Jdotb BFA Q&A #3 - Azerite Traits, King's Rest, Best Dungeons This Week

posted 2018/09/18 at 7:43 PM by Squishei

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What addons or WeakAuras can you recommend for picking the best Azerite traits?So far as I’m aware, there are no good in-game addons you can use to help pick Azerite traits. The best resources for figuring out your trait choices are typically going to be the class Discord servers or websites like Wowhead with player-written guides that recommend traits. You can find a list of the community Discord servers here https://www.wowhead.com/discord-servers. Some of the servers are better than others, but the top theorycrafters tend to share their findings with the Discord servers so it’s usually a good place to start.

For DPS and tank specs (sorry healers), https://bloodmallet.com/ is a great tool for sim-based trait and trinket choices.

Ultimately, though, the best way to figure out what’s good for your character (whether it be traits, trinkets, talents, etc.) is to simulate your character the old fashioned way. You’ll want to pick up the addon Simulationcraft first, and then there are a few methods to go about actually simming. You can either use the Simulationcraft client itself which gives you the most control over the process, or if you want a more turnkey solution or find the SimC client intimidating you can use sites like Raidbots or AskMrRobot to do the simming for you using the information gathered from the SimC addon.

Simming your character yourself is always going to be the best way to find personalized recommendations based on your gear, stats, etc., and it will let you dictate what types of encounters you’re trying to simulate. Asking “Which trait is best?” is an incomplete question; what you should be asking is “Which trait is best for the fight I’m interested in?”. Some fights are straightforward single target (i.e., “Patchwerk” fights), but most fights have variables like how many adds, how frequently the adds spawn, how much movement is required, etc. Traits that are strong for one target might be significantly weaker for five targets, and traits that are good for 30 second fights might be less impactful on five minute fights. The only way to reliably find that out is to sim your character with your own inputs.

If you’re casual and don’t care to invest the time to do some simming, the resources I mentioned at the start of this answer will take care of your needs, but if you’re looking to really maximize your performance then eventually you’re going to need to jump in the driver’s seat and start doing your own sims.

It’s also worth noting that healers can’t really be simmed as the healing demands of a fight are inconsistent and hard to predict. Healers have a few tools of their own that they can use, like the wonderful Healer Stat Weights addon, but questions about which traits to use will typically need to be answered by the theorycrafters of each respective healing class.A lot of raiders were doing Arena last week for gear. Is that something that I should be doing for M+ as well?PvP was a popular pastime last week because the gear it was giving out was high ilvl (360+) compared to the gear you could from other repeatable sources (M+ was capped at 355 and Warfronts at 340). Now that the ilvl caps have been removed, PvP isn’t offering a superior gearing path to other forms of content in the game so I expect that the PvE community will go back to doing its usual thing when it comes to gearing.

However, PvP still has weekly caches, and once-a-week loot will be a big deal in BFA because of the Azerite system and the way that weapons work. The only way to get Azerite pieces above 340 ilvl will be from sources that lockout weekly (raids, M+ caches, PvP caches, world bosses, Warfronts), so giving yourself an additional shot at those Azerite pieces each week will add up quickly in the long run. I expect to see players that are very hungry for ilvl spend enough time in arenas each week to get their weekly cache for another chance at 385 Azerite. This will also be important for weapons because weapons can only warforge (i.e., +5 or +10 ilvl boost) and cannot titanforge (anything +15 or higher). Thus you’ll need the base ilvl of your weapon to be high to ever have a chance at getting a top tier weapon, and PvP caches will give you that chance.

Would I recommend doing arena? A lot of that depends on your skill as a PvPer and how important your ilvl is to you. If you struggle in arenas, you may find it impossible to reach the rating needed to really make PvP gear worth your time. And if ilvl isn’t a big concern and you don’t find PvP interesting, it isn’t going to be a dealbreaker to skip out on PvP. I don’t believe any of the PvP traits are exceptionally strong for PvE, so you aren’t missing out on some unique Azerite piece that’s a must-have. And most of your equipment can be farmed from M+ just as efficiently as it could be from spamming arenas, so you don’t need to worry about getting left behind if you spend your time in dungeons instead of arenas.

