zeroinitiate - A World of WarCraft Rogue Blog

I tend to think of this fight as ICC’s version of the Chess Event in Kara because of how easy it is. Your goal is to bring the enemy ship down using the cannons mounted on the side. But I’m getting ahead of myself.

The first thing you want to do is to talk to the goblin near the boss on your ship and grab a jetpack. Equip it then map it to a key in your action bar. Try it out and get an estimate of its range. Your raid leader may or may not assign you to a gun. Since you’re melee, there’s a good chance he or she will so here’s how to use it:

• Spam the first button until you get to 80-90%.
• Hit the second button. Repeat step one.

If you’re confident about your latency, I recommend waiting until you’re at 90% before hitting the second button. Shooting it as early as 80% is just a safe number for those who have relatively high lat. Since you’re basically spamming the first button it’s possible to lag a bit and then find that you reached 100%, rendering the cannon useless for a few seconds.

If you’re not assigned to cannon duties then help out with the adds that will spawn on your ship. These will spawn in the center and will be tanked by your OT. They spawn one at a time, so watch your threat. Don’t find yourself in a situation where you pick up an add that your tank hasn’t even touched yet.

The last thing to worry about on your ship is that the enemy ship will fire rockets at you. There will be a mark on the floor that will symbolize where they’ll land so watch out for it. They look like small arcane circles.

At some point during the fight your cannons will freeze. This means that a sorcerer (I know it’s a mage, but Bronzebeard keeps calling it a sorcerer for some reason) has appeared on the enemy ship. Use your jetpack to jump over and kill the mage. She’s in the center, stuck in a channeling pose. She does not need to be tanked so feel free to go all out on her. Note that Bronzebeard is the true threat here and your tank has to pick him up as soon as he lands. It’s a good idea to watch your tank and wait for him to jump over before you do so yourself. This way, you’re sure that someone’s going to pick the boss up while you make your way to the mage.

Once the mage is down, jump back to your ship and resume add-killing or cannon-shooting duties, whichever case applies. Repeat this process until the enemy gunship is down.

Obligatory TL;DR version:

• If you’re on cannon duties, spam 1 until you’re at 80-90% then hit 2. Repeat.
• If you’re on adds, DPS as you see fit. Watch your threat. Look out for rocket marks on the floor.
• Jump to the other side of the ship when the cannons freeze and kill the no-need-to-be-tanked enemy mage. Make sure your tank jumps first so he can pick up the boss. When the mage is down, jump back and resume whichever role you were doing.

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Okay, there it is. The DPS you see above is post-nerf. ICC 25, Saurfang plus a few pulls on Festergut. See anything different from the last time?

On 25, it’s not too much of a difference given that you get all the right buffs. The nerf becomes more evident on 5 and 10-mans. We did a quick TotC 10 afterwards just to get Jaraxxus down for the weekly raid and a hunter managed to outDPS me cleanly. I think the new change warrants more testing just to see how much of a decrease it really did to us. Or maybe the number’s already out there. I’m going to need to review.

Happy holidays to everyone! I hope that you guys got your Merrymaker title by now. Icecrown is on its second week and we’re all going to have to catch up with the content once the holidays are over.

I find it odd that I’m actually nursing a toothache right now. I first felt it a couple of weeks ago and when I finally consulted my dentist, I was told that an extraction was necessary. I’m fine with that. However, she was going to go on vacation which meant that we would have to postpone the procedure until Monday. In the meantime, she gave me painkillers to medicate through the problem.

So here I am, spending Christmas with a tooth that’s nagging me worse than any mother-in-law would do. If the pain becomes unbearable, I reach for my pills. This isn’t exactly the way I pictured my holiday to turn out.

Back to rogue matters: make sure that you check the EJ forums regularly as 3.3 progresses. A recent example of why it’s important is Instant Poison’s rise to becoming the main hand poison of choice, even if you’re running Combat. I tested this on my last 25-man raid and the results were very, very clear. I was even asked by two of the people we PUGged in how I was doing that much damage. Funnily enough, the point I was trying to bring up in my last post was raised.

PUG rogue: What’s your rotation? (Note that out of personal pride I never ask this from a fellow rogue. I feel like I’m not doing my job if I’m getting out-DPSed and I don’t know why. I don’t mind getting asked though, like in this case.)

Me: SnD, HfB, Mutilate, Envenom, Mutilate, Envenom.

PUG rogue: Oh. You changed specs.

