Emerald Nightmare Full Clear Solo by a Single Class - Interview with Shoot

Live Geposted 25.04.2018 um 09:50 von Anshlun

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What motivated you to start soloing hard content?

Many years ago I was watching a well-known hunter soloist by the name of "Caribald" attempting to solo Ultraxion via twitch stream. I had already tried my hand at soloing somewhat but really hadn't fully delved into it 100%. Ultraxion for hunters was the white whale in this time period of soloing; thought to be unkillable.

Caribald was trying an interesting tactic involving swapping pets that fascinated me because I had never seen it before or even thought of the idea. The sheer amount of strategy he was trying to incorporate into a seemingly stand-still fight in terms of timings was mind-blowing. I began streaming attempts on Ultraxion and trying to mimic Caribald's strategy; eventually, I was able to break through and defeat Ultraxion. When I finally did get the kill that feeling of killing that "progression boss" after many wipes that many raiders still experience today I felt then. I began utilizing Caribald's "pet swapping" tactics for my own soloing adventures and coined the term "Stable Stacking"; utilizing different combinations of turtles and spirit beasts to overcome other encounters.

What was the most difficult solo fight in Emerald Nightmare? And overall that you've completed?

Cenarius was without question the most difficult fight in Emerald Nightmare. Overall I'd say I don't have one specific fight because there have been so many that have challenged me in different ways; but if I could give maybe a top few(keeping in mind these were when the content was current OR one tier up OR a beta version); I'd say Al'Akir (131 wipes at Level 90) Omnotron Defense System (I cannot remember the wipe count, but they were tough! Level 90) Feng der Verfluchte/Spirit Kings at the end of MoP. Sha der Angst Heroic; Beta Lei Shi, Beta Primordius, Beta Stone Guard, Hans'gar and Franzok, Mythic Kaiser Mar'gok, Tectus.

Which boss took you the longest to kill in terms of wipes?

Definitely Cenarius (600+ over the course of 3 or 4 months)

Many solo players opt for tank classes due to their innate survivability and defensive kits, what drew you into venturing into the solo world as a Hunter?

Nothing specifically drew me in as a hunter EXCEPT for the fact the hunter class is the only class I've ever truly enjoyed raiding on (and believe me I've tried other classes). Over the years I've played different alts; been in guilds that had alt requirements and even raided in guilds that require anywhere from 2 - 4 different class alts (They would always let me play 4 hunters, no joke)

Which encounter was the trickiest to solo as a Hunter due to class limitations? And which was the easiest?

Erzfresser when it was current I felt some of the biggest limitations on. Other soloists had developed this common strategy where if they could get him into phase 2 (the "rolling" phase) they had enough leech/drain life/restoration abilities to keep him in that phase, apply damage as necessary and net a kill. I tried this strategy and even in my best leech/healing set I could not keep up with the damage Erzfresser would generate when he was "roll capped" (dealing the max amount of damage per roll by having rolled the max limit of damage increasing rolls)

I had no choice but to figure out an alternative way to do the fight. The only way I saw to actually beat the fight was making it to the end (2 normal phases, 2 roll phases) I had to achieve this balance of maxing how much damage I could squeeze in per roll phase without dying, while minding my Tödlicher Schusss on the boxes to keep myself topped (kill shots caused healing effects back then). Ending a roll phase early resulted in falling short on damage; ending a roll phase late resulted in never catching up with healing or potentially and quite often causing a wipe.

Anything under 50 or so wipes I would consider "easy" that being said a few that stick out immensely as extremely easy would be Mannoroth and definitely Dragons of Nightmare. Mannoroth I think I wiped once and then killed; the boss swings were weak; the mechanics were trivial even if you did mess them up a bit and being the only player in that fight actually made it EASIER than if you were to bring 2 or 3 friends to help you clear the instance back then. Dragons of Nightmare was definitely the easiest current content boss; with a whopping total of 17 wipes in 909 ilvl, this one just felt weird to be able to accomplish so early on.

I saw on your YouTube Channel that you have been soloing content long before Legion, in your opinion, what was the impact of Legendaries and Artifacts in the overall Soloing scenario?

There is no doubt that legendaries and artifacts have had a huge impact on soloing and what players are capable of this expansion. I came into the expansion somewhat optimistic because the legendaries for hunters seemed like they had a lot of potential and could significantly add to or augment our toolkit. I would almost go so far as to say this expansion has been the best expansion for soloing because of the power creep in combination with legendaries. Less tanky classes seem to still be able to accomplish quite a bit in the soloing world that I am often hearing of.

What advice would you give to players looking to start soloing challenging content?

a) Consumables; use them! - It's far too often I hear of or see people attempting to solo content without flasking; not eating consumables, or using Vantus runes etc. If you grossly outgear an encounter you've defeated and are trying to save a flask to help your wallet; I can understand that; but if you're trying to kill something you haven't before; give yourself every possible advantage; treat it like competitive raiding!

b) Log your attempts, video record your attempts. - This one I think is a really critical step that people can be lazy about as well. Why combat log and record attempts? I cannot tell you how many times I had an "A-ha!" moment by going back and watching the tape or combing through logs. You don't have to be a query master to easily read logs and figure out where things went wrong pretty quick. You don't have to be a genius to watch a video of yourself trying to solo something and see in the tape what you may have well missed in the attempt.

c) Be Creative - This one I cannot CANNOT stress enough. Try different builds; try different legendaries; try feigning different boss mechanics, try different positioning, try everything! Look at guilds that are the first to kill bosses in the world; how often do you see that strategy once the video is released where you think "Man, that's clever" or "Man, HOW did they think of that?" Don't be quick to dismiss an idea without trying it; even if you don't think it will work. Worst case scenario you wasted a consumable and 5 minutes on your flask.