The Mage solo thread, because who needs a DK ?

[Araitik]

......wow. Well done!

Does Archimonde always cast Rain of Chaos first if you push him fast enough? Or do you need to use some huge-hit trinket like Wriggling Sinew to make that happen?

I have no idea, but I think it's just how the boss is timed.

EDIT: I really think they nerfed WoD raids by a lot, compared to MoP. Garrosh wasn't even conceivable until much, much later into HFC, while here we are, killing Archimonde!
Would also explain why even mages are eyeing Mythic bosses, when usually at first tier that's the prerogative of tanks.

The WoD-Legion gap is definitely wider than the MoP-WoD one. Being able to kill the last boss of the previous expansion so early into the next one, even in the lowest difficulty mode, is something new for Mages. I think that has to do with Legion gearing system and legendary items. Honestly, legendary Robe does 50% of the kill, because without it I had to equip sub-optimal Leech gear and sacrifice DPS for kiting. However, this is only because of the reset mechanic. If he wasn't doing that, he would have been killed much earlier.

Next step is Mythic Highmaul and Heroic BrF+HFC !

[isaac2314]

7/7 H-Highmaul and Heroic Beastlord

Absolutely nothing important, but at least nobody had to run Heroic Highmaul again for the boss kill records.

[isaac2314]

A small note, PTR has Legendary Flaskataur selling all legendaries, Nighthold trinkets and T19 sets. Only HFC is accessable for soloing, though.
I wish I have some screenshots, but Mythic HFC bosses hit REALLY hard.
Still, it should be fun if you want to try normal HFC with the best gears.

[isaac2314]

HFC Heroic 7/13 and WoD World Bosses 3/4.

Couldn't get Kilrogg, probably won't until well into Nighthold.
Only Rukhmar might be trouble with its tanking debuffs. Just hit it hard enough to make it transition so that debuff wears off - at least, I think it transitions at certain HP% points.
Some mage killed Kazzak back in 7.3 already, but I think it's worth trying to kill it without any special buffs.
Almost certainly can get Drov, but only Tarlna was up.

[lockybalboa]

i can solo some HFC bosses but still can't get past mythic immerseus lol

[isaac2314]

Eh, that one is hard. Well, hard in the sense that proper tank specs still have problems with it well into EN (Like DHs, here and here.)
The consensus, though, is to stand in the middle of the room to reduce the black puddle's size. The smaller it is, the longer it takes for the slimes to disappear.
Alternatively, go Frost. Position your elemental beyond boss melee range. Position yourself so that you are farther away from the boss than your pet elemental. You'll then have all the time in the world to kill everything.

[isaac2314]

Greetings from Nighthold!



Don't think I'm doing particularly well solo-wise, but I thought I'd post anyway. 892, 50 traits, Shard of the Exodar/Koralon's Burning Touch

Normal HFC: 12/13

Tyrant Velhari: I used Burning Soul instead of Shimmer, but I imagine you can try either kite her or de-stack with double blink. Either way, wasn't very hard on normal, so just hit her and hope she dies first. There isn't much to Ice Block, so feel free to use it on your first (and likely only) Edict.

The other bosses not in that album (aside from Gorefiend) are already killed by Araitik. Besides, I wasn't sure if I can actually kill Iskar without Legendary Robe.





Heroic HFC: 9/13

Fel Lord Zakuun: Used Araitik's strategy - Mirror Image right before Soul Cleave, and push him below 30% before 2nd cleave. Use Burning Soul and pray that Zakuun doesn't crit and break your shield. Burning Soul's also very useful on this fight since it bypasses Befouled.

Kilrogg Deadeye: Used Burning Soul to keep health up during the first minute, but note that the tank debuff (+40% damage taken each stack) means that sooner or later your health is going to drop, so just kill him fast. Somehow Ice Block doesn't seem to remove the tank debuff on Heroic. If there's a way to de-stack it would help a lot on Mythic.




Heroic BRF: 7/10

Operator Thogar: Probably too overgeared. Died without much issue, but Shimmer might be the better choice here since Enkindling would keep breaking Blazing Barrier.

Iron Maidens: Meant to use Araitik's strategy and kill them during ship phase, but accidentally pushed them into p2 before that. Still got a kill but can be cleaner.

