TOC - Anub'arak

[Gandalf]

From those fantastic guides at tankspot.

http://www.tankspot.com/forums/f206/55020-coliseum-anub-arak.html

[Bellanie]

The majority of the fight is spent alternating between the surface and burrow phases. Making the most of the time he spends on the surface is crucial, as you'll only be able to go through 3 or 4 rotations before you risk running into his 10 minute enrage timer. To help maximize the amount of time spent DPS'ing Anub'arak, you can offtank one or both crypt fiends from the second wave and wait to finish them off until the boss submerges. If you do need to have melee DPS help out on the first wave of adds, at the very least you'll want to let classes with long ramp-up times on their DPS rotations (such as Feral Druids or Retribution Paladins) stay on the boss full time.


this might be worth doing for us as our overall dps is still quite low, save the ads from the 2nd wave and nuke them down when hes under:) if we can keep that up i think we can nuke him down:D

[Azunai]

Note that the tankspot guide is a bit outdated seeing as patches have changed it so that there is only a limited number of Permafrost orbs available through the fight. This means P2 needs a different approach as we can't just consume every Patch we get. We basically need to have him use as little patches as possible during each burrow phase (burrow phase has a duration and isn't dependant on the ammount of stuns he gets or anything). It has also shown that we cannot really split off in P1 to kill the adds. At most we can kill just the 1st wave and OT the 2nd wave.

[TeaLeaf]

In HC the number is defintely limited, but in normal they are pretty much everywhere all the time.  However, the kiting is actually easier if you use less permafrost as it allows you to put greater distance between the kitee and the raid.  

The more often you dump Anub into permafrost the more often he changes target and kites someone else, which means more chances for someone to get it wrong.  So one control strategy is to actually minimise the number of permafrosts used, which is also what you end up having to do on heroic.  This is one way of doing it that uses 2 permafrosts per burrow phase:


Ignoring the phallic nature of the tanking positions, the steps are sort of in this order:

Green = tank
Small green = tank kite path
Red = Boss or big adds
Big Orange = collapse point
Small orange = slowing traps or earthbind totems
Pale blue = kite path
Pale Blue Square - BOP needed
White = Permafrost

• Pull and position boss
• Deathgrip and kill two permafrosts one either side of boss for OTs to use
• OTs pick up big adds and tank at about 45% angle to avoid stacking debuff on MT and to avoid boss cleave hitting OT
• Big adds positioned so that melee can be under boss tail and hit both boss and all adds at same time.  Rub-off damage should kill adds, focus boss, adds will die along the way.  Focus some to boss or adds as required to make sure you keep ahead of the adds.
• OTs use maximum block value & avoidance gear to minimise healing needed.  (one of Eluo's OTs is healed in Heroic by just a healing stream totem, a beacon and an earth shield for example).
• Interrupt using holy wrath - position one pala biased to one side or the other to make sure all adds are hit when casting.
• Make sure adds not too close together or they buff each other and instagib tanks
• 5 seconds before burrow MT kites boss off to side (green dot trail left in picture)
• Melee can follow boss and keep dpsing or stick on adds (you decide the balance you need)
• MT calls burrow - everyone bar the OTs sinks to the collapse point (orange)
• Boss focuses one person - that person kites to far SE corner
• During the kite hunters and shaman drop a protective semi-circle of slowing traps & earthbind totems
• During the first kite all melee dps goes back to finish the big adds
• During the first kite the ranged DPS is split into 2 groups (left & right) with an MA for each and single target focus dps down the small scarabs that spawn (they should all come via a trap or totem & be slowed).
• First kiter arrives at side of permafrost and just prior to boss reaching him receives a BOP from Pala1.  Kiter stands there until 3 seconds left on BOP then runs into and out the other side of the permafrost.  Boss will become frozen, kiter runs north to rejoin the group.
  
• Boss is unfrozen & focuses a 2nd person who runs south of the permafrost dropped on the left then up the side of it to north, ensuring that the kite path does not bring boss into the permafrost as you pass.
  
