MMOvalue Gunship Battle Strategy(tactic) Guide
Preparation
Before you start the raid, you must get clear of all mentioned below is a must
-Equipment gatherd from Trial of the Crusader.
-level 245+ gear for 25 ppl version
-level 232+ gear for 10 ppl version
All your tanks and tank healers should be as geared up as possible, as it is quite important.This is due to the first encounter in Icecrown Citadel introduces players to the Chill of the Throne. All Players will suffer an aura debuff which allow mobs to ignore 20% of an affected player’s dodge during melee combat. Also, Lord Marrowgar is a “gear check” boss, if you tanks are not geared enough, they will be easily killed by his Saber Lash will. Meanwhile, your healers will need to be at similar levels to ensure all ppl alive, especially tank.
Also, you guys need to pepare some miscellaneous consumabes:elixirs,buff food, potions ,etc.. These may increase the possibility to obtain the success
Raider Team structure
Your team will be divided into two groups. For the easy understanding of this guide, we’re going to name the two groups metioned below as the Attacker and the Defender
25 ppl version
Tank
-required number:2
-one tank suitable to handle a single mob that hits fast and progressively harder as the combat goes on (Attacker tank), while other tank who is well suited and practiced at picking up and controlling multiple mobs at once (Defender tank).
Healers
-required number:5-6
-at least one assigned as tank healer for each tank, while other 3-4 healers that can help with the tanks and they are also healing the rest of the raid. Assign 1 tank healer and 1 other healer to the Defender, and the rest to the Attacker.
DPS
-required number:16-17
- at least 4-5 ranged DPS to be Defender. The other part of the DPS can be of any variety, and gonna be Attacker.
The last 3 raid spots can be filled by any spec/class combination that suits your raider list. These players will be controlling a vehicle for the duration of the encounter. Not even their gear level matters as the vehicle does a flat amount of specialized damage regardless of who is controlling it.
10 ppl version
Tanks
-required number:2
- one tank suitable to handle a single mob that hits fast and progressively harder as the combat goes on (Attacker tank), while other tank who is well suited and practiced at picking up and controlling multiple mobs at once (Defender tank).
Healers
-required number:2-3
- a Attacker healer, a Defender healer, and possibly a third one to assist once either of two healers has trouble ensuring their tank alive while also covering the other players on their Gunship.
DPS
- required number:3-4
- 1-2 ranged DPS to be Defender. The other part of the DPS can be of any variety, and will be Attacker.
The last 2 raid spots also can be solved as its counterpart mentioned in 25 ppl version
Target
Try you best to utilize your Gunship’s cannons to decrease the enemy Gunship to zero, then you will win the raid encounter.
Mob Introduction
All mobs have two abilities except the Faction Leader and the Kor’kron Battle-Mages/Skybreaker Sorcerers:
Experienced
This buff occurs about 20 seconds after a given mob is in combat, increasing its damage dealt by 30% and speed by 20%.
Veteran
It occurs about 40 seconds after a given mob is in combat, increasing the mobs damage dealt by 60% and speed by 40%. This buff replaces the Experienced one.
Elite
This buff ocurrs about 60 seconds after a given mob pitch into combat, increasing its damage dealt by 120% and speed by 80%. This buff replaces the Veteran one, and remains until the mob dies.
Desperate Resolve
It is an ability used when the mob’s HP falls below 20% It increases armor and attack speed by 60%. A single mob with this buff isn’t dangerous, but healers should watch for damage spikes any time multiple mobs are being killed simultaneously with Area of Effect (“AoE”) damage.
On the enemy Gunship:
Faction Leader – Overlord Saurfang/Muradin Bronzebeard
Both of these faction leaders will be present; while your faction’s leader will help you fight, and the enemy faction leader will defend the other mobs aboard the enemy Gunship. Both of them have the same two abilities, as well as a basic melee swing that starts off hitting fairly light. The enemy faction leader will need to be picked up and tanked any time you have players aboard the enemy Gunship, or he will kill them very quickly.
Battle Fury
It is a buff which the Faction Leaders stack on themselves, and it stacks up to 75 times. Each stack increases its damage done by 10%. This buff stacks each time the faction leader hits his target. It lasts 20 seconds, but new stacks refresh the duration.
Cleave
This is a basic melee cleave attack. It hits the faction leader’s current target and up to 2 other players within range, done 110% of normal melee damage. As is always the case with a melee cleave, this ability means that the faction leader should be tanked facing away from any other players nearby.
Skybreaker/Kor’kron Rocketeer Mortar Soldier
Along the far edge of the enemy Gunship, this mob type stands and fires rockets to your Gunship. There are 2 of these in 10 ppl version and 4 in 25 ppl version. They need to be killed as soon as possible, as they are doing damage to your Gunship. They will respawn up to their original numbers periodically. As a given mob is alive longer and longer, it will obtain stacks of the Experienced buff, which will increase the damage done to your Gunship. All of them should be eliminated at all costs.
