Unforeseen consequences – Princes Strat Change

Many years ago, when I was but a young BC raider, I hooked up in what was quite possibly the most memorable guild I’ve ever been in – No Dice. I won’t bore you with the history or drama surrounding the formation of No Dice, how I got there, or what the guild scene was like (as jokes regarding Emophane and Sora not being spec’d for kick would be funny only to those who were there) – and because I know that you’re really just scanning this page looking for my refined Princes strategy.

What I will say about No Dice is that this is where the “JP tanks everything” strategy really came into light. Back in Forgotten Fury we’d started this tactic, and it has been a tried and true method of handling content ever since. From solo tanking Attunemen to Hydross – we were always pushing this envelope of tanking and healing. I just wish I could have figured out how to tank all 4 Horsemen at once.

The New Princes Strat – Unforeseen Consequences

Remember a few days ago where I mentioned using a ranged tank for the Shadow Bold lobbing Prince, and how I mentioned you want to make sure you don’t path near him?

Yeah, you can disregard that.

In 10man (I’m going to try this in 25s on Friday) you can completely disregard the ranged tank for this fight. Here’s how we pulled it off – and why. Disclaimer: This probably won’t work in Hard Mode – so you still need to know the mechanics. This definitely trivializes the encounter though.

The Setup

Tank 1 (T1) – Pull Keleseth and start gathering up the shadow orbs. We used a druid tank, and I’m pretty sure he just put FF on them. They might have been catching an occasional swipe/maul as well. Take Keleseth to the left side of the room, and be prepared to taunt if Keleseth isn’t the 2^nd to be empowered.

Tank 2 (T2) – Grab Taldaram and Valanar and head towards the right side of the platform. Your raid will have to pay close attention to Valanar’s fireballs, as they won’t be traveling as far. Don’t get carried away with the kiting though, as T1 needs to be able to taunt off you.

T1 & T2 – It’s time to play Ping-Pong taunting. You don’t want T1 to ever have an empowered Keleseth and Taldaram at the same time, so T2 will spend more time holding two bosses. T1 will have Keleseth and Taldaram only when Taldaram is empowered. T1 will need to be on the ball with their CDs in case Taldaram tosses an empowered fireball their way. If the raid lines up between the two tanks however, this becomes a trivial hit.

Continue trading holding two bosses throughout the fight. T2 can really benefit from using Indestructible potions (one on the pull, one as needed when holding 2 bosses) as the majority of the damage you will be taking is physical. The shock vortexes seem to have gotten a light buff, so you’ll want to start moving away from those now.

But why would you do this?

For those that find this fight trivial and one shot it, this tactic probably doesn’t make much sense. The issue we were running into was if one orb fell off the ranged tank (and Keleseth was empowered) it was an instant wipe. While it may be due to not DoTting them enough, or simply dying due to a time delay – we were running into instances where the Doomkin would take an 18k shot, usually mixed in with other damage (fire, etc).

This also speeds up the encounter, further reducing RNG hits, since we now have a full DPS added. I still don’t know if it will be possible to go back to 2 healing.

Conclusion

This strategy might not be for everyone, but we’ll definitely be using it again next week. I’ll admit that this may fall into the same category as my previous post – about not understanding the mechanics – since we’re probably missing something with the shadow orbs. I’ve heard that a hunter putting serpent sting on them helps. My guess is that our Boomkin is so afraid of losing threat, that she’s not spending enough time getting agro on the orbs.

She’s certainly pissed she’s not tanking anymore though. She kept trying to tank UP last night.