The Highlord's Return Tips

[Geriald]

Completed it yesterday, 03.05.2017, as a Protection warrior.

Had gear of 896 equipped ilvl on me, used my standard tanking set with [Kakushan's Stormscale Gauntlets] and [Mannoroth's Bloodletting Manacles], apart from the trinkets - as much as I was trying to complete this "tank" challenge with tanking trinkets, I hadn't any success in doing so - but switching said trinkets to the only DPS ones I have, specifically 850 ilvl [Stalwart Crest] (+979 Haste) and 885 ilvl [Might of Krosus] (+ socket), was the change that allowed me to complete the challenge on the 3rd try.

The talent set was as follows:

• [Storm Bolt]
• [Impending Victory]
• [Renewed Fury]
• [Bounding Stride]
• [Devastator]
• [Booming Voice]
• [Anger Management]

As much as I dislike Devastator / Booming Voice / Anger Management talents, I had to pick them up to, of course, maximize DPS output.

Maximum health that I had in that equipment was 5.096.280.

Food that was eaten - [Bear Tartare], that allows you to move faster after every killing blow, especially useful in the first phase.
The flask consumed is the one for DPS aswell - [Flask of the Countless Armies].

For the first phase, key for me was to get through it only with two infernals up, which means, of course, that maximizing DPS on Inquisitor is always a priority.

Here is a bit detailed list of what worked for me:

• At the beginning, I pre-potted [Potion of the Old War] and charged in, using [Demoralizing Shout] + [Battle Cry] + [Ignore Pain] (for [Renewed Fury] enrage) right away to take most of the burst damage, used Shield Block to keep every Shield Slam buffed for 30% more damage, and interrupted the first cast of Inquisitor's attack, right before he finished casting it.
• For the next of his casts, I already had Ignore Pain up, as I stayed inside the pool until 5 stacks, then went to kill the first Eye that spawned (can use [Impending Victory] on it, and then, after it dies, you will have [Victory Rush] enabled). At this point, Inquisitor usually casts his first [Drain Life] - for that I had Storm Bolt ready.
• Soon after that, the Nether adds spawn - you've got to gather them up (usually they ran straight to me, if I damaged Inquisitor at least one time or healed myself) and stand near the Inquisitor's pool every time they are on you, to keep damaging Inquisitor with Thunder Clap and Revenge, as you destroy the adds using the combination of every ability that you have available (Demoralizing Shout + Battle Cry + Ignore Pain).
• Every time stacks of [Aura of Decay] faded off, I got back to Inquisitor and kept DPS-ing him until I had 3 stacks on myself, sometimes 4 or even 5 again - should be careful there, to be ready to pickup Velen's orb or stun Inquisitor with Storm Bolt from the distance (if you are completely sure that you can and will interrupt his next incoming Drain Life with something else, without getting more stacks of his debuff). Otherwise, interrupt his casts normally whenever you DPS him, to reduce damage taken and avoid risks, while making sure that you will have Storm Bolt ready for the next Drain Life.
• Infernals - they are more of a nuisance than a problem, their Slam animation is truly, as was said here many times, hard to see on the dark floor of the platform. So I found nothing better than to just increase the brightness of the game in video settings - this way you at least can see the dark clouds more clearly. I tried to use WeakAuras' addon sound alert, but found them of little help, because Slams happen quite quickly and to rely simply of the sound was not enough for me, so I just looked down below my feet and, whenever any Infernal is up and active, was always on the move, around either Inquisitor or Kruul. And, of course, in case of emergency, Intercept and Heroic Leap will save you from being knocked off the platform.

If everything gets done right, you will enter 2nd phase with only two Infernals up - for me it was critical not because of the Slams or getting knocked off, but because of their constant burning aura that damages you for around 150.000 damage (per Infernal), whenever they are up. Many times in previous attempts that was the thing that killed me, combined with Kruul's Netherstomp at the same time. So, in other words, less Infernals you got walking on the platform - the less damage you take.

