How to handle Kromog's Slam ability?

[sternkanz]

Hi all,

I've managed to kill Kromog on normal twice and on heroic twice. But the heroic kills always feel lucky, because in the wipes the tanks always get one-shot. I pug heroic so I don't always have the same comp.

However, last night, I literally had 2 pulls where I got 1-shot from 416k hp to 0 by Slam. In the logs it said it did 580k (can't remember if I had 1 or 2 stacks).

The thing is, even if I run out really far sometimes it one-shots me. So my question is this:

Should both tanks run out?
Should only MT run out?
Should only OT run out?
Does one have to stay in melee?
Should they just spread apart from each other and both stay in melee?

Like I said I pug a lot so this isn't something I can test with my guild and pugs don't have the patience. I would REALLY appreciate any help here as my gear is not bad (674) and I'm using CDs, it just feels like I'm missing something.

Thanks!
Stern-Galakrond-US

[meroko]

it's dependent on every raid member not just the tank despite how it is portrayed in the DJ. You can get pretty far away from Kromog to begin with since his hitbox is pretty large, as long as you are max melee range you won't die.

[ryklin]

stay as far from tanks as possible

I assume your tanks are on the right or left and your raid is on the opposing side
this will greatly lower the slam damage

also try to be at max melee range (makes it easier to dodge reverb too)

600k in plate sounds like you're standing within like 15 yards of the tanks (I don't actually know if it counts armor)

[sternkanz]

What exactly do you mean by "it's dependent on every raid member"? The tanks always take the most damage from this, so it must have something to do with tank positioning, either relative to the boss, or to each other, or both.

And I always tank him at max melee range and run far out when Slam comes (like out of melee range, then run back in).

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stay as far from tanks as possible

I guess I should have clarified - I am a tank.

[Deleted]

There is no trick to it. Just run away to the right, both tanks. If you are a paladin though you will struggle very hard to do this.

Ask your Paladins to spec 2x hand. One of them can give you Hand of protection and (glyphed!) Hand of Sacrifice four times during the fight (Sac/HOP/Sac/HOP and by then Sac will start coming off cooldown again). Whatever tank class you are, with Hand of Sacrifice and your small cooldown you should be able to tank the entire Slam damage no problem, and HOP makes you take no damage at all.

Use your 50% cooldown and your small cooldown together (war/Pal) to tank through slam if there's no CD available, that should not be one shotting you unless you made a mistake.

[sternkanz]

Next time I do it I will log it, but the damage taken just makes no sense. I was miles away from the boss when I got hit by 580k, with a CD running. I have 48% physical damage reduction from my armor! 580k!? Then other times my health bar does not even move. I do nothing differently. I just feel there must be something with positioning that is not making sense.

[Pennoyer]

I believe it doesn't have to do with the distance from the boss, but rather the distance from where the tanks were standing when he starts casting Slam (he smashes his fist into the ground and damage is based on how far you are away from that fist's impact point).

[Rgthreex]

3 tank it gg

[Puffcash]

3 tank it gg

Forgive my ignorance, but how would 3 ranking the encounter help at all? We got our first kill last night and it was messy. If we can find a way to clean it up, that'd be awesome.

[Eetabee]

Three tanking allows you to swap at lower stacks of the debuff. It may make it easier but it means you'll keep carrying your tanks who don't properly move and cd.

I put a raid mark at max range within five seconds of starting the fight. Then I know there is no reason to ever be closer than that. Use an active mitigation while running out/in for every slam. Use an external when you have two stacks and your major cd when you have three. Some tanks are better suited for this than others so just ask for more externals when you are at higher stacks. The most important thing is running out and back in. Every tank has some way to do this quickly and you can always ask for feathers or tigerlust if you want more.

[Leih]

I believe it doesn't have to do with the distance from the boss, but rather the distance from where the tanks were standing when he starts casting Slam (he smashes his fist into the ground and damage is based on how far you are away from that fist's impact point).

I believe this is how it works, but I do agree it's a very obtuse and misleading ability. The tooltip (viewable on wowhead or the dungeon journal) is confusing as fuck and doesn't help matters.

I'm pretty sure as long as the rest of the raid is away from the tanks they're safe. The tanks themselves need to wait until the cast -starts- before moving and then get as far away from where they were when it started as possible. Always using some kind of mitigation is also very important though, because with 2 debuffs from the boss even being 20 yards out can hurt like fuck.

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It's definitely based on position of the tanks and not how close the raid is to the boss. Otherwise, melee would have to move out of melee range every time Slam comes or they'd get utterly one-shot. But they don't, the damage the rest of the raid takes is based on distance from the tanks and not the boss.

[Makh]

I believe this is how it works, but I do agree it's a very obtuse and misleading ability. The tooltip (viewable on wowhead or the dungeon journal) is confusing as fuck and doesn't help matters.

I'm pretty sure as long as the rest of the raid is away from the tanks they're safe. The tanks themselves need to wait until the cast -starts- before moving and then get as far away from where they were when it started as possible. Always using some kind of mitigation is also very important though, because with 2 debuffs from the boss even being 20 yards out can hurt like fuck.

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It's definitely based on position of the tanks and not how close the raid is to the boss. Otherwise, melee would have to move out of melee range every time Slam comes or they'd get utterly one-shot. But they don't, the damage the rest of the raid takes is based on distance from the tanks and not the boss.

This is my understanding too. I reviewed many logs and noticed that many players would take the exact same amount of damage every single time they were hit. Priests got hit for more (but the same every time) and plate got hit for less (but the same amount every time). This leads me to believe that it is the range *from the tanks* that matters, and once you are far enough away distance no longer has any impact on damage taken.

