1. #1

    Grand Empress Shek'Zeer Normal - SV or BM?

    I know because of the adds it seems like a no-brainer. However, our only problem with the adds is making sure they get on tanks and don't kill them, and making sure we don't kill the little guys TOO quickly. For the most part we have been switching to any little guy that focuses a person outside the group and single targeting. That way the one we leave up to not transition and kill the guys in amber aren't in danger of dying to cleave/dots etc. While I know SV is usually the call for multi add fights, I feel like the superior single target dmg of BM, perhaps paired with blink strike, might make it the better choice for this fight. At least for me. Any feedback?

    Also, does anyone know of a list or site showing the preferred/superior spec for each of the current raid fights?

    Thank you.

  2. #2
    Mechagnome
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    My guild downed that boss not long ago, so I think we're at close level.
    We killed 2 adds ASAP then brought all others down low enough to finish them easily.
    We had absolutely no need to have extra dps on the adds, in fact we had to stop dps there for quite a long time to get 2 traps.

    I'd say just go with whatever spec you're best at. BM and SV are pretty equal on single-target anyway, BM is superior at burst if you want to kill some adds fast at start. If you have trouble with killing adds in time, go SV, but I really doubt it happens. If your personal single-target DPS is higher as BM, stay BM. The one thing that makes this fight easier is having only one add phase, so try to push it.
    Old Gods made me do it.

  3. #3
    Stood in the Fire Daieon's Avatar
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    From what I'm seeing more hunters are choosing Survival over BM for heroic empress, and are having better DPS, not just overall damage. Along with this, some hunter who had played both specs on the fight appeared to have a few seconds shaved off depending on spec. Unfortunately, I'm unsure of other raid members getting significant increases such as 2pc or 4pc, but survival appears to be better. Since surv is easier to recover from a fuck up,and is better for adds I'd say rock it until you think your guild has the add phase down and then go BM (assuming you'd prefer BM)

  4. #4
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    Well my guild is farming this fight for a long time now and I chose to play Surv because I am a scumbag DPS and playing suvri I always top the DPS. However if you are not having trouble with the adds (you shouldn't) you can chose BM for better DPS on the boss. If your guild is not retarded they will appreciate that.

  5. #5
    One thing I can't stress enough if you're worried about numbers over playstyle: sim out your character.

    With my gear (around a 496 ilvl with the 4pc), SV actually sims slightly higher even on single target for me at the moment.

  6. #6
    I don't think it matters so much in normal...I prefer and do better with BM because we only do one add phase in which I am also responsible for making the traps. I guess it depends on your add strat, we have 2 groups of four instead of a group of 6 small guys and 2 big ones that some people do. I'm also better at BM than SV because I suck ass at using annoying as fuck CDs that eat all my focus like AMoC as SV. Either way, the adds in normal mode die pretty quickly, and you will spend a lot of time waiting for the traps to be made. I wouldn't get SV for the adds because it most likely won't make a big difference. Play whatever spec you feel you will do better overall with, particularly single target.

  7. #7
    Legendary! Seezer's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Synteximus View Post
    Well my guild is farming this fight for a long time now and I chose to play Surv because I am a scumbag DPS and playing suvri I always top the DPS. However if you are not having trouble with the adds (you shouldn't) you can chose BM for better DPS on the boss. If your guild is not retarded they will appreciate that.
    Tell me more on how I can be a scumbag dps. I'd love to top the charts on this fight.
    "Do you think man will ever walk on the sun? -Ali G

  8. #8
    Quote Originally Posted by Thiron View Post
    My guild downed that boss not long ago, so I think we're at close level.
    We killed 2 adds ASAP then brought all others down low enough to finish them easily.
    We had absolutely no need to have extra dps on the adds, in fact we had to stop dps there for quite a long time to get 2 traps.

    I'd say just go with whatever spec you're best at. BM and SV are pretty equal on single-target anyway, BM is superior at burst if you want to kill some adds fast at start. If you have trouble with killing adds in time, go SV, but I really doubt it happens. If your personal single-target DPS is higher as BM, stay BM. The one thing that makes this fight easier is having only one add phase, so try to push it.
    Sounds like a fail tactic to me. You should leave one add up so that you can get the poison fumes while you dps the empress. Letting cleaves lower the adds hit points and then killing it when phase 3 is about to start.

  9. #9
    Quote Originally Posted by Seezer View Post
    Tell me more on how I can be a scumbag dps. I'd love to top the charts on this fight.
    Well..

    Always have the poison buff.
    AOE Both sides.
    Never stop DPSing.

  10. #10
    The adds are the most important part of the fight. The rest of the fight is mindless pew pewing, at least for hunters. On Heroic, SV is pretty much a no-brainer, on normal, if you have no problems with the adds, might as well do BM.

  11. #11
    Quote Originally Posted by Seezer View Post
    Tell me more on how I can be a scumbag dps. I'd love to top the charts on this fight.
    When your RL tells you to stop killing Windblades, kill Windblades.

    If you're holding off on big CDs like AMoC because you think windblades die too fast and that they'd be more useful on the empress than the reavers, use them on reavers.

    DPS the blobs on the ground that you need to trap the reavers. Their fault for making a health bar a timer.

  12. #12
    Quote Originally Posted by Seezer View Post
    Tell me more on how I can be a scumbag dps. I'd love to top the charts on this fight.
    Search "How to Scumbag DPS" on Youtube and Kripparrian's video should show up. He tells you what Scumbag DPS is and how to do it

  13. #13
    The Lightbringer Christan's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Thiron View Post
    We had absolutely no need to have extra dps on the adds, in fact we had to stop dps there for quite a long time to get 2 traps.
    same here actually, BM burst to get the first add on each tank down counts for a lot, you don't need much aoe

    (since each add gives a stacking damage buff, getting that first one down on each side counts for a ton for tank damage)
    Still I cry, tears like pouring rain, Innocent is my lurid pain.

  14. #14
    I'm always BM, always. The adds go down fast as feck and I just don't see a reason to be SV.

  15. #15
    Stood in the Fire Static Transit's Avatar
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    I personally just go with Survival because I find it more fun. You really shouldn't be padding your meters anyway, as you're just bursting down an add. If you want to pad meters, survival is good since you can multi-dot, but other than that, just go with whatever you're more comfortable with.

    DPS on that fight isn't really a problem anyway, as one of the adds will probably fixate before you can kill one anyway. It's better to save CDs for the First and last phases.

    In the add phase, our group has to wait anyway, as we're waiting for the last trap to form (and no it isn't quicker to kill the reaver until higher ilvls at least, as it has craptons of health).

  16. #16
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    Quote Originally Posted by Seezer View Post
    Tell me more on how I can be a scumbag dps. I'd love to top the charts on this fight.
    We use this tactic when one tank takes the small adds and the other one takes the big ones. AOE the shit out of the small ones, DOT the big ones. After the small adds are nearly dead switch over and dps the big adds. Eventough it is not necessary to do that it actually isnt a bad idea If you fail with a trap you can try to DPS the add down. Also if you really are a scumbag DPS don't deterence the explosions on first phase.

  17. #17
    Warchief Redpanda's Avatar
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    bm and sv are pretty even. SV if you want to scumbag dps. crows on the reavers aoe both sides. fire trap on the side that is going to live the longest and when they call for stop dps that means dps the reavers. If you are going to dps the trap it wont go away but you might want to stand inside so that no one can really see you. if youre bm put your pet on passive and park it on the reaver that is going to live the longest. Depending on the angle the 2 packs are being tanked at you can stand back far enough to barrage them both.
    Last edited by Redpanda; 2013-01-22 at 06:26 PM.

  18. #18
    Quote Originally Posted by gulder View Post
    When your RL tells you to stop killing Windblades, kill Windblades.

    If you're holding off on big CDs like AMoC because you think windblades die too fast and that they'd be more useful on the empress than the reavers, use them on reavers.

    DPS the blobs on the ground that you need to trap the reavers. Their fault for making a health bar a timer.
    If you really want to do that, you will have your AMoC going into the add phase, just put it on a windblade that you wont be focusing on and when they say stop dps on the windblades, you stop and go onto the reavers. Causing a wipe is the last thing you want to do.

    I'd so SV cause the posion buff you get scales with your mastery and it has much better aoe. It also only procs off of YOUR attacks making kill command useless in regards to proccing it.

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