Monday, August 1, 2011

Baleroc

YOU SHALL NOT PASS! Ahem. Ok, sorry. Just had to get that out of the way. We can move along now. Baleroc is a tank and spank fight with mechanics that make this the hardest spanking your tanks will ever receive. Your tanks will be split between the one tanking Decimation Blade and the one tanking everything else. Your healers will be rotating between healing the tanks and healing the DPS on Shards of Torment in order to get stacks of their much needed healing buff. DPS will be rotating on shards to manage stacks of the Tormented debuff. Handling shards is what we will be concerned with.
 For this fight there are two (10m) or three (25m) groups that will always be together. In this setup there are always 2 sets of healers on the tanks and one on the shards. In 25man it’s a little smoother because the groups will always be the same melee-ranged-healer. In 10man the healers have to rotate between 3 of them, but on two groups, so one healer won’t always be healing the same set of crystal-takers.The reason we have groups for DPS is because of the shard’s minute(ish) long debuff. The debuff drastically increase shadow damage from the shards and so it must fall off before that person can take any new stacks.
Everyone starts stacked in melee and ranged/heals on the left. When the first shard starts to spawn everyone BUT melee group one and ranged group one move to the right side. When the shard despawns everyone should then be on the right side. The next shard will then spawn on the right side (since it spawns on someone) and everyone but melee 2 and ranged 2 will move left. This pattern continues until the boss is dead.

Shards are always preceded by a beam of purple light (think alien abduction).
If you are melee 1A it’s your job to make sure you’re standing next to that beam when it appears. Once the shard forms, pop shamanistic rage then keep DPSing as normal. At around 12 to 13 stacks you move out to rejoin the rest of the melee and your partner, melee 1B moves in. I usually drop glyphed stoneclaw totem right before this move to give myself and the healers a bit of a buffer during the switch. 

As melee 1B, put melee 1A on focus. That way you can see the number of stacks on your partner. You should be standing close enough to the shard that when 1A moves out, you’re automatically the next thing the beam latches on to. Pop shamanistic rage and DPS as normal. Once the shard disappears, move back in with the other melee to ensure the next shard spawns on the correct side. 

If you’re in 10man, your will be taking every other shard. If you’re in 25man you will have 2 shard durations to just attack the boss before taking it again. 

PAY ATTENTION TO WHICH GROUP YOU’RE IN AND WHICH GROUP IS CURRENTLY UP.  I cannot tell you the number of times we’ve wiped because someone from Group 3 went when it was still Group 2’s turn, or someone from Group 1 forgot they were up again and the beam jumped around to five people in a flurry of “debuffs for everyone!”

In the case that something does screw up, your extra DPS should be prepared to stand in. However, this call should be made only by the person who screws up and no one else should have a say in vent. If you say “crap, I just took 2B’s and I’m supposed to be 3A, Warrior can you take the first of the next shard.” Then there’s a good chance the situation can be salvaged and rotations will proceed as normal the next time around. 

If, however, multiple people  screw up, or multiple people are calling out for someone to replace someone else, you’re probably just doomed. Wipe it and try again. Or get really lucky, somehow screw up three different times, having people randomly throwing themselves on the shards, and end up getting the achievement. You know. Potato, potahto. 

Once everyone understands their shard rotations this fight is very easy. For the DPS anyway. Expect wipes as your tanks and healers figure out how to deal with the extra high damage, extra high healing mechanics of the fight. 

The wait is worth it, as Baelroc drops our beautiful, beautiful Gatecrasher

2 comments:

  1. Hey! It's Wolfjaw. Changed races, so I threw a name change in there as well. We are doing this fight on Thursday I believe. I always love getting fight tips that are specifically tailored towards Enhancement. Great guide. Keep up the great work? U haz a Twitter?

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  2. Hiyo ~ Good luck on Thursday, you'll get it for sure!

    I don't have a Twitter, at least not yet.

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