Solo Tanking SoO, Needing Advice

[zarontheinsane 2]

Alright, I'm sorry if these seem like stupid questions and I know this will be a VERY long post, but my guild is just starting flex and I'm the gm, raid leader, and main tank. I'm a guardian druid (548) http://us.battle.net/wow/en/character/shattered-halls/Xaelath/simple and normally use a agi flask (alchemy perk helps) and 300 agi food. I also have the lfr version of my flex helm but I have it fully upgraded so stats are identical and the lfr one has the stam meta Austere Primal Diamond for harder fights that require a little more padding, I'm trying to get the CDR trink from malk either from lfr or from flex pug groups, but 25+ plus tries and no luck so far. We have a 2nd tank, but he is a Fury(570)/Prot(530ish) warrior http://us.battle.net/wow/en/character/kalecgos/Stashbringer/simple he has lfr prot gear along with the legendary tanking cloak. I honestly love soloing stuff and doing things in 'abnormal' ways. So I'm wanting to solo tank as many of the fights as possible so he can go dps and help move it along faster, and if I'm solo tanking it I can have higher vengeance for helping giving the group even higher damage.

 

Our other members are a destro lock(560ish), ret pally(535ish), ret pally(530ish) disc priest(510ish), rdruid(510ish), mm hunter(530ish), mm hunter(545ish), bm hunter(560ish), frost dk(500ish), unholy/frost dk(520ish) swaps based on what he feels like playing at the time, ele sham(510ish), and not this week but we are about to have a 2nd ele sham that would be between 500-510 (he is thinking of going enh if it can be more beneficial) once he gets a little better gear, also could anyone help us decide which spec if either can be better for the whole of the group since he doesn't mind playing either one.

 

So what I'm asking is does anyone have some advice on me solo tanking any of the bosses? I've come up with a few ideas although haven't got to try many of them yet so its more theory based.

 

Immerseus

We lust at pull and can burn him down fast the first time, when he uses corrosive blast the first time I can use barkskin to help take a little less and then FR to heal back up. Then if he does manage a 2nd corrosive blast before the debuff falls off use rook's talisman to negate 39% of the damage of it, along with using survival instincts and MoU to make sure it doesn't hurt too bad and I can get some really nice vengeance going. There is no way he could manage to get a 3rd one off because of how fast he would be getting split each time.

 

Fallen Protectors

Tank Rook away from raid while He stands behind me. We follow the normal strategy for doing this fight except that I would have both bosses on me. For mark of anguish I plan to have the Stashbringer (the warrior mentioned earlier) take the debuff and put on his shield go defensive stance and pop his defensives to hold him as long as he can then put the debuff on one of our dks (we have 2)  take it, go into blood pressence and use icebound fortitude and toss the debuff as needed to the other dk and then me as a last resort. Obviously I'll be taking alot of extra damage so will need to make sure I rotate cds accordingly and try to keep a high uptime on SD and use barkskin everytime its up.

 

Norushen

I can tank the boss without ever going down and have Stashbringer soak orbs since his damage is already roughly 380k self buffed on a training dummy. He would be able to soak them then get cleansed and come back very quickly. This one would actually be fairly hard although doable to solo tank realistically, although I figured up that with proper cooldown stacking, and using a stam flask, stam meta, and stam food I should be able to take roughly 20 stacks of the debuff, which would give the raid about 5 and a half minutes to kill him before I hit the ground....hard. Although if I died then one of our dks or stashbringer could go def stance/blood pressence and pop all defensives to hold the boss while someone brezzes me and I can get the boss back on me.

 

Sha of Pride

Undoable unless each of your dps is doing 480k+ dps.

 

Galarakas

Unless I'm mistaken you should be able to send a dps to tank the towers (a fury warr in def stance and wearing a shield in this case, i've also done it personally as a demo lock in demon hunting form on flex when the tank died). And then they can come back down to fight waves again to contribute more damage. Not sure how solo tanking Galarakas himself may be, will definitely require some heavy healing, cd stacking, and high burst to down him fast enough before I bite the dust. Although, if/when I die from the debuff getting too high I could get Stashbringer to put on the shield, use def stance and all his def cds to hold it long enough for someone to brez me and get the boss back, and on the off chance I die a 2nd time get a dk to taunt and use blood pressence and ICB while someone gets me back up again.

 

Iron Juggernaut

Don't think this could be possible to solo tank unless you were in full heroic gear and were doing flex...maybe. Although I'm thinking to help us out a bit on stomping mines since I sometimes have trouble getting them all fast enough, get one of the shams to pop sham rage and ancestral shift and stomp a mine especially if they are ele with a 1h and shield for the extra armor.

 

Dark Shamans

As far as I know it can't be solo tanked, and would actually probably be best with 3 tanks, which I can get one of the ret pallys to go prot so we have 3 tanks, if anyone has some suggestions for this fight please let me know because this is one I don't know as much about other than kite the bosses around while swapping when stacks get too high and don't stand in bad stuff.

