heroic tactics

aka the double dragon encounter
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oldone
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heroic tactics

Post by oldone » 16 May 2011, 13:14

http://maintankadin.failsafedesign.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=43&t=31251

We just killed this last night, but it looks like a lot of people still haven't started working on it and there's not too much information around, so I thought someone might find a little writeup helpful. In my estimation, this fight is now easier than Omnotron and Conclave by a significant margin and should be your target for 6/13.

You might assume that the 5-stacking debuff is like Algalon and requires a second tank, but this is still a one-tank fight... and it's kind of annoying for that one tank, because you will be sent to the twilight realm alone and the boss will still be hitting you while you search for a portal to get the hell out of there. This was the cause of many of our wipes (my death trying to find portals that spawned very far away) and has a fair amount of RNG to it, so you have to be prepared to save all cooldowns for these situations. You can use two tanks to remove this element, which would reduce your DPS on the boss but allow tanks to spend time helping to kill Twilight Sentries when they get sent down.

Valiona
Blackout, as on normal, hits for a fair amount but most of the damage it causes is due to the raid stacking up and being hit by multiple Twilight Blasts. Blackout is NOT cast during Theralion's phase, despite rumors to the contrary (I guess it used to be like that in beta). The big difference here is that instead of dispelling it, you need to heal through the 40k absorb to remove it. Practically speaking, this just means a couple of instant heals instead of a dispel. Guardian Spirit, Cauterize, etc. do not work to soak a solo Blackout [edit: UNLESS you let the Blackout completely expire without healing the target]. Blackouts occur twice during the first Valiona phase, and three times during the second Valiona phase (the third Blackout is right at the end of Dazzling Destruction). Normally, at least one Blackout will line up with the tank phasing out and he needs to be outside the pile to avoid sending them all into the Twilight Realm.

Devouring Flames is the same, though I imagine it hurts more you should still never be hit by it.

Twilight Blasts are also the same, but most people don't notice on normal mode that you can dodge these. DBM/BigWigs have options to /say or /yell Falling Blast on Me!, you want everyone to have these enabled and dodging as much damage as possible.

Dazzling Destruction covers a lot more of the room, I believe twice as much. If you are hit by this in the Twilight Realm you will take 300-400k, but topside you will only take about 30k and be sent down. Standing in two overlapping dazzlings will do both at once, hitting you for 330k+.

Theralion
Engulfing Magic now hits two targets, which means you cannot pile up your ranged and hope they move fast enough; everyone must be spread out.

Twilight Meteors need to be run in and dropped on the melee pile, since everyone is spread out. 2 people splitting a meteor can survive if they are topped off, 3 will probably survive, and 4 are safe. Ideally your melee pile consists of a tank + 2 melee, or a tank+melee+healer (the healer will need to run out with Engulfing). Meteors do not target players with Engulfing Magic, nor do they happen during Deep Breaths.

Deep Breath is the same, and like Dazzling it will gib you in the Twilight Realm but only hurt moderately and send you down if you get hit topside.

Twilight Phasing
Three things can send you down here: Dazzling Destruction (~30k damage), Deep Breath (also ~30k I believe), and the Twilight Phase effect from the tank reaching 5 stacks (~14k damage). Sending people down with the tank is the safest in terms of damage taken, but not necessarily the best way.

Being sent down with the tank applies a 2min debuff increasing damage taken in the Twilight Realm by 50%. Time spent in the Twilight Realm stacks a debuff called Twilight Zone which also significantly increases your damage taken in the Twilight Realm. Divine Shield removes all of these debuffs, including the stack-to-5 Twilight Phase. Twilight Phase debuffs are normally only removed when they reach 5 stacks (if you get hit by Dazzling with 4 stacks, you will still have 4 stacks when you emerge).

Valiona's time spent casting Devouring Flames interferes with the Twilight Phase debuff on the tank, such that you can control when the 5th stack of Twilight Phase will land. If you sprint up to Valiona and let her hit you as soon as possible, the 5-stack will land right before the Dazzling Destruction begins. If you MD pull to the middle and allow several seconds to go by before she can hit the MT, you will delay a stack of the debuff and cause it to land right before Valiona takes off at the end of Dazzling Destruction. If someone else pulls during the first few seconds (like a Treant or pet), the first stack will land on them and the 5-stack will delay all the way until Theralion fully lands and hits you.

While in the Twilight Realm, the boss remains visible and can be tanked/DPSed down there. The glowing orbs which appear topside are actually Twilight Sentries which spam Rift Blast and need to be killed as they continuously spawn, and there are two things which only appear in the Twilight: Unstable Twilight orbs which must be avoided (they hit for 40-50k, plus whatever +% damage modifiers you are stuck with) and Collapsing Twilight Portals which allow you to leave. The portals collapse when they reach about the size of the Sentry mobs, so if you see if a distant portal that doesn't look huge it will likely despawn by the time you get to it.

If you're not sending a healer down, DPS who enter the twilight will need to leave relatively quickly before they die, and possibly rotate. A subtlety rogue can survive indefinitely as long as they are careful, but you can make their job easier by sending down another DPS briefly to help clean up the first set of adds which spawn before anyone can get to them.

There are far too many instances of the word "twilight" in this encounter...

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oldone
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Re: heroic tactics

Post by oldone » 16 May 2011, 13:15

The two main differences in the heroic version of the fight are the presence of adds in the Twilight Realm that spam an AoE on the entire raid for as long as they live, and a debuff that is applied to whoever is tanking Valiona/Theralion, that upon reaching five stacks causes them and anyone near them to be warped into the Twilight Realm.

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