[10] Heroic Maloriak

[Sitar]

I've been following this discussion for quite some time while we are working on this encounter, and I have a few questions :

- Do you have a reliable way of telling when Maloriak will breath on the raid during red phase ? We've got timers from DBM or Bigwigs but they are pretty much screwed. Sometimes it casts 3s before, sometimes 4s after, and it's very hard to time short CD's right.

- I'm a hunter myself and I have tried snake traps but I didn't find a noticeable change, is there a "trick" in using the trap ?

[warden]

You can't time it exactly. We actually built those timers for DBM, and after a couple nights of agonizing trying to get it right, decided that its an ablity with an ICD (hense the timer saying Scorching Breath CD), but he doesn't have to cast it immediately. We've had good success popping our raid CD (AM, DG, or Pw:B) with 2 seconds left on the timer before the cooldown is up; this way even if he casts storm instead, as long as it is interrupted quickly your cd is still up. Also, the trap timing is tricky from what we can tell, because the snakes have to get out, but immediately go behind him, so there's only a short window where they help, unless we're missing something.

[Nemue]

wouldnt it work to put the snaketraps on the aberations, assuming the addtank offtanks them in the cone

[warden]

That's actually a really interesting idea...

[Sitar]

I've tried it and it seems to work.

[Belloc]

wouldnt it work to put the snaketraps on the aberations, assuming the addtank offtanks them in the cone

I don't necessarily recommend having your add tank getting hit by the cone. It's a nice chunk of damage and it wiped us enough that we stopped doing it. It could work, but just keep that in mind.

[exiledknight]

How is everyone timing the abberation releases? After a night of attempts we are close to a kill but still at times were seeing the abberation tank get gibbed, we attempted interrupting 2 releases and we hit the green phase with only 6 adds, it really looks like we can 3 tank it to lessen the load on the abberation tank when the 3rd set is released(we were seeing 60% first green phase with the raid alive before we started having people die off to random things), having only one hunter also limited the MDs and we had a few abberations get loose and beat on the raid which led to a few deaths.

[Boyfriend]

How is everyone timing the abberation releases? After a night of attempts we are close to a kill but still at times were seeing the abberation tank get gibbed, we attempted interrupting 2 releases and we hit the green phase with only 6 adds, it really looks like we can 3 tank it to lessen the load on the abberation tank when the 3rd set is released(we were seeing 60% first green phase with the raid alive before we started having people die off to random things), having only one hunter also limited the MDs and we had a few abberations get loose and beat on the raid which led to a few deaths.

I don't think you can tank more than 6, either go with an extra tank or kite adds. (Might be wrong, but I'm kiting and I know 9 adds splatter me pretty damn fast on 25 man if I fuck up.)

[Belloc]

How is everyone timing the abberation releases? After a night of attempts we are close to a kill but still at times were seeing the abberation tank get gibbed, we attempted interrupting 2 releases and we hit the green phase with only 6 adds, it really looks like we can 3 tank it to lessen the load on the abberation tank when the 3rd set is released(we were seeing 60% first green phase with the raid alive before we started having people die off to random things), having only one hunter also limited the MDs and we had a few abberations get loose and beat on the raid which led to a few deaths.

I don't think you can tank more than 6, either go with an extra tank or kite adds. (Might be wrong, but I'm kiting and I know 9 adds splatter me pretty damn fast on 25 man if I fuck up.)

I'm fairly certain that you're expected to do some kiting of adds on heroic, no matter what. Of course, there will always be times when the adds catch up to you... and god help you if you get frozen.

[exiledknight]

I don't think you can tank more than 6, either go with an extra tank or kite adds. (Might be wrong, but I'm kiting and I know 9 adds splatter me pretty damn fast on 25 man if I fuck up.)

We def don't have the dps to go to 3 tanks, attempted that and we were getting to the 10 minute mark with him around 48%, granted there were always a few trickle off deaths, but even with having to run 7 healers due to several absenses it seems we just dont have the dps otherwise. At the end of the night we switched tank roles and I moved off Maloriak and to the adds, only issue I had was bad timing(or range maybe)and took a tick or two of his flame breath right at a point where I needed to get too close to the adds, and went splat. Can you out range his flame breath, or is it just a timing thing I need to be more careful with?

[warden]

On the add release interrupts:
You MUST interrupt:
- Release if cast on pull (it isn't always cast) prior to black phase.
- All releases cast during green phase (usually two, sometimes 3)

This leaves red and blue phases with two releases cast in each. If you're going for 9 adds, you need to interrupt one (and only one) of these. We tend to release the first two, let the add tank establish aggro, then interrupt the 3rd. Just prior to the 4th release, he calls for a ring of frost, freezing the 6 off to the side. 3 more come out, he gathers them up, the 6 come loose, and we push into green.

Hope it helps!

Edit for above: We two tank this fight on 25 man; I'm ret, and the guy assigned to timing the add releases.

[Técaro]

Killed it tonight, using two tanks and me as the add tank. We generally released 1-skip-2-3 if we got a blue, and if red we went skip-1-2-3 so I could stack with the raid for the first breath. I tanked the first 3 easily, and then kited mostly over a frost trap after establishing some aggro. I used Divine Prot+Dodge trinket+PS first green, DP+Dodge trinket+AD or Guardian on second green. Be on the ball with using a cd should your healer get frozen and if you yourself get frozen just bubble it. Our Prot warrior also came over and shockwaved the adds at the start of a green, but I reckon you don't need it, although it may warrant an extra cd. Also keep in mind that in the last phase a pala can bubble or bop while tanking the adds and they'll stick.

[PsiVen]

In 4.0.6, Aberrations no longer stack their buff on the Vile Swill, making it very helpful to let him release 3 prior to the black phase and then only have to deal with 6 adds at once for the following red/blue phases. He chooses to cast Release prior to Dark Magic about 50% of the time at the start, and sometimes he will even cast it twice (interrupt that -- you definitely don't want 6). After the first Green phase, he will always cast Release but you will sometimes have to kick it if the previous adds aren't dead yet.

So our interrupt strategy is:
1st cast before Dark -- don't kick, kick if he casts again before Dark
End of Dark, 3 adds were killed -- kick the next one
End of Dark, no adds were killed -- don't kick
6 adds out, 3 were killed -- kick until end of Green
9 adds out -- kick until end of Green

If he casts one during the 1st Green phase, you want to kick it early and let it go if it's late. A late cast during the first Green is the same as a pre-Dark cast and you can use those 3 adds to your advantage.

I should note that explaining this to whoever's interrupting is probably futile, so you will want the add tank making calls for "don't kick" or "kick the next one."

[Saltycracker]

So here is my dirty little secret for 10man Maloriak. It seems he almost always casts his cone AOE after someone interrupts either arcane storm or release aberrations. During the red vial phase we only interrupt arcane storms. As soon as I see the first one cast, I pop Divine Guardian. Then I turn him 90 degrees to the left and wait for the next arcane storm. As soon as I see it, I pop Ardent Defender and Rebuke. 90% of the time, it works every time.

I also have taken Avenger's Shield off my bars for this fight because it was interrupting things it wasn't supposed to. You should have more than enough threat if you are keeping SoT up with Judgements during black phases.

[Saltycracker]

He chooses to cast Release prior to Dark Magic about 50% of the time at the start, and sometimes he will even cast it twice (interrupt that -- you definitely don't want 6).

From what I see, he will cast aberrations if:

1) He doesn't have a cast speed slow debuff
2) The arcane storm gets kicked really quickly.

Might just be anecdotal, but that combo seemed to work every time.