Actual Paladin Tank Stuff Complete with Strategy Tweaks!

I know I don’t usually talk much about tanking, talenting or strategies but we’ve tweaked a few things in our raids - and I’ve tweaked a few things in my spec for different fights - so I thought I’d break with tradition! (You’re very excited now, aren’t you?)

If I don’t mention a strategy change we’re probably doing what everyone else is. As for DPS and heals we’ve used every bizarre, theoretically unworkable combination you can think of for a 10 man but we build the raid with the following:

Always -
Rogue
Warlock
Resto Druid
Pally tank (Yeah, I know, I said I heal sometimes but I really haven’t had to for a while.)
DK tank (on 2 tank fights otherwise he is DPS)

Rotating in and out based on the fight (or RL stuff) -
Holy/Disc Priest
Warrior (DPS)
Kitty (And occasional bear)
Hunter (Usually there)
Resto Shaman (Sometimes DPS)
Resto Druid #2 (Sometimes chicken)
Resto Druid #3 (Sometimes a Shaman)
Warlock #2
Mages #1-3


Blackwing Descent

Magmaw - Paladin tank on boss, DK tank on worms. DK just kites the little buggers around and no one kills them. As long as they move out of the way periodically we’ve had no issues.

Tron Dudes - Single tank FTW. The reason behind single tanking is simple - the healers like it. If I am able to hit the Tron Dude beating on me I can squeeze in a few self-heals. If the Tron Dude just wails on me and I can’t hit him…well healers have to work harder…add in a second tank and, well, you get the picture.

Achemedes - Meh, standard strategy as far as I know.

Chimaeron - I respec to ensure I have full points in Eternal Glory and Guarded by the light as well as Divine Guardian for this one. I use Holy Radiance while we are grouped up for Feud. I also pop Divine Guardian on the third Feud. The first time we got him to 20% (the largely unhealable, untauntable phase) I expected him to make a mad dash to nomnom on the healers but instead he stayed on our DK tank, then me, then he was dead. No worries on that one.

Maloriak - I always have points in Grand Crusader for the Avenger’s Shield refresh but in this fight it’s particularly handy. Our rogue interrupts the Storms and I handle the add releases while our DK tank kites the adds. I keep points in the Divine Guardian for the last phase and blow through pretty much every cooldown I have at that time.

Nefarion - I’ll let you know next week!



Bastion of Twilight

Halfus Wyrmbreaker - For this one I generally take Halfus myself first and bubble taunt off the first set of stacks of the healing debuff when applicable. This is one fight I really like having a Holy Paladin in for so he can Hand of Protection the DK tank when it’s his turn. I can do it but we’ve had a few times where my tank partner is too far away. Obviously we change strategies depending on which dragon combo we have but we haven’t ever killed all three. Just burn the first two and burn the boss. We start this one on hard mode this week so I’ll let you know how it goes!

Valiona & Therlion - Pretty standard

Twilight Ascendant Council - DK tank with ranged, me with melee, our warlock switches targets to keep them even if needed. DK tank on Ignacious for interrupts, me on Feludious for round one. Round two is DK tank on Arion and me on Terrastra. If it’s going to put melee too close to the wrong buff if I move him then I just pop a CD and eat the Quake/Thundershock.

Cho’gall - This is another fight I make sure I’m specced into as many healing boosts as possible. We two healed this with two resto druids (They cried a lot and begged for a “tank healer” and MCs suck with only two but they are more amazing than they think they are and we did just fine!) Our DK tank takes Cho’gall first and I cast Hand of Salvation on him immediately. His D&D works very well for the adds and as he can cast it ranged he doesn’t build stacks. HoS is up for the third taunt from him as well. Our DK tank is the recipient of many, many of my Word of Glorys (Word of Glories? Looks weird…) on this fight.



Throne of Four Winds

Conclave of Wind - What is there to say about this, really? Hard mode this week should be interesting!

Al’Akir - Not much to this one once everyone gets the movement and timing down. I make sure I have Hand of Protection ready for a healer in phase 3 and use Holy Radiance as we fly down to the base. Cooldowns are your friend in phase 3 LOL.



So, that’s all I can think of at the moment. Please feel free to post anything you may do that differs from the usual strategies!

And if anyone has found a sound strategy for Heroic Halfus and/or Conclave let me know!

Rant Day

Have I mentioned lately how much I loathe the Stupid Debuff? No, really? Well let me be clear….I REALLY, REALLY FUCKING HATE IT!

How is it that otherwise sensible raiders can die to frost bombs? There’s an ice tomb to stand behind for a reason! And dragons, heaven help me, how does one forget after months in ICC and dragons in almost every raid, that they cleave! And have bad breath! And, oh yeah, the tails will knock you into next week!

Why, oh why, people do you stand in green slime on Putricide? We have clearly established that it does not give you a lovely buff.

I say at the beginning of every Blood Queen fight, “If you can’t find your bite target for whatever asinine reason then bite ANYONE but DO NOT get mind controlled!” So, help me understand the mind controls?

Oh, right, healers, bosses on ICC Heroic mode….they hit the tanks harder! And my darling off-tank…pop your freaking cool downs more! Don’t wait for the emergency that may come your way, I’ve got news for you, it’s an emergency NOW!

Lastly, let’s just take the word “lag” out of our vocabularies, please. If you fuck up then just be a man about it, admit it, and move on. If I hear lag used as an excuse one more time I may hurt someone. Even if it is lag tell me something else. I don’t care to hear it anymore.

The Enforcer's Guest Post

/wave

I’m your friendly neighborhood rogue. Aka: ‘The Enforcer”. Yeah that’s right …/flex. Anyways Lark has been hinting at me writing a guest post on her blog. Well, I’ve been procrastinating for two reasons: 1. I’m horrible at typing. 2. I’m horrible at writing. So far 2 of 5 delicious combo pts.


Anyways this whole enforcer dealio started as a joke. Our guild was (I mean the casters – including healers btw /rollseyes) getting our faces PWNed by malleable ooze on Professor Putricide. So I send Lark a tell, “Can I be GM for a day? So I can kick these bads?” Little did I know she’d like the idea.


The night goes on and a list begins to form:

• Stand in shit that wasn’t there before…GKICK!
• Don’t switch from boss to slimes….GKICK!
• Somehow miss seeing giant green oozes flying at you…Also somehow miss blaring DBM warning telling you your going to get hit if you don’t gtfo….zomfg GKICK!
• Ask what an A-bomb is…GKICK!
• Stand in place so the orange ooze eats your face…zomfg GKICK!
• Run into the middle of the raid when you are the ice tomb…4 times…GKICK!
• Ask what the boss does after you’ve been in on kills 7 times…GKICK!
• Don’t suck up to me…GKICK! I mean…ummm…

You see where this is going don’t you? Now I enjoy smoking the green so I don’t exactly remember how many threatening whispers I sent to Lark or what was said before I logged on to a new guild rank: “The Enforcer” - Badass.


So where are our raiders’ brains? Probably the same place as my offhand dagger.


Take it from behind,

Bre

(Note: The Enforcer hasn’t actually been allowed to /gkick anyone…yet. We’re going to call them out, demand less Stupid Debuffs, and let The Enforcer scare the hell out of them for a week or so first!)