None of these bosses are all that different from their normal / flex incarnations, but I thought I’d share my notes that I took while working on them. For the general tanking strategy of normal modes, please review my Quick and Dirty Tanking Guide.
Immerseus
There are two big changes here:
- Adds will spawn. They don’t hit hard, but tanks should try to pick them up and AoE them down.
- Non-melee attacks on the boss will usually generate stacks of Swelling Corruption. Even as a tank, more than 5 stacks of the debuff will kill you. I suggest making a weak aura that shouts obnoxiously at you when you have 4 or more stacks so you know to stop attacking. Here’s mine:
dCZmcaWsQsAxuv12OQY(qrzMcvnxPYSfYnPQ0Tf0obP9s2TQ2pa(jiggL63QmyaA4a1bPQ4ycCouPfcKwkvHwSqLLd5HcLNISma55u8yLmvfMSsnDrhgQRsvKNHsUUI2iG6VsvBwkBhiopk1PPY0qHVtvuJefvFJQuJMsgpvbNevCluKRHQ6EuL4ZG6YsghQYkqdrorC(Sqn8Q64SU305Eq6Jk463ye7(LLlSq4R1kmsKreq(Blku0w0wdrEasRzQuaZK3aXYMf3aE8T5ceVaB(QXedgIqfS7(bBWLi36Er4v6U3OHitIrPgI2x)AAYluXjYCZFlIZNfQHxvNp7nK30bjS(o8DWyl)pyyr7R3CZFlqvQu0pdhihmCHmcAGi3wezHbaWyhcnbNU7fLihmCH0q00uXU5NcurRB(PigIw38tiGleopKiM5frpoSmAiObIilmaag7qOj40DVsr7kUzRnydUeXCF8OVa7P4vkYZUDAjO(zlYQCWwPG6NTi2qAntLcyVzfWJLnFwCT5ZJbpU8vJjgCffD4TgIMMQFfHngbQi0fvAikCgLonuQu0kcBmAiY4E4OsKVqG6vLkvkcRHiYcdaGXoeAcoD3lIZNfQHxvhN19Mo3dsFubx)gJy3VSCHfcFTwHrkfbIGgWiWwPea
Talents/Glyphs: Chi Burst and Rushing Jade Wind to AoE adds. Diffuse Magic and Glyph of Guard for the boss’s big breath attack and Swirl.
Gear: Tanking Legendary Cloak/Gem, Stamina consumables and/or trinkets if you die to the Corrosive Blast. Crit or haste reforges.
The Fallen Protectors
There are some minor changes which basically come down to: the bosses do their stuff more. Your role as a tank shouldn’t really change.
Talents/Glyphs: Chi Wave, Xuen (use when the bosses are all grouped up for massive cleave damage), Healing Elixirs.
Gear: There’s not much threatening tank damage, so you’re safe to go with a full dps build. Crit reforges, dps cloak.
Norushen
This is a tighter dps race than before, but your role does not change. Don’t forget to use agility potions when at high vengeance or when in your purification room!
Talents/Glyphs: Chi Wave, Xuen (use in the purification room and once you are purified with high vengeance), Healing Elixirs.
Gear: Again, not much threatening tank damage here, plus a classic dps race. Crit reforges, dps cloak.
Sha of Pride
The heroic version of Sha of Pride will test your ability to stare at DBM timers. The cool new thing will be Pacman, which you never get to see as a tank. The new thing you do actually experience are the purple Rifts of Corruption that periodically spawn. They launch projectiles at you that you need to move out of (or otherwise receive extra Pride). You can close a rift by walking over it once a minute and you should do that whenever you’re not tanking. Also while not tanking, you should pick up adds that spawn from Self Reflection, because they actually do hit sort of hard and can kill squishy people.
Talents/Glyphs: Chi Burst and Rushing Jade Wind to pickup and AoE adds. Healing Elixirs, because why not.
Gear: No scary tank damage here, so use crit reforges and the dps legendary cloak.
Galakras
Exactly the same for tanks, just harder.
Talents/Glyphs: Chi Burst and Rushing Jade Wind for AoE. Healing Elixirs, especially if going up the tower without a healer because those self heals come in handy (there’s also not many other things to use the other options on). Charging Ox Wave to interrupt Bonecrushers when they target an NPC; the short cooldown and ranged use comes in handy.
Gear: There actually is threatening tank damage here, though also lots of AoE opportunities for the dps cloak to shine. I found the tank legendary cloak was more useful on the towers, while the DPS legendary cloak was invaluable down below.
Iron Juggernaut
If you thought Flame Vents hit hard before, then you’re in for some pain in heroic mode. Most of your tasks as a tank will remain the same, though it becomes required that someone (usually a tank) detonates all the bombs. You’ll probably need a cooldown for the bombs as well. To make things even more difficult, the Flame Vents are magical damage and the bombs are physical damage.
A note on the bombs, if two are close together you can quickly click both in succession and save time. It’s also useful to bind the “Interact with Target” action (found in your keybinding menu) so you don’t have to right click.
Talents/Glyphs: There are a lot of viable options here, and your choice will depend on personal experience and what you’re having the most problems surviving.
- Level 75 talents: I ended up using Healing Elixirs because it helped with both Flame Vents and bombs, and my health was dropping low enough to trigger it often. Dampen Harm is great against the bombs, and Diffuse Magic is optimal against Flame Vents.
- Level 30 talents: I ended up using Zen Sphere because my health was dropping low constantly and the HoT was helpful against the tank DoT debuff, though Chi Wave is also a great choice for more control over your healing and more effective raid healing.
- Remaining choices: Xuen, Glyph of Guard for Flame Vents (leave it unglyphed if you need to use Guard for bombs).
Gear: You can easily die from Flame Vents, bombs, and raid damage, so play defensively. Mastery reforges (it reduces the damage from the bombs), tank legendary cloak. Think about equipping some stamina trinkets. Vial of Living Corruption is great for this fight.
