Vael

[Sir_Die_alot]

My guild wiped on this guy for the better part of 2 months, but now he is utterly farmed. The only time we wipe on him is when we get 3 or 4 priests BAed in a row or we have a new app with us who didn't listen to instructions and blows up the raid. Icebird's guild seems to be closest to mine with what is done.

In our raids we soulstone rogues - our reasoning being that they lose the least damage potential from missing Essence of the Red.

We don't bother on this one. If we fail we wipe and reset.

I tend to disagree with Mavfin - for a group learning Vael, I think you want tanks getting aggro in the right order. Warriors shouldn't be moving into position when they get aggro - they should be moving into position when the previous tank gets BA, so that Vael will not move one millimetere following the transition.

I agree with Icebird. You want to know who will get aggro or you risk spraying the whole raid with his breath. This is a certain wipe. We have 3 melee spots, the MT, the next tank up, and the DPS. The next tank up sits just off to the side of the MT out of breath range but at an angle so that when he gets aggro it won't hit the rest of the raid. When he gets it he moves to MT spot and the next tank up takes that spot. We almost never need a 5th tank and because of which don't designate one. Occassionally we get some DPS deaths and we need a 5th, thanks to KLH we know who it will be.

Some tank BA tips:
I pop shieldwall when I get BA. This helps me last just a little bit longer when the fire damage just starts stacking like crazy.
When the MT gets BA top off the next tank up and keep him that way. A cause of many of our wipes were the next tank up didn't have the hitpoints to take the initial attacks.
Don't quit healing the tank when he gets BA. Keep him up as long as possible.

I've heard the KLH Threat Meters can be useful for determining the aggro order.

We originally got it for this fight, its now a required mod. Not only does it let you plan out aggro issues, it lets you see who is screwing up and pulling it way in advance.

Things that can go wrong in the Vael fight:

1) A tank dies early. This means you usually lose another tank to the BA the previous tank should have got. Warriors are a primary source of damage at 19% and below so you want to keep as many alive as possible for as long as possible.

2) Someone gets aggro that shouldn't (rogue or ranged DPS). Vael turns, breaths, and cooks half the raid (his breath has a nasty DOT component as well as the direct damage).

3) Not enough damage. Typically this happens because people die too early. You want non-BA deaths kept to an absolute minimum.

I'd stack on all the fire resist you can when you're learning the fight - you can even use the Blackrock spire fire buff. Once you've mastered the tank transitions, you can start skipping the buff, and replacing some resist gear with damage gear.

Vael is a very technical fight - it took our guild a long time to beat him, and even longer to beat him without at least one wipe.

Chris