by Syrah » Mon Dec 07, 2009 9:31 pm
Source: Lore (Addendum)
Hi, I'm Lore from Tankspot, and this is a short addendum video to our Northrend Beasts guide. I'll be explaining an alternative to the normal taunt rotation that helps minimize instant tank deaths in Phase 1 due to Gormok's Impale ability.
This strategy calls for two tanks trading back and forth, and two Paladins for Hand of Protection. If one of your tanks is a Paladin, a second Paladin is not needed.
You should begin with your best-geared tank on Gormok, who will hold him until 3 stacks of the Impale debuff. Positioning of the tanks as well as the rest of the raid is done exactly as normal. The only changes with this strategy involve specifically when taunts, cooldowns, and Hands of Protection are used.
Once the first tank has taken 3 stacks of Impale, the second tank taunts. This tank will hold Gormok for 4 Impales. By now, Gormok will have started to stack his Rising Anger buff to increase his damage. Minor cooldowns such as trinkets or Last Stand can be used here to help lower the chances of an instant kill. Try to time them so that they're still active when the 4th Impale lands. He Impales every 10 seconds, so for example a 20-second trinket could be used shortly after the 2nd Impale and still be active for the 4th one.
After the 4th Impale, the first tank's 3-stack will be just about to fall off, so he taunts Gormok back. The second tank gets a Hand of Protection, or in this case uses Divine Shield, to clear his 4-stack, letting the healers focus entirely on the first tank. Gormok's Rising Anger will have several stacks by this point, so the first tank should be ready to use trinkets and minor cooldowns. He'll be taking a total of 3 Impales before the second tank taunts again.
When the second tank taunts again, he should immediately use a major cooldown such as Shield Wall or Icebound Fortitude if possible. Paladins will be unable to use Divine Protection due to Forbearance, and instead must rely on Ardent Defender or an external cooldown. The first tank should get a Hand of Protection to clear his 3-stack, and remove it with a cancelaura macro, because the second tank will only be taking one Impale before the first tank taunts Gormok back again.
By this point, Gormok should hopefully only be able to get one or two more Impales out before he is defeated. The first tank should use a major cooldown also, and if possible, he should try to time it to still be active in case a second Impale lands. There's only a window of a couple seconds in which this is possible, so it will be tricky.
Using this strategy greatly reduces the chances of an instant tank death due to Gormok's Impale and melee swings landing too closely together. Both tanks will have small Impale stacks going into Phase 2, but those shouldn't be too difficult to heal through, and external cooldowns can be used to help. For more information, including our full 25-man strategy, check the Project Marmot forums at Tankspot.com. As always, if you're watching this on Youtube, just follow the link in the movie details. Good luck!
__________________
Source: Lore (Addendum)
Hi, I'm Lore from Tankspot, and this is a short addendum video to our Northrend Beasts guide. I'll be explaining an alternative to the normal taunt rotation that helps minimize instant tank deaths in Phase 1 due to Gormok's Impale ability.
This strategy calls for two tanks trading back and forth, and two Paladins for Hand of Protection. If one of your tanks is a Paladin, a second Paladin is not needed.
You should begin with your best-geared tank on Gormok, who will hold him until 3 stacks of the Impale debuff. Positioning of the tanks as well as the rest of the raid is done exactly as normal. The only changes with this strategy involve specifically when taunts, cooldowns, and Hands of Protection are used.
Once the first tank has taken 3 stacks of Impale, the second tank taunts. This tank will hold Gormok for 4 Impales. By now, Gormok will have started to stack his Rising Anger buff to increase his damage. Minor cooldowns such as trinkets or Last Stand can be used here to help lower the chances of an instant kill. Try to time them so that they're still active when the 4th Impale lands. He Impales every 10 seconds, so for example a 20-second trinket could be used shortly after the 2nd Impale and still be active for the 4th one.
After the 4th Impale, the first tank's 3-stack will be just about to fall off, so he taunts Gormok back. The second tank gets a Hand of Protection, or in this case uses Divine Shield, to clear his 4-stack, letting the healers focus entirely on the first tank. Gormok's Rising Anger will have several stacks by this point, so the first tank should be ready to use trinkets and minor cooldowns. He'll be taking a total of 3 Impales before the second tank taunts again.
When the second tank taunts again, he should immediately use a major cooldown such as Shield Wall or Icebound Fortitude if possible. Paladins will be unable to use Divine Protection due to Forbearance, and instead must rely on Ardent Defender or an external cooldown. The first tank should get a Hand of Protection to clear his 3-stack, and remove it with a cancelaura macro, because the second tank will only be taking one Impale before the first tank taunts Gormok back again.
By this point, Gormok should hopefully only be able to get one or two more Impales out before he is defeated. The first tank should use a major cooldown also, and if possible, he should try to time it to still be active in case a second Impale lands. There's only a window of a couple seconds in which this is possible, so it will be tricky.
Using this strategy greatly reduces the chances of an instant tank death due to Gormok's Impale and melee swings landing too closely together. Both tanks will have small Impale stacks going into Phase 2, but those shouldn't be too difficult to heal through, and external cooldowns can be used to help. For more information, including our full 25-man strategy, check the Project Marmot forums at Tankspot.com. As always, if you're watching this on Youtube, just follow the link in the movie details. Good luck!
__________________