Halfus NOT losing buffs?

[Xidion1284]

So, we kill Slate Dragon, Halfus does not lose Mortal Strike debuff. Kill Storm Rider, he keeps double attack speed. Call me retarded, but as far as I was aware he loses buffs when we kill the dragons, as before it was when you release. So... we /hugging them now? Anyone else have this happen? He also casts Paralysis just as/before a Drake dies and the buff stays on him during Paralysis and he keeps it when he's out of it.

[hashtags]

Hi sorry I don't really have an answer to your problem. My guild will be doing BoT again. I was just curious what strats were you guys using, in what order you were releasing drakes etc. Thanks in advance

[Fabled]

The drakes give a buff to him upon release, but upon death give him a debuff, I myself have only done the fight a few times, but I'm pretty sure he keeps the buffs from the drakes. Like one drake gave him the Shadow Nova ability last week, we killed the drake that gives it to him and he kept it, since I was on interrupt duty.

[Esg]

He doesnet lose the abilities, but gains certain debuffs that hurt him. One for example slows the dragons fireballs in the air, another stuns halfus and he takes +50% dmg during the stun, another makes his shadow nova not near instant cast, etc.

[Garrus]

The fight hasn't changed in that regard. The only difference is Halfus gets the stackable damage increase debuff (+100%) when a dragon dies, not when freed.

Releasing a dragon triggers the same effects as before, i.e Slate will stun Halfus every once in a while. He'll never lose Mortal Strike if he has it.

Slate Dragon - Grants Malevolent Strikes to the boss. If freed, he will periodically stun Halfus for 12 seconds with Stone Touch.
Nether Scion - Grants Frenzied Assault to the boss. If freed, he will use Nether Blindness on Halfus, reducing his damage, attack speed, and hit chance by 25%.
Time Warden - Grants Fireball Barrage to the Proto-Behemoth. If freed, he will use Time Dilation, greatly reducing the fireballs' speed.
8x Orphaned Emerald Whelp - Grant Scorching Breath to the Proto-Behemoth. If freed, they will reduce all of the Behemoth's damage by 6,000 with Atrophic Poison.
Storm Rider - Grants Shadow Nova to the boss. If freed, he will debuff Halfus with Cyclone Winds, increasing the cast time of Shadow Nova to 1.5 seconds and making interruptible.

Edit: been answered already xD

[Exera]

Short and simple answer: Halfus wont lose the buffs gained when releasing the drakes upon the drakes dying.

[Pokty]

Short and simple answer: Halfus wont lose the buffs gained when releasing the drakes upon the drakes dying.

He doesn't gain the buff from releasing the drake. He has the buff if the drake is active, no matter of you release it or not. Releasing applies the corresponding debuff, nothing else.

[Xidion1284]

Well we killed Storm first and he kept his attack speed. Was still attack at lightning speed...Killed Slate next, he continued to Mortal Strike at the same rate. Swapped the kill order around, continued to do the same thing. Unhealable tanks ftw. We've done this setup when it appeared last time so something isn't right...I dont know, maybe just a bad day =\

[Gamdwelf]

Well we killed Storm first and he kept his attack speed. Was still attack at lightning speed...Killed Slate next, he continued to Mortal Strike at the same rate. Swapped the kill order around, continued to do the same thing. Unhealable tanks ftw. We've done this setup when it appeared last time so something isn't right...I dont know, maybe just a bad day =\

yeah that is one of the hardest combos, but he does keep the buffs.

just gota get it right

[Rhaide]

I don't understand how after all this time, people STILL DON'T REALIZE HOW HALFUS WORKS. Since the OP's question has been asked/answered already, I'm going to post a couple important points.

1) The NEVER loses his buffs, he only GETS debuffs.

2) The debuffs are applied when you RELEASE THE DRAKES, not when you kill them.

[Deleted]

So, we kill Slate Dragon, Halfus does not lose Mortal Strike debuff.

Yeah because the slate dragon doesnt remove the mortal strike debuff, the slate dragon stuns him for 5 seconds every ~30seconds. Useless. Never kill this drake not even on heroic.

Kill Storm Rider, he keeps double attack speed.