 

General Nazgrim

I've heard this one is solo tankable although I don't see how with the debuff stacking fairly quick and reducing armor so much unless it was done by a class that doesn't need much armor like a monk.

 

Malkorok

Easily solo tankable in LFR even at 62 stacks which is the highest it goes, although for flex I think the highest I ever went was about 30 stacks because the other tank didn't know what to do (don't you love fail pug groups?). Although I plan on which ever one of us that doesn't have stacks to solo tank the blood rage phase to minimize the damage the group is taking and to give one of us insane vengeance with alot of cd stacking both personals, rooks talisman, and externals (pain suppression, power word barrier, ironbark, hand of protectionx2). Overall should be an easy fight and plan to just swap stacks as it gets tough for us which would probably around 25 stacks.

 

Spoils of Pandaria

Obviously not solo tankable unless you took the whole group through one part to zerg it and then jumped to the other side fast enough and zerged that side. I'm not sure if thats entirely possible though unless you have really amazing dps.

 

Thok

Definitely solo tankable. Can make sure I make good use of barkskin to cut down on damage I'm taking and make sure to use rook's talisman when he starts doing his aoe pulse attack (forget the name sorry) and overall this fight should be a cakewalk mechanic wise as long as everyone watches for fixate.

 

Siegecrafter Blackfuse

Seems fairly easy to solo tank, yes I know the shredder heals up, but if we get dps to focus on it and I attack it while keeping the boss on me I should be able to down the shredder quickly, and then once I get 6 stacks and the 2nd shredder comes out I should be able to rip right through it especially with the nice vengeance I'll have.

 

Paragons

Doesn't seem to be solo tankable and honestly I'm almost clueless when it comes to this fight. I'll learn it by the time we get there since I know we aren't going to get there on our first day.

 

Garrosh

Definitely solo tankable. I plan to use symbiosis on a pally for consecrate to give me another aoe to help with the adds. Will obviously need to be careful about using cds accordingly and may need some externals toward the end of phase 2 when stacks start getting really high. Overall seems like a fairly easy fight mechanic wise and is just more of a gear check and may just be a bit of trouble getting all the adds.

 

If I'm wrong on some of this or if there is any extra information anyone would like to contribute or any special advice for us please let us know. I realize this post was quite lengthy and I would like to thank you for taking the time to read this post and for any help anyone is able to contribute.

[Edo 6]

Quick note for Thok, make sure ranged is read to break you out of ice tomb ASAP. Also, make sure you face the boss in a way that you get knocked toward where the jailor spawns, or he will wreck some people.

[zarontheinsane 2]

Never thought about getting him to knock me toward the jailer, thanks that will surely help a little, and I'd forgotten all about ice block, doubt we will make it that far tomorrow when we run but once we get there I'll have to make sure I remind everyone about that.

[Facade 1]

Since you're only planning flex runs, everything up to spoils except Sha can be possibly solo tanked with average-great damage and heals to coordinate with you. My Death Knight is pretty overgeared now, but has been soloing them since around the 560 range, which isn't very hard to get to these days. On protectors, once you have the gear, youll even be able to take the mark without trouble with cooldown planning. Galakras I recommend the entire group zerging up the towers to blast them fast, much more reliable then having a dps try to tank even if they are overgeared, plus I'm not sure that they can switch gear while in combat (whatever shield swap thing you mentioned). Juggernaut you'll only be taking the boss, no times for mines until hes in Siege Mode. Shamans hit very hard as well, requires great planning on your part to keep the dps and heal struggle to a minimum to keep the fight short. Nazgrim is easy to tank solo, not easy for your raid to eat the ravagers, but it can be done as well. Malk just hits hard, Stacks have a chance to drop after Blood Rage if you move away at the end and taunt him from max distance. Paragons is a no-go, they have debuffs against each other that removes your armor towards specific others, would require very high dps to burn specific ones for you to not get splatted. Hope this helped some!

[zarontheinsane 2]

Thanks for the tips, and as far as swapping gear, only weapons (and shield/offhands of course) can be swapped in combat.

Got a question about naz. Once he stacks the debuff on me several times wouldn't he be hitting me as if I was naked since I rely heavily on my armor as a guardian and then kill me once he stacked it high enough? Or could I still possibly survive with 0 armor somehow, or is there a limit on the stacks or a way to drop them?

 

Also, could you explain a bit more on how Iron Juggernaut and Shamans can actually be solo tanked? Seems like with each of them stacks getting too high would kill me since I don't know how to drop them without someone taunting the boss. If I'm missing something please tell me. Although I know on flex I can take much higher stacks than recomended on shamans, I think the highest I ever went was about 30ish, although that sounds a bit high so not sure if I remembered correctly. Not trying to sound like an idiot, but just really not sure how it could be done although I'm open to try anything.

