[10] Sarthy challenge level/composition

[Maridian]

I've been seeking out information on Sartharion, trying to figure out how we might engage him, but I haven't gotten some clear answers to a couple of really important questions.

(Assume we're doing him with no drakes up. This is entry-level and reasonably casual stuff. Someday we may advance, but...)

Is it possible to do the encounters with a DPS subbing as an offtank where needed? That is, can the individual drakes be taken down with one tank on the drake, while the DPS picks up the portal minions? Is an actual tank required for the portal minions, or will a DPS-specced bear/plate with an offset or even just a bearplate in melee be enough to survive the minions? Do the fire elementals require a tank, or are they weak enough on 10-man to simply burn them down?

What is the gear level required of this encounter? Assuming the obvious common-sense tanking stuff, can this be tanked in a full set of well enchanted/gemmed blues with maybe a couple of heroic purples mixed in, or does one need mostly purples and/or Naxx-level gear?

[Rehlachs-]

Is it possible to do the encounters with a DPS subbing as an offtank where needed? That is, can the individual drakes be taken down with one tank on the drake, while the DPS picks up the portal minions? Is an actual tank required for the portal minions, or will a DPS-specced bear/plate with an offset or even just a bearplate in melee be enough to survive the minions?

on our first kill (10man) I was the only tank. the minions behind the portals were picked up by a melee shaman. the healers said it was not that easy to keep him alive, but it worked without any major problems.

Do the fire elementals require a tank, or are they weak enough on 10-man to simply burn them down?

again, I was the only tank. thought, about 1 or 2 of the adds per spawn ran to me because of JoL or RD..
nevertheless I suggest at least the melees helping with the adds (stunning, preventing healers from aggroing, preventing aoe'ing mages from dying, and so on).

What is the gear level required of this encounter?

fresh 80s, some heroic stuff

Assuming the obvious common-sense tanking stuff, can this be tanked in a full set of well enchanted/gemmed blues with maybe a couple of heroic purples mixed in, or does one need mostly purples and/or Naxx-level gear?

blue items will do it. aslong you meat the common ratings (uncritable, and so on) you will be fine.
the mini bosses are ridiculous and Sartharion itself is more like check for your moving abilities.

[Maridian]

Thanks for the input. :) Were you running with three healers?

[Rehlachs-]

yes. but the druid was afk for dinner while we handled the mini bosses

[Chunes]

Really the only issue i would forsee useing a non plate wearing DPS to offtank stuff, is the zerg of fire elementals that spawn near the end of Sartharion's heath bar. They could be problematic.

Does that mean it will be impossible? by no means. W/ no drakes up this encounter in 10man is very easy. very very easy.

[Maridian]

yes. but the druid was afk for dinner while we handled the mini bosses ;)

We only have two healers we can count on at the moment, so I'm trying to determine if challenging Sarthy himself with only two (both holy priests) will be trouble. They're *very* skilled priests, but I do recognize there's only so much skill can compensate for incoming damage throughput. (Though I'm accustomed to only two myself, and reasonably capable of tanking to suit.) I was less worried about the adds than Sarthy, especially as general strategy seems to involve eating a lava wave or two.

Really the only issue i would forsee useing a non plate wearing DPS to offtank stuff, is the zerg of fire elementals that spawn near the end of Sartharion's heath bar. They could be problematic.

These don't hit for unmitigated fire damage? And these adds will be prioritized by DPS in any case, though, if I understand the strategy, so ideally will not be an immense problem...

On a note unrelated to the topic but related to the encounter: Is the enrage the fire elementals get from being hit by lava wave the same or a different enrage than the generic one often referred to in discussing them? Some guides indicate they're the same, while others say they have both a timed enrage and a "grow" sort of effect from the lava.


Again, thanks for the input. :)

[Chunes]

well if you have a shield, you can block their attacks now since they changed that in 3.0 iirc.

as for when they enrage, it happens if you let the lava waves touch them.

