Tuesday, May 27, 2008

Solo Onyxia

Well i know my blog is meant to be about stealth running, but for me stealth running started because i wanted to do things solo or in small groups with other druids and rogues. Since i came across this video of a druid soloing Onyxia of course i found it interesting.

In my endeavor to blog more frequently, i thought it best if i post more often small bits of information, rather than trying to finish an instance guide or some such.

So i came across this video today, i have not had the chance to watch it yet, but it's no surprise it was done by the World Famous Serennia (Self proclaimed best warrior in the world) on a druid.

It's interesting to see that our characters have progressed to the point where it's possible to solo 40 man instances from level 60 content. As someone who enjoys challenges and attempting to solo content or at least doing it in small groups i found this post fascinating. A fellow stealth runner suggested to 2 man Onyxia a few months back as the gold farming from this is meant to be quite lucrative.

I'm sure when WoTLK comes out many of us old timers will go back to attempt older content, I know many people have already gone back and soloed level 60 content, the surprising thing nowadays is some level 70's have already been able to solo Heroic instances.

Here's the links to the post.

from the WoW forums
http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=6762238991&sid=1

I will paste the contents of the post below, as we all know the internet loves to swallow links.

Posted by Serennia, guild V A N Q U I S H on the Cho'gall server


0. [Video] Onyxia solo'd by a resto druid 05/25/2008 02:03:09 PM PDT

Hybrid resto spec, no FR gear, different strat than Ted, oh my: http://warcraftmovies.com/movieview.php?id=76343 My WCM description:
Q u o t e:As the movie title indicates, this is a video showing what most thought to be as impossible: Soloing Onyxia. Before watching it, please keep in mind that the feat is not anywhere as easy as most might think. In fact, our group of 3 was the one to set the record for the lowest amount of people to kill Onyxia before Burning Crusade started. That video can be found here if you're interested in reminiscing:

http://www.warcraftmovies.com/movieview.php?id=34385

The record was not broken until a paladin and warlock eventually 2-manned her months after BC came out. Knowing this, I recently found myself plagued with boredome bewteen raiding offdays and arena monotony, so I sought out the challenge to break the 2-man record, and thus, I present this video.

I was attempting this for a bit now (long before Ted from EU released his solo attempt) playing as a guildmate's restoration druid, thinking it would be a fairly straight-forward fight; however, it was far from it. I had to form the perfect gear outfit to sustain the healing, the perfect strategy for phase two and three, and of course, the perfect execution to make it all happen. Thus, after finishing Sunwell one night, I decided to give it another shot and it turns out all I needed was one shot.

As anyone that has ever done Onyxia with a low amount of people knows, there is a bug in the encounter that existed even pre-BC that causes one of her warder patrols to aggro during the second phase if she happens to be flying over the south end of her lair at the same time that the patrol is there. To combat this bug, and to allow a guildmate to spectate, I brought in a hunter from our guild that would immediately suicide at the start and remain dead unless this bug happened to occur. In the event that the warder would aggro, I would combat rez him so that he would help kill the warder, and then immediately die again without any further assistance in the fight. Most would agree that this is still considered a solo feat despite having to do this to combat Blizzard's design flaw.

If you watched Ted's solo attempt movie, he states that fire resistance gear and certain talents/strategies are required, which as you can see from this, that it is not. The only real requirement to do this is to make sure you have -5.6% crit reduction, which is around 226 resilience. This should hopefully encourage other people seeking a challenge to attempt a solo Onyxia. Ted also stated in his movie description the following:

"If this never gets patched - and chances are good it never will - then this is as close as you will ever get to see One Man vs Onyxia - pre WotLK"

Well Ted, this one is for you! As usual, I highly recommend downloading the full, high-quality, version rather than streaming it for better immersion. That said, I hope everyone enjoys it and all feedback is welcome.

Please note that I am aware of the "barkskin" typo in the movie and there is also one part where it loops for a few seconds to a previous point during phase one out of a mistake in editing. Time stamps and game clock can be used to establish legitimacy if it were needed for some reason. I also didn't realize I was using the wrong weapon oil until Phase 3 :(

Talents and gear used (unbuffed stats):
35/0/26
233 resilience
557 mp5 not casting, 277 while casting
2172 healing

-Serennia of VANQUISH
http://www.vqguild.net/

Shout outs to the original 3-man crew for setting the pre-bc record and still showing that you're among the best this game has to offer:

Malican of Dissonance on Ner'zhul server
Tsuaxesis of Deus Vox on Laughing Skull server

And to my arena partner that will never let me forget how bad PvE is:

Neilyo of Merciless on Tichondrius server


Spec used: http://www.wowhead.com/?talent=0xzrdicsxhZZAVczcq

All feedback/criticism welcome here, etc. Enjoy.

