[10] Firefighter

So I saw Mimiron hard mode for a little while last night and the furtherest our group (before I went to bed) was about half way into phase 2. I'd be interested in hearing how other groups are dealing with the fire after phase 1. Basically we were stacking in the middle for phase two (after he uses water to clear the center) and then run out for laser barrage (fire in the middle again). I'm guessing that's the right way to do it seeing as if you were a ranged outside the middle when laser barrage started you could find yourself in trouble really quick.

Edit: Adding link to Mim 10 Hard mode video. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7D97WOTvP-k&eurl=http://www.worldofraids.com/news/609.html&feature=player_embedded

We tried kiting the tank around so we could avoid fire and I'm guessing ranged were going into the middle which was causing us to have a lot of fire in the middle for the start of phase 2. Maybe they just got lucky? The fire seems kind of random at times (Archimonde style).

My group didn't have any trouble with fire in the middle. I was actually under the impression that the boss pulsed a little bit of frost damage to keep the center clear of fire. By halfway through p2 I'm assuming you mean 50%, but what % are you at when you get the frost bomb? (I'm actually unsure if the frost bomb is % based or time based but I usually see it a minute in.)

Good use of the frost bomb is the difference between being overwhelmed by fire and staying safe.

Edit: Read your post closely and I'm seeing the problem. I believe the fire will trail to the middle if you're having all of your ranged stack up there. That's generally not the way I've seen it done and if you're having trouble then I'd suggest having your ranged stay, well, ranged.

Edit2: There's a high quality version of the mimiron kill you linked available on warcraft movies. It's from a blood dk's perspective so it gives you an up front view of the melee range flame suppressant I was talking about, and it shows the ranged staying ranged. Warcraft movies is currently down for me or I'd link it : /.

Thanks I'll look for that movie.

Edit: Okay, I found it. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ho78UVapOaQ&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwarcraftmovies.com%2Fstream.php%3Fid%3D110873%26stream%3D2%26h%3D22c440ca8adfd353bbc2d42a192f85b3&feature=player_embedded

In phase two it looks like he's using Flame Suppressant stops you from casting/swinging for a few seconds, but doesn't cause damage.

I believe the Ensidia video shows a mage perspective and the flame suppressant doesn't actually stop you from casting or swinging, just slows your cast time and cancels any animation.

We havent killed it yet, but wiped on 5% in P4 (because 3 guys didnt see shock blast and died ;/), anyway I'd share my strategy.
We run 1 tank 3 healer and 6 dps. DPS is mainly ranged, with a mix of casters, a retardin and a fury war (usually the other tank you bring with the rest of your Ulduar). Anyway, it is not effective setup - a feral would be far better, and a hunter, melees arent particularly good in this fight imo.

Phase 1 we kill him between 2-3 Plasma blasts, you have to use CDs to survive (first shield wall, second and 3rd guardian spirit from our 2 holy priests). The key is you start off the fight TOGETHER next to the button, wait for the screen explosion (fire spawn), then move to the boss. If you start off in the middle like you would in normal mode, fires will spawn in the middle of the room and its very hard to control. I tank teh boss in the middle all the time, and when fires come you just have to move slowly away from it (keeping relative to the middle). Around the second shockblast (+/- 10 secs, it varies a bit), Mimiron will cast Flame Suppressant which removes all flames in the room, so make sure you stay away from fire long enough til it happens. Sometimes fires never get to the center, sometimes you are surrounded by it, depends on RNG and how many melee you got to attract a fire spawn.

Transition phases, very important, you gather together at one of the doors (2 oclock, 6o clock, 10 oclock), we usually go 6, then when explosion happens, move to 10. The idea is you ATTRACT all the fire together into one side, so they arent all over the room. We pile up pretty close during the transition phases. Before P2 starts, you usually get 2 explosions (fire spawns), but sometimes the second explosion is delayed until P2 actually starts. Just dont run to the middle too early or you have a bad fire spawn.

Phase 2 we split into 2 ranged groups, with 1 priest in each, and they follow their respective healer. Melees always stand in such a way so that when the boss guns them, it doesnt hit any range - i.e. try to attract boss fire away from range. Watch out for frost bomb (massive blue blob), it douses half the room's fire, but also has a massive aoe + knockback + frost dmg - dont get hit by it.... and I do mean the aoe is massive (30-40 yards). We blow BL in this phase because we usually have deaths here if we dont. We also use divine guardian right at the start (my one) when we are running in position, and one after Spinning up (repositioning) from retardin.

Again transition phase, pick a spot to gather up (find the side of the room with most fire, and go there), we usually call out reference point like "button", or "2 o'clock" etc). Look ahead of your path where you gonna go in P3... find the side of the room that has no fire and go there after you see explosion.

Phase 3 We use warlock tank on boss, I solo tank all the robots, and we send all ranged dps on boss straight away, with the fury war soaking up the bomb bots only, and the retardin dps down the assault bots with me. We dont really use the cores to grip the boss - we nuke the boss just from the start. Usually we do manage to kill 1 assault bot and stun him anyway. I got my Holy pala to RF attract all the junk bots and I consec over him. In this phase you have to keep movingto avoid fires, usually either clockwise or anticlockwise. The emergency bots are VERY bad - do not get near them - they have aoe silence, and their water spray hits 15k or so. They do not aggro, not even if you taunt them. We find that if we hug near the walls, they dont really get to you. We usually finish p3 with around 3-4 assault bots spawns. AoE all the adds down at the end - and kill as many emergency bots you see before P4 starts.

This transition you dont have to reposition really, because you have no time as you have adds to clear.

Phase 4 I taunt the head off the warlock, he soul shatters, so I soak up all the dmg. DPS splits between 3 parts, and we find an empty place to tank him at start. You constantly have to move because of fires and I think emergency bots respawns. Frost bomb is also a killer on top of spin, shockblast and mines. Very intense phase and probably hardest of all. Usually 1 direction kiting (clockwise/anti clockwise) is enough, but you might have to make on-the-spot decisions where to go, if a part of the room is cleared from fire by frost bomb etc. Spinning can be hazardous when the boss is on 1 side of the room - spin will cover a big arc. Easiest way is that the raid is relatively close to each other within the 20 yards of the boss. Remember you as a tank to shout out shock blast and spins - because in the heat of P4 other ppl might not notice.... like our almost-kill try 3 ppl died to shockblast ;/.

Downed it tonight - actually changed the tactic around a bit. We ran 2 healers (holy pala and holy priest) and 1 tank... we didnt really wanna run 2 healers but noone was online, so we just went with it and beat the encounter by pure dps.. and it worked lol. Hardest healing is just p2... so we just rotated 2 Divine Guardians, pots, heathstones and bloodlust.

Also P3 we DPSed assault bots everytime they are up and use cores like normal - partly coz we found that if we just nuke boss from start, the 2 healers cant handle the damage (if it was 3 healers you can do either method).

P4 I assigned a hunter to kill emergency bots so they dont silence healers or jib someone with 15k sprays.

Anyway, by far most intense hard mode I've done after Flame Leviathan+4! Looking forward to ALgalon

Grats on the kill!

Every easy mode in 10 is seeming too easy. But some hard modes like this and FL + 4 are still just a dream to me and my raiders. We try but... not even close.

Grats to you.

Threatco wrote:Grats on the kill!

Every easy mode in 10 is seeming too easy. But some hard modes like this and FL + 4 are still just a dream to me and my raiders. We try but... not even close.

Grats to you.

Yeah, we are in that place where most easy modes are one-shots but we haven't gotten any hard mode kills yet. We have done FL+1 and Freya+1.

Thorim in particular is sleepytime on easy, and WTB faster DPS / people not dying on Hard.

I'm attempting this with a group which gives me only one external cooldown. I have a lot of issues living through Plasma Blasts. I can shieldwall the first easily enough. The second one I have a holy Paladin bubble and hand of sacrifice, and usually survive. The third one I have nothing up, and die.

We were running 3 healers (Shaman, Druid, Paladin) and only gave a few attempts last week, but Plasma blast is something that has me concerned. Without a cooldown for the third, it killed me every time. Any suggestions? I know it won't be long before a DPS DK suggests tanking it instead of myself. While I appreciate the willingness to help, I just don't feel that having a DPS tanking is the answer.

The two I'll be trying are the hand of Salv glyph and possibly seeing if the DK can taunt and eat the Plasma blast while using a cooldown and I take it right back.

Thark wrote:I'm attempting this with a group which gives me only one external cooldown. I have a lot of issues living through Plasma Blasts. I can shieldwall the first easily enough. The second one I have a holy Paladin bubble and hand of sacrifice, and usually survive. The third one I have nothing up, and die.

We were running 3 healers (Shaman, Druid, Paladin) and only gave a few attempts last week, but Plasma blast is something that has me concerned. Without a cooldown for the third, it killed me every time. Any suggestions? I know it won't be long before a DPS DK suggests tanking it instead of myself. While I appreciate the willingness to help, I just don't feel that having a DPS tanking is the answer.

Have you tried the HoSalv glyph? It works pretty well if you use it on the first plasma blast... healers still need to be paying attention because you'll take a lot of damage, but it is healable with only 20% damage reduction.

You could also try having the DK taunt for one of the plasma blasts and as soon as he starts casting it on the DK you can taunt back so that you'll be taking the physical damage.

Finally, a far from ideal solution is just having healers spam heal through it and you using LoH.

Or nuke harder and dont let him cast 3rd. You can also try rotate Lay on Hands at the correct moment - the extra heal would make you survive long enough.

Thanks for the replies. I didn't realize anyone looked so I edited my original post with those same suggestions.

I think first I'll give it a go with the DK taunting for the first plasma blast and see if he can eat it for me. I'd DP the 2nd one, and have Hand of Sacrifice for the 3rd.

Or I like the suggestion to try Salving myself on the first, DP second, and Hand of Sacrifice third. I'm guessing threat won't be much of an issue, and I probably don't need the same gear I use for 25mans, so I can use a bit more BV gear.

I'd definitely use LOH, but with its long cooldown it's not an every attempt type thing, so I'd rather not rely on it consistently.

HoSalv is great for the first Plasma Blast. Just pop Wings on the pull. You'll have plenty of threat.

Actually, i prefer to use Shieldwall on first - so you can use Divine Guardian by early P2. Salv on 3rd is better, because hes nearly dead, and you can always taunt if you someone do pull aggro, besides usually my threat lead is big enough by the 3rd blast that it is far safer to use at that moment in time than on the first blast.