Garrosh Heroic Intermission Phase (10M)

[Glynny]

DISCLOSURE: This is going to be a lengthy post and I would appreciate it if you read the entire thing before commenting, thanks in advance for reading it anyway.

Hello people of Mmo Champion I have come here today to try and resolve an issue me and my guild have been having with Garrosh Heroic 10 man. We seem to be having a massive problem with the first intermission phase and we cannot figure out what it is. We're all currently around the 575+ item level mark and are all decent players, we do more than enough damage for Garrosh Heroic.

We pushed Garrosh Heroic on phase two with only one intermission phase, so our damage is fine. The problem we're having is we cannot seem to kill the adds in the intermission phase quick enough before he reaches 25 energy, which is bad. We don't think it is our damage, but something else which we cannot put our finger on, is there any special trick to this phase other than kill the adds as quick as possible? We've gotten it to phase 2 with -25 energy once and in my opinion that doesn't count, because it was a fluke and we cannot seem to be consistent with it and it was only 24 energy anyway.

Our current raid setup is as follows:

Tank:

Blood DK.

DPS:

Frost Mage
Arcane Mage
BM Hunter
Survival Hunter
Fury Warrior
Destruction Warlock
Combat Rogue

Healers:

Disc Priest
Resto Shaman.

Is this comp viable? It seems like it is to me, the only person lacking on damage on the adds is the arcane mage which is understandable, but other 10 man guilds have the similar comps and killed it with 20 energy etc. Here is a demonstration how who kills what and interrupts what (I cannot post a link so I will have to try to explain it in words.)

So to start off, we have the left group. It consists of a frost mage, an arcane mage and a bm hunter. As soon as we enter the frost mage is deep freezing one of the adds and ice lance cleaving and almost one-shotting one of the adds, the arcane mage uses arcane barage with 4 stacks also doing a lot of damage to the adds and the bm hunter is single targeting an add we all single target interrupt the adds to stop them from casting. When the front add is dead the frost mage and bm hunter are making their way (while still dpsing) to the back left set of adds where the bm hunter throws down binding shot to stun them while the frost mage uses frozen orb and almost insta kills the adds.

In the middle we have the fury warrior and the dk tank soloing their adds, they die pretty quick because of vengeance and they don't cast because the warrior cast aoe stun and interrupt.

On the left side we have the destro lock, the survival hunter and combat rogue. To start with the combat rogue and the survival hunter are kill the front add while the warlock is havoc chaos bolting the back two and using shadow fury to interrupt the casts they die pretty quick too. Once the front add it dead, the hunter and rogue run to the back right where the hunter leads with binding shot and the rogue uses killing spree and the almost get one shot due to the rogue damage.

The healers are healing and finishing off the remaining adds with the lonely dps at the start while using the shammy cap totem for the middle one. Once the first adds are dead the dps are moving to the respected sides and we're using the arcane mage blood elf racial on the back left side.


All advice is appreciated and I thank you for reading my post.

[Deleted]

Our setup is almost completely different so I can't relate much, except for the fact that we have our destro lock run to the back right pack immediately and solo it. With CB/havoc and shadowfury he can take 2 out before they get their 2nd cast off, and the 3rd can be interrupted manually. Our Ele shaman solo's the back left pack.

It seems to me that your main problem is too concentrated dps. Putting 3 dps on one pack will make it die quickly, but also leads to overkill where you put too much in one place and have too little elsewhere. Players then have to stop and move more than once, leading to slow dps on the final packs.

I think in this specific case, you could consider dropping the warlock from his group, have him run straight to the back and attempt to solo it. The hunter and rogue, perhaps with discpriest help, should easily be able to manage theirs if the hunter gets all three with binding shot (which is what ours do).

Don't forget any healer stuns/interrupts available. I must admit I don't know much about priest/sham, but in our team we use a resto bash and holy pala interrupt.

Edit: Also, letting 1-2 casts go through isn't the end of the world. It isn't until 4 and 5 that they will start killing you.

Edit2: Also consider speed boosts as much as you can for those who need it. Priest could take the speed shield talent to help the lock (if you decide to try that). A leatherworker could use drums of speed, etc.

[Eetabee]

I would try switching to two groups of two (front packs) and two groups of three (back packs). Have your tank and a hunter on one of the front packs. Warlock and a Mage on the other. The other six all blow up the middle pack and then split to back packs. I would also suggest everyone using potions. If you are struggling then that is an easy way to ensure you get it every time. With the nerfs you don't need potions anywhere else. Another thing is to get your members to find out the strengths of who they are grouped with. For example you don't want your lock to waste a CB on something that someone else is attacking.

I tanked this on my DK for our progression and first few kills. I could easily do 6-7m damage on one pack (and we two tank so I had less vengeance). Save DRW, outbreak and potion. Right when you enter, DRW and outbreak the first one. Blood boil to spread disease and then death strike and runic strike until they start to die. You just have to have an aoe stun partnered with you to get the first cast. Kill one. Single target interrupt the next two and then they should be dead.

For your disc, get him to learn how to properly use Halo. He/she can take like five steps into the room and cast it so it hits mid and both front packs for amazing damage. It also works wonders for the whirls as the CDs line up perfectly.

