11-27-2012, 01:23 PM
Here is the Stone Guard fight in normal mode -- the first fight of Mogu'shan Vaults:
* In a 10-man, we'll have three random Guardians (out of a possible four).
* Each Guardian slowly gains Energy (about 1.7 energy per second). A Guardian GAINS energy when it is close to another Guardian ( < 12 yards). It slowly LOSES energy when it is far away from other Guardians ( > 12 yards).
* When a Guardian reaches maximum energy (100 energy) it Overloads, inflicting massive damage on the raid.
***** BUT *****
* At any given time, ONE Guardian will be applying a stacking "debuff" to the raid, called a Petrification, that will reduce 90% of the damage from THAT Guardian's Overload. So, the Amethyst Guardian will cast Amethyst Petrification which will protect the raid from its Amethyst Overload, and so forth.
Note: Petrification will also progressively slow the raid, and if it reaches 100 stacks it will turn the raid to stone, which will cause a wipe. Gaining 100 stacks takes 80 seconds.
--> Big Picture: The goal is to manage the three Guardians' energy, through positioning, so that the ONE Guardian CURRENTLY applying Petrification gains energy the fastest, and Overloads.
STRATEGY
The main tank and the off-tank basically have the same role in the fight. They will stand slightly more than 12 yards apart.
* The main tank will start by grabbing all three Guardians.
* After 5 seconds, ONE of the Guardians will start casting Petrify.
* The off-tank will taunt one of the NON-Petrifying Guardians (it doesn't matter which one) off the main tank and will hold it just over 12 yards away. This Guardian's energy generation will stop. Woo!
* After about 50 energy, which takes about 20 seconds, the off-tank will taunt the CURRENTLY-PETRIFYING Guardian off the main tank. The main tank's other Guardian will now stop gaining energy.
* After about 50 energy, about another 20 seconds, the main tank will taunt the CURRENTLY-PETRIFYING Guardian off the off-tank.
* Lather, rinse, repeat: the goal is to taunt the currently-petrifying Guardian toward the Guardian with the lowest energy.
--> Big Picture: the tanks will be ping-ponging the Currently-Petrifying Guardian back and forth between them until it overloads. Meanwhile, they'll each be tanking one non-Petrifying Guardian.
When the Overload happens, the raid will take raid-wide damage (200K), the Petrification debuff is removed, and the entire cycle repeats itself: a new Guardian will start applying its Petrification, the tanks will divide up the non-Petrifying Guardians and will ping-pong the Petrifying one back and forth between them until it overloads.
FOR THE DPS AND HEALERS (and to a lesser extent, the tanks)
Each of the Guardians has one damaging ability that players will need to deal with:
* Amethyst Pools: get out of them.
* Cobalt Mines: these are mines thrown onto the ground. Get away from them. After 3 seconds they will be detonated by any player within 7 yards, which inflicts damage and applies a root to anyone within 7 yards. The root can be dispelled. If we get too many of them we can intentionally detonate these by: (a) having one person trigger them during Cobalt Petrification, which reduces the Cobalt Mine's AoE to almost nothing, or (b) having a person with mitigation / damage reduction abilities do it (e.g. hunter with deterrence, rogue with feint etc.).
Note: if a player gets rooted in an Amethyst Pool, that player must be dispelled immediately.
* Jasper Chains: two players will be chained together, until three pairs are formed. With distance, chains inflict increasing damage. Chains are broken after players spend 15 seconds apart but this causes lots of damage. Strategy: get close to each other & stay close through the fight. A melee-melee chain is not a big problem, nor is a ranged-healer chain, so those can stay on for the duration of the fight. A bad chain (e.g. healer-melee) can be selectively broken during Jasper Petrification. "Good" chains (melee-melee etc.) can be left alone.
* Jade Shards: small raid-wide AoE, nothing we can do about it, gotta heal through it.
FOR THE DPS
Always DPS one or both of the PAIR of Guardians. They have linked health pools, so use cleaves and DoTs and other such abilities to increase damage.
The single Guardian being tanked away from the pair takes 90% reduced damage don't waste time DPSing that one.
This means DPS must move back and forth between the tanks along with the currently Petrifying Guardian (but this shouldn't be too far).
DPS must also move to avoid the damaging abilities described above.
FOR THE HEALERS
Healers will need to contend with the following sources of damage:
* Steady tank damage from melee attacks and the Rend Flesh bleed.
* Regular raid-wide damage from the Jade Shards AoE.
* Random, avoidable single or multiple-targed damage to players from detonated Cobalt Mines.
* Avoidable damage from players standing in Amethyst Pools
* High raid-wide damage from Overloads (200,000 raid-wide damage after reductions).
* Must dispel players rooted by the Cobalt Mine in an Amethyst Pool
More detail on the Icy Veins Stone Guard Strategy Guide page.
