Focused AoE on the bugs to wipe them out every once in a while is not a bad idea. Usually by the time Fankriss gets to ~30% HP, my HP is getting chunked so clearing them out once in a while will definitely help the healers.
As others said, save your stuns for the worms when they get enraged. Also, the second you see the first worm spawn, STOP DPS on Fankriss. The initial spawn isn't predictable, but a 2nd and 3rd spawn for each 1% you take off Fankriss after the first spawn, from what I've seen. If you blow Fankriss down 3% in 5 seconds, suddenly you have 3 worms up.
As for the assignments, your weaker tanks (druid is good for this) should be on Fankriss. Have your best tanks be on the hatchling spawns. One priest can keep them up, you can always have a shaman/pally as backup if needed.
This fight is very sustainable, the key is just not letting worms get enraged and one-shotting people. What follows from that is having a dependable MA and everyone following it.
Couple of things noted already but we found them to really help us when we were putting fank on farm. First, any way you can have your tank that is on the small bugs do more passive dmg through trinkets/ 8 piece shaman set, thorns,drillborer disk with a spike on it, oil of immolation or even an imp set on defensive with only fire shield on so he doesnt get waxed all helps. It seemed important to us that the party for the small bug warrior follows him somewhat, making sure they get the bs buff in order for him to pick up aggro on incoming bugs easier also.
I didnt catch if you had a warrior with a tf, but that really cut down the healing needed for the warrior on the little ones. In place of that you might have a second warrior on tc duty? Oddly enough for us it seems like all of the small bugs are at 60ish percent or less in some cases when its time to ae. Not sure if this is due to passive dmg only as im usually busy dps'ing fank/worms/ae'ing them when its called for. When it is time to ae them we pull the rogues/other dps off fank and into single target dps mode on small bugs as well just to ensure that we clear the current little guy queue before a new wave comes in. We generally use 3 healers on the small bug tank so that we can hold of ae'ing for a while. It takes just a few moments longer to clear fank this way but led to many less mage/warlock deaths in the end for us.
With this method we have made it pretty stable for ourselves,. It just takes time(a day worth of work basically) to have the warrior become familiar with how much incoming dps he can be healed through, and knowing when to call ae type thing.
My advice: Wear some dmg-reflection stuff when tanking bugs with your best-geared warriors. Like thorium spikes, "Ouch" trinket form AQ20, Imp. Thorns, Paladin's retribution aura, fire-shield from warlocks imp. etc... The little bugs end up killing themselves and you only need 3-4 well geared healer for bugtanks. We've killed Fankriss without a single AOE-stage for few times now with this strategy without real issues.
Then use 2 warriors on fankriss to taunt the debuff. We use a hunter to spot and mark the spawning those worms. We never "tank" them, usually rogues / palas stun them few times if they get to enrage stage. Every DPS should immidiately focus on worms when they spawn.
Imo it's no use using warriors to tank worms, but if we have more than 5 warriors we order them to intercept stun / dps / taunt the worms as if they can. Using a feral charges might work here also.
We tried the BS strat, but healing was getting agro intially on the bugs, should I just AOe tuant, then spam the rest of the fight??
That sounds like a good idea :o, That's what we do for nef, but the first time we tried it here, it wasnt working.
I guess we can try that next time, the problem was getting the inital agro on the bugs, after I have inifiate rage, its NP.
The bugs don't spawn immediately on the pull, so what I tend to do is either put on a 2H or DW and smack Fankriss around in D-Stance to build Rage while keeping an eye out for anyone that gets teleported (and subsequently spawns bugs). As soon as I see a few bugs (or someone calls out the first teleport), I swap to a shield, Bloodrage, and spam Battle Shout about 5-6 times which generally pulls them to me. If not, they'll be drawn by healing aggro from which you can Sunder/Taunt them off (and which is why you want everyone to sit in a tight group so they'll all get drawn to the same place regardless of whom they have aggro on).
Also, remember to have someone with Imp. Demo Shout hit the little bugs with them since it reduces incoming damage by a good amount. Also, Amplify Magic (Imp. Amplify preferred) on all of your tanks; especially the one on the bugs.
We have our best geared tank on the bugs - he tanks all the bugs alone with Demo shout. He also ends up first on the damage meters to thorns and ret aura hehe. This is how we learned the fight from the beginning - so full wrath is good enough for this.
