I've been killing a lot of new bosses these last couple days. Yesterday we downed the Prophet Skeram in AQ40, and got in some attempts on Battleguard Sartura. Today we blew through Blackwing Lair, one-shotting every boss up to Nefarian. Nef himself took two attempts, but he went down nicely on the second one.
Of the new fights, the Nefarian fight was probably the best, followed by Skeram. Vael was pretty interesting, but I got Burning Adrenaline fairly early and died. I was sad that Vael did not do the "Forgive me Coriel, your death only adds to my failure" line, as I probably died too close to an earlier death. But still, it's a neat fight, and I always like fighting dragons.
As for Nef, it's fun being a paladin. I don't have an Onyxia Scale Cloak, but I survived the Shadowflame with a bubble. Also, the paladin class call is a joke. So we stop fighting for a few seconds, it's not that much of a problem. Nef should Hammer of Justice the main tank or something. That would be funny.
Also, I got to melee-heal a fair bit in the last half of BWL: Ebonroc, Chromaggus, and Nefarian. Meleeing on Chromaggus in particular is very helpful, as JoWisdom helps keep the mana up for Cleanse. We had the Timelapse/Corrosive Acid breaths. I really wish I had a single point in Lasting Judgement, though. It would make keeping up Judgements so much easier.
So far, my verdict on BWL is that it is extremely melee-friendly for paladins, as is Skeram and everything up to Sartura. The Sartura fight itself, I'm not so sure about. Paladins meleeing with Seal of Justice, and HoJ rotations might be a good idea, at least on Sartura herself. The AoE from the adds may be too much. Most strats I've seen keep the rogues off the adds, and if the rogues don't go in, it's probably a bad idea for the paladins to. In any case, I think it was only the guild's second attempt at her, so we were basically just learning how the fight works.
Of course, I predict responses saying that paladins should not melee in anything beyond Sartura. It's amusing how the "Paladins Should Not Melee" parts of this game always coincide with the parts I have not done yet. :)
Ah well. It's been a fun couple of days. Hopefully I'll get a chance to kill Ragnaros sometime soon.
Coul have some Paladins soaking up nature damage at Huhu. But they would be cleansing mostly I think.
ReplyDeleteI've been working at meleeing more and more as a paladin, with some success. In BWL, Razor and Vael are too heal intensive to melee (though I end up doing a fair bit of kiting in the Razor fight). No real reason to melee in Vael, there's too much damage going around, and the pally DPS is too low to notice.
ReplyDeleteBroodlord Lashlayer is fun to DPS, and having JoW up for that fight helps a bunch. (I've got Lasting Judgement 3/3). Firemaw does too much fire damage to make it worth while.
After that its pretty much melee city though. Ebonroc and Flamegor love to get my DPS and JoW. Depending on what job I've got, and what breaths we get, I try to melee on Chrom. Helps gain mana back from cleansing 80% of the time.
I melee in Nef only enough to keep JoW up and regain mana. I usually blow through all 7000 mana in the first phase and need to regain a bunch for priest and druid class calls. Other than that, pretty fun fight.
In AQ:
Skerham, not much melee done there, usually working on keeping people up and stunning the MC'd people.
Bug trio - melee after the daddy bug goes down.
Sartura - run away!! Even with 9500 armor, I only get near Sartura to JoW and stun.
Fankris - Yea, melee the whole fight, except when stunning worms.
Huhu - No melee, spam cleanse on assigned tank, and heal.
Twin Emps - No melee, just healing like crazy.
I wish I knew more about Naxx...
Throrrerr's assessment is pretty accurate.
ReplyDeleteIf you have excellent fire resistance gear, you can melee on Firemaw, and JoL is huge for that fight.
For Huhuran, having paladins in nature resist gear taking poison bolts in the last 30% is an option, and one I would recommend, at least for dwarves. JoL is also extremely helpful for melee there.
You could melee Emperor Vek'nilash(the warrior-type one) with the rogues and warriors, and keep JoL on, but it's less helpful there, but it's probably not worth it since the tank will need your heals.
Ouro and C'Thun are both fights where paladins can do a small to moderate amount of meleeing, while also healing and judging, and stunning(C'Thun tentacles).
So far in my experience with Naxxramas, about half of the encounters are melee-friendly for paladins. But you'll also get to do other fun stuff, like Holy Wrath, Blessing of Sacrifice/Freedom, Turn Undead, offtank/aoetank, along with cleansing, judging, and stunning.
Coriel, you guys have downed Nefarian and not Ragnaros?
ReplyDeleteMan, wanna switch places? My guild has downed Rags several times and has yet to down Razorgore... :(
Baelor
Runetotem Server
Coriel, you guys have downed Nefarian and not Ragnaros?
ReplyDeleteLol, no. The guild has downed Ragnaros. It's just that I, personally, have not been in a raid when Ragnaros died.
The guild has killed Ragnaros. I have not killed Ragnaros. Sorry for giving the wrong impression. :)
Ah, I see. Ragnaros is a fun fight or a hectic fight, depending on what group you're placed in. Let us know what you think of the encounter if you ever get a chance to do it :)
ReplyDeleteMan, I want in to BWL and a shot at Judgement...
Baelor
Runetotem Server