Rocket Artillery
It is a 5 second cast ability that launches a rocket toward your Gunship. When the cast is occurring, a roughly circular red animation will indicate where the rocket is going to hit on your Gunship. All Defender players should avoid these animations, so they won’t get hurt by rocket explosion.
Explosion
This is what happens when the above cast finishes and the rocket is fired onto your Gunship. The explosion affects about 10 yard radius, causing fire damage to players within explosive range, and siege damage to your Gunship.
Skybreaker Rifleman /Kor’kron Axethrower
All this mob type stands along the front edge of the enemy Gunship, and randomly does damage to players on your Gunship. There are 4 of them in 10 ppl version and 8 in 25 ppl version. These mobs should be eliminated as much as possible to minimize the damage done to your team, but they are a low priority as they only damage players but not your Gunship. They will respawn up to their initial numbers throughout the fight.
Hurl Axe/Shoot – This is a single hit of about2-3k damage, randomly used on any player aboard your Gunship. It just needs to be healed through.
Skybreaker Sorcerer /Kor’kron Battle-Mage
3 of this mob type there present on the enemy gunship, and they mostly just stand around. However, when the enemy Gunship reaches 75%, 50%, 25% , and then 5% HP, one of them will move to the center of the enemy deck, and begin to channel a spell that freezes your cannons. At that point, killing the channeling mob should be your Attacker group’s first important priority as the Gunship Cannons are the only way to deal damage to the enemy Gunship and defeat the encounter. These mobs will respawn back to their original count of 3 when killed, so don’t waste time on them when they aren’t channeling.
Below Zero – This is the ability that freezes your Gunship Cannons. The caster must channel to maintain the ice block, and will continue doing so until killed.
Boarding your Gunship:
Shortly after pulling alongside the enemy Gunship and starting the fight, a portal will appear above the deck of your gunship. For the remainder of the encounter, attacking NPCs will come out of this portal in packs, with a new pack roughly every 30 seconds. In 10 ppl version, each pack will contain 1 Kor’kron/Skybreaker Sergeant and 3 Kor’kron Reavers/Skybreaker Marines. In 25 ppl version, each pack will contain 2 Kor’kron/Skybreaker Sergeants, and 6 Kor’kron Reavers/Skybreaker Marines.
Skybreaker Sergeant /Kor’kron Sergeant
Bladestorm – This ability is an instant whirlwind effect, identical to the arms warrior talent with the same name. The Sergeant will spin around for 6 seconds, hitting up to 4 players in melee range for damage every second.
Wounding Strike – This ability is basically identical to the warrior ability Mortal Strike. It will debuff his current target, reducing the effects of all healing done to the target. Just heal the tank harder while this debuff is active.
Skybreaker Marine /Kor’kron Reaver
These mobs have no special abilities. They just attack with a basic melee swing, and gain Desperate Resolve and Experienced/Veteran/Elite like the other enemy mobs.
The following detail will be available to help you:
Gunship Cannon
Arranged along the edge of your Gunship, facing the other faction, there will be vehicle cannons that can be controlled by a player. In 10 man there are two, and in 25 man there are four. These Gunship Cannons use Heat as a resource, and have two abilities. Both of their abilities deal siege damage, a type of damage specific to this encounter that hurts the enemy Gunship as well as players and NPCs.
Cannon Blast – This is an instant cast ability which fires a cannon blast at the opposing Gunship and does 1000 siege damage. This ability builds Heat in the Gunship Cannon.
Incinerating Blast – This is an instant cast ability as well, but instead of creating Heat, it uses all the Heat built up, doing more siege damage the higher the Heat was.
The basic idea is to use Cannon Blast to build up Heat in the Gunship Cannon, and to use Incinerating Blast once the Heat is almost full to get maximum damage out of it. However, one must be careful to not build up to 100% Heat, because if you do, the Gunship Cannon will overheat and become unusable for about15 seconds.
Rocket Pack – this is a shirt-slot item that can be acquired from an NPC on your Gunship. When used, the Rocket Pack will allow players to jump a fairly large distance: enough to clear the gap and board the enemy Gunship.
Tactics
As the Gunship begins to fly upward, everyone in the raid should pick up a Rocket Pack from the NPC aboard your Gunship. Only the Attacker players need one, but it’s best to have everyone prepared. Also, make sure everyone has ready access to the Rocket Pack’s use ability (drag it onto an action bar spot, or make a macro, etc.) so they can launch themselves quickly when needed.
As soon as they have their Rocket Packs, have the players who will be controlling the Gunship Cannons get into place. As the two Gunships pull up parallel to each other, the encounter begins in earnest. The players controlling the Gunship Cannons can begin firing, and all of your Attacker players should jump to the enemy Gunship.
Once they are in place, the Attacker tank will need to pick up the enemy faction leader, and keep him under control for the remainder of the fight. This isn’t done through traditional tanking, however. After hitting the faction leader a few times to establish threat, the tank will need to spend the remainder of the fight kiting him around and getting hit as little as possible. This is accomplished by using the Rocket Pack to jump around the deck, staying constantly ahead of the chasing mob. Tanking in this fashion prevents the enemy faction leader from gaining too many stacks of Battle Fury. The tank should always be careful to stay in range of healers though, because some stacks are inevitable. As the fight goes on, this Attacker tank will need more and more healing, so plan accordingly.
