Okay. So after a quite spectacular FAIL in Pit of Saron the other day, I am, for my own benefit, posting a review of boss mechanics for both Scourgelord Tyrannus and the Devourer of Souls from Forge of Souls.

Both of these bosses have an ability where they transfer incoming damage to another player in the party.

POS: Tyrannus

(For added humor, remember that “POS” is also the acronym for “piece of shit.”)

Tyrannus is the last boss in Pit of Saron. The main ability he has that causes problems is Overlord’s Brand. Overlord’s Brand causes one of two effects:

  • Any damage done by the branded individual is amplified redirected to Tyrannus’ target.
  • Any healing done by the branded individual is amplified & mirrored to Tyrannus.

It is very obvious who is branded, as there are little lines of lightning between you and the boss.

What this Means for DPS:

NO DOTS. Which sucks for warlocks (among other classes) because a large portion of our damage comes from the DoTs we cast. Boomkins and Feral druids are also gimped by this. Death Knights can’t use diseases.

STOP CASTING. The minute the warning comes up on Deadly Boss Mods (you are using DBM or some other party fight warning, right?) stop doing anything.

Any damage you do from the second the Brand is applied, will get transferred teh the tanks.

This includes DoTs already on teh target, as well as spells “in flight”. I need to do the fight again with a good group. I don’t recall if there is a cast time, or if it’s an immediate application. If there’s warning, interrupt your own casting.

I could not find anything that stated explicitly whether or not the targeted player’s pet’s damage would also transfer. I pulled my pet back, just to be safe, but it may not be necessary since they tend to count as their own damage source.

What this Means for Healers:

If you have an off spec healer, ask them to help out if you get branded. Otherwise, your heals will still hit the tank, they’ll just also hit Tyrannus.

Pretty much, you hope that the healer doesn’t get branded too much.

FOS: Devourer of Souls

Devourer is the end boss in Forge of Souls, which has a very similar ability to Overlord’s Brand called Mirrored Soul.  (Copy cat…).

Opposite to Brand, when Mirrored Soul is cast, the target begins RECEIVING damage done to Devourer. ALL players must stop DPS immediately so the player who is targeted by Mirror doesn’t go down in a blaze. This includes pets.

As with Brand, all DoT’s, including those already on the target, will transfer damage.

Why this is so Frustrating

First off, it’s frustrating because both mechanics severely gimp the DPS output of many classes. Warlocks, Feral & Balance Druids all have DoT-heavy rotations. For Death Knights, their Diseases are a large part of their DPS, and many of their skills are amplified when their diseases are on the target.

These fights remove a goodly portion of DPS for those classes.  If I was going to play these fights by the book, Caliban would be casting one spell: Shadowbolt (Or incinerate for destro).  That is one spell, as opposed to 3-to-5 in a normal rotation.

As a warlock, I already have trouble doing DPS in heroics. (I REALLY need to do a full Destro spec for the burst damage), and this just makes me feel even more gimp.

Secondly, it’s an idiot check. And when the idiots are killing other people, instead of earning their own special Darwin Award, it’s incredibly frustrating.

In the age of GearScore, people have this notion that they can just face roll these instances. And with the level of gear players currently easily have access to through the badge system, that’s true in a lot of cases. There are some fights where you need to be situationally aware and get out of the fire, but for the most part as long as your IQ is on par with a chimp, you can get through most things.

However, in the Icecrown Citadel 5-mans the difficulty was ramped up severely. You can’t treat them like Heroic Utgarde Keep, you have to pay attention to what you’re doing, and some players just can’t or won’t do so, because they’re so concentrated on — whatever they’re concentrated on. On most fights, 4 competent people can cover for one idiot. On these fights, one idiot can get someone else killed.

And if you have more than one idiot…

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