As for fighting Kruul:

• Every time Kruul attempts to cast his [Annihilate] on you, use Storm Bolt to stun him - it will give you a couple more free seconds to DPS him.
• Save as many Velen's orbs from the first phase as you can - I started using them when Kruul began to cast his second Annihilate: firstly, I stunned him with Storm Bolt, then used Heroic Leap to get to the orb, to disorient him, and charged back to DPS him more.
• I did not use another Potion of the Old War and Drums right away - I saved them for the moment right before he had cast his third Annihilate, because extra Haste that Drums provide give you a chance to make more rage - which turns into stronger Ignore Pain absorbs, which can be a life-saver there, at that point, not neccessarily from Annihilate itself, but from Infernals' aura or Kruul's Netherstomp. Of course, it also boosts your DPS together with another potion, which is going to help you bring Kruul down quickly: as it turned out, I finished him off after third Annihilate, because the fourth wouldn't be survivable for me.
• As was said, whenever you notice that any Infernal is up, be on the move around Kruul, never stand in one spot - it may also help you move out of his green pools from Netherstomp quicker. Try to get near Infernals aswell and cleave them together with Kruul, to minimize damage taken from their aura.
• For Netherstomp - before the fight began, I marked Velen to see him clearly on the battlefield (to always be in range) and made a simple macro for [Intercept], to charge to him whenever Kruul uses Netherstomp. If you do that, it will not only help you avoid the massive damage and slow effect of the green pool, but also will give you some extra rage you can use for Ignore Pain or Shield Block.

#showtooltip Intercept
/cast [target=Prophet Velen] Intercept

• Nether Adds that spawn don't pose much of a threat, the only thing I noticed about them is that they, for some reason, run to Velen more often in 2nd phase, and you should always keep your eyes peeled and grab them off if that happens. Here they serve only for enabling Victory Rush, as they die quickly to cleave damage.
• Kruul's [Twisted Reflection] spell - whenever he attempted to cast it, I did not interrupt it, but used [Spell Reflection] to get the debuff on him instead, which allows you to rapidly heal yourself (with my health, every tick was for ~250.000). Note: every tick of your [Deep Wounds] also procs a heal. Got to be very careful to not miss any cast of the Twisted Reflection, because if it gets through, as was said by other people here, it will be pointless to continue, as Kruul will keep healing himself. Many warriors point out that Spell Reflection is most useful while avoiding the green pools (because of 50% magic damage reduction, with artifact's trait), but as far as I went, I didn't have problems with those, using the macro to charge to Velen (see above).

Kruul's [Annihilate] casts and protection against them:

• For the first one, it is enough to be around maximum health and to use Shield Block (bonus from tier's 2-pieces set will be useful here).
• For the second one, it hits much harder, so I found it optimal to use Demoralizing Shout + [Neltharion's Fury], for 100% critical block chance.
• For the third one, which is deadly, I saved Last Stand and Shield Wall, as well as used Shield Block (Neltharion's Fury might be ready for this, depends on how many times you kept Kruul stunned / disoriented by Velen's orb).
• As was written above, you should try to delay his every cast of Annihilate as much as possible - with Storm Bolt or Velen's orbs, all of which will buy you valuable time to DPS Kruul more and postpone the fourth cast, which would be deadly. It may be useful to bring things like [Gift of Radiance] with a 5-second stun on use and only a minute cooldown, which drops from Odyn in Halls of Valor, but I never had a chance to test it.

Unfortunately, I haven't been recording any video, otherwise would post it here aswell.

I truly hope someone will find all of this helpful, as all of the posts, that I read here, were helpful for me. If you cannot beat it yet - don't give up, sooner or later you will get it done. I can understand all the frustration that this "challenge" makes you feel - as it is not a tank challenge, but a simple and blunt DPS race.

When Proving Grounds were still actual and I've been doing them, I haven't found much of a "tanking" in there either - there wasn't any careful pulls, wasn't really any actual, hardcore tanking, all there was is saving a particular cooldown for a particular wave, and nothing else but endless (heh..) kiting of the mobs. But there, at least, that pandaren girl was DPS-ing them and healed you a bit.. here, in this challenge, we don't have either.

There is even absolutely no interaction with tanks' active mitigation mechanics: tank must know when to use it right, must plan their resources and be ready - think of several bosses in Legion dungeons that have a specific ability, that gets reduced if tank uses their active mitigation abilities at the right time.

What stopped this encounter's designers to make, as the first thing that comes to mind, Inquisitor's [Mind Rend] interactive with active mitigation? Kruul's [Annihilate] is just a physical infinite-range attack that doesn't care for active mitigation - warrior have a chance to block even while simply standing still. Velen's orbs is not a bad mechanic - but it's just another "cooldown" you have to run to and pick up - and it would be nice if you really had time to do that, while all you must do is to just nuke and bash the boss, or you won't beat the timer.

Good luck to everyone still stepping in there - believe in yourself, you can do it.

[Deleted]

Gave it my round of gos tonight since I had the time and got it done on the 5th or 6th.

