Techniques for SL, Blackheart needed

[TeamHagg]

I have a 4 sham, 1 paly team (all 70) and I am having a terrible time with SL, Blackheart the inciter. I have read what I could here and watched the videos but nothing has helped. The problem...I have about 6500-6700 HP on the shammies, at least 1 dies in the first MC and most end up with under 500 health. This means the first thunder clap kills the rest. I usually end up with the boss at 85% going into the 2nd MC and maybe 2 guys alive.

During the MC they get off 2 shocks on each other and usually at least 1 CL. Flame shock seems to be what he makes them use most.

I have tried dropping groundings right before the MC and stoneclaws, nothing saves them. I chose dps gear for most of their rewards other than the resto, so I dont have a healing set to toss on all of em.

The answer might simply be to buy them all healing sets and take off all other dps gear, but I am hoping I am missing something simple.

Any ideas are welcomed.

I have cleared steamvaults, most of shattered halls and evertyhign below (other than skipping the big eye guy in crypts who pissed me off). Just started Tempest keep.

Names are ahagg, bhagg, chagg and dhagg on Bronzebeard. Tank is kendralouise

[TeamHagg]

I did :). I was hoping, given how many people are running shammy/paly, that someone had figured out some easy trick.

I have a well geared priest that I can bring in with paly easy enough and duo it.

[raylion]

My last post in the link above is the tactic I'm currently using which is working 90% of the time. Ideally I would want to do this boss properly like a normal 5 man group but he's such a pain and there's so much luck with this fight that I find doing it with the elementals and the pally healing a simpler solution.

[elo]

My theory on this (only 63 atm) is to load up on nature resist and make sure to use a shield. Reason being that you are your own worst enemy in this fight and if you can neutralize yourself then you have a better chance of surviving.

I laughed my ass off on this fight when I ran in with 3 of my fully geared kara buddies and a new level 70. Our rogue absolutely gutted him in 4 seconds flat, then quickly dispatched the rest of us. To finish him off the rogue had to switch to some grey weapons we'd picked up through the instance, then back to his 90+ DPS weapons for a few good hits, and then back before the MC went off again.

[Ztar]

I run it with a 5 shaman team. Or did run i might say, never setting my foot there again as i turned exalted yesterday for the lower city mace.

Burn all bloodlust at start of fight,
Buff whit whatever totems you prefer
Use Stone elemenatls for tanking.
All out dps. (boss for is usally around 25-40% at first MC)
As soon as MC is over get together, while stone elemental regain aggro.
Chain heal one or two times.
Lightning bolt spam.

So i know this doesn't translate 100% to you're setup. Maybe u could put some DPS gear on the palla and help dps rather than tanking? Having the elemetals tank for u...

Regards,
Ztar

[Dezeral]

Thanks for some great advice. I have hit the wall on Blackheart myself. I tried a variety of things with mostly the same results posted by everyone here. I'm going to give Fur's suggestion a try this evening and see if I can make some progress.

Some of the other fights that are difficult to multi-box are the fire WITCH in Mechanaar. Moving independently is very difficult for a multi-boxer. The Eye boss in Auchenai is another fight that is tough to do the blasts you have to run away from. Hungarfen in the Underbog was nigh on impossible for me at level 63, but was easy with a few levels. The dragon in Ramparts was really tough at level 62, but after a lot of wipes, I was able to finally bring him down. I have not been back now that I hit 70, but I would assume that the dragon would drop in no time to the massively increased DPS.

I don't think I have seen a consolidated listing of strategies for specific encounters. Would it be worthwhile to create a specific forum to discuss these kinds of things? Maybe create a thread for Blackheart the Inciter and then everyone can add to that one single thread for what they have found works for them? The forum could expand with new threads for specific encounters as people try to tackle them. If this already exists and I've missed it somehow, point me in the right direction ;)

[Vyndree]

The easy trick -- 2 man it with a tank and healer. It will be along, icky fight.

The harder version -- Mana pots, earth shield the tank. Bandage. Everyone must be topped off before an incite chaos, but you need to stay under the (probably oom) prot pally's threat ALL the time. Prot pallies as a rule suck at this fight due to their "blue bar". Expect to lose someone during the incite chaos.

Your totems will turn on you during the incite chaos phase. Grounding totem will not save you. Heroism will probably kill you.

