Siege the front!

With spirits still high from defeating Heroic Malygos (25-man), the guid decided to take on Ulduar. A short break was announced for everyone to repair, restack reagents and turn in the quest from Malygos (for those who had the quest). I was one of the lucky few who won the loot [Heroic Key to the Focusing Iris] from Sapphiron. I flew over to Wyrmrest Temple and got my shiny [Nexus War Campion Beads] :D.

Once inside Ulduar, vehicle assignments were given and vehicle abilities familiarized. Most of the raid already new the fight from the 10-man version so the explanations did not take that long. Everyone equipped their highest ilvl gears then hopped on to their respective vehicles. I drove one of the Salvaged Siege Engines.

A readycheck was made... Then it was time to siege the front...


Down the first plank we rode (I was careful not to use Steam Rush on this plank. I already fell one too many times in the 10-man version because of this bug >.<) as choppers zoomed by leaving behind some tar to slow down the approaching enemy dwarves. Demolishers lit up these tars while Siege Engines rammed down dwarf towers. With the whole area cleared and Towers destroyed, we regrouped before Flame Leviathan (Levi). This fight is all about avoiding damage by kiting the boss around the room and interrupting his channeled AOE spell (Flame Vents). We started with the Siege engines and Demolishers spread apart. While Levi is chasing one vehicle, the other Siege engines should stay close to him for Flame Vent interrupts and some dps through Rams. Five seconds before he starts to change targets (DBM announces this), all vehicles close to him should start running away. If you are being chased, immediately hit Steam Rush (if you are Siege) or Inreased Speed (when he starts catching up) if you are the passenger of a Salvaged Demolisher. Levi has a Gathering Speed buff which slowly increases his movement speed for 5% per stack up to 20 stacks. Our strategy was to launch 4 Demolisher passengers into Levi once the stacks reach 10. These passengers are responsible for destroying the turrets found on top of Levi. Once these turrets are destroyed, Levi gets stunned and takes a lot more damage. This should be the time when Demolishers go all out and hurl their Pyrite Barrels. Choppers should also be dropping tars below Levi were it gets ignited by Demolishers for more damage. After he gets out of the stun, just rinse and repeat.

We got him on our third try. On our first two tries, our Demolishers got beaten up. Bad timing I guess, Levi targeted them just after they launched their passengers. With no one to use Increased Speed, they didn't last long :(.


The raid cheered as the last of Flame Leviathan's body parts crumbled to the ground. After the dust had settled I knelt to inspect the loot. There on the ground lay the most beautiful sword I have ever seen in my entire tanking life. And I said that based on its stats, not physical appearance (this sword looked much like a giant toothpick :P). Without wasting any second I grabbed the [Titanguard] (for about 300+ GP >.<). I was lucky that I had the highest EPGP ratio, lucky that Kel didn't drop the [Last Laugh] in our Naxx25 run about an hour ago :).

Argent Tournament - Jousting 101

Patch 3.1.0 gave us the new world event called Argent Tournament. In this event, players are given the right to represent each faction's major cities by completing several daily quests. Once you've completed these quests and after becoming exalted to these cities you get the title "Crusader" (which is a very fitting title for a paladin).


However, two of these new quests [The Grand Melee] and [At The Enemy's Gates] (4 including the champion quests which opens up once you become a champion in one of the cities) requires you to fight players on mounts which may be quite frustrating for beginners. I myself also had a hard time trying to joust (fighting on mounts with a lance) from the start. I kept getting owned by other players in duels as I tried to master this new way of fighting. I then tried challenging the NPC's at the Argent Tournament Grounds and found them a lot easier than dueling players. They follow a certain predictable pattern during the fight which you can use to your advantage. Below are some of the basic steps for winning a joust against NPC's:

1. Before starting the fight, stack up to 3 shield charges (ability 4 of the mount) by pressing ability 4, three times.
2. Talk to the NPC, then hit thrust (ability 1 of the mount) the moment he becomes attackable. The damage may not be that huge but still every hit counts :P.
3. After thrusting, stay where you are and let the NPC walk a few yards. Watch your shield breaker icon (ability 2 of the mount). The number is red when you cannot use the ability (target too close or too far) and white when it can be used. Wait until the number turns white then hit him with a shield breaker.
4. The shield breaker knocks away one of his shields, immediately run towards him and spam thrust (ability 1 of the mount). Always stay close to him to stop him from charging or throwing a shield breaker. At this point you will be exchanging hits for a few seconds with him receiving more damage because of the missing shield charge.
5. The NPC will then back away from you to prepare for a charge. What you should do is run opposite his direction while watching your charge icon (ability 3 of the mount). Once the icon's number turns white, hit it and your mount will go charging towards him. Your mount will still move fast after the hit, use this momentum to position yourself back close to him and fire a shield breaker if you can. Refresh shield (ability 4 of the mount) when in melee range, there may be a chance that he will also hit you with a shield breaker or even a charge. This also prevents your shield from falling off.
6. Repeat step 4 until victorious.

The above steps will assure you of a win, however the fight will be a long one. After several fights, I got bored and made up a new technique for a much faster win. Below are my improvised jousting techniques for a speedy battle. The first three steps are just like the basic technique (above). The variation starts at step 4.

1. Before starting the fight, stack up to 3 shield charges (ability 4 of the mount) by pressing ability 4, three times.
2. Talk to the NPC, then hit thrust (ability 1 of the mount) the moment he becomes attackable. The damage may not be that huge but still every hit counts :P.
3. After thrusting, stay where you are and let the NPC walk a few yards. Watch your shield breaker icon (ability 2 of the mount). The number is red when you cannot use the ability (target too close or too far) and white when it can be used. Wait until the number turns white then hit him with a shield breaker.
4. Run towards the NPC and hit thrust (ability 1 of the mount) two times.
5. Strafe left (or right, depending on the area of battle. Run towards the open field.). The NPC will follow you, just keep strafing. Watch the shield breaker icon and hit it once the number turns white.
6. Check his shield status. If he still has some shield charges up, repeat step 5.
7. Once his shield is gone, strafe again but this time watch the charge icon instead. Hit it when the number turns white (make sure that you're facing him while hitting the charge button. You can do this by holding the strafe button, jump then move mouse to face him.). Immediately press thrust (spam 1 while charging) once your charge hit the NPC. You can sneak some additional damage this way.
8. Use the addtional momentum to go back within melee range then fire a couple of thrusts.
9. Repeat step 5 until victorious.

You can defeat the NPC in less than a minute using the above steps so there's no need to worry about your shield wearing off. You may also lose a few shield charges along the way, however your enemy will go down quick so there's no need to refresh your shield charges. If you haven't mastered the above steps yet, just play safe and refresh shields whenever you can :P.

Note: Your mount action bars may vary depending on the UI you are using. In this article, I am referring to Blizzard's default UI.

How to Grasp Wintergrasp [Alliance]

I had been a tankadin my entire WoW life (started at BC era) even when I leveled from 70-80 :O. After the dual-spec option came out I finally tried the retribution tree and now... I love to clobber mobs and players on the head (inside WoW of course :P). I was surprised how fast I could kill mobs, with a swing or two they go down. Questing has been so much easier resulting in me doing about 15 dailies per day. When I run out of dailies I go to battlegrounds and bash players there. I then started joining Wintergrasp (WG) events and now I got hooked to it that I join WG every chance I get. I even installed an addon to announce if WG is starting.

Having been in a number of battles, I managed to create a list of things to DO and NOT DO in order to win a game.

Wintergrasp defense:
1. Do NOT, I repeat, do NOT attack the West Workshop at the beginning of the battle. You're wondering why not? Firstly, the Horde spawns from the west and they usually come in "hordes" at the beginning of a battle. We don't want to get outnumbered now would we? Secondly, the horde will get a lot of kills at the start of the battle thus resulting in a vehicle rush. They will easily max out their rank and a LOT of siege engines will be coming our way which would surely result to a very epic FAIL.
2. Man the cannons on the west. These cannons are pretty deadly especially if aimed well.
3. Stay within the fortress or outside the fortress within cannon range. The fortress has a pretty solid defense, use this to your advantage. This would shed off a good 5 minutes or more from the counter while the horde desperately look for kills to raise their ranks and be able to purchase siege engines.
4. Assign a group (5 players will do) to destroy the horde towers and capture horde workshops. Do not waste manpower by sending a large group to destroy towers, let the rest help in defending the fortress. The most effective path to take would be from taking East workshop then attacking South-East tower, South tower then South-West tower. Destroying and capturing Horde workshops in between the towers helps as well. There is also a trick where you cut off the Hordes Vehicle supply by taking West Workshop when most hordes have already gotten in the fortress.

