Will of The Emperor Dance

[Mushedcow]

I've seen videos of the dance but nothing that really fully broke it down or slowly enough for people to realise whats going on so I've made this.

Just for any melee/tank, or anyone in general really doing the dance on Will of The Emperor dodging the devastating combo to earn the opportunistic strike here's a few screenshots and a short video that's 50% of normal speed so you can get a decent idea of how the dance goes, I've done this to try help anyone that's struggling or anyone in LFR to cause wipes not to happen as often

I'll chuck up a minute long video next week of heroic dance, although its exactly the same just 10 swings not 5. It would've been up first but I haven't recorded any of our heroic kills yet and over the Christmas break it was easier to just kill it normal because of roster.

The whole combo consists of 5 strikes that can vary of 4 types of cleave attack.

From the screenshots you can see that during the combo there is a blue graphic on which side of the boss is going to be covered. Just position yourself so your not on the same side as the graphic.


From the boss PoV, the boss is swinging to his right side, so I just stand on the opposite side.

From the boss PoV, the boss is swinging to his left side, so I just stand on the opposite side.

This is the "trickier" of the cleave attacks from what many players seem to have given feedback about. This is a ground stomp that covers an area around the boss in a full circle for about 5-10 yards. You can faintly see a white graphic of where the AOE circle will spawn underneath the boss when he stomps down. Try to position yourself outside this circle, be careful not to go too far away as the boss will grip you back into the AOE.

This is the boss's frontal cleave. He has 2 blue graphics in front of him and lifts up his left leg slightly. Run through the boss and get behind him.
(Sorry this screenshot is from the side, my camera angle screwed up while moving.)



Hopefully if nothing else, it'll assist some players learning the encounter be it normal or LFR and cause a few less wipes along the way.

[TheWindWalker]

Honestly, it only took me two tries to learn this. Once as melee DPS and once as Tank. The hardest thing of all is figuring out the "two blades" stance and getting away from his stomp. Still, thanks for putting these up. I'm sure there's a few people still completely baffled by them.

[jaykaywhy]

that third pic, with him doing the aoe stomp around him...

looks like he's yawning, or saying "b****, i'm fabulous!"

[Ferocity]

Graphical representation of this dance is plain awkward and at some points counter-intuitive. Most boss mods have arrows for this fight, which are way easier to rely on, than guessing by obscure graphical representation. Those arrows are like godsend to people who can't pass on such dexterity checks which shouldn't be in RPG tbh, bosses should have cast bars with names like "Left Cleave", "Right Cleave", etc., thankfully arrows do nearly same and give more reaction time as blue lightning is constantly blinking and if you focus on it too much - you eat stomp.

Download DBM, enable arrows and tunnel-vision floor during dance. Makes avoiding combo and getting strikes of opportunity much easier.

[Saphyron]

TBh I had learned this by the first time i tried saw big blue things and i avoided it have never been hit by it so far.

But your small guide is nice it helps people understand it slightly more.

Ferocity tbh i find it easier just looking at the blue thing and looking at the floor in case of stomp.

[Xothic]

Yeah I agree with Chaos, no need to complicate it with addons, just look at the blue lines and dont stand in them.

[Ninotchka]

The blue lines help a lot. I still get caught out by the ground stomp sometimes, though, even after all these weeks. The gray dust cloud is just a little too close to the slate blue floor color for me, and sometimes I just misjudge the distance. And that's the most important one to get right, since it will stun you for a second if you miss it.

[Deleted]

The blue lines help a lot. I still get caught out by the ground stomp sometimes, though, even after all these weeks. The gray dust cloud is just a little too close to the slate blue floor color for me, and sometimes I just misjudge the distance. And that's the most important one to get right, since it will stun you for a second if you miss it.

Not sure what its like for other people, but before if you ran 1-2 yards too far it would grip you immediately. Now when I do it, the grip is delayed so you still miss the stomp.

[Butler to Baby Sloths]

The blue lines help a lot. I still get caught out by the ground stomp sometimes, though, even after all these weeks. The gray dust cloud is just a little too close to the slate blue floor color for me, and sometimes I just misjudge the distance. And that's the most important one to get right, since it will stun you for a second if you miss it.

If you don't see any lightning blue slash animations, it is the 360°.



A couple of people have found that mspaint sketch useful.

I have also found that you need a decent amount of run-speed to avoid a frontal attack after the stomp. And, of course, never run across the boss.

[Ninotchka]

I run across the boss all the time to get through the frontal attack. When he's doing the combo he's not meleeing, and it lets me get an autoattack in sometimes.

Another thing to note, for anyone who hasn't done this yet, is that even if you mess up a step early in the dance it's important to keep dancing. You won't get the free damage button, but each time he hits you he stacks that armor-reducing debuff on you so you'll take more damage until the next combo. And, god forbid, if you mess up two combos in a row it's possible to have the armor-reducing debuff keep on stacking to ridiculous levels and it will make your healers cry.

Not that, uh, I ever found this out personally. (shifty eyes)

[Butler to Baby Sloths]

Not that, uh, I ever found this out personally. (shifty eyes)

Nope. Neither have I. And it definitely didn't happen the two combinations before Titan Gas either :/

[Kralljin]

The only problem is to dodge the Stomp properly, if you dodge in the wrong direction you could get screwed by the next strike if you don't have any serious Leap / Movement Skills rdy.

[Deleted]

The only problem is to dodge the Stomp properly, if you dodge in the wrong direction you could get screwed by the next strike if you don't have any serious Leap / Movement Skills rdy.

Any class can make it if you don't run too far. If you cant make it, try running out after the stomp instead of towards. That way you get a nice grip back to the middle for free.

[Deleted]

Any class can make it if you don't run too far. If you cant make it, try running out after the stomp instead of towards. That way you get a nice grip back to the middle for free.

This. I alway run out of range on purpose to get gripped into the middle for free.

[Dero]

this is simple if you use dbm it tells you where to run the only issue is the center cleave because it cleaves very far behind his back..which is ridiculous if your a monk

[Relapses]

If you can dodge a wrench, you can dodge a devastating slash.

[Deleted]

this is simple if you use dbm it tells you where to run the only issue is the center cleave because it cleaves very far behind his back..which is ridiculous if your a monk

Roll? :P

10

[Zooey]

this is simple if you use dbm it tells you where to run the only issue is the center cleave because it cleaves very far behind his back..which is ridiculous if your a monk

My dbm doesn't tell me where to go :O settings?

Though it's pretty simple, and a fun fight to tank and dps to be honest


However, sometimes it feels as if it is not RNG what attack will come next, is that just me who thinks\feels that?

[Butler to Baby Sloths]

My dbm doesn't tell me where to go :O settings?

Though it's pretty simple, and a fun fight to tank and dps to be honest


However, sometimes it feels as if it is not RNG what attack will come next, is that just me who thinks\feels that?

At least, it is more involved than most of the fights in Cataclysm

[IxilaFA]

This fight was simple as hell for me the first time I've ever tanked it, and I'm not even used to tanking in raids. Took me a couple tries because the boss kept getting me cornered and I would get hit by one, but since then I rarely get hit.

The odd thing is, and I don't know if anyone has experienced this, our Rogue swears that he can't see the slash animations, and even after posting screenshots of it and going over his settings one by one, we can't figure out why he isn't able to see them.