This is the first Raider Homework post for Uldir and BFA. Raiders both new and old should pay a lot of attention!
Focus: Normal
For now, we’re going to be focusing on normal bosses for Uldir. Many videos (like FatbossTV) cover both Normal and Heroic in the same video. Please cross-reference videos with Uldir Abilities to see which abilities are not in normal mode so you don’t get overwhelmed by excess mechanics you don’t need to know right now.
Many videos (such as fatboss) also cover theorycrafting of each boss, how Blizzard could change the boss, etc. Don’t worry about that information. We want you to know the mechanics as they are, not what they could be. Also, assume bugs will have been smoothed out before the raid drops. We are not going to penalize you if abilities have changed or are different as a result of bug fixing between beta and live.
Assignment 1: FatbossTV Playlist Overview
First, we are requiring everyone to watch the entire playlist of Uldir videos just once. Even if we don’t see G’huun for at least another month, it’s important to get an idea for the theme and feel of the dungeon and be able to analyze similarities between bosses. Often times different bosses in the same raid will share strategies and themes between them. Start thinking about them now, and when we face those last and difficult bosses, you’ll have a better idea of how to handle them.
Assignment 2: Familiarity with First Five
Taloc, MOTHER, Fetid Devourer, Zek’voz, and Vectis are the bosses we will start honing in on. Be familiar with the mechanics of each boss, but you don’t need them all memorized. For Vectis, this might mean “soak red circles”, “stack tightly together”, and “dodge red ground bolts”. If you don’t remember why you need to stack close, or exactly what happens when you get hit by a red blood bolt, that’s fine. Try to remember half the mechanics for the first five. You should be able to have “oh, duh” moments after you die. “I forgot that the blood bolts could focus me when I was soaking – I should watch to dodge them” or “I forgot to save a healing cooldown for this insane damage of phase 3” are good examples of what we expect to hear after wipes on “familiarity” bosses.
Assignment 3: Memorization of First Three
Taloc the Corrupted, MOTHER, and Fetid Devourer should be the ones you are the most familiar with. This doesn’t mean memorization of names of abilities (though if you either can memorize them or have a cheat-sheet nearby, that’d be great!).
It does mean, however, that we should be able to call you out and say “What happened when you died?” and recieve specific information. You should be able to respond “I was knocked back while I was spawning blood pools and got thrown into a blood pool that was already on the ground, so I took a lot of damage and died. My [turtle shell/barkskin/divine shield] was on cooldown, but I should be saving it in case this happens in the future.” Alternatively, “I used my [turtle shell/barkskin/divine shield] the last time I was focused with a knockback, so I should have called out to the healers that I might need more direct healing”. This shows that you have a strong understanding of the mechanics, how they interact with one another, and what you can do specifically with your class and character to prevent it from happening again.
If you died but understand what happened, why, and how to prevent it, you’re much less likely to get benched and will be given more leeway than someone who says “uh well, I didn’t receive any heals” or “someone else screwed up and killed me” (even if someone did screw up and kill you, going over what they did VS what they should have done is going to be more useful information than simply shifting blame).
Assignment 4: Addons, Macros, Weakauras
Addons:
As previously covered, we require everyone to use DBM or Bigwigs. We also encourage the use of GTFO for those who are new to raiding or who have graphic settings turned way down, especially DPS. Get these installed early and get used to using them before raid starts!
Macros:
Most Macros are going to be class dependent. However, certain macros will help ensure successful execution of mechanics and prevent wasting cooldowns. To prevent spam, we ask that unimportant / personal / flavor macros be disabled during raids. Hunter pet summons, “spin2win!” warrior spam, and more, only serve as a distraction from what is more important to focus on.
You do not need to use macros, but we encourage you to think about if there are any that will improve your gameplay and that of others in the raid!
Example: Innervate usage
As a boomkin, I have a good raid utility ability – Innervate. Innervate gives free casting on healing abilities for 12 seconds. My current macro whispers my target “You have been Innervated!” and casts innervate on them when I press it. Most of the time, this is enough for a healer to understand that now is the time to use big, expensive cooldowns.
Example: Spirit Link Totem
Shaman’s Spirit Link Totem is an amazing raid ability that prevents damage in a small radius and creates a shared healthpool. However, nothing is more frustrating than watching all of your DPS run away or even stand right outside of it, losing all of its value. A valuable macro might be to /yell or /say “SPIRIT LINK ACTIVATED – STAND INSIDE!” when you cast it. We’ll see this pop over your head like other timers and callouts we’re used to seeing, and will hopefully organize the raid to stand inside when possible.
Example: Battle-res Callouts
If a Warlord calls for someone to be battle-resed, it would be good for multiple people not to waste time finding and casting the ability.
Example macro:
/cast Rebirth
/say Casting Battle Res on %t.
This will say “Casting Battle Res on {TARGET}” so the rest of us know not to keep looking.
Weakauras:
Many weakauras are going to be class-dependent as well. However, some WAs will help you regardless of class and spec. If you’ve never worked with weakauras before, don’t hesitate to reach out to those around you. WAs are incredibly powerful and can make or break your gameplay!
Example: Innervate Weakaura (for healers)
Not all healers know what innervate does (many think it still gives mana regen), or don’t even notice when I’ve whispered them (in my above example). A good weakaura for ALL healers would be one that displays an Innervate cooldown bar and says something like “FREE HEALING”. Here is a simple innervate bar weakaura.
Example: Pet Weakauras (for Hunters)
How many times have you realized that your pet has taunt on? Or worse, that you have no pet at all? Here’s a pair of strings that will help idiot-proof your pets to be raid-ready.
No pets summoned: https://wago.io/SkzR-DU3z
Pet has growl: https://wago.io/VJDWPky5-
Uldir-specific Weakauras
Pick your poison: https://wago.io/weakauras/pve/uldir
These are all based on the beta and you might need to play with them extensively or update them regularly after launch. These are a good alternative to GTFO and a good choice to draw attention to more specific mechanics that you may feel needs extra attention. (For example, I had a weakaura set up on Coven in Antorus that would beep when I was standing in Storm).
That’s All for Now
It may seem like we’ve given you a lot to look at, but you have a week and can easily watch a few videos a day. You also have a week to reach out to the Warlords with questions and can spend some time researching useful macros, addons, and weakauras for yourself.
Depending on progress next Thursday, we may have new homework (memorization of certain bosses) or reiteration of homework we’ve already assigned.