Soloing Warbringers: Share your strategies

[Bangeall]

So one persons game is interupted by some nub who resests there tag and ninjas it, how about just finding out who it was and giving them a hefty ban and leave it be?

Precisely. Why not punish the people actually responsible for tag-stealing, instead of people who just want to solo the damn thing themselves? It's absolutely ridiculous. It's not like they are going to be put off doing it, they'll just try to find a way around it.

[Malackai]

Yea but seeing they are looking into the other forms of snare and interrupts implies that was maybe not supposed to happen apparently and they only wanted it taunt immune

*little shimmer of hope appears*

Seeing we have to work around it for now till the final verdict comes in.

I have a question regarding BM pet tanking vs Surv pet tanking (both turtles) cant remember for sure but is your turtle actually better tank as BM (as in getting less damage or higher mend pet healing) then if you use the same turtle as surv or even marks?
or is the only difference only having the oh shit button (bestial wrath when glyphed).

[Ril]

Fellow hunters, don't be disheartened by puny little nerfs blizz throws at us, because there's no need to. Warbringers are still soloable with the very oldschool kiting tactic! I killed a few of them yesterday out of boredom and it wasn't hard at all once i got the knack of it.

General info
Spec: BM (anything works, really)
Important talents and glyphs: Liberation, disengage, crouching tiger, hidden chimera, spirit bond
Pet: anything that increases your damage, spirit beasts are always a good choice
Gear level of the writer: around 515ish. You don't need good gear. The only difference gear makes is the amount of time you need to concentrate.

Now, about the Strategy.
Kite, kite, kite. Kite the sh*t out of them across a zone and don't let your pet aggro them (if it is killed once, it definately shouldn't ever re-gain aggro after the phoenix-rez). As they're not slow-able anymore, you'll use disengage to compensate. I picked the shorter disengage cooldown over the sprint because of the additional liberation heal and because frequent small disengages work out better than fewer big ones (disengage+runspeed). Warbringers run a little faster than you but stop every 10-15 seconds to cast something, so this buys you additional time. Use the terrain to your advantage: you disengage further downhills than uphills (but don't jump off a cliff ). Roads tend to be add free and offer a route to follow without paying attention of where you're going. Just don't change the zone, this may cause the warbringer to reset. Oh, and don't run into an opposite fraction's camp.
Casts are beneficial to you because they buy you time without really doing anything to you: meteors, ghosts, thunder clap and the scarabs (they should die off 1-2 glaive toss) don't affect you; they won't ever rach you. The only cast you need to worry about is the fear, but we hunters have plenty of tools to counter this as well. Firstly, make sure you have as many pets out as possible. The more units the warbringer can choose from to cast his fear on, the lower the risk that you get it. So get your dire beasts and snakes out as often as you can (the spells he casts are random so there's no way of anticipating it). Furthermore, equip a PVP trinket (in fact it's not really necessary, i did him without it because i forgot to equip it) and keep your BWs. And, of course, you can out-range it if you go above 40y. If, despite this, you happen to eat a full fear, he'll likely catch up. Don't panic, by the time he has finished his cast, you should be over 30 yards away so it will take time for him to reach you. Just spam deterrence, disengage, and watch your health pool grow back to 100% slowly. Even then, you shouldnt eat more than one or two hits.

Hints and issues to be aware of
- You eventually will run into random adds. Just ignore them, they are low level and don't hurt. If you stop using glaive toss, you won't hit them with anything and they will reset fairly quickly. Snares should not cause problems.
- If he aggros your pet halfway through the fight, he might reset. It happened a few times to me, i'm not sure why. Just quickly go back to his spawning position and start off again.
- Make sure that you have a general idea of where you're heading to. Some terrains are harder than others. I had most trouble in Jade Forest because of many cliffs, dead-ends, clutter blocking the path. On the other hand, Kun-Lai summit was pretty easy because of the road in the center of the map, which forms a giant circle and can be easily reached.
- Keep a few oh-sh*t buttons like readiness and stampede (spirit beasts with glyphs) when you're not confident with this strat.

For those unfamiliar with the kiting method, it is basically just strafing away from the target while still shooting the full rotation at it. For the occasional disengages, you need to jump, quickly turn to face away the direction you want to disengage in (usually you turn 90° because you want to disengage in the direction you were running to), disengage, and then just run on. You never stand still unless you are at 40y of the target. If executed perfectly, this strategy allows for nearly full damage to the target without taking any damage. It is important that you keep aggro over your pet because ferocity pets die very quickly to warbringers.

I hope that helped. Good hunting!

[Malackai]

You eventually will run into random adds. Just ignore them, they are low level and don't hurt. If you stop using glaive toss, you won't hit them with anything and they will reset fairly quickly. Snares should not cause problems.

