HM Bulo Question

[Shwarzchild]

We're finally progressed to the hm Bulo fight. And, we're having some serious issues. We're not even close. So I'm asking on here for help since there's plenty of you out there who have beaten this, and could provide insight.

 

Mainly we're having serious issues with I guess everything. Last night we did the initial pull... same tank that pulled grabs a keg, takes it up top, pirates spawn, blue circle doesn't target him. Then after we somehow get through that with a lot of headless chicken running around, we get to the scatter blast part where we have each tank facing the boss with the dps and healers behind the boss semi spread out. with the healers in the middle. That scatter blast just seems to go everywhere and nail the dps. Then the big blue crazy time circles come down which we generally did ok with. Tanks would try to place their circles by doors, dps tried to place them in back, and healers went left and right trying to keep them out of the middle which worked decently. But, then the pirates and scatter blast happens and we can't keep up.

 

I'm guessing mainly it's the tank mechanics that are sinking us time after time. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. I've tried watching the videos, but since there really aren't any good well done voiced narrated ones I just get lost in the minutia of players running around in the videos.

[Jerba]

Your tanks need to constantly taunt the boss, especially at the beginning of the fight, to ensure that they are the top two in the aggro list when Scatter Blast starts. I'd recommend that you keep the tank who is worse at threat generation at the top of the list, that way you ensure that the other tank should be before all DPS.

It is pretty much guaranteed that the tank who carries the keg up the ramp will be overtaken by a DPS, so this tank needs to immediately click off his buff and taunt the boss once he's done; if he waits too late, then Scatter Blast starts before he could taunt.

What we do at the beginning of the fight is to stack at the boss. If every rDPS and healer stands at 9.0 meters from the boss, the blue circle will guaranteed land on the tank (as long as he is far enough away from the boss), so it sounds like your group is standing wrong if the tank does not get it.

 

Note that the adds will only spawn where the boss is. If the boss is on the right side, you don't need to put down circles on the left side. You need to be careful about when he is at the half-left/half-right positions, then the adds can spawn either on the side or on top, but for the far positions, it is pretty much guaranteed that they'll appear at the side. We usually have one tank always go top, with a tank and mDPS putting the circles to the closest door.

You can kill off all adds with Mass Barrage except for the first wave and the wave spawning at 2:00, that one needs to be taken by a DPS and kited into a blue circle. Sometimes, you need to wait like 5-10 seconds before Mass Barrage starts, so make sure your tanks use an AoE taunt and maybe a small AoE attack to keep threat and save the healers from the damage. A Vanguard tank is perfect since he can AoE taunt from afar, but it can be done without one.

 

That's the most important things I remember straight away. The fight is not too difficult once you get used to a good strategy, but we've also been wiping many, many times on it before we killed it.

I would recommend that you try it with 3 healers and 3 DPS. (and I mean full healers, not just a DPS specced into heals) It sounds like you are always dying very early on in the fight, so with three healers, you should be able to survive longer and practive movement. If you hit the enrage timer, you'll know that you have to go back to 2 healers or improve DPS, but by that time, you should have enough practice that there won't be any unnecessary damage.

 

Here's our first kill that shows our strategy in action: http://www.twitch.tv/theeho/c/5721742

It's not voiced, so I'm not sure if it helps you, but let me know if you have any further questions.

Edited February 18, 2015 by Jerba

[Jerba]

But, then the pirates and scatter blast happens and we can't keep up.

Okay, small note about that part of the fight. We didn't encounter problems with it until we switched back to two healers this month, but I know what your problem is.

 

During Mass Barrage, have one healer stand near the boss and assign him to top off the tanks, while the other healer keeps an eye on the DPS. Even during Mass Barrage, the tanks will still receive the damage from the boss, and it is important that the tanks are topped off, because right after Mass Barrage, he does his Scatter Blast on the tanks where they'll also receive a lot of damage.

 

With three healer, we could easily have one healer heal the DPS while the other two healers would heal the tanks during Scatter Blast. With two healers, you need to make a call what to do after Mass Barrage is over, either top off the DPS in case they would get a Barrel Throw, or top off the tanks in case the attack would go through their shield.

 

In the end, we decided to top off the tanks and risk that a DPS would die, which fortunately never happened. I guess your tanks could save up their cooldowns for that phase so that they won't receive too much damage.

It is only really a short timespan, like 5 seconds, once you get past that, it gets easier.

Edited February 18, 2015 by Jerba

[bluecheesebandit]

Correction on where pirates come out: they always appear where the presumably tank with the highest threat is. Have a tank stand across the room from bulo and taunt him and see where the pirates spawn.

 

Not that this particularly matters as the tanks are almost always on the outside of the room with the boss, but if a tank is out of position, the pirates will be too.

[Shwarzchild]

Thanks for the feedback. We'll have to really stay on top of the tanks as it seems like this fight is extremely complicated from a tank perspective. Not complicated per say, but they have the largest burden to shoulder.

[KeyboardNinja]

Thanks for the feedback. We'll have to really stay on top of the tanks as it seems like this fight is extremely complicated from a tank perspective. Not complicated per say, but they have the largest burden to shoulder.

 

It's really really complicated the first few times you clear it, mostly because you're responding to things *on the fly* since you don't know the timings. Once you get the rhythm of things though, it actually starts seeming extremely straightforward. So…don't worry, it'll get better! Pay close attention to when the adds spawn relative to Scatter Blaster and Mass Barrage. Once you start getting a feel for when things happen, it's pretty easy to plan out your positioning, cooldown use and general responses.

 

I've done the fight quite a bit in all three roles, and I've seen groups fail on it in a large variety of ways. Ultimately, I think the healers have the hardest job (once the tanks get a feel for when things happen). It's basically a short dummy parse with defensive cooldown usage for the DPS. The healers really have the only "react to this random event" constraints, among the three roles.

[Shwarzchild]

I noticed, since heals is basically the only thing I do well in this game, is this fight causes people to run around like maniacs with no direction, and end up taking unnecessary damage. That unnecessary stuff is what really gets the raid into trouble. The damage spikes in this fight are just too heavy to keep up with if tons of people are taking damage. Timing wise that's really good advice. I wasn't really focusing on much outside of "get out of purple circle, drop heals, ok good probes are refreshed on tanks, damn you for throwing fire at me bulo, drop aggro, heal when possible, oh great everyone just got one shotted well this should be interesting to try to recover from, oh hey lots of circles woo....hey look a cart [dead]"

[KeyboardNinja]

I noticed, since heals is basically the only thing I do well in this game, is this fight causes people to run around like maniacs with no direction, and end up taking unnecessary damage. That unnecessary stuff is what really gets the raid into trouble. The damage spikes in this fight are just too heavy to keep up with if tons of people are taking damage. Timing wise that's really good advice. I wasn't really focusing on much outside of "get out of purple circle, drop heals, ok good probes are refreshed on tanks, damn you for throwing fire at me bulo, drop aggro, heal when possible, oh great everyone just got one shotted well this should be interesting to try to recover from, oh hey lots of circles woo....hey look a cart [dead]"

 

Best advice I can give you here is to structure your ranged positioning and how you handle Mass Barrage. It's actually possible to drop Mass Barrage taking up almