The Stone Guard

[Damien 1,514]

This thread is for comments about our The Stone Guard encounter guide.

[Suedama 2]

Awesome guide, as always. I've been waiting for this and can't wait for the others to come! Videos are nice, but there's nothing like reading a detailed guide.

[Guest Morgh]

I do not completely understand the chains...

The aura description on wowhead says:

22000 Fire damage inflicted if over 10 yds from linked player.

Shouldn't the response then be: 2 linked players have to stack so that they DO NOT endure 22k fire damage every second which gets higher and higher?

[Vlad 411]

I do not completely understand the chains...

The aura description on wowhead says:

22000 Fire damage inflicted if over 10 yds from linked player.

Shouldn't the response then be: 2 linked players have to stack so that they DO NOT endure 22k fire damage every second which gets higher and higher?

What you are reading is correct (damage varies by difficulty/raid size). But the point is that if you stay in melee range with your partner, the chains never break/expire. This isn't a problem in the short term, but it becomes a huge problem when all of your raid ends up being linked and everyone needs to stack.

So, you should try to make it a habit to break the chains as son as possible, by moving away from the other player and taking damage.

[Astropolix 10]

I'm slightly confused by your 10m strategy... Having 2 Guardians on MT and 1 on OT seems reasonable, but what about the 4th? Did I miss sth. about 1 being inactive in 10m? *confused*

EDIT: yep I did -.- foolish me :D

Thanks for the guide as usual :) Hope the rest will follow before Thursday :D

Edited September 29, 2012 by Astropolix

[Guest Astronaught]

I have a question about Petrification + Overload... Is there a way to control either? Faster, slower, pause one...

Does energy continue building, stop building or reset if the boss turns to stone? Does Petrification continue stacking or stop building if the boss is turned to stone?

(I see that Petrification won't reset because the only way to get rid of it is by an Overload.)

If we cannot control energy generation, I'm assuming it's set up so that max energy is reached before max Petrification, otherwise everyone would wipe all the time...

My guess is this: Energy stops building but does not reset when the boss is stone. Petrification continues to stack no matter what. This means that we would need to keep the petrifying boss active by juggling him between the two non-petrifying bosses so his Overload happens before Petrification reaches 100. After Overload, petrification is reset, and energy is reset. Another boss will begin to cast petrification, and we'll need to pick up him and start juggling him between the other two. At this point, he will already have some energy built up from juggling the first petrifying boss around [which is why the same boss won't petrify twice in a row], so he should reach overload quicker than the first guy. Repeat juggling the boss that is casting petrify until they're dead.

I see two scenarios that would cause a wipe from this:

1. The boss that is casting petrify turns to stone. His energy stops building, but petrification continues to stack. We reach max petrify before Overload. We're stone. We wipe.

2. We mess up the juggling of the boss and we get an overload from the boss that is not casting petrify. We take massive damage and wipe. I can see this happening the most on the third petrifying boss if his energy was over 90% after the previous overload (because there will be a few seconds before he starts to cast Petrify while he is still gaining energy.

(3, not related to my questions above, we suck at healing and/or avoiding damage and wipe fro the bosses other abilities)

Please let me know if any of this information is incorrect. It seems like it should be right... but that's just me making assumptions, which has gotten my raid into trouble before

Thank you!!

[Guest Alyxandar]

So your Advice is to have the two non-petrifying Bosses swap, but would it not be simplier for the two tanks to swap the one you want to blow up?

[Guest Astronaught]

So your Advice is to have the two non-petrifying Bosses swap, but would it not be simplier for the two tanks to swap the one you want to blow up?

If by "blow up" you mean overload, then the one that you want do blow up is the one that is petrifying you. Because if petrify stacks to 100, you turn to stone and will die, unless overload breaks it. And you wouldn't be swapping the non-petrifying bosses, you'd be pulling the petrifying boss back and forth between the two non-petrifying, so the non-pet bosses turn back and forth between stone and active, but the petrifying boss stays active the whole time.