Current theory: Damage is sharply reduced based on distance from the tanks' location at the start of the cast - capped at 40 yards for 90% damage reduction.

[Solial]

I thought he slammed his current target? Tanks can ask for cooldowns if they need them. I only have a DK / Monk tank and rune tap / guard are enough to eat it with 3 stacks right under him. Other tank runs out and barely takes damage.

[Jaydenkor]

Since no on actually correctly explained the mechanic, here we go:

Kromog Casts *Slam*.
Slam, the ability, hits the ground aproximately 4 yards out from the boss (5yards being max melee hitrange), in the direction of his current aggro target at the start of the cast (the boss will not turn if the current aggro target sidesteps).
Slam, the ability, hits for X dmg, reducing with distance, to the ENTIRE RAID. The maximum damage of this ability is dependent on raid difficulty selected.

Strategies to deal with slam:
Tanks attack the boss, stacked together (for a different mechanic tank shared dmg) on 1 side (left or right), with the melee pile on the opposite side, and healers at max healing range to the tanks (to minimize slam dmg taken)
When slam is cast, All tanks should be attempting to get away from the point of impact using all class abilities available.
- Heroic leap w/ Glyph and Anger Management spec.
- Roll Backwards
- Judgement grants +45% movespeed
- Displacerbeast (make sure to get back into bear form BEFORE slam hits)

Secondary Strategies accounting for other mechanics:

As someone else suggested, 3tanking this (on heroic+) can help smooth tank dmg significantly. Each tank takes 1 stack of armor debuff, the last (3rd) tank should be your strongest tank, or at least, your mobile tank who can dodge slam the best), this third tank holds the boss for 2-3 stacks (until tank #1's stacks drop), at which point the rotation starts again.
The reason to do this is due to the tank debuff increasing slam dmg taken AND snaring the tank, preventing them from dodging/mitigating slam dmg as efficiently.

The tank *shared* dmg mechanic is 2target limited... which lends itself to interesting options..
For example; you can have your 2 mobile tanks do the taunt swaps, as if you were only 2tanking it, but the weaker, not-as-mobile tank can sit directly on top of the currently tanking *tank*, correctly shareing dmg, while the previous tank (who has 2-4 stacks of tankdebuffX) goes over to the melee pile//away from slam dmg area, negating a large portion of increased damage taken.

There are a few other options/damage sharing things you can do, but this should get you started.

[Slicer299]

Forgive my ignorance, but how would 3 ranking the encounter help at all? We got our first kill last night and it was messy. If we can find a way to clean it up, that'd be awesome.

Because the tanks only have to take 1-2 stacks of the debuff between taunts instead of 2-3 and the slam damage is spread between all players in range. 3 tanking is not required but makes things much easier, especially if you have slightly undergeared tanks.

[meroko]

I believe it doesn't have to do with the distance from the boss, but rather the distance from where the tanks were standing when he starts casting Slam (he smashes his fist into the ground and damage is based on how far you are away from that fist's impact point).

Yeah I retract my initial statement. This is very likely simply because melee never takes much damage at all when they are right on Kromogs tits (at the right side)

So it probably is the location where the tank was standing at the time of slam. Meaning if you (the tank) are standing at max melee, you still need to run to decrease the damage you take.

[Radio]

OP: With high debuff stacks and without a quick movement ability you're going to need to use strong CDs. That's all there is to it.

Based on other posters description of the ability above, you could even move horizontally to minimise slam damage once it starts casting if you're worried about melee range.

If you want to make Slam trivial though, get monk tanks.

Because the tanks only have to take 1-2 stacks of the debuff between taunts instead of 2-3 and the slam damage is spread between all players in range. 3 tanking is not required but makes things much easier, especially if you have slightly undergeared tanks.

Fists of Stone caps at 2 players for the split. You're only 3 tanking for the debuff.

[Kanadei]

There is no trick to it. Just run away to the right, both tanks. If you are a paladin though you will struggle very hard to do this.

Ask your Paladins to spec 2x hand. One of them can give you Hand of protection and (glyphed!) Hand of Sacrifice four times during the fight (Sac/HOP/Sac/HOP and by then Sac will start coming off cooldown again). Whatever tank class you are, with Hand of Sacrifice and your small cooldown you should be able to tank the entire Slam damage no problem, and HOP makes you take no damage at all.

Use your 50% cooldown and your small cooldown together (war/Pal) to tank through slam if there's no CD available, that should not be one shotting you unless you made a mistake.

This sounds problematic. If you have people casting HoP on you wily nily, not only do you run the risk of not being able to get layed at the right time but you can't cheese the smash by popping ds/HoP and stay on the boss or go dps hands during that phase.

Hand of Sac is good, LAotL is also good. Priests with talented powerword shield for run out speed is even better.

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I have 48% physical damage reduction from my armor! 580k!?

This is a redundant point, as all tanks have similar armor or damage mitigation baked in to compensate.

[sternkanz]

This is a redundant point, as all tanks have similar armor or damage mitigation baked in to compensate.

My point is that if I took 580k damage, after 48% physical damage mitigation, the initial hit was just over 1.1 million damage. That means I would've had to have 5 stacks of the debuff (which I didn't, maximum 2).

So now back to my initial question - how exactly does it work? I have seen somebody write that the current tank stays in and the OT runs out. I've also watched a video on Youtube where both tanks just stay in and don't move at all (and take a heavy hit but nothing close to what I took).

If anybody knows, actually KNOWS, how it works, I think a simple strategy for dealing with it every time could be created. But at the moment there is just no agreement.

[Leih]

Well if you were out from the boss like you say and only had two stacks then it shouldn't be possible you got hit by that much, unless you moved out before the Slam cast started.

Do you have the actual logs you could link us?