Frankly, ~3 tries I had to sort the smash weakaura out and eventually deleted it since it was broken for some reason. It started created more entities of itself every time I was in there. It's the one I linked a page or 2 back.

Prot paladin challenge is reasonable now, and definately doable without the legs legendary.

[dsqdzd]

Any Guardian videos that didn't use Eko, Luffa or Elize's for me to study?

Here's mine if you want : watch?v=J_0-ElgXGfk

I had around 903 iLvl when I got it down, Prydaz and Sephuz and 898 iLvl in weapon (3 thrashs relics though).

Sephuz helps a lot with movement speed, as well as bear tartare food of course.

[Agentbourbon]

Just got mine; after the nerf I can say that it's way more accessible and if you feel intimidated by it, just give it some attempts and watch some videos to get an idea of how the fight progresses so you can focus.

I am 907 item level with a 923 artifact item level, and have 49 traits when I killed Kruul; using a Thunder Clap, Revenge, and Shatter the Bones relic, using an 895 Chains of the Valorous with haste, and an 890 Arcanocrystal. I used Thundergod's Vigor belt, and Mannoroth's Bloodletting Manacles. The trinket combinations can easily be swapped, and I chose the Chains for my kill to get more Shield Slams out, get slightly larger Ignore Pains, and have a little bit more top end. A Memento or other damage type trinket, such as Horn of Valor, would work too. Gift of Radiance and Ember of Nullification can work too, but I didn't have them with me to try them. Ember seems to be a slight double edged sword, as the first boss will move towards you if they're silenced, which can reset his aura stacks if you're not careful.

My stats were 13% crit, 27% haste, 17% versatility, and 13% avoidance.

Talents were Stormbolt, Impending Victory, Renewed Fury, Bounding Stride, Devastator, Booming Voice, and Anger Management.

I have it bound to a separate button, so if I'm focusing another target and they begin to cast Drain Life at any point, I can stun them without having to tab through or target him manually. This can save your life, so mastering this so you don't have to fumble with targeting him when there's a lot of adds stacked on him is a very good skill to learn.

When I start, I prepot before I charge and dump Shield Block, Battle Cry, Demo Shout, and start spamming Shield Slam. I use Prolonged Power for the beginning to get a large initial Ignore Pain, as this beginning part can be important depending on RNG: Inquisitor will cast on you a set number indeterminable times before they cast Drain Life, so you can potentially take a small or large amount of damage if he chooses to prolong his first Drain Life cast. I try to keep my stacks between 5-6, but at times I can get to 7 if I'm trying to push for some damage. At that point I get near an orb and wait for his cast to get nearly complete and hit an orb. This will allow the most amount of time to allow your stacks to fall off without him getting another cast off.

I always saved Spell Reflect for the adds, unless I was pushing phase when the Highlord would be coming down. If you're about to kill Inquisitor, try your best to absolutely SAVE Spell Reflect, as that first initial Twisted Reflection is absolutely paramount to be reflected. I try to keep Kruul moving in a large circle around Velen, so at no point he's near any of the other NPCs, and if the adds spawn I can pick them up with ease. I keep my character closer to the center of the arena, with Kruul being closer to the edge, so the Infernals will follow in a wide arc and cast at you in a way that you can move out of their knock back by following the curve of the arena.

Bear Tartare was probably one of the biggest helping hands besides the belt. It allows you to get to the Eyes in the first phase very quickly, allows you to avoid the Infernals knock back, can give you breathing room to save a Charge or Heroic Leap when you need to use one to get to an orb, leap out of Nether Stomp, or clutch out a leap back to the platform if you do get knocked off.

Kruul's damage does begin to ramp up after a few Annihilates, with 3 going onto 4 being the dangerous ones. I had 3 orbs and a Stormbolt up, and began using those before he got his cast off to prolong a dangerous hit and get some more hits in. Try to use Stormbolt or an orb when you feel like you're threatened (no cooldowns, Shield Block is off CD) to buy time for Shield Block or another defensive to come off cooldown. This is where the belt really shines through: it's almost always off cooldown thanks to Anger Management and the large number of adds that get hit by it, and lets you fit Shield Blocks in for Annihilates.

It's definitely much easier now, and I recommend giving it a try if you felt like you had any doubts about it before.

[Paderi]

Just completed this challenge as a prot pally 906 ilvl

Used sephuz legs talents that I changed was just using fist of justice

Took me 136 attempts Ish..
Didnt try this pre nerf all was done on this tower.
I couldn't clear it within 2 internals but I like my strategy because it keeps phase 1 very simple.
Basically when seraphim is up I'll stay for the full duration and I used judgement to kill all eyes. I just can't be bothered with the rng so I just end up killing them all haha.