[Vlad 411]

I have a question about Petrification + Overload... Is there a way to control either? Faster, slower, pause one...

Does energy continue building, stop building or reset if the boss turns to stone? Does Petrification continue stacking or stop building if the boss is turned to stone?

(I see that Petrification won't reset because the only way to get rid of it is by an Overload.)

If we cannot control energy generation, I'm assuming it's set up so that max energy is reached before max Petrification, otherwise everyone would wipe all the time...

My guess is this: Energy stops building but does not reset when the boss is stone. Petrification continues to stack no matter what. This means that we would need to keep the petrifying boss active by juggling him between the two non-petrifying bosses so his Overload happens before Petrification reaches 100. After Overload, petrification is reset, and energy is reset. Another boss will begin to cast petrification, and we'll need to pick up him and start juggling him between the other two. At this point, he will already have some energy built up from juggling the first petrifying boss around [which is why the same boss won't petrify twice in a row], so he should reach overload quicker than the first guy. Repeat juggling the boss that is casting petrify until they're dead.

I see two scenarios that would cause a wipe from this:

1. The boss that is casting petrify turns to stone. His energy stops building, but petrification continues to stack. We reach max petrify before Overload. We're stone. We wipe.

2. We mess up the juggling of the boss and we get an overload from the boss that is not casting petrify. We take massive damage and wipe. I can see this happening the most on the third petrifying boss if his energy was over 90% after the previous overload (because there will be a few seconds before he starts to cast Petrify while he is still gaining energy.

(3, not related to my questions above, we suck at healing and/or avoiding damage and wipe fro the bosses other abilities)

Please let me know if any of this information is incorrect. It seems like it should be right... but that's just me making assumptions, which has gotten my raid into trouble before

Thank you!!

I'll do my best to answer you.

1) Once a Petrification has started, nothing except that guardian's Overload will stop it.

2) When a guardian is away from other guardians, he stops gaining Energy. But his Energy is NOT reset, it is just frozen until he starts gaining it again.

3) Yes, it takes less time for 0-100 Energy than it does for 0-100 Petrification stacks. The difference is about 20 seconds, so it should be plenty. The only time it's close is on the very first Petrification, because on subsequent ones, the Guardians most likely won't be started from 0 Energy.

I bolded a part of your post. That is perfectly correct. If this did not transpire clearly from the guide, please let me know and I will amend it.

Your wipe scenarios are correct. The first should never happen, basically. Even if you miss out on a few "Energy ticks" from the moving around of the bosses, it shouldn't be a problem. The second issue is really a non-issue, because the Overload damage isn't insta-kill damage anyway. Just don't make a habit of it.

So your Advice is to have the two non-petrifying Bosses swap, but would it not be simplier for the two tanks to swap the one you want to blow up?

The problem with the tanks swapping the one we want to "blow up" is that then, that boss ends up running

from tanking location to tanking location. This is annoying for melee DPS, if nothing else.

It's much simpler to keep that guardian in place, and switch around the non-petrifying ones.

[Astronaught 0]

Thanks Vlad!!

Been using this site for a while, just now created an account.

[Zagam 1,982]

By the way, just spent 3 hours wiping to this boss. It is VASTLY more difficult than implied in this guide and appears to be heavily overtuned compared to what was witnessed in the Beta. Not kidding...10% Saviors who never got past 65% on this fight in 16 attempts with 2 tanks and 4 healers. Damage is way higher than guide says. Overload from a non-petrifying boss does 275k, not 100k. The Jade Shards were hitting for 50k on all raid members every 10 seconds when not protected by Jade petrification. Just a heads up. This fight is for real.