Personally, I’ll probably try to dip my toe into rated PvP at a later point this season once raid progression slows down and see how feasible it is to hit 2400 (which gives 385 weapons). I spent a lot of time in BC and Wrath using raid gear for arenas, so it would be a nice change of pace to get a chance to do the opposite.
Any tips for pushing higher King’s Rest keys? I don’t know if it’s a DPS check or if our healer just cannot keep up, but anything beyond a +8 just feels impossible to finish in time.
King’s Rest is definitely one of the more punishing M+ dungeons. Its timer has been extended a few times since its debut on beta (originally 30:00, now 36:00), and it’s had a few of the trash mobs nerfed (the Berserker bleed and Shadow of Zul), but it’s still got some very dangerous trash in it and bosses that aren’t pushovers.

First, some general tips for the dungeon. It will help a lot to have a poison dispel in your group. Most healers can cover this, but priests and shamans cannot, so if you’re running with a priest or shaman healer and you don’t have a hybrid class (monk, paladin, druid) that can cover your poison dispels, there will be a few trash packs that are noticeably more difficult. It will also help to have an offensive dispel to break Seduction from Queen Wasi and a soothe to remove Ancestral Fury from the Shadow-Borne Champions.

Now for the bosses. The Golden Serpent is a relatively straightforward boss: it casts Spit Gold on players which leaves a DoT, and when that DoT expires it will drop a pool of gold. Serpent will spawn an add from each pool of gold when it casts Lucre's Call. The goal for this fight is to drop all the pools in roughly the same spot, and then CC the adds with movement-impairing effects (e.g., Mass Entanglement) so that they cannot reach the boss and you don’t waste time DPSing them. If an add does manage to get loose, just kite the boss away. On high Tyrannical keys, the Spit Gold DoT will do a ton of damage, so you’ll want to have personal defensives up as much as possible when you get the DoT, and the healer needs to be prepared to do a lot of single target healing.

Mchimba has several mechanics but is probably the easiest boss in the dungeon. He will periodically cast Burn Corruption which leaves a large flame patch on the ground that hurts quite a bit. On its own, Burn Corruption isn’t a big deal, but Mchimba also channels Drain Fluids on a player which damages the player and leaves a debuff, Dessication, on the target that slows the target until they are healed above 90% HP. The slow from Dessication will frequently overlap with Burn Corruption, making it difficult to get out of the flame patch quickly, so the healer needs to be prepared to heal the Drain Fluid target asap to restore mobility. Mchimba will also Entomb DPS which places them in one of the four tombs in the room, but it isn’t difficult for the group to spread out and quickly figure out which tomb is the real one by watching for the shake effect.

Council of Tribes features three bosses, and the order you fight them rotates each week. Aka’ali is the simplest of the bosses and has two abilities. The first places a mark on one party member indicating Aka’ali will charge that member and deal a lot of damage. The damage is dealt is split by any party member that stands between Aka’ali and the target, so you want to stack up between them. The second ability places a massive damage-taken debuff on the tank, and the tank needs to start kiting until the debuff wears off. Kula’s two abilities are Whirling Axes which place rotating axes on the ground that need to be avoided and Severing Axe which places a debuff on a random party member that will require a LOT of healing. Severing Axe is the most dangerous ability in this fight and your healer needs to be ready to pump when the DoT comes out. Finally Zanazal casts Poison Nova which places a huge DoT on the group and simply needs to be interrupted and Call of the Elements which places four totems around the room, the most important of which is Explosive Totem that needs to be killed asap or it will do massive group damage.

The final boss is Dazar. Mostly this fight is about avoiding Gale Slash tornadoes and making sure to run Quaking Leap away from the group. His rotating spear phase always starts at the north end of the room, so try to pull the boss there when the fight starts to make the spears easy to avoid.

