So we headed into SSC last night. Expectations? 5/6 Bosses downed by Midnight.

There were, unfortunately, some complications. One of our normal warrior tanks (who did Nature duty on Hydross) was gone, as was a Druid who mixed up tanking and DPS. Although we found some replacements, we only had three possible tanks - a Warrior, a Paladin, and a Druid. No one else. No fury warriors, no feral druids. Just us.

Stepping Up On Hydross

About a month ago, I assembled both a Frost and Nature Resistance set so that I would be ready in case I was ever needed to tank Hydross. As a Paladin, I tend to get relegated to add-tanking duty. However, I figured such a time would come as this week.

An hour before the raid, the raid leader asked if I had a Nature Set and told me to bring it. We had a Mage switch out to a Pally alt and tank the adds.

My resist set consisted of the three craftable blacksmithing pieces (Wildguard Helm with Glyph of Nature Warding, Wildguard Breastplate with Nature Armor Kit, and Wildguard Leggings with a regular agi/stam armor kit), the JC craftable amulet (Pendant of Withering), the epic JC ring (Natural Ward), and a Flask of Chromatic Wonder.

That brought me up, with a Hunter in the party, to 365 and I had no problems. At Mark 4, Hydross hits like a bit of a panzy. The only time I got in some trouble, I think I picked up some adds along with Hydross using my shield/consecrate. Whoops.

Although the new add tank had some trouble, the attempt was a success. Woot.

FLK - With Only Three Tanks

We proceeded to sloppily kill Lurker. Morogrim went down pretty easily. While we were heading to FLK, the Raid Leader asked in private chat… “What do we do?”

Typically, we use four tanks. I tank the Hunter/Pet, one Warrior picks up the Shaman, the other Warrior picks up the Priest, and the Druid picks up FLK. We were short a Warrior, though…

So, the brave and overly-confident Paladin suggested, “I’ll tank two.” It was decided that I’d tank the Hunter, the Pet, and the Shaman in the corner. I’d have three Healers to keep me up. And they better not screw up…

The first pull screwed up, but it wasn’t the healers. One of the Hunters messed up the Misdirect assignments. The Hunter and Shaman went to me as intended, but the Priest got sent to the wrong tank and there was no misdirect on FLK.

In short order, I was tanking the Hunter, the Shaman, the Pet, and FLK. I may be good, but I’m not that good. I went splat as soon as the Shammy procced a Windfury.

Second attempt? Much better. Misdirects went off and I pulled my guys into the corner. I was a bit nervous, and whenever my health dipped below about 80% I’d look for a health pot or a healthstone.

By some stroke of luck, I survived. There were a couple times where I dropped down to 30% or so - but very briefly. The healers did a good job of reacting and keeping me topped off, which is the key. The danger of tanking both the Shammy and the Hunter is that the Shammy will occassionally Windfury. With some bad luck, this leads to three blocked attacks - and 10-12k damage instantaneously.

Loots…?

He dropped some pants. I was third on the list. I didn’t get them. Then we downed Leo, and I would have been first in line for the Pally gloves. Only he dropped 3 x Gloves of the Vanquished Defender. Doh.

On a happy note, I picked up a Talon of Azshara.

Why, you ask? Well, I wanted to make the Rogues cry, obviously!

Actually, no. For some reason, nobody wanted it - including two Rogues. Rumor has it that tanking (or at least Protection farming) in Lich King is going to require a real weapon. This looks like a good place to start, and if nothing else it’ll be good for Protection farming with Hammer of the Righteous - slow speed, high damage. Woot.