Then either you are extremely lucky because if I let an add follow me around I tend to get slowed and dazed a lot. they dont hurt that for sure but those mofos tend to daze me a lot (and no I am not using cheeta )

When I get home I want to try some ideas as well that have been forming in my head I hope they work out and ill post the results if they do

[Danielfboone]

I don't think the changes have anything to do with griefing but rather with them being too easily soloable. (Not by me, I didn't have a prayer before the changes). I think they were always intended to be a group effort and that's what they want. Like dungeon level bosses.

[Ril]

Then either you are extremely lucky because if I let an add follow me around I tend to get slowed and dazed a lot. they dont hurt that for sure but those mofos tend to daze me a lot (and no I am not using cheeta )

When I get home I want to try some ideas as well that have been forming in my head I hope they work out and ill post the results if they do

oh. an occasional scatter shot (best in a mouseover macro) can do wonders, or a stunning arrow when you've got many on your heels. your aggro range is bigger and you're being slowed more by dread waste adds than by jade forest adds of course. that's why you should stick to roads, altough it's not always easy (worked best in kun lai and jade forest but it takes a little time to reach one there, which is the critical part).

however, i rarely ever got hits to the back (that when dazes occure) because i constantly change the direction of strafing in order to keep the warlord in front of me, and i'm never running straight, but always in arcs very slightly. i'm not sure how to describe this - basically i keep running approximately in the same direction but change between Q and E. this way the boss, and also all adds, stay in "front" of me (though to the very edge). the adds should reset after one or two disengages. a few snares now and then didn't cause the boss to reach me because i rarely ever used disengage on cooldown anyways. you could also misdirect adds to your pet.

just for reference, i soloed the warlords in jade forest, kun-lai, krasarang and dread wastes. the one in krasarang was the first i did, where i kept going back and forth on a piece of beach with only yellow crabs on them. it was pretty risky, because the warlord kept hitting me in the U-turns, which is why i decided to find roads on the other ones. the one in dread wastes was probably the one with most adds involved, but honestly i'm not sure how i kited that one anymore (i was very tired). probably i kited him up to the yaks (all yellow mobs there) then back to the beach, or across the briny muck (there are a few adds but not too many as long as you don't run into a camp).

anyways, i'm highly interested in what you're going to try out! good luck.

[Malackai]

I don't think the changes have anything to do with griefing but rather with them being too easily soloable. (Not by me, I didn't have a prayer before the changes). I think they were always intended to be a group effort and that's what they want. Like dungeon level bosses.

Then blizzard did some good half assed job at this nerf then if this fix was indeed intended (the nerf besides the taunt immunity that is.)

yes they might have been group mobs but now all non tanks need a tank to do them but guess what tanks can still perfectly solo them with ease so they dont need us.
I soloed some of them but I also teamed up with some other dps or even a healer sometimes but now we cant even do that either anymore because now we need a tank on top of that.

Personally the only war bringer I fond laughable easy is the one without the fear. the rest was actually pretty challenging. especially the one in jade because it was hard to kite there.

My understanding was that all classes with a slow where able to solo them (so pretty much every class) now only tanks can reliable solo them. the new tactics one of the hunter posted here is still pretty tricky and high risk. Lots of chance in screwing it up yourself or just having the mob bug out on terrain or even despawn.

anyways, i'm highly interested in what you're going to try out! good luck

me too! cant wait to start experimenting XD

[peanutbuttercup]

Thought about it last night (dreamed really) because I managed to half assedly kite one for a minute yesterday, and then watched as my rescue tank successfully kited it around for the rest of the fight. So yes geared tank toons are already going to be back to soloing.

But now I'm thinking it'd simply be easier if I pet tanked it and brought a healer. Anyone know what they hit a pet for physically (surv spec, no turtle)? I could pull one just to find out but no reason to mess with it with no intention of killing it.

EDIT: Nevermind I answered my own question. A little over 100k physical hits on my pet. Also the spirit seems buggy, I distract shot it twice and it kept going back to my pet even though I'm not glyphed for that. Then a DK came by and very easily soloed after my bout of experimentation.

[Danielfboone]

I watched a Frost Mage solo one before the changes and it looked ridiculously easy for him with all the slows and blinks he did. It would be much harder now.

[Quiv]

I have solod a couple post change as SV, I have to stay in Aspect the whole time and simply out range his fear, but its possible to do on all 5 of them now.

Its just a lot tougher now. And buggier. I have had them get stuck in trees and evade bug, but never had them evade bug or simply vanish out in the clear blue open before. I had the KW one rest 3 times on me for no apparent reason. I was lucky no one was there ready to pick it up.