Stun the worms at like 50%. Stop all DPS on fankriss as soon as there's a worn spawn.
Coming off of Sartura, we have 4 warriors in the raid at minimum.
I would say the most dangerous mobs in the room are:
1. Worms
2. Bug spawns
3. Bugs you can draw from the hallway. We've gotten these when priests AOE fear to save themselves.
4. Random critter spawns - lvl 1, 1hp baddies
5. Fankriss
We put our worst geared warrior on Fankriss. No wrath? No problem. PVP gear? No problem. No defiance? No problem. Forgot a shield? That's probably a problem. As alliance, we have the luxury of a second plate wearing class. We have offtanked Fankriss (actually MTed with the warrior taking over second) and then BOPed the warrior to swap back to the paly. We've used resto-specced druids in bear form too.
We put our best 3 warriors in the "pits" to demoshout aggro mobs and tank/dps them with cleave spam and thorns. As protection spec, I can kill most of the bug spawns. 1 good main healer plus a relief healer to spell them on each tank will get the job done.
We outright gank worm spawns. 100% of DPS will hit them. We've noticed the 1% damage to Fankriss triggering second and third worms as well so we stop DPS on Fankriss. With this much devoted to worms, no worm should enrage. Also, without enrage, a simple stun and/or kite can ease the need for them to be actually tanked.
Our strategy is similar to most in here, with one slight change. We have 2 tanks on fankriss, 2 for snakes, and 1 on all the bugs. The one on the bugs gets all the aggro he can on them, but we have our priests and warlocks keepiing up aoe fears. The difference between our strat and others, it seems, is that we wait until fankriss is dead to pay any attention to the bugs. After he dies, we keep the fears from the priests while the mages and locks add ranged aoe. We assume that the number of bugs that can spawn is capped in some manner, which we assume is the reason we can do this so consistently.
I might have missed it if someone else pointed it out, but something that took us a bit to realize is that snakes can proximity aggro the hallway bugs if they spawn close enough to the entry hall or were allowed to linger over there. So we always moved Fankriss off to nearer the eastern bug cubby to try to avoid that.
But as others have said, using the single bug tank with the engie shield really seemed to simplify this fight for us. The engie shield has that threat mod on it and it does AE damage so it keeps the bugs locked up on the bug tank really well. And with stacked damage shields, we found that the bugs tended to die before being pulled off due to healer aggro so no need to AE (alliance of course so salvation is probably the kicker there). Stoneshield pots are a great crutch for the bug tank too. The only downside was needing to repair the shield if you fail an attempt.
We stacked healers and ranged dps in a pile near the rear side of fankriss so we always knew where the snakes would path to and setup DPS tanks nearby to intercept them as they spawn.
It also helped to have a couple of priests in 5 pc trans as the primary bug tanks for the occasional bug aggro leak. We also stuck the bug tank priests in a group with 2 pallies for stacked armor/conc aura so they could continue to heal even if they got some aggro.
As others said, save your stuns for the worms when they get enraged. Also, the second you see the first worm spawn, STOP DPS on Fankriss. The initial spawn isn't predictable, but a 2nd and 3rd spawn for each 1% you take off Fankriss after the first spawn, from what I've seen. If you blow Fankriss down 3% in 5 seconds, suddenly you have 3 worms up.
Just want to reemphasize what Snowy says here. This is very important while you're still learning and gearing up for this encounter. If you have several people that don't stop DPSing Fankriss while a snake is up you'll get more worms at once causing more problems. Controlled, aware DPS should make this fairly easy.
We actually just have one tank (the MT) handling all the bugs and we usually kill Fankriss before there become too many bugs and have to AE them down.
We do the fight with a warrior on each hatchling cubby. We put our best geared warriors on each cubby and damage is pretty minimal. We have two warriors, usually weaker geared on Fankriss. If we have extra for DPS they'll pick up worms, but usually just whichever tank doesn't currently have aggro on Fankriss breaks off when a worm spawns to intercept and hold it 'til death. Being Alliance they'll usually die before the paladin stun wears off. We just stressed real heavy to switch DPS to the worms when they spawn.
I've done all three roles as a warrior. Not the best geared tank, only 4/8 wrath, but I have no problem with 2 healers on me holding everything on a cubby and staying alive. I'll even swap to berserker and whirlwind on the spawn for quick pick up. Fankriss hits like a sissy, and with warning to the healers we've been able to zerker tank him, it's a short fight anyways, so mana isn't an issue.
