Relevant Strategies
StratFu - Sartharion 3D (includes an excellent tutorial video)
This strategy was put together by a member of Fusion. After reading the above-linked StratFu information, the info on Wowwiki is garbage. Don't even bother looking at it at this point.
Strategy Breakdown
Given that the majority of us have at least a fair understanding of the fight logistics, I want to focus less here on repeating the basics and more on pointing out shifts we will make in our strategy going forward. There are quite a number of mechanics to the fight that I feel we were unaware of, which will also be pointed out below. I expect EVERYONE to read the entire strategy linked above as well as EVERY class role below, obviously focusing primarily on your own.
Class/role-specific concerns to note and consider are summarized below.
Main Tank: Tank Sartharion as described in the positioning section below. Until all 3 drakes are dead, you only need to build threat to out-gain healers. Your primary responsibility will be to avoid the Lava Waves, Void Zones and mitigate the killer flame breaths once both Shadron and Vesperon are engaged using cooldowns based on the rotation we set in advance. Also, be sure to read and understand the Twilight Torment Dance description in the above-linked strategy as another method to help mitigate the fully buffed flame breath. We should not trust our fate to it, but it still could be useful.
Drake Tank: Learn the spawn points for each drake and be in position to pick each up the moment it is targetable. Keep the drakes as stationary as possible until you must move to the next position. Avoid the Lava Waves and Void Zones with minimal movement. You will be tanking two drakes at once, but should never have all three. Keep your threat extremely high at all times so that DPS can go all out.
Add/Whelp Tank: Gather up all Fire Elemental adds that spawn and hold them until AOE is needed. When Tenebron is active, be certain you are positioned on the portal and ready to AOE once the whelps spawn. Hold all whelps until AOE is ready. You should always be working your way toward the drakes with the adds so that when AOE is used to burn them down, we keep damage on the drakes as well. It goes without saying to avoid Void Zones and Lava Waves at all times. If possible, we may use a paladin healer with RF positioned near you to help draw all Fire Elementals towards you.
Melee DPS: Maximize DPS at all times according to the DPS priorities described in the section below. Be ready to engage Tenebron the moment he lands and the Drake Tank gets aggro. Minimize the time spent not DPSing. Save all cooldowns for the burn on Shadron. Pay particular attention to the points in the strat/video that show how melee can avoid the Lava Wave without stopping DPS on the drakes. This is crucial. When AOE is called on whelps/adds, do so assuming the whelps/adds are already next to you. Stay out of Void Zones and Lava Waves.
Ranged DPS: Maximize DPS at all times according to the DPS priorities described in the section below. Be ready to engage Tenebron the moment he lands and the Drake Tank gets aggro. Minimize the time spent not DPSing. Save all cooldowns for the burn on Shadron. When AOE is called on whelps/adds, do so immediately. Stay out of Void Zones and Lava Waves.
Hunters: Be prepared to break the elemental adds out of their enrage. This is especially important while Shadron is alive, when the Add/Whelp Tank has many adds on him, and during AOE.
Healing: Given the DPS-race nature of this fight, we ideally want to use a few raid spots as possible for healers. This means that the healers that are present need to pull out all of their tricks to keep everyone alive without running out of mana. For the majority of this fight, there will be a significant strain on healing. A few specific events are of note from a healing standpoint:
- The MT will take significant burst damage from Sartharion's flame breath once Shadron joins the fight and even more once Vesperon engages. Healing must be prepared for this.
- The Drake Tank will have periods where he is tanking 2 drakes at once. Healing must be prepared for this.
- The Add Tank will take increasing amounts of damage as more adds are picked up, especially while Shadron is active. Note, too, that enraged adds will hit harder and adjust healing accordingly. AOE should be called for before healing the Add Tank becomes overwhelming.
- Once Vesperon is engaged and the Disciple of Vesperon is active, the raid will be damaging themselves with every attack. Healing must be very quick to react to this damage so DPS can continue.
Paladin: A Holy Paladin will likely be designated to run RF throughout the fight to help attract all elemental adds to him. He will need to stay near the Add Tank so that the adds can be picked up from there.
Crucial General Information
****Sartharion & Drake Positioning****
Our current positioning of Sartharion and Tenebron, upon reflection, are far from optimal and is likely a significant contributor to the difficulties we had the other night. The 3 drakes have very specific spawn points when they join the fight which
are NOT on the Sartharion MT. The tutorial video illustrates these: All spawn points are essentially in line with their stationary positions, with Shadron and Vesperon spawning on the opposite side of Sartharion's platform from where they start. For those visualizing these spawn points, you will quickly note that we currently tank Sartharion right in the middle of all of this. Going forward, Sartharion will be pulled back to the south end of the platform and tanked there permanently. Positioned properly, it appears that there is very little MT movement at that spot to avoid Lava Waves. This positioning also makes picking up the drakes much easier and frees up TONS of real estate for the rest of the raid to work.
