Twin Val’kyrs

A month ago, before we moved to the EZMode Door Strat detailed below, I would have actually said this was one of my favorite fights in ToGC because of the awareness it demands from healers. Unfortunately, despite the buff to the Twin’s heal that Blizzard worked in after TotC was released, this fight can still be largely trivialized with a zerg strategy.

The Door Strat

• Healing setup: 7 healers, with a mix of pallies (for aura mastery) and priests (for divine hymn). Assign 1-2 healers to prioritize soakers, since they will be taking spike damage, and 1 healer per tank (or 2 healers to 1 tank, if that’s your setup.) Because the door strat translates to large amounts of raid damage (Touch of Light and Touch of Darkness debuffs are simply healed through), healers will be spamming their group heals for the duration. The only time this changes is when a Vortex of the opposite color is applied, at which point pallies will pop aura mastery (usually one pally then the other), priests will divine hymn, druids will tranquility, and shamans will bemoan their lack of a powerhouse CD.
• Raid Positioning: After having selected one aura color which they will maintain for the duration of the raid stacks against the (eastern) entry door. The tank(s) and 3-4 “soakers” will select the opposing color; the tank(s) will position approximately 10 yards away from the raid and the soakers will spread out in a semi-circle around the entry portal. The soakers’ job is to keep opposite-color orbs from hitting the raid, so they will be moving about in a ~60 degree area during the fight.
• The Resto Sham: Chain Heal, chain heal, chain heal. Keep ES on the tank (or one of the tanks). Personally, because we only use one tank, I elect to CH through him instead of selecting differing targets from the raid. If a soaker is takes some heavy damage, I will use a GCD on a LHW or RT to keep him alive.
• The Bonus: Post-3.3 this strat still works, although a much more concerted effort has to be made by all during the opposite color vortex (because of the 3.3 nerf to Divine Sacrifice.) Also, congrats on being cheaters. Real men dodge balls. (I say this given that Aftermath uses the door strat; thus we are a bunch of pansies.)

Two Clumps + Soakers

• Healing Setup: 7 healers, 1 per tank plus shamans CH-ing through; everyone else on raid. 1 healer on each side should prioritize soakers, since they will take spike damage.
• Raid Positioning: Ranged and melee are divided into two groups—one with the light aura and one with the dark aura. These two groups position themselves directly on the tanks and are surrounded by soakers on 270 degrees. Soakers are responsible for catching orbs headed for opposite-color groups; tanks are responsible for catching orbs originating near the western gates. The raid is responsible for clearing “Touch of Light” and “Touch of Darkness” debuffs, and for switching according to Vortex colors, so raid healing is less intensive.
• The Resto Sham: Chain Heal, chain heal, chain heal. Keep ES on the tank you’re healing through. Don’t get lead feet and tunnel vision however, you and your group may need to adjust based on if soakers are able to catch all the orbs or not. CH through tank will generally assure you success, but you should toss out LHW/RT on soakers as necessary.
• The Bonus: Make sure you have “Touch of Darkness” and “Touch of Light” set as events in PowerAuras, so that you can quickly clear these debuffs, and in Grid, so that you can see who might need some extra healing attention. You can also set up a warning for Light or Dark Vortex, if you are consistently one color. Also, congrats on being real men. Feel free to flaunt your Muhammad Ali-esque fancy footwork in front of all those Door Strat wusses.

The Last Fight: Anub’Arak >