[Glynny]

Thanks for the advice guys, any more suggestions would be appreciated.

[Deja Thoris]

A couple of things that might help: With tight timers in the p1 intermission you need to optimise talents around that. Bear that in mind when you read this.

1) Make the disc take halo for the fight. If he saves evangelism for the intermission and halos just below the steps he will hit 9 adds for 10% of their health (300k)
2) Unsure but can the shammy save his elemental for this phase? Every bit helps
3) We always leave one person to "mop up" the remaining low HP adds and have the other 2 run up to their respective left / right sides. On the left you can leave your arcane mage / right leave the destro lock. Let them follow a few seconds later.

What you didn't mention is how people are for resources as you go up (except the arcane mage). Lock should have embers and conflag up for backdraft stacks. Frost mage can go in with FoF procs, hunters need focus and so on. Also consider potting here, the more p2 attempts you get in, the more used you will get to the intermission.

[squee666]

if the warlock is geared enough and quick enough he can solo a pack.

Make him save his dark soul and second pot and keep 3 embers and have a sac felhunter.


Before garrosh transitions make sure he double conflags him for 6x backdraft charge
Run up and instantly use cds havoc CB the adds hes engaging. He should then Shadofury the first cast and CB again this should if procs are up kill the 2 adds or bring them sub 20% for shadowburn

Then he can just chaos bolt off onto last add and interupt with pet sac.

This gets easier with gear so i cant guarentee perfect results i was doing this with 584 ilvl so kinda overkill but its doable. if hes in back he can RoF adds on way past to increase his chances of procs going off also.

Best try i managed 13mill add dmg top dmg was 2nd with 7mill

[Deleted]

What made the difference for us was splitting in 4 groups, 2 to the furthest packs and 2 to the first two. As soon as the groups assigned to the first 2 kill their 3 mobs, they head straight for the pack on the stairs, eventually helped by those assigned to the furthest ones once they're finished.
Switching to this tactic gained us 3-4 energy every time.
You should also by all means use pots while progressing, focus on seeing more and more often phase 2 and 3, eventually you'll notice pots won't be needed anymore but stick with them until that moment. Also it's important that every class stacks their resource and is ready for a full burst on adds. If you have issues with interrupts, engineers can craft the gun which gives an aoe interrupt. That helped us a lot aswell, since we're ally and can't rely on racials like horde.
Interphase 1 is one of the toughest moments for a 10 man guild progressing on garrosh heroic, so don't worry if learning it takes a while. Stack there all your dps cds until you consistently clear the room within good time.

[Nnug]

Have your SV Hunter multishot every pack, and as a BM Hunter I save Rabid+BW+5stack frenzy, I can easily do 7m+ on one pack.

Your description sounds like everything is fine, but do you have any logs for your attempts? It'd be much easier to help you with em

[Elios]

Split your raid into 5 groups of 2 ... Shaman(2 stuns) with Rogue(can solo easily) and Disc with the Warlock...

With the current gear this should make the transition a joke.

[Deja Thoris]

Split your raid into 5 groups of 2 ... Shaman(2 stuns) with Rogue(can solo easily) and Disc with the Warlock...

With the current gear this should make the transition a joke.

Telling them to split into 5 but not telling them what your plan is? Splitting into 5 is terrible unless you have a completely amazing comp for it. Theres isn't great.

[Elios]

Telling them to split into 5 but not telling them what your plan is? Splitting into 5 is terrible unless you have a completely amazing comp for it. Theres isn't great.

Well im not here to coach them and tell them how to do every single step of the boss... whats the fun of that?

I already told them where to put the 2 Healers and with each dps, from that you have 6 dps (tank with vengeance is a DPS) to split up into 3 groups.

And how the hell doenst he have an amazing comp with 2 Hunters and a Shaman in his group? Thats fucking perfect.

[Deja Thoris]

Well im not here to coach them and tell them how to do every single step of the boss... whats the fun of that?

I already told them where to put the 2 Healers and with each dps, from that you have 6 dps (tank with vengeance is a DPS) to split up into 3 groups.

And how the hell doenst he have an amazing comp with 2 Hunters and a Shaman in his group? Thats fucking perfect.

So completely not helpful. Put the disc with the warlock. Warlock can shadowfury them and then when the second cast goes off (which it will) he can interrupt one and 2 casts go off. And as to not being here to coach, its a "help me on the intermission" thread. You should be posting here to coach, not offer half baked crumbs of advice.

[Danshot]

Make sure the hunters know they can use binding shot to shut down a group

http://www.mmo-champion.com/threads/...ission-1/page2

[Elios]

So completely not helpful. Put the disc with the warlock. Warlock can shadowfury them and then when the second cast goes off (which it will) he can interrupt one and 2 casts go off. And as to not being here to coach, its a "help me on the intermission" thread. You should be posting here to coach, not offer half baked crumbs of advice.

Help isnt "PLEASE ELABORATE A STRATEGY FOR ME BECAUSE I'M LAZY"...

And really? a warlock should not let a second cast go off simple as that.

