Lightsworn: Tanking tips for the Hellbreach and Halls of Blood
I remember the more innocent days when Troll raids would send people into fits. That was before we had three raiding tiers with spiky fortress crawling with Orcs. I guess I should count myself lucky that in this raid the Orc motif quickly fades away, buried under a thin green wash as the raid bosses start to come off the Legion’s bench instead of the Iron Horde’s.
This post is going to go through the first six bosses of the raid, giving tanking tips and details to cover exactly what you need to successfully tank these encounters. This isn’t a general fight strategy, but rather a paladin focus on exactly what you need to know, as the tank, to do your job.
Hellfire Assault
Is Divine Protection glyphed? Yes, the most dangerous damage is physical
Speed boost talent? Long Arm of the Law to help you zip around and pick up new adds
How many stacks to tank swap? 2 stacks of Slam
This first encounter is a glorified trash pack that happens to reward loot at the end. You’ll want to position yourself and your co-tank between the two ramps that lead up to each cannon, so you can grab any enemies that attempt to sprint past you and up the ramp, as well as keep the trash in one squirming pile for the DPS to chip away at.
When the encounter begins, your raid will need to deal with Siegemaster Mar’tak. She will exit the encounter quickly, so this part of the fight does not last long. The most important thing to watch for during this phase is to keep her and the Hulking Berserker separated so it doesn’t benefit from her Inspiring Presence. The one enemy that you really need to take care with is the Hulking Berserker. It’ll occasionally cast Slam, which makes you take 30% more physical damage. Slam’s debuff also stacks — after two stacks things can get hairy. Pass the Berserker off to your co-tank after two stacks to keep physical damage intake manageable.
Direct your tanking loadout (talents and glyphs) to emphasize AOE damage, for obvious reasons.
Stay alert and ready to pick up new enemies as they appear and to get out of any patches of bad. Large bullets will get launched at your raid that release a wave of enemies after they crash down. Don’t stand in the effect that marks where the crash landing will be, don’t get in the path of the different siege weapons that will make their way towards the cannons, and don’t stand in the bombs that will be dropped by the goblins, either.
Iron Reaver
Is Divine Protection glyphed? No
Speed boost talent? Long Arm of the Law for getting out for Artillery and then back in quickly
When to tank swap? Taunt when the other tank is targeted by Artillery
After fleeing the first encounter, Mar’tak regroups and puts on her Iron Reaver suit as the second encounter. This fight is essentially a tank and spank, except that the boss will make a break for it every so often. There are two phases here, a ground phase and an air phase. There’s only one target in this fight, so this is a good choice to use Glyph of Focused Shield for some extra DPS.
During the ground phase you need to avoid Barrage, don’t put yourself in the path of Blitz and step out of melee when Pound is happening. Other than that, when the boss marks you with Artillery, you should get the hell out of dodge and as far away from other raid members as you can. Use a speed boost to put distance between yourself and the squishies and hang out until Artillery is about to land, then pop Divine Protection (because you’ll be closest to Artillery and thus taking the most damage) and get back into melee.
During the air phase don’t stand in anything that looks vaguely hot and help kill the Volatile Firebombs.
Kormrok
Is Divine Protection glyphed? No, lots of frequent magic damage in this fight
Speed boost talent? Speed of Light, for quick repositions to the next pool
When to tank swap? When the other tank is affected by Explosive Burst, Swat, or Foul Crush
Kormrok is kind of a wacky fight. The raid will be activating pools in rotating order to manage what abilities the boss is throwing at you. Depending on what pool the boss is near, it will absorb from that pool when it goes for a soak and then throw out abilities (some empowered) accordingly. This is another single-target encounter, so feel free to keep Glyph of Focused Shield equipped.
Positioning is important on this fight, this is one of the more movement-heavy encounters in Hellfire Citadel. For example, after Kormrok goes for a dip, you want to ensure that the melee DPS can reach the boss’ back-side without standing in the pool. Be sure to walk Kormrok back a bit so its rear end is exposed properly. The key to this fight is activating the right pools, so make sure the boss is closest to the correct pool when it goes for that dip.
If Kormrok goes into the purple pool, it’ll gain Swat. The trick with this ability is that you take less damage the farther back you are knocked, so make sure you’re positioned to avoid being knocked into nearby walls or the pools. The other tank needs to taunt the boss when the active tank is knocked away, so Kormrok doesn’t go chasing after them.
From the orange pool, Kormrok gets the ability Explosive Burst which turns the active tank into a rooted bomb. If you are afflicted with this effect, use (unglyphed) Divine Protection to cut the magic damage you will take when the effect explodes. Likewise, the other tank needs to taunt and drag the boss away so you don’t blow up everyone in melee.
Lastly, the green pool gives Kormrok Foul Crush and this is another ability that necessitates a tank swap. Kormrok will stay on the crushed tank, if given the chance, and beat the hell out of them while they cannot use any avoidance or mitigation. Pop a cooldown to help with the physical damage you’ll take under the raid breaks you out.
Watch out for Fel Outpouring, both empowered and not, and feel free to help out with Explosive Runes if you have Divine Protection off cooldown and you’re not actively tanking.