If your raid consistently has trouble with the Attacker tank not being able to stay alive, an alternate strategy is to have the entire Attacker retreat periodically to the friendly Gunship for the 20 seconds it takes the faction leader’s stack of Battle Fury to fall off, and then jump back to continue the attack. This is a safer approach as far as player survival is concerned, but will risk more of the enemy soldiers gaining damage buffs because they will die off more slowly. If you choose this tactic, be careful that the Kor’kron Rocketeers/Skybreaker Mortar Soldiers aren’t allowed to outpace the damage of your own cannon users, or it will cause a failed attempt.
The other mobs on the enemy Gunship simply stand in place when being hit. Although they do shoot at those with agro, they don’t do much damage at all. So they don’t need to be tanked, just killed off while the Attacker healer(s) heal up the damage they do to DPS. The priority should be to kill the existing Kor’kron Rocketeers/Skybreaker Mortar Soldiers, and then go kill off as many Kor’kron Axethrowers/Skybreaker Riflemen as possible (hopefully all of them) before the Kor’kron Rocketeers/Skybreaker Mortar Soldiers respawn. DPS should go at a quick but sustainable pace, saving cool downs for now. Once a new set of Kor’kron Rocketeers/Skybreaker Mortar Soldiers has all reappeared, go back and kill them before returning to the Kor’kron Axethrowers/Skybreaker Riflemen. Continue rotating targets like this until a Kor’kron Battle-Mage/Skybreaker Sorcerer moves to the center of the deck and begins to channel Below Zero. As soon as that happens, all Attacker DPS should move in and kill the Kor’kron Battle-Mage/Skybreaker Sorcerer as fast as possible (here’s where cooldowns should be used) since it will continue to hold your Gunship’s Cannons (and the players controlling them) frozen until killed.
After the Kor’kron Battle-Mage/Skybreaker Sorcerer is dead, the Attacker should switch back to the previous rotation between Kor’kron Rocketeers/Skybreaker Mortar Soldiers if they are alive and Kor’kron Axethrowers/Skybreaker Riflemen, until the next Kor’kron Battle-Mage/Skybreaker Sorcerer begins to channel. This continues until the end of the encounter. 1-2 of the Attacker healers will need to constantly watch the tank, keeping in range to heal him/her in case the enemy faction leader lands a hit. The remaining healer(s) should watch for any Attacker DPS taking damage from the smaller adds, but be prepared to help more and more with the Attacker tank as the fight goes on.
While the Attacker are dealing with the enemy Gunship’s ranks, the Defender will have their own battle to fight. At first, all the Defender DPS should run to the edge of the Gunship and hit any Kor’kron Axethrowers/Skybreaker Riflemen they can reach. About 30 seconds into the encounter, a portal will appear in the middle of your Gunship’s deck, and the Defender tank should go pick up the mobs that start jumping out. As soon as the Defender tank has the pack under control, Defender DPS should switch to killing them. If your faction leader doesn’t immediately jump in to help, the Defender tank should drag the pack over toward him, so that he engages, because he does quite a bit of damage.
Use AoE to kill off the weaker Kor’kron Reavers/Skybreaker Marines first (Defender healers watch for the spike in damage as the mobs are brought to low health and use Desperate Resolve), then single-target DPS to finish the Kor’kron Sergeants/Skybreaker Sergeants. Once the wave is dead, the Defender DPS can move back to the edge and help kill more Kor’kron Axethrowers/Skybreaker Riflemen. Every 30-45 seconds, a new pack will come out of the portal and need to be picked up by the tank. Each time this happens, the Defender DPS should turn and kill them before continuing to help kill the mobs on the enemy Gunship. All the while, everyone on the Defender side will have to dodge the rockets being launched at them from the enemy Gunship. Defender healers will need to watch the Defender tank for spikes of damage as each new wave comes out, and also watch all the other Defender players in case someone gets hit by a rocket.
This process of switching targets will continue for both the Attacker and Defender throughout the fight, while the players controlling the Gunship Cannons slowly damage the enemy Gunship beyond repair. Once the enemy gunship has been destroyed, it will fall back toward the ground, leaving your Gunship to continue up and dock against Ice Crown Citadel. Players still on the enemy Gunship when if falls will simply be ported up to the docking point, and once your ship has docked, a chest will appear on its deck, containing your loot.
Caution: there is a bug with this encounter that causes your Gunship to sometimes not dock properly after a successful kill. Due to this, (if your raid team uses master looting) be sure that master looting duties are assigned to someone who will be sure to stay on your friendly Gunship, and if that man dies and can’t be brought back to life with Rebirth, then assign master looting to someone else on the friendly Gunship before combat finishes. Otherwise, you probably can’t access your chest.That will be great pity.