So at the start pre pot old war Sera wings and just go to town on him. The moment the eye is up I judge them down. If it crits it just takes 1 if not 2. Usually i stay in around 10 stacks depending on adds spawn. Most important here is if u don't have an interrupt for the mind rend just one sotr would do just fine. Once you're ready to move out I'll hoj variss and go straight to eyes. If one judge doesn't work depending on hp either i bless hammer or I'll just cast sotr on them. Remember if u don't have interrupts on varis just sotr eyes for defensive. Nether adds spawn just concentrate to pull them all Sera and go straight on variss for another 8-10 stacks of end.

This method I really have any eyes up. I just don't like the idea of dodging smash and being in the right direction for eyes. Just rinse n repeat to P2.

For krull I had a hard time surviving because 4th annihilate bubble failed me twice as the hit went through eventhough my bubble was already on cd. No idea why so I switched to different annihilate rotation. Key here is just to keep moving. I try placing the green stuff on the outer ring. So it doesn't interfere with orbs. Hate it when the orbs is in the green thingy .

Old war Sera wings drums and just zerg krull as much as u can. Usually I delay the first annihilate just to spend more time on him dealing DMG. Just keep on moving run to velen to pull adds over and try stay close to orbs as u can but also position yourself so krull doesnt put those green shit on the floor on an orb.i don't like using the orb when he's in there less DPS uptime.

2nd annihilate eye of tyr and sotr. BTW if the green goes on you please jump apparently it reduces DMG and seems to work for me. best tip I got for P2. 3rd i used sotr kings and 4th AD and sotr. I had a 5th one I used bop and he was dead by then.

Last tips:
Don't be afraid as a prot pally to stay as long as u can in his dnd. Hoj and one shield is good enough to drop your stacks and by using fist of justice talent I get a hoj everytime I go in and I exit always with stunning him.

Infernals is not an issue for P2 as long as u keep moving. Don't go right and left just move one direction and you'll definitely not get hit by it.

[Baronthefirst]

This is the best content Blizzard has made in a long time. I have done it on both Vengeance and Guardian now, and I love it. The frustration of dying in P2 because you miss the orb by 1 or 2 yards right before you die or when you relax for just a second and poof you fly of the platform. The satisfaction of then completing it, just excellent.

It's not impossible, a lot of people have made it. It is hard. All the people here crying about it needs to take a step back and appreciate the challenge this provides. If you can't handle it, wait until Tomb releases and get better gear for an easier time. Stop the entitlement and excuses of why you can't make it.

No it isn't impossible it just isn't a test of tanking skill. As I have been going in try after try I have been looking at ways to not increase my survivability or how to execute mechanics better but I have been looking at what I have to do to do more DPS. I have been changing my gear and taking everything with Haste as a ilvl 905 Prot Paladin. I am now at 25% haste. In my guilds raids I am keeping up with low end DPS if not beating some of them. I even double our other tanks DPS on almost every boss fight.


Now I am not saying a tanks DPS shouldn't matter at all but it is far too important in this encounter and isn't what being a tank is about and it isn't why I chose to be a tank. With all my tries I have not once felt like I failed due to a tanking mechanic. There is something very wrong with that and I would like to believe that if these encounters got properly tested that this wouldn't have released the way it is.

[Ddoc23]

Me too! Getting points on dealing damage seems a bit redundant. After all, it is more objective based.

[SoulSoBreezy]

Completed it earlier this week. Here's my PoV with a full talkthrough. Good luck!

[Lolsteak]

Got it after 6 tries, Certainly wasn't as hard as I thought it would be.. Had Kruul down to 5mil the first try lol.

[cuafpr]

so many tips and they all involve max DPStalents and rotations and stuff so sadding for a "Tank" challenge.

[Deleted]

Theres something people don't mention and is very important. Artifact level. Each rank on tank spec increases damage done and the fight is very much a damage check aswell as everything else.

I did it a few hours ago on my 906 Brewmaster monk. Has 48 Atifact level. Used the belt legendary that heals and sephuz (and the leech trinket from tichondrius).

It's gonna take a bit to get used to phase 1, but both phases hinge on damage. The more you do, the faster you phase, If you can cleave adds into the boss, do that, its actuay vital to do that. The eyes, only dps them when you cc the inquisitor, otherwise make sure to be facing them.
Use the run speed food and keep strafing left and right because the infernals are the bane of your existance.
Also of note is that i pulled the boss back at the start with the lightning thing and walking back to the edge of the platform until he pretty much casts the first drain life. This means he will be right next to Velen and picking up the adds won't be a problem.

