But...we were getting along...so well...
Last night we downed Blood Queen Lana’thel on 25 man! Grats Inevitable! Way to keep your focus even after raiding so long! So now for the rundown of the fight. First off, I was shadow for this because we needed the passive healing. I have healed it and I know how to heal it, but this may be mostly from a dps standpoint.
There are several debuffs that you need to watch out for.
- The first one is Swarming Shadows. This is a lot like the Legion Flame from Jaraxxus. Just run along the edge of the room until they go out. Be careful where you run. Avoid melee and the center of the room. When I got targeted, I just tried to get as close to the wall as possible. (Ranged, don’t dps against the wall!)
- The second one is Pact of the Darkfallen. This is cast on three raiders in 25 man and two in 10 man. The raiders must run to each other to get rid of this high damage debuff. Anybody caught between the raiders joining up should get away because they will take damage too. The raiders will have red strands connecting them creating a triangle (in 25) so it’s obvious where the damage will be.
- All ranged should spread out as much as possible. She will randomly throw Bloodbolts at raiders, which can splash and will do damage to any raiders within 10 yards.
- Another thing to point out is the debuff the closest raider to the tank gets. It's called Blood Mirror and it causes the offtank to take 100% of the damage done to the tank.
- At least twice, Lana’thel will run into the center of the room and fly into the air. The entire raid will be feared. Breaking the fear is recommended as the raid must quickly spread out. Lana’thel begins casting Bloodbolt Whirl which sends a bloodbolt to every raider. The splashes will kill stacked up raiders. Be sure that ranged dps continue to dps during this phase (after spreading out obviously).
- Something for the healers to pay attention to is Shroud of Sorrow. This is the constant aoe that starts the minute you engage Lana'thel. Think of the aura from Twin Val'kyrs.
The most important part of this fight is something I haven’t mentioned yet. After 15 seconds, the highest estimated dps will receive the debuff Essence of the Blood Queen. This basically turns them into a vampire. The dps will grow in size and turn a pinkish red. (And do lots more damage with no threat but the important part is how cool they look, right??) They also heal for 10% of the damage they do. After 60 seconds the sides of the vampire’s screen will turn red and his bars will disappear to be replaced with a single ability, Vampiric Bite. The vampire must bite someone in 15 seconds or they will lose their mind to Lana’thel. Each bitten person becomes a vampire. We created a spreadsheet to organize who would bite who and when. This seemed to organize the fight quite a bit and prevent a huge clusterf*ck.
The enrage timer is very tight so the debuffs must be utilized to the best of everyone’s ability. The raid cannot afford to allow any vampire to be mind controlled.
Another thing we noticed is that the best way to control who gets the first bite is to allow that one raider to pop cooldowns immediately while all others slowly dps. This means that all other dps must constantly attack with no cooldowns or high damage/crit abilities. One of our paladins did not pop any cooldowns but hit the boss with two high damage crits and then backed off completely. This caused him to be the bitten because Lana’thel estimated his dps from only those two attacks because he did not continue to attack. So attack continuously but don’t pop cooldowns or use high damage abilities.
Well that’s Blood Queen Lana’thel. My shadow gear is a bit lacking so I was one of the last dps to get bitten sadly, but I enjoy this fight immensely. It’s quite possibly my favorite encounter so far.
In other news…I have learned how to tank. Didn’t think it was possible, huh? Well it is…and I did. I’ve received many compliments. I’m amused that no matter how hard you try and how much you do your research, you will always run into that one person who thinks you’re an idiot. I’ll give you a good pug story from my tanking and a bad pug story. Bad one first? Okay. In both of these, my boyfriend was the doofus hunter attempting to make the dull groups more interesting.
PuG story #1-The Baddie
Chris and I were thrown into a Slave Pens pug after sitting in LFG for only a couple minutes (yay for being a tank!). This was not my first instance to tank. I had tanked Hellfire Ramparts several times and Blood Furnace once. All were successful and I had received several compliments. I also took Miss Medicina’s advice and attempted to compliment someone in every group. Well this one was hard to do.
A few pulls in and all is going well. I’m level 62 and having no problem with threat or survivability.
Shaman healer: “nymora r u a f*cking idiot?” Huh? Okay I’m not quite secure with my tanking just yet but I am secure in my knowledge that I’m not an idiot.
Nymora: “Excuse me?”
Shaman healer: “go back to ebon hold and get a real tanking rune” I open up my Runeforging. I’m using Spellshattering. The only other runes are quite obviously dps runes.
Nymora: “If you’re so wise, please inform me, which rune should I be using?” I link my Runeforging just so he can see what’s available. Party chat goes silent for a few minutes so I continue to pull. A few more pulls and the healer drops group.
“I guess he didn’t want to admit that he was wrong,” one of the other dps says. We share a laugh, grab another healer, and finish the instance.
Here’s my advice to this shaman. You want to call someone out? Fine. Do it nicely. Don’t assume everybody’s an idiot just because you’ve had bad luck with pugs. Also, good grammar gives you more credence.
Shaman healer: “Nymora, I think you should be using a better rune.”
Nymora: “[Runeforging] Which one?”
Shaman healer: “Oh you don’t have it yet, I’m sorry.”
Nymora: “No problem.”
Group continues.
See how much better that was?
PuG story #2-The Friendly One
Chris and I then joined an Underbog pug. He teases me while I’m tanking. He misdirects to me while I’m eating. I let him pull aggro a few times, but then taunt off before he gets hurt too bad. All in good fun. I jokingly apologize to the pugs and tell them my boyfriend’s retarded and they finally realize what’s going on. We finish the instance, which was a ton of fun because of the goofing off. The conversation that follows was one of the best ever.
Priest healer: “That was some of the best tanking I’ve seen in a long time.”
Nymora: “Thanks.”
Chris: “Yeah, she’s great isn’t she?”
Priest healer: “It’s hard to believe she’s a 62 Death Knight!” Best compliment EVAR.
So here’s my problem. As a healer, I almost understand the shaman’s frustration and definitely understand the priest’s surprise. A Death Knight that can properly tank? Wow those are rare. Wait, this one’s not even out of Outlands yet? Okay now you’re lying to me. How is it that I find this so simple yet I meet so many fail death knights?Stack tank stats (except block obviously). Well duh. Lots of dodge and parry is apparently good. Stamina and defense too (not beyond the cap).
AoE pull? Death grip ranged. Throw down Death and Decay. Silence/Mind Freeze casters. Spread diseases. Switch between adds to keep up your aggro.
Single target pull? Death grip or taunt. Death and Decay? If you want. Or if there will be adds. Then keep up your diseases…and dps?
I mean how hard can this be?
Wait, I think I got it. Research. Reading. Willingness to learn. It still amazes me how many people expect to be spoon-fed the game. It’s becoming more and more about the players who use their brains than the ones who stack the right gear. That’s how we see more fail players nowadays. Not because it’s easier to get gear but because it’s more obvious that they don’t do their research. They don’t learn about their class.
Rant almost over. My message to anybody reading this:
Don’t just pick up a class and expect to do well. Or expect people to tell you how. Look it up. Use guides. Read your talents and abilities. Use trial and error!
Don’t want to learn about your class? Just want to play? Don’t play mmos. For the sake of the rest of us who do.