[Malackai]

Well have been trying some stuff. and mainly experimenting with the old t5 setbonus (the one that heals pets)
its more manage able to keep the pet up but I am having extremely seriously issues in keeping the boss on the pet even with chaining MD those extra 5k ticks on surv coupled with multishots keep the pet up with rotating the cower and shell cd but my only issue is the treat and not being able to interrupt the fear.

guess ill just go try the kiting one again.

but its is indeed way more buggier now i had mine reset 3 times around 10% its way to frustrating and fun part is there now always up seems people just gave up on it al together.

I have been practicing for hours now not a single soul that pulled the warbringer.

[peanutbuttercup]

Just soloed the one in Dread Waste with my old kiting strategy. Didn't change a thing, didn't even use Cheetah or the Klaxxi speed buff (though I'll probably take it in the future). The pet got beaten up a lot more than before but I managed to keep it up. The terrain helped immensely in that location so now I'm thinking Jade Forest is doable as well.

EDIT: Just did Jade Forest! Guess I'm back to camping these now that I have my confidence back.

[Malackai]

Just soloed the one in Dread Waste with my old kiting strategy. Didn't change a thing, didn't even use Cheetah or the Klaxxi speed buff (though I'll probably take it in the future). The pet got beaten up a lot more than before but I managed to keep it up. The terrain helped immensely in that location so now I'm thinking Jade Forest is doable as well.

EDIT: Just did Jade Forest! Guess I'm back to camping these now that I have my confidence back.

Are you doing the kiting one or the pet tank strategy?

if your kiting how do you do it without cheeta my understanding it they catch up to you pretty fast not to mention the fear? how you out run it without cheeta enabled? quite curious about it.

for me the dread waste one is not really going to be a problem I managed it to kite it around for quite some time till it decided to reset out of nowhere.

[peanutbuttercup]

Are you doing the kiting one or the pet tank strategy?

if your kiting how do you do it without cheeta my understanding it they catch up to you pretty fast not to mention the fear? how you out run it without cheeta enabled? quite curious about it.

for me the dread waste one is not really going to be a problem I managed it to kite it around for quite some time till it decided to reset out of nowhere.

I kite while spamming Misdirect. And yes, the guy is fast and does catch up however he has to stop to cast his abilities, which he does at regular intervals. I've actually outranged him during his longer casts.

Fear is negated by Glyph of Mend Pet, which usually dispells it pretty quickly.

This is not foolproof by any means and I'm screwing up a lot more than I used to (most recently, a 5% wipe in Jade Forest after 2 bad pulls) but at least it can be done.

[ejpaints]

Pre change heal crap out of turtle and burn.

Post change... Log into blood dk and death strike for what seems like forever.

[Malackai]

Pre change heal crap out of turtle and burn.

Post change... Log into blood dk and death strike for what seems like forever.

You know I am almost considering doing the same -_- guess if I just lv my dk within the free time I have.

Sounds less stressfull atm then the 50/50 kite XD

[peanutbuttercup]

Haha, if you have a blood DK I'd definitely say that's the easier route by far. Watched one soloing Warbringers so easily, he barely had to move and had it down in a few minutes. Meanwhile I have to run around for 10 minutes and hope I don't mess up.

[SylviaDragon]

I managed to pull the jade forest and Kun-lai spawns over to the nearest town and got the guards to help. It was a horrible fight though. The guards are pathetic, they will only attack him if you get him to cast an aoe that hits them. Also the guards are neutral so you can hit them by mistake and they will two shot you. I killed kun-lai, crazy fast once the guards start helping. I got jade down to 20% before he reset and then I tried kun-lai again but the guards killed me and when I rezed to finish the fight, I got not loot.

Overall conclusion: jade may not be orth kiting to the guards but Kun-lai is ok as long as you don’t hit the wrong mob!

Hmm… maybe it’s time to level Zamies and learn my blood offspec.

[Danielfboone]

It has been confirmed that all the changes were intentional and were done because the Warbringers are supposed to require a group to kill them. No mention was made of griefing at all.

Edited by Rygarius on 3/20/13 1:20 PM (PDT)

Ok, here is clarification from Lead Encounter Designer Ion Hazzikostas (Watcher) regarding the change to Zandalari Warbringers.


Yes, it’s intentional. Zandalari Warscouts are supposed to be difficult solo encounters; you can use various control mechanics on them.

Zandalari Warbringers, however, are designed for groups of players. They’re immune to snares and other control effects for the same reason that most 5-player dungeon bosses are: those effects would make the encounter easier than intended. Grab some friends, or invite the people camping the spawn to join your group, and you should be just fine.

In summary, it is dangerous to go alone. Bringing friends should make taking down a Warbringer much more manageable.

Since this is the case , then I think more changes are in order that make them completely non-soloable by anyone.

[Novikova]

It's kind of sad that only DKs can solo them now. :/ Sigh. Didn't really want to level a DK...