Lich King Down - 10 Man

;D

This is possibly the most a fight relies on team communication to  really get it to work well. There are so many moving parts that everyone talking keeps everyone aware because one person slips up once and you can get fucked.

Crazy times.

Well now other people can get in there. I've been doing LIch King for 2 months. I'll run people through lower citadel now for gear till my eyes bleed while other people have a turn at progression.

I am seriously so glad we finally got this fight done, and I am really excited to start getting others to the same progression point. Grats us. :)

Grats everyone, sorry I wasn't on last night I over slept, apparently my alarm clock no longer works : /

On a side note, I hold SC2 responsible, even more so than myself :P

You guys rock!

Can't wait till I'm ready for kingslaying.

So a couple things....a few....a handfull... Stuff we learned to get this done. This is not a full strat...just stuff...

Phase 1: Is easy, but you can still wipe when you don't pay attention. Everyone needs to have DBM installed and be mindfull of getting Necrotic plague, the tank needs to be mindfull of the Shambling Horror enraging, etc.

Phase 1/2 Transition: Don't stand near the tank holding the Shambling Horrors at the start. Only have one person on Ice Spheres, everyone else focus on the Raging Spirits. Spreading out reduces raid damage.

Phase 2: Is hard. With a well geared tank like Meadow or Malky you don't need to tank swap. You just need to watch for that debuff and heal hard to get him back up to full fast when he takes the first big hit, and the second big hit. All healers should be aware of that and help. Bring good stunners, be sure you have your stuns on your bar, Stopping the Valkyr is all about having good stuns. Slow is necessary but it'll only take her to 50%. Need stuns to wins. Spread out for Defile, warn at 5 seconds, and  between that and 2 seconds, spread out to poop it on the edges of the platform. Everyone watch for it and call it out. If a valkyr is being summoned at the same time a defile is cast, according to dbm, worry about the defile first. The valkyr cooldown on dbm is for her being summoned, and that takes a couple seconds, plus she pauses a couple seconds when she comes into play. So when you see them both scheduled at about the same time on DBM, spread out for the defile first, then hustle back to the center for the Valkyr as soon as the Defile is dropped. I bolded that cause i think that was important.

Phase 2/3 Transition: Same as other transition. Bloodlust after third Spirit pops.

Phase 3: Not as hard. When you come back into the platform everyone stay by the edge hwere you come in at until Vile Spirits spawn, then run to the other side, everyone including the tank. You can't kill the vile spirits, just peg them and run, keep them all from going to the Arthas tank. The off tank can soak alot of them if he gets heals too. He shoudl grab a bunch, misdirect to him etc. Make sure he has heals. Stay spread out for defiles.

That's about it though. I'd say the main reason it took us so long to get him down, other than it being a hard ass fight, is specificaly phase 2. Phases 1 and 3 we got down within a few attempts, Phase 2 is the key. You get that down and you have the fight, and the key is understanding how to a) balance running out for defiles, and running in for Valkyr, as well as b) stunning and dpsing tha tdamn Valkyr.

I knew you would get him down this week, we almost had it last week after all.  Big grats to you all!

All the hard work finally pays off! Enjoy the titles! =)

Grats guys I'm still raging a little bit but I'm happy for you.  Maybe I'll be in our first 25man Lich King kill.  That being said I'm not opposed to tanking on Whompum or dpsing on Pox for whatever we need.  I tanked Festergut last night with Samm and it went well which is a huge test of tank gearing and is a first for Whompum. 

to ya all!

Just adding to what Tal said above.

1. Communication for this fight is crucial. DBM warnings aren't always enough because sometimes they come right on top of each other. Warn for events like Defile, Valkyr, etc. about 3-5 seconds before they happen so you can be prepared to move. It's incredibly important to be spread out for the Defile, and then cluster together as close to the middle as possible for the Valkyr. This means you have to be fast on the move. Strafe, mouseturn, whatever will get you into position fastest.

2. Defiles should be dropped out at the sides asap. DBM doesn't give you much time to move once the Defile is on someone, so a 5 second warning for when it's going to come helps. Having someone that is good at watching timers and calling out when to group up and spread out also helps.

