Need help on 10-man Heroic Alysrazor!

[TwoStepsFromHell]

Hello all,

My guild has been progressing through Heroic Mode Firelands fights for a little while now, and the most recent fight we have started working on is Heroic Alysrazor. Last week was our first week getting some real time in on that fight, but largely due to the fight glitching out on us and not resetting for over an hour (even GM's were unable to help >.<), we did not get a substantial amount of time to progress through the fight yet. We did however get about an hour or so into the fight, but never got past the first phase. We spent alot of time trying to play around with our raid assignments, since our biggest problem at first was getting the meteors killed in time before they hit the outer wall and exploded. Once we got the Meteor stopped in time, our problem then became (other than normal progression things wiping the raid - i.e. not LoS'ing Alysrazor during Firestorm, standing in Brushfires, etc) killing the first Blazing Talon Initiate before the second spawns and casts a Fieroblast. We believe this is due to a lack of burst DPS from our ranged DPS (spending too much time DPSing the meteor), causing them to be unable to really help on the first druid. The tanks were trying to assist with the first Blazing Talon Initiate, but I believe they were possibly leaving for their Voracious Hatchlings a little too early.

Typically we send our Fire Mage up top, and have a Warlock and Hunter take care of the meteor. Unfortunately the Warlock does not have much burst damage and/or has to channel powerful enough attacks to really do anything to it. If need be, we can leave the Mage down bottom in Arcane to help with burst, and send the Warlock up top (Demo or Destro), but to my understanding - Fire Mages are by far the best to send up top. Last week we had an odd raid comp (we had a Resto Druid that had no useful DPS spec), so we were unable to send a second person up top -- so any suggestions for who else to send up top would be greatly helpful!

Our Current Raid composition is as follows:
Tanks:
Pally
Warrior

Healers:
Disc Priest
Holy Pally
(3rd Healer typically goes DPS. We have a Resto Shaman with an Enh. Off-spec, and the Priest with a Shadow Off-spec - the Shaman is better at DPS)

DPS:
Arcane/Fire Mage
Demo/Destro Warlock
MM/Surv Hunter
Frost DK
Combat/Assassination Rogue
(Healer off-spec) Enh Shaman (can swap with Shadow Priest if recommended for our Raid Comp)

Please provide any helpful strategies/tips that could help us with progressing through this fight, especially if you have good recommendations on how our Hunter/Warlock ranged DPS combo can kill the Meteor the quickest (changing specs, slowing the meteor, etc)!

I appreciate any and all helpful comments! We will be progressing further on this fight on Friday, so any help before then would be amazing!

Thank you ahead of time!!

[Ankram]

Your rogue and shammy should be more than enough dps per one add, not to mention 2 really good ints. The hunter and lock should only be tied up for about 2-3 globals on the meteor before they are back on the add. Use slows and just kill it, it doesn't have a lot of hp. Send the Fmage and the DK up and you should be golden.

[PHsname]

Have your Tanks wear Hit and Expertise gear to help with damage on the adds. Your Pally shouldn't WoG at all in the fight, and their main focus should be on maximizing DPS (getting hit by lava worms and brushfire is still not allowed, obviously) and satiating enrages asap.

Two DPS per side should be more than enough to get both Initiates down. I would put the Frost DK and and a hunter on one side, and your Enh Shammy and Lock on another. The Meteors are going to have to be stopped largely by your Hunter, though. Locks will be mediocre for getting them down, I think.

I would send your Mage and Rogue as Assassination up. They will rape the boss if they play properly.

The most important thing is for your DPS down below to kill off the Initiates as quickly as possible so they can help out on your tanks if need be. Our Pally tank had a hard time getting them down quickly as well, and as we worked on it he just shifted in more and more threat and DPS gear until he was able to do so. Since the nerf, it really doesn't matter either way. The birds don't hit hard enough for threat/DPS gear to matter, and they also don't have enough health for it to be a real issue anymore.

