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PTR
10.2.5
PTR
10.2.6
Guardian Druid Raid Encounter Tips
By Deastin
Last Updated:
2018/06/22
Changelog
Patch: 7.3.5
Rating:
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Welcome to the Guardian Druid Guide, updated for World of Warcraft Legion Patch 7.2.5! This guide is written by
Arielle
.
For more Druid discussion, visit their
Class Discord
, or ask our guide writers questions on
Wowhead's Discord.
For additional class and community Discord links
visit our Discord Servers page
.
Mythic+ Tips
To start, there are some general tips for tanking dungeon content. Since dungeons as a whole are typically going to be a lot longer than a single raid encounter, you will often want to approach them slightly differently.
Always maintain
Ironfur
while tanking. Don't be afraid to make liberal use of
Bristling Fur
to gain the necessary Rage. You can get a lot of value from it in a single dungeon!
Use
often - on trash or bosses - to smooth incoming damage.
Save
Rage of the Sleeper
for use as a DPS cooldown, especially for larger trash pulls where you can get lots of value from the damage reflection and leech.
You will get a lot of use from the combination of
Galactic Guardian
,
Fury of Nature
, and
Lady and the Child
in terms of both AoE DPS and self-healing.
You have limited uses of
Survival Instincts
throughout a dungeon. Plan ahead and know when the best time to use each charge proactively.
If you're having trouble with something, don't give up. Keep practicing and you will overcome the challenge.
Each dungeon, and even each pull within each dungeon should be approached differently depending on each week's affixes. Here are some general tips based on the affixes that affect tanks the most:
is particularly useful for reducing damage from
Bursting
on a short cooldown.
Necrotic
is by far the worst affix for Guardians. We don't have automatic resets like Death Knights or Paladins, so resetting with
Typhoon
and
Stampeding Roar
is often your best option. Manage the size of your pulls to reduce total overall stacks, and use AoE crowd control on any bosses that summon large numbers of adds.
Mangle
,
Maul
, and
Moonfire
with a
Galactic Guardian
proc can all generally kill an orb by themselves during
Explosive
weeks. Help your group by killing orbs so they can help you by killing mobs.
Keep a trigger finger on
Growl
for
Skittish
weeks, and don't forget to hit the mob you taunted before the debuff falls off!
Antorus, the Burning Throne
Fel Bombardment
serves as the tank swap mechanic. Taunt when the other tank is affected by it, and run away from the boss when you are affected by it. There is a roughly 5-second countdown before Garothi Warbreaker begins firing at you. Use that time to gain distance from the boss so you don't get smacked in the face when he starts shooting you. The projectiles have travel time, so as long as you keep moving for all of the shots you should not be hit. Just try not to run over your raid members in the process.
Try to use either
Bristling Fur
or
when taunting to smooth damage.
While the boss does have a melee range of 11 yards, you will rarely be able to soak
Annihilation
without getting out of range.
Use
Survival Instincts
if you get caught by
Fel Bombardment
.
Use
Stampeding Roar
to help your raid run out for
Eradication
. You shouldn't run out though, since it won't do much damage to you.
Quickly separate the bosses at the start of the encounter.
Use
Frenzied Regeneration
after each
Burning Maw
or
Corrupting Maw
to quickly heal the damage.
Use
when the boss you are tanking is around 80 energy to reduce the greatest amount of damage.
Save
Stampeding Roar
to help your raid dodge
Consuming Sphere
.
Mythic Only:
If you are tanking Fharg (fire) you will need to constantly move the boss so that your raid isn't standing in fire. How you move depends on your group's strategy.
Mythic Only:
Save
Survival Instincts
for when the tanks swap debuffs halfway through the encounter, just in case you aren't fast enough.
Swap back and forth with your co-tank to reset stacks of
Exploit Weakness
. Swap at 2 stacks.
Position the active boss next to the current pod so your melee DPS will always be in the shield when it activates.
Make sure the boss is pointed away from the raid so they don't get hit by
Rope Beam
.
Don't be scared if you can't get inside the shield,
Fusillade
doesn't do much damage to you.
Move Portal Keeper out of
Collapsing World
. Try to tank her on the opposite side of the platform from active portals so that if the portal group comes down during
Collapsing World
, they won't land in it.
