Heroic Stonecore dramas

[Shredder]

Hey, I'm a fairly new tank (prot warrior) to the cata dungeons and while the majority of heroics I do fine, I always have a lot of dramas in the Stonecore, specifically the first few packs of trash. The way I understand it, Milhouse is always first priority to burn down, the stoneshaper guys that transform into elementals should be cc'ed. For some reason whenever I do it things always go pear shaped. Is Milhouse tankable or is his aggro random? To me it seems random and it's a pain as a warrior because he wont move and if I need to tank 3 mobs or so, i've gotta get up there and tank him without using any aoe abilities to hold the other mobs because there are cc'ed mobs there. Should I just mark him with a skull and get dps to burn down Milhouse and tank the other mobs further back?

[Deleted]

CCing the Stoneshapers in crucial during the first few groups.

As for Millhouse, I think his aggro is pretty random but he doesn't move much so it shouldn't be a huge problem. He moves to the next group after losing roughly 20% of his HP and should be burned down asap after pulling. You really shouldn't be fighting Millhouse for more than 10 seconds.

[Crypt-Tonik]

Earthshapers (i think there called) burn them first because if they transform it causes major damage, CC milhouse, then once the earthshaper goes down, burn the gnome, then the rest, there is a trick so you only have to deal with the gnome once, skip the first group by hugging the left wall as close as possible, then kill the 2nd and 3rd group, then go back and kill the first group, idk if thats still doable but my tank hasnt gotten that heroic in weeks

[Shredder]

CCing the Stoneshapers in crucial during the first few groups.

As for Millhouse, I think his aggro is pretty random but he doesn't move much so it shouldn't be a huge problem. He moves to the next group after losing roughly 20% of his HP and should be burned down asap after pulling. You really shouldn't be fighting Millhouse for more than 10 seconds.

As a tank should I be concerned about Milhouse at all? Or just worry about the other mobs?

[baelon]

When I tank, or when I dps if the tank seems new, I always mark. Millhouse gets an X, earthshaper skull. I just charge in, pop a cooldown and start my aoe threat, making sure to interrupt the earthsapers (since no one else ever does). The rest of it isn't a big deal.

[Crypt-Tonik]

As a tank should I be concerned about Milhouse at all? Or just worry about the other mobs?

milhouse targets a random person and casts so he's not that much of a big deal, but its always nice to throw a few moves his way just incase he does have a secret aggro table somewhere

[wolfphyre87]

Earthshapers (i think there called) burn them first because if they transform it causes major damage, CC milhouse, then once the earthshaper goes down, burn the gnome, then the rest, there is a trick so you only have to deal with the gnome once, skip the first group by hugging the left wall as close as possible, then kill the 2nd and 3rd group, then go back and kill the first group, idk if thats still doable but my tank hasnt gotten that heroic in weeks

i thought blizz made it so that if u skip the first pack and pull the second or third the first would auto pull

[drake741]

As a tank should I be concerned about Milhouse at all? Or just worry about the other mobs?

Theres no reason you SHOULDNT give him attention, and interrupting his Frostbolt Volley will be beneficial to the whole group, as well as the added dps from the tank can help burn him faster. Whenever I tank it, I CC according to a priority, then go through a DPS priority:

Assuming 2-3 CCs
1 - CC Earthshapers (1 or 2)
2 - CC Berzerkers (1, but they attack party members even if you are top threat as tank)
3 - DPS Millhouse Manastorm quickly and interrupt him
4 - DPS Warbringers, just easy melee mobs
5 - Break one CC at a time and burn that mob down. I am a paladin tank, so I like to break the zerkers and stun them with a Hammer of Justice which is usually enough time to kill them
6 - ....
7 - PROFIT!

[Crypt-Tonik]

i thought blizz made it so that if u skip the first pack and pull the second or third the first would auto pull

Like i said in it, i dont know if it was still doable lol, i havent gotten that dungeon for weeks now

[fatalaeon]

when i tank these packs i put a skull on millhouse and a X on the stone shapers. i round them up and do a little aoe agro. then when i see the swirl i just interrupt him so he cant transform. then by the first xform attempt millhouse is usually dead so then shaper is dead next ez mode.

[Shredder]

Thanks for the advice, ill take it on board

[ruggleee]

i never cced one mobs since 2 months in stonecore, the alone thing you need to do is interrup the earth.... something that it, so easy^^

[Poinen]

Same, never used CC in Stonecore either... although it might be a good idea. The amount of dmg the packs can dish out is crazy. :-) but silience/stun etc etc. Works for me.

[Baron01]

Dont pay any attention to those saying they have never used CC in Stonecore. While you dont need CC later on, it is crucial on first 3 packs.

Stoneshapers should always be CCed and killed last--you should have at least 1 reliable CC so you might have problem if there are two of them, in such case ask dps to burn Millhouse and you should focus on Stoneshaper to interrupt his transformation.

You can pull Millhouse with heroic throw, which should silence the caster if properly specced. Next pack you might need to ask DPS to silence/interrupt him as throw might be still on CD.

You should focus on melee mobs in the pack to get solid aggro, you can interrupt and spell-reflect as needed to help your healer. Avoid that dot-stacking whirlwind. Use tanking CDs liberally since these packs are probably the hardest you will encounter there.

[QQmoore]

you can't cc milhouse, all you can do is stun/interrupt him. CC the stoneshapers and either cc/root the berserkers or tell melee to not stand in the whirling slash like imbecilles. Milhouse is a nuissance because of the random fears and stuns can effectively CC someone important in your group like the healer. The sooner Milhouse is out of the picture the easier everything is since u don't have to worry about healers being feared and melee being shadowfury'd in a whirling slash

[Calmwinds]

Why even bother CCing anything? Do this CCless and start out with your normal AOE/marking just don't single TPS skull, let your AOE TPS handle initial threat, or throw a high threat single TPS(shield slam) on him and switch to the stone guys and interrupt their transformation thingy.

[Sneiper]

Why even bother CCing anything? Do this CCless and start out with your normal AOE/marking just don't single TPS skull, let your AOE TPS handle initial threat, or throw a high threat single TPS(shield slam) on him and switch to the stone guys and interrupt their transformation thingy.

Because Blizzard quite recently introduced healers to dungeon groups aswell. It would appear that a lot of people still haven't recognized that fact, and believe that their health still is being topped off by that magical air that besides within dungeons.

Respect your healers. Do them the favor of not assraping them every time you enter a dungeon and want to feel like Hogger.
Even if you might be packed with good gear and a functional brain, it doesn't mean that the rest of your group is.

[Deleted]

Put the group's interrupters on Earthshapers, AOE all, profit. Really really simple packs.

[Riboe]

Put the group's interrupters on Earthshapers, AOE all, profit. Really really simple packs.

As a bear tank, that's what I do.. Except I take care of the interrupts myself.. Works like a charm.

[kai zayin]

Dont pay any attention to those saying they have never used CC in Stonecore. While you dont need CC later on, it is crucial on first 3 packs.

While I can certainly sympathize with how much smoother a run that uses reliable cc can be, this is not true. It is quite possible to do the first trash packs in Stonecore without any dedicated cc with a Warrior tank.
Charge>Rend>T-Clap>Cleave>Fill your next global>Shockwave (make sure you catch the Earthshaper in the stun)>Continue AoE tanking. The biggest thing is you simply cannot allow the Earthshaper to transform, so long as you can do that the pulls are fairly simple. If anyone goes with this method burning Milhouse then switching to the Earthshaper next is ideal.