I got the music working for my recent Heroic Magmaw 25 video, and I’m so happy about it that it will be my first post.
- I did this fight with this spec. I spent half of this fight dpsing, so it’s safe to drop a couple utility talents/glyphs for kitty-oriented ones. I used my normal agility set (as opposed to my stamina or magic reduction sets).
- Magmaw resets his aggro immediately after a Mangle, and immediately after he comes back up from a head phase. The first one can be covered with a simple taunt, but the second is more sensitive. There are two different mobs at work here, the head and regular Magmaw, and once regular Magmaw returns he will head butt the closest target, often a melee dps if you’re not fast enough. The best way I found to counter this is to have an attack that doesn’t require a target (thrash for me, consecration, thunderclap, etc for others) and use it once you see Magmaw stand up again. Then you’ll have time to target him regularly, and continue with your normal attacks. We also had melee dps run out of range just after a head phase, to keep them from getting smashed.
- Along the same lines, even though you taunt after the other tank gets mangled, sometimes Magmaw won’t target or hit you. It’s weird, but you have to be there just in case.
- Magmaw hits the tank REALLY hard after a spew. He doesn’t get a buff or anything, but it’s just something we noticed. It’s best to cycle weaker cooldowns while tanking him. I usually started out with a Frenzied Regen -> Barkskin -> Survival Instincts (I don’t know enough about other tanks’ cooldowns, but save the big damage reduction thing for last!). Magmaw’s Mangle would usually happen soon after I popped SI.
- If you have to choose between the dust on the ground and the fire, always choose dust. Fire ticks for ~75k a second, you will likely die there. The dust (followed by Magmaw smashing to the ground), only hits for 40k and stuns you momentarily. The stun is so short that it won’t even hurt your avoidance.
- Don’t get trapped by ground fire. If a skeleton is going to land in the tank area, run to the melee area. The fire moves around, so even if you think you’re safe in a corner, it will come find you and make you look bad.
- When you get Mangled, you can dps the head. I usually took this time to debuff it with Faerie Fire so that I wouldn’t have to worry about it once the head dropped down.