Healing the "The Twilight Zone"

[MalcherioN]

Hello fellow priests,

yesterday my guildmates and I attempted the 10 man version of "The Twilight Zone". Our setup was Feral Druid(MT),Protection Warrior(Drake Tank), Protection Paladin(Elemental-Whelp Tank), Resto Shaman(Raid/OT healer), Holy Priest(Myself/MT healer), Surv Hunter, Arcane Mage, Lock(not sure on the spec),Shadow Priest and Balance Druid. Well, we kinda failed there and although no one mentioned it I felt like most of them though it was my fault for being unable to keep the main tank up. To be absolutely honest it felt really hard keeping the tank up with all the movement away from waves and void zones. I really don't know what I did wrong, I never got out of the five second rule to save mana all I did was keeping renew up, threw Shield and PoM on him while Sarth was casting breath and just kept spamming flash and greater when I was getting Improved Holy Concentration.
Some people mentioned that my main problem was that I was always picking crit over haste(in fact I have 26% crit unbuffed and only 93 haste), others(non-priests) said that although it's possible to do it as Holy Discipline Priests would do it much better and significantly easier.
Anyway, the whole point of this thread is to ask for some advice.
Did I do something wrond on healing the MT?And if yes, how could I improve it? Should I reduce my critical strike rating and aim for more haste?
Last but not least, I know my gear at the moment is not for a Disc spec but I am thinking of trying Discipline next time there. Any experienced Discipline Priest that can share some of his experience would be really appreciated.


Greetings,
Malcherion.

[Swedishcow123]

At what phase did the MT die?
How many drakes had landed?
It's impossible to heal a breath from Sarth when both second and third drake (and acolytes) is down if neither the tank or a healer uses one of their cooldowns (Angelwings, shieldwall, last stand + Hand of Protection, etc).

But even just Shadron and his acolyte makes it rough, so you might have to blow cooldowns there too if your Feral doesn't have 50k buffed.

Here are some nice numbers for ya

Base damage: 11k-14k
Power of Shadron: 22k-28k
Acolyte of Shadron: 33k-42k
Twilight Torment: 57k-74k

As you can see, it gets hot when Shadron lands, hotter when his acolyte is up and pure chaos when Vesperon lands.

But if you didn't even get that far, you failed

[MalcherioN]

Thank you for the reply, basicly the problem was when the Fire Wave was hacing a gap in them middle of the isle, when I had to move to the middle and the tank had to move to the other side. At that point I was throwing a Shield and PoM to the tank and moved to the gap. By the time the tank was back to position he was at 50% and an incoming breath was killing him.
I believe that indeed it was after the 3rd Drake landed, but I'm quite sure it was before the 3rd Disciple was up as I have my addons set to turn the sides of the screen red when it does so I can use the Guardian Spirit correctly.

[magicism]

You can keep the tank in range during all firewalls if you get the positioning right and have some coordination with the MT.

Also, DK tanks seem to do a much better job then Feral Druids if this is an option for you because of their passive spelldamage decrease and through the use of their own cooldowns.

It is possible to heal Mt as a holy priest. Obviously it would be easier as disc because that is one of Disc's strengths single target healing. Pretty obvious tbh =P

Well good luck.

[irdaq]

ya just spec disc mate. makes its all VERY much easier. i can solo heal the 3d tank by just using shadow gear and since u did say your gear have a lot of crit, its even better to spec disc.

oh and due to penance will make you turn facing your target, make sure u can stand in a spot where u only have to move for 1 of the flame wall. Penance+shield+poms+fh can keep the tank up np.

[Zumazurama]

Base damage: 11k-14k
Power of Shadron: 22k-28k
Acolyte of Shadron: 33k-42k
Twilight Torment: 57k-74k

I'm not sure, but i don't think he gets 2 different buffs from the 2 acolytes.
He only gets one buff (Twilight Torment) when both of them are up that increases it by 50% ?