Phase 2 keep back pedaling to avoid the infernals. Have a speed boost ready for the second he puts his green goo down. Avoiding that damage is major for getting this done and it's hard. You can take one tick, but no more. If you react fast enough (aka are expecting it) you can completely avoid the damage wich means more seconds you will be alive to dps him down.
Finally, the crux of the final phase are the healing orbs. have them on the corner of your eye, so you know how to reach them quickly. Making the best of them will again reward you with time to kill the boss before he kills you.
Do everything you can to keep your uptime while not stepping on the green goo (netherstomp).

Good luck. It was much more doable this week, maybe cause i gained a couple of traits, than it was when i tried with much worse gear and was hell.
If you level up your artifact, this will be doable for everyone that can react fast enough to avoid the one-shot mechanics.

[Deleted]

FOR WARRIORS

As a protection warrior who wiped around 300+ times before i finally got it, heres some tips i found out rather late into the ocean of tries I had.

This is VERY helpfull if you're having trouble consistantly reaching phase 2, wich i had.

PHASE 1
On pull, obv. you pop everything (i used Old War potion) and stay on the boss as long as possible - when you reach around 5-6 stacks, pop Last Stand and Shield Wall to stay in a little longer (i usually went out at 9-10 stacks). The "trick" with using Shield Wall + LS here is, that it will be up again in p2 when you need it. I got the boss to around 60% on the initial pull. Then you play it safe for the rest of phase 1 - only gaining around 4 stacks (remember you can LoS the Mind Rend).

You wanna ideally get into P2 with only 2 infernals.

PHASE 2
As I read somewhere, having an intercept macro for Velen is a lifesaver, when you get jumped by Kruul and he leaves the green pool.

That way you should have Spell Reflect available for Twisted Reflections. NOTE: if you're about to die from a pool, dont hesistate to use Spell Refelction thou.

When you're kiting Kruul, try to stay around Velen, but NOT TOO CLOSE to him, cause the area will be covered in green pools at the end.

1. Annihilate - Shield Block
2. Annihilate - Neltharions Fury
3. Annihilate - Last Stand + Shield Wall
4. Whatever you have - orbs, stuns etc. (he should die around then).

Final notes: if you can get consistantly into phase 2, its only a matter of time before you get him. I had some very close wipes (actually had a 0.1% wipe, I died and the NPCs had to finish him off, wich they didnt - think they had to only hit him 1 more time!) and after that I had some terrible tries and ended up going to bed. Got the kill next morning - so persistence is the key here.

[Anonimus]

Best try 4% on Kruul where Last Resort wouldnt pop for 4th Annihilation...
I've already done Closing the Eye and Agatha but this one is on another level to be fair. Any DH's had the same problem with Last Resort just not popping? Any potential fixes?

[FluffyGrey]

I recently completed the challenge but thought maybe some people would like some more tips here since not much is really available for Guardian druids atm. Unfortunately I haven't posted enough on mmo champion to post helpful links, so if you want those, you can view my reddit post titled "Guardian Challenge completed! ilvl 905 2x thrash luffas+ekowraith. Wanted to share some info since finding a good guide has been tough."

Armory link: can't , but one exists on reddit
Talents: 3-3-1-1-2-2-1
Incarnation helps a lot with Kruul burst dps so you can make sure he dies asap. I initially tried to use galactic guardian, but thrash spam with pawsitive outlook is really really nice.
2x thrash relics (880,865), 1 stam (905) (finding thrash relics is hard - MMO champ has a good guide though - Thrash-relics-and-where-to-find-them!)
I did 866.7k dps over the cou[/url]!)d I got knocked off right at the end with 3 stacks of annihilation because I'm bad. Thrash was 73.6% of my damage, followed by swipe. It took me 120-140 tries (DBM says 101, but I did 20-40 before I got the challenges addition)
Consumables: potion of prolonged power, Agi flask, defiled rune, bear tartare, drums
Add-Ons: DBM Challenges and WeakAuras - KruulHelper (I changed the icons to 125x125, made all the icons' font sizes 50 and changed the interrupt noise to Phone because the AirHorn option wasn't getting my attention)

Things I did

Variss:

- Pre-potted and moonfire pulled Variss into the middle so Velen could smack him
- Mostly used skull bash to interrupt Drain Life, then mighty bash to stun (if available) and then mangle unless my stacks of DnD were over 2 - If DnD was >2 I just got out
- Used Rage of the Sleeper on the first pack of Nether Horrors and then would save it as long as I could in hopes of having it available for Kruul, but would use it if I needed to
- Avoided using Incarnation on Variss to have it available asap on Kruul
- Spent all my rage on Mark of Ursol and Frenzied Regen
- Occasionally used mangle on eyeballs for cheaper/better marks/regens and additional rage generation
- Constantly ran in circles around the boss to try not to get knocked off by infernals - occasionally had to pause to stare eyeballs that I missed - occasionally had to change directions to avoid things
- Spammed thrash and swipe since Luffas+Eko allow you to hit Variss from outside his DnD with both (if you have one then thrash will hit but swipe probably won't)
- Used incapacitating roar to get breathing room and to stop Nether Horrors' channeled cast - i generally tried to use it after they started channeling so that it would interrupt the channel and they would not cast again - Bear Tartare and bonus thrash/swipe range helped a lot with this - can also moonfire eyeballs while other mobs are incapped
- Used Velen's healy balls as I needed them and tried to remember their order - use oldest first to prevent despawns - I generally tried to hold out and use them to incapacitate grouped up Nether Horrors for easy pickings, but it's better to use a ball if you're about to die than try to wait for the "right time" to use a ball - if you wait you'll probably die
- Used Barkskin on cooldown, especially when I was rage-starved and couldn't put up a Mark of Ursol

Kruul:

- Tried to stun shortly before annihilate or during cast - if your health is low incap roar can buy you enough time to get to a healy ball before you get annihilated
- Incap roared for breathing room/ time to get bearings and to help me get to a healy ball whenever needed
- Tried to keep up Ironfur, but used Mark of Ursol during scary Netherstomps (ones I got stuck deep in)
- Interrupted Twisted Reflection cuz if you're bad like me it's a wipe if that goes off (If you're better at recovering than me you can incap roar to prevent Kruul from gaining life and grab a healy ball to remove the debuff)
- After the first twisted reflection/annihilate combo, I ran to an orb and popped drums, prolonged power, and incarnation and thrash spammed
- Tried to use survival instincts and rage of the sleeper for 2nd and 3rd annihilate, but also used them as oh shit buttons so that may not have 100% worked out
- Netherstomp did 2.3x as much damage to me than annihilate, and they often come back to back - some folks have had success incapping the the stomp, but it takes ridiculous reaction time (and global cooldowns can be rough) - Mark of Ursol can help a lot if you pop it right when you get in a hairy stomp, constantly moving and using bear tartare helps a lot too - try not to even step in a stomp puddle, those ticks do ridiculous damage
- Got knocked off the ledge right at the end and stared up at the floating island from my corpse while Kruul complained about things and then blew up I guess?
- Your goal for Kruul should be to delay his annihilates as much as possible and kill him by his 4th annihilate - if you're good and manage your CDs well and don't get netherstomped into oblivion you can survive his 4th, but it's rough - I tried to initially maximize haste and use my 4 piece because haste is supposed to be the best stat for bear damage and I thought having some less expensive cds would be helpful - after wiping another 20 times this go around I just picked my highest ilvl gear for my non-trinkets/legendaries and that seemed to work best (since I won)

Legendaries

I tried a bunch of different legendaries for this challenge. I have Luffas, Eko's, Skysecs, and Elize's (wrists, chest, boots, pants) and a few others that I didn't play around with. I've seen around that a lot of people think Luffa's and Elize's would be BIS for Kruul because of added damage and damage reduction from Elize's + rend and tear, but I found that the range was still a bit too low to be able to run away from Kruul and be able to hit him with thrash reliably. I also found that Velen would sometimes die because thrash's range wasn't long enough to pick up adds and I wasn't good enough to keep track of everything while also surviving/dpsing Kruul. I found that using Luffas and Eko's makes both Variss and Kruul easier. It allows you to thrash and swipe Variss and do more damage to infernals faster and slows them down at a longer range to minimize those annoying knockbacks. On Kruul, it allows you to focus on surving Kruul without having to babysit Velen, and allows you to both safely-ish kite and never miss a thrash. It's possible that using Luffas and Elize's could theoretically allow you to do more damage and complete the challenge faster, but it also makes the challenge more challenging by putting you and your npcs in more danger due to riskier situations and range restrictions. I mentioned Skysecs earlier, but only because when I first started attempting the challenge I thought that having a little extra healing would be nice. However, since Kruul does massive damage very quickly and is a dps race the additional overtime healing from frenzied regen is pretty lackluster. I do not have Prydaz or the Archimonde trinket, so I can't speak to how useful those are.

