I had some downtime this weekend and felt like playing a little WoW, but nothing was going on in the guild Sunday night. So I thought I’d switch over to my BM tank spec and see how far I could get solo in Nexus normal. I read some speculation on whether it would be possible for a hunter to solo Nexus, and I wanted to check it out.
I used This Spec, BM hunter.
My pet was a turtle with This Spec.
Most of it was pretty straight forward: just keep mend pet up all the time and shoot away. Grand Magus Telestra was a little hairy, but still a one-shot. Just had the pet gather her three clones and used Roar of Sacrifice when I was taking damage. The other two small bosses were cake.
Keristrasza was the challenge. I spent a while pursuing the wrong strategy on her. At first I tried just tanking her and running in circles shooting (to prevent getting the staying still debuff). Alas her chaining me in place was the death of me. Then I learned the chain had a max range so I tried standing out of range and just running in and healing my pet every 10 seconds. I then put the pet on passive and immediately ordered it to attack again, repeatedly, to prevent it from getting too many stacks of the debuff. Alas Keristrasza vamps up her damage at 30% and I after that I couldn’t keep the pet alive for long (raid gear is not the best pet tanking gear, alas). I got her to 7% on my best attempt – so close that I kept trying over and over.
Finally I realized that Keristrasza is not chained to her room. Once I knew that, the rest was easy. I dismissed my pet, switched over with my dual-spec to MM spec (just to have more damage) and pulled her out into the hallway. Then I kited her around the hallways in circles, jump-shotting from max range. She is ever so slightly faster than me, so I alternated between aspect of the hawk, viper, and cheetah.
I once let her get a tough too close and she breathed on me, which is a slow dot. But a well timed Deterrence and Disengage got me back to range to finish her off.
But it was nice to get a chance to stretch those jump-shot and kiting muscles again. Not enough of that in Wrath PVE content. Well, not any, really. Not like the gold ‘ol UBRS days.
So here’s the video:
Hunter Solo of Nexus:
YouTube direct link: Hunter Nexus Solo
This might be a really newbish comment but I’m curious.
What’s the shield-like icon that keep flashing up around your character?
-Richie
Those symbols around my character is from the Power Auras addon. I have it set up to notify me when various abilities are ready. The shield icon is to let me know that Mend Pet is not currently on my pet.
How many g’s does this give?
And really really nice.
:D:D:D
wow, I’m impressed
I’ve pretty much set the scope of my character’s activities to simply raiding and crafting, but this is making me think twice…
Fantastic Frost! you are THE hunter:D
Which glyphs and shot rotation did you use for the BM spec?
I used glyphs of Mending, Bestial Wrath, and… um… whatever else happened to be on that spec. Mending is the important one.
I used a pretty traditional shot rotation: arcane, multi, steady, steady. Of course the shot rotation isn’t really important. As long as your pet stays alive, you will win in the end.
Thanks for the quick reply. I have glyph of Mending, Bestial Wrath, and Steady Shot.
I think you forgot Serpent Sting in that rotation lol.
Ha, that was a fun video to watch. XD
Very nicely done. What addons do you use, by the way, and what do they all do? I saw something that I think was similar to recount, but it didn’t have the red and black bordering, and then a lot of symbols were being thrown up around your character (though I see you answered already that the shield was for mend pet). Do you use these addons for every raid you do, or just when you go soloing? Thanks for your time! =)
Power Auras was the symbols (you customize what they look like, sound like, how they move, and when they come up – it’s awesomesauce). The thing that looked like recount was Omen — an essential addon for every hunter. It’s a threat meter that shows your threat in relation to the tank (in this case my pet).
For other addons I of course have recount, I recommend deadly boss mods (though I just rely on Hrist’s), and… auctioneer. That’s about it.
My addons are definitely for raids!
This is similar to my own recent exploits. Though I made the mistake of trying UK first of the Northrend instances. Couldn’t get past the Frost Tombs on the first boss….they were up too often to do anything.