I did hear someone mentioning that they should wear NR gear for this fight, since shammy damage is almost all nature. It seemed like a good idea, but I've never tested the theory as I'm never going in shadow labs past the 2nd boss again. ;)

[Vyndree]

Would it be worthwhile to create a specific forum to discuss these kinds of things?

Absolutely. ;)

http://dual-boxing.com/wiki/index.php/Instances


Discussion on the forums always works too. :)

[mlwhitt]

Blackheart is bad enough for a half way competent group under normal play, I can't imagine try him while multiboxing. His AOE MC is pure evil.

[TeamHagg]

My last post in the link above is the tactic I'm currently using which is working 90% of the time. Ideally I would want to do this boss properly like a normal 5 man group but he's such a pain and there's so much luck with this fight that I find doing it with the elementals and the pally healing a simpler solution.



DOH! I figured the elementals would be a bigger problem due to them pounding on you also.

Do the earth elementals aggro you once you get MC?

Do they suffer from the knockback?

This sounds easier than what I have been trying, just put healing gear on the paly and heal the elementals. Would also allow almost full out dps. Do you drop all 4/5 or can 2, if healed, tank him?

[Vyndree]

NR totems.

You do know that all totem buffs leave you, and totems are hostile when you go to the MC phase... >.<

[Eteocles]

I think one of our biggest weaknesses, non-follow movement, could be our biggest strength on this fight, with preparation. Think of it: If you're out of range of each other, the chars just kinda wander a bit; I've lived this in a normal group when I got knocked halfway across the room and kinda just wandered as if rogue-blinded while MC was up.

Now, our biggest weakness: Moving without follow = each char is slightly offtrack and the further they move, the MORE off-track they get. Form a half-moon formation AROUND the room, imagine a big smiley face; your 5 are the smile, the boss is the nose, and the two rock hills are the eyes. Manually move each alt, spread out, in such a way that were you to manually run the chars, they'd "converge" on the nose, and if you ran back, they'd all spread out very far from each other. Run in with all chars and aggro boss normally, shortly before MC is gonna hit, start walking backwards on all chars, taking the boss with your tank; with any luck and timing, your chars would be spread out enough to either not hit each other at all, or only 1-2 would be fighting at a time instead of a mass rape-fest from everyone being nearby.

Granted, this might fall apart a bit after the first MC because the random running might make them all face the wrong way and you'd waste time re-facing them(or you just turn 'em towards the boss, run in so everyone's in range and run 'em out whereever they end up each time), but worth a shot, at least :p

[TeamHagg]

Do the earth elementals aggro you once you get MC?
Yes.



Are you dropping just the single Earth elemental after each MC or dropping 4/5 at the start?

Im guessing even when they turn on you, it might be less damage from them hitting my guys and slowing my casts down with pushback than 4 shaman just chain lightning each other.














This sounds easier than what I have been trying, just put healing gear on the paly and heal the elementals. Would also allow almost full out dps. Do you drop all 4/5 or can 2, if healed, tank him?

I suppose letting the elementals do the entire fight might work. Never tried this route personally. You can put Earth Sheild on an Earth Elemenal btw. :)

[Vyndree]

NR totems.

You do know that all totem buffs leave you, and totems are hostile when you go to the MC phase... >.<

Your *own* totems still buff you. Each Shaman still gets his/her own NR totem buff. ;)

All I know is that my own groudings did absolutely nothing.

[raylion]

My last post in the link above is the tactic I'm currently using which is working 90% of the time. Ideally I would want to do this boss properly like a normal 5 man group but he's such a pain and there's so much luck with this fight that I find doing it with the elementals and the pally healing a simpler solution.DOH! I figured the elementals would be a bigger problem due to them pounding on you also.

Do the earth elementals aggro you once you get MC?

Do they suffer from the knockback?

This sounds easier than what I have been trying, just put healing gear on the paly and heal the elementals. Would also allow almost full out dps. Do you drop all 4/5 or can 2, if healed, tank him?


The earth elementals do two things that are useful during MC, they hit like a kitten and they can absorb some of the chain lightning madness (I hope they do anyway, normally the screen to too cluttered to tell). I've not seen them suffer the knockback (though they probably do) but then I'm normally too busy flying through the air to notice ;)

They'll also charge straight back in to the boss after the MC taking aggro back so giving you time to reorganise and heal yourself either with bandages or all doing a self heal. Once after the 2nd MC (and assuming you've waited roughly 15-20 seconds after initially summoning the earth elementals) then you should be ready to drop the fire elementals to finish the job. Its an all or nothing strategy but its been very effective once I got 3 or 4 practise rounds in. I'm even getting to the stage where I'm now killing him before the 2nd MC which is even better.

