Grand Empress Shek'zeer

[Damien 1,514]

This thread is for comments about our Grand Empress Shek'zeer encounter guide.

[Guest Vellynda]

Two groups consisting of 1 Reaver and 3 Windblades spawn on either side, making it a total of 2 Reavers and 6 Windblades on 10 man normal difficulty.

[Vlad 411]

Two groups consisting of 1 Reaver and 3 Windblades spawn on either side, making it a total of 2 Reavers and 6 Windblades on 10 man normal difficulty.

Thanks, you are right! That was silly :) Fixing it now.

[Guest Ravenight]

"We will begin by stating that the 30% damage done increase that the adds get when in proximity of one another, from Band of Valor, is not really problematic."

So your saying stack both groups together for aoe?

2 small groups close enough for aoe

[Guest Karsteck]

"We will begin by stating that the 30% damage done increase that the adds get when in proximity of one another, from Band of Valor, is not really problematic."

So your saying stack both groups together for aoe?

2 small groups close enough for aoe

"We will begin by stating that the 30% damage done increase that the adds get when in proximity of one another, from Band of Valor, is not really problematic."

So your saying stack both groups together for aoe?

2 small groups close enough for aoe

If you follow the link to the wowhead data for the buff, it's:

Damage dealt increased by 30% for each nearby ally. So you can't pile them all up without having each of them do twice as much dmg as if you use two small groups. I guess the meaning is that it's tuned around stacking them in two groups. And 8yd is too far for some but not all AoEs.

[Vlad 411]

If you follow the link to the wowhead data for the buff, it's:

Damage dealt increased by 30% for each nearby ally. So you can't pile them all up without having each of them do twice as much dmg as if you use two small groups. I guess the meaning is that it's tuned around stacking them in two groups. And 8yd is too far for some but not all AoEs.

This is something I've updated in the guide recently (may not be live yet) - yes, I was initially under the impression that it's just a flat 30% increase, but it indeed 30% for each add around. Even so, you can tank them in two groups just like we advise in the guide, and you should be fine, especially if you consider that one Windblade is usually off somewhere Fixating on someone.

Thank you!

[Fel 42]

Hey all,

Finally cleared this this past weekend (got stuck on Un'sok for a bit, sigh). Copied this post over from my update on Maintankadin.

Observations...

Phase 1:

Sometimes dissonance fields seem to randomly go down at the same rate even with one player with Cry inside the designated field and chaincasting. This happened ~ 4 times in 20 attempts, and was extremely disruptive, not sure if anyone can shed any light here. We were VERY careful not to have people/pets/doomguards/anything-that-shouldnt-be-there in the un-designated field after the first time this happened. Bug? Or did I miss something?

Once the energy fields are ~20% energy apart that was sufficient for our healing crew (3-healed it) to top off in between.

Did not find any particular rhythm to the Cry/Dissonance such that we could easily have all Cry damage soaked, it seems to vary a fair bit as the Dissonance fields lose energy at unpredictable rates. Devo Aura is quite helpful to mitigate part of a Cry that isn't soaked in a Dissonance field.

Sometimes Dissonance fields will just sit and do nothing for up to 10 seconds after reaching 0 health. Basically, dont drop a raid CD until the explosion has actually occured.

Phase 2:

Tanks should be ready to burn major CDs on the pickup of this phase, as they have to take 10 - 15 secs of all 4 adds (assuming you split evenly) before the Windblades begin to fixate.

Of the 8 adds, the 6 Windblades CAN be stunned, which we found key in helping to minimize tank damage. Note that while they are fixating they cannot be stunned.

You have plenty of time on phase 2, such that you should always be able to form two full traps, i.e. one for each of the large adds. We kept 1 Windblade alive along with the 2 large adds, to ensure the phase wouldn't end prematurely. This is a great time for your healers to regen some mana/focus etc, since tank damage from one large add each is non-existant.

At the end of phase 2, both tanks should have the poison soaked debuff which lasts 2 minutes. Every DPS in your raid should get this by running over them, before the phase ends. ALL dps benefit from this buff.

Phase 1 Redux:

Nothing special, but while your tanks still have poison-soaked, the OT should periodically run through the raid over the DPS, giving them a fresh 30 buff any time it expires.

Phase 3:

Nothing special, tremor totem/Fear wards are nice if you have them available, but really so long as healers are quick on dispels this phase is a non-issue.

Have fun!

Edit: Probably worth mentioning, when you transition from P1redux into P3, you really cant have a dissonance field up. We did this and the field exploded ~ 3 secs after P3 started, perfectly coinciding with her first raid-wide health-reduction cast, neatly one-shotting all of us hard-enrage style XD

Edited November 19, 2012 by Auracle

[Vlad 411]

*snip*

Thank you, awesome post!

[Guest Guestchar]

Even though you could theoretically have several Phase One-Two alternations, the enrage timer of the fight makes it so that in order to defeat Shek'zeer, you can only afford to have a single Phase Two, and that you must bring Shek'zeer to 30% health during the second Phase One.

You can have a second Phase Two. We stoped the damage at 31% so we can get a second Phase Two. This is helpfull for the healers to reg some mana at the end of phase two. We didn't hit any enrage. I'm not even sure if she has an enrage.

[Vlad 411]

You can have a second Phase Two. We stoped the damage at 31% so we can get a second Phase Two. This is helpfull for the healers to reg some mana at the end of phase two. We didn't hit any enrage. I'm not even sure if she has an enrage.

10-man normal mode? And thanks!

[Zagam 1,982]

Blessing of Protection completely negates all damage standing in the Dissonance Field. Have any Paladins in your group talent into Clemency to allow one Hand of Protection for each wave of Dissonance Fields per phase 1.

Adds can be stunned but no other CC works. Fist of Justice, Hammer of Justice, Shadowfury, Kidney Shot, Capacitor Totem, and Intimidation all worked for us last night. Use this to alleviate tank damage at the beginning of Phase 2, which is insane.

During Phase 2, have your entire ranged/heal group stack up comfortably between the two tanked groups. This will force all of the trap residue to collect at one point. Focus dps on the right side Reaver and kill him. As he is killed, your raid will likely have formed an entire trap. At this point, a DPS Warrior or some other DPS with a taunt should taunt the Reaver from the left into the trap. This will break the focus of all the Windblades who will then go and try to break the Reaver out of the trap. They do this at an alarmingly slow pace, so this is when you can AoE all the adds down while healers regenerate mana since no damage is coming out. The Reaver will die before the Windblades can break him out, but it won't matter as the Windblades melt like butter with the Reaver debuff, even when he is in an amber trap.

Phase 3 means you won. It's not difficult in any means. Have a healing rotation set up. We use Paladin Avenging Wrath + Divine Favor + Devotion Aura + Rallying Cry first then Spirit Link Totem, Healing Tide Totem, and Distracting Banner after that, and we finish with Tranquility + Tree Form + Personal CDs. Healthstones sprinkled in. Very doable.

[Guest Guestchar]

10-man normal mode? And thanks!

Yes 10-man normal mode.