Highmaul DPS Warrior Tips and Tricks

[Estarriol 167]

This thread is for tips and tricks for each of the fights in Highmaul. Advice will be added to the main post as it is available. Please feel free to leave any advice you've gleaned from doing the fights. A separate thread will be made for Blackrock Foundry once it's out.

 

Kargath Bladefist:

 

• All specs:
  • Do not put your back to an active Fire Pillar or tiger pit before the Chain Hurl, as Kargath will knock you back into it.
  • Consider taking Bladestorm if you're going up in the stands every time.
• Fury:
• Arms:
• Gladiator:

 

The Butcher:

• All specs:
  • ​You can Charge back in right after the knockback for more uptime.
  • You can use mobility increasing abilities (Charge, Leap) to follow the Butcher around as he does his bounding cleave for slightly more DPS.
• Fury:
• Arms:
• Gladiator:
  • ​Avoid using Shield Charge after the boss knocks everyone back as immediately after he charges to the biggest group. Holding off for a few seconds gives you more uptime within the Shield Charge buff window.
  • Make use of your high number of defensive CDs (Shield Wall, Last Stand, Demo Shout) as needed, but make sure they're up sub-30%, as much as possible.

 

Brackenspore:

• All specs:
  • ​Taking Glyph of Rude interruption and being on interrupt duty on the big add will give you a sizeable damage increase.
  • Make sure to watch the timers for the mushroom spawning as you don't want to drop your Ravager as the tank is about to move.
• Fury:
• Arms:
  • ​There are great cleaving opportunities on this fight which will favor Arms over other DPS specs.
• Gladiator:
  • ​Glyph of Cleave is incredibly good on this fight, since there is a lot of cleaving opportunities.

 

Tectus:

 

• All specs:
  • ​Make sure you're never standing between Tectus and your ranged group (aside from tanks repositioning). This makes Crystalline Barrage extremely easy to avoid and in turn you only have to worry about dodging Fractures.
  • Don't charge Night-Twisted Earthwarpers, as this can root them in place outside of your ranged's range
  • Bladestorm is best for the AoE phase.
  • If your tanks are kiting the Motes around constantly, consider taking Anger Management instead of Ravager for more Bladestorm uptime. (However, even non-perfect Ravagers will give you more damage than AM, as long as you don't completely miss them)
• Fury:
  • ​Glyph of Raging Wind or Glyph of Wind and Thunder are both DPS increases for this fight.
• Arms:
• Gladiator:

 

 

Twin Ogron:

 

• All specs:
  • ​As with Brackenspore, watch the timer
• Fury:
• Arms:​
  • ​There are great cleaving opportunities on this fight which will favor Arms over other DPS specs.
• Gladiator:
  • ​Glyph of Cleave is incredibly good on this fight, since there is a lot of cleaving opportunities.

 

 

Ko'ragh:

 

• All specs:
  • ​If your groups stacks all the adds in a void zone before bursting them all together, you can take Bladestorm to quickly burn them.
  • You can execute Ko'ragh as long as his Shield is below 20%.
  • Charging Ko'ragh as he's recharging should put you right outside his shield. Still, be careful to not walk in it by mistake.
• Fury:
• Arms:
• Gladiator:

 

 

Imperator Mar'gok:

 

• All specs:
  • ​Running away from melee range as the boss casts Force Nova and then charging or leaping back in will reduce the damage you take from Force Nova by half.
  • Glyph of Rude Interruption is extremely useful for the transition phases since you can constantly interrupt the Warmages.
  • Anger Management can help Sync your CDs with the Aberrations.
• Fury:
• Arms:
• Gladiator:

[Somn 1]

The Butcher: (Gladiator Only) Avoid using Shield Charge after the boss knocks everyone back as immediately after he charges to the biggest group. Holding off for a few seconds gives you more uptime within the Shield Charge buff window.

 

Tectus: Make sure you're never standing between Tectus and your ranged group (aside from tanks repositioning). This makes Crystalline Barrage extremely easy to avoid and in turn you only have to worry about dodging Fractures.

 

Tectus: Don't charge Night-Twisted Earthwarpers. This can root them in place outside of your ranged's range...Depending on where they're stacking and where the add spawns from.

 

More to come tomorrow after the raid.

[ragebarr 153]

Updated, added some of mine too. Couldn't see much from a DPS standpoint since I had to tank for our normal group this week and I still haven't seen all Heroic bosses. Will add more when I get the chance.

[Estarriol 167]

I added three words. I'm useful.

[Somn 1]

All specs:

 

Stock up on Stout Augmented Runes as they stack with your flask. Not sure if intended.

 

The Butcher: I used Glyph of Enrage Speed combined with Heroic Leap'ing to the boss whenever he does Bounding Cleave for a teeny tiny dps increase, while the glyph makes it easier to maintain uptime as he runs back to the tanks.

 

The Butcher: I took Vigilance and used it as needed (typically on tanks or super low health dps during Cleave stacks) while making sure it was up sub 30% when the soft enrage goes off.

 

 

Gladiator Specific:

 

The Butcher: Enraged regen can save you in a pinch especially sub 30%. Make good use of all of your defensives (Shield Wall, Last Stand, Demo Shout).

 

The Butcher: *amendment to my other note about the knockback/shield charge* I found that I can immediately charge in after the knockback and get a solid 7 seconds of uptime before he leaps to your ranged stackpoint, but if you can't get Shield Charge off immediately, you'll lose out slightly. Don't force it.