Hellfire High Council
Is Divine Protection glyphed? Yes
Speed boost talent? Long Arm of the Law works, you won’t be moving much
How many stacks to tank swap? There should be no swapping
Remember Fallen Protectors in Siege of Orgrimmar? This is essentially the same fight, though this time all three enemies need to be tanked. One tank handles Dia and the other tank handles Gurtogg and Jubei’thos. If you are tanking Dia, your primary responsibility is keeping her more than 25 yards away from her comrades because otherwise they will gain damage absorption from Void Haze.
There are frequent, set points when the tanks need to use survivability cooldowns to deal with extra damage. For the Dia tank this is when she uses Nightmare Visage and unleashes a flurry of physical attacks on you. For the Gurtogg/Jubei’thos tank, it’s when Gurtogg gets enough stacks of Acidic Wound on you. Until Gurtogg goes and fixates on a random raid member as part of Fel Rage, use cooldowns to deal with the extra damage. When Gurtogg runs off he cannot be tanked anymore and you have the chance to let your Acidic Wound stacks fall off.
Don’t stand in Reap or in the path of Fel Blade and you shouldn’t have any problems staying alive outside of those heavy damage moments.
Kilrogg Deadeye
Is Divine Protection glyphed? No
Speed boost talent? Long Arm of the Law works, you won’t be moving much
When to tank swap? On every Hulking Terror spawn
This is one of those fights where if the DPS and healers do their job well, your job is much, much easier. Tanking this fight is less stressful when the number of Hulking Terrors is reduced to only the mandatory ones, and Blood Globules are spawned as far away as from the boss as possible so they can be killed before reaching him. You can help prevent additional Hulking Terrors if you want to equip Glyph of Burden of Guilt to possibly slow Orcs as they run for the altar, but keep that in your pocket for if the raid can’t handle it — you have bigger concerns.
Do your part by tanking Kilrogg right before the platform he initially is standing on, so the full length of the room is available for the rest of the raid. Keep Kilrogg positioned in the center line that bisects the length of the room and face him straight down that line towards the raid. When Heartseeker is being lined up, pivot out of the arrow that marks where it’s going, so you don’t get hit and spawn a Blood Globule. If you see a Blood Globule heading for Kilrogg, drag the boss away to avoid raid damage.
When tanking Kilrogg, he’ll occasionally cast Shred Armor. As it’s being cast, use Shield of the Righteous and you won’t take a stack of the debuff. As long as you use your active mitigation correctly, you should never get a stack and that debuff should never necessitate a tank swap. Great mechanic! If you do get a stack, swap off with your co-tank. Lastly, use Divine Protection during Death Throes to take the bite out of it.
Otherwise you can swap Kilrogg whenever a new Hulking Terror spawns on the platform. When tanking the Hulking Terror, tank it on Kilrogg but positioned facing perpendicular to the direction the boss is facing. By having the Terror facing the side, you don’t risk splashing DPS or the other tank with Fel Corruption from its attacks. And make sure to interrupt Rending Howl. You likely won’t be able to interrupt all of them yourself unless you save Avenger’s Shield, which would be unnecessary (the DPS can help).
As long as the Terror is killed quickly, you shouldn’t have to think about the Fel Corruption mechanic as the tank (other than confirming that people purge your stacks of the debuff when they come back from the Vision of Death). As long as your stacks are purged and you and your co-tank swap regularly on each Hulking Terror (and there are no extra Terrors!), Fel Corruption shouldn’t ever become a problem.
Gorefiend
Is Divine Protection glyphed? No
Speed boost talent? I like Speed of Light in case the Enraged Spirit spawns on the other side of the stomach
When to tank swap? On Shadow of Death and at 10 stacks of Fel Flames
This fight is so gross. It combines all the charm of interacting with Mr. Creosote and the wondrous experience of being that wafer thin mint.
Gorefiend is a simple encounter to tank, but it’s active enough that it feels more engaging than the standard immobile boss fight. Initially you’ll be tanking Gorefiend with the raid arrayed around you. Eventually one of the tanks will be marked with Shadow of Death and then eventually sucked into Gorefiend’s gastrointestinal system.
Once inside the belly of the beast, you’ll want to help out with the smaller enemies until an Enraged Spirit appears. Pick that up as soon as possible and help DPS it down. Interrupt Bellowing Shout and don’t stand in the Fel Fury puddle that it will spawn. At 70% health, the Spirit will head to the center of the stomach and flee outside of Gorefiend. Do the same so you can pick it up ASAP once you are back outside. Also, if you stay inside you will be eventually digested so there’s no good reason to stay in.
As soon as you’re back on two feet, pick up the Gorebound Spirit and tank it in melee. Continue to interrupt Bellowing Shout and swap it with the other tank once your Fel Flame stacks get to ten.
When in the Feast of Souls phase, position yourself in one of the two halves of the room and prepare to intercept souls before they reach Gorefiend. If it helps, pretend you’re playing doubles tennis with your co-tank and that tennis is now played with souls instead of balls. Use cooldowns to help out the healers with your raid damage intake during the Feast of Souls phase.
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