Friday, May 9, 2008

Heroic Blood Furnace

Blood Furnace
Hellfire Citadel
Requires Thrallmar or Honor Hold reputation honored – Flamewrought key

It is possible to stealth all the way up to the first boss The Maker, just be careful when you go up that first large flight of stairs, as there are a few stealthed adds on them, they don’t have stealth detect, and I have almost walked through one before, but he didn’t agro.

The Maker

In the first boss’s room, be careful of the group (2 mobs) that patrol around the room, they have stealth detect, and it is possible to agro them if your not careful with your positioning on the first boss.

Stealth all the way to the gate, and be as close to the gate as possible when you pull the boss.

He is not hard, his most nasty spell is mind control, so be ready to cc the mind controlled player (blind or cyclone) as they can do more burst damage then the boss.

I know there are a few video’s of people soloing the first boss, so that should indicate how hard he is.

Broggok

Unfortunately Broggok’s room must be cleared, Broggok is not hard himself, but the event can be tough for a non geared group.

4 waves of 4 Orcs come out and with blinds being on a 3 minute cooldown and cyclone being too short to be used as a reliable CC we used the following strat.

The tank will pick up 3 Orcs, we’ve found 3 to be our sweet spot in terms of the tank being able to grab agro, and in terms of how much damage the healer can heal through, I’m sure highly skilled/geared tanks/healers will be able to pick up all 4 Orcs, but in our case, we found that 3 Orcs, is about the number we want the tank and healer to deal with.

1 of the DPS will be assigned as the offtank/kiter, if you have 3 rogues as DPS, you may need to assign a rotation as I’m not sure how easy it would be for a rogue to kite/tank without all their CD’s

The tank will pick up the 3 Orcs and tank them in the middle of the room, he will mark up one for DPS, so you can burn down the Orcs as quickly as possible, the off tank will pick up one Orc, (feral or high ac moonkin) if the healer or off tanks are not geared enough the kiting method may have to be used. Generally the off tank is not as geared as the main tank, so it can be wise to burn down the off tanks add first, this gives the main tank time to pick up agro on the 3 Orcs, the rogues can stunlock down a Orc, to put less strain on the healer.

Kiting method

If the off tank is not geared enough, or there are 3 rogues, rather than tanking the extra mob, the DPS can kite the mob.

As the cage opens, the DPS will pull a mob from range, (I’m assuming that a rogues ranged weap should do enough damage to pull the mob)

Pull from range, and kite to the end of the hall, when the mob gets close cyclone/stun/blind the mob then sprint to the other side, movement augementing effects can help in the kite, dash, sprint, shadowstep, feral charge, boot enchant etc.

When sprinting to the end of the room Broggok is on, if you get to close, he can bug and come through the closed door (we’ve had this happen a few times  )

If possible the healer should throw some hots on the kiter as he runs past.

If it’s a rogue doing the kiting and they really need their CD’s (blind) then you may have to use a rotation.

When Broggok comes out, he really is not hard, just get out of the poison gas, if you finish the last group down the far side of the room, it will give you the opportunity to Battle Rez, any dead dps.

Keli’dan the Breaker

Mark up the kill order on the Warlocks surrounding Keli’dan, sap the last few in the kill order (depending on how many rogues you have) then focus fire them down one by one.

Once the locks are dead, it’s the typical tank and spank like you would normally do this boss. Just remember to run out after he sucks you in, this boss is cake, compared to doing the 2nd boss event with a rogue/druid group.

Tuesday, May 6, 2008

Heroic Botanica

Heroic Botanica
Tempest Keep
Requires Sha’tar honored – Warpforged Key

Although it is possible to stealth all the way to the final boss with only 2 stealth level bonus, the walk is long, and I’ve seen many stealthers dismally fail at stealthing.

This instance is definitely not for impatient stealthers, but for those of you who like a stealth challenge, or are actually clearing out Auchindon and Coilfang instances and need new places to stealth then this could be the challenge your looking for.