[Dracodraco]

Help isnt "PLEASE ELABORATE A STRATEGY FOR ME BECAUSE I'M LAZY"...

And really? a warlock should not let a second cast go off simple as that.

Just give up man. You're in the wrong here. If you want to help, help. If not go away.
As for the OP, generally I always advice going for the "zerg"-strategy of 3x groups (3 dps on two front packs, tank+tank or tank+1 dps on middle pack), then 2x groups (middle guys splitting to each side) for the inner packs.
You should have plenty of interrupts to handle it, going something like this:

Left: Hunter+Mage+Fury warr+Disc priest.
Right: Hunter+Mage+Combat rogue+Resto shaman.
Middle: DK+Warlock.

Interrupts -
Left 1: Fury warrior AOE interrupt. Singletarget interrupt second set of casts (should be 1-2 adds up).
Right 1: Resto shaman capa totem. Singletarget interrupt second set of casts (should be 1-2 adds up).
Middle: Warlock Shadowfury. Singletarget interrupt second set of casts (should be 1-2 adds up).
Inside, hunter binding shot each side. With 4dps+1 healer on each pack, they shouldn't get a second cast. The pro's of this is that groups will always have enough singletarget interrupts to cover any stray add casts (you only have 5x AOE interrupts for 5x groups, but with 1-2 people on each group that's risky). It also makes it easier to stack up for the buffs (we all stack in the middle of the inside packs incase the buff drops on someone, and usually we'll have at most 3x hopeless people if one side happened to not get a buff, as middle would then have gotten one/more).
Cons are that it might suck for some classes with longer ramp-up times to deal damage. However, we do just fine with both a feral druid and a assas rogue in our 10 man (two of the worst classes in there) using this strategy, and have ever since ~573 ilvl, so it really shouldn't be too much of a downside. Back during sub 570 ilvl progression, you needed to split up to give the bleeds/dots etc more time to work for better DPS optimisation, though.
It's also worth noting that your setup is very bursty - the only thing I am unsure of is the mages. Both hunter specs are fairly high on burst dps if played right (although BM more so than surv, so if possible, have him respec), fury and combat rogue are also great (with CD's, anyway). That leaves the mages, and obviously, the king of cleave, the warlock.

[Elios]

I dont know why I should go away just because you think you are right and i am wrong... i dont really give a fuck about what you think...

My point here is to say that there is a different strategy that can work and i'm 100% that it will if he tries.

I'm here not to tell him how to play the game as you guys are doing , i'm here to say "Hey your comp cam probably do this strategy and it will really easy if you try"...

If he wants to listen great, if not also great. But i really dont give a fuck to what you have to say about what i am saying...

[Deja Thoris]

I dont know why I should go away just because you think you are right and i am wrong... i dont really give a fuck about what you think...

My point here is to say that there is a different strategy that can work and i'm 100% that it will if he tries.

I'm here not to tell him how to play the game as you guys are doing , i'm here to say "Hey your comp cam probably do this strategy and it will really easy if you try"...

If he wants to listen great, if not also great. But i really dont give a fuck to what you have to say about what i am saying...

You dont give proper advice. Thats why we want you to go away. Even if people differ you can at least articulate your advice properly. Funny how your "defend yourself" post is about 3x longer than your original "advice". Speaks to the quality of your posting huh?

[Wilderness]

Alright everyone, let's keep this thread on track and stop bickering about who is or isn't being helpful. If you'd like to continue to add to the current discussion on the tactics for them, great. If not, move along.

Thank you.

[Valored]

It's been mentioned a few times but 5 groups of 2 is probably your best bet going into this phase.
It can be noted that Arcane Torrent does interrupt, so if you guys are Horde and have Blood Elfs, Woo! Also Tauren's stomp works as well.

I'd put your tank and lock together in a front group. They'll annihilate it with a vengeance fueled tank. Put down a stun early with the first cast, then the tank can focus down one while the lock gets them AoE'd down from there. 1 or 2 will be up so single target interrupts. This group can go help the middle and back groups, they'll probably be done first.

For your other middle or front pack I'd put a combat rogue and resto shaman. Have the shaman drop Cap totem to stun all of the adds. The rogue should aim to go into the transition with Yellow insight then can get the pack down effectively and quickly, there's a post on MMO-C already about the rogue soloing so I won't go into too much detail.

Fury with the Disc priest. The fury warrior with the right talents can lock down the group for a bit. Halo from the disc helps a lot on all groups. Burn down and lockdown will be key here.

For the last two, split hunters and mages up, 1 in each group. Whether you want to go BM/Frost and SV/Arcane or BM/Arcane and SV/Frost will be a matter of how comfortable people are with working with one another and how effectively the groups can get their packs down.


While my group was learning this phase, we'd let each group go and do their pack while the other 4 groups sat on their hands, so they could get a handle on the phase without being rushed and so they won't die from casts from other groups. Once a pair has their group figured out, let the next group go on the next attempt. It may seem tedious but this phase is one of the hardest of the fight and getting it down so it can be done consistently will only ease the rest of the fight.

Good luck!

[Dracodraco]

For the engineers out there, http://wowhead.com/spell=82207 supposedly works to interrupt the adds aswell.