Help Vet Darkshade: Grobull (Netch)

Mix

Hey All,

For some reason my group cannot kill Grobull in veteran darkshade caverns. (We have done vet CoA and have worked our way halfway through vet DSA post 1.6 so I don't think our group is bad.)

When we go with a tank on Grobull keeping him away from us and we aoe the adds it works for awhile but then Grobull just decides he won't be tauntable anymore.

Next we had our templar healer "tank" with the other three of us dps'ing and it goes well until after the third time Grobull goes down, then we just get so many adds and have so much incoming dmg that one of us will die and it spirals down from there.

I save my Ult to drop on Grobull (Shooting star) since it does high DoT dmg while he is laying there. I don't usually see enough Ult gain to drop it on the adds as well as on Grobull once he goes down. (I am a DK magicka-fire staff build and pull 8500 on Blood Spawn - though I have no idea what I would pull as stamina as I am still leveling up those weapon skills).

Our tank is also a DK with a stamina dual wield/bow dps build for when we don't need a tank. Our other dps today was a Nightblade. We pulled this boss at least a dozen times but eventually our healer had to leave for work.

Any suggestions?

yodased

talons works on the little guys. He will become taunt immune immediately on re-taunt within 10 seconds and you aren't getting him back.

Obviously if he ports to you its all about breaking that hold and getting out of the red.

He is significantly harder in 1.6, so don't be sad panda you can't get him yet.

honestly though talons is your friend an the tank should be using magma armor for those oh *** moments.

Cuyler

@Mix,

Usually we will ignore the Boss all together and have the tank aggro the larger adds and any smaller ones they can. The tank I normally run with can tank almost every add at once. When ignoring the boss however he is free to port onto any player at anytime. Therefore save your stamina (don't bother blocking as a dps/healer) for when you're stunned so you can break free and run before he drops the AoE on you.

Next your goal for dps is too CC as many small adds in one location at drop ults on them or AoE burn. Veils, Standards and Novas work great here, talons or Shattering prison for CC. As you destroy a small add, a small ball of blue light will leave the corpse and absorb into the boss. As this builds up the boss will reach his point where he falls to the ground. The faster you can fill up the boss with these auras the less amount of larger adds you have to deal with which is what will slap you silly.

As the larger adds begin spawning have one dps focus only the larger adds with single target dps. If more than 2 large adds up then all dps needs to target larger adds. This usually means bunching up every add for an AoE burn. You must pay close attention to stamina and prepare for a break free here as the boss will definitely port on the group and attempt to stun and AoE you. The trick is to stand just outside the bosses AoE while burning adds in CC. I can't stress enough that the larger adds need to be tanked and that if more than two are up they need to be eliminated. Its more than often multiple slaps from them that either kill you directly or disorient you just long enough to not be able to avoid the AoE from boss.

If anyone runs OOM during an AoE burn, use heavy attacks on the larger adds to regen magicka/stam. If you're having trouble building ultimate make sure you weave a light attack in between every AoE attack when burning adds. Generally if we rotate ults there is always one available for either the adds or the boss when down.

Your healer needs to be healing through everything basically, but focusing mostly on tank as he will hopefully be aggroing a majority of the beasties. If your dps is taking too much damage they're either standing in red (will one-shot you don't do it) or the tank isn't holding agro of large adds. Generally the smaller adds don't do significant damage until you've got 3-4 mobs on you. If you have that many however you're dps is not doing there job or you're not stacking correctly for the ult/AoE burns.

What I noticed happening that causes the most wipes on this boss is that players lose their nerve and begin to kite all over the place. The fight requires some cajones and the patience to stand in a pile of CC'ed adds while the boss is trying to stun and AoE right next to you. As long as you have stamina to break free, you should be confident that you don't need to run.

Hope this helps and Happy Hunting!