Reality Tear
is the taunt swap mechanic. Swap at 2 stacks.
Pick up adds as they spawn from
Transport Portal
, and keep Hasabel near the portal so DPS can AoE easily.
Dodge
Felstorm Barrage
, and position Hasabel so that melee can DPS without being hit by it.
For the shadow portal you can pull the miniboss to the portal itself. This way your group doesn't have to carry fire.
Incapacitating Roar
and
Typhoon
are both great for interrupting casts from the adds.
Mythic Only:
Your group may opt to 3-tank this boss. If that is the case, one tank will exclusively do portals and otherwise DPS the main boss.
Fel-Infused Destructor
is the primary tank add in this fight. Hold threat on them, and interrupt their
Artillery Strike
casts.
The other tank add is
Fel-Powered Purifier
. Keep them away from everything else and dodge
Fel Swipe
.
Typhoon
is great for knocking adds back into a bigger pile for more efficient raid DPS.
Sever
and
Shock Lance
are the tank swap mechanics. Swap at 2 and 4 stacks, respectively.
In the last phase, swap so keep each tank's stacks of
Empowered Shock Lance
as even as possible.
Be prepared to adjust the boss if someone doesn't make it out of range with
Sleep Canister
.
Avoid triggering traps, and position the boss during phase 2 so that melee can dps without triggering traps as well.
As a tank you are well suited to clear some of the
Pulse Grenade
from the bridge, but make sure you don't get too many stacks.
Save
Stampeding Roar
to help your raid cross the bridges quickly.
Mythic Only:
You may be assigned to intentionally step in mines on platforms 2 or 3. Be prepared to do so.
Mythic Only:
You may be assigned to clear the red traps on bridges 2 and/or 4. While doing so make sure you don't trigger more than 3
Blastwire
at once to prevent deaths.
During phase 1, make sure you are not within 5 yards of any other players.
Forging Strike
is the tank swap mechanic. Swap after each one.
Help soak
Diabolic Bomb
away from the raid.
While adds are active, position them so DPS can cleave them and the boss.
If you choose to take an extra
Forging Strike
while the adds are active, make sure you use
Survival Instincts
to reduce the damage.
Help soak damage from
Demolish
and
Annihilation
when the corresponding adds are active.
It's good to use
Stampeding Roar
just before
Apocalypse Protocol
to help your raid get into position.
Never move more than 8 yards from your co-tank.
Shadow Strike
is the tank swap mechanic. Taunt immediately when it hits your co-tank.
The easiest way to handle this is to pull, and then run together to the other side of the boss. Once there, each tank takes two steps apart to create enough of an angle that you will not be hit by the other tank's
Shadow Strike
.
Keep Varimathras stationary throughout the encounter.
Keep the active bosses at least 18 yards apart at all times. If using
Lady and the Child
you can use
Moonfire
as a gauge. If you can't hit both bosses you are too far away. If you can, you are just right.
Flashfreeze
and
Fiery Strike
are the taunt swap mechanics. For
Fiery Strike
you will want to swap as often as poossible (at least 2 stacks), since doing so will line up well with
Storm of Darkness
casts. For
Flashfreeze
you can simply swap whenever is convenient.
Use
Skull Bash
to quickly switch targets during swaps.
Face Noura away from the group to avoid hitting them with
Fiery Strike
.
Sidestep Asara's
Shadow Blades
casts.
Position the bosses so they can be damaged by melee during
Storm of Darkness
. If there are a lot of people in a single safe zone during
Fury of Golganneth
don't be afraid to stand in the storm with
Survival Instincts
.
Remain within close range of your co-tank to split damage from
Taeshalach's Reach
.
Taeshalach's Reach
is the tank swap mechanic, taunt when it falls off (around roughly 6-8 stacks).
Taeshalach Technique
is a coordinated Taunt swap mechanic.
Foe Breaker
deals massive damage to everyone hit and debuffs them, making them take 500% more from subsequent hits. This should only hit one tank per cast. This is a good time to use
Barkskin
.
Flame Rend
splits its damage evenly among everyone hit. This should hit the entire raid.
Spell Reflection
is a perfect defensive cooldown for this ability.
Searing Tempest
is a massive AoE damage spell that forces the raid to run away from Aggramar until it is finished.
