Anyway I've been soloing the Stonecore mount boss and I'd like to try to do the Vortex Pinnacle one aswell. So does anyone have any tips for doing this?
I'm MM but I have BM as an offspec I don't like it that much but I will use it if I have too. Mind you I can solo the Stonecore mount boss and the mobs as MM anyway.
I useally use a crab or a turtle to tank but if you have any suggestions for pets please share I'm down with every pet besides spirit beasts.
I have been soloing this on and off on reg since I was ilvl 365 (365 ilvl was a mix of ZA/ZG, Molten Front daily and JP/VP stuff, no gear from raids). Not saying this is the best way, but how i do it.
I do it as MM, specced into spirit bond and hunter vs wild. I use a food buff, scroll of fort 2, and drums of kings. Not necessary, but every little bit helps.
You can stealth to the first boss. I use a ferocity pet, and aspect of the wild. This is a quick fight usually, not much pet healing, and spirit bond/chimera keep you alive.
Stealth to Altairus. The biggest thing that kills us is his breath, obviously. It is frost damage, you can up your frost resist if you like. I don't. I use turtle for defensive abilities.
There are tricks to negating the frost attack:
1. If you Feign Death right as he targets you, he will drop you and target your pet. You have to be quick though.
2. Deterrence will negate a frost attack.
3. Since you are MM, use Readiness wisely to get an extra deterrence and FD.
first frost breath: FD
second: deterrence, then readiness.
third: FD
fourth: deterrence
fifth: if FD is off CD, use it, if not, eat it.
from this point on, you will have to eat most frost breaths since you are waiting on the CD for FD. If you use the haste buff from the wind efficiently, the fight shouldn't last too long, but that is entirely up to your gear and ability.
The whole trick is kill him before his frost attacks kill you.
I did it in terrible gear quite easily, 2nd attempt. I found that using a spirit beast was actually better than a tank pet--you don't have to play the "outlasting" game that way, as it goes down much faster. In addition, the heals really help, and the pet really has very little trouble keeping itself alive. If you really dislike them, it's probably doable with a tank pet but I'd stick to MM.
Your mileage may vary, but just try it a couple of ways & see what works best for you. It's certainly doable either way!
Dunno if it's still a valid question, or if you got it done, but here's what I did and tested for both VP and Stonecore:
Vortex Pinnacle (full clear):
- Go for the smaller cloud folks first. They're casters, and WILL cyclone you or your pet. If it's your pet, Feign Death. If it's you, sit it out.
- After casters are down, focus on any melee near you. They're relatively weak hitting on the pet.
- At the first area past the bridge, you may have either 1 caster 3 melee groups, or 3 caster 1 melee groups. If the latter, focus down a single caster at a time, don't even worry about aggro. Otherwise, kill caster and misdirect to pet.
- Cloud Princes are a pain in the rear, but nothing tough.
- First boss is the only hard part of the dungeon. Make sure your pet has aggro, and blast cooldowns as often as you can. NOTHING should be off cooldown. This includes racials, such as Draenei Gift and Orc bloodlust.
- After downing that boss, you come to two groups of four water dudes. Focus one down and avoid hurricanes.
- Vapors are easy, just focus one down.
- The drake is easy as well. Position your pet between the pillars, misdirect to the pet, and let the drake come to your pet. Run into the circle and shoot the drake from behind. You won't lose health.
- Do the same with the two groups of vapors and the next drake.
- Now comes the challenge; eight enemies at once, six water and two vapor. Focus the vapors first, and AoE after doing misdirect on your pet. Vapors NEED to die, because they make your pet easier to kill for the water dudes. If things go bad, feign and heal up; they do NOT respawn.
- Altarius is easy. Just move to where you get the haste buff, blow rapid fire (and focus fire, if BM), and you're done. Even with bad gear, you should be able to down Altarius within 4 minutes. I did it in 3 minutes 27 seconds, according to DBM.
Vortex Pinnacle (Boss-only rush, not accounting for Night Elf racial bonuses):
- At 85, you can sneak past EVERYTHING to the first boss by hugging the edges tightly. Camouflage every cooldown.
- On the first boss, it will be spamming a pretty nasty lightning bolt. Let your pet (turtle, beetle, or spirit beast) do all the work til he does his first tornado retracting.
- SPAM Misdirect on your pet, as well as Mend Pet. Use a potion if you get too hurt.
- Blow every cooldown. Yes, even Deterrence. It will block a lightning bolt or two. Feign Death if you're ripping aggro off your pet, ESPECIALLY important for Marksman hunters. Do NOT forget Readiness.
- Once that boss is down, just sneak past everything else the same way. Trap things when necessary.
- Beat Altarius the same way as above.
Done at 85 with average item level of 378, all HoT and Raid Finder gear. No valor gear at all. Pet was a turtle, spec Marksman. As a bonus, here's a Stonecore guide as well, in case you want an Iolite Gemstone Dragon.
Stonecore (trick for faster clearing):
- Use a Spirit Beast at first, or anything that gives a buff right away. Spirit Beast preferred for heal.
- Camo past the first and second group.
- Send pet to attack second group while you're close to third, misdirect to pet and shoot everything from group 3.
- Run fast towards Milhouse Manastorm, and BURN HIM before your pet dies.
- If pet is dead, feign death. If not, dismiss and feign.
- Milhouse runs past all the aggroed groups, and you can go right to the first boss.
- This boss is cakewalk. You die here, you're bad at paying attention. Heal when needed, misdirect all the time.
- Once it's dead, don't forget you can mine it! You can get Elementium ore from Corborus.
- On the way to the drake, you can either stealth past the trash, or kill it. It's easy to beat, even more so than in Vortex Pinnacle.
- The drake is incredibly easy to kill. Just watch your LoS and shoot like a madman. Heal pet often, it does take a bit of a beating. Use a Turtle or Beetle, or any tank pet with the greater resistance talent maxed out. Turtle and Beetle won't need it, but other tanks will due to the lack of the awesome turtle/beetle shield wall.
