1-Tanking Madness of Deathwing

[taogtse 0]

Hey guys,

I'm new here and I thought I'd make a post to ask you what your take is on 1-tanking Madness of Deathwing in normal mode.

My guild wants to do this for fun, but we're not certain of the way to do it. We identified picking up the Terrors and surviving the damage from Tetanus as the hard points. Is there anything else we should be worried about?

Our tank will be a Blood DK, with Resto Shaman, Resto Druid and Discipline Priest as healers. Though, maybe it's better if we stick to general advice, so that other people with different setups can also benefit from this thread.

FInally, what do you think about 1-tanking it in Heroic Mode? Is it doable at all (in full hc gear)?

[Peelyon 416]

In terms of normal, one tanking is the way to go since the nerf. The corruptions go down before impale becomes a problem, and even the adds on the final platform are easily managed with some decent cool downs from both the tank and the healers.

I've managed to solo tank the encounter in 378 gear and I'm a pretty horrible tank (with only 2 healers as well), and this was an alt / pug run on a not very good raiding server.

The best thing to do is just try it, you'll be surprised how the extra dps just makes the fight run that bit smoother. 2 heal and 1 tank makes the fight even easier if cool downs and mana are managed properly :)

Edited June 16, 2012 by Peelyon

[HardBeatZ 39]

1 tank normal mode - yes, 1 tank hard mode - no.

For easy mode the simple part is the big tentacles that spawn on each platform. With the healers and the tank there is plenty of CD's available to survive an impale on each platform. With the DPS you shouldn't get two impales ever.

As for the terrors as soon as they are getting ready to spawn identify and call out one to kill immediately and everyone should focus dps it down. As soon as the first one dies and the second is around 50% health blood lust and finish blowing through the add and the boss. Ignore second wave of adds and continue burning the boss.

Death Knight tips:

Use AMS when the first add dies and let your stacks drop off and finish fighting the second add.

Bone Shield is enough of a CD to not have to worry about impale (this should be up every platform).

[Alierya 94]

We one tank it but you should one tank two heal for the extra dps. Our tank is a druid & we heal with a pally and a hpriest.

To make it less strenuous on the healers we start on the yellow platform so there is only one with dream not useable on which we save any dmg mitigating cooldowns. You don't have the haste for the bolt however so dps needs to be on it.

We use dream twice per platform, once for a bolt and once for the second lot of blistering.

On p2 we take down the first set of adds but the second we ignore and focus on DW. First few weeks the tank died then but it won't be a raid wipe.

Much faster one tanking... we have always done this, because we are a bit mad.

[Zagam 1,982]

You should be using 1 tank for both normal and heroic modes unless you try that weird strategy where you use two tanks and two healers and save Nozdormu for last. 1 tanking normal mode should be a laughable encounter, especially with a Death Knight.

To effectively tank as a DK on Madness, this is all you have to worry about:

Corruption: Pick up swiftly, pop Bone Shield, and use Outbreak. Try not to burn all of your runes until Impale begins its cast. When Impale begins its cast, spam Death Strike as fast as you can. If you get 2 or even 3 in, Impale will not even tickle your health bar. Blood Shield is that awesome. When tanking the Hemorrage adds, pop AMS as soon as you begin tanking them. Just lay down Death and Decay and Blood Boil them. Rinse and repeat for all 4 platforms.

Elementium Terrors: Drop DnD where they spawn, pull them into Nozdormu's Time Zone, put diseases up, and use Death Strike as much as possible. When Tetanus hits a 5 stack, use AMS to drop the stacks. This should allow your DPS to have killed one of the Terrors. DPS should kill the other, you should use Dream, and bam....you've won.

For Heroic mode, nothing changes except for the 2nd Impale on each platform...you musn't eat it. You should have a Rogue, Hunter, or Shadow Priest 'tank' the Impale by allowing them to be the only melee target right before Impale goes off. Rogues Vanish, Hunters Deterrence, and Shadow Priests Disperse. Once that has happened, pick the Corruption back up and finish it off. Death Knights are by far the best tank for this encounter as well as darn near every other encounter in Dragon Soul.

[Devah 1]

We have been 1 tanking this fight after our first kill on hardmode. It's actually quite easy as a dk tank. You just need to have enough dps to zerg down the corruption before he can cast the 2nd impale. I am the blood dk tank.

1st Corruption: Dream + Bone Shield

2nd Corruption: IBF + Bone Shield

3rd Corruption: Hand of Sac, Bone Shield, + Army of the Dead (optional nice sized blood shield)

4th Corruption: IBF + Bone Shield.

For Regenerative Bloods, just tank them in the bubble, use ams when you feel the dot damage has started to hurt. I generally use it on 30-35 stacks.

Phase 2 is simple. Just tank the two Elementium Terrors inside the bubble. Use AMS at 4 stack. remember to use dream button.

It's stupid easy fight for tanks.

[Stern 0]

We have been 1 tanking this fight after our first kill on hardmode. It's actually quite easy as a dk tank. You just need to have enough dps to zerg down the corruption before he can cast the 2nd impale. I am the blood dk tank.

This is also easily negated having a hunter or rogue in the group to take the 2nd impale. You just need everyone else to run out of range just before it's cast, which for the 2nd impale times well decently with the parasite/blood killing.

[Zagam 1,982]

With the 35% nerf and other things included, if your DPS can't kill the Corruption before the 2nd Impale, the 2nd phase might be difficult for you. That Corruption should be dead with some down time before the Bolt comes on each platform.