When Aggramar performs the
Taeshalach Technique
, he will cast
Foe Breaker
, then
Flame Rend
, then
Foe Breaker
again, then
Flame Rend
again, and end with
Searing Tempest
.
The first tank can take the first
Foe Breaker
and
Flame Rend
, then the second tank can take the second
Foe Breaker
and
Flame Rend
. So long as the
Foe Breaker
casts never hit one tank twice and never hit any non-tank raid members, and
Flame Rend
is split across the raid each time, everything will be fine.
Use
Stampeding Roar
for every
Searing Tempest
to help your raid get out of it quickly.
During the intermissions, keep
Flame of Taeshalach
at least 15 yards away from each other and the other adds.
Typhoon
is useful to bump adds into - or away from - the boss.
Sweeping Scythe
is the tank swap mechanic. Avoid getting cleaved when you are not actively tanking, and never cleave the raid. Swapping at 3 stacks generally works out the best.
If you are marked with a
Sky and Sea
orb, drop it where your raid is expecting it to be.
During Phase 2, if you have the
Avatar of Aggramar
buff, move to players with
Soulbomb
and soak it so they don't die.
During Phase 3, tank the
Sword of the Cosmos
at least 20 yards away from other adds. The middle of the room is a good place to start.
Tank the
Blades of the Eternal
add near other adds so it can be cleaved down.
Help interrupt
Cosmic Beacon
, if you can.
During Phase 4, Release Spirit immediately, and quickly move to the Tree so that you can pick up the boss and DPS can get to work.
Death is now the tank swap mechanic. Tank the boss until
Sweeping Scythe
kills you, and continue to avoid cleaving the raid.
When you die, pick up as many
Mote of Titanic Power
as you can before rezzing to keep working on the boss.
Tomb of Sargeras
Make sure you don't catch melee or your co-tank in
Burning Armor
.
Use
Skull Bash
to quickly return to the boss after
Infernal Burning
.
Use
Stampeding Roar
just before each
Infernal Burning
to held your raid hide.
Make sure to have
Ironfur
active whenever tanking Atrigan as this boss hits quite hard. Try to maintain 2 stacks.
Slowly kite the boss during
Bone Saw
.
Skull Bash
is helpful to get out of it quickly.
Face Atrigan away from the raid for
Bone Scythe
Use
Rage of the Sleeper
when in the cage at higher stacks of
Soul Corruption
to help survive more easily.
Face the boss towards the raid for
Unchecked Rage
.
Plan
Survival Instincts
or
Barkskin
for
Unchecked Rage
with higher stacks of
Jagged Abrasion
.
Move across the edge of the moon to clear
Discorporate
.
This fight is not dangerous at all, you're basically just a DPS which gets smacked in the face.
Guardians are much stronger in the living realm due to
Bone Shards
being physical damage.
You can solo soak
Sundering Doom
or
Doomed Sundering
with
Survival Instincts
to save your raid some damage.
This encounter is almost entirely about positioning for tanks. Otherwise there is nothing dangerous about it.
You can solo-soak
Hammer of Creation
with
Survival Instincts
to save your raid some damage and easily recover with
Frenzied Regeneration
.
Use
Stampeding Roar
for each
Blowback
.
Make sure to have
Ironfur
active when tanking, especially the Maiden as she hits quite hard at higher stacks of
Matrix Empowerment
. Try to maintain 2 stacks.
Use a cooldown when the Maiden reaches higher stacks of
Matrix Empowerment
while tanking her.
Try to avoid using
Stampeding Roar
in phase 1 as it can cause problems for
Unbound Chaos
. Use it in phase 2 to help run out of
Rupture Realities
.
Use
Bristling Fur
for each
Felclaws
to get high stacks of
Ironfur
.
Use
Skull Bash
to save yourself if you are in a bad position for
Rupturing Singularity
.
You can soak
Armageddon Rain
just fine to help your raid. If soaking
Armageddon Hail
while debuffed with
Felclaws
make sure you use
Survival Instincts
.
Use
Rage of the Sleeper
preemptively to prevent yourself from being knocked around by either
Rupturing Singularity
or
Demonic Obelisk
.
Remember the add from
Shadow Reflection: Wailing
deals magic damage.
This boss hits very hard. Maintaining
Ironfur
is extremely important while tanking.
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