The Taunt Swap
This fight is a very demanding taunt swap. The three Dogs need to be juggled precisely, and one failed taunt swap can wipe the raid. Have the Off (O) Tank on one Dog, and the Main (M) Tank on two.The basic principle of the taunt swap is to allow each Dog to reach 100% energy while Petrifying and Overload in intervals. The fight will begin as such:
M Tank - Dog 1 0%
- Dog 2 0%
O Tank - Dog 3 0%
At the start of the fight, if the O Tank's Dog is the one that begins petrifying, taunt swap with either of the other two Dogs, doesn't matter which one at this time. If one of the two Dogs on the M Tank begins petrifying, no taunt swap is needed.
The two Dogs tanked together will begin to gain energy. Allow both of them to reach 50%.
M Tank - Dog 1 50% (petrifying)
- Dog 2 50%
O Tank - Dog 3 0%
At this point, the O Tank needs to taunt the Dog that is not petrifying, while the M Tank taunts the Dog off the O Tank.
M Tank - Dog 1 50% (petrifying)
- Dog 3 0%
O Tank - Dog 2 50%
The petrifying Dog will then be allowed to reach 100% and Overload, which stops Petrification. The third Dog will reach 50% about this time.
M Tank - Dog 1 100% Overload
- Dog 3 50%
O Tank - Dog 2 50%
This clears the energy on the first dog, and a new dog will begin petrifying. If one of the M Tank's Dogs begins petrifying, no taunt swap. If the O Tank's Dog begins petrifying, taunt swap.
M Tank - Dog 1 0%
- Dog 2 50% Petrifying
O Tank - Dog 3 50%
From now on, the O Tank should be sure to taunt the Dog on the M Tank that is at 50% and not Petrifying. This prevents two Dogs overloading at the same time.
Positioning
As the taunt swap juggling occurs, there are three of four additional abilities to watch out for:Amethyst Pool - A purple pool of shadow damage to stay out of.
Cobalt Mine -A blue crystal with a blue circle around it that goes off after 3 seconds dealing damage and freezing anyone in it for 6 seconds. GET OUT!
The pools and mines are fairly straight forward. It's just fire to not stand in. They can make things pretty crowded, though, so that's where the kiting element of the fight comes in.
One way to do it is for the M Tank to kite down one side of the room, then up the other. The O Tank follows on the other side of the carpet, far enough away to prevent their Dog from gaining energy, but close enough to be in range of the healers and in taunting range of the other Dogs.
Jade Shards - AOE nature damage that needs healed through. The tanks can only mitigate this damage, not prevent it.
Jasper Chains - Chains two players together and deals increasing fire damage every second they are greater than 10 yards apart. Stay within 10 yards. When Jasper petrifies, the reduced fire damage taken means you can spread out and break the chains without to much damage taken. Typically, whoever is chained to a Tank is responsible for staying close.
The Tests
Do both Tanks stay out of Pools and Mines?Do both Tanks mitigate as much damage as possible, e.g. cooldowns during Overloads?
Does the M Tank kite the Dogs enough so that melee DPS can also stay out of Pools and Mines?
Does the O Tank taunt the correct Dog on each taunt swap?
Does the O Tank keep the extra Dog the right distance away?
Why always swap the helper dogs? A much simpler strat:
ReplyDelete- When the petrifyer and its first helper reach 50%, taunt the petrifyer over to the other side. No swap.
- From then on, any time a lone dog is selected to petrify, taunt over the boss that just blew up.
- If your taunts are very sloppy, you may end up with a helper that's outpacing the petrifier. Move the petrifier to the other side (no swap).
This strat requires the fewest taunts and I don't really see a downside to it.
It's a good strat, but it's disadvantage is it requires a lot more movement from melee DPS, following the petrifying dog from side to side. Granted, there is less margin of error for the tanks when using this strat, but it misses the point of using this fight as a tank test.
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