2 Priests, 2 Hunters, and a Rogue walk into BRD...

[Pesmerga]

Throughout my playing of WoW, I've more or less grouped with the same people, in our guild, Contra Malum. Myself and Quark are both part of this guild, and have our level 60 characters specced the way we want them. We've tackled every instance thrown at as thus far, starting with the Deadmines, and until recently, ending with Sunken Temple.

Next on our list, Blackrock Depths.

I've been told that the higher level instances require a dedicated tank, and a mage. And while we have yet to try to take on such places as Scholomance and Strathholme, it has been proven that BRD can be done with our group.

Using a combination of saps, freeze traps, and mind controlling, we managed to defeat every mob, complete every quest, and even steal a seat on the Emperor's throne.

While it wasn't easy, it sure was interesting, and our party chemistry has worked well to this point.

And with that, here's our nifty screenshot :)



Edit: Gah, I can't spell

[Tal]

Congrats!

[Raelynn]

Few more weeks and some of you will be running through there again with a Warlock and a warrior. Hope you're not sick of the place. ;)

[Drasca]

Few more weeks and some of you will be running through there again with a Warlock and a warrior.  Hope you're not sick of the place.  ;)
[right][snapback]73400[/snapback][/right]

Hehe Warlocks own BRD ;) Successfully ran 5-man BRD with guildmates up to and through 7 dwarves at level 54 as WL. Banish, off-tank VW /w health funnel (off-loading mana requirements of healer), seduce (sometimes), and fearing those ever deadly fire elementals ftw. Shield/Renew vw, send him in to golems, whack all the normals, steal aggro back from golem.

You'll *like* BRD... until it becomes too easy.

[BoddoZerg]

Wow. No tank and no mage. How'd you get past the Lyceum? Congrats.

Just yesterday I did a full LBRS run (except for Urok Doomhowl) in a 5 man with a fullly Shadow specced priest (Myself) main-healing, a Rogue who didn't have Improved Sap, and a lv. 59 Fury warrior with really low HP tanking. It was hilarious fun and proves that the high end instances are nowhere near as difficult as some say.

[Raelynn]

Hehe Warlocks own BRD ;) Successfully ran 5-man BRD with guildmates up to and through 7 dwarves at level 54 as WL. Banish, off-tank VW /w health funnel (off-loading mana requirements of healer), seduce (sometimes), and fearing those ever deadly fire elementals ftw. Shield/Renew vw, send him in to golems, whack all the normals, steal aggro back from golem.

You'll *like* BRD... until it becomes too easy.
[right][snapback]73461[/snapback][/right]

Sounds like fun. I've always wanted to try my hand at Mauradon and Dire Maul using enslave pulls, but I'm not gonna work with that until I start seeing the enslave complaints answered in the forums. Nothing like 30s max reenslaves...

[Quark]

How'd you get past the Lyceum?
[right][snapback]73527[/snapback][/right]

I had heard it was manageable before, but it took a few tries to figure it out. A single Rogue can make the Lyceum passable with effort. First, tell the rest of the group to stay back. Their only job at the beginning is to fight to you for a res if you die torch in hand. Second, make sure loot is FFA!

Stealth around and look for the Flamekeepers. They spawn in about 5 different spots, have a quick respawn (meaning you can afford to mess up), and there are 2 out at a time (I think). If you watch their walking pattern carefully, you can occasionally find a hole where they're far enough from everything else to prevent drawing aggro. Ambush them, kill as quickly as possible, loot immediately, and restealth if you didn't get aggro. If you did get aggro, you have two choices: Vanish (and pray it works) or just run towards the door so your group can get to your body easier. If this happens, make sure they know to let you die. If you have to walk back from the graveyard, you won't make it in time, so it's important the group stays back and lives. I tend to not use vanish here, and you'll see why in a bit.

Once you are stealthed, torch in hand, head to an elemental. Start from in between the torch spot and elemental. Cheap shot, sinister strike to 5 combo points, then Kidney Shot. Immediately plant the torch - you have just enough time - then Vanish and run away. Wait, you used vanish before? Then it's time to walk from the graveyard :unsure:

Then wait for your cooldowns to expire and repeat on the next Flamekeeper :). With no respawns, Lyceum is doable even with Hunter's AoE.

[Drasca]

Sounds like fun.  I've always wanted to try my hand at Mauradon and Dire Maul using enslave pulls, but I'm not gonna work with that until I start seeing the enslave complaints answered in the forums.  Nothing like 30s max reenslaves...
[right][snapback]73529[/snapback][/right]

Actually, its best if you don't *enslave pull*. 30 seconds? More like 3.

