Tanking Quick Tips for Blackrock Foundry

By Sunnier Updated: 2018/05/12

tankshere Gruul Key Mechanics

Tank swap: Inferno Slice @ 3 stacks. Inferno Slice needs to be split with half of your raid group, so you need to stack up with them during the ability cast (you can’t stay stacked on top of them the entire fight, because…)

Overwhelming Blows: This is a cleave ability on Gruul’s current target, and he will use it regularly. (This also applies a debuff that increases the damage it deals, but swapping at Inferno Slice will take care of that.)

Basically, tank the boss facing away from everyone else. When he casts Inferno Slice, very quickly move on top of your designated raid group, then move back when it’s over. When not tanking, stay away from the front of the boss.

Environmental Hazards: Overhead Smash Gruul will occasionally drop ignore tanks and smash the ground.

Cave In / Cave In. Gruul will cause a cave in; this is telegraphed by a white circle and, after a few seconds, falling rocks.

Extra Credit

Use medium cooldowns for the second stack of Inferno Slice, and strong cooldowns for the third stack.

Oregorger Key Mechanics

Tank swap: After each Acid Torrent.

Acid Torrent: Stand between the boss and the ranged group, active mitigation and defensive cooldowns will reduce the damage everyone takes.

The boss doesn’t do anything of note to his current target, so your primary concern is Acid Torrent.

During the Feeding Frenzy phase, kill ore boxes like the damage dealers, while avoiding the boss.

Extra Credit

You will likely have no Resolve when Acid Torrent is cast, so you will either have to use shielding abilities (Guard, ) early, when Resolve is high, or cooldowns that do not depend on Resolve, like Dampen Harm or Barkskin.

Acid Torrent is physical damage, but cannot be dodged or parried.

Blast Furnace Key Mechanics

Phase 1 Each tank handles the adds on a side of the room, which one tank holding the mini-boss Foreman Feldspar.

Tank adds near to the Bellows Operator, but not on top.

Move adds out of Defense, cast by Security Guard.

Environmental Hazards: Rupture, move out of the fire.

One tank can hold all the Security Guard away from the raid while the other tanks the Firecaller on top of whichever Primal Elementalist your raid is targeting.

Tank Swap: Heat @ 3 stacks

Environmental Hazards: Melt, move out of the fire.

Extra Credit

Interrupt Pyroclasm, cast by Foreman Feldspar in phase 1, to reduce damage.

Interrupt Cauterize Wounds, cast by Firecallers in phase 2, to prevent healing.

Phase 3 deals very high, sustained magic damage, and you may want to pick talents and plan cooldowns around that.

Hans’gar & Franzok Key Mechanics

Each tank holds one boss for most of the fight. Tank the bosses on top of each other for cleave. Occasionally each boss will leave, but no tank swaps are required on non-Mythic difficulties.

Crippling Suplex: Use a defensive cooldown a few seconds before this ability is cast. You can’t use any abilities while it is in effect.

Environmental Hazards: Searing Plates and Smart Stampers. Both will telegraph the impending area of death before they land, so you simply need to stand out of glowing areas.

Extra Credit

Shattered Vertebrae, increases physical damage taken for 8 seconds, and is applied to each tank after each boss returns to the fighting space. You can use a cooldown or swap tanks for this, though it is a short duration so it doesn’t require any extreme reactions.

Flamebender Ka’graz Key Mechanics

Ka’graz changes phases regularly throughout the fight. With the exception of Rising Flames, she only needs to be single tanked. Aknor Steelbringer is an add at the beginning of the fight, but besides tanking him and killing him early, there’s not much you need to worry about while he’s active.

Cinder Wolves The one with Overheated (the larger one) should be tanked by whoever is not on the boss. The other cannot be tanked.

Face away from the raid for Charring Breath. Use cooldowns for the second and third stacks of Charring Breath.

Tank swap when the wolves swap Overheated (happens after the third Charring Breath).

Rising Flames

Lava Slash, fire lines on the ground.

Magma Monsoon: swirly circles on the ground, telegraphed before they land.

Extra Credit

Tank the Cinder Wolf on the same side of the room as the other, to minimize Fiery Link damage. If possible, keep the boss and wolf within cleave range while facing away from everyone else.

Use avoidance abilities while the boss applies Rising Flames debuff (appears as the buff Flamefury on the boss herself), to reduce the chance of each application.

Kromog Key Mechanics

Tanks must stack at all times to split damage from Fists of Stone.

Tank swap @ 2-3 stacks of Warped Armor, which reduces movement speed and increases physical damage taken.

Stand inside a Rune of Grasping Earth to avoid damage from Thundering Blows, and kill the hand before the boss needs to be tanked (which happens when he next casts Stone Breath).

Slam – Deals less damage the further you are to the boss, so use fast movement abilities to get away from the boss and quickly return after the cast.

Environmental Hazards: Reverberations, which are telegraphed by a golden circle (similar to sound waves on other bosses).

