that shows up on the ground. We got him back up, but he lost his 30 stack of the healing buff and we got overwhelmed.
Stark was being hampered by the snare from the Frostbolts. So we made two changes. First, we went back to 2 tanks, 3 healers, and 5 DPS. Blackhaus stayed outside while Lakini and Stark got the portals. The other change we made was to have Stark hang out on my side so I could dispel him if he got the Frostbolt snare.
I only worried about tanking the Zombies and the Aboms. The Zombies have a stacking nature debuff they put on you that reduces your armor. You want to try to kite Tank them. Start with Avenger's Shield, Exorcism and Hand of Reckoning. They are immune to stuns, but they don't move too quickly, and they blow up when they die leaving a nasty DoT on you. Try to be away from them when they die.
Aboms will spray you with something that you can easily cleanse off. The real key with these guys is don't leave the body once your DPS kill it. Put a Consecrate down immediately when they die. It'll help you pick up the worms that are going to spawn. They don't have much health but they hit harder than any worm you've seen before. Keep them on your plated behind and away from your DPS.
This is a perfect fight to run Seal of Command. The Adds die fairly quickly and you want to establish some quick aggro. It's also helpful for picking up an Archmage or Zombie while you tank an Abom.
But this fight isn't about Tanking. It's about your healers.
Our second attempt went better. The raid was beginning to get overwhelmed, but DreamWalker was nearly healed up. Stark and Lakini got their stacks. I hit Divine Guardian to try to keep people alive long enough for us to finish it, and prepared to hit Lay on Hands on Dreamwalker. With a 10 minute cooldown, I was trying to save it for when it would make the difference between victory and defeat. But just before I hit it, Dreamwalker stood up, and lolwtfpwned all the Undead in the room.
Stark and Lakini healed their butts off. But this fight had an MVP and it was Blackhaus. This guy single healed the 7 of us allowing Stark and Lakini to concentrate fully on Dreamwalker. The guy did an absolutely amazing job. So Blackhaus, have a cold one on me.
We finished the evening by going over and one shotting Rotface and Festergut. Can we please get that as our quest next week?
We are off for the weekend, but Monday only Putricide (who we've never killed) and Sindragosa (who we've never even pulled) stand between us and Arthas. I don't think we'll see him this week, but we are so very close I can almost taste it. Can you tell this prospect somewhat excites me?
Last night was an expensive night for me. I bought the final Saronite I needed to get my Boots of Kingly Upheaval crafted by our resident Guild Blacksmith. He's been unselfishly using his Emblems to buy Saronites to make sure he's got all the patterns we need, and stockpiling Titansteel. A couple of guys pitched in and provided the Eternal Earths I needed so I wouldn't have to buy them off the AH. I've always heard the Tank's gear is not his own, but the guilds. With the Boots it really felt that way.
Then I caved and bought the Lightsworm Shoulderguards. Now the last piece of sub 251 gear on Honors is his Gloves. By the time I had gemmed and enchanted the boots and shoulders I was down about 3k total on the night. But it was gold I was happy to spend. Why else am I saving it up? It's kind of like Hunters who question if they should use Epic Ammo in ICC. Why else did you buy/craft it?
Raidwise, the night started out looking pretty bleak as we had only 6 guys on at raid time. But within a few minutes we had our full 11 online. We had cleared the first four bosses on Tuesday, so we started with the Crimson Halls in the Upper Spire.
We were greeted by a Quest Giver near the entrance to the Crimson Halls for a second week in a row. This quest requires you to kill Blood Queen Lanathel within 30 minutes of stepping into the Crimson Halls. About the only way you can pull that off is one shotting both Blood Princes and Blood Queen Lanathel. We got our first Blood Queen kill last week; a one shot of both bosses was a bit much to ask.
Undaunted we pulled as quickly as we could and prepared to face off with the Three Amigos. We had Jagdelf (SV Hunter) as our Ranged Tank, with Neo (Destro Lock) and Donk (Arcane Mage) playing with the Beach Balls. Jags target got empowered second which made healing him a little sketchy. Boston (Blood DK Raid Leader) called for cooldowns on Jag. I hit Divine Guardian. Start (Resto Shaman) hit him with Nature's Swiftness/Healing Wave, Blackhaus (Disc Priest) put up Guardian Spirit. Amazingly, Jag lived. Everyone did a fantastic job and Blood Princes were a one shot. We moved quickly on up to Blood Queen. The only way we were going to complete the quest was if we one shot her, too.
The attempt went really well until right towards the end. Somewhere in somebody ran the wrong way and we lost Donk (Arcane Mage). I didn't see what happened. Then right towards the end it turned into a gong show. Neo (Destro Lock) did some spell that made it look like he was getting hit by something from Blood Queen which caused Blackhaus (Disc Priest) to get concerned, then one of the DPS bit me which caused me to freak out because I wasn’t generating any threat. Of course, no one else was either at that point. We wiped, but we weren't going to have beaten the enrage timer anyway.
