Since Brawler’s Guild came out, I was always slightly behind the curve set by the hardcore raiders. My guild’s team is decidedly casual, and I couldn’t tackle the same bosses with much lower ilvl. But it was still enough for many who were working through the ranks of Brawler’s.
But now, at Rank 8, I have to wave the white flag. My team hasn’t raided regularly for, well, a while. And without a raid team to gear up for, I can’t stay motivated to run LFRs on my own each week. WoW’s a social experience for me…ONLY getting gear quickly becomes work, not play.
As such, I’m stuck a bit behind where I’ll likely need to be to complete Rank 8 in a timely fashion. But I don’t want to leave the WHU guides unfinished, nor do I want to wait months to release guides.
So there’s some tips below. These are cobbled together from my own attempts (where I can make a good showing of a few of the bosses, if not beat them outright), and various guides that I used to help me research them.
Rank 8 bosses are random, not linear like Ranks 1-7, so you could face any of these bosses.
Zen’Shar (Giant Eyeball)
By most accounts, this is the easiest of the bunch. And I’ve found that to be true as well. If there’s a boss I might be able to eek out at my current ilvl (492), it’s this one (Update: scratch “might,” I’ve had him beneath 2%, largely unbuffed, though I still haven’t killed him).
- SV is (usually) the spec of choice here, because the opening phase features a quick but intense AoE burn.
- The dps requirement is somewhere around 120K, depending on how close you want to cut it with the enrage. You’ll spike to much higher than this early in the fight, but then will see your dps drop as you stay single target for the latter portion of the fight.
- There’s a LOT to avoid, and everything in the arena will 2-shot you, but it’s not impossible. Find yourself a rhythm.
- For Alliance, I’m told there’s a “dead zone” for the green lasers along the east wall by the large metal pipe. I tried this and hate it, though. It wrecks your line of vision and there’s still the void zones to contend with.
Epicus Maximus
- Another in the “AVOID ALL THE THINGS” category, this guy looks extremely cool.
- There’s not much to say on strategy. You interrupt Blue Crush, which is basically an insta-wipe if it casts. And you’ll have to dodge about 100 little sonic void zones and a laser beam that will follow you around. Entirely single target, plan accordingly. This sounds simple, but the precision needed on movement doesn’t allow for any mistakes, the speed of everything will take getting used to, and the dps requirement is of course also quite steep. Basically, it’s WAY more intense than even intricate PvE fights require of us, so your focus and ability to anticipate will be tested.
Millhouse Manastorm
Millhouse is the biggest enrage timer fight, but gear alone won’t get you there. He’ll cast totem-looking things that create a beam to Millhouse. You have to stand between them to absorb the damage buff it gives you. This gives you a stacking buff that can stack to 100, and will fall off quickly if you don’t stay in the beam.
Here’s where it gets tricky. Depending on the location of the totems, you may not be able to absorb both. Millhouse can also get the buff, as can your pet.
This is a bad fight for hunters, because our pets don’t automatically get our dmg. increase. There’s two ways to potentially deal with this: Go MM/SV and ignore your pet, hoping to do enough dps yourself, or micromanage your pet to get the buff, but lose some dps time and likely get to 100 stacks yourself more slowly. There’s no right answer; I’ve seen it done both ways. Some notes:
- Wait to blow cooldowns until you’re at 100 stacks.
- Have “Move To” hot-keyed to quickly move your pet into beams. I’m guessing most hunters will need to have their pets get some stacks, even if it’s only after they themselves get to 100.
- If you can’t absorb both beams because of their placement, you can one-shot them with an auto-shot or Arcane Shot. This prevents Millhouse from getting enough stacks to kill you.
- Don’t stand super-close to Millhouse. He’ll throw you off…both annoying and debilitating. Experiment to find the closest safe zone.
Disruptron Mk. 3R-Alpha
This guy can go to hell.
Disruptron is the ultimate awareness fight. I can’t quite describe how precise you have to be without resorting to phrases that will sound like hyperbole. If you’ve faced him, let me know what you think.
Some of the early kills were from those who had a priest cast Levitate on them, which eliminated them from having to deal with the primary mechanic – 3 laser beams that file back and forth across the entirety of the arena. These will, at best, take most of your life away (when faded), and at worst one-shot you. Levitate no longer works on this post-5.2 according to most accounts (I haven’t tested it myself since 5.2), so that’s out.
In addition to the beams, there are cannons that shoot circular pulses that are somewhat hard to see. As with anything at this level, they’ll 2-shot most, 3-shot at best.
My only advice here is to ignore actually killing him until you can survive in the arena. Turn on auto-shot and focus on movement. It will require practice, skill, and patience. Then once you can successfully and consistently exist in the arena for over a minute or so, add in dps.
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Zen’Shar can be downed in the 490′s in ilvl. On the others, and especially Disruptron, I haven’t seen a (confirmed or reputable) kill at less than 500, and most are 510+. Keep that in mind when deciding when to tackle these guys.
