Tanking Crib Sheet – The Lich King Rough Draft

This is a work in progress (like Sindragosa) because we have only downed him once. Or first kill was pretty spectacular though, and involved about 7-10 hours of wipes and raiding.

Good luck.

Right now we use three healers and two tanks – Disc Priest, Resto Druid, Resto Shaman and Protaidn, Bear. DPS is Retadin, Boomkin, Ele Shaman, Arcane Mage, and Rogue. You will need either a rogue or a hunter for this encounter – unless some other class can de-enrage a mob.

The Setup

Position the raid so that they are spread out in a semi-circle between the edge of the platform and the transporter pad you just came up. You’ll want to stay spread out, simply to avoid any clutter or confusion (there will be enough of this later). MT will be picking up and holding Arthas on this spot. The OT will stand on the inside of the transporter pad circle (the opening that faces the throne) and hold his adds facing away from the raid. Shambling Horrors do a shockwave that will one shot any non-tank. Hold them close to the small ghouls that are popping up, as you’ll be spreading a disease through them to burn them down.

Phase 1 – the pull and the first 30%

Talk to Tirion and start the 2 minutes or so of RP. Once Arthas comes down, all DPS should focus on him as the MT holds him on the transporter pad. When adds start spawning, the OT picks them up and holds them just outside the platform. Having a hunter MD the large adds to you really helps if you’re not a DK or a Paladin. Don’t let the Horrors face the raid, and just burn Arthas down until 70%.

Phase 1.5 – One minute of stress

Get all the adds to the edge of the platform (past the jagged line) and keep burning through them. Three Raging (Enraged?) spirits will spawn at 20 second intervals, stunning the person that they spawn on (if it’s the tank, watch your agro). We found it best if the OT runs to the person spawning the spirit, otherwise they seemed to get one shot by them. Hopefully all your ghouls and horrors are down by now, and you have at least one Raging Spirit dead by the start of P2.

Phase 2 – 30% of chaos

As tanks this is fairly easy. You’ll have the following things to watch out for/do during this phase.

· MT – Hold Arthas near the middle of the room. Be ready to use a cooldown the first time you get the plague. Your OT will still be dealing with one or two remaining spirits that your DPS will be focusing down.

· OT – Hold the adds facing away from the raid. Move yourself near the middle of the room as well – you want to keep as much distance between your raid and the edge of the platform.

· Soul Reaper – This hits the tank for 50k before mitigation and resistances. If all the adds are down, your OT should be taunting as soon as you get this – if not, start popping cooldowns. If your big one is down, this is when you hit trinkets/pots and make that “HNNNNGGGGHHHH” sound as you watch your health plummet into the 10% range. Trust me, making that sound helps. Clenching your butt up tight does as well.

· Defile – try to avoid splitting your raid in half if this is on you. Keep moving the Defile/Arthas between Tirion and the portal. The first one should be gone by the time the third one pops.

· Help the DPS – Paladins, toss your shield at the Valkyr. Druids can put up infected wounds and feral charge, Warriors have mad stuns, and DKs..chains of ice?

· Keep your head on a swivel – now is not the time for tunnel vision.

Phase 2.5 – 1.5 Redux

At 40% Arthas will stop the insanity and you’ll do phase 1.5 all over. Nothing different here, except you’ll get more Raging Spirits. Police them up, and burn them down. Now is an excellent time for Bloodlust. This will last about a minute, and then Phase 3 begins.

Phase 3 – 40% to ??? (yeah, not telling you)

At the start of P3 you’re probably going to have one or two Raging Spirits left. Burn them down while repeating everything from P2. While you don’t have to worry about Valkyr any more, your do have to watch out for Vile Spirits. While the ranged DPS ‘should’ be burning them down, they will probably be a few that slip past and head for the ground. They do about 15k when they land, so just keep an eye on them. Tank swapping will still be taking place.

At some point you will lose a healer or DPS to Frostmourne. They’ll be out of action for about a minute, but don’t worry – they’ll be back.

???

At some point something will happen which will trigger some other thing and then there will be something else that happens. Hold it all together until this does – I guarantee it’s worth the wait.