But BM does make a great solo’ing spec, so there’s a lot of fun to be had in these things. My current “best feat” besides Onyxia (thanks Frost!) and a couple other low-level raids is clearing a couple Outland heroic-difficulty instances (Ramps and Slave Pens). But it takes a long time, so be prepared to wipe.
Two other things:
1. The first boss room looks like a disco hall in fast-motion. Awesomesauce.
2. Power Auras comes highly recommended from almost anyone who uses it, and Frost makes good use of it in this video. Here’s another example of how I use mine:
http://img26.imageshack.us/i/powa.jpg/
…the circle comes up in combat, and each of the little gem-slot looking things represents a shot. Whenever they are off cooldown, the circle lights up, so I can know exactly what I’m casting with my next shot without having to look all over for CD and debuff info. The circles also correspond to button placement on my key board (4-5-6; R-T-Y) to make it more intuitive. The numbers beneath the top center circle track the GCD for each shot, so I can time my keystrokes to avoid losing time.
There’s other affects I use that aren’t in the pic there, but that’s the bulk of my usage of it.
Frost you forgot to list important things. Like what is the name of your turtle, and what is the music?
Thanks for the quick and informative responses! A friend of mine uses both Omen and Deadly Boss, so I’ll have to see about getting those once I get higher up and do more raiding.
Arthemystia, your interface is a lot different than anything I’ve seen before. I love how traps, tracking, and aspects are clustered together in little squares, and how the bar is broken up for your shots and pet abilities! How did you make it look like that?
Couple tricks for the frost tomb boss in UK: First of all, you can avoid the skellies. When the very first wave comes out, just FD. They’ll turn around and leave, and no more will come after that!
Otherwise go big red pet on the first frost tomb (with a pvp trinket you can skip the 2nd too) and after that just have your pet break you loose when they come up. The trick is keeping mend pet up so he’s still getting heals while you’re tombed.
Yori: Turtle’s name is Dog.
Music is… something from VNV Nation, of the Future Perfect album. You know, I used to wonder why everyone always used techno for WoW videos, but after making a couple, now I understand. It’s the only music that lasts long enough!
You can tranq shot the enrage off her at 30%
Gah!
Oh well, I probably wouldn’t have learned the easier, funner kiting strat had I known that
Very cool achievement. (Hey, why isn’t this an Achievement?) I’m sure Sartharion’s day is coming…
(A quibble: the spec you linked can’t be right. You don’t have the point in Beast Mastery required for the linked pet spec.)
Whoops! Link has been fixed! I did indeed need that last point for my pet spec — just missed it when I was making the link
That was awesome.
@gnorf
Turtles do not need Beast Mastery to be tamed.
True, Kaaleel, but the linked pet spec has 20 talent points in it, which you only get with Beast Mastery.
Btw, my extreme solo build has 2 points in Improved Revive Pet. I figure if the fit really hits the shan, I have time to hit Deterrence, Revive Pet, and then Mend Pet before I Feign Death (or Disengage-and-kite to give the pet a few more ticks of healing).
Yeah, I know I shouldn’t let my pet die, but sometimes it does. (Bad beast master! Bad!)
Frost:
Thanks for the strat for UK. I’ll definitely try it. Now I just have to stop discussing this stuff on the WHU so I can figure something out on my own for a change. I’m running out of good ideas to try that you haven’t already conquered.
*shame face*
Kantsuu:
The cluster-themes on my interface are because of either the popular Bartender mod or a mod called ZHunterMod. It’s available on Curse like most others, but isn’t as well known. Between the two, it’s a lot easier for me to manage my screen space. I’m never entirely happy with my mods and screen, though, and still have quibbles with my setup. So I’d recommend the mods, but would tell you to make sure you have a setup that works for you.
you are my hero. this is boss. im gonna try it as soon as i level my turtle named catinthehat (see: borat)
Wow Frost youve done it again !, very impressive never thought a hunter could be so versitile and you imagine what you could do if they brought the BM spec up to SV or MM DPS it would be awesome
Hey Frost have you tried to tank any northrend heroics yet ? i tried to tank Nexus heroic with my worm wiggles but the healer was complaining he loses his health to quick, is something besides the talent tree you have on here in the guides for tanking pets of course hes a tenacity pet, he draws the agro well just seem to get to many crits or am i asking to much from a pet ?.