[moriko]

Managed to do this yesterday on a 898 Demon Hunter.

Talents - 3,3,2,2,3,1,1
Food -The Hungry Magister (crit)
pot - old war
flask - Flask of the Seventh Demon (agi)
trinket - Royal Dagger Haft
special item - brazier of awakening www dot wowhead.com/item=127770/brazier-of-awakening (not allowed to post links)

Tactics:

Put down brazier in the middle of the room before the fight starts.

Phase 1:

Prepot and pull use all cooldowns (not drums) managed to get him down to 70% before i reached 6 stacks.
Imprison him when he is about to finish his cast and clear some eye's while the stacks drop. Kill nether adds when they appear.
Try not to use any orbs.
Repeat untill phase 2.

Phase 2:

Drums and second pot as soon as he lands.
Keep moving if you stand still and you get caught in a pool you are dead.
Use orbs to delay Annihilate as much as possible.
1st annihilate demon spikes
2nd fiery brand + demon spikes
3rd - meta + demon spikes
4th - i actually died here as my last resort AND haft had been used but brazier saved the day.

Because i got resurrected by brazier everything got reset and i had 8% to go without having to worry about annihilate stacks, last resort and haft also reset.
At this point is was fairly easy.

I got lucky that Velen did not die while i was being resurrected but there we go

[judgementofantonidas]

dps is an important part of tanks

not if you listen to all the DPS that whine every time we are allowed to shine for a moment.

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I dont disagree that DPS is important as a tank when pushing the bleeding edge of progression, every bit helps. This on the other hand is VASTLY different from one tank to the next. To require one tank to deal with DOUBLE the health as every other tank(pally) is ludicrous. To force prot warriors to deal with 90% magic damage is pretty unfair as well but at least they can complete it if they are 910+. Myself, as a 910 mythic raiding prot paladin am literally unable to complete this challenge due to the fact that I have to contend with the same as every other tank, yet everything has double the health and paladins do fffarrrr from double every other tanks damage.

couldn't have said it any better.

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I found this much more difficult on my guardian druid than on any of my other tanks, any advice?

you are being punished for the early exploits of others.

[procne]

Is there a place where I can read only descriptions of phases and abilities, instead of step-by-step guides?

[moriko]

Is there a place where I can read only descriptions of phases and abilities, instead of step-by-step guides?

This information can be found on wowhead

www dot wowhead.com/quest=45416/the-highlords-return (no links allowed)

This is a two phase fight. Phase 1 takes place against Inquisitor Variss and Phase 2 takes place against Highlord Krull himself.

Phase 1

Aura of Decay - The inquisitor is always surrounded by a Necrotic Aura which reduces your max health as you stand in it.
Mind Rend - An interruptable cast that deals moderate damage to the target.
Drain Life - An interruptable cast that drains health from its target.

Tormenting Eye:

Inquisitive Stare - A channeled spell that, when completed, will knock back its target if it is not looking at the eye.
Tormenting Eye - Prevents the Tormenting Eye from being damaged by Physical attacks (Guardian Druid, Protection Paladin only)

Smoldering Infernal:

The Smoldering Infernal never truly dies and will reform after some time.
Fel Resonation - The infernal will lose 10% health and deal minor damage to all enemies. This occurs until the Smoldering Infernal reaches 20% health, at which point the Smoldering Infernal will take bonus physical damage.
Smash - The infernal will smash in a straight line in front of it, knocking all enemies back.

Nether Horror:
Psytalons - The Nether Horror's melee attacks will apply Psytalons.
Nether Storm - After a long cast, begins a channel which will deal massive damage to anything nearby. Nether Horrors can move while channeling this ability.

Phase 2

Periodically throughout the phase, purple beams will cross the platform which attempt to push the player off the platform.
Annihilate - Krull will use this on his primary target and increase all damage taken. This effect stacks. Interrupting Krull's cast of Annihilate will make him cast it again.
Netherstomp - Krull jumps on his target and leaves a fire puddle that deals massive damage to any creature standing in it.
Twisted Reflection - An interruptable spell that will place Twisted Reflection on the target. Melee attacks made against this debuffed player heal Krull for 5% of his health.

Smoldering Infernal:

The Smoldering Infernal never truly dies and will reform after some time.
Fel Resonation - The infernal will lose 10% health and deal minor damage to all enemies. This occurs until the Smoldering Infernal reaches 20% health, at which point the Smoldering Infernal will take bonus physical damage.
Smash - The infernal will smash in a straight line in front of it, knocking all enemies back.

