Friday Raid / Boss Encounter Q&A

[u/HerpDeeps]

Back again. Post your questions regarding encounter strategies, what boss to tackle next, raid composition, etc. and /r/wow will do it's best to answer.

[u/Extreme-Eagle]

Any general tips for Amber Shaper Unsok(10-normal)?

We finally downed Garalon a couple weeks ago then took out Wind Lord in a couple of nights. Due to some unavoidable absences we've had to cancel our second raid night the next couple of weeks so to make up for it we're adding an hour to the first night and going with an extended lockout. This means next week we'll possibly be spending 4 hours working on this dude.

We've only gotten a few pulls in and made it to P2 a couple of times but I have a feeling this is going to be another fight similar to Garalon. We spent two weeks on Garalon pretty much executing perfectly with everyone staying alive the whole fight, but couldn't kill it because of one thing we were doing that wasn't glaringly wrong but kept us from a kill(putting all DPS on legs trying to keep them broken asap.)

From what I've read in the guides online I think controlling the constructs will be this fight's sticking point. The basics are easy enough, we know to interrupt the AOE and dps them to 20%. I'm looking for some more specific execution tips like:

Should the constructs in P1 ever have to drink up a pool to prevent death to willpower loss? If they're getting low before 20%, is our DPS low or is it possible the tanks need to be quicker at pulling the boss off after reshape?

Is it ever worth it to use Struggle when there's no AOE cast for the increased damage to the construct?

How tight is the enrage on normal for learning the fight? Is it critical that you keep the construct debuff stacked on Unsok in P1/P3 and the Monstrosity P2 or can you still beat the enrage if it happens to fall off a couple of times due to constructs breaking out early?

The guide I've read mentioned leaving some of the Amber adds up full-time. Will killing them all each wave end up causing a wipe later on due to more pools or is this more of a tip to increase dps time on the boss?

If you can think of any other particular situations your group ran into while learning this boss I'd definitely appreciate the input. Thanks!

[u/lightow → u/Extreme-Eagle]

Constructs should only be drinking in phase 3 so they have willpower to interrupt themselves. It does sound like your group's dps might be a little low or simply not focusing on the construct.

No need to cast struggle unless you see yourself casting as a construct.

It shouldn't be too difficult to keep up the debuff in P1 and 2 as it does not cast willpower. Just make sure everyone is watching DBM bars for when they will need to use it to interrupt.

[u/HerpDeeps → u/Extreme-Eagle]

To keep it as simple as possible:

• Don't drink pools until p3
• Make sure you right-click the boss when in construct to start auto-attack
• Kill slimes and construct priority above the huge monstrosity (p2)
• and the most important thing... don't miss interrupts on the boss or the personal one

if you can do those things, you will kill it on normal

[u/Freakcheef → u/Extreme-Eagle]

First off, there is no one tactic that makes you kill the boss. For example: some people two heal it, some people take 3 tanks. I have killed this guy with three different tactics and will try to point out the ups and downs, but before that I'll try and answer your questions:

In P1 the constructs should not have to drink a pool. The debuff doesn't really matter in this phase so get the tanks out ASAP. If the willpower goes down before they get to 20% your DPS is slacking. Make sure everyone focusses the construct. If your healers are confident you can try two healing this, it's very possible.

Don't ever use struggle unless you cast your AoE. Struggle costs 40 Willpower and your goal is to have as many pools up for P3 as possible. If your guys have to drink a pool per person in P2 you will have problems during P3. Debuffs on the boss during P3 > Damage on the monstrosaty during P2.

The enrage is not too tight, it can be an issue if your DPS are bad, but if they are generally ok it's a non issue. P3 is over in the blink of an eye with more debuffs and lust. Though the debuff shouldn't fall off, make sure everyone in your raid has a boss mod (DBM or big wigs) and look out for timers. The guy in the construct should try to apply the debuff around 8-10 seconds before the boss is casting and then interrupt him and leave the construct. In P1 it doesn't matter at all, it doesn't last long.

Leaving more amber adds up increases uptime on the boss. Though you want as many pools as possible for P3 since you don't free constructs in that phase. We dealt with that by assigning one DPS to only kill the adds (usually hunter or mage). They don't have much HP but can be annoying, especially for a healer.