[petesakan 0]

Killed it in 12 attempts..overall its a pretty easy fight..the tanks have to talk and coordinate their swaps and others have to avoid ground spot..there is also an alternative strategy which is tank all 3 bosses at the beggining while lust and try to burn them as much as possible..our composition was 2 tanks, 3 heals, and 5 dps

[Vlad 411]

By the way, just spent 3 hours wiping to this boss. It is VASTLY more difficult than implied in this guide and appears to be heavily overtuned compared to what was witnessed in the Beta. Not kidding...10% Saviors who never got past 65% on this fight in 16 attempts with 2 tanks and 4 healers. Damage is way higher than guide says. Overload from a non-petrifying boss does 275k, not 100k. The Jade Shards were hitting for 50k on all raid members every 10 seconds when not protected by Jade petrification. Just a heads up. This fight is for real.

Thanks. The Dungeon Journal seems to have been updated accordingly for the damage of Overload. I'll update the guide now.

Killed it in 12 attempts..overall its a pretty easy fight..the tanks have to talk and coordinate their swaps and others have to avoid ground spot..there is also an alternative strategy which is tank all 3 bosses at the beggining while lust and try to burn them as much as possible..our composition was 2 tanks, 3 heals, and 5 dps

If you tank them all together for the duration of a Bloodlust, don't you have trouble controlling which one overloads after that?

[Zagam 1,982]

Killed it in 12 attempts..overall its a pretty easy fight..the tanks have to talk and coordinate their swaps and others have to avoid ground spot..there is also an alternative strategy which is tank all 3 bosses at the beggining while lust and try to burn them as much as possible..our composition was 2 tanks, 3 heals, and 5 dps

No way in hell you pulled this off. You'd have 1 protected Overload and 2 unprotected Overloads happening at the same time which would result in an instant death of back to back unprotected Overloads. It's heavily overtuned compared to the LOLTRASH method of killing this boss in the beta. My post may have seemed harsh, but it was due to just frustration of my PuG tank since my tank got sick this week and didn't gear up. Taunting correctly happened rarely. I just feel the guide doesn't represent the damage correctly. It's pretty overwhelming until everyone 'gets it.' We had one good attempt, but it was the last one and I felt we just broke the encounter. Basically follow this:

If there is not a Jasper petrification, do NOT endure chain damage. Stand beside your chains partner until a Jasper petrification happens, then break the chains.

Do not ever stand in purple. Get out of it ASAP.

Keep the protected Overloads happening frequently to keep movement speed high and energy of the bosses low

Jasper petrification will have the highest damage of the three...you'll be dealing with chains breaking, unprotected purple puddle damage, and the Jasper Shards. This is where protection CDs and healing CDs should be utilized.

Seems properly tuned...just need to get proper taunts out.

[Verndroid 0]

Haven't tried this yet so feel free to disregard my notion.

But it seem that on the pull you have one tank take 2 and the other 1. Tank more than 12 yards apart. When you know which guardian is applying the debuff then make sure it is tanked next to another guardian. The tank taking one guardian may need to taunt another over if his guardian is the one applying the debuff. Then wait until it reaches .... 50%? Taunt it over to the other guardian and let it blow up. Then when you know which of the other 2 applies the next one make sure to taunt the FIRST guardian to the new one if needed. Then rinse and repeat. At least that part of the encounter seems straight forward to me.

EDIT:

Sorry about the double post. Did not think the first comment came through :)

Edited October 3, 2012 by Verndroid

[petesakan 0]

No way in hell you pulled this off. You'd have 1 protected Overload and 2 unprotected Overloads happening at the same time which would result in an instant death of back to back unprotected Overloads. It's heavily overtuned compared to the LOLTRASH method of killing this boss in the beta. My post may have seemed harsh, but it was due to just frustration of my PuG tank since my tank got sick this week and didn't gear up. Taunting correctly happened rarely. I just feel the guide doesn't represent the damage correctly. It's pretty overwhelming until everyone 'gets it.' We had one good attempt, but it was the last one and I felt we just broke the encounter. Basically follow this:

If there is not a Jasper petrification, do NOT endure chain damage. Stand beside your chains partner until a Jasper petrification happens, then break the chains.

