This will be a little more in depth than some of my usual "this is how I did it" posts, as I feel a little more qualified now and am going to attempt to write a proper "guide" of sorts, of course in my own way with my quirky spin on things, but never-the-less, if this manages to help just one person, I'll be happy!! As always, any comments or extra bits you feel left out or if you do something different that also works, please feel free to add it at the bottom.
So let's get to it (and I will try not to waffle).....
Boss Overview, what's changed for Mythic?
As before on other difficulties, Darmac still jumps onto his beloved mounts, Cruelfang (Wolfie), Ironcrusher (Lellaflump) and Dreadwing (Firebat thingy), he also busts out a super duper mount after all these have been dealt with , but more on that later. The main mechanic change is that when each mount reaches 40% HP, Darmac will jump off said mount and you will have to deal with them both, the mount will continue to do whatever ability it has, and Darmac will still not gain use of the ability until after that mount is dead, but he WILL use all the other abilities he has gained so far. (For example, if he already has Rend & Tear, he will continue to use this when he jumps off Iron crusher, but wont gain access to Tantrum until the Elkk is dead.)
The pack beasts will continue to spawn throughout the fight, and this is where we, my fellow Brewmasters, come into our own once again as the kings and queens of aoe add control. The fact that Darmac and the mount will need a tank each, means a lot of guilds are using a 3 tank method, whereby 2 will manage Darmac and his personal mounts, and the third is there to manage the mass of pets that come in. Incidentally the pack beasts gain a buff that periodically increases their speed and damage done, so towards the end of the fight, you NEED to be able to kite these things, or hope you have good healers as they HURT, and face tanking them isn't a great option!!
Enter Faultline.....
The final change for Mythic is Darmacs use of a fourth mount, that dramatically charges into the room to his master's aid after the other Three mounts have been dispatched, one of those "oh you thought dis was OVER?!?!?" kinda moments....
Faultline makes things rather difficult as his abilities are AOE and hit hard, thankfully though, Darmac does not get off Faultline at 40% like the other mounts, but he does gain some of his abilities and his HP will double when Faultline dies.
He has:
Epicenter - A large circular AOE that slows movement speed and deals nature damage to any players in it. (Darmac gains access to this once Faultline is down)
Heavy Smash - Does 200% of normal melee damage split between a player and an ally (Tanks need to stand on top of eachother for the time that Faultline is active)
Unstoppable - A 10% damage increase buff that stacks. (Darmac gains access to this ability once Faultline is down)
CannonBall Barrage - Faultline hurls out cannonballs around the room dealing nature damage to anyone hit, though they do make swirly patches on the ground so they can be avoided.Unsteady - periodically inflicts damage to ALL players and reduces movement speed by 50% (Note: This will also continue after Faultline has been dispatched)
Tanking Tactics
If you are tanking the adds, which, let's face it, as a Brewmaster, you probably will be, there are one or two things to note, and things that you can do personally to help out your raid.
Pack Beasts CAN be slowed/stunned/gripped etc. While this is nice, this can also cause you issues if you overdo it too early/everyone uses all their abilities at once. Particularly early on in the fight, Keg Toss on its own along with a glyphed BoF will be more than enough to get these adds over to the boss safely, while there's not a lot going on in the fight, your DPS will be able to AOE these little guys down in seconds, so you don't need to go ham with slows and stuns just yet.
Being Vocal. Tell your raid when the beasts are inc, especially towards the end of the fight, the DPS will be having to deal with a multitude of abilities and will likely not have much time to look at timers, when Faultline dies, all hell pretty much just breaks loose and the DPS will likely appreciate you letting them know that you're bringing adds to them, also, calling out for extra slows and stuns allows you to negotiate your way round all the crap on the floor while being chased by 6 beasts with a speed increase ;)
Face tanking is ok to a point....Be warned, by the end of the fight, if all 6 of these guys connect on you, it's going to HURT. I recommend keeping hold of your leg sweep for this, as that will give you enough room to get the hell away from them.
Aggro reset?!?! These pack beasts have a weird little aggro table, when they initially spawn they will not be aggroable (yes that IS a word!). They will run out to the room and then they will stop momentarily, this is the point at which they are able to be picked up, try to make sure you do not have healers stood near this point when they spawn as they will go and attack them instead of you, especially if they are healing their tits off in the final phase.
