Black Morass

[Soulbreaker]

Last patch, erm 2.1 I read in the patch notes that BM had been nurfed. I haven't been back in there since getting my Kara key so I was wondering, before I take my Pally in there what exactly has changed? Is it easier to AoE
now?

[Alkaiae]

Since I'm still trying to grind up KoT Rep - only been 70 for a few weeks - I've run it 5ish times (all since the 2.1 patch), and haven't really had any problems at all. All I've done is just aggro the elite when he stands and spam HS/consecrate combo, and then tank whatever adds get picked up. My group has usually been myself, a druid healer, a hunter, a rogue (who is on the adds), and either a mage/lock/shadowpriest, depending on who decides to log on. We would use our beacons directly on the portals on waves 13-17 (guessing on the precise numbers, we blew on the waves in between boss 2 and 3). Once the beacon picked up the elite, the rest of the party would just chase down adds/dps the boss. Seemed to work fairly well.

With any of those groups, I've never had a full wipe, only the occasional death typically due to healing range. The only boss that has presented any difficulty at all has been the 2nd boss, as I've had a few times where the MS debuff has stacked to 50%+ and I don't have someone to OT him for the 15ish seconds I need to lose the debuff. However, my druid has been able to swiftmend/nature's swiftness me through it, as the debuff usually only gets annoyingly high at >15%, where the boss is basically burnable as long as I hold out for 30 seconds. Do be aware that DS won't drop the debuff, I tried that thinking it would be a cute way to make the encounter even more trivial, and instead ended up having to taunt the mob off our warlock

That said, I feel like (normal) BM is more of a DPS test than a tank/healer test - the only danger is the adds getting lose, as the elites are pretty easily healed/tanked through, and there aren't any really tricky fights there. It's actually a fun change of pace instance, as you can't really get slowed up by drinking/eating/afk, and the whole thing is >45 min with no
wipes.

Good luck, and feel free to correct me on any mistakes/strategic upgrades I could make - I remember the above method going well, but my version of "well" may equal a better tank's version of "AFK 5, slitting my wrists."

[adese]

With any of those groups, I've never had a full wipe, only the occasional death typically due to healing range. The only boss that has presented any difficulty at all has been the 2nd boss, as I've had a few times where the MS debuff has stacked to 50%+ and I don't have someone to OT him for the 15ish seconds I need to lose the debuff. However, my druid has been able to swiftmend/nature's swiftness me through it, as the debuff usually only gets annoyingly high at >15%, where the boss is basically burnable as long as I hold out for 30 seconds. Do be aware that DS won't drop the debuff, I tried that thinking it would be a cute way to make the encounter even more trivial, and instead ended up having to taunt the mob off our warlock

It's been a while since I've tried, but at least pre-2.1 DS did get rid of the debuff. Maybe that has changed since then. Personally, assuming I have a mage or priest along, I have the mage put Detect Magic on him, and then either Spell Steal the haste buff, or the Priest can dispell it. This way his attack speed won't increase, and you won't get as many applications of the debuff. Dodge gear can help here, too.

[Soulbreaker]

Thanks guys would you recommend I tackle it before I ding 70? I'm a bit toey looking at that Continuum Blade. Plus the Timewardens Leggings are calling me.

[adese]

I think the bosses (at least the final boss) are level 72. If you tank them pre-70, that means they can crush you. It is doable, but it will put a bit more strain on your healers.

[Alkaiae]

I think the bosses (at least the final boss) are level 72. If you tank them pre-70, that means they can crush you. It is doable, but it will put a bit more strain on your healers.

That sounds about right. Your healers will thank you if you grind out that extra bit of experience.

[Soulbreaker]

Yes true that, don't want my guildmates going "wow you're so hard to heal compared to <warriors name here> pallies really can't tank".

So I'll be keeping away from there until 70 I think.

[PsiVen]

I did Black Morass at 69... We didn't wipe, but Temporus wasn't pretty (stacked to 100% and died, got rezzed after they kited him the rest of the way).
Durnholde gives tons of rep anyway.

[Yeti]

I tanked BM just the other night. First time for me. Previously I had healed it when I was Holy.

Group:
Me - Tank
Holy Priest - Healer
2 Mages - one was on add duty
1 Ret Pally

Strange group makeup, but they were all in another guild and needed Kara attunement but lacking a tank, so they asked me for help.

All went fine until the last wave where I forgot to drop my beacon. I looked back and the final boss dragon was on them. Oops! I dropped the beacon, and ran over. I got aggro, but not before 1 Mage died. We basically 4-manned it from there, using every trick in the book to regain mana and health since our dps was gimped. Long fight.

Still managed to do it. The Ret pally helped on heals. I think having a really good healer is one key to success. Also, consecration can pick up the adds very well, giving a boost to add-management. the mages did quite a bit of AoE.

...

[Soulbreaker]

OK well dinged 70 and did a guild BM run today.

Did it easily, group was.

Me-tanking
Rogue
Warlock
Shadow Priest
Elemental Shaman-healing

Just AoE tanked everything at the portals, warlock SoC bosses and everyone else DPS bosses, by the time we got to the adds they where all (nearly) dead.

Drink ride to next portal rinse repeat. I died at last boss but we still downed him so I'm happy. All up from first portal to boss death 13 minutes.

Raised a few eyebrows.

[Mortiran]

I keep trying to forget about the time I was in process of gear up to go prot (was still holy). Group asked me to come heal BM for them and after we wiped numerous times and they gave up and left I realized I was still wearing my tanking gear. oops

One thing I was wondering about is if you use consecrate obviously you are going to agro adds, do you have time to kills the adds after the main target goes down before the next portal opens?

[Suikano]

I keep trying to forget about the time I was in process of gear up to go prot (was still holy). Group asked me to come heal BM for them and after we wiped numerous times and they gave up and left I realized I was still wearing my tanking gear. oops

One thing I was wondering about is if you use consecrate obviously you are going to agro adds, do you have time to kills the adds after the main target goes down before the next portal opens?

That's going to depend entirely on your dps, not much you can do about it.

I ran BM finally successfully yesterday, we wiped on aeonus but managed to get back into the zone while medivh's shield was still around 60% and we got him the second time. I had tried at level 68 to do it and we got to wave 11 when I went LD.

[tbolt]

I tried at 68 as well, couldn't kill the second boss though. If I had better AOE cleaning up the adds it may have been possible but the boss' debuff combined with a couple of waves of adds was too much damage for my healer to keep ahead of.

[adese]

I tried at 68 as well, couldn't kill the second boss though. If I had better AOE cleaning up the adds it may have been possible but the boss' debuff combined with a couple of waves of adds was too much damage for my healer to keep ahead of.

Not to mention the fact that at 68, the boss was 4 levels ahead of you, and able to crush you. That boss is tough enough as it is for a fresh 70 - I can't see it going very well if the tank is crushable.

[DeadMilliken]

Last patch, erm 2.1 I read in the patch notes that BM had been nurfed. I haven't been back in there since getting my Kara key so I was wondering, before I take my Pally in there what exactly has changed? Is it easier to AoE
now?

Yes, HOWEVER the harder part of BM is still the damage the whole party can take at times. Every single one of my successful attempts of Heroic BM has been with a Shadow Priest.