Culling of Stratholme - Trash in Inn after 10th wave

[Greythan]

I can't get past the the waves of dragonkin with Arthas thus far. The 10 waves are easy and the first two bosses are simply tank-n-spank.

The trash pulls here are taxing. Any tips on what you do through this part of the run?

[Siaea]

I know he uses dk/shaman and you have a mixed group, but have you watched Hachoo's vid? It's very helpful for placement.

That second wave (I think) up the stairs is the only really 'hard' one (where you get surrounded if you're not careful), on that one just park your guys near the railing so you don't get surrounded. Arthas also can take a little bit of a beating while you drink real fast I've also figured out (I was able to stay out of combat and rez my tank while he was holding 3 dragonkin). He'll heal occasionally, but not enough to keep himself alive. Just drink whenever you can till you can get a good flow going and keep Arthas alive.

It's tough the first couple of times through, but after a few times I've kinda got it on "farm".

[Taliesin]

First group: Target the girl in the middle, she will always turn into a caster. You simply want to make sure you get agg on that one instead of trying to pull, as it will not move.

Second group: I run upstairs ahead of Arthas and set up immediately following the first group so that I know I'm ready. The group is a little more varied, but again look for the casters and make sure to keep agg on them. 4 appear in total, but you usually get at least 1 caster, 1 hunter, and 1 adversary (I think is the name). Take the hunters down second. Save the adversary for last, because they have an ability to reduce all damage they take, and take the longest to kill.

Third group: Set up outside of the hallway and let Arthas go in by himself. 2 appear at the far end of the hall, and 2 at your end right in front of you. Again, get those casters on you and be sure to pull off of Arthas before he can get waxed (he's a bad tank). Again, casters die first, then hunters, then adversaries.

Fourth (and final) group: Again, 4 spawn. Usually one caster. Agg the others and pull over to wherever the caster appears (all 4 appear in the middle of the large room). This is usually the biggest pain for me in the whole instance where I try to dance with the mobs trying to keep all of them in front of me (paladin tank, so I need shield blocks to reduce damage).

Boss: I just spread my toons out into a line and prepare. He appears by the table in the back of the room and talks briefly before the fight starts. Pretty much tank-n-spank, though he will occasionally do a time-warp effect where you are slowed for about 5 seconds and he rapidly ping-pongs around all your toons, damaging all of them. This is NOT an aggro wipe, and he will return to the tank when this is over. Group heals will get off really slow, so if your priest has Circle of Healing (instant cast group heal), you may want to fire that off in the middle of it.

[Hairball]

Lots and lots of AoE. Both healing and dps.

[Hachoo]

Unfortunately the easiest way to trivialize these pulls is with grounding totems. Makes the mages nonexistant pretty much. They do a lot of damage, if you don't have a grounding totem farm you probably want to kill the mages first.

[Taliesin]

Lots and lots of AoE. Both healing and dps.

I'm not sure you're talking about the same fights we are. There should be very little AoE healing going on, and while AoE damage would work, I don't think its the most ideal thing to use in these fights. Most of your attention should be on keeping control of the fight, where AoE is best when things are a bit easier to keep control of.

Plus AoE tends to be a mana drain, and you really have to keep moving through all these fights quite rapidly, without a whole lot of time for mana regen/drinking.

[Catamer]

for me this part of CoS is easy although I haven't done the timed version of it. I have a pally and 3-4 shaman (sometimes a druid )

I run past the first group in the Inn and setup just before the stairs ( their backs are to me ) and drop totems wait until they convert and then burn them down.
I don't loot, as soon as they are dead I run my team up the stairs past where the 2nd group spawns but before the hall way, re-drop totems.
when they spawn burn them down from there, they usually attack the NPC first.
I move my team next to the wall for the hallway (almost there already, very little movement) so I can LoS the 3rd spawn group there , I run my pally to where the first half spawns and drop a concecrate when they spawn ( near side of the hallway ).
I run about 1/2 way down the hall way with my pally and avenging shield the second half of the group.
run back to where I have my team and they clump up around this corner to the hallway very nicely.
as soon as they are dead run down the hallway and setup for the last group and the boss that follows them.

I used to panic and died several times then all of the sudden it was never a problem again...

[Hairball]

I'm not sure you're talking about the same fights we are.

I run a Paladin and 4x Shaman. But Also a Druid and Warlock at times. Every pull I run my entire crew in, consecrate, then drop all AoE dps options, then DPS everything down. (for all undead pulls and for infinate dragonkin pulls later)

AoE heals = Chain Heal and Nourish depending on who's healing - I keep everyone close so its no big deal.

[Greythan]

Thanks for the tips. Good suggestions here.

My primary problem so far has been not controlling aggro and the simple DPS output on my tank until I've killed a mob or two from the group. I know its a repetition thing but leveraging the knowledge from this great forum is why I posted!

[puppychow]

make sure your tank isn't putting his back to any mob, they will crit you to death. focus fire on the casters first. Arthas can take a few hits, especially on the 3d pack, don't worry about pulling stuff off him right away until you have solid aggro on the others. Don't loot anything upstairs when you first run this instance, most of the dragons don't even drop anything and you don't really have time to gather everyone up and run to the next spot and loot, just focus on moving.

The hardest position wise is the 3d one in the hallway, since 2 come from front and 2 from back. You should have to gather them up best as you can with your tank (let arthas take 1-2 and taunt off him after 10 secs is easiest), be ready to have your team follow your tank around and reposition. Its very easy to die on these if you aren't quick on heals.

[Aradar]

I do everything about the same except for the 3rd pack. I park my shaman out by the balcany so that they are behind the first two spawns. I then run my tank to Arthas and look back toward my shammies. Once I see those two mobs spawn and position themselves I drop consecrate (the other two mobs in my experience are always melee so the consecrate aggros them as they run up to Arthas) and run to the two mobs near my shaman shooting them with Avenger's Shield as I approach. I then reposition my pally and tank them all together like the other groups.

[Coltimar]

I know it's stupid, but when I started doing this part I skipped looting. As soon as they died I raced to the next spot and setup before Arathas was ready. Made a huge difference. It matters less now that my gear is better.

[Tizer]

If your good you can thunderstorm half the 3rd group off the balcony and kill the other front two while they head back up :) works a treat :>

Did CoS this weekend actually and got a couple of mounts. Two more to go, but i hate the place so probably wont go back for a while :D

[Taliesin]

If your good you can thunderstorm half the 3rd group off the balcony and kill the other front two while they head back up :) works a treat :>

LOL, never considered this. I always like hearing about these unusual strategies. I'm not likely to use this, but still fun.

[Hachoo]

The third group is easy.

Just stay by the balcony and pull ONLY the two that are closest to the balcony. Let Arthas tank the other two until the first group is dead. He's a big boy, he can handle it :P. I've let him tank those 2 for a little while before and he survived just fine. Of course now I just run smack into the center, pull all 4 together and wtfpwn them before I need healing lol.

[Taliesin]

I agree with you, Hachoo, but Thunderstorm IS the shaman "fun button" afterall. I just like thinking of fun places to use it, whether I need it or not. After so many runs, I'd probably use it just to keep me awake and maybe get a chuckle out of it.

The thought of anything flying away from me over some ledge invariably makes me smile. ...unless its one of my alts.