Apparently, he was asking about my rotation as Combat. By the time he asked, we just downed a boss so I was in my Assassination spec. I then told him that I go Combat on trash and use whatever cooldowns are available during the fights, which is exactly what I wrote about last time.

So, how have your fights been? I like the changes because rogues are doing so much damage right now. Still, either Blizz nerfs Assassination or they buff Combat. I’m hoping for the latter. Our hunter is starting to complain though. He made a comment about how poisons are “cheap damage” at the moment. It’s actually a little funny. Back when Ulduar was relevant he was saying my damage was “all from Fan of Knives”. If it isn’t one thing it’s another, I guess.

Enjoy the holidays, folks. See you after the break.

I have this feeling that Assassination is going to get nerfed to make it on par with Combat.

A couple of months ago, rogues were at a good place. Combat and Assassination were more or less balanced. The damage output between the two specs were relatively the same. It all boiled down to your weapon preference and the fights themselves. For the former, you may have found yourself switching between specs depending on which weapon set was stronger—think better daggers versus better fists/maces/swords/daggers—or simply depending on whether you liked daggers or not. For the latter, knowing the fights themselves can be a determinant in your weapon choice. For example, Anub’arak in TotC is very AoE-friendly, favoring Combat in terms of DPS output. For single-target fights, Assassination pulled slightly ahead of Combat.

Those times are past. Assassination is clearly the leader in terms of single-target DPS. Combat is still very strong in terms of AoE so you’ll want to use it when it comes to trash pulls, but for boss fights, the daggers spec simply blows it away. On one side, you could say it’s fair. After all, why would you want to use Assassination if it only gave you a marginal increase? Now that daggers are doing so much damage, we should all be happy right? Maybe.

Consider this: in Icecrown Citadel, I’ve been switching between Combat for trash and Assassination for bosses. Why? Because it’s worth it. The AoE damage that Combat yields on trash 3k-4k greater than Assassination. I then go back to using daggers for bosses because the output is greater.

You may wonder why I’m having issues with this. The only reason is stated above: I think a nerf is on the way for Assassination and I do not want it. The DPS is great, but the effect is so marginalizing that I don’t think it’s sustainable. Is what we’re seeing a design that Blizzard intended to happen? Is “Combat for trash, Assassination for bosses” a mantra we’re going to go by right now?

Lord Marrowgar is the first boss of ICC. Here’s how to deal with him.

• He only has two phases: a melee phase and a whirlwind phase.
• During the melee phase, stand behind him while staying inside his hit box. He has a frontal attack that requires tanks to stack on top of each other similar to the Patchwerk fight. Don’t make the mistake of standing in front of him. Give him a wide berth.
• Standing inside his hit box will prevent the fire from touching you. It’s one less thing to worry about.
• He will cast bone spikes which will impale a few group members and render them immobile. Throw a quick Fan of Knives while you get your bearings and target the spikes. Take them out then resume DPS on the boss.
• When he does his whirlwind phase, he behaves like a top, moving to a spot, staying there, then moving to another, all while spinning around. Unlike most whirlwinds from other bosses, his won’t one-shot you (at least on normal 10 and 25 versions). Just do your best to avoid him while he does his thing.
• He will drop blue fire on the ground where he stops. It spreads in an X-shaped pattern and crawls across the floor. Avoid it as much as you can. In my experience, you can jump over it and not take any damage (or it’s minimal damage, I couldn’t tell).
• If you have to choose between avoiding the whirlwind or the fire, take the latter. It’s more survivable.
• Once the whirlwind phase is over, wait for your tanks to re-establish aggro because it will reset. Go back to what you were doing during the melee phase.

Here’s the TL;DR version:

• Melee phase: stay behind him, inside his hit box. Kill the bone spikes when they’re up. DPS the boss.
• Whirlwind phase: avoid the boss, avoid the fire. Wait for tanks to gain aggro once the melee phase resumes.

A quick guide to the 5-man bosses of the Icecrown Citadel:
The Forge of Souls:

Bronjahm:

• He will create soul fragments from a member of the party. The fragment will spawn from where the party member is located. It will then start moving toward Bronjahm. If it reaches him, it will heal him. Obviously, killing the fragment is a priority. The group also has the option of creating distance between the boss and whichever party member that becomes the fragment source.
• When he’s close to death, he will move to the center of the room and create a vortex around him. Anyone who gets hit by it is damaged, so move in along with him. He will cast fear on someone, possibly causing the feared player to run to the vortex. This is something that’s more for your healers but watch out for it anyway. Can anyone confirm if Cloak of Shadows works when you run to the vortex?

