This is a guide intended for tanking normal Nefarian. It includes a video that shows not only what it looks like when done correctly, but everything that can go wrong.
http s://www.youtube .com/watch?v=z7KjRq-_V7Y
Tanking the P3 adds takes a lot of practice for two basic reasons:
–Synching up the energy of all the adds requires managing several details:
----To do so they have to all die in the same place
----They all have to be reanimated by Shadowflame Spark at the same time
----They all have to time out while standing directly on top of each other
–Moving the adds out of Shadowflame Spark also requires managing details:
----The raid cannot use any abilities that slow them down
----If the adds even graze a flicker of flame they have their energy reset ----The adds can move in random directions (video evidence below)
One other note. Like in Starcraft, (enemy) units that are in motion can walk through each other, but when they are at rest they will naturally spread out (so that it’s slightly more realistic looking). 99.99% of the time this makes little difference…but on this fight that random motion causes some real problems.
Key moments to watch in the video:
1:47—Realm First Achievement goes out on Pagle
3:10—P3 starts. Note that we just burned Onyxia in P1 as we wanted to maximize the amount of time we had to learn P3.
3:30—Example of things going right. All four skeletons are animated simultaneously. I had a ret pally on standby in case they didn’t, as soon as we’re sure we’re good she goes to DPS. Some philosophical thoughts on that below.***
3:50—I start running a little early. After reviewing video I think it’s best if the tank starts running when the DBM timer hits “2” seconds remaining until shadowspark. It’s important to already have the adds on the move before the cast because they tend to clump up in a desirable way.
4:00—I run a little further than I need to, it’s better for the healer if I can park faster but this is a minor concern.
4:06—Perfection, all four skeletons die simultaneously directly on top of each other. This is exactly what is desired.
4:06-4:23: Healer and I get a break.
4:23: Shadowflame spark reanimates all four skeletons simultaneously. I position myself between the skeletons and the healers, this is a good idea and I highly recommend it. However if the adds get separated, which is very common, it’s not possible to do this.
4:38–Here’s an example of how the adds are random. Note that at 4:38 all 4 adds are directly on top of each other. But note that at
4:39—Two adds are now 5+ yards behind the other adds, presumably because they did an attack animation which paused their movement. This is why I start running before the Shadowflame Spark is actually cast. Note that I’m giving up my back to the mobs here which will probably get a player murdered in heroic, but the extra damage I take from turning my back to the mobs is a fraction of what I’ll take if I don’t reset the stacking buff on the skeletons by moving too slow.
4:53—Nothing interesting seems to happen here, but wait. I start running away at seconds remaining on the Shadowflame Spark timer just as I want to be.
4:56—One of the adds turns around and walks left off camera for no f’n reason I can determine. This is the best example I have of the adds just going random directions.
4:59: A skeleton in the back collapses, which will cause problems in thirty seconds.
5:01 Somehow one of the skeletons didn’t have their energy reset. He has 91 energy which means he must have clipped the last fire. However the fire he hit is nearly 20+ yards away now, in the upper left underneath my character portrait. If you rewatch the section from 4:50 to 5:02 in my opinion I did exactly what I should have. The threat meter also shows I’m #1 on threat by over 99%.
5:03 Although my microphone doesn’t record, you can hear the chirp in discord as I call for my pre-arranged backup to come help. In retrospect I should have had the retribution paladin take the two adds that get reanimated and I should have taken the skeleton that didn’t reset, but I was panicking. The important thing is that we did have it arranged prior to the pull who was going to come help me if things went south.
5:14 Ret pally taunts the add which frees me up to go get the two that just reanimated.
5:20ish: Although things look normal, things are starting to come unglued. Because Shadowflame Spark is aimed randomly at one of the four adds (fact-check needed), the next spark could go three different places:
----The two adds that just resurrected that I have, which in this specific scenario would be good
----The one large add that the paladin has, which would be bad because I’ll almost certainly have to drag the two I have through the fire. However this doesn’t happen
----The one add that didn’t get reanimated the last time and is now all the way on the other side of the room. This is what happens.
5:10-5:30: The ret paladin takes significant but manageable damage from the skeleton that didn’t reset. Skeleton has 17 stacks when it finally goes down.
5:35: Shadowflame Spark incoming. My plan is to take the two skeleton adds that are already reanimated and place them on one of the dead ones. Even though I’ll take extra damage from the two alive, at least it will synch back up three of the skeletons.
5:42: Disaster. I was standing very slightly too far off the corpse of the dead skeleton, the Shadowflame Spark hits to my right and doesn’t synch them up. Unfortunately it does reset the energy of the two that are alive so now I don’t have control of the situation and I’m still going to take extra damage.
5:50 Nefarian’s breath reanimates the skeleton on the other side of the room, I miss this.
5:56 Despite being completely surrounded by shadowflame, that one skeleton on the ground won’t get back up.
6:01: Shadowflame spread finally resurrects the skeleton in the back.
6:05: Paladin helps me out but I manage to grab all four for the first time in over a minute.
6:00-6:30: I nearly go down due to excessive damage from the reset adds.
6:25: I’m panicking so hard I hit anti-magic shell for no reason, Nefarian is at 35% and not going to crackle any time soon.
6:30: Mercifully the two skeletons without high stacks reset.
6:30 Nefarian tail swipe gets me, luckily it’s a good time for it.
6:31: One of the two that resets instantly gets ressurrected.
6:39: For the first time in almost a minute and a half, I’ve mostly regained control of the situation. Only one skeleton is alive and it still has low stacks.
6:41: Second skeleton reanimates.
6:45: All four skeletons reanimate and are synched back up on energy mostly. Getting them back synched up is very very difficult to do.
6:47: I lose aggro on the two that just reanimated.
6:51: Nefarian tank goes under 1% health.
6:52: I’m forced to step in to the center to taunt the loose add, which is generally a bad idea because it reduces the travel time of the Shadowflame Spark. This causes two adds to hit fire and reset their energy (which isn’t clear on video until later).
7:10 I’m stressing out so hard I almost walk in to the lava.
7:30: 2 Skeletons reset and get resurrected shortly thereafter.
7:45: 1 skeleton resets and sits on the ground surrounded by a sea of shadowflame.
7:55: Shadowflame resurrects that skeleton. It gets picked up by the main tank, I miss that this happened.
8:10: 2 on me reset, the one I have is low health.
8:15 We win!
So this video I think really shows a LOT of the details about tanking the P3 adds. Examples of it going right, of it going wrong, of it going back to right, how it almost instantly derails after we got it back right, random things, etc.