Also worth dropping an earth shield on an earth elemental as every little bit helps. I'm finding it is also effective on other bosses that require some group movement like the 1st boss in Steam Vaults and the 1st one in Shattered halls.

Do other things to help like food stam buffs and nature protection potions. Also useful to have the Devotion Auro set on the pally and I'm finding Flash of Light better to use than Holy Light when healing. I also tend to replace my shammies head pieces with a high stam head piece, drops DPS a little and gives an extra 500 or so health.

[mlwhitt]

Speaking of Blackheart I meant to ask, has anyone else ever been feared behind the door before during the group MC? My mage got blinked thru the door somehow and I had to sit behind the door twiddling my thumbs until my group killed him.

[Dezeral]

Speaking of Blackheart I meant to ask, has anyone else ever been feared behind the door before during the group MC? My mage got blinked thru the door somehow and I had to sit behind the door twiddling my thumbs until my group killed him.

I have seen that happen and have also seen someone get tossed part way into the wall and agro the patrolling legionnaire in the hall behind Blackheart.

[Stabface]

Yep, feared through the door, feared through a wall to fall to the bottom of the world and die, knocked into a column and got stuck there... both SL and Sethekk are buggy like that.

[TeamHagg]

My last post in the link above is the tactic I'm currently using which is working 90% of the time. Ideally I would want to do this boss properly like a normal 5 man group but he's such a pain and there's so much luck with this fight that I find doing it with the elementals and the pally healing a simpler solution.DOH! I figured the elementals would be a bigger problem due to them pounding on you also.

Do the earth elementals aggro you once you get MC?

Do they suffer from the knockback?

This sounds easier than what I have been trying, just put healing gear on the paly and heal the elementals. Would also allow almost full out dps. Do you drop all 4/5 or can 2, if healed, tank him?


The earth elementals do two things that are useful during MC, they hit like a kitten and they can absorb some of the chain lightning madness (I hope they do anyway, normally the screen to too cluttered to tell). I've not seen them suffer the knockback (though they probably do) but then I'm normally too busy flying through the air to notice ;)

They'll also charge straight back in to the boss after the MC taking aggro back so giving you time to reorganise and heal yourself either with bandages or all doing a self heal. Once after the 2nd MC (and assuming you've waited roughly 15-20 seconds after initially summoning the earth elementals) then you should be ready to drop the fire elementals to finish the job. Its an all or nothing strategy but its been very effective once I got 3 or 4 practise rounds in. I'm even getting to the stage where I'm now killing him before the 2nd MC which is even better.

Also worth dropping an earth shield on an earth elemental as every little bit helps. I'm finding it is also effective on other bosses that require some group movement like the 1st boss in Steam Vaults and the 1st one in Shattered halls.

Do other things to help like food stam buffs and nature protection potions. Also useful to have the Devotion Auro set on the pally and I'm finding Flash of Light better to use than Holy Light when healing. I also tend to replace my shammies head pieces with a high stam head piece, drops DPS a little and gives an extra 500 or so health.

Worked like a charm! I didnt dps as hard as I probably could have and didnt kill him until after 3rd MC. I lost all the shaman at 8% but popped one and finished him off. I did have to use a LOH, but happy with the results.



I did realize one easy way to get back aggro on a paly, drink a healing pot after the first MC and start bandaging, instant aggro!



Thanks all, sadyly he dropped the wand :(

[raylion]

Nice one :)

Have no idea whether it'll work in heroics (I shudder at the thought) but a temporary solution until the time comes!

[TeamHagg]

Vorpil down right after him. I tried without the fire elementals as they were still on CD from Blackheart, that was a disaster. Pretty simple, kite him to opening as you enter room where dps waits, go all out on DPS. Once you get teleported, jump off to left side of platform (this is slightly farther from the spawn spot than the right side), the second you hit the ground, drop all 4 Fire elementals and chain heal. Then blast away and you should kill him in a matter of seconds. The AOE from the fire elementals seems to kill incoming purples but I had to blast one, probably smart to pay attention and not let one get through.

[Ztar]

^^

That's what i do as well... pop fireelementals, bloodlust, all out dps.... always downed him before teleport.