[handofrags88]

you have to know the fight plain and simple. The MT takes massive damage and especially when the 3rd drake lands, i can almost guarantee you its not because of what you socket but that you have almost 0 CDs to pop on the tank, like a barkskin and thats it. THE best tank for sarth is a DK with all the CDs he can get and you should be disc especially if your only going to have 2 healers. My group does it with 3, resto druid for the raid, holy pally on the MT and a disc priest for CDs and drake tank. Your TANK NEEDS COOLDOWNS ON HIM, it is almost impossible for him to live without them.

[Deleted]

Positioning is key. Move with your tnak together and you should be able to stay in healing range 100% of thetime.

Also: get your druid to read this Thread. It makes surviving breathes with Shadron+Vesperon+Disciples up a lot easier/safer.

Example: with 341 fire resistance and 47000 HP pre-debuff, he´d be able to survive a maximum breath without using a cooldown. Most of the time he will only get like 22k damage from it and he can use cooldowns/fire potions when he is not at full health or you have to move etc.

[Thomaz-rm]

I have only done Sarth 3d 10 man once and then we used a VW to MT but i can give you my experience from 25man. have played both holy and disc on that fight.
On our first kills we used a druid as MT. the tricky part of the fight is when the 3rd drake lands. make sure you coordinate with the MT on when too use your cd's. usually we had the druid use his CD's on first breath after the 3rd drake lands. second breath i usually pop Guardian spirit. then the 2nd drake should be dead and the dmg shouldnt be so high on the MT. as Disc we did the same but on 2nd breath i used Pain Suppression.
speccing Disc makes it indeed easier. in my Disc gear i gemmed Int and Crit. had 26% crit unbuffed and 29.5k mana buffed. the more mana you have, the more you get back. never use a single mana pot. A warrior is good too have on MT duty also. they can use Shield wall on first breath and you put your cd on 2nd and if the dps is low he can use last stand

[Wubba]

Hey there registered just to answer this post lol well I am definitely not the best priest out there, I've only been healing since like December, but here's my take on things (I've done The Twilight Zone, both 25/10 man versions, numerous times). Hopefully my two cents will be of some help to you.

First off, I would spec discipline. I'm not sure whether holy can do it or how well it can but I know for certain how well a disc priest can handle MT healing on this fight. The basic cut-and-dry disc spec is pretty much available anywhere if you're curious, but www.elitistjerks.com would be the best place to start.

From there, it's pretty simple I think. Tank starts off at the eastern side, the little island, where I throw a PoM and a Shield on him before engaging. Boss is misdirected to him and he moves to the south east corner of the main island. I typically stand towards the middle and to the side of Sarth so that when waves come from the south side minimal, if any, movement is required. I typically face towards the south as well, throwing greater heals (people might argue over this but in the end greater heals supply more juice for your divine aegis (disc talent) which helps a lot for the massive dmg Sarth dishes out) and penance in emergency situations. Renew and flash heal are a waste of mana, although flash heal may be used in the beginning when little dmg is taken. ALWAYS save shield for breaths, always. Fade when the whelps spawn or when you aggro elementals. When a northern wall is called, run to the west (or your left if facing the wall) and stand on the edge of the lava wall. I have found that you can stand a little in the 'glow' of the wall and not get touched, and using this method, you can still be in range of your MT-- aka, keeping him alive. Aka, winz. n_n

I think that covers just about anything.. let me know if you have any more questions

EDIT: oh, and I recommend a DK mt. His defensive cooldowns + PS and the absorbtions of the disc priest = ezmode.

EDIT#2: 4pc set bonus helps with the gheals too.

[MalcherioN]

Thank for all the responses people, I really appreciate it.
At first I have to admit that I only know the basic things I need to know to heal in the fight(Basicly I dont know ehat each buff does to Sarth), but from my experience in there it seemed that the second drake increases his physical dmg(?) as I notice he hits harder. Anyway, that's where my problems start. As Sarth starts to hit harder I need to spam in order to be able to keep the tank to a steady percentance of health so when a wave is coming and I need to move his health is dropping and that's when Bad Breath phase begins, as he is low on health his own cooldowns cant help him so we either use em all(Guardian Spirit, Survival Insticts, Barkskin) and survives a breath and die on the next one or he just uses what he has and he dies on that breath.
Dunno if it's relevant but here's my armory link:
http://eu.wowarmory.com/character-sh...n&n=Malcherion

[Weryl]

couple of suggestions:

- Depending on where your group has Sartharion being positioned, you might have a problem staying in range of the tank 100% of the time - but you can minimize that by skirting the edge of the firewall and using renew/Pom/Shield on the tank right before you have to move.