Biggest help for us when we were learning the fight is to simply make it end quicker. Fankriss is tauntable so we just send the two warriors in and have DPS go balls out nuts right away. With people gathered near Fankriss and two tanks working on him the DPS can go bonkers with little worry since a taunt will bring him right back. We got Fankriss to 34% before anything spawned one week. Not sure we'll ever top that again though.
We use Paladins on the bugs. Assign one to each spawn point. When the bugs spawn the consecrate for aggro. Then they collapse to the centre, consecrating again on the way there. When they get there they consecrate again while AoE burns the bugs down. There is lots of time between spawns for them to collapse and then head back out for the next group. They never lose aggro to AoE and we never have issues being short of tanks for worm duty. We've done it with Warriors too when we were short paladins and that works fine too but the Paladins like it and we don't have problems keeping them up.
We have two tanks on Fankriss (often a warrior and druid), two warriors grabbing aggro on bugs, and the remaining warriors picking up worm spawns. A couple of rogues stay on Fankriss DPS the whole fight - all the other DPS switches to worms when they spawn. We periodically clear out the bugs with AOE. We usually have one mage designated to start the AOE so that healing can be concentrated on them, then everyone else climbs in after a couple of seconds. We usually cluster near Fankriss' tail so that he gets hit by the AOE.
Here's what worked for our guild and it made Fankriss a very, very easy fight:
Positioning: Everyone stands on top of Fankriss (Hunters at ~8 yards). This means everyone.
MT: Put your best geared Warrior on bug duty. All he needs to do is Battle Shout spam and Shield Block. However, he will be taking the majority of the damage.
Worm tanks 1 & 2: Have one Warrior assigned to the first spawn and the second one ready to pick up any subsequent spawns. Also, have them use Shield Block to time and call in stuns. By the time the Worms arrive to the Fankriss (and the raid), that's approximately 3-4 seconds of travel time. If the tanking Warrior has Shield Blocked 3 times (5s cd x 3 uses = 15s elapsed + 3-4s travel time for the worm spawns to get to your raid < 20s when worm enrage hits), an Enrage will be coming soon and he should call in stuns. Assigning 1 Rogue to each worm allows them to put 5 pt. KSes when necessary.
Fankriss tanks 1 & 2: Fankriss hits like a wuss, so you can safely put lesser geared or DPS-spec Warriors on him. Taunt rotations at 3 stacks (so there's some margin for error on resists).
The BSing MT will draw all bug spawns and worms to the Fankriss (where your raid is). The MT can hold the bugs forever and will never lose aggro if constantly BSing. The only thing you need to do is keep him alive.
That's essentially how our guild does it.
Of course, we're alliance so we have HoJ ezmode, which gives the rogues time to prep stuns. The key to this fight is everyone, and I mean everyone, peeling off Fankriss when a worm spawns.
Tip: Fankriss actually casts a spell called "Summon Worm" when he spawns an add - if you have either Witchhunt (ace'd Spell Alert, regular Spell Alert doesn't catch if for some reason), or BigWigs (replacement for CTRA_BossMod), you can catch the worm spawn, giving your raid plenty of time to start scanning for the worm. By the time our worms reach the raid group, everyone is already on them.
As Tors above mentioned, we found after many different strategies, the fastest kill and most control comes from a single tank on all the bugs.
Quick rundown:
1. Enter the room with two Fankriss tanks ahead of the pack.
2. Tank Fankriss facing away from the entrance (I think that's Northish) about 25 yards from the bug tunnel entrance.
3. Stick everyone in the raid except hunters right on Fank's back end within melee range.
4. Put all your hunters at minimum range off to the left of Fank (just so they don't agro the bugs from the tunnel).
5. Pick your beefiest tank (Titans and AC pots can help a lot if gear is low. Suggest 7.5k+ HP and 9k+ AC, though extra healers assigned can make up for less easily enough.
6. That tank's position is basically between the Hunters and the rest of the group, within BS range of everyone in his party (we've found the people in his party don't matter really, though if you are learning, stick a combination of healers and hunters in the group for faster agro on the bugs).
7. Spam Battle Shout to round up the bugs. Be certain the tank keeps the bugs within the front 180 degree arc or they'll beat down his HP quite quickly.