3. Stuns are the key to getting the Valkyr down. Having Mel with us as a ret pally made this part that much easier. Basically anything that will stun her, slow her down, etc. is what's needed.

4. It's better to have more ranged than melee, only because of the issues with Defile and Valkyr timers coming on top of each other in P2.

5. Survivability is very important during P1-2. If you lose someone during those phases, chances ae good for a wipe. Losing someone in P3 wasn't as bad - I think we were down 3 people when we finally got him. Do whatever you can to minimize damage to yourself.

6. Healers really need to be on their A game. The tanks will at various points take some big hits. Infest needs to be healed up immediately. As a Disc priest, when I saw that a few people still had Infest on them, I'd pop a quick shield on them to buy the raid healer some time. You also have to be quick at moving around and healing on the run. It's not easy, but it's what you'll have to do. With the Soul Reaper effect that gets put on the tanks, they need BIG heals at that point. It really helped me for Tart to call out when it was going on him so I could be ready.

7. During P1, you have to be quick with the disease dispels. During the transition phases, it's magic you have to worry about. Between tank healing and having to be on top of dispels, I was really being kept on my toes.

8. During P3, when running from side to side, it helped to run around the inner circle, as opposed to running through it. That's because we still had to drop a Defile someplace, and this kept it being dropped on te sides and out of the middle. Defile in the middle = BAD.

I'm sure I can think of more later. The only other thing I want to add is that I want people to be prepared for what progression involves. We spent months wiping on Putricide, Sindragosa, and LK to get to this point (BQL was actually kinda easy). That meant weeks of going in, fighting the same raid boss, and leaving with no loot, only marginal EP, and a hefty repair bill. There were times when it really sucked and was really frustrating and discouraging. But getting him down last night and getting those titles made all the trial and error totally worth it.

Also, I know we kinda joked about me lecturing the raid and telling everyone to focus but I wanted to add a serious thought to that. We're a casual raiding guild. We like to have fun, joke around, and be silly while raiding. But there's a point where if we want to progress, we have to focus. We have to analyze our performance. We have to make hard decisions about what to do, who fills what role, etc. That's not being hardcore or straying from our guild philosophy as some might be inclined to think. It's what you have to do if you want to get things done. I mean if I wanted to be in a hardcore raiding guild, I could be. I've chosen to be here though because I love you guys and think you're the best guild out there, hands down. And knowing how great you are, I feel a responsibility to help push us toward doing things I know we're capable of. And sometimes that means bringing out the Mom Voice and telling everyone to focus and get "srs bznzz" about stuff. :P

grats guys :)

Soo...I think common sense already answered my question...but I'm guessing we have to clear ICC again to get to the LK...again...

I wouldn't mind doing a full clear again anyway, I still need those mythical trinkets from ICC (Now I know how the Huntar...Hunters felt with their bows). I only saw Dreamwalker for a brief moment one 25 night, so I'd still like to do that fight. To be honest I have a special place in my heart for Sindragosa, contrary to what everyone says behind her back...meanies...

I'm working on getting ready, sadly all my toons are DPS but 1. My DK will be a tank but she's not even close to 80 yet.

My main prriority is letting others do progression and get in on an Arthas kill, but I'm definitely interest otherwise in running ICC 10 in hard mode and seeing how much we can get down in hard mode. I bet we can clear lower citadel the first night in hardmode, and maybe one or to other fights as well.

I know I've mentioned this before upthread, but I think before people go on about how a Team B can go kill LK now, there's one thing I want to know first.

Who do we actually have anymore that's not me and not the two tanks that you used that are a) regularly here for raid nights; b) tank on their main character and main spec; and c) are geared enough to push Upper Citadel?

Jaleika - I dont have any ICC viable tanks as of yet, my DK is 76 I believe and I'm going to be playing his a lot the next few weeks. I plan for him to be my tank, I also have a 40 Warrior Tank, but obviously thats meaningless right now.

Tal - I always wondered how far we could get in one night, if we just 'pushed' through ICC....LEZ DO EEET

I'm also all up for Hardmodes, but if I had to pick one or the other right now, I'd saying downing LK, before Heroics...at least on my part. I also know there's some people who still want to down Halion and I think all those who care most definitely wanna down Algalon...that beautiful bastard...