I keep reading and hearing that it’s very simple and basically free. Yet, nearly all of my CoS runs are completely disastrous.
What can I, as healer, do to make these runs as foolproof as possible? Is there something I need to be picking up or doing to make runs go smoother? I feel like I am just missing something since my experience is not the common one.
Thanks.
its got to do with group composition as well as just tactics, having a rogue / alchemist for first boss removes 20% of the fight.
diff proffessions / classes can speed up the enforcers and make it easy. while you dont need these things it does make it quicker / easier to navigate
tips for first boss fight is mass dispell on the first boss’s arcane lockdown so people dont needa jump and last boss is simply good placement of the shade / clone things. its all strategy really
I’m NGL as a healer, if you are pugging, then the biggest affix is the rest of your group, and it can often also be the hardest. 
Explain mechanics and help CC.
Every attack by the first boss is avoidable and you should have to only cast minimal (if any) heals on dps with the jump debuff. Most classes naturally heal it back over time anyway.
Interrupts are big in there.
Dps shouldn’t ever be in front of a mob.
Gel destruction on the gel enforcers before the 2nd boss can be LOS’d. Make sure the tank is pulling then near a wall or something.
Add one make the mini game super easy after the 2nd boss.
3rd boss takes practice and is a horrendous mess this week. GL with that BS. Dk/rogue can clear the platform of stun tornadoes with cloak/IBF and a movement speed buff. Makes the fight more manageable later on but it’s still awful.
Yeah, I’ve been doing the Mass Dispel thing and it has made that fight very consistent at least. It feels like between the first and second boss is when things go to hell (assuming the first pull doesn’t cause a ton of deaths).
I know there’s an enchanting interaction that really helps out, too.
All professions have a buff before the second boss that lasts the entire dungeon. The cooking one is just 10% health and well worth the click in most cases.
Problems with the trash? Dominators?
Good tips, appreciate it. I’ve heard that, for the last boss, I can bait his jump to force his clones in certain spots, but even when I put them up nice and neat, it feels like someone gets instantly destroyed. And with Storming this week… yeah, real fun lol
Do you think the engineering thing in that side room before the bridge to the first boss is worth doing?
the blade rush will go to the person furthest away and place a clone there, if you stack the group and have one range sit in the same area you can bait them over there.
engineering thing is worth doing but then need to get % from other mobs also so its upto the group if you want
The trash, yes. Usually my groups will mostly LoS, although I can heal through it at my key level as long as it’s not on all five people. But it feels like people just die to all the other guys + mini-bosses to instant cleaves or missed kicks.
And then navigating it feels messy, like it feels as if we are running around back and forth forever.
Sometimes you have to. When a Dominator is killed, it respawns 30 seconds later. But it can respawn in any of the Dominator patrol areas and start patrolling. It can even spawn in the same place, perhaps right on top of where you’re fighting the mini-boss that came over when you killed the previous Dominator.
If you’re over on the right, and just killed a mini-boss, and the Dominator respawns back over on the left, on the other side of the bridge… well, you have to cross back over the bridge and go kill it. That’s just how the dungeon works.
Gotcha, so basically just move to that spot to bait the jump, then move away during Slicing Maelstrom so I don’t die to the AoE. That seems simple enough. Also… is he shooting the big cleave that kills people in front AND behind him? I still don’t know how it works lol
yea just gotta move from that area during slicing, the peircing gale or whatever the big cleave thing is called is usually tethered in front / behind and towards the clones.
so having the clones in one spot allows dps to stand to the side of boss and not worry to much
COS is made way easier by knowing how to pull the 3 minibosses via the interactable stuff and having people who can do so. There is also some noteable buffs you can get that involves minimal trash investment and indeed may be even be natural to pull.
The imps are the biggest source of domino effect deaths. They have such little health but you need to still respect them enough to have a mass stun or disorientate. The dominators, if you need to pull them, should have their fel explosion cast LOS by everyone (tank included). There are plenty of spots this can be done easily and always watch where the next dominator spawns so you don’t pull it and the miniboss at the same time.
Edit - For the first boss, unless you messed up and a pillar got activated, deactivate the pillars as you clear them. If you do not specifically deactivate them, the 1st boss gets to summon a guard from each. This includes the 2 as you make your way to him. YOU take ownership of that responsibility unless you explicitly see someone else do it. Adding guards to the fight is literally waste of time and complicates the fight a good deal
I don’t mean this in a dismissive way and asking here is good because lots of players will have lots of tips for you, but in addition to that, have you checked out stuff like the Wowhead guides to the new M+ dungeons? They’ve even got a nifty class-role-specific tips section that’ll tell you a few handy ways your specific class can deal with certain mechanics, and reading through it all helps me wrap my head around a few things that I’m like “wait what” about in the middle of the chaos of a run lol
It’s also important to acknowledge that Imacu’tya has the best NPC name in all of World of Warcraft.
There is some finesse to COS
Not letting mobs activate pillar
Tank not hitting group with add frontals
De-activating pillars before 1st boss
Jumping during 1st boss
Using LOS on adds before 2nd boss
Activating buffs before 2nd boss
Stacking and moving for imps on 2nd boss
3rd boss can definitely be tricky. There is a strat that involves group stacking and having 1 person out to bait the charges .
while more of a time saving thing as well ca use demon hunter spectral sight for the spy area after 2nd boss once all 5 clues are done.
or can use a pally with a shield xmogged to truthguard, glows when the traitor is in the group you are standing at then can use said clues to pick him easier
If people are making mistakes of this level there isn’t much you can do. That’s basic mechanic failure.
Okay that clears up a LOT. I had no idea this worked this way.
So do you think it’s worth doing one of those interactions to force a mini-boss, or is it generally better to just run around? I guess this is up to the group.
Just to make sure I’m understanding:
When he does the cleave, it shoots in front and behind the boss himself. For the clones, are you saying it’s also in front and behind the clones, or is it between the clones and the boss?
Okay, yeah I’ve lost a few keys to these imps. Assuming fear works I’ll start using Psychic Scream on these.
I actually only saw the generic guides on wowhead, like, “tanks healers DPS, do x y z”, I should see if there are ones for my class specifically. I will double check there!