Well yeah, since the storm rider lower his casting speed making shadow nova interruptable, it doesnt reduce his attack speed that's the nether scion. (which should be used to deal with the mortal strike debuff, -50% attack speed = -50% stacks on tank)

Call me retarded,

will do

[Potatoman]

Yeah because the slate dragon doesnt remove the mortal strike debuff, the slate dragon stuns him for 5 seconds every ~30seconds. Useless. Never kill this drake not even on heroic.

What? There's no reason to not release him.

Its a 12 second stun, not 5 seconds, which is huge. Not to mention when he dies the boss receives another 100% damage taken debuff.

You're also wrong about Nether, which gives him a debuff that reduces chance to hit by 25%, damage done by 25%, AND attack speed by 25%.

[Exera]

He doesn't gain the buff from releasing the drake. He has the buff if the drake is active, no matter of you release it or not. Releasing applies the corresponding debuff, nothing else.

It's early in the mornin mkay and I havent slept yet :P

I was meaning to write he wont lose buffs when drakes are killed.

the slate dragon stuns him for 5 seconds every ~30seconds. Useless. Never kill this drake not even on heroic.

12 seconds every 35 seconds or so.

[reflection]

Strom Rider doesn't have anything to do with the attack the speed. If Storm Rider is active Halfus gains Shadow Nova. If you release Storm Rider the Shadow Nova will get kickable. That's why you want to release him definitely first.
Nether guy is the one with attack speed. If he is active he has 100% more attack speed. If you release him the attack speed will be lowered.
If the whelps are active the flame breath AoE stuff does more damage. If you kill them all it does less damage.
If Time warden is active you can't avoid the fireballs in the beginning. If you release him you can run out of the fire.
If Slate Dragon is active Halfus gets the ability to do debuffs on the tank. If you release him Halfus will get stunned once in a while (strange combination - but is as it is )

If you KILL any of the dragons or the whelps Halfus will get 100% damage debuff for every dragon killed.

So if Nether guy and Storm Rider are active you definitely have to release both in the beginning of the fight. There is no other way. Everything else will be a wipe.

[Deleted]

I can't believe how many people here don't know the mechanics. Halfus HAS buffs when the fight starts depending on the available drakes. Releasing a drake gives him a specific debuff, usually this debuff somehow counters the buff he gets from that drake being active. Killing a drake gives Halfus an EXTRA debuff, increasing damage taken by 100%.

You don't kill dragons to get rid of halfus abilities, you kill them to remove DTPS and increase DPS on halfus.

---------- Post added 2011-03-02 at 09:39 AM ----------

What? There's no reason to not release him.

Its a 12 second stun, not 5 seconds, which is huge. Not to mention when he dies the boss receives another 100% damage taken debuff.

You're also wrong about Nether, which gives him a debuff that reduces chance to hit by 25%, damage done by 25%, AND attack speed by 25%.

It may be huge, but not huge enough. With 200% damage increased, halfus dies REALLY fast (we're a n00b guild and he still barely gets of 3 roars) and all the other drakes are more important to release, which means releasing slate is just increasing the length of the encounter needlessly.

---------- Post added 2011-03-02 at 09:41 AM ----------

So if Nether guy and Storm Rider are active you definitely have to release both in the beginning of the fight. There is no other way. Everything else will be a wipe.

No, this is not recommended. Nether HAS to be pulled if slate is active, otherwise you can ignore him. The increased damage on the tank is negligable, it's only an issue because Slates mortal strike debuff will stack too fast on the tank. Last week for example had Storm Rider, Time Warden and Nether Scion active. Any smart guild pulled storm rider and time warden since that gives a fight where you pretty much only have to heal the main tank.

[Alianthos]

I don't understand how after all this time, people STILL DON'T REALIZE HOW HALFUS WORKS. Since the OP's question has been asked/answered already, I'm going to post a couple important points.

1) The NEVER loses his buffs, he only GETS debuffs.

2) The debuffs are applied when you RELEASE THE DRAKES, not when you kill them.

Quoted for the sake of bumping the truth.