Thanks a lot Arthemystia! I’ll be sure to try those out!
Fradin: I imagine some Northrend heroics could be pet tanked, and some cannot. Keep in mind you need not only the pet, but the proper BM spec to get more mitigation and healing bonuses. I’m thinking Bear is your best instance tanking aggro pet, and turtle is best for the damage mitigation with shell shield.
You can use the BM build that I link on this page for pet tanking instances.
Ah the good old days of jump shots and kiting drak to the arena just to see if you can
nicely done frost
That was awesome man. Does it take long to set up the power aura addon?
Did you have 2 tier 5?
I do not have tier 5 — just my regular raiding gear. Actually, I rarely even used volley.
Power Auras take maybe 5 mins or so to get the hang of and explore all the options. Then figure on a minute or two to set up each ability. Honestly, the longest part is just deciding how you want every thing to look, what animation you want, what sound, what color, etc.
Frost, I wonder sometimes why you think that hunters arent broken. If a DK did this everyone would call schinanigans.
There is no chance in hell that a mage could do any of the videos you have shown on here (well, ok maybe I could come close to your example on OS). So in answer to your question a while ago about the differences? This video is your answer.
Lol Nev. No, I don’t think the ability to solo an instance nearly ten levels below you qualifies as broken. It doesn’t get me good gold/hour, it doesn’t get me any upgrades, it doesn’t get me any badges – so it doesn’t break the game or the power curve in any way.
Mages actually have a lot more extreme soloing potential than hunters, though probably less for bosses (though you could certainly solo Keristrasza with the same strat I used).
And btw, a death knight has done this.
I have to say i am very impressed
Good Job, shows that hunters can keep up with everyone else.
yea i was wondering what that addon is that pops up when you are in combat,also i read all the talent builds and loved them they have helped me so much.your the man!!
well i just did for the first time successfully. keri was the funnest tho, the others were kinda boring. i stayed in cheetah but the problem i had was getting too far ahead of her. i drop immolation traps to, MM raid spec. really fun though.
Awesome work Frost! I only have a question about the fight against Keristraza, when she’s at 30% and enrages: Did you try to use a tranquility shot on her? Cause whenever I do that instance on heroic mode, as soon as she enrages I use tranquility shot and she calms down. Keristraza is the only boss that this works on, unless it only works on heroic mode or they nerfed it with the newest patch.
Might be worth to try =)
The earlier discussion in this thread makes me wonder what class/spec is the best for soloing. To date, the only class/spec that I’ve seen doing things either more easily than hunters, or flat-out doing things hunters might not be able to do, is paladins. Specifically, prot paladins. They’d probably get my vote at the moment, but I’ll admit to not knowing the soloing capabilities of all classes well enough to know for sure.
Though it would obviously depend somewhat on the situation, as an addendum to my above comment. Hunters are great solo’ers though, so no complaints from me.
I noticed that you where using PowerAura in the video, and that you had got it to understand that you only wanted to be updated on whether your pet had the Mend Pet buff, and not every other allied target. How on earth did you do that?
In the set up there’s an option you can check “Cast by Me” so it will only pay attention to the mend pet on your pet.
Cuz of you Frost, I’ve got myself a turtle
Very nice vid, very nice run. You rulz and continue working on you X Solo part of the blog. We like it!!!
Hi, I’m a hunter on the EU Nagrand server. I got inspired by watching your solo videos, so I tried to make my own solo/tank BM hunter. I went for Nexus, since I thought it looked like the easiest one to do solo. I tried it out and succeeded after a few tries. Keristrasza gave me some problems, but in the end, I managed to get her down by kiting her out in the coridors. It gives a nice rush to solo a hold WotLK instance! ;-P
I used my turtle and a lot of Stamina gear. When I get buffed up to max health I got over 28000hp and my pet over 25000hp.
