Transmog yourself into an Avenger!
6 blue posts to read before Diablo 3's launch
Cross-realm zones coming soon
All of the latest Mists of Pandaria newsWorld-first Val'anyr formed by Avant Garde
by Eliah Hecht 
Jun 8th 2009 at 1:00PM
If you're a raiding healer, you almost certainly know this already: Ulduar-25 contains a legendary healer mace, called Val'anyr. To craft it, you have to gather 30 Fragments of Val'anyr, which drop from both normal and hard-mode 25-man Ulduar fights (though they always drop on hard-mode, and only have a chance to drop on normal). You then have to throw the combined collection of fragments at Yogg'Saron while fighting him when he uses the "Deafening Roar" ability, which he only uses on hard mode. After that, defeat Yogg, and Val'anyr is yours.
Well, someone has now completed all of the above steps: Snuggleme, a resto druid of Avant Garde on Kil'jaeden. Congratulations on what appears to be the world-first Val'anyr! We know exactly what it does already, but I'm still curious what it feels like to use it in a real raid - hopefully Snuggleme can give us some insight in weeks to come. Also congratulations to Impervious of Stormreaver, who collected their 30th Fragment last week on a hard-mode Yogg-Saron kill, and will be forming the hammer this week.
Filed under: Druid, Items, Guilds, News items, Raiding
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
niko Jun 8th 2009 1:08PM
Gratz to both a great PvE'er, as well as a top-notch PvP'er.
Gotta give props to such a well-rounded player overall.
Heilig Jun 8th 2009 1:14PM
He's wearing his PvP gear in the SS of the ultimate raid weapon. I LOL'd. This proc is going to be stupid OP in arenas.
jfofla Jun 8th 2009 1:15PM
But, but...they are not Euros!
Grats to AG. I used to play Allies on KJ and they are a long time KG power.
jfofla Jun 8th 2009 1:17PM
Argghhh KJ not KG.
WTB an Edit function.
Rawtashk Jun 8th 2009 1:32PM
Hmm...must not have had a good pally in their main raider group.
Ohnoto Jun 8th 2009 1:35PM
That mace is a healer mace, not a paladin mace.
Manatank Jun 8th 2009 1:48PM
It baffles me the insistence that this weapon should go to a tank healer. Why would a paladin need that proc? So more of their holy light is over heal?
Give this to an aoe raid healer and suddenly massive portions of the raid are shielded.
Both applications are effective, but I actually believe the raid healing application will prevent more wipes than more shielding on a tank.
Nick S Jun 8th 2009 1:51PM
I had the same thought as Rawtashk at first - the proc absolutely lends itself to the Paladin healing style. At the same time, though, if they've formed it they probably don't have too much trouble clearing Ulduar hard modes, so perhaps it was more important to them to reward a good all-around healer.
Nick S Jun 8th 2009 1:57PM
@Manatank
The reason so many people view it as a Paladin healing weapon is because of the nature of the proc. When the proc goes off, all of your heals *including overhealing* shield the tank with a *stacking* damage shield.
So any healer who has it, when the proc occurs, is going to want to turn and spam the crap out of the tank to create the largest possible damage shield. Paladins are good at spamming the crap out of things, and they're probably already on the tank anyway. They're certainly capable of creating the largest amount of shielding during the proc's uptime.
Since it's no upgrade over hard mode weapons in any sense other than the proc, it's logical to give the weapon to a tank healer who's going to be throwing big heals if your main goal is to improve the effectiveness of your overall raid. Thus, it's a Paladin weapon *if* improving the raid is your primary consideration.
Manatank Jun 8th 2009 2:02PM
@Nick S:
And what I'm saying is that I don't understand why people seem to think that buffing tank healing is the most important thing that can be done. What does it achieve? A giant buffer on the tank damage... Okay so what does that do for the raid? I guess it lets that Paladin sit back for a while and do something other than heal the tank (while a boss chews through the massive shield for a bit). Guess which class is the worst at doing something other than healing the tank? If you guessed Paladin, then you win!
It's a proc, so it can't be counted on to build a shield before a big hit or anything.
Nick S Jun 8th 2009 2:12PM
I'd prefer to see a proc along the lines of "all of your heals shield the affected target for 3% of the healed amount" with shields lasting 30 seconds or more - that'd make the mace universally useful. As it is, the odds that the short-lived shield will be so much as touched on anyone besides the tank are pretty low, whereas a tank will almost always take enough damage to consume even a Paladin-spammed shield, which can be quite large. I can think of cases where the shield would be useful on someone other than the tank, but they're pretty rare - Tympanic Tantrums on XT, perhaps, with a Druid casting WG on the raid. There, it'd boost her WG numbers pretty well.
But consider, say, Mimiron. If you get a proc at any time during or near Plasma Blast, it can be a tank-saver. But if you cast that shield on a raid member after they take a Napalm Shell, it will tick down its 8-second time without absorbing much, if any, damage.
I don't like the way the proc works, but that's the way it does, nonetheless. I even play a Holy Paladin, and I'd still prefer my fantasy-proc over the one that went live.
Wyred Jun 9th 2009 8:27AM
@ Nick S. A shield being absorbed doesn't necessarily mean it's the most efficient way to be used. A tank is going to be taking constant damage, and the healing assignments will take that into account. If you get shield procs you're going to end up with slightly less tank healing when you've already got it covered anyway. AOE heals on the raid will create lots of little bubbles that can be refreshed beyone the 8 sec duration, any new heals will keep the bubbles up as long as the legendary wielding healer still has the buff. Essentially, both have plus points. The only healer who can't use this legendary wep effectively are disc priests (I'm weeping inside), as they just don't have the big numbers. There's a lot of discussion on EJ about the proc, and one thing they do agree with you on; it's not that impressive.
Krugeroff Jun 8th 2009 1:48PM
the way we determined who would get our fragments was most EP at the time of the first one dropping. For us it happened to be a pally, but if not my shammy would have been it. *shrug*
healing weapon is...healing weapon
outdps Jun 8th 2009 1:50PM
Does anyone know if you get to keep the pieces you've accumulated if you fail after throwing them into his mouth on hard mode?
Ceradene Jun 8th 2009 2:31PM
Yes, you are free to try the quest as many times as you want, it's been confirmed on MMO-champion.
Jon Do Jun 8th 2009 3:31PM
No, Hunters can try over and over again for this mace.
outdps Jun 8th 2009 4:05PM
The hunter stats do run strong in this mace, but I'll probably pass if my guild offers it to me.
Ceradene Jun 8th 2009 1:52PM
The outrage over this weapon going to a druid is really fascinating.
Envy really does bring up the worst in people.
Nick S Jun 8th 2009 2:00PM
...what outrage?
Ceradene Jun 8th 2009 2:30PM
@Nick S
... the outrage all over internet obviously. ^^