[H] Halls of Stone

[Arrthus]

New poster here but I have been a lurker for quite some time and I thank you for all the good advice.

Halls of Stone was a relatively easy heroic which I belive you will all be farming soon.


Maiden of Grief - Mobility fight

Main abilities -

Void Zones -
As many of the void circles in this expansion these are quite large but very visable and easy to avoid/move out of with the following exception.

Shock of Sorrow - aoe stun (4 seconds)
Tank and healer should move into the aforementioned void zones to break the stun then move clear to avoid damage.

Pillar of Sorrow -
Cleansable shadow damage dot

Nice tank ring from this boss on heroic.



Krystallus - Gruul style encounter

Main ability is similar to gruul as there is a knock back followed by the transformation of the players to stone. Increasing AOE damage is dealt to the players based on their proximity to each other.

This ability will occur more and more frequently as the encounter continues which makes it difficult for melee classes to close the range and resume dps.

Note - I tanked the boss on the right wall and was unsure as to wether the knockback could launch people over the edge of the platform the fight takes place on.



Escort quest -

The escort available in the instance is most likely the most challenging of the fights on heroic.

Clear the hall to the end before starting the quest and make sure all party members have aquired the quest before prompting the NPC to start. The quest can be shared after starting.

The NPC will take you to the far room and mobs will come in ever increasing wave frequency. Groups consist of 3 mobs initially with groupings increasing to 5(including 2 non elite casters) and finally golems will be added to the mix. These mobs are low hp and damage even on heroics. The three faces on the wall all will add to the complexity of the encounter and will be discussed in a moment.

Tank placement is important as consecrate does not quite cover the stairs from the hall (where the mobs come from) and they will slip by on occasion. Call those that pass by for dps to take care of. Be aware of the effects the faces are adding to your situation as you may have to move from the door.

The Faces -
These activate as the fight continues in the following order.

1) ~500 arcane damage/3second for the entire fight. This one is nothing to concern yourself with in a geared group.

2) Fires a bolt which gives a short range aoe debuff increasing damage taken by 50%. I apologize that I did not make note ofthe duration but our healer (1900 spell power priest) had no issue with the damage at this point.

3) Beam of fire deals 500 damage/sec in 10 yard AOE as it moves about the room. This must be avoided. It is best if possible to move directly the Door and the NPC at the back of the room as to continue grabbng hate on the new additions.

Continue for a few minute and Bran will turn the faces on the waves of mobs ending the encounter. This does not complete the escort quest. Bran will dissappear and be waiting for you at the entrance to the last boss.


Sjonnir the Iron Shaper

Main abilities -

Lightning Shield - 50% chance for 3K lightning damage upon melee hit on the boss. We had our warlock eating the buff with hi felhound and the priest was dispelling. This is not that uncommon for him to use making the fight not freindly to melee but they have their use described shortly.

Lightning Ring - AOE lightning around the boss while he stands still. This ability also increases damage taken by those affected. He will not move while casting so get out of range then move him back in position afterwards.

Chain Lightning - this should not factor into the encounter much as you will be very spread out.

Summons many adds - adds will spawn on both the side platforms. Have one DPS at the top of each of these platforms. spawns can be slow initially but it is important to kill them immediately as they will grow as they move and increase in HP dramatically.


Placement for the fight -

Tanked on the far wall of the room.

1 DPS on the top of each side paltform and 1 dps spread from the healer as far from the tank as comfortable on the main platform.

We had both rets stay on the platforms and not enter combat with the boss as the warlock and myself easily dpsed him down and it was much more essential to the fight to kill the adds asap.



Group makeup -
22K unbuffed tankadin
2 ret pallies in quest blues and a few heroics epics/blues. Both have the crafted epic Mace.
1 aff warlock who hit 80 just before the heroic
1900 spell power holy priest



Hope you enjoy the encounter and GL on the tank ring.

[Worldie]

Just for info, you cannot "fall off" the platform in the stone part. There's a invisible wall on the edge.

