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All of the latest Mists of Pandaria newsBreakfast Topic: What's the closest you've cut a boss kill?
by Chris Clow 
Aug 4th 2011 at 8:00AM
We've all heard the horror stories of 1% wipes on tough raid encounters. It's one of the most painful occurrences in the game, to have come so close yet to fall by the slimmest of margins. I find that the most exhilarating moments in this game for me lie in the moments where the wheels are beginning to fall off, and everyone in the raid pulls out all the stops to try to bring the beast down before it can finish us off. Just as the 1% wipe is such a painful experience, the opposite -- snatching victory from the gaping maw of defeat -- is the most rewarding.
In my guild, we've made a habit of living on that razor's edge for many of our progression kills this tier, but none were as close as our first Nefarian kill. We handled the fight cleanly until 20%. The second-to-last Electrocute killed the healer assigned to me, the add tank. As I blew my last cooldowns to survive, the 10% Electrocute came up. I put my raid wall up to protect the raid, and the Electrocute took me down.
As the adds began to run rampant, the raid performed brilliantly and sold themselves dearly. Our mage landed a perfect Ring of Frost to buy time; our healers burned every tool at their disposal to keep the adds at bay: and our Nefarian tank timed his cooldowns flawlessly. With only two DPSers left alive, our hunter launched himself across the room on his rocket boots in a desperate attempt to give our enhance shaman another precious second to finish off the dragon. Nefarian died with two DPSers alive, both of whom were at less than 25% health. Nerdscreams ensued.
What's closest you've cut things on a boss to get that first kill? Which boss pushed you to your limit?
Filed under: Breakfast Topics, Guest Posts
Reader Comments (Page 3 of 8)
Tirrimas Aug 4th 2011 10:33AM
"MORE DOTS! MORE DOTS!"
Sounds fantastic. :D
Parknet Aug 4th 2011 8:38AM
Doesn't really count but I enjoyed the time we wiped on Daakara but he a few seconds after we went down. I imagine it was the dots. Funny having to all run back just to loot.
Parknet Aug 4th 2011 8:39AM
*he died a few seconds after we did.. ( should learn to proof-read )
Eirik Aug 5th 2011 4:15PM
My own Daakara story is where his last form was Eagle, and right at the start of it, the last of the DPS died. Just me (tank) and the healer, against Daakara at 40% health.
Fully 15 minutes later, we managed to kill him. Oy. Had to take a stretch after that one.
neder Aug 4th 2011 8:38AM
1.6% wipe on Maloriak while progressing in BWD and few nights ago 0.3% wipe at Bethy. As for kill-on our first Neffarian it was me(fury war), prot war tank and shaman healer who left standing, but we downed him.
larryfagan74 Aug 4th 2011 8:45AM
Shannox we got him to 759...that is right 759.
Nina Katarina Aug 4th 2011 8:43AM
These are the stories that make Warcraft great. I'm going to be coming back to read these comments all day long, and each time I'm going to smile. This right here is why I pay my subscription, and why I love my guildies. We've been through those 1% wipes and those last-one-alive kills.
Thank you so much for this breakfast topic.
Simeon_Halcyon Aug 4th 2011 3:23PM
Amen to that.
Positive and chuckle-worthy stories like these are what keep me coming back to Azeroth, too. People tend to forget that it's not all trolls, n00bz, and buttthurting vets... it's about people having fun with each other, whether it's lamenting a loss or celebrating a victory snatched from the [Jaws of Defeat].
As for me, I've had a few close scrapes with bosses notched into my belt. The first one that came to mind was a Maly-10 raid I was picked up to help heal. Everyone was new to the fight save for me, and after a couple wipes on phase 2, I walked the group through the fight in all three phases (complete with a practice demonstration of phase 3, starring an [Azure Whelpling] and a [Jade Focusing Lens]... Yay for visual aids!) Anyways, we made it through the first two phases of the Maly fight without a hitch, then phase 3... and we started dropping like flies. Even with the painful losses, though, we managed to whittle down Maly before he took me and another player out at 5%, leaving one lone dwarf pally to face the Aspect on his lonesome. The vent channel was chanting "Go, Pally, Go!" as he and his red drake steed miraculously weaved and shielded their way around Maly in a desperate bid to slay the dragon... and he succeeded. The crowd goes wild!
