Serpentshrine - Hydross

[Ellimist]

Im new to these forums, so im not too familiar with the format of these posts. Looked at a few and there doesnt seem to be a specific one. So here goes.

Raid leader wants me to attempt to "Main Tank" Hydross. For those of you that know the fight, as you know it requires 2 "MT's" on for the frost phase and one for the nature. Atm our guild MT does frost and another warrior OT handles nature. We usually one shot him np. But our raid leader is curious as to my abilities as a tank and wants me to try my hand at the nature phase. The nature phase is considered the easier phase, mostly due to the lack of watery tomb.

My question is...can we do it? I have the resist gear necessary, in the neighborhood of 300-335 (i forget) but obviously my stats suffer...i believe my defense falls slightly under 490. I do know that block is useless here which worries me because that is a large source of our threat generation...also the transition worries me because I lack things like SS + sunder in case Hydross doesnt aggro me right away...if JoR doesnt get him on me, i probably have to capt america him, which has a cast time and enough time for Hydross to kill a clothy.

Can it be done? Has it been done?

[edit]: sorry, forgot to add in tanking gear i can hit 17-18khp full raid buffed...only other thing i can do this fight is dodge and parry i believe, so block is worthless as is armor (correct me if im wrong).

[PsiVen]

Block and armor are worthless, yes.

You NEED 365 NR and uncrittable defense, and you will still take more damage than a warrior due to Improved Defensive Stance. You can probably time AS to finish casting as Hydross crosses the line, but you should have a Misdirection rotation for transitions anyway. Threat on Hydross shouldn't be a big issue since most of the DPS will be on the adds for a while each phase. You will be affected more than a warrior by the damage reducing ooze, however.

Has it been done? Not that I know of, but it might have been after that silly April Fool's joke. Can it be done? I'm sure, but unless you have 365 NR + 490 Def (or slightly less defense with some resilience from Gladiator's Gavel for example) it shouldn't be.

[Ellimist]

Thank you for the constructive reply. So i need to get some more NR and stack more HP...shouldn't pose too much of a problem. The difference between improved defensive stance and our spell warding is 2% if i'm not mistaken? So the difference shouldn't be that large...though our smaller hp doesn't make matters any better.

So, being that armor has no effect on this fight, picking up mail or even cloth with nature resist on it wouldn't matter, correct? Its the only way I can see for bringing up NR other than some JC pieces.

Thanks again for the info.

[Sabindeus]

Thank you for the constructive reply. So i need to get some more NR and stack more HP...shouldn't pose too much of a problem. The difference between improved defensive stance and our spell warding is 2% if i'm not mistaken? So the difference shouldn't be that large...though our smaller hp doesn't make matters any better.

So, being that armor has no effect on this fight, picking up mail or even cloth with nature resist on it wouldn't matter, correct? Its the only way I can see for bringing up NR other than some JC pieces.

Thanks again for the info.

Well you have to count both Def Stance and Imp Def Stance

Imp RF + Spell Warding = 10%

Def Stance + Imp Def Stance = 16%

So the total difference is 6%

[Beldaerion]

I managed to convince my guild to let me tank hydross after our old maintank transfered servers. Just successfully did it last week, I was only sitting at 325 nature resist buffed up not 365. Took 2 tries, first time out we had some dps pull aggro during transitions.

You NEED 365 NR and uncrittable defense

I had neither, nice and smooth though.
HP and spelldamage are the main things you need to worry about in this fight not your mitigation.

[Invisusira]

I drop a consecrate under him as he shifts, works like a charm every time.

[Worldie]

For a blood elf, Judgement of Blood is cute to grab it right after the transition, since it cannot be resisted, and does more damages than JoR.

Allies should make sure to have SoV stacked before the transition to get aggro from the ticks.

Ah btw, you dont *need* full defence or full resist. BUT that nasty 12k crit just at 5% making him switch phase... would have been cool if you had not got that...
As in every fight, luck helps, but you don't want to be relying on luck.

[Whitewolf]

This is a relief. I saw another post saying Paladins can't MT this boss...after I just finished most of my resistance gear last night. The 3 epic blacksmithing pieces, and the epic 'Frozeneye' ring. Need to go get my +resistance kits, ensure i'm uncrittable - and fully buffed I should be @ close to 365.

Man, I love this forum.

[Eeva]

Would the Auras, the new +35 all Chormatic flask, and the level 35 +50 resistance to all magic schools stack?


70 + 35 + 50 = 155

You would only need to get 210 unbuffed FrR and NR.

[jere]

I MT the NR (and sometimes the FR) side of hydross for our guild.

What I did:

3 Wildguard pieces
Enchant the helm with +20 NR resist, the chest with 150 health, and the legs with 30stam/10 agility.
Grabbed 2 NR rings off AH (or have the epic ring crafted for one).
Grabbed a NR belt off the AH (doesn't have to be plate since hydross is all elemental dmg.

This gives me around 327 NR with the hunter Aura

I tried to fit in as much spell dmg as I could (got up to 380 spell dmg unbuffed) while maintaining as high a defense rating as possible (defense trinket is nice here).

One item that helps with MT'ing hydross is the S2 gavel as it has resilience, which will make up for a lot of the defense you lose getting resist gear.

As far as rotations:

While the other tank has him in frost:
Judge SotC if no one else is.
(alliance) Keep a stack of SoV up on hydross
Switch to SoR right before the transition
Lay a consecrate in the area where he will switch
As soon as he changes color to green, pop SoR (SoB if horde)
Refresh Consecrate
Toss AS for extra threat
Keep SoR/JoR/Consecrate/AS up as often as possible.

I try to save AW for the times where I have unlucky resists (or if we have to burn him down towards the end).

Also, when we transition back to frost, I lay a consecrate where he will turn to frost and toss a JoR on him right as he changes and then switch to a frost add to keep him on me a second long enough to let the other tank pick him up. It helps keep down the crazy. I can usually output 800 TPS on him, which is usually enough since most of the heavier dps have to let their DoTs, etc. fall off before the transition anyways.

For buffs I use:

Food: spell dmg
Flask: Fortification or Resistance
Weapon: Wizard Oil
Potions: Either destruction or mana, which ever I need more at the time.

[Siiri]

I'd say we're one of the better tank choices on hydross since most of the time we tank all adds+hydross on switches.

[Asterix]

I've got my full NR set completed for this boss but haven't yet tried to tank him. I'm curious about the stacking debuff. Is it possible to bubble and clear the debuff and then cancel it and be able to tank him twice as long during the nature phase?

[jere]

I've got my full NR set completed for this boss but haven't yet tried to tank him. I'm curious about the stacking debuff. Is it possible to bubble and clear the debuff and then cancel it and be able to tank him twice as long during the nature phase?

I don't think it is, but I wouldn't try anyways. The chance that you lag out before cancelling the bubble and hydross runs across the platform and changes early is too great.

[Worldie]

Way simpler for 2 reasons:

1) Bubble doesnt cancel the aura
2) Each tick he applies the last part of the aura, meaning that if he's at 50% mark, someone dies, you combat ress him, he gets the 100% mark as soon as it's applied to the raid.


However, even if it was possible, the raid would just get annihilated by the tombs/dot during the +500% mark.