Dragonhawk Trash

[anowyn]

Hi, first post to the forums, but I have been reading for awhile now.

My guild is relatively new to ZA and are mostly geared in KZ and Badge gear. We have been able to make it to and kill the dragonhawk boss, but I am tyring to optimize our progress through the guantet to that boss. All my reading seems to indicate that AE tanking the trash groups is the most effective way to clear them.

I think my gear is to the point where I can AE tank our way through the trash, but we are having problems dealing with the raid damage. I use FR aura on my party since I feel like I take a lot less damage (and so does my group), but are there any points or suggestions folks have for clearing that trash and dealing with the high raid damage?

Right now, we focus kill the fire guys, then the melee guys. Of course scouts always die first. Our typical heailng setup is two priests (one CoH) and either a pali healer or resto shaman. Dps varies dramatically though. Usually we can assure one mage and one hunter.

Thanks!

[Dorvan]

I don't particularly think AoE tanking is the way to go on the dragonhawk trash (except obviously the dragonhawk packs). The flame casters put out a lot of damage so we MC one, which reduces the damage on the raid considerably. Curse of Tongues + interrupts also works wonders.

[kywirelessguy]

The prot warrior that tanks with me usually charges the scout. I'll wtfpwn the other three with a shield toss and hold them until the prot warrior can come back and take over tanking the the flamecasters.

Can't really CC much the guardians dispell. The flamecasters are HoJ'able if I remember right. If we end up with 2 flamecasters I'll HoJ the one we are killing second, followed by my arcane torrent. The dps/prot warrior can usually keep the first kill target stunned enough to not do too much damage and its dead by the time the second is able to get off too much aoe.

Easilly AOE tankable, but if you have an OT let them deal with any scouts and peel em off you one by one.

EDIT: Have a mage spell steal the flamecasters and cast arcane bolts. Insanity.

[Sthallas]

If there are 2 flame casters, we start with a sheep pull on one flamecaster timed with a root from the druid on the scout (and/or a charge/stun), I consecrate and taunt off the pack from the mage (or he sheep+iceblock pulls) and he spellsteals the haste buff from both (or it gets purged). HoJ + Arc Torrent + any other stuns or kicks on the flamecasters and make sure your mage is chain sheeping the remaining via a focus macro while dpsing. Always have people watching both in front of and behind you for Scouts and make sure your OT is ready to charge/stun or your druid is ready to root the patroling scouts.

[Barristan]

If you have a Priest, Mind Control a Flame Caster and let it tank. In pulls with 2 FCs, DPS focuses down the one that isn't being MC'd. I've completed the timed run 10 times now, we never both with Polymorphing when we do bring a Mage.

[Dnasheen2]

If we are not concerned about time,

We usually get a hunter to do a MD pull to me where I'll be standing behind a tree or a wall. Mage will sheep the Flame Caster just as soon as the hunter pulls (we use a countdown timer so the hunter and mage will just time their casts accordingly).

Once the Guardians are out of LoS from the Flame Caster, they cant cleanse the sheep.

When we are getting close to be able to attempt his timer, we'll prolly end up AoE tanking all mobs. Maybe get mages to concentrate on Spell Stealing the Haste Buffs.

We are only killing VR in TK and have zero bosses down in SSC.

[Niia]

I have seen the Guardians dispel sheep, a sap also broke so we assumed it was the Guardian also, but can they dispel a priest's MC? seems that would be a great way to cc one.

[Arianne]

They do not dispel MC AFAIK. We use MC on the flame casters constantly.

[anowyn]

If we are not concerned about time,

We usually get a hunter to do a MD pull to me where I'll be standing behind a tree or a wall. Mage will sheep the Flame Caster just as soon as the hunter pulls (we use a countdown timer so the hunter and mage will just time their casts accordingly).

Once the Guardians are out of LoS from the Flame Caster, they cant cleanse the sheep.

When we are getting close to be able to attempt his timer, we'll prolly end up AoE tanking all mobs. Maybe get mages to concentrate on Spell Stealing the Haste Buffs.

We are only killing VR in TK and have zero bosses down in SSC.

I like a few of the ideas you posted here. The nice thing is I can usually guarentee a mage in the group, but the rest of it can be so flux that I hope to have a hunter, but can easily not have one.

That said, pulling the guardians back all the time seems like a really wise idea since the flame casters have to be dealt with somehow. My group tried AE tanking them once and did ok on the first pull, but the healing couldn't keep up on the later pulls.

If we have a hunter, I'll definately MD pull though. I feel a bit sheepish that we haven't been doing that already.