The other close scrapes I've personally experienced were usually the final bosses of heroic dungeons... To put them all in a nutshell, I'll just say this: Moonkin tanking isn't dead, it's just neutered. If he knows what the fel he's doing, your average fluffkin can hold the boss and the adds long enough to pop a battleres on the tank, saving your bacon and the group a painful wipe. So give your local Oomkin a hug... 'cause we're cuddly and handy meatshields in a pinch. 8D
Thiron Aug 4th 2011 8:45AM
When I PuGed OS3D in wotlk, we had something like 50k hp wipes quite often
Thystle Aug 4th 2011 8:47AM
During the Wrath-era, early Ulduar time, we were on our way to an OS3D victory using the zerg-him-down method. We had pre-potted, flasked, feasted, we were blowing cool-downs, then things went wobbly. Our healer (me) went down as those stupid fire-adds swarmed. The DPS started dropping. The tank was chaining his CDs just trying to stay alive but when that damage increase started he folded like a wet paper-bag.
The only person left was our hunter. She had feigned when it looked like a wipe, but we all realized simultaneously that her pet had chewed Sarth down to
styopa Aug 4th 2011 8:47AM
No question, Shade of Aran. At about 5% all that were left were a rogue and a (healing) priest, and when he finally downed, the priest was the only one standing, with
Sinderion Aug 4th 2011 9:19AM
Ahhh, aran. We, a group of newbish looking raiders, and our one, t3 (the original robocop) paladin healer named wonky who had transfered from another server. A friend of mine. Everyone but him died, probably to a botched flame wreath or something. Boss at something below 1%.
wonky pops wings, slowed by whatever spell that was aran did, switched his wep mid combat while we were all dead watching, switched seals all dramatic like pally's do, and slowly, like in an action movie, due to the debuf, descended on shade of aran.
With a judgement and a few swings and whatever holy pallies had back then, he downed him to our utter amazement. Our opinion of his wow playing went from "holy sh*t wonky! naxx much?" (no one was running naxx on our server when BC came out) to our in house legend. If only we would have fraps'd it, you couldnt script a more epic scene lol.
Hal Aug 4th 2011 8:49AM
Ah, our best was an Iron Council kill in Ulduar. We were down to the last boss of the trio, but some ill-timed lag and a few errors ended up killing everybody but me, the paladin tank. The guy had something like 2% health left. I did what any sensible paladin would do: Pop Divine Shield, pop my wings, and pray I could finish things off.
Oh, was I ever the hero in vent when that guy dropped.
El Diabolo Aug 4th 2011 8:53AM
First kill of Chimaeron: I (Destro lock) was the only person alive and with ~1k health left when the boss finally died. Guess that was the closest one we had :)
Gendou Aug 4th 2011 8:53AM
We've had a single DPS left alive to down a boss after the boss enraged. (Hello, Hakkar!)
Noah Aug 4th 2011 9:01AM
25 M Lady Deathwhisper during ICC days.
We hit her enrage timer when she was around 200k. She three shotted our tank, then rampaged around the room, killing everyone but me and two hunters. I was boomkin at the time, so me and my hunter buddies blasted her down to zit, and her little-corpse-ball fell amongst the bodies of 22 other raid members. I actually jumped for joy out of my chair, only to hit the desk and bang my knee. We all win!
Sibov Aug 4th 2011 9:01AM
OS 3D 10M
Last man standing on my rogue, poped evasion cloak of shadows and sinster strike spam. And he was down. The dreak made my day :)
grim Aug 4th 2011 9:07AM
Chogal 25m everyone dead, boss on his 20k with me stabbing daggers vigorously down his throat (him promptly turning to face me after pally tank died) No ticks on boss other than my Rupture and poisons, me - Recuperating and popping belt shield just in time for the crit. 2 Mutilates and 1 Envasion later, the boss is spanked down to submission and lying dead. Everyone on Vent yelling: Brut did this, Brut is awesome! Priceless.
montgomejj Aug 4th 2011 9:10AM
Back in early ZG we got Bloodlord Mandokir down, seconds after our last raider died... Locust Swarm ftw :P
montgomejj Aug 4th 2011 9:14AM
sigh, that would be INSECT swarm, of course. /fail