• As 2nd kiter reaches north area he receives a BOP from Pala2 and then makes his way to north side of permafrost and stands there being hit by boss until 3 seconds left on BOP, then runs into and out the other side of the permafrost.  Boss becomes frozen.
• Boss becomes unfrozen and focuses a 3rd target.  Boss is kited all the way east.
• If you get the pathing correct you will have used up so much time on the first 2 kite paths that he will surface just east of the orange camp on the map, thus being right next to the permafrost patches for tanking him - and this is where the MT waits to pick him up as he surfaces again to go into the second P1.
• Boss surfaces, MT receives a HOF from a pala to assist in kiting him backwards through the permafrost into the P1 tanking position (no slowing component in Normal, so this step can be skipped)

That's 2 frosts per kite phase and no accidental risk of short kite phases as you only bring down 2 frosts in corner/side areas for the kiting.  The tanking frosts are left intact and ready to use again, in perfect position.  Note, at the burrow one person goes south to drop the permafrost there.  Only when the kite path has taken boss south does the second permafrost get dropped in the west, you want to avoid dropping it too early or the boss may accidentally hit the west frost on the first kite phase.

In addition it is helpful for all healers & as many ranged as possible to sit under the tail of the boss, this makes sure that the big adds hit AOE before they instagib a healer or ranged dps.  Tanks also have more time to pick them up properly and build aggro as they are behind the backs now of all the dps who will not have the adds come into range until the tank has solid aggro on them.

For the second kite phase you do exactly the same (on heroic you would take the mirror image kite paths as you have already used the SE and NW frosts in first kite phase, so you would take the SW and NE frosts instead).


So the fight goes:

P1 - P2(kite) - P1 - P2(kite) - P1 for the 3rd and final time moving into P3 when you hit 30%.

In final P1 phase you continue as in a normal P1, and when you hit P3 you get the added pressure of leeching swarm which drains your HP and heals Anub.
-consider doing this fight with a low HP set - the lower your HP the less he self-heals.  We only stam buff tanks on this fight for example.
Assign someone to spot heal the Pentrating Cold debuff.
Avoid using big AOE heals and try to keep everyone's HP well under 50%, if your healers are quick you can keep people at very much lower health, just keep the tanks up at reasonable levels.  Do not overheal people!
Keep HP5 totems, shadow priests VE, ret paladin and DKs healing in the groups to minimise the number of 'big' heals healers need to use.  
Keep calm, continue dpsing the boss with rub-off dps killing the adds - but stay ahead on the adds.
Remember to stand under the bosses tail - it helps stop you getting instgibbed by newly spawned adds.
Consider using paladin splash healing to your advantage - you can dps/heal from within 8 yards of an OT to get extra healing from spalsh if needed.
If really panicking have some protection pots available to absorb some damage so it does not need healing.
Just keep it calm and under control until you collect purplz.

You can practice this positioning and movement in the Twins room before you break the floor.

Hope this helps.

[FATAL]

hi this is the vid i found that i was on about http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5cL8zvbc020&feature=player_embedded##

[Jim]

bump aa

[Azunai]

It's a pretty nice video (chinese farmers now going to do WoW guides? :') ) and we may be able to use 1 part of it.

It has shown that we cannot output the dps needed to kill the 1st wave of adds then switch to the boss, so we'll have to carry on doing that the way we were. The one option I do see though is that maybe we need to have another look at the seemingly "random scramble" method of dealing with P2.

Now, don't go forgetting all that we have practiced tonight because I'm convinced it can be very methodical if it actually works, but we may consider the following (since frost orbs are unlimited in normal mode it seems, contrary to what we thought before):

Everyone gets atop a frost patch (well in the middle of one) once P2 starts. Adds get killed off and then on to the little scarabs. 1 or 2 ranged dps go orb hunting in order to drop as many as they can. People being chased need to avoid the patches the Big add tanks are standing on to avoid it being consumed and adds burrowing.