[Lichdom 18]

Immerseus:

 

Easily soloable. Contrary to popular belief, the troublesome bit is not the beginning, when you're guaranteed to get two stacks, because you can use a major cd on the 2nd stack to survive. The troublesome bit is towards the end when the phases start coming much closer together and you possibly will not have enough time to clear your stacks. This will make you want to use major CDs on the 2nd stack, only to be met with a 3rd stack which can splat you. My suggestion is to be miserly with your major CDs near the end and save them for the 3rd stack if it gets to that.

 

Fallen Protectors:

 

Soloable with enough gear and a little coordination during mark of anguish.

 

Norushen:

 

Easily soloable. The only tips I can give are to stay on top of taunting the Manifestations of Corruption and avoid being the one to soak their Residual Corruption, since you won't be able to go into an orb to get cleansed.

 

Sha of Pride:

 

Can be soloed, but requires a plate dps partner with taunt to help. Basically, the plate dps taunts just before Sha casts Wounded Pride. Once its applied to the dps, you taunt back. If done correctly, Sha will be on the plate dps for less than 5 seconds at a time, which should be survivable with coordination. Note that you will need a volunteer to stand near you and help with the tank-side prison.

 

Galakras:

 

Troublesome to solo tank. Having a dps tank the tower is hit and miss, especially in the 2nd tower since Master Cannoneer Dagryn's damage is surprisingly high. A dps with good duration defensive CDs might be able to reliably hold the mini-boss until he/she starts the cone attacks, at which point you'll need your dps to burn them down before they start attacking normally again. I've not tried zerging the towers, so I cannot comment. Either way, even with the extra dps gain of solo tanking, you'd be making the fight harder, not easier.

 

Iron Juggernaut:

 

Can be solo tanked with enough gear and good healers. The key is that your stacks will drop during the siege phase. So if you can survive to the first siege phase, you should be able to solo tank it. Obviously, you'll need your dps to handle all the mines with their own CDs.

 

Dark Shamans:

 

This can be solo tanked with enough gear, but again, it might be more trouble than its worth. As a solo tank, you'll have a lot of work to do positioning the walls and the slimes while managing the rest of the mechanics. Unless you're extremely overgeared, you'll want to reset your stacks at some point with a battle ress.

 

A good way to do it is to tell the whole raid to go to one section of the battle area, while you go to the opposite area, staying approximately within 40 yard range. That way, when you're killed, the ress will put you with the rest of the raid with the bosses running towards them. You'll have a second or two to retaunt the bosses before they start killing your dps. I suggest doing all of this just before they reach 50%, when things are less hectic.

 

General Nazgrim:

 

This fight can be solo tanked, but its really not worth the trouble. The ravagers will make it unnecessarily hard on your raid. If you're dead set on solo tanking it, you could have a well geared plate dps be your taunt partner and do regular taunt swaps with him. He really doesn't hit very hard on flex, so if you're healers are good, its an option, but its not recommended.

 

Malkorok:

 

Should be able to brute force it with enough gear and CD coordination. Having a plate dps taunt with cds about 25-30 seconds before blood rage will make things simpler. The dps must time his cds correctly to exploit the lull periods during the last Seismic Slam and Breath of Y'Shaarj.

 

Edit: I tested solo tanking Malkorok on Normal difficulty yesterday on my warrior during a pug. We had 2 healers, and they weren't that good. I managed to survive the 63 or 64 stacks before blood rage. However, since the healers weren't great, I'd used most of my cds in the stretch from 45 to 60 stacks. For the blood rage, I had nothing but demo shout and healthstone left. I managed to make it through about 75% of it before I died, relying mostly on shield barrier. I'm fairly certain that with better healers, and some coordination for external CDs, it would have been manageable. On a side note, 1 mill Shield Barriers are yummy! 

 

Spoils of Pandaria:

 

This one really should not be solo tanked. Even if you attempt to do each room in turn, you'll waste a lot of time waiting for the chains to come back for each raid member.

 

Siegecrafter Blackfuse:

 

This one can be solo tanked with a bit of gear. Even with Blackfuse healing the add, I still don't recommend having anyone dps it but yourself. Otherwise, any dps gain you get by soloing will be lost on dpsing the shredder with massive penalties. Misdirects will be useful in helping you pick up the Shredder. You'll need to warn your melee dps to back away at least 20 yards from the shredder when it does Death from Above. You should back away as well. After that, charge the shredder and hit it with everything you got. It should melt easily.

 

Paragons of the Klaxxi:

 

I solo tanked this on LFR, but I imagine that flex will be a different proposition. I wouldn't try to solo tank it. Your healers will hate you.

 

Garrosh Hellscream:

 

Easily soloable. In the realm of Y'shaarj in which your raid is normally supposed to split, instead you should stay together and clear one side and then the other.

Edited August 12, 2014 by Lichdom

[sexybeast 3]

Paragons is defo solo tankable, we used to sell flex boosts in my guild and i would solo tank paragons with 1/2 healers from the guild and then whatever the boosties were. That was doing it as 25 man but obviously i was something like 570ish ilvl on my paladin