Have your tank/rogue charge in and stun the one of the weaker demons. There are usually two. This is a distracting manuever. Begin banishing the other weaker demon as they charge/stun, and then with hotkeyed curse of shadows lowering their resist to enslave, enslave the most powerful one (usually Betrayer or Hellcaller). Let your party know the plan first, so they don't waste time attacking your intenteded enslave/banish targets.

Modifiy this procedure with Hellcallers/imp groups. Charge/stun the hellcaller, then they'll focus on the imps. Have others hold off damage AoE, and run in near the hellcaller (have mages/other AoE casters follow closely). Run to hellcaller by the imps. While running, instant cast curse of shadows, and enslave when close enough to spit on the hellcaller. Use the hellcaller's Rain of Fire ability on top of your own, and have your other party AoE now. You might have to recast Rain of Fire.

Ideally, that Hellcaller battle takes 20 seconds. I've done it in 15, but it sometimes takes more too.

[BoddoZerg]

I had heard it was manageable before, but it took a few tries to figure it out.  A single Rogue can make the Lyceum passable with effort.  First, tell the rest of the group to stay back.  Their only job at the beginning is to fight to you for a res if you die torch in hand.  Second, make sure loot is FFA!

Stealth around and look for the Flamekeepers.  They spawn in about 5 different spots, have a quick respawn (meaning you can afford to mess up), and there are 2 out at a time (I think).  If you watch their walking pattern carefully, you can occasionally find a hole where they're far enough from everything else to prevent drawing aggro.  Ambush them, kill as quickly as possible, loot immediately, and restealth if you didn't get aggro.  If you did get aggro, you have two choices: Vanish (and pray it works) or just run towards the door so your group can get to your body easier.  If this happens, make sure they know to let you die.  If you have to walk back from the graveyard, you won't make it in time, so it's important the group stays back and lives.  I tend to not use vanish here, and you'll see why in a bit.

Once you are stealthed, torch in hand, head to an elemental.  Start from in between the torch spot and elemental.  Cheap shot, sinister strike to 5 combo points, then Kidney Shot.  Immediately plant the torch - you have just enough time - then Vanish and run away.  Wait, you used vanish before?  Then it's time to walk from the graveyard  :unsure:

Then wait for your cooldowns to expire and repeat on the next Flamekeeper :).  With no respawns, Lyceum is doable even with Hunter's AoE.
[right][snapback]73530[/snapback][/right]

That's very interesting.

I was wondering whether your Hunters had used Exploding Trap. I recall during my one semi-successful 5-man BRD run (We got all the way up to Emperor, he wiped us twice in a row and we were SoL), our Hunter kept on using Feign+Exploding Trap to put fire DoT on multiple enemies. With two Hunters, maybe that'd be enough to get through the Lyceum?

[Pesmerga]

That's very interesting.

I was wondering whether your Hunters had used Exploding Trap. I recall during my one semi-successful 5-man BRD run (We got all the way up to Emperor, he wiped us twice in a row and we were SoL), our Hunter kept on using Feign+Exploding Trap to put fire DoT on multiple enemies. With two Hunters, maybe that'd be enough to get through the Lyceum?
[right][snapback]73581[/snapback][/right]

We we're using exploding trap. What we would do is place them down, one behind the other, far enough so that one would not take out the other. Then, one of us would run and body aggro the mobs (usually 10-12) and bunch them up, run back through both traps, making sure to get each mob the damage and DOT. From there, Volley was also used by the Hunter with the least amount of aggro, also doing a great deal of damage.

Controlled Chaos. It's what we are good at.

[BoddoZerg]

We we're using exploding trap.  What we would do is place them down, one behind the other, far enough so that one would not take out the other.  Then, one of us would run and body aggro the mobs (usually 10-12) and bunch them up, run back through both traps, making sure to get each mob the damage and DOT.  From there, Volley was also used by the Hunter with the least amount of aggro, also doing a great deal of damage.

Controlled Chaos.  It's what we are good at.
[right][snapback]73583[/snapback][/right]

I had another interesting idea. A Fire Nova totem (15 second cooldown) does 400-500 AoE damage in a radius similar to Arcane Explosion. That's enough to reduce the Lyceum mobs to very low HP, where a Magma Totem (no cooldown) could kill them.

As long as some kind of aggro-drawing shout is used first, or even a Stoneclaw Totem, it should be possible for a Shaman to be an AoE damage dealer for a Lyceum group. So even if you have no Mage, it should be completely possible to AoE your way through the Lyceum.