If you can dodge a wrench...

I have a favorite fight of the expansion. It's been a long time coming, particularly since we are on the third full raid instance of Wrath, and nothing before it had tickled my fancy.

I have fairly high standards for the Favorite Fight title. The encounter has to represent everything about raiding I value: Fun fight, complex strategy, individual accountability, and (of course) the potential to do my job very well: AWESOME DEEPS. In 3.0, I suppose I could say that my favorite fight was Sarth plus Three Drakes, though at the time that last part was lacking, it had everything else up to par. Ulduar was more difficult. When a current guildee asked me what my favorite boss fight in the instance was, I had to actually think. XT would be up there, but hunters are always on bitch spark duty, so it's not as fun. Thorim would probably be it, but it is lacking in the complex strategy department.

So what about Trial of the Crusader? It's not like any of these fights are vastly different on Heroic verses Normal. Honestly, I'm not sure why the Heroic Twin Val'kyrs appeals to me so much. They don't have any different abilities, nor does the fight have any new things to kill. But as we worked on it last night, getting to 9% on our best attempt before our excitement overtook us, I was getting that feeling of thrill reminiscent of the old days. I felt like I was working on the Illidari Council again, and loving it.

The Twin Valks is a fight that can be done many different ways, and in the end, it is about finding a strat that is comfortable for the raid and sticking with it. Ours relies heavily on individual accountability, since every single DPS must change portal color and start dpsing the appropriate boss immediately should the special ability call for it. It also requires the raid to recognize their color and dodge the opposite-colored orbs if the soakers can't dive for them. It's wrought with dependence on the individual raider's ability to stay alive, and I love it.

Originally, the hunters were soaking. Obviously, this wasn't ideal for us, but we did it since the job was deligated in our direction. It was a bitch, no joke, since at best we might be able to shoot instant shots from the side as we run around trying to get orbs. Then another raider had her boyfriend watch us over her shoulder, and we drew from his suggestions to use Unholy DKs as soakers instead. Then I was in heaven.

This fight is a MM hunter's dream. Why? Piercing Shots. Any stacking DoT is going to do something similar to exponentially more DPS than any other normal ability. Check out this Recount for one attempt:


A 15k tick!! /faint