The Devourer of Souls:

• This thing reminds me of a quintesson.
• When it uses Mirrored Soul, stop DPS. You’ll be killing the team member who received the debuff if you don’t.
• Unleash Souls will spawn adds. Try to avoid them as much as you can. They don’t hurt a lot but become troublesome once they gank you. Use Evasion if necessary.
• Wailing Souls shouldn’t be a problem for you if you’re doing what rogues were born to do: attacking from behind. Still, if you do see it being cast, move behind the target.

The Pit of Saron:

Forgemaster Garfrost:

• Permafrost is a problem for healers. The best way to deal with it is to avoid unnecessary damage (meaning don’t get hit by massive boulders) and DPS as much as you can. Killing him faster means leaving less chances for your healer to run out of mana.
• When he runs to a forge to craft something, you can either chase him (make sure the rest of your party does so as well) or you can hide behind the boulders to avoid Permafrost damage.

Ick and Krick:

• Make sure your group clears the trash around the boss. Those pats have a nasty habit of inviting themselves to the fight thanks to a party member that isn’t paying attention.
• There’s a lot of poison to avoid, giving this encounter a lot of movement. Move away from the puddles.
• If the boss goes after you, run away. Pursuit will one-shot you.
• When it casts that nova spell, run away from it.

Scourgelord Tyrannus:

• He likes hearing himself talk.
• Overlord’s Brand is an ability that’s best understood before the fight begins. If you get the debuff and attack the boss, you’re also hitting the tank. The boss can also get healed by it. The groups I’ve been in have never had a problem with it but it’s better to be prepared.
• His mount, Rimefang, will cast ice spells that freeze targeted party members. The game calls out who it’s cast on so move away from him or her. The damage itself isn’t too bad so if you get hit, it doesn’t mean it’s a wipe.

Halls of Reflection:

• Once you’re done with the dialogue, the place becomes a static gauntlet. You fight waves of adds followed by a boss then more waves followed by the other boss. Unlike Violet Hold or Black Morass, wiping after the first boss is downed doesn’t reset the entire thing. You start from first wave after killing the first boss.
• Once again, this place is more of a problem for your tank. Your job is to DPS as fast as you can. Take down the casters first. I usually just TotT + FoK the entire thing. If you have a death knight in your group, have him or her Death Grip a caster or hunter to the group to help your tank out.
• The bosses themselves are easy. Well of Corruption from the second boss is the only thing you’ll need to avoid. Getting to the part where you can fight them is the hard part.
• The next mob after the encounter is a huge undead guy that will spawn copies of your group, similar to what happens with the Herald Volazj fight in Ahn’kahet (AKA OK). There’s no phasing involved this time, so just bring it down as quickly as you can.
• You’ll run up to the throne room. Move to the right exit and get ready for another gauntlet. Your group along with Sylvanas or Jaina will start to run away from the Lich King. He will block your path with huge ice walls and then proceed to move forward very slowly. Waves of undead will also start attacking you. After you deal with them, the wall will shatter and your group does more running away. You’ll repeat this process three or four times.
• Don’t get close to the Lich King. He has an aura that deals 6k-7k damage on plate (I was on my DK at the time) per second. Imagine what he can do to leather.
• When you board the ship, a chest will spawn signalling the end of the instance. Get your loot and celebrate.

Let’s get the obvious out of the way: respec to Assassination. Patch 3.3 has buffed damage output from that tree so much that Combat doesn’t even stand a chance. I no longer have the data from Recount with me but here’s what drove the proverbial nail in the coffin when I was thinking about the numbers a few days ago.

I noticed the damage increase in Icecrown Citadel. There were two rogues in the group and we were just leaving everyone behind in DPS. No one else was even close. To verify this, I decided to use it on a fight where Assassination is at a disadvantage: Anub’Arak. We usually position the adds next to Anub so melee can AoE/cleave them. It makes sense for me to run Combat during that fight so I can use Blade Flurry + Adrenaline Rush. I was clearly in the lead of the other rogue in the group until we got Anub down to 30%. When he started leeching life from everyone, I had no more adds to buff my damage so it became a single-target race in terms of DPS. Guess what? The other rogue caught up and beat me.

So that’s it. Run Mutilate/Assassination. Don’t believe me? Check out the updated Q&A at EJ.

I expect Blizz to swing the nerf bat pretty hard on this one, so enjoy it while it lasts.

This is probably too little, too late at this point but life in general has been hectic and when I had time to write something down, the website wasn’t cooperating. Anyway, here’s what you should know about weapon swapping.
First of all, it’s exactly what it sounds like: a rogue swaps weapons in the middle of a fight. Second, it looks like it benefits Assassination more than Combat.