Do not ever stand in purple. Get out of it ASAP.

Keep the protected Overloads happening frequently to keep movement speed high and energy of the bosses low

Jasper petrification will have the highest damage of the three...you'll be dealing with chains breaking, unprotected purple puddle damage, and the Jasper Shards. This is where protection CDs and healing CDs should be utilized.

Seems properly tuned...just need to get proper taunts out.

You can also assign chain partner. That's what we did. So it's pretty much when you get chained to someone, you guys are partner and you guys have to stay together for the rest of the fight. Since only 3 chains can be up at the same time you can design who would get the chains by breaking unwanted combo. The best combo is RDPS with RDPS or RDPS with one of the healer. Healer with MDPS is a bad combo so break that as soon as possible. Also the chain length is 10 yards so you can be pretty far away from each other.

[Guest Holly]

You can also assign chain partner. That's what we did. So it's pretty much when you get chained to someone, you guys are partner and you guys have to stay together for the rest of the fight. Since only 3 chains can be up at the same time you can design who would get the chains by breaking unwanted combo. The best combo is RDPS with RDPS or RDPS with one of the healer. Healer with MDPS is a bad combo so break that as soon as possible. Also the chain length is 10 yards so you can be pretty far away from each other.

We did this, without the "breaking" step to reassign the chains. After you were chained we stayed chained for the rest of the fight. After doing that, we shortly got the kill.

[petesakan 0]

http://www.worldoflogs.com/reports/rt-ty3nuxmtptodlv0y/

This is our log from last night. Might be helpful for some of you guys

[Peelyon 416]

Hmmm so it seems that it could be a bit harder than expected? Was hoping to have a good go at this one tonight! Think our tanks may be a bit squishy still at this stage!

[Vlad 411]

Taking all of these posts into account and updating the guide shortly. Thanks for the feedback, and keep it coming :)

[lmendonca 16]

You can also assign chain partner. That's what we did. So it's pretty much when you get chained to someone, you guys are partner and you guys have to stay together for the rest of the fight. Since only 3 chains can be up at the same time you can design who would get the chains by breaking unwanted combo. The best combo is RDPS with RDPS or RDPS with one of the healer. Healer with MDPS is a bad combo so break that as soon as possible. Also the chain length is 10 yards so you can be pretty far away from each other.

We did this "chain's buddy" too and worked pretty well. We are a heavy caster group, only one warrior. The key to the fight is the comunication between the tanks. one tank need to call which boss the other tank have to pull, need to control the overloads.

[petesakan 0]

For the next lockout this boss will be much easier for raiders because of gear. Now you only need to get up to honored to get rep epics. The world raid bosses are also very easy and everybody has a shot for epics

[Zagam 1,982]

The chance for epics from world bosses is so small that depending on them for gearing up is futile at best. The curious part on Blizzard is this...

WotLK entry Blues = ilvl 200

WotLK entry Raids = ilvl 213

Cata entry Blues = ilvl 346

Cata entry Raids = ilvl 359

MoP entry Blues = ilvl 463

MoP entry Raids = ilvl 489

Not sure if intended, but that's twice as big a jump in ilvl, so not sure if the difficulty was adjusted, but I am pleased with the difficulty. There were some obvious mechanics that weren't noticable, noted the limit of 3 chains. That is so immensely useful that I cannot describle how appreciative I am of that tip. That is HUGE and would relieve all the pressure of those chains being everywhere then breaking them all during Jasper petrification.

I heard the 2nd boss is much easier. I honestly think that chains trick is what we need to push through. We got the Overload pattern down...just dealing with a PuG tank who had some mental lag...thanks for all the tips!

[Guest Kestor]

2) When a guardian is away from other guardians, he stops gaining Energy. But his Energy is NOT reset, it is just frozen until he starts gaining it again.

Hi,

Can anyone confirm this information?

Thx,

Kes

[Zagam 1,982]

Hi,

Can anyone confirm this information?

Thx,

Kes

Confirmed.