[Rehlachs-]

These don't hit for unmitigated fire damage? And these adds will be prioritized by DPS in any case, though, if I understand the strategy, so ideally will not be an immense problem...

normally there will be like 3 adds per spawn. but on the last spawn (when Sartharion reaches 10% hp or something liek that. I don't know the exact mechanic or numbers) there will be about a dozen elementals. those will be a problem if you can't handle these.

running with a total of 2 healers shouldn't be a problem, too. as long you don't group with lemmings or players that like to die in a fire.
I suppose most of us have experienced what happens to those players when the fires start moving.. Archimonde *cough*.

[Maridian]

running with a total of 2 healers shouldn't be a problem, too. as long you don't group with lemmings or players that like to die in a fire.
I suppose most of us have experienced what happens to those players when the fires start moving.. Archimonde *cough*.

My fellow players' main flaw is that they've been spoiled by good tanking in most runs. Not a bad thing. ^.^

I'll pass this information back to my guild, and hopefully when enough of us hit 80 I'll have a success to report. :)

[amh]

The portal-adds (big ones) can be tanked by a
- hunter-pet
- dps-DK that pops frost aura
- ret-pally.. the list goes on :)

Any aoe-taunting pet (DKs count as pets:) such as a voidy or gorilla can tank the hatchlings if/when they sub into the normal realm.

What might be a challenge without a second tank is when Sartharion pops his final elementals right at the end. Because of their stacking aoe-damage-increase, they need to go down fairly fast, and no pet can produce that kind of threat on so many targets. Got a dps-warrior? Slap on a shield, challenging shout and shield-wall :)

[amh]

as for when they enrage, it happens if you let the lava waves touch them.

And this usually happens when your mages decide that run = frost-nova + blink, leaving all my elementals right in the middle of the wave

[Maridian]

What might be a challenge without a second tank is when Sartharion pops his final elementals right at the end. Because of their stacking aoe-damage-increase, they need to go down fairly fast, and no pet can produce that kind of threat on so many targets. Got a dps-warrior? Slap on a shield, challenging shout and shield-wall :)

What's a warrior? ^.^

We have a boomkin we might be able to make bear/roar, or possibly a DK we can get to DND. My only concern was the practicality of doing it at all -- we can probably gimmick a way to make it happen, with a little practice.

And this usually happens when your mages decide that run = frost-nova + blink, leaving all my elementals right in the middle of the wave

Thank you for bringing this up, so I can tell our mage not to do this. :)

[Wools]

as for when they enrage, it happens if you let the lava waves touch them.

And this usually happens when your mages decide that run = frost-nova + blink, leaving all my elementals right in the middle of the wave

if you're lucky, both/all of your healers are in melee range of all the mobs that got frost nova'd!

It's pretty much always incorrect to nova in a raid setting. Obviously there are exceptions to this rule, but they're few and far imo.

er. editing in actual content:

this encounter is trivial with zero adds up. The entire zone can be cleared within 20mins of first invites if you have your shit together.

We're going in next reset to figure out exactly how hard dealing with two adds is. We'll probably end up making an attempt or two and then killing the second add solo.

Do you guys send players down into the portals to deal with adds before they spawn into the "real" realm?

[Maklar]

Where do you tank him at? We gave it a shot last night with a few new 80's so it went ok but not great. We tanked at the middle but the MT was having issues moving to safe spots and kept getting bounced around. Any good idea on positions?

[Subject]

I mount up dismount by holy shield and toss avenging. Pretty much keep him where he stands and turn him to the side. I got hit by 2 of the lava bursts, its not a big deal if the tank gets hit by it if he has relatively decent gear. Last night was a lot easier as I got very lucky on our 2 naxxs we have done and went 5/5 (I got Chest/Gloves from Badges).

Dunno about the guys on the inside but any plate DPSer should be able to tank them.

And just make sure your dpsers aren't getting hit with the lava bursts. To kill the elementals whenever they spawn and you should be fine. Our DPS is fairly low and we don't have much of an issue in there or in Naxx however Malygos is another story :p