The idea is to have two off-hand weapons. One has Deadly Poison while the other has either Instant or Wound, depending on your spec or what’s on the main hand. Once Deadly Poison stacks to five on your target, you switch to the off-hand that has the same poison as your main. The result is a DPS increase. For Assassination, that around 400-600. The benefits are lower for Combat. Hey, it has burst capabilities to make up for things so I wouldn’t worry about it.

Patch 3.3 is expected to drop within the next two weeks. It includes a change to Deadly Poison that will remove the need to swap weapons. Till then, give it a try. As long as you have nearly identical off-hands you should see a damage increase.

This is it. You’ve skinned the beasts, banished the demon lord back to his realm, made short work of the opposing faction’s champions and clipped the wings off the twins. It’s time to face the Nerubian Lord Anub’arak, who’s back for round two.

Phase One is a tank and spank with adds. Anub’arak has a cleave attack so make sure you’re nowhere in front of him during the fight. DPS the boss, switch to the adds when your off-tank picks them up (one add in 10-man, 2 in 25) and then go back to the boss. A second set of adds will spawn shortly but we usually ignore those until the boss burrows.  The adds can also burrow and then pop back later. To prevent this, they have to be tanked on frozen ground. If they’re not, you can interrupt their burrow cast by using Kidney Shot.

When Anub’arak burrows, Phase Two begins. Kill the adds that your off-tank is dealing with then proceed to killing scarabs. These do not need to be tanked so just DPS away. They cast a stacking damage debuff on you so watch for it. If it becomes tough to handle you can use Cloak of Shadows to get out of it. The boss himself will cast spikes that chase random raid members. Just stand on frost (or get frost between you and the spikes) if it targets you. The spikes will hit the frost in a rather violent animation and then switch targets. Once Anub’arak pops from the ground, it’s back to Phase One.

Phase Three starts when the boss’s HP hits 30%. He’ll stop burrowing and will cast a life leech spell that will drain HP from the raid and give it back to him. This phase has more to do with your healers than you but the idea is to keep everyone except the tanks at 30-50 percent HP throughout the remainder of the fight. Just DPS the boss, pop your trinkets and enjoy the loot.

That’s it. I hope you enjoyed this guide to Trial of the Crusader. I know it’s delayed as hell but real life got in the way again. I was actually forced to a 3-week break from the game because of Ketsana and other shit (and when I say it’s shit, it really is shitty).

Patch 3.2.2 is out and we have to deal with a revamped raid and two nerfs . Ony’s back and so is her upgraded loot! The bad news is that the Fan of Knives nerf is also live. To be honest, that should be the least of your concerns because the armor penetration (ArP) nerf is a bigger deal.

The general rule for ArP is that when you have enough of it through gear, you should gem for it. How much is enough, you ask? I hate to say it but consult a spreadsheet. Slap your gear in there, check your DPS and then begin weighing the benefits of stacking Agility versus Armor Penetration. If you have enough ArP, you should see it as the runaway victor. If not, try speccing to Mace Specialization and pretend you have a good mace. The Tankard O’Terror is readily available right now because of Brewfest, in case you actually need one. Don’t forget to equip your ArP trinks too.

When you see the results, gem for whichever stat gives you more DPS. Even with the ArP nerf, there’s a good possibility that it will turn out to be the better stat if you’re in item level 226-245 gear. It’s a tricky stat to work with, but it’s well worth the effort.

I found myself in a situation where my ArP wasn’t enough to justify staying in it. Prior to the patch I was fine, but without Grim Toll or Mjolnir Runestone, I was gimping my DPS by gemming ArP. Now, you’d think that going back to Agi gems is the answer. Sadly, it’s not, because the nerf applies to ArP in general, so the effect of Mace Spec is nerfed, the ArP you get from your gear is nerfed, etc. In short, even if I gemmed back to Agility, I’d still feel the nerf because of the ArP in my gear. Also, it was horrifying to see that doing so would only result in a very marginal increase in DPS. Yes, it’s an increase, but was it worth buying 6-8 Cardinal Rubies for? No, it’s not. In order to bring my DPS back to its level pre-3.2.2, I need one of the two trinkets I mentioned above.

I think I found another solution to the problem and I’m looking forward to raiding with it already. I’m not going to post it right now. I want to see the results first. And no, it’s not some goofy experimental thing at all. It’s just something I came up with after spending another two hours playing around with spreadsheets.