You definitely need stealth modifiers for this instance, whether it be by talent points or gear, as I said before I have lead a moonkin druid to the final boss before, and all he had was a cloak I lent him and him being a night elf (+10 stealth bonus) he did wipe once or twice, but he got there in the end.

I have however seen other stealthers with the same level of stealth points and not able to make it past the first doorway….

I honestly highly doubt they were doing anything wrong, as its not that hard to try to stealth right down the middle, but he had no luck whatsoever, seemed those mobs just liked him too much. I’ve seen a few mobs be a bit glitchy and like certain chars, even though they have the same stealth levels as someone who can get past easily.

Stealthing Botanica is challenging as there are a few patrols in tight area’s, once you get up to the first boss, stealthing to the end should be easy.

Of course if you have a rogue in the group helping sap and distract, this can make a stealth nightmare a smooth run.

Stealth up to the first boss Commander Sarannis, wait till she paths all the way out to the end of the bridge and talks to one of the NPC’s

Now that she’s off to the side, you can stealth past easily to the other end of the bridge, here you can gear up, buff quickly and drink before she paths back. Night Elfs, can also shadowmeld here safely in the corner.

Now I have to admit, I’ve only run this with a decently geared group, Kara level gear or above, with some stealthers with a couple pieces of S3 gear or a few pieces of the latest badge gear.

We’ve always been able to just burn her down asap without giving her the chance to summon her adds. I’ve had restokins able to heal through this with no deaths, and a tree druid with just under 1500 heals able to heal this with no problems.

Once again I think it comes down to the dps, but if you’ve been clearing out Coilfang Resevoir instances regularly (since it only take about an hour to do all 3), you should have collected enough badges for your group to get some decent badge gear.

Stealth up to the second boss High Botanist Freywinn

The mobs on the end of the bridge must be cleared, just be careful there is a pat that patrols a little close.

With a mixture of saps, and tanking the mobs at the end of the bridge are quite easy to take down, as with Botanist, do her like you would do her on a non stealth run, DPS her, when she turns into a tree, pull the saplings to the side and dps them down.

Once again just be careful there is a pat that will patrol closely, so make sure you don’t accidently pull it when your doing the boss.

Stealth up to Thorngrin, unfortunately, the stealth groups I have been with haven’t wanted to put in the effort to do him, since doing him here is just like doing him in a non stealth run, pulling pats, then doing the boss.

When stealthing past Thorngrin’s area be careful, there are 2 stealthed patrols, I find sticking closer to the right wall to be safer, of course if you have humans in the group with perception, or rogues with talent points to detect stealthers, they should lead the way.

Since Laj and Warp Splinter are so close to each other, we usually do Warp Splinter first, if we accidently wipe to Laj, group is generally to lazy to stealth all that way again for 1 badge.

At Warp Splinter, clear the tree mobs on both sides, I’m not sure what it is about boomkins, or just druids that see a group of mobs, but they just want to AoE with hurricane.

I’ve seen ferals pop out and just start hurricaning, and then get overrun by the mobs, as the healer wasn’t ready for it, it’s safest to focus fire the mobs down with the tank getting agro, or if a moonkin is going to do this, let the healer know before hand.

The easiest way to kill Warp Splinter is to have the tank, tank the boss just before the end of the path, healers and ranged dps should stand near the entrance just over the bridge, this gives them the chance to reset just in case something goes wrong, healers and ranged dps, should be at max range, so they don’t get the AoE stun. Standing close to the entrance means the treants, will not do much damage as they have further to run and most will get blown away to heal the boss before they even reach the heaer/ranged position.

Rogues should apply the MS type debuff woud poison, so Warp Splinter will get less benefit from the heals.

The group should have decent dps, and focus fire on the boss and ignore the treants, with a decent geared group Warp Splinter will go down fairly quick.

Now clear Laj’s room, assign 2 dps to the lasher type mobs, and have them dps the lashers asap, the switch to Laj when lashers are down.

It’s easiest to tank Laj where he stands, so there is no chasing around if he teleports.

I did this in a non stealth run recently, and it took 1hr 15 mins, which I would say is an average time, as I had guildies also doing a non stealth run, and they did it in about this time, and bunch of them are T6 geared.

In a stealth group, unpracticed in this instance, it took us 40 minutes to down 4 out of 5 bosses. Mind you I’ve been in here with new stealthers that have taken that amount of time to just stealth to the end.