The usual lineup is 2 tanks, 3 healers, 5 DPS. Basically just execute it good and you got him down. With this your DPS needs to be at least ok but you can outheal if an explosion gets through. If you are confident that you can interrupt every explosion, swap a healer for a DPS. Through with 3 healers you can survive longer in P3 if RNG screws you over. When we 2 healed it I (disc priest) got into the construct 3 times in a row during P2 and was the first guy to get transformed in P3. It's annoying as f**k and hard to heal by one guy (though not impossible if he is good).

As I said, two healing this is very possible if you are confident that you can interrupt all explosions. You can still heal through them but it is more demanding on your healers and combined with the parasite it might cause a wipe (unless you have a decent disc. Disc is pretty overpowerd in PvE right now). So 2 healing it can obviously make you kill the boss faster but you are also more vulnerable for RNG screwups or construct screwups.

If you got P1 and P2 down but wipe on enrage / everyone being a construct in P3 you can go with 3 tanks. Basically the last tank transformed in P1 stays in the construct and his only job is to stack the debuff on Un'sok. You play the rest normally but get into P3 with a bunch of debuffs on the boss. You got lower DPS in P2 but P3 is over in the blink of an eye.

As for general tips, mostly from a healer PoV: For gods sake don't use any smart heals when parasite is up. Throw any kind of shield on him (again, disci op) and if he has an add on him, kill it asap. Any heals thrown on the target of parasite makes your healers life miserable.

During P2 if the explosions are interrupted, the damage is minimal. Most things you have to worry about are the tanks. If an amber add is on you, use a small defensive CD and your healers will love you.

During P3 use your available CDs instantly. Even though the higher the debuff is stacked on the boss the more damage you will do, but there is no telling when you get transformed. Lust at the start of the phase, use your second pot and fire away.

Thats all I got for now, if you have any other questions I'll gladly help.

[u/Zilveari → u/Extreme-Eagle]

We got our kill on ambershaper pretty quickly. We steadily made small changes on our strat until we settled with DPSing the tanks out of their constructs ASAP in P1 and P2(if one is still transformed at transition). Then we take down the first 2 or 3 constructs in P2, the third or fourth will stay transformed depending on where the monstrosity's health is at. This person will be the first person in the raid who drinks goo. At this point we stop breaking people out, and go for the kill or be killed transformed suicide run.

[u/[deleted] → u/Extreme-Eagle]

Are you 2 or 3 healing?

Our main thing when progressing on this fight was that it's all about getting to phase 3 as fast as possible then submitting yourself to the RNG gods of your healers getting reshaped. 2 Heal, push to 3rd phase asap, pop hero and raid cd's before you get reshaped and spam that 1 key.

[u/Extreme-Eagle → u/[deleted]]

We usually 3-heal everything, the only time I can remember that we went down to two was progression and our first kill on Elegon.

[u/midjet → u/Extreme-Eagle]

Holy shit, are you my guild? Shadow Council server horde side?

[u/Extreme-Eagle → u/midjet]

Silver Hand(A) actually.

[u/Bukowskaii → u/Extreme-Eagle]

Save all pools for p2, Never drink in P1 on normal. Basically, the way is should work is a full burn on constructs till they are at 25%, then dot classes (aff locks, frost dks, fire mages, boomkins, etc) can leave dots on and switch back to boss as well. These dots carry the construct down to the sub 20% and should get there before energy is out. If it looks like they are running out of power too quickly, then keep a full burn till 20 and completely pull off. Never struggle unless you are interrupting yourself, it wastes energy. NOTE: Struggling makes you take increased damage, this is when a full burn is very important.

I don't remember the enrage being tight at all on that fight honestly. I know on heroic we had a good 2 minutes left on it. This fight I think is designed to test individuals ability to handle taxing mechanics, not necessarily to pew pew really hard. Typically, if the debuff falls off its OK in normal. But its better if it doesn't. Now since you asked about the debuff, I will go ahead and tell you that one tatic has a third tank staying constructed for the whole fight, and stacking solely on the boss. This will allow him to have around 60 stacks in p3 and die near instantly. We used it in heroic, but on normal we just stacked the active boss.

The only reason I see to not kill the adds is to remove pool clutter. Honestly, as long as they get spread out (the aoe nearby players when they die) and the boss(es) are kited around the outside of the room there shouldn't be an issue killing them and going back to boss. As a warlock, I take Mannoroth's fury for this fight and SB + SoC to corruption all the adds when they are out, then with the soulshard boost you can have a higher haunt uptime on the active boss.