[Krazy]

I have to say I am very frustrated with the Brann event...

It seems no matter how geared my healer is or the rest of the group...either I get nuked down by the casters/beams or a couple adds get past me and then its chaos from there as I try to pick them up and more adds come.

I've only been in one group that beat the event. We still wiped but it was just in time for it to complete.

One thing to note...the casters may be non-elite but the chain lightning they cast hurts BAD. If you get the 50% increased damage debuff on you the chain lightning can hit for 8-9k. I've been 3 shotted (24.5k HP unbuffed) on several occasions by these mobs. They come as one model but its actually 2 or 3 and they begin casting all at once on the first target they get aggro on (usually me, the tank).

This fight makes me wish that tankadins had spell reflect, because it would have definitely saved my butt more than once on that fight.

[Belloc]

If you're having trouble with the casters, try killing them first?

Unless you have a really terrible/unbalanced group, your group should be able to kill one of them instantly. I can't think of any group composition that wouldn't allow you to somehow CC the other one, whether it's a quick sheep or a stun.

This encounter does require good DPS, but it requires even better tanking.

[Epimer]

Tried this as the daily yesterday, and got stuck on the Brann event too. The first few wipes, I missed an add and Brann went down, which was sloppy on my part. But by the end, I was having no trouble picking up the adds, but the healer was going oom and the adds were just piling up. Final wipe of the night was me stunned by two Golems and then eating dirt.

Was my first time in there (normal or heroic), and the rest of the place is pretty fun, especially mini-Gruul, but man - that part was punishing.

[Losbullitt]

Did Brann a couple of days ago and wow. I thought I was a fairly decent tank but those adds got out of control quickly! A good 3 or 4 minutes into the waves, the golems came. Then the mages. Then everyone is screaming in agony over beams and explosions. I really thought I was in a ship and it had exploded.

Needless to say, the entire run was crap.

[Threatco]

I only ever did it non heroic, and even then its an exciting event.

Mabey running it once or twice on normal to get a feel for it would help. Has alot to do with positioning to grab every add and still be able to watch the beams.

[Invisusira]

DPS on the teleporters kill adds until they stop coming, tank backs up whenever boss channels lightning. Cake.

[Arrthus]

If one or two of the mobs in the event slip by they are easily dealt with by dps.

My normal group has a felguard speced lock and a ret pally that can clean up after my missed mobs.

Also - For the beams I move up onto the stairs and don't seem to get hit by the beams there... Could be luck since I've only done it 6-7 times so far.

[Thornir]

I was able to tank this instance on normal at 75, while having 2 77 dps and 1 76, and a 77 healer. No had done the instance before. No wipes.

Tank Maiden in a circle, and throw taunt up at the last second of her stun cast. Have the healer in the middle.

All dps on opposite sides of Krystallus and place healer on other side.

Brann was the toughest, but still rather simple. Shaman tossed up a NR totem, and I stood near the entrance. Warrior got anyone who got past me and i taunted off him. Ran around with the beams a little.

Last boss was NR totem again, Hunter and Rogue got the adds, and healed through the shield (though this might be harder on heroic).

Note: The shield can be Spellstealed, so a mage is GREAT for this instance.

[Bundy]

Also note that the last boss on Heroic drops a very nice tank chest piece. I still cant figure out how the one I had and this one are the same level. The one I had, "Zigguraut something...80 blue" had 57 str, 117 stam, 49 def, 59 parry. The one that drops here is like 51 str, 117 stam, 60 def, 51 hit, with a blue socket. I guess there comparable, but the blue socket made it a clear winner for me. Anyways I was glad to take it and it boosted my hp to a little over 28k so im happy. Also boosted my Def to 551 so now I got plenty of room to work with avoidance stuff. But the hardest part by far is the Brann part. It starts off kinda easy but by the end there will surely be too many adds to have complete control over and its very chaotic but still fun. I will probably never go back though because I got the ring and the chest last night so theres nothing more I need from there.