Stabilized Effort Scope

Indalecio Jones and the Molten Core

Incredibly epic picture photoshopped by Jezriyah, click for full-size

So Jezriyah and I were on Skype, and we were both bored as sin. We both have two-piece Tier 5, so we decided to go out and, on our respective hunters with our respective tenacity pets (Indalecio for me, Micropterus for her) and solo old-world shit for fun, profit, and the allure of many fabulous prizes.

We each started off in ZG, heading after the boss with the mount we wanted first – her to the Tiger boss and me to Broodlord Mandokir – and dispatched them without much issue. Jez encountered the issues that I soon encountered when I was done with the Raptor boss – timing the deaths with Lor’khan healing is tricky. But in the end, every mount-dropping boss went down to our prowess, but we left empty-handed, minus a few blues and roughly 30g a boss. Oh, and since I started this before she did, I took out the Spider boss for shits and grins, too.

After that, I decided to do Attumen. He was a fair deal harder than ZG bosses (well dur, since he’s 70), but it was still a one-shot – he even dropped the schematic from which SES draws its name. In a display of sheer idiocy, I took a few cracks at soloing Moroes as well, but the combination of his adds and my inability to juke his Garrotes left me deader than a doornail repeatedly. I hearthed, and Jez told me to give MC a shot at the chance of even more fabulous prizes. So I whistled for a cab and when it… no, fuck that.

Lucifron went down like a chump. Magmadar was harder due to the dog packs, but still trivial. Gehennas took some trying due to range issues – all of his attacks that would hit me are 40-yard abilities, so I had to stand at the very apex of my increased range afforded to me by my soloing spec (more on that later). It took three tries, but he went down. Garr, the boss that scared the most, was trivial – an opening Misdirection + Global Thermal Sapper Charge locked threat onto Indy, and then we bursted the Firesworn adds down one at a time. After they went down, it was a joke – Auto-Shot + 2PT5 kept Indy alive through Garr’s damage.

And that’s where the easy mode ended.

Geddon was an exercise in sheer finesse. Living Bomb and Ignite Mana, both abilities that will kill me in VERY fast order if they land, have a 45 yard range. Well, so does Mend Pet, unless you have the 3-piece Giantstalker bonus. I do not. Thusly, this fight because a matter of dipping in for a Mend Pet and a Serpent, and ducking out before Geddon decided to nail me with Living Bomb, or worse, Ignite Mana. It took two wipes, but I got a perfect position locked that ensured me a win.

Oh yeah, Shazzrah was a joke. Right.

I decided to go for Golemagg instead of Sulfuron Harbinger at the fork. This was a bad decision from a short-term perspective, but one that kept me from abandoning the run early. Golemagg will be the biggest challenge to any Hunter attempting this, and was easily my biggest roadblock. Nine times I lost Indalecio to Golemagg (but managed to Deterrence/Rockets/FD away). Several things complicate the fight – having your pet on Golemagg directly will cause the on-hit debuff that Golemagg applies to stack to levels that will kill your pet in short order, so you have to have your pet “tank” Golemagg through MD’d Multi-Shots and Thunderstomp. He also has a 40-yard range Pyroblast, so you have to be exacting in your position both of your pet and yourself – Golemagg is a big boss, so improper position with you and your pet relative to him will leave you out of Mend Pet’s 45-yard range but still within his 40-yard range Pyroblast. The trick is to slowly build threat with MD and Thunderstomp while DPSing one of his two hounds – this keeps health flowing from 2PT5 to your pet.

Sulfuron Harbinger was a test of patience. It took about 9 minutes for the adds to go OOM to the point where I could burn them down; standing at 40 yards is again your key to winning. The damage is so low to your pet that Mend Pet is only there for cleansing debuffs (again, refer to my spec later) – 2PT5 will again win the day here. Once the adds are down, just DPS down Sulfuron from more than 30 yards away – he’s got an Incinerate with a 30yd range.

Majordomo is like Garr Mk.2, but with a twist. Whenever Domo ports you OR your pet to the coal pit, he will stop attacking your pet, but NOT reset aggro. All it takes is one hit from your pet to get the threat back to your pet – consider a /target Majordomo Executus; /petattack; /targetlasttarget macro (and manually attacking your add again) to save yourself. Treat it like Garr – burn the adds down one at a time after an opening MD of an AoE. (3.3’s new Misdirection will make this AND Garr miles easier.)

Ragnaros himself is surprisingly easy. You will need to bring a couple of ways to heal yourself – ideally a healing pot and bandages, plus the Uber Racial of Hax helps – as your pet WILL get knocked away from Rags and you WILL get targeted for his 6k Fire damage blast. You might consider DPSing him at absolute minimum ranged range and then stepping into melee if your pet goes flying, but I didn’t think about it.

Phase 2 is the strategy part – your pet MUST MUST MUST be set on Passive/Stay and staying in melee range of Ragnaros but NOT near you. When P2 starts, the Sons will make a beeline for you. Deterrence to cover your ass once the first few come, and when all the ones that come at you have swung at you once, Feign. They will despawn, leaving you to wait until Rag surfaces. This is the BEST time to heal yourself.

So, you wanna do this too? Rake in 450g in pure gold, plus tons of purples to vendor? Want an Ancient Petrified Leaf but don’t want to share? RILGON TEECHES U TO SOLO COOR

BLUEBERRY RAGE + TUDDLE RAGE

SPEC: Use this spec that Pikestaff suggested on Twitter. It is made of win. 3/3 Eagle Eye is GOD DAMN MANDATORY, do not remove it. Glyph of Mending is also god damn mandatory.
PET SPEC: Some tuddle be for tank. If yours wants to be, use this spec.
GEAR REQUIREMENTS: 2p T5 is an absolute MUST, IMO. You will NOT get through Golemagg without it without the intervention of a deity. 3p T1 is a godsend for Geddon, but not mandatory if you’re quick (protip: Use Disengage liberally). Stamina gear is nice (I used my Brewmaiden trinket over my Banner), but don’t go overboard – you absolutely need good DPS output for this shit.
OTHER SHIT: Consumables = easier time of it. Bring pots, bring mana strudel, consider using buff food and a flask. Engineers will have an easier time deciding what loot to take home and what they shouldn’t (since we can just take it all and let Jeeves sort it out).

I didn’t get any really notable loot – no mounts or bindings – but I did get the Essence of Pure Flame, the Leaf, BLASTARSHAWT LAWNCHAIR, and DS Pants.

Oh right, I did Heroic Magister’s, too, and got my second Phoenix Hatchling. >_< WTB Chocobo!