---------- Post added 2011-03-02 at 10:33 AM ----------

It may be huge, but not huge enough. With 200% damage increased, halfus dies REALLY fast (we're a n00b guild and he still barely gets of 3 roars) and all the other drakes are more important to release, which means releasing slate is just increasing the length of the encounter needlessly.

You dont get it, its incredibly helpfull to release the Slate in Hard mode if its the last one. Why ? Because it has a chance to stun Halfus DURING the Roar, which is reaaaaaally nice. You DONT KILL IT, just release it, tank it, and be sure to shield / hot the Slate tank during Roars. You will notice a huge improvement for the last 60% of Halfus's HP bar, less raid damage and moar DPS on it.

[Deleted]

Quoted for the sake of bumping the truth.

---------- Post added 2011-03-02 at 10:33 AM ----------



You dont get it, its incredibly helpfull to release the Slate in Hard mode if its the last one. Why ? Because it has a chance to stun Halfus DURING the Roar, which is reaaaaaally nice. You DONT KILL IT, just release it, tank it, and be sure to shield / hot the Slate tank during Roars. You will notice a huge improvement for the last 60% of Halfus's HP bar, less raid damage and moar DPS on it.

I have no idea about hard mode, but it sounds like a lot of complexity for little gain in normals. He dies so fast anyways, why have extra damage and extra attention on the tank just on the RNG off-chance that halfus is actually stunned during a roar?

[Alianthos]

I have no idea about hard mode, but it sounds like a lot of complexity for little gain in normals. He dies so fast anyways, why have extra damage and extra attention on the tank just on the RNG off-chance that halfus is actually stunned during a roar?

3 mains reason :

1. The offtank, tanking the drake, doesnt take lots of damage (in hard mode you should do this with 3/4 tanks anyway). He just needs to use a CD (not mandatory) to go through the roar
2. There is a high chance for Halfus to be stunned during a Roar, so you save a lot of mana (healers). The start of the fight on Hard mode is very intense for healers, and they may be short on mana.
3. When Halfus is stun, he stop stacking MS on the MT. Again, easy heal

Setting free this last drake in hard mode gives you a very high chance to make the last phase a LOT easier, with no major drawbacks.

Although yeah, in normal mode, you shouldnt need to set him free.

[seam]

Because it has a chance to stun Halfus DURING the Roar, which is reaaaaaally nice.

Just learned this today. We were all "What?!!?!?!"

I highly recommend releasing him on Hardmode. Or even normal mode.

[Kaysha]

As others already stated, the Halfus fight is basically this:
- Each Drake that is up before the encounter starts grants Halfus a buff;
- Each Drake gives Halfus a debuff when they are released and the debuff balances out the buff Halfus got from that Drake;
- Each Drake when killed gives Halfus a stacking debuff that increases damage taken by 100%;

Basically, the fight is described here: Halfus Wyrmbreaker

In specific with regards to the five Drakes (well, four Drakes and eight Dragon Whelps), the ones that affect Halfus Wyrmbreaker:
- Slate Dragon: grants the Malevolent Strikes buff, which reduces healing on his enemy by 6% for every stack; gives the Stone Touch debuff when released, which will stun Halfus for 12 seconds every 35 seconds.
- Nether Scion: grants the Frenzied Assault buff, which increases attack speed by 100%; gives the Nether Blindness debuff when released, which reduces Hit chance, attack speed and damage done by 25%.
- Storm Rider: grants the Shadow Nova spell to Halfus, enabling him to cast a pointblank AoE which pushes people back besides dealing damage; gives the Cyclone Winds debuff when released, which increases casting time by 500%, allowing people to interrupt the Shadow Nova.

And the ones that affect the Proto-Behemoth that is flying in the background:
- Time Warden: grants the Fireball Barrage spell, which enables the Proto-Behemoth to blanket the raid with a volley of simultaneous fireballs; gives the Time Dilation debuff when released, causing the fireballs to slowly travel to their destination instead of impacting almost instantly, allowing people to move away from them before impact.
- 8 x Orphaned Green Whelps: grant Scorching Breath, which is just a frontal cone flame breath attack that blankets the raid; gives the Atrophic Poison debuff when released, which reduces the damage per person per tick of flame breath to something that is trivial to heal through.