* In a 10-man, we'll have three random Guardians (out of a possible four).
* Each Guardian slowly gains Energy (about 1.7 energy per second). A Guardian GAINS energy when it is close to another Guardian ( < 12 yards). It slowly LOSES energy when it is far away from other Guardians ( > 12 yards).
* When a Guardian reaches maximum energy (100 energy) it Overloads, inflicting massive damage on the raid.
***** BUT *****
* At any given time, ONE Guardian will be applying a stacking "debuff" to the raid, called a Petrification, that will reduce 90% of the damage from THAT Guardian's Overload. So, the Amethyst Guardian will cast Amethyst Petrification which will protect the raid from its Amethyst Overload, and so forth.
Note: Petrification will also progressively slow the raid, and if it reaches 100 stacks it will turn the raid to stone, which will cause a wipe. Gaining 100 stacks takes 80 seconds.
--> Big Picture: The goal is to manage the three Guardians' energy, through positioning, so that the ONE Guardian CURRENTLY applying Petrification gains energy the fastest, and Overloads.
STRATEGY
The main tank and the off-tank basically have the same role in the fight. They will stand slightly more than 12 yards apart.
* The main tank will start by grabbing all three Guardians.
* After 5 seconds, ONE of the Guardians will start casting Petrify.
* The off-tank will taunt one of the NON-Petrifying Guardians (it doesn't matter which one) off the main tank and will hold it just over 12 yards away. This Guardian's energy generation will stop. Woo!
* After about 50 energy, which takes about 20 seconds, the off-tank will taunt the CURRENTLY-PETRIFYING Guardian off the main tank. The main tank's other Guardian will now stop gaining energy.
* After about 50 energy, about another 20 seconds, the main tank will taunt the CURRENTLY-PETRIFYING Guardian off the off-tank.
* Lather, rinse, repeat: the goal is to taunt the currently-petrifying Guardian toward the Guardian with the lowest energy.
--> Big Picture: the tanks will be ping-ponging the Currently-Petrifying Guardian back and forth between them until it overloads. Meanwhile, they'll each be tanking one non-Petrifying Guardian.
When the Overload happens, the raid will take raid-wide damage (200K), the Petrification debuff is removed, and the entire cycle repeats itself: a new Guardian will start applying its Petrification, the tanks will divide up the non-Petrifying Guardians and will ping-pong the Petrifying one back and forth between them until it overloads.
FOR THE DPS AND HEALERS (and to a lesser extent, the tanks)
Each of the Guardians has one damaging ability that players will need to deal with:
* Amethyst Pools: get out of them.
* Cobalt Mines: these are mines thrown onto the ground. Get away from them. After 3 seconds they will be detonated by any player within 7 yards, which inflicts damage and applies a root to anyone within 7 yards. The root can be dispelled. If we get too many of them we can intentionally detonate these by: (a) having one person trigger them during Cobalt Petrification, which reduces the Cobalt Mine's AoE to almost nothing, or (b) having a person with mitigation / damage reduction abilities do it (e.g. hunter with deterrence, rogue with feint etc.).
Note: if a player gets rooted in an Amethyst Pool, that player must be dispelled immediately.
* Jasper Chains: two players will be chained together, until three pairs are formed. With distance, chains inflict increasing damage. Chains are broken after players spend 15 seconds apart but this causes lots of damage. Strategy: get close to each other & stay close through the fight. A melee-melee chain is not a big problem, nor is a ranged-healer chain, so those can stay on for the duration of the fight. A bad chain (e.g. healer-melee) can be selectively broken during Jasper Petrification. "Good" chains (melee-melee etc.) can be left alone.
* Jade Shards: small raid-wide AoE, nothing we can do about it, gotta heal through it.
FOR THE DPS
Always DPS one or both of the PAIR of Guardians. They have linked health pools, so use cleaves and DoTs and other such abilities to increase damage.
The single Guardian being tanked away from the pair takes 90% reduced damage don't waste time DPSing that one.
This means DPS must move back and forth between the tanks along with the currently Petrifying Guardian (but this shouldn't be too far).
DPS must also move to avoid the damaging abilities described above.
FOR THE HEALERS
Healers will need to contend with the following sources of damage:
* Steady tank damage from melee attacks and the Rend Flesh bleed.
* Regular raid-wide damage from the Jade Shards AoE.
* Random, avoidable single or multiple-targed damage to players from detonated Cobalt Mines.
* Avoidable damage from players standing in Amethyst Pools
* High raid-wide damage from Overloads (200,000 raid-wide damage after reductions).
* Must dispel players rooted by the Cobalt Mine in an Amethyst Pool
More detail on the Icy Veins Stone Guard Strategy Guide page.