As for trash, there are some notable mobs. Shadow-Borne Champion gains a 100% damage buff from Ancestral Fury. If you have a soothe, remove the enrage. If not, your tank will probably need to kite. The minibosses after the first boss are all somewhat rough but not necessarily tricky. Be sure to interrupt Rahu’ai and M’bara’s casts, kite out Timalji’s Bladestorm, and be ready to purge Wasi’s Seduction. Be ready to do big healing for Severing Blade from the Spectral Berserkers. If the Spectral Beastmaster successfully casts Poison Barrage, try to make sure the target is standing by themselves so they don’t hit multiple group members with it. Shadow of Zul will maul the tank with Shadow Barrage so both tank and healer need to be ready to use cooldowns, and the healer needs to be prepared to heal party members that soak Zul’s pools around the room.

Even knowing all these tips the dungeon is rough, so don’t be too hard on yourself or your healer if things go south.Late to the game but have just hit 120. Any reputations I should be grinding first and is it better to do Island Expeditions or dungeons?The first order of business when you hit 120 is to start working on your Honorbound (Horde) or 7th Legion (Alliance) reps as those will be needed to unlock Siege of Boralus (Horde) and King’s Rest (Alliance). You unlock the dungeons at 7500 rep into Honored so that should be your first goal. You’ll also want to focus on Champions of Azeroth as Magni will increase the ilvl of your Heart of Azeroth neckpiece by 15 when you reach Friendly and again for both Honored and Revered.

Eventually you’ll want to hit Revered with each of the BFA factions as it will be necessary to unlock Pathfinder (mounted movement speed increased to 220% and at some later point it will unlock flying). You’ll also want to see if any of the factions have recipes for professions you’re interested in, but those unlock at Revered so you should get access to all of them anyway if you’re going for Pathfinder. Each faction has a 350 ilvl piece that you get at Exalted, but at this point in the expansion it will be easy to find gear above 350 ilvl so that probably isn’t a strong selling point for pushing hard to Exalted quickly.

As for concentrating on islands or dungeons, it’s mostly a question of what you need. There is no better way to boost your ilvl than by running M+ right now, so if you just need to gear up quickly then you should park yourself in the LFG tool and try to PUG M+ all day. Islands are still by the far the best source of AP/hr, so if you’re trying to unlock Azerite traits in your armor then farming islands will get you those traits the fastest. You get no gear from islands but at least a decent bit of AP for each M+ you do, so grinding dungeons will do the most for you overall. I’d recommend running dungeons first and then if you get some Azerite pieces with traits you haven’t unlocked yet you can spend a few hours slamming islands. The AP required for each neck level will continuously drop throughout the expansion, so catching up will get easier.Comments on Week of September 18 AffixesThe affixes this week will be Fortified, Teeming, Quaking and Infested.Note: Method Dungeon Tools will show you which mobs are Infested this week.Dungeons Most Affected by FortifiedKing’s Rest - The mini bosses following the Golden Serpent (Queen Patlaa, Queen Wasi, King Rahu’ai and King A’akul) are all scary without buffs, so giving them more health and damage makes this room uncomfortable at best. Spectral Berserkers leave a nasty physical DoT on the tank that stacks, and it can quickly get out of control on Fortified weeks. Watch out for Spectral Beastmaster’s Poison Barrage as it can easily wipe a group if it hits multiple party members. Shadow of Zul will deal a lot of damage to the tank, so make sure to have cooldowns ready.

Waycrest Manor - The Heartsbane witches and Bewitched Captains do tremendous damage to the tank, and the Matrons have a lot of health. The confined quarters of the manor don’t leave much room for kiting, either. The Gloom Horrors before the final boss do a lot of damage when they jump, so you will want to be careful about which party member is standing furthest out (which is what determines who gets leapt on).