The Drake Tank will tank each drake at its spawn point. It is crucial that the tank is at each spawn point once the drake lands. This will mean moving drakes at certain points during the fight. When not moving the drake to the next spawn point, the drake must be faced away from the raid at all times. Tenebron spawns first at the north end of the platform. Shadron spawns second on the west side of the platform towards the north end. Vesperon spawns third on the east side of the platform towards the north end.
****Disciple of Shadron****
Not only does the raid face increased fire damage as long as Shadron himself is alive, the moment that the Disciple of Shadron is spawned in the twilight realm, the raid also takes an additional 50% extra fire damage. This means that Lava Walls will one-shot anyone, Fire Elemental adds will damage the Add Tank a lot more (especially if enraged), and Sartharion's flame breaths will be hitting the MT for upwards of 40k (before Vesperon is engaged). As such, it is crucial that Shadron is eliminated from the fight as quickly as possible, along with his Disciple. Read below on DPS priorities and portals.
****Disciple of Vesperon (Twilight Torment)****
Not only is the raid's health decreased by 25% as long as Vesperon himself is alive, the moment that the Disciple of Vesperon is spawned in the twilight realm, two additional (very terrible) things happen. Everyone will get the Twilight Torment debuff, causing you to take 2-3k damage when you do damage (a la RoS) and Sartharion's flame breath will do 75% more damage.
The self-damage component of Twilight Torment must just be dealt with. DPS must be cautious with their attacks, especially if sitting at low health. Healers are expected to get DPS healed up very quickly to allow DPS to continue to go all out. Tanks will take damage from Twilight Torment as well; there will be moments where you will likely want to stop all attacks to control the damage you are taking (especially on Sartharion since threat is not an issue for most of the fight).
The buff to Sartharion's flame breath will one-shot the MT for a period of the fight unless extreme measures are taken. We
will have to deal with both Shadron and Vesperon in the fight at the same time for a period. During this time, Sartharion's flame breath will hit for up to 75k when you factor in all multipliers. Cooldowns (e.g. Priest GS, Warrior SW, etc) must be used to mitigate each flame breath until Shadron is killed and the flame breaths return to a more manageable 25k. Again, the tutorial video lists all class cooldowns that can be used here; we will coordinate their usage during the fight. Once Shadron is dead, this aspect of the Disciple of Vesperon becomes less of a concern.
****Void Zones****
Void Zones = Death
There can be no lapses in attention that result in Void Zone deaths. As the above-linked strat/video suggest, turning our spell detail down to LOW will filter out all other AOE ground affects (e.g. consecration, DK crap, etc) and allow the Void Zone to come through more clearly. It is advised that we all change our video settings for this fight.
****Drake Portals****
We will never take Tenebron's portal. The Add/Whelp Tank will simply pick up the whelps once the eggs hatch. We should kill Tenebron before a second set of whelps spawn.
We will not take Shadron's portal until Shadron is dead. Once Shadron is killed, DPS and some healers will take the portal in order to kill the Disciple of Shadron to remove the 50% fire damage debuff from the raid. Once the Disciple of Shadron is killed, DPS returns to kill Vesperon.
We will always take Vesperon's portal. Once Vesperon is the only drake left, the DPS race is over. Killing the Disciple of Vesperon means removing Twilight Torment debuff from the raid and bringing Sartharion's flame breath back to a trivial level.
****DPS Focus and Priorities****
As stated above, we will be dealing with two drakes on the ground at the same time at two points during the encounter. This fight is a
major DPS race until the first 2 drakes are dead. Priorities are as follows:
- When Tenebron lands, all melee DPS should already be at his landing spot and reading to begin DPS. Ranged should switch to Tenebron immediately. Single-target DPS on Tenebron until he is dead.
- Only after Tenebron is dead should we AOE down whelps and adds, unless the Add/Whelp Tank gets overwhelmed before that point. When AOEing down adds, this should still be done next to the current drake.
- Once Tenebron is dead, all DPS must go hard and heavy on Shadron. Save all cooldowns for our burn on Shadron, including Heroism.
- Once Shadron is dead, all DPS will take the portal to burn down the Disciple of Shadron, who will be tanked by a DPS class.
- Once the Disciple of Shadron is killed, all DPS will alternate focus on Vesperon and the Disciple of Vesperon until Vesperon is dead. While the DPS race is over at this point, it should be obvious that maximum DPS is still desired to finish off the last drake.
Spanning this entire DPS path, there will be periodic calls for AOE to take down Elemental adds. When done, the adds should be tanked near the drakes to maximize DPS.
****Sartharion Melee Damage****
Each time a drake is killed, Sartharion get a stacking buff to his melee damage, increasing it by 25% each time. Once all 3 drakes are dead, Sartharion's melee attacks hit 75% harder.
Obsidian Sanctum - Sartharion & 3 Drakes