[saetrielle 1]

All of these are for fury, but might work for other specs too

 

Butcher:

• Before he soft enrages your bladestorm, bloodbath, and ravager will be on perfect cool down with his bounding cleave. Use these abilities on pull and after he gets back to position after bounding cleave. Popping recklessness on pull will allow you to have it up again by the time he gets to execute range.
• Adding to the current post about this, glyph of bull rush is excellent on this fight for generating rage, be sure to dump your rage before he knocks you back to get the most out of the rage you gain with charge.

 

Tectus:

• Consider taking anger management and bladestorm, the amount of rage you dump during your cleave rotation (whirlwind + raging blow) will increase the number of bladestorms you can get off with the cooldown reduction from anger management. Taking ravager isn't ideal on this fight because after each shard splits, its likely that the motes will be kited around making your ravager almost impossible to place efficiently.
• Take glyph of raging wind and consider glyph of wind and thunder to maximize your cleave rotations damage.

Brackenspore:

• Consider taking glyph of rude interuption and ask to be put on the interupt rotation for the adds. Every interrupt will give you a 6% damage buff for 20 seconds, pummel itself being on a 15 second cooldown.
• Consider anger management + bladestorm for this fight as it is easier to deal with than ravager when the boss is likely to be kited away if a blue or green mushroom spawns.

Twin Ogron:

• Same as the last 2, anger management + bladestorm as ravager isnt likely to have a full duration due to their shield charge and whirlwind mechanics. If you time it correctly, bladestorm + ravager is actually better, especially if the tanks are tanking them really closely. 

Ko'ragh:

• Ravager is easy to get off a full duration of when he is recharging his shield, or placing on top of adds inside silence, be careful when using this on Ko'ragh when he is recharging his shield as it is likely you will hit the adds spawning around him and may pull agro.
• You can use execute on Ko'ragh when his shield is below 20%, tak efull advantage of this and switch to your execute rotation when this happens.
• Using charge when he is recharging his shield should put you right on the outside of the shield area, make sure that the shield is being picked up by someone already as this can still be a little dangerous.

Imperator:

• Consider glyph of rude interruption on this fight for during the first and second intermission when you will want to interrupt the war mages as often as possible. 
• Anger management + bladestorm is perfect on this fight as the amount of rage you use should cause your bladestorm cooldown to be in perfect sync with the aberrations. This is especially useful during his last phase when the aberrations summon adds, when this happens wait till after the aberration is dead to use bladestorm to maximize damage. DO NOT use bladestorm immediately after an intermission if there are still volatile anomalies alive.
• Glyph of bull rush is amazing for this fight as it gives you a large amount of rage every time he or second phase aberrations knock you back.
• Use heroic leap during the last phase to ensure you are away from anyone else when he casts his force wave, then use charge to get back to him. 

[Feardread 0]

Kargath -

Dragon's Roar and Bladestorm (Ravager as well) highly recommended for "Chain Gang"

Glyph of Mocking Banner is useful if your chained Tank is having a tough time picking up adds

Glyph of Bull Rush will provide extra rage during Chain knockback (low rage gain)

 

Butcher -

Charge during knockback to maintain constant uptime on boss

Defensive CD's should be saved for bleeds in stacked groupings

Vigilance is highly recommended for extra DMG mitigation for tanks

 

Brackenspore -

Glyph of Cleave is highly recommended for the extra DPS due to the adds close proximity to the boss

Glyph of Rude Interruption is also highly recommended

Defensives need to be focused on Infesting Spores (Rallying Cry especially)

Due to the huge APM increase from Rejuvenating Mushroom, Unyielding Strikes is a must-have

 

Tectus -

Bladestorm/Dragon's Roar are highly recommended due to the massive opportunity for AoE throughout the majority of the fight

Glyph of Cleave is also recommended

Glyph of Enraged Speed may help with moving out of Crystalline Barrage if it becomes a constant issue

 

Twin Ogron -

Glyph of Cleave is a must

Bloodbath and Dragon's Roar are recommended

Rallying Cry is very useful post Enfeebling Roar

 

 

Ko'ragh -

You should own this fight. Pure physical damage

Vigilance is recommended for added tank survivability

Heroic Leap (Tanks only) to quickly move away from raid members while afflicted by Arcane debuff

 

Imperator -

Vigilance is recommended

Glyph of Rude Interruption is recommended

Glyph of Enraged Speed/Glyph of Death From Above could also prove useful for extra mobility (moving away from tank in phase III)

[ragebarr 153]

Adding these to the post - thanks guys :)

 

Quick note however, Charge doesn't generate rage if used 2 times in a row against the same target, so using charge after the pull on a fight like Butcher will only give you increased mobility.

[ORCSMASH 29]

Hey guys, I couldn't find anything anywhere online specifically regarding this, so, after years of lurking, I finally made an account here to ask one trivial question. (Well, more of a clarification, really. I'm pretty sure I know the answer already.)

 

I was recently told that there was a use for Mass Spell Reflection on the Mythic Tectus fight. I, however, having played a warrior for years, can not find one ability it would reflect (especially since we keep the adds stunned and nuke them) and feel that Vigilance is the obvious choice for extra tank CDs during the "adds everywhere" phase. (Assuming Arms for this fight due to the massive AE dmg output.)

 

What are your thoughts on this and am I wrong or are there no "reflectable" spells during the Tectus encounter on Mythic difficulty?

 

Thanks ahead of time.

 

EDIT: I have clarified with the other warrior that there is no use for MSR in Mythic Tectus and I would like to advise Vigilance to be recommended for that fight for a tank CD when several adds are up.

Edited January 22, 2015 by ORCSMASH

[Uporm 0]

For Ko'ragh as Gladiator, use mocking banner glyph to missdirect a full add phase on your tank. If you have a tank warrior and a mixed group comp it will make add phase very very easy.

Simply target your tank when boss goes in the middle, and plant banner right in the center.

 

You can set focus on your mt to make it easier.