- If you're the Sarth tank healer, spec disc. I'm a holy priest as heart too, and while holy is good for seeing big numbers fly across your screen, the fact is a discipline priest is much better at keeping a single target alive than a holy priest is. You have increased absorption on your shields, decreased damage taken by 3% to the tank (thanks to aegis, which procs from flash/greater heals), increased haste after you cast a shield, your crits give the target an extra damage shield, and you get mana return based on the amount of healing you do. I respecced disc for this achievement and only ran oom right before vesperon died, fortunately there was a DPS druid (balance) that had an innervate up, so we were good. If you were going to be raid healing, stay holy, but I suspect that you're going to have to respec Disc for this, don't worry about picking up Penance in the tree, just make sure you go at least 50 points in disc. (this is a personal preference - I never used Penance the entire fight) What I do when healing is cast the shield on the tank right before sarth breathes (I set Sarth as focus and just watch the castbar for Flame Breath) and immediately follow the shield with a greater heal.

- Tank-wise: it's been said in this thread already, but this fight is really geared to show what a DK can do. A DK sporting the four piece set has something like 41 seconds out of 60 of mitigation available just from Icebound fortitude and unbreakable armor (if they're frost), other specs have different forms of mitigation, plus the decreased magic damage. not having that, a druid is your next bet. Coordinate with your tank when to use Pain suppression, as you'll probably only get 1-3 uses before your other healers are in a position to help you out.

- lastly - It is imperative that your DPS and drake tank takes down Tenebron before she can summon another wave of little baby dragons, from second one until tenebron dies, the fight is a DPS race. At that point, it is entirely a control fight. Make sure your DPS doesn't kill themselves when vesperons add is up, and have your healers start assisting on the tank as able, if you have a druid healer, have them keep a few hots rolling on your tank

Good luck

[Myzrael]

For solo MT healing, go discipline.

[Abandon]

A good general rule, but for taking the breaths with two drakes up Guardian Spirit is amazing.

[BigGann]

I did not read the other replies as I am very tired and don't feel like it, but the most simple answer to your question is as follows.

Holy specializes in healing after damage is taken, and discipline specializes in preventing damage from being taken, that is why disc shine on mt healing for 3d.

Holy can do it, but it's tough. Tough is not a bad thing though, you always have to have a gh going, and keep shield/renew/pom up at all times. You should be the only one in range of pom, so it's fairly easy to swd bounce it back to the tank. Flash heal when in trouble, but in reality if you are in trouble then you wipe.

When dual spec comes out try it as disc and you will see the difference, and disc is a blast raid healing anyway. Penance is the shit.

[Nezoia]

I outhealed torment using flash heal and PoM... 'sup?

And with a gimp spec without Holy Concentration, and usually forgot to use shield, since it was so intensive. Ofcource CoH as well, but it heals for fuck all.

(yes, 10man)

I went Discipline for next raid, since Penance > CoH for Twilight Zone.
Gear composition was a mix of crit, spellpower and haste. Mostly holy gear.

For healing the MT, I'd use some other class than a priest, unless you run with a resto druid, rather than a holy paladin. (Shamans is required, BLOODLUST LULZ)

[Danner]

I'm a holy priest who usually do MT healing on sartharion 3D.