The Underrot - You will want to try to steer clear of Tick packs as they can easily wipe a group if they all explode simultaneously. Be careful on packs with Headhunters (who root) and Blood Matrons (who charge and cleave) as you can get one-shot by this combination. Bloodswarmers will be at the very least incredibly annoying and potentially lethal if their Sonic Scream interrupts healers. Pay very close attention to the Spirit Drain Totem from Bloodsworn Defilers. Fetid Maggot’s Rotten Bile can quickly kill a ranged player if it isn’t interrupted.

The MOTHERLODE!! - Be sure to interrupt Hired Assassins as their Toxic Blades / Hail of Flechettes combo can easily wipe a group. Mine Rats target random players with Throw Rock, so be careful not to pull too many and risk bad RNG on who gets targeted. Taskmaster Askari wrecks tanks, so make sure to have cooldowns ready for him. Watch out for Mastermind’s Energy Lash as it hurts quite a bit, and don’t let Feckless Assistants finish their Transfiguration Serum cast or they will turn into Grotesque Experiments which are much more difficult. Be vigilant with Crawler Mines on the way to Mogul as they will do quite a bit of damage if they explode on a player.Dungeons Most Affected by TeemingWaycrest Manor - Several additional Heartsbane and Coven witches are added to Waycrest for Teeming, and those mobs are no joke. An extra Thornguard in the courtyard makes big pulls even more dangerous. The added Teeming trash will make life difficult for the tank.

The Underrot - A few new Blood Matrons show up at the start of the dungeon which is not good. Lots of added Fetid Maggots on the way to the second boss means you probably won’t have enough ways to break their Rotten Bile casts so you’ll need to keep your head on a swivel. Cragmaw’s room has lots of extra Bloodswarmers which might be the most annoying mob in the game. At least the back half of the dungeon is fairly untouched.

The MOTHERLODE!! - You’ll get some extra Assassins and Mech Jockeys before the first boss which isn’t great but isn’t terrible either. The Taskmaster Askari pull before Azerokk gets some extra adds, and that pull is already hectic enough. The real issue is the inclusion of several new Masterminds before Rixxa and literally dozens of new Crawler Mines on the way to Razdunk. This makes battle res skips almost mandatory.Dungeons Most Affected by QuakingWaycrest Manor - The narrow hallways of the manor will make it difficult to avoid stacking up during Quaking. The Triad will be much more dangerous during Sister Solena’s phase as Aura of Apathy will make it difficult to heal through Quaking, and if Quaking and Jagged Nettles come out simultaneously it will likely kill the Nettles target. You’ll want to be sure not to trigger Goliath’s Burning Brush right before Quaking goes off.

Tol Dagor - The cell blocks in the prison won’t leave you much room to spread out for Quaking. Watch for Upheaval on the first boss coinciding with Quaking as that will need cooldowns. Be extra careful with your positioning on Overseer Krogus -- it will already be hard to heal through Bursting Shot combined with Quaking, and any overlaps of those abilities will kill someone.

Shrine of the Storm - There are a couple minibosses in Shrine with heavy AoE damage abilities (Windspeaker Heldis’ Gale Winds and Guardian Elemental’s Shipbreaker Storm) that will make Quaking especially deadly. The Abyss Dweller pulls already do a lot of random party damage, so Quaking can be enough to kill people that get Lashed several times in a row. It will be super dangerous to hold the Whispers of Power debuff on Vol’zith -- letting it fully stack will cap your max HP at 10% so you’ll need heavy mitigation cooldowns or shields to live through even one Quaking.Dungeons Most Affected by This Week’s Affixes
Waycrest Manor - Quaking will make everything miserable because of the close quarters, and the Teeming mobs in here are all going to be nasty with Fortified. Expect your tank to complain a lot.

The Underrot - You’ve got some room to move around with Quaking, but the trash in here was already painful with Fortified, and Teeming adds a bunch of the worst offenders. The dungeon gets back to normal for the most part after you finish Cragmaw, but the trash up to him will be rough going.