If you're tanking the Beastlord and his mounts, you need to have very good communication with your co tank, as you will need to manage stacks and swapping the mounts and Beastlord over between you, as you basically have to pretend you are the only two tanks and act as if your add tank is not there, as he/she will have their hands full and unlikely to be able to help you out.
Fight overview/the order of the beasts.
Phase one: Darmac will be on foot, pack beasts will spawn and Darmac will throw out spears (if you are the add tank, you NEED to keep an eye out for these, as if you get caught by pinned down it will hurt your group a lot)
Phase two: Darmac will mount whatever he is being tanked closest to, we went for Cruelfang first, as rend and tear is the easiest ability to deal with, as it is avoidable by DPS/healers and on occasion, tanks if they can sidestep quickly enough.
After Cruelfang has been dealt with we went for IronCrusher, as although Tantrum is a pretty heafty AOE spell it's manageable with a good CD rotation and less of a pain in the arse than Shrapnel.
Following Ironcrusher's demise you will need to deal with Dreadwing, be careful of the breath as being caught in it needlessly will cause healers to oom/use up CDs that they will need for later.
Phase 3: Darmac now has all the abilities form his fallen mounts and things will start to get really hectic from here on in. When Faultline spawns you should try to aim to have Darmac up in that end of the room, then "snake" the epicenter spawns horizontally down the room in order to give your raid as much room as possible. (Incidentally we initially tried snaking vertically down the room, only to discover that this makes positioning for the final phase really hard, so not advisable!)
Phase 4: This begins when Faultline dies, Darmac now has all his abilities and I recommend you use bloodlust here, you want him to die as soon as possible, as he will still continue to fill up your room with epicenters and adds will also continue to spawn. One thing to note here, it is not advisable to ignore the adds at any point, they are very difficult to kite, even for a monk as the room is filled with so much crap it becomes a gauntlet of death and there is a lot of damage coming out so it is just easier to continue to AOE them down and help the add tank with any stuns and slows that you have.
Talents/Glyphs and other abilities.
Tigers Lust is nice for little bursts of speed and nullifies Unsteady later on in the fight, though to be honest, any of the movement speed talents would be fine, I just prefer TL personally.
Zen Sphere is pretty much my go to talent in this tier now, though Chi burst is also nice here for helping AOE down adds.
Leg Sweep can be used offensively or defensively depending on what pert of the fight you're on, I found myself hanging on to it toward the end of the fight and using it as a get out of jail free card if I got caught by adds.
Diffuse Magic is great for when Dreadwing comes out, in case you get caught by a breath.
Use RJW if you are having aggro difficulties, however Xuen can be used as a defensive CD as he can tank adds for you, be careful though as if he dies the adds may run loose and hit your dps so keep an eye on him.
I went with Soul Dance for this, I was finding myself not having a lot of up time on adds toward the end of the fight so I was unable to really utilize the other two, it depends on whether or not you're kiting or tanking, but personally I still don't like Chi Explosion so would be more likely to take Serenity if I was tanking the mounts/Darmac.Glyph of Breath of Fire - Really nice for the adds, particularly early on, can just give you a little breathing space.
Keg Smash - having the range increased can help here.
Freedom Roll - helps you get out of Epicenter.
Leer of the Ox - can pick up an add in a pinch but requires a lot of micro management.
Fortifying Brew - Almost makes this a viable cooldown....
I personally ended up with Breath of Fire, keg Smash and Freedom Roll.
The statue.
Towards the end of the fight things get VERY hectic, being able to dump your statue down at the add spawn location means they will guarantee to aggro on it, ensuring your dps/healers are safe, and giving you time to go and collect them.
Transendence.
Place it near the add spawn, does what it says on the tin. means you don't have to try and run through a bunch of crap to go pick up your adds and can get you away from them if they are too close.
We start working on Mythic Oregorger/Gruul this week, I shall most likely be streaming some of our progress, we raid 7-11pm UK time Mon-Thurs so feel free to drop in!
Be Good
Dark xx