Nether Horror:

4 Nether Horror adds will spawn from portals around the arena approximately every 40 seconds.
Psytalons - The Nether Horror's melee attacks will apply Psytalons.
Nether Storm - After a long cast, begins a channel which will deal massive damage to anything nearby. Nether Horrors can move while channeling this ability.

Velen

Velen is here to aid you! Unfortunately, he doesn't heal that often but does help with Holy Ward orbs and dealing damage.
Holy Ward - Velen will place down a sphere approximately every 30 seconds. Running into it will interrupt and blind all enemies for 5 seconds, while healing the player and cleansing them of any magic debuffs.

[cuafpr]

No it isn't impossible it just isn't a test of tanking skill. As I have been going in try after try I have been looking at ways to not increase my survivability or how to execute mechanics better but I have been looking at what I have to do to do more DPS. I have been changing my gear and taking everything with Haste as a ilvl 905 Prot Paladin. I am now at 25% haste. In my guilds raids I am keeping up with low end DPS if not beating some of them. I even double our other tanks DPS on almost every boss fight.


Now I am not saying a tanks DPS shouldn't matter at all but it is far too important in this encounter and isn't what being a tank is about and it isn't why I chose to be a tank. With all my tries I have not once felt like I failed due to a tanking mechanic. There is something very wrong with that and I would like to believe that if these encounters got properly tested that this wouldn't have released the way it is.

exactly, its why i haven't bothered... if i wanted to DPS i'd be DPS spec not prot. this challenge shows zero raid tank ability minus a bit of add pick up.

Ironically, my friend keeps insisting its fine b.c. this not a tank challenge its a class challenge to show how well you know your class not your ability to tank ..... we finally agreed to disagree on that.

[Zookz25]

Finally beat it after 200+ attempts (Just happy I got it before tomb.) :P This may be a bit old now with all of the nerfs and how many traits people have, but I figure I'll post my stuff below.

Also, just to put this out first, it felt more like I had gotten really lucky on Kruul timer's for the attempt in which I killed him. He avoided stacking any abilities, and didn't jump on me when I was near him. (or the one time he did jump from melee range, I happen to have precast Blessing of Freedom)

Here are my stats:

Duration: 5m 46s; 739 dps.

904 item level with two-piece from Nighthold. I had all of my traits except for Concordance.

No Legendary pants, so I used the the belt (Thrayn), and the neck (Prydaz).

Trinket's were Fang of Tichondrius for the strength and heal CD, and Claw and Crystalline Scorpid for strength and AoE burst. I even had a 890 version of that ring which boosts auto-attack damage by 10%, because it has both haste/crit (great for a damage tankadin), and it's 0.3% or so more damage for free. lol

Food was Bear Tartare, flask was Strength, went budget with the potion and just used a prolong, and drums were used on Kruul with Avenging up.

Talents were:
Blessed Hammer
First Avenger
Fist of Justice <- Very nice for delaying every Annihilate
Cavalier
Hand of the Protector
Judgement of Light
Seraphim

The biggest gear fix I think I made was putting on a piece of gear with speed. Brought my movement up from 102% to 109%, and made it a lot easier to keep on the move for Infernal Slams and Kruul Leaps.

He only hit me with two annihilates, which also made a huge difference. Took the first two, and then stunned the third, and used BoP before he came out of the stun, so when he came out and casted it, he casted it on the demon hunter; this avoids the bonus damage he would normally get for auto-attacks/leaps because of the third annihilate stack on me (which boosts all of his damage, not just annihilate). I feel like this made a huge difference.

Pretty sure the Legendary belt with drums gave me enough burst to kill Kruul before a fourth annihilate (and again, I think I got lucky and he simply delayed his annihilate timer a bunch). Though I should of had bubble up for it if need be.
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As far as what I think of it, I honestly liked the healer challenge way more. Far less RNG, so when you messed up, it didn't feel like it was because the boss decided to stack abilities. I still enjoyed it, I just wish there were fewer pseudo-random timers. Would have been better if there were multiple challenges (like the healer one), and each section had one or two random timers in it to minimized that random frustration. I really don't have a problem with untrackable timers (I actually like them since I don't really use DBM/Bigwigs in raids, and would rather not have to watch timers), but when the whole fight is a bunch of random timers thrown your way at one time, you can just be boned for stupid reasons.

Add those random timers on top of hoping for Avenging Shield to proc over and over in order to do the damage you need and you're just asking for frustrating moments.