I think that my next quest should be Utgarde Keep…
Thanks for all the great info on this site!
Wow. Nex was pretty fun. I ran with a bear tank, just shy of 24k, with my pvp gear and a few pieces of t9 for the stam increase. just shy of 28k at the end of it all. one shotted all the way to keristraza, died twice in BM spec so switched to mm and owned her. this was the first time ive ran BM since 70 or so, and it was a nice change from raid specs. when you play a game for so long, it sure is nice to mix it up a bit. nice guide frost. props.
Goar of Misha
Oh, how I miss my Troll Hunter. Last year I switched servers and sides to be in my real-life friend’s guild. At that time I was just learning to solo adn 2-man all the BC instances and loving it. Started by mistake with a group in Blood Furnace. I offere to help some lower levels with my gorilla tanking. One player fell asleep, so the other two hearthed out… I continued and solo’d it, well except for the first two mobs.
Today I was catching up on some hunter reading during lunch thinking I would create an alt on my current server. This video made my hunter blood surge. I have posted your site and a link to this video in the guild’s general adn class forums. I have also enthusiastically offered to assist any of our Hunters in 2-manning any instance..
My main and only toon on this server is a Druid … but I forsee a Hunter soon.. now what Alliance racial?? Dwarf? NightElf? ? ?
Dwarf is the best alliance racial — 1% crit with guns.
Hey ho, thanks to your guide I finally started to solo stuff. First stop was Nexus, me and my trusty turtle Donatello went in with a Kowabunga and profited a lot from your experiences. Managed to do everything first try, Telestra being the only boss with which it became a lil dangerous.
The hallway-kiting of Keristraza worked like a charm, although when I first tried it I ran into a pat which I had missed (FD -> repeat), so I encourage people who want to use that strat to take a tour around the hall once and clear the way. I went with cheetah all the time, I think you gain more if you can just concentrate on jump-shotting rather than alternating between aspects, but I guess thats up to personal preference.
Thanks a lot for this site again, HUNTER PRIDE! x)
Frostheim, can you post a list of your full extreme soloing gear, would be nice to see what you use, thanks!
How are the hunters heals during the combat? one health potion is so small…
great information. just tried it got everything down with no problem can get Keristraza down to 50k hp then die lol hopefully i can get around that ;p
I attempted this solo run today after seeing that epic strategy for taking down Keristraza. I didn’t have any problems until Anomalus, and it was my fault for not taking out the rifts soon enough. My pet died, but I ran down the ramp and feigned death, then threw my pet a rez and tried again. Much more smoothly the second time. Everything else went smooth as butter till I hit Keristraza. Haha I wasn’t the best kite/ Jump shot until today. Now I feel like I can do that all day…. oh yeah… that’s probably because I DID. Lol. It took me 7 attempts to bring her down, or rather, 7 attempts to get my kiting and jump shooting skills down, and was able to slowly bring her down.
My armor was in sad shape, my pet HATED me, (there was a point where I pulled it out to sacrifice to the mean dragon lady), and I was almost out of arrows, but man did I ever feel GREAT after I came outta there.
Though I probably should have practiced my jump shooting before I did this. Lol. But I figured I’d learn it as I went. I’m kinda stubborn like that… Experience is the best teacher they say…
Thanx allot for the awesome strategy!
I was about to leave instance after two epic fails on Keristrasza, and then i thought “hmm, frosheim can do this single handed,let me check”.Kitting her was a thought i dismissed earlier, as i thought that she will frost me to death .
As an alternate strategy to kill Keristrasza, i kept BM spec and the pet on passive. This way i had the bonus speed of kindred spirits, plus the healing of the spirit bond. The disadvantage was that i only had 2 shots plus the sting, so it took a very long time…
I was way ahead of her most of the time, i actually went out of range for long . I had to turn in wide angles to allow her to move into range.
The pet got frost trapped some times, but i went out of range soon enough to just whistle it back and mend it at full health.