Wintergrasp offense:
1. Let some melee classes capture the east workshop while all ranged classes attack the fortress and start taking out the cannons. Take the cannons out as early as possible. They have low HP so this would not be much of a hassle. If you have a few ranged classes (which I doubt), get catapults early on to help destroy the cannons.
2. After maxing your rank, run back to the workshop and start creating siege engines. Don't be greedy by creating just one for yourself but create lots of siege engines so that many can benefit from it. If you do this, start announcing to the raid (or in /1) that you are creating siege engines and specify which workshop you are making them.
3. As much as possible, do not attack with siege engines when you are alone. Look for gunners or better yet, wait for the other players to get on the other siege engines then attack together. Attacking with a single vehicle is pretty much a suicide. They can easily spot you and focus fire could bring the vehicle down pretty quick.
4. When attacking with vehicles, attack the fortress from the north east side (see map here). This side has lesser cannons (if cannons were not destroyed earlier on) and as an added bonus, inside you can find a horde workshop. Destroy the workshop to help minimize the number of vehicles the horde will be creating.
5. If the fight drags on, assign people to defend the towers (or at least slow down their destruction).

Bubble-Hearth Denied!

It was a bright and sunny afternoon. We just finished defending Wintergrasp from the evil horde and there I was, browsing the goods sold by Knight Dameron, minding my own business when out of nowhere a Blood Elf Paladin started firing judgements on me. Angered by this sneak attack, I quickly put my Seal up and started firing judgements myself. With one quick cast he stunned me as he tried to get around me. Panic struck me since getting hit at the back is not something you would want to experience...ever. Using all my might I freed myself from his stun and quickly turned to face him raising my shield altogether. He struck, I blocked, and he got hit by the reactive spell that I had already placed on my shield. My arm ached from the strength of his blow while he staggered back arms and head bloodied. I took advantage of this lapse by lurching forward and hammering him with a stun. I then consecrated the ground below him, fired a powerful judgement and finished with a powerful slam using my shield. His life waned, slowly eaten away by my judgements. He then cast a bubble to protect himself from more attacks then started to use his hearthstone to teleport away to safety. Unfortunately for him I am a Paladin myself and I know the weakness of such a technique... In the end, he lay there bloodied and lifeless.

EDIT: Since patch 3.1, players are now immune to this spell's damage making this trick no longer work. I have mixed emotions about this change though, happy that it is now safe to use bubble-hearth when I encounter hordes of horde (not that I use this everytime) and sad that I can no longer deny Paladin Hordes their bubble-hearth...

Divine Intervention 101

"No sacrifice goes unrewarded. The ultimate sacrifice has great rewards indeed." -wowwiki

To cast Divine Intervention (DI) successfully, the following requirements should be met:

1. Make sure you have learned the spell Divine Intervention from your local paladin trainer.
2. Buy the spell reagent Symbol of Divinity from friendly reagent vendors.
3. Place the Divine Intervention spell from your spellbook to any spell slots available. We don't want to lose a few seconds browsing our spellbook for the spell during battle now would we?
4. Target (click) the player you want to DI then cast (click) the Divine Intervention spell. This is known to fail sometimes so just to be sure, just cast the spell first then target it to the player.
5. Better yet, just create a macro like below:

/target Sealtiel
/y Casting Divine Intervention on psycho priest!
/y It is a good day to die!
/cast Divine Intervention

Well, to be safe, just use the macro below. (The psycho priest may already be long dead before you can cast the spell. >:) )


/y Casting Divine Intervention on %t!
/cast [target=target, help, nodead] Divine Intervention

(Just be sure to click the player to be DI-ed before using the macro.)

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Some tips:
- Make sure that the target for the spell will be far away from any mobs.
- Make sure that you are in range of your target.
- Make sure that the target is in your line of sight.
- Make sure that you are alive during casting.