Extra Credit

Communicate with your co-tank so that you’re always avoiding environmental hazards while staying stacked, or use strong cooldowns if you’re tanking and your co-tank runs away from you.

Kromog will Frenzy at 30% health, increasing the damage he deals and the frequency of his special abilities. Save big cooldowns for this moment.

Beastlord Darmac Key Mechanics

The boss casts Call the Pack periodically throughout the fight, which summons many small adds that need to be picked up by a tank and killed.

When Beastlord Darmac is not mounted, tank him near the next animal you wish to activate.

Cruelfang Rend and Tear Offtank needs to stay away from current tank when this is cast, to avoid it spreading. Tank swap at 2-3 stacks, if necessary.

Beastlord Darmac keeps this ability after the wolf is killed, so you will likely have to deal with it throughout the fight.

Ironcrusher

Tank swap: Crush Armor @ 2 stacks.

Dreadwing

Tank swap: Seared Flesh @ 5-10 stacks.

Extra Credit

You can avoid Rend and Tear by quickly moving away from your previous location after he charges into the raid. This phase can be single-tanked if enough are dodged.

Tank the boss near the Pack Beasts spawn point whenever he is mounted, for cleave damage.

Use avoidance abilities when tanking the Rylak, Dreadwing, to reduce the chance of stacking Seared Flesh.

Operator Thogar Key Mechanics

Environmental Hazards: Trains! Watch out for opening doors or use an addon to run off of tracks that will soon have a train. Also avoid Prototype Pulse Grenade.

Pick up adds as they spawn from trains.

Tank swap: Enkindle @ 2 stacks.

When two trains come down the middle, each tank will have to run to a different side to pick up adds. One will have the boss.

Extra Credit

Interrupt the adds’ Cauterizing Bolt

Save cooldowns for tanking the boss while the groups are separated.

Iron Maidens In progress...!Key Mechanics

Enforcer Sorka and Marak the Blooded need to be tanked. Admiral Gar'an can be maneuvered through taunts, but doesn’t focus attacks on her primary target.

Marak the Blooded Intercept Blood Ritual / Crystallized Blood by standing between the spell’s target and the boss.

While on the Dreadnaught, avoid Corrupted Blood pools.

Sanguine Strikes: This ability only appears at the tail end of the fight. Use cooldowns and active mitigation to reduce the damage dealt while this buff is active on the boss, to reduce the damage the raid takes.

Enforcer Sorka

Blade Dash: The boss will charge away, deal damage to the raid, and deal the same damage to you on return. This isn’t significant damage, but a little active mitigation never hurt anyone.

While on the Dreadnaught, intercept Deadly Throw.

Admiral Gar'an

When you’re not on the ship during the Dreadnaught phase, you’ll have to dodge Bombardment Pattern: Alpha and Bombardment Pattern: Omega. Telegraphed by red circles.

Admiral Gar’an’s final ability, Dominator Turret, will spit out projectiles that need to be avoided.

Extra Credit

Help soak Admiral Gar’an’s Penetrating Shot.

Tank the bosses away from Dominator Turret, to allow more room to avoid the projectiles.

Blackhand In progress...!Key Mechanics

Shattering Smash: Tank swap immediately after this ability lands. It clears threat, knocks back, and stuns.

Phase 1

Start tanking the boss near the edge of the room and spiral toward the center as Molten Slag appears on the ground.

Environmental Hazards: Molten Slag, Demolition, telegraphed by brown swirls

New add, Siegemaker, fixates on a random player and cannot be tanked.

A group of teammates will need to take advantage of Shattering Smash, so don’t away when the spell is about to be cast and don’t aim it into the whole raid.

Environmental Hazards: Siegemaker’s Battering Ram, avoid the front of the add, and Blaze fire spread by the add should it stay alive too long.

Position the boss around the edge of the room, moving to avoid environmental hazards and positioning requirements for the following abilities:

Throw Slag Bombs attaches a bomb that will explode in 5 seconds. Tank swap and run the bomb out of the raid.

Massive Shattering Smash must now be split, meteor-style, among the raid. It still knocks back, so position the boss toward the center so that your raid isn’t knocked off the platform.

Environmental Hazards: Slag Eruption and Huge Slag Eruption, big fire circles that are activated after Massive Shattering Smash.

Extra Credit

Position yourself with a safe space behind you, such that Shattering Smash won’t knock you into environmental hazards or off the platform.

About the Author:Sunnier

Blog: Sunnier's Art of War, rambling about Brewmasters and tanking.

Twitter: @SunnierBrew, bragging about her city's microbrewery per capita statistics.

Comments

Comment by 1438826

It is a good guide, but in 6.1 you can now use defensive cooldowns and abilities while Crippling Suplex is being used on you, in the Hans’gar & Franzok fight.

Comment by siggboy

Acid Torrent from Oregorger is Nature damage, not physical as the guide says.

This means that, for example, Death Knights can mitigate it nicely with Anti-Magic Shell.

Tanking Quick Tips for Blackrock Foundry

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