The MOTHERLODE!! - Lots of space for Quaking, and some of the Teeming mobs that get added aren’t really all that bad. The biggest issue with Motherlode this week is that it will make you pull even more mobs than you have to pull on non-Teeming weeks (which was already a considerable amount) and the Teeming mobs that show up after Azerokk are a nightmare. I usually recommend trying to death skip the trash before Rixxa and Razdunk, but this week that becomes more of a requirement than a recommendation.Dungeons Least Affected by This Week’s AffixesFreehold - This dungeon already has a ton of mobs in it, so sprinkling in a few extra doesn’t make much difference with Teeming. Freehold is wide open so Quaking won’t be a big deal, and there is plenty of room to kite trash in case the Fortified damage gets intense.

Temple of Sethraliss - Not many extra mobs from Teeming, and enough space to make Quaking manageable. You’ll probably want to avoid the packs at the front as much as possible on Teeming, but otherwise the dungeon isn’t much affected.

Siege of Boralus - Relatively minor amounts of new mobs on Teeming and enough room to keep Quaking from being a big issue. You’ll want to be careful about being stacked up on the last boss during transitions from platform to platform with Quaking.

Comments

Comment by mybelovedchaosAzerite trait weights has a good way of choosing what trait is best for you. It also takes a string from bloodmallet similar to pawn.Comment by lizymarieErm. I know it's a stupid question, but is it actually fine to stream with all the chestage showing? o.oComment by syn1kalAnyone relying on a shaman to dispel their poisons in King's Rest is going to be in for a bad surprise cause shaman lost the ability to dispel poisons the same time priests did.Comment by GrortraughAlways enjoy these articles, thank youComment by syn1kalErm. I know it's a stupid question, but is it actually fine to stream with all the chestage showing? o.oComment by lizymarieErm. I know it's a stupid question, but is it actually fine to stream with all the chestage showing? o.oComment by SkyreiIt should be noted that the ticks in Underrot have been nerfed significantly. They'll still kill ya but they're a bit less hurty.Comment by KeszeyAzerite trait weights is awesome. Just like JB.Comment by TaomaAnyone relying on a shaman to dispel their poisons in King's Rest is going to be in for a bad surprise cause shaman lost the ability to dispel poisons the same time priests did.Comment by KatalynaAnyone relying on a shaman to dispel their poisons in King's Rest is going to be in for a bad surprise cause shaman lost the ability to dispel poisons the same time priests did.Comment by NekroFenixbest tip for kings rest? take a blood DK, if i wasnt so atached to my orc i would race change to belf and have all the tools that dung need in a single char.
grip can even stop non-interrupt casts, like the room of death when the guy starts to channel lighting u grip and it stops giving a big uptime on dmg and cleave in that one. u can also grip the bladestorm to u away from the focused target.
control undead greatly reduces packs dmg (perma CC beserks for last) and increases urs dmg (beastmasters) and leaving them to kill when only 1 mob left. just make sure to control the last beastmaster and set focus on it to refresh it.

spamable aoe slow, stun, mass grip.. if ur a belf blood DK ur done.

Kings rest is by far my fav dung due to this.Comment by madar222Thank you, the comments on the weekly affixes are very useful for me, please keep posting it.Comment by MiraronGood article, there is one issue though a shaman can only dispell curses (+magic as a heal). Not sure how this shall help with the poison situation in King's Rest^^Comment by PandastuckI'm sorry if it's a dumb question, but I'm super casual and also a not English speaker, so can anyone explain what does "Quaking" mean, please? Thanks!Comment by NekroFenixI'm sorry if it's a dumb question, but I'm super casual and also a not English speaker, so can anyone explain what does "Quaking" mean, please? Thanks!Comment by Pandastuck
quaking is another affix, periodicaly each player deals dmg around them to self and other players, also when the cast finishes if it hits some1 casting they get interrupted and silenced

there were some addons to track quaking timersComment by livieDang, I watch JB 6+ hours a day and still learn something new from reading these every week. <3Comment by ElbixionYee, Temple of Sethraliss, such easy instance on this id
Just look at this
https://imgur.com/DH6tJLy]
:D

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Jdotb BFA Q&A #3 - Azerite Traits, King's Rest, Best Dungeons This Week

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