Wintrow

Relevant Strategies
Wowwiki – Trash Waves
Wowwiki – Rage Winterchill
Bosskillers – Rage Winterchill


Strategy Breakdown

Trash Waves

When you boil it all down, the trash waves are simply a careful balance of organized tanking, high levels of sustained DPS, and appropriate use of crowd control. All waves are 2 minutes apart, which will necessitate a strong amount of AOE damage on as many of the mobs as we feel comfortable tanking at once. In other words, the more crowd control we use, the longer it will take to burn down the full wave. It is critical that we engage all NPCs for the additional DPS and be mindful of keeping the NPCs alive to the extent possible (via direct heals or tanks taunting off those NPCs that pull aggro).

Tanks: Tanks will need to let the waves come to them to avoid aggroing too many mobs at once and/or out-distancing the healers. Pally tanks should be cautious of using their consecrates before crowd control is established. All mobs should be tanked together to facilitate AOE. Tanks will need to be cognizant of building aggro on all mobs to reduce the chance of DPS pulling aggro. Tanks should also keep an eye on NPC health and taunt accordingly to prevent NPCs from dying.

A single ghoul should be taunted off and kited back to engage all of the NPCs. This seemed to work best when using a druid tank.

Melee DPS: Melee DPS should prioritize burning down non-crowd-controlled Necromancers first. To the extent possible, these mobs should be stun-locked as they are burned down. These mobs will be tanked so melee DPS needs to be cautious of pulling aggro. For all other trash mobs, melee DPS should add their single-target (and AOE) damage to the ranged AOE. To minimize the risk of pulling aggro, melee DPS should spread their single-target damage rather than focusing on a single mob until it goes down (unless focused DPS is specifically called for).

Ranged DPS: Ranged DPS will need to provide an intelligent mix of AOE and single-target damage on the mass of mobs being tanked in the center of the camp. You will need to be cautious of pulling aggro, as this will not only put you at risk of dying, but it will also pull a mob out of the rest of the AOE, prolonging the wave. Single target damage will be called when cleaning up any crowd-controlled mobs. Once you have dropped combat, your priority should be to replenish your mana immediately in preparation for the next wave.

Healers: Healing should not be significantly strained during these trash pulls, except perhaps during the initial pulls; pre-casting on the MTs would be advised. This will need to be balanced with the risk of pulling healing aggro before the tanks have been able to fully establish themselves on the threat list.

Crowd Control: Given the time constraints between waves, the maximum number of mobs that will be crowd-controlled in any given wave is 4. A maximum of 2 Necromancers will be sheeped and a maximum of 2 Abominations will be shackled. Given the minimal strain on healing that we experienced during our first run through the trash, we may be able to even reduce further the number of mobs that are crowd controlled. Mages and priests responsible for crowd-control need to be sure that they are positioned appropriately to get their mobs under control as close to the crest of the hill as possible; you should not be running up to get range at the last second.

Boss

The biggest challenge that we face with Rage is the Icebolt. We were able to effectively mitigate this through the use of the PVP trinket ([Insignia of the Alliance] or [Medallion of the Alliance]) and quick reaction by our paladin healers. Aside from the random Icebolts, quick reactions to avoid Death and Decay when it is cast is the only other aspect of this fight to be aware of.

Tanks: Only a single MT is needed for this fight. It is helpful to have some frost resistance given that the boss has a frost aura, but there is no need to stack resistance at the expense of your key avoidance/mitigation stats. A paladin tank with frost aura seems ideal to act as MT. Given that there will always be a possibility that the MT gets targeted with Icebolt, it is advisable that a second tank be building threat throughout the fight and is able to take over if the original MT goes down. A druid tank seems best equipped for this as they can effectively DPS in their tank gear and switch quickly to bear-form when needed. All other tanks should switch gear prior to the boss pull and revert to a DPS or healing role.

Melee DPS: Melee will be positioned in the center of the camp where Rage is being tanked. Melee will need to pay attention to when Death and Decay spawns on them and immediately run or strafe (don’t backup) to one of the three ranged DPS groups. Once D&D has run its course, move back to your original positions and continue DPS.

Ranged DPS: Ranged will be positioned roughly in 3 groups to ensure adequate healing coverage and minimize the number of locations D&D can spawn. Ranged Group 1 (RG1) will be set up between the two hills in front of the blacksmith shop, RG2 will be set up on the road next to the ballista, RG3 will be set up in front of Jaina’s tower. Full DPS will be on Rage, being careful not to pull aggro. Be especially aware of pulling aggro when D&D spawned on the melee group; the MT is forced to run out during this and will not be building threat at that time. Hunters should maintain a misdirection rotation throughout the fight to help keep the MT far ahead of DPS. Again, given our clumping, everyone must react quickly when D&D spawns on one of the ranged groups. Do not wait for your spell to finish casting; move immediately to minimize the damage you take. Run or strafe to get out, do not backup. RG1 and RG3 should always collapse to RG2 for the duration of D&D. RG2 can split and move to either RG1 or RG3. In either instance, once D&D is finished, return immediately to your original position.

Healers: Healers will be equally distributed in the 3 ranged groups. Given the random Icebolts and D&D, it is crucial that the raid be kept at full health at all times. At least one healer will be dedicated to the MT at all times. Two paladin healers will have exclusive responsibility for identifying and flash healing the Icebolt targets immediately. Rage will briefly target the person that he is Icebolting, so monitoring the target of target window seems the best way to do this. Quick, strong heals should be cast to mitigate the DOT effect of Icebolt that ticks for 2500 per second. All other healers will be focused on healing up the raid and MT. Due to positioning, raid healers should only be concerned with healing raid members that are in range. Do not reposition yourself outside of the ranged groups. When D&D spawns on your ranged group, you need to react quickly. Do not wait for your spell to finish casting; move immediately to minimize the damage you take. Run or strafe to get out, do not backup. RG1 and RG3 should always collapse to RG2 for the duration of D&D. RG2 can split and move to either RG1 or RG3. In either instance, once D&D is finished, return immediately to your original position.

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70 Priest

TeaLeaf

A tip to add to this:

Set a melee dps as MA for ranged and melee dps. Target as suggested above on non-CC'd necromancers and all melee and ranged single target dps those targets down.

When spawn timer to next wave hits 1 minute remaining, the mobs should be brought together and AOE started. The 'one minute remaining' will hold true for pretty much all Hyjal trash waves and with this level of delay in AOE you should not have any AOE aggro problems.

Re kiting the single ghoul: Not sure I understood the comment on a feral druid kiting a ghoul back as it takes a valuable aoe tank out of the main mob pack. Usually a hunter does the kiting and then brings it back to the pack once NPCs are in combat - the incoming hunter announces the arrival on the kited mob on ts or via macro to an agreed tank and the tank taunts it off. Hunter then joins focus dps target via the melee MA.

Hope this helps.

TL.

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-=[dMw]=-TeaLeaf
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Wintrow

bump for new folks

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70 Priest