Oregorger: Standing right beneath it inside its hitbox avoids Acid Torrent altogether, but also move around for his other abilities.

Gruul: Straightforward DPS race. Burning Soul might help with Overwhelming Blows, but I think the barrier would just break from everything.

Blast Furnace: Pretty straightforward too, although last phase can be a problem if you can't burn boss down quick enough.

Blackhand: Use Shimmer. Also, go back to Dalaran to remove Arcane Momentum if you have it learned. I did neither, and if I did I might have killed him with much better HP.
But either way, it's mostly a DPS race. If you can't finish p2 fast enough, look out for the cars and don't get knocked up the balcony and reset.




Mythic Highmaul: 2/7

Kargath Bladefist: Damage intake is usually pretty spread out, so I picked Burning Soul. Shimmer might help kite Berserker Rush, but I don't think it would work reliably even with Scorch movement bonus. Kill adds really fast before 3rd Impale, use Ice Block right before/after 2nd Impale and pray to the RNG gods that your DPS is good enough.
Might be ways to use Berserker rush to get higher DPS but didn't try.
Also, for some reason you can kill the adds on the edge of the stands with Flamestrike. Don't think that'll lead to useful exploit since I remembered that bombers are farther inside, but who knows? It at least brings you into combat, so maybe it can get you double trinket proc on pull?

Tectus: For some reason it's actually possible to kite the boss with 5 stacks of Scorch MS buff (along with Frenetic Speed.) The damage intake is way too much, so I didn't bother with Burning Soul. Scorch during Barrage and hit the two shards equally. Save some Fire Blast/Phoenix's Fire charges, TW and Combust for 8 motes and pray that your damage or your leech is good enough. Also, watch out for Pillar placements. I didn't really execute the fights well but killed it anway.



Sidenote: Jewel of Insatiable Desire is shockingly good, although I haven't used it too extensively yet. I'd advise everyone to find 4 druids during weeks when Mythic Blood-Princess is up, have all other players use Restoration loot spec and get it from them.
Thanks again to Ceraijr-Sargeras from Emphasis for the trinket!





UPDATE: Also, Normal NL 4/4 and Normal Festerface. This will probably be about it until I buy myself a mythic set of gears.

[isaac2314]

Oregorger and Darmac in Mythic BRF down. ~893 Fire (Koralon/Shard)

Beastlord Darmac: Felt pretty hard at current ilvl. All three beasts stack debuffs so I think you need to spread DPS cooldowns to make sure that no stage lasts too long (and that Darmac wastes most of his time transitioning.)

For kill order I went with Rylak->Elekk->Wolf:
Prepot+Combustion Rylak to avoid second Conflagration, used Ice Block to dispel the first one.
Drum on Elekk since I find its melee damage+tank debuff too hard to survive.
TW+Combustion+potion on Wolf. Can probably just use Combustion and second potion, but I didn't get to try it. Moving during Rend and Tear gets you another stack, so try not move. Standing on top of something (like a crate in here) make you immune to Rend and Tear, but I was too busy bursting the Wolf down to try it.
Should have saved TW for Clefthoof, but didn't. Surviving fourth beast without CD is damned hard but doable. Pretty much a win after you kill it.

Maybe also try keep boss close to spears to cleave them down.

Oregorger: Move out for Blackrock pool and Explosive Shard, move in under boss for Acid Torrent, repeat. Fire's pretty bad at not accidentally cleaving down crates but with good dps boss should be close enough to dead by the time second P1 starts anyway.

[isaac2314]

Hans'gar and Franzok/Flamebender Ka'graz Heroic done.

890/31 Frost (Koralon/Shard) for Hans/Franz, 895/54 Fire (Koralon/Shard) for Flamebender, although I am truly very bad at Frost so you probably only need ~875 for Hans/Franz. Obviously it's possible to do that fight as not-Frost but Frost makes it a lot less likely to reset, as long as your Water Elemental isn't dead.

As a side note, it's possible to avoid Enfeebling Roar on Twin Ogrons by tanking Phemos with pet, although you'd still need considerable leech or DPS to not die too fast. Probably doable with a fully geared Frost mage.

[Deleted]

Hans'gar and Franzok/Flamebender Ka'graz Heroic done.

890 Frost/895 Fire, although I am truly very bad at Frost so you probably only need ~875 for Hans/Franz. Obviously it's possible to do that fight as not-Frost but Frost makes it a lot less likely to reset, as long as your Water Elemental isn't dead.

