Grand Empress Shek'zeer

[Tinderhoof Profile]

This topic is for discussing Feral DPS tactics and/or general raid strategies for the Grand Empress Shek'zeer encounter.

Please feel free to post tips, tricks, videos or ask questions. I will do my best to keep the top post updated with information as it arrives.

When discussing, please mention raid size (10/25) and difficulty (normal/heroic).

[adianar Profile]

We're just starting Shek'zeer tonight for reg 10 and i thought i'd enquire if there's any wisdom to take into the raid rather than glean from the logs after the raid? I'd rather learn going in than after the fact.

Thanks,
Adi

[RareBeast Profile]

We have it pretty easy as melee - the range have to do the most work

Got our first kill the other night. Our biggest issue was keeping the tanks up in the add phase. Our tanks used their CD's on picking up the adds then called as they were about to expire. We then used things like Warstomp, Typhoon, Bash etc. - anything that might stop or reduce the incoming damage long enough for the heals to catch up. As soon as one add is down (on each side) the damage becomes much more manageable although it can still spike a bit.

I went as HotW and my tranq was useful. We used it early after one of the first explosions and it was back up for the last phase which gets very hectic, especially with healer mana getting low.

[adianar Profile]

Got it. We ended up killing it with all melee, surv hunter and 3 heals. The heals had to mess with the void zones, but there were 3 of them to do it. Agreed on the tanks. That slowed us down more than anything. We ended up killing a wind blade on warrior's side, then having that Warrior tank taunt over a wind blade dude from the DK tank and having everyone bum rush him before he got over to the second grp. Once down, everyone focus on the resin and get them trapped and go...

Adi

[Kallapryy Profile]

We just downed this last night on 25 man. My damage on Empress was solid, but does anyone have any tips on what would be the best way to handle the adds as a feral? It seems like the best I could do was combo up to a rip before the Fixate timer would run out and I had to back away to keep from being gibbed.

[Vaporgriffin Profile]

We just downed this last night on 25 man. My damage on Empress was solid, but does anyone have any tips on what would be the best way to handle the adds as a feral? It seems like the best I could do was combo up to a rip before the Fixate timer would run out and I had to back away to keep from being gibbed.

We aoe most of the windblades together that aren't fixated, so I just do an aoe rotation on them of "thrash->swipe to 0 energy->bear thrash->back to cat-> repeat". Once there are fewer targets and the aoe rotation isn't as effective I'll start single-targetting windblades down, preferring ones that are fixated to save the person who is kiting. Depending on the damage on the windblade you're focussing, if it is likely to die before a full Rip will tick out, you may want to just FB them instead, sort of like Garalon's legs.

As far as getting gibbed, the only time I've had issues with damage from the windblades is if I get fixated while aoeing and killed before I notice and kite away. Anytime I've seen a windblade fixate finish, they make their way back to the tank

[kaiadam Profile]

We just downed this last night on 25 man. My damage on Empress was solid, but does anyone have any tips on what would be the best way to handle the adds as a feral? It seems like the best I could do was combo up to a rip before the Fixate timer would run out and I had to back away to keep from being gibbed.

A lot depends on the add positioning; try to get your tanks to tank them close enough for large aoes to hit both groups but far enough apart that they don't buff each other.

Also:

1.) Symbiosis a hunter. Play dead (feign death) whenever you get fixated (within reason - don't cause a tank gib for some extra dps.)
2.) Thrash and rake cleave on the existing windblade adds.
3.) Spec HoTW and hurricane them if they're tanked close enough.

That's me!