8. Ignore the bugs until they either overwhelm the tank or Fank is dead. Depending on DPS, you should only have to kill bugs one time (preferably not at all however).
Fank's actual HP total is quite low, so don't be afraid to tell your DPS to go crazy when snakes aren't up and he'll drop quite fast.
We use Paladins on the bugs. Assign one to each spawn point. When the bugs spawn the consecrate for aggro. Then they collapse to the centre, consecrating again on the way there. When they get there they consecrate again while AoE burns the bugs down. There is lots of time between spawns for them to collapse and then head back out for the next group. They never lose aggro to AoE and we never have issues being short of tanks for worm duty. We've done it with Warriors too when we were short paladins and that works fine too but the Paladins like it and we don't have problems keeping them up.
Ditto to this strat. Its so simple, I love it. Since theres no AoE damage in the fight, you can just dogpile everyone on Fanrkiss' ass. Everyone with an AoE attack can gently spam it (so to not exceed the Pallies aggro) to wipe out the bugs, damage the snakes, and chip away at Fankriss. Single target damage sticks to the snakes and Fankriss. Its easy as long as you keep your paladins alive, your mages dont get themselves killed (limited invuln pot, or ice block = win), and your rogues know how to stunlock & burn (which they should after doing Sartura!)
First time we tried this strat, we wiped at like 5% (one too many snakes), second time we tried this strat (third attempt total), Fankriss was done like dinner.
SO EASY. Unfortunatly its an Alliance trick. :(
We kind of just zerg the worms, they go down fast enough that we can just heal through it. Just make sure your DPS shifts immediately once they see a worm spawn.
Our strats is pretty similar to all of the above - but I'll add it to the list.
Our 2 "weakest" tanks on Fankriss (DPS warrior and feral druid is just fine, Franky hits like a baby)
Our 3 strongest tanks at the spawn points - demo shout + thunderclapping the bugs - with a dedicated healer on each
All DPS on Franky, with a Hunter as MA for the worms. When they appear - the hunter macros out "SNAKES IN THE ROOM <pew pew>" or something similar, and _everybody_ that does DPS burns down the snake. Rogues break off Franky, Mages turn and shoot, pallies use their uber stuns.
Killing the snakes is the #1 priority in that fight, as if they enrage, it's one-shot time. As a side note - the snakes hit harder than Franky does pre-enrage.
We normally have our non-tanking warriors on Intercept stun duty - and the snakes are just destroyed within 5-10 seconds. If there are multiple snakes, warriors will break off and start tanking the new snake (or pally stun) while the real DPS burn down the old one.
When all the snakes are down, rogues/hunters/mages return to Franky.
The occasional teleport of a tanking warrior on bug duty will release a swarm of little bugs that can be a PITA, we just mage AOE them down, or if a snake is up, we'll get the rogues to burn them down after killing the snake. Normally they die pretty quick, just get them off the healers.
Erm, that's it - he's a bit of a loot pinata if you focus on killing the snakes as priority #1.
Edit: Didn't realise the 1% snake spawn - and probably the great reason we don't get many overlapping snakes is because all DPS move to kill a snake.
Pewsey has heard about tact and discretion, but tends to regard them much as children view vegetables.
There are only two kinds of MMOs: the ones people complain about and the ones nobody plays. (inspired by Bjarne Stroustrup)
Didnt realize their was so many ways of doing fankriss.
For us with alliance Ezy mode we use Our 3 best tanks on the bug spawns, Each has a paladin assigned to pick up missed bugs and drag them back to the warrior. The warrior has Retribution aura early on and once the bugs have maxed out, Devotion. If they feel they are losing Aggro then a oil of immolation. If we get some adds escape the warriors or get dragged in with a snake a paladin just consecrates and drags them to a warrior. Stand their til the warrior has aggro and then back to help stun snakes. Even with the maximum number of bugs 16? The healing isnt so bad that a Paladin+priest cant handle it and I have solo healed the warrior on occasion.
We use a dps warrior for the snakes or rogue/druid if we only have 5 warriors. Save the stuns for near enrage. All dps is alerted by bigwigs and switches immediately to snakes on spawn.
On mobs like Fank with stacking debuffs where you want to have 2 tanks swapping aggro, I find it easiest to taunt as soon as my own debuffs clear. It gives the most margin of error, keeps debuff stacks as low as possible, and is easier than looking at the other tank's debuffs.
09/27/06, 2:02 PM
Similar Threads