As a side note, it's possible to avoid Enfeebling Roar on Twin Ogrons by tanking Phemos with pet, although you'd still need considerable leech or DPS to not die too fast. Probably doable with a fully geared Frost mage.

ey - do you have stated anywere what type of gear you use for soloing? - aka if you have some legendary combo, if you use leech gear etc.

I imagine the chest might be invaluable if survival is a concern, and the fights might be so short that ring is also great.

[isaac2314]

Right, added that in, think it's the first and only time I forgot to do it.
I actually have only a leech cloak (<2%) - the only time I ever have considerable leech is when I use Jewel of Insatiable Desire, in which case it's really obvious since I'll have it on my action bar.
Otherwise, I use what's appropriate for the number of targets/fight length/sim results/etc. If I didn't say anything about talents it's because I either have no insights on that particular fight or the fight is too easy to bother with careful talent picking.

In case anyone asks, I only have Darckli's/Koralon/Marquee Binding/Shard, so I don't really have much of a choice most of the time soloing bosses. Certainly Belo'vir's can be very useful in many (if not all), although Blazing Soul is also often too good to pass up and using Leg Chest without Shimmer can be frustrating.
I can see Belo'vir's being really, really useful as Frost on fights like Twin Ogrons/Hans&Franz, though.
(And yes, Shard is also often very good since solo fights, in general, CAN'T last over too long. Mages don't have that kind of staying power at all.)

[isaac2314]

Since I've been looking at trinket selections a bit recently, I thought I'd list my personal choices for trinkets. It's by no means a perfect list; I would definitely appreciate it if anyone want to share their thoughts.

Emerald Nightmare:
Goblet gives you some Versatility bonus, which doesn't look attractive.
Uunbridled Fury is a mix of Armor and HP, but the numbers are too low.
Statuette gives you damage reduction, but the proc rate doesn't seem to be high enough (Wowhead says 6 per minute.)
Phantasmal Echo looks good, but gives somewhat paltry HPS (<10k at 865 ilvl) and isn't quite controllable to boot.

The only healer trinket usable for mages is Horn of Cenarius, which has atrocious HPS for solo use (<2k HPS)

Nighthold:
Animated Exoskeleton is on-use, which is good. The HPS isn't great (~5k), though.
Infernal Contract might be useful, but if you're going to end up taking all the extra damage anyway it gives you a really paltry HPS (~2,5k HPS). Might be necessary in some situations where you absolutely need to soak big hits and don't take much damage in the following 30 seconds, but I can't think of any such situation.
Royal Dagger Haft - well, we already have cauterize, and at any rate this sort of Purgatory-style effect isn't any good if there isn't any healer to save you.
Fang of Tichondrius gives you 2274 leech (~9%) with 20% uptime, as DPS. Assuming 600k DPS that translates to about 11k HPS. Quite solid, though it's a pity (for mages) that it gives you STR/AGI.

The only usable healer trinket is the Perfectly Preserved Cake, which, again, isn't quite meant for solo use, giving you roughly 5k HPS.

Dungeons:
A bit too many trinkets to list, so I'll just mention some of the best:
Jewel of Insatiable Desire: If not the best then among the best. At 6% with 50% uptime, we're looking at 18k HPS. That it is an INT trinket makes it just that much better.
Faith's Crucible isn't great at <7k HPS, but if you happen to use Nightbane chest and doesn't have a better trinket this can help.
Talisman of the Cragshaper gives ~8k HPS before Versatility bonus at 840 and ~10k at 865. Again, not very great, but serviceable.
Coagulated Nightwell Residue, assuming Wowhead's 5 PPM, gives you around the same HPS as Cragshaper (~8k), although this of course assumes that Mages can in fact proc this trinket. I suppose it is slightly better than Cragshaper in that you can use it to handle some big hits by saving up stacks.


To summarize, my personal choice would be Jewel and then either Cragshaper or Nightwell Essence if I need the extra survivability. Obviously any leech item (~2%, 12k HPS) would be also very good, assuming that they aren't too low ilvl.
(Although, to put it in perspective, a Frost Mage's Barrier does around 30k HPS if used on CD, a Fire Mage's Cauterizing Blink around 16.5k at 3300k health, and Belo'vir's Final Stand gives you a whopping 66k HPS at the same health. All these trinkets don't really do much and doesn't scale well, except for Jewel. The easiest but longest and most uncertain way to get gear good for soloing is to really just pray for leech procs. And that legendary chest, but I don't think praying for that would work.)