One suggestion I have, though, is to have your Shaman go Ele if possible. Having an extra ranged DPS to help out on the meteors will be really nice so your hunter doesn't end up chasing it halfway across the room.

[Deleted]

Regarding the meteor, hunter plus lock should be more than enough. We did it on our alt run last week with hunter and boomkin. Just make sure they both are in range when the meteor spawns and they actually follow it and nuke until it dies. Small tricks I can think of that would help you out are, hunter capping out focus so he can do some nice burst or lock saving his HoG. If that's not enough then your DK can throw some howling blasts as well. But don't expect the meteor to die in the dead middle every time. Anywhere not too far out is fine, as long as the raid moves on time for the firestorm.

Now for the initiates, it's unavoidable getting double spawns at some points. Preassign one dps on each side to move to the 2nd add for interrupt and you'll be fine. But after the nerfs, even if a cast goes through, it really is np since you will have a dispeler at each side.

As for tanks, they should focus on their hatchling 100% if they have one up. Maybe your pala can throw an avenger's shield if he is close enough to the initiate but that's about it

[Zheryn]

post some logs please

[Ninjamoo]

Have the hunter throw a frost trap on the guy where the meteor spawns. After it's out of the frost patch he can use concussive shot to slow it. Should be enough to kill it quick.

[TwoStepsFromHell]

Thank you all for the replies! I think this gives me a better idea of what needs to be done with my Raid Comp, and I plan on executing those ideas!

One more question though; our Resto/Enhance Shammy who usually goes DPS for this fight may not be able to make it this week, so we may have to take a Shadow/Holy Priest instead, and she would go Shadow for that fight. With two DoT-based Ranged DPS in the raid (Demo/Destro Warlock and the Shadow Priest) as well as a hunter, which of the two should I send up? Keeping in mind that whoever stays down needs to be helpful for the meteors, and whoever goes up needs to benefit most from the Haste/Crit bonuses - it seems that the Shadow Priest would be the better choice to send up. Either way, which spec would be best for the Warlock when they are in the air, or on the ground?

Any replies to the Shadow Priest/Warlock predicament I'm in would be greatly appreciated!!

Thank you all again for your responses, and I look forward to seeing what else you have to say!

[PHsname]

Have your Rogue stay down so you have interrupts on the side the Shammy was. Send either the SPriest up instead, or send up the Lock as Afflic if he's a better player. Fire Mage should definitely go up regardless.

[TwoStepsFromHell]

Thank you PHsname, we will most likely send the Shadow Priest up top, and just leave our warlock down below to help with the adds. I think just by the hunter laying down a trap before the meteor spawns, it will make a huge difference on how quickly the meteor is killed.

We've never sent a Shadow Priest up, though, so does anyone have any suggestions from the Shadow Priests' point-of-view on what rotation/priority list they should do while up top? I imagine it would be tough to match the Fire Mages' numbers (especially since they've been doing it for months now), but hopefully there's a way for them to at least compete! Obviously the higher the numbers the two of them are able to pull up top, the lower she will be going into her burn phase!

Thanks again to all posters, and please keep the tips coming if there's anything else you suggest!

[Jovanaar]

I think you are lacking DPS, let them upgrade some gear.

[Deleted]

Dps is most likely the problem, just get better gear. We have gotten to a point where we kill it in only 1 land and we don't even have fire mages (or any mages for that matter). When it lands it get to about 20% or so and then it dies in the air.

The meteor has pitiful hp, i think under 150k. Slow it down and kill it.
Have your tanks use hit & expertise trinkets (I use the JP hit trinket and heart of rage) and they will kill their adds 10 seconds before the firestorm. I solo my hatchling without any sort of problem and never even let it get to tantrum.

[PHsname]

Shadow Priest rotation doesn't change. When you collect the ring buffs, you get a stacking haste buff. The only difference they'll notice is Mind Flay's channel time being a lot slower. With how much more DPET their DoTs will do once their haste starts stacking up, it'll become much more important to properly manage Empowered Shadows. NEVER put up a DoT without ES up. That and don't ever miss a ring.