I was using Divine Guardian each Air Phase and I think it was really helping out the healers. I've made a macro that yells "RAID WALL UP" when I use it to help the healers know it's up.
We regrouped and pulled again. The attempt went much better but we were really close on the Enrage Timer. Both Blood Queen and the Enrage Timer were in single digits. I waited until her "THIS ENDS NOW!" emote and hit my Divine Shield. Boston (Blood DK co-tank) hit Anti-Magic Shell. We only needed a few seconds for the DoTs to finish her off. She died within a second or two of enraging.
She dropped another pair of Veincrusher Gauntlets. I had passed the first set to Boston, but I kept this set for myself. I'm not sure if I'll put Armsman (2% threat and 10 parry) on them or go with a 240 Armor Leatherworking Kit. Threat hasn't been a big issue, but the first 10 to 12 seconds of a fight can be a little tight, especially with our very skilled melee DPS like Blueshield (Fury Warrior) and Ofn (Combat Rogue).
After the fight I took a screenshot of my TankadinTPS report. I was really surprised to see Seal of Corruption being the #1 threat ability.
Our next target was Dreamwalker. We felt like we understood the encounter so much better than we had last week. Our healers knew how to handle the portals. Our first attempt we used a 4 healer/1 tank/5 DPS set up. Blackhaus and I stayed out as Holy while Lakini (Resto Druid) and Start (Resto Shamans) went into the portals. I still did a good bit of healing on Dreamwalker thanks to Beacon of Light. We had her up to 90% when Stark died to a combination of Frostbolts and the void zone that shows up on the ground. We got him back up, but he lost his 30 stack of the healing buff and we got overwhelmed.Stark was being hampered by the snare from the Frostbolts. So we made two changes. First, we went back to 2 tanks, 3 healers, and 5 DPS. Blackhaus stayed outside while Lakini and Stark got the portals. The other change we made was to have Stark hang out on my side so I could dispel him if he got the Frostbolt snare.
I only worried about tanking the Zombies and the Aboms. The Zombies have a stacking nature debuff they put on you that reduces your armor. You want to try to kite Tank them. Start with Avenger's Shield, Exorcism and Hand of Reckoning. They are immune to stuns, but they don't move too quickly, and they blow up when they die leaving a nasty DoT on you. Try to be away from them when they die.
Aboms will spray you with something that you can easily cleanse off. The real key with these guys is don't leave the body once your DPS kill it. Put a Consecrate down immediately when they die. It'll help you pick up the worms that are going to spawn. They don't have much health but they hit harder than any worm you've seen before. Keep them on your plated behind and away from your DPS.
This is a perfect fight to run Seal of Command. The Adds die fairly quickly and you want to establish some quick aggro. It's also helpful for picking up an Archmage or Zombie while you tank an Abom.
But this fight isn't about Tanking. It's about your healers.
Our second attempt went better. The raid was beginning to get overwhelmed, but DreamWalker was nearly healed up. Stark and Lakini got their stacks. I hit Divine Guardian to try to keep people alive long enough for us to finish it, and prepared to hit Lay on Hands on Dreamwalker. With a 10 minute cooldown, I was trying to save it for when it would make the difference between victory and defeat. But just before I hit it, Dreamwalker stood up, and lolwtfpwned all the Undead in the room.
Stark and Lakini healed their butts off. But this fight had an MVP and it was Blackhaus. This guy single healed the 7 of us allowing Stark and Lakini to concentrate fully on Dreamwalker. The guy did an absolutely amazing job. So Blackhaus, have a cold one on me.
We finished the evening by going over and one shotting Rotface and Festergut. Can we please get that as our quest next week?We are off for the weekend, but Monday only Putricide (who we've never killed) and Sindragosa (who we've never even pulled) stand between us and Arthas. I don't think we'll see him this week, but we are so very close I can almost taste it. Can you tell this prospect somewhat excites me?
Comments
I'm guessing you mean holy priest? Guardian Spirit is the 51 point holy talent.
Disc gets Pain Suppression, but not nearly as sexy for "save their ass" as Guardian Spirit.
IMO healers are always the MVP of the fights in a progression raid. I gear my tank out so that I can take a hit, or have enough health that they can keep me up. But the keeping me up as well as all the "must stand in the fire's, cleaves, voids", I mean dps, is what makes us win.
We may be a small guild, but we have some fantastic healers. I was sold on this when we lost an OT on marrowgar shortly after the pull and the healers kept me up to single tank about 85%. I don't think they hear it enough as it can be a thankless job, so its really nice to see it here.