EDIT: Met a druid who main Balance but has a Mythic +13 Nightwell Essence in random Heroic. Unless our eyes were really bad it should proc just fine for ranged DPS.
EDIT2: Forgot about the existence of Ravaged Seed Pod (to be fair, that was a Melee DPS trinket, as weird as that might be.) Sadly, quite useless (~6k HPS) for our purposes.

EDIT3:

7.2 PTR, but only differences are Leg chest and ~875 Erratic Metronome (I used 865 Arcanocrystal before - not actually sure if Metronome's any better.) Fire, ~895/54, Chest/Belt. The DPS wasn't an issue - it should be comfortably possible to push Archimonde from 41% to 0% with Belt/Trinket/Both, so the only issue is to survive 2 minutes, which can be problematic.
Also did Iskar, but with Chest/Neck. Survival was hard - couldn't do it with Chest/Head.
Both should be perfectly doable on live server (I think the only huge change right now is that Cauterizing Blink got buffed again on PTR?), at least if you got the right legendaries or the levels of skill.

[Araitik]

Dude, I'm so glad this thread is still alive thanks to you, I've basically soloed nothing in the past 3 months.

For fun, I attempted Mythic Archimonde but it's a dead end, or it requires a huge amount of Leech. 200k + autoattacks from boss, impossible kiting, adds, it's just too much.

I might attempt Heroic Archimonde before 7.2 though. Also, I will update spreadsheet with your recent kills.

Thanks again, it's good to see the community is still involved

[Deleted]

Which legendary would be better for soloing, dragon's breath helm, scorch belt or timewarp ring? My second legend would proably be blink chest

[isaac2314]

Which legendary would be better for soloing, dragon's breath helm, scorch belt or timewarp ring? My second legend would proably be blink chest

Personally I always change it according to target number/fight length. Give it a few pulls, sim with the average fight length, and use the legendary with the highest DPS (If you don't want to give it some pulls, just set it to 100/150 seconds. That's how long most fights end up.) Obviously, sometimes you need to use one or the other for specific mechanics - maybe there are adds that absolutely need to die fast, or maybe that <30% phase has to end as fast as possible.

Generally, though? I go with Chest>Belt>Ring>Bracer>Helm. But I should also say right now that I parse barely 50% on Heroic NH.

EDIT: Also, you lucky man. Having that Legendary chest already wins you half the game on most solo fights.

EDIT2:

Dude, I'm so glad this thread is still alive thanks to you, I've basically soloed nothing in the past 3 months.

For fun, I attempted Mythic Archimonde but it's a dead end, or it requires a huge amount of Leech. 200k + autoattacks from boss, impossible kiting, adds, it's just too much.

I might attempt Heroic Archimonde before 7.2 though. Also, I will update spreadsheet with your recent kills.

Thanks again, it's good to see the community is still involved

Welcome back!

[Deleted]

tried archi hc too, he was faceroll btw I won 6k gold because my guildies were sure he won't die

[isaac2314]

......Well, grats! Nice to see that my prediction about Heroic Archi going down before 7.2 came true.
Also, wow nice gear. I didn't even know it's possible for a non-Fury DPS to go above 3800k.

[Deleted]

......Well, grats! Nice to see that my prediction about Heroic Archi going down before 7.2 came true.
Also, wow nice gear. I didn't even know it's possible for a non-Fury DPS to go above 3800k.

It was that high because i used prolonged power potion, without it I had 3580k. My gear is 906/807 now.

[isaac2314]

It was that high because i used prolonged power potion, without it I had 3580k. My gear is 906/807 now.

Ah, right, that was silly of me to not notice. Still, 3580 is respectable.

[Deleted]

Any tipps on soloing Dark Animus 25 heroic?
Didn't ahbe a clue how to do it.... always got killed by the small golem which buff each other..... tried kiting a bit but set to normal after 8 tries... is kting key?
Was playing as arcane..... does LB-fire blow those bastards up easily?
edit: OK just watched the video..... looks like fire and LB is the key ^^ thx