Arc's How-to-tank-certain-bosses Thread

[Arcdelad]

hey guys...we have a great group of up and coming bear druids in our guild, so i want to give some bear specific pointers on how to tank different raid instance bosses....im going to start with ZA since its freshest in my mind...

BEAR BOSS

Nalorakk is a tauntable boss that takes two forms - bear form and troll form...most likely you will be asked to tank the bear form, but these instructions work for troll form too...

You need to let the other tank make the pull and get 3-5k ahead in threat before you even touch the boss, becuase bears generate threat very quickly...you do, though, need to stand RIGHT on top of the other tank so that the cleave damage is split in half between the two of you...you should be helping out with the other tank and the DPSers though by keeping faerie fire and demoralizing roar up the entire time. It is CRITICAL that you watch omen here. You cannot steal aggro while he is in troll form, or else you will kill yourself - in troll form he puts a debuff on you that multiplies bleed damage, and in bear form (which your tanking) he does massive bleed damage. If you have that debuff on you going into bear form tankage, it doesnt matter how good your healers are - your going to die fast.

Five seconds before he goes bear form (you need to be watching the timer like a fiend) you should pop that thorn shield spell (reduces damage by 20% for a bit) and pop right back into bear form. You should do this EVERY time prior to him going bear form - it really gives the healers some grace period to switch over to you and get focused on healing through a very hard stage.

When he goes into bear form DO NOT taunt him until he is 100% in bear form - it takes precise timing, but a good visual is when he starts to shrink a bit - he shifts into bear form and grows huge, but then shrinks back a bit - when he starts to shrink back a bit thats the time to taunt him. Think of it as a roller coaster - get him when hes starting down the first hill...

Taunt works by making you match the highest threat person in the raid's threat (so when you hit taunt your threat level is equal to the other tanks threat level), plus giving you 6 seconds where he will not be off of you even if your not #1 on threat. Since you and the other tank's threat levels are about equal now, you need to build a lot of threat VERY fast so that the other tank doesnt grab aggro accidentally. After your growl, you need to mangle, x3 lacerate, mangle, swipe, and then button mash your tanking attack cycle to speed ahead in aggro...if youve done it right you should speed past the second tank by at least 10-25k threat by the time the taunt wears off.

The bear form hits faster, harder, stacks bleed effects, AND silences your healers for peiods at a time, making this phase just lethal...it is very very hard - here are some tricks to staying alive (besides having good gear ):

The moroes trinket is on a 2 min CD - you need to pop this right away the first time its your turn to tank the bear. This makes your dodge go up a lot and definitely helps out when the healers are silenced becuase you are then dodging attacks better, meaning your health isnt dropping like a rock...

Second time you tank the bear, your trinket wont be available again...here, let your rage build up all the way and pop frenzied rejuvenation...you would be surprised how much those 250 HP tics will help you when the healers are silenced.

Third time you tank him your trinket is back...pop it and go!

Make sure your keeping demo roar up the whole time...this definitely helps out versus these hard hitters.

Next: tanking the lynx boss

[Arcdelad]

LYNX BOSS

This guy can be very brutal on you as a tank and will require healers that are on the ball and have a good mana supply.

Having said that, you as a feral druid need to take the lead here in tanking because he does 100% physical damage with zero crushing blows, meaning that your high avoidance rate, high health, and high armor all make this fight ideal for you.

This is, though, a strong two tank fight. You will need a solid OT here that will have to eat pretty regular 9K damage cleaves. Two feral druids here would be ideal, but well geared pallies or warriors do great too.

When the fight starts, you need to pull the boss, but you also need to make sure your OT is standing right on top of you. ANYTIME the boss is in combined lynx / troll form, you and the OT need to make sure your occupying the same space â€" it should look almost like the OT is riding you. Yes…Allo and Kay smell pretty rank…its an occupational hazard. Khader, though, wears All-spice (it enhances shield wall)…

The boss is going to stay in troll / lynx combined form until DPS gets him down to 75% health. He will be hitting you very hard, then adding damage with his cleaves, and has a very high attack speed. Additionally, he does a frenzy, where his attack speed goes through the roof and he just starts wailing on you for about 8 seconds. Any hunter can calm him down with Tranq shot, but the CD on tranq shot is much longer than his CD on frenzy, so you WILL have to eat some frenzies. Demo roar needs to be kept up at all times, and don’t forget to reapply faerie fire to help DPS out.

A good strat is this: count the number of hunters in your party. If you have 1 hunter, than let him tranq the first frenzy. The second frenzy, which will be coming sooner than youd like, you need to use an avoidance trinket for. Moroes’ pocketwatch or the badge of tenacity are ideal here, and trinkets like the spyglass of the hidden fleet also helpout. Don’t use your frenzied regen yet though….you need to save that for the final 25% of the fight.

If your DPS is on target, there should only be two-three frenzied regens per combined phase. At this point the boss is going to split into two â€" a troll form and a lynx avatar. You need to avoid any swiping at this time and just use single target attacks â€" this will make sure the troll stays on you and you DON”T grab the lynx spirit. At this point, it is no longer necessary to be on top of each other, but once they combine (before even to be safe) make sure you two stand on top of each other again.

When you are tanking the troll form, the rest of the DPS will be killing the lynx. At this point your eyes NEED to be glued to the caster bar for the troll. I would also recommend that you be made a raid assistant. Since you are the only one attacking the troll, you will see 1-2 seconds before anyone else when he drops his totems. The totems need to die ASAP, and the raid should have a macro that makes them target it. When you see the dropping totem cast in the trolls caster bar, you need to announce to the raid that he is dropping a totem. You THEN need to switch to that totem and help kill it â€" it always drops around the troll boss, so it will be in range. For some extra oomph mark it with an X for some more raid visibility.

It will take the DPS some time to kill the lynx, especially since they will be switching to the totems when they drop. Keep an eye on the lynx’ health â€" when it gets low move back into sync with the OT and get ready for another 25% of knuckle whitening damage coming from the combined form. By this time, your avoidance trink will be ready again.

The final 25% is also pretty challenging. He will be in combined form, but will ALSO be dropping totems, so you need to watch his caster bar like a hawk and be on those announcements. If DPS is slow on getting those totems down, it means more of the raid will be taking damage, which could thin out your healers’ focus when they need to be only healing you and the OT. Rage is not an issue at all this fight, so first time he frenzies, pop your avoidance trinks AND use frenzied regen to help ease the healer load slightly.