There isn't really any good reason to put a holy priest on the MT on this fight. I think that almost all other healers except a shaman can do the job better. I do the job anyway, because I tend to be the only healer with a mic, and they need someone to coordinate the cooldowns. Doing so while raidhealing is a PITA as you already have enough with firewalls, 25 healthbars, voidzones, mana troubles, cooldowns and aggro management. You still do as the MT healer, but you don't have to move a lot and the immediate area is a lot calmer and predictable. I guess I should respecc disc for this fight, but too lazy to farm a new gearset :P

A discpriest is really a great thing to put on the MT on this fight. Grace and DA both works wonders. While the MT HP pool is severely taxed by the dragon add HP debuff, your shields are not. PW:Shield is a fantastic spell on this fight, even as a holy priest. When you have a 50k HP druidtank, who due to the HP debuff goes down to 37.5k, he can easily be oneshotted when the breath do 22-44k damage. A simple PW:Shield will up the tank HP by another 4.5k as holy, 7k as discipline, that really lowers the chances of being oneshot. Add in a little fire resistance gear on the MT (druidbuff/paladinaura + cloakenchant takes you a long way!), and your MT simply won't die until the disciples pop out of the portals.

Once they do, you start with the cooldowns. Guardian Spirit, Pain Supression, that paladin hand spell and whatever the tank has available. My guild usually makes the tank do the first cooldown (druid version of last stand, can't recall its name right now), then we simply do a rotation where each healer use his cooldown in turn every 10 seconds after that (which I said, calling that out is my job, but the MT could do it). With 2 holypriests and a paladin, that's 30 seconds of survival. If the DPSers still haven't downed the second drake by then, you are entitled to mock them and start talking about their 'DPS' with a snide remark in your voice.

With this scheme, the MT healing is all but eliminated as a source of failure. Of course, things still go wrong very easily at this fight (most common is raidhealers being splattered by loose adds), but at least you don't have to worry about the MT being oneshotted.

[Dorfstyle]

As a earlier poster did, I registered just to answer this thread

Healed "Of Nightfall" as a holy priest twice, one with an amazing resto druid that we have and one with a resto shaman. I can say that healing together with a resto shaman is way harder than healing with a resto druid :>.

Anyways, you can always be in LoS for the tank, if your willing to risk getting knocked down or not being able to heal anything else than the MT. (aka standing inside the dragon or standing out in the lava while firewall goes past) but I strongly suggest just healing tank - dodge firewall - run in and heal again :>

Myself I usually use CoH on the raid behind me, while using PoM on the tank + shield (shield mostly for breaths, but sometimes I just need to use it for melee dmg the tank is getting). Keeping renew up on the MT and the drake tank if I can. spamming shield whenever it´s off cd close to (if it´s needed) on people I see on my Grid which are low. But my main responsability is ofc the MT. The tank may drop low, and then it´s time to panic spam flash heal :> GH, PoM, Renew

Low tank: Shield - CoH - Flash spam - PoM - Renew !

You should time GH with breath´s from Sarth if you can. 10 - 17k gh landing 0.2s after the tank got hit by a breath is the win. Have sartharion as a focus target or wev so you can see his breath cast.
Other than that I guess there ain´t much to it. Dodge firewalls, fade if you got adds on you, try to help out if you got spare mana/gcd (I find myself close to oom in the end, having used spirit trinket twice, innerfocus, pet and pot)

[joxx]

Hey there!
Healed Of the Nightfall a couple of times as Holy. The only big issue is finding the right position. I healed our 1st down Sarth 3d 10man. The other holy priest in my guild had really big issue on finding the right spot to go for bad flame churns (the one where you have to go in the middle).
If your tank is tanking him at the opposite side of where Sartharion is standing when you haven't engage him, my position to stay in the range of the MT (which was also a druid with only stam gear) is running through sartharion (which can be very dangerous because of tail swipe) the direction of the entrace of the instance. There is a little island there that I stand until the next flame churns.
I healed it with a holy paladin on the raid. My other priest healed it with a resto shaman.
We communicated with our tank a lot, I poped GS for the first breath after the 3rd drake landed with his acolyte in the portal, after this breath, Shadron is usually dead (we bloodlust on Shadron).
If you have some issue with healing, you can ask the shadow priest to help you offheal until Vesperon is dead.
My first downing was without replenishment so..... I had 23k buffed mana lol
Our 2nd one I had less mana but I still wear more crit gear (about 350 haste / 23% crit? i think not too sure)