Disadvantages:
- It may bit harder to control where Anub is coming up. Then again we're not being very methodical about it right now either.
- Little adds aren't bunched so not very susceptible to mass AoE. Then again the idea was to single target them down in the first place.

Worth keeping in mind if we really can't get TL's method to work.

[TeaLeaf]

Worth keeping in mind if we really can't get TL's method to work.

Which bit are you struggling with?  Happy to spend some time on TS discussing...

[Gandalf]

Which bit are you struggling with?  Happy to spend some time on TS discussing...

Co-ordination. We get the first stage and first movement perfect, it's after he resurfaces that people just seem to either stand still or scatter and it all goes out the window.

This is one of those fights that needs everybody to think on their feet, you cannot rely on being told what to do or where to go other than the basic tactics as its a fight that is very fluid. A patch may not land exactly where we want it so we have to adjust. The boss may come up at a different part of the room, so we have to adjust.

Personally, I love this kind of fight as you have to think and stay alert all the time. You need excellent spacial awareness for it. You cannot just stare at your button bar and cooldowns for this fight!

We will continue with the tactics we were trying as they do work, and work well as we got him to 50% by the second burrow so it's the way to kill him.

[Azunai]

I think we have the big picture working well, but it's always one little thing going wrong.

- We've had an attempt where a frost patch was placed in the middle of the kite path beforehand.
- We've had adds killing off some people before being picked up
- We've had a mage trying to iceblock out of spikes  (which makes him go to another target it seems)
- We've had the boss just off position so that he would go through the raid on his first kiting length
- Leftover scarabs slowly eating their way through the MT and not being killed in time
- Several other 'minor' things

Always the big picture was going good. It's always just one of the above going wrong per attempt, but they screw up the whole picture if they do occur.

[TeaLeaf]

Well the good news is that all those little things are easy to control, fix or avoid, but as you said they wreck the whole attempt if they happen.  These 'little things' are sorted by the individuals in the raid, it's down to each and every raider to not make those basic errors that cause the wipes.

[Roary]

iv been thinking about last night and tbh i think it was crap spent way to much time wiping trying a tac that aint gunu work with are 25 man group set ups when we can get a 25 man group that is, and yes fair enough we had a good go at it but not everyone no's what to do and were to stand , so why don't we drop 25 man all together and focus on 10 man cuz we can clear all 10 man content like uld and toc so why not start trying for uld 10 hard modes cuz i no loads of people that what to and also start on toc 10 heroic get that cleared, because you and i no there is always enough online for 10 man groups and maybe do the odd 25 man here and there but mainly concentrate on 10 mans

thanks

roary aka balmius

[Azunai]

DMR is primarily a 25man raiding guild and alot has to happen before we drop that format in favor of 10mans.

I would not agree in saying that last night was a waste of time. Wipe nights happen, I suggest you get used to it. We've had far worse wipenights than last night. We have made progress, people will learn where to stand and learn what pitfalls to avoid. If last night is still the way it goes after 3 weeks of wiping, then yes, we may need to rethink our approach, but there's no need to let heads hang after 1 night of tries.

[Roary]

we may have had worse night than last night but i dont see the point it trying eluo tacs for it cuz we are nothing like eluo and never will be we need to find a way that suites are 25 man raid group set up or it will be wipeing every night cuz as you said last night how do eluo do it umm cuz its eluo and they have way more pallys that raid, and im am used to wipeing but its getting stupid trying to be like a  guild we wont ever be like

[Azunai]

It's not the pretention that we are Eluo, this tactic just happened to come from them. Granted the BoP is likely to become a problem and an adjustment might be in order in the way we handle the spike path. I'm thinking the tactic in Dil's vid is a good one, the more or less random usage of frost patches like we did in 10man.

But that's no reason to say that we shouldn't raid 25man. That's got nothing to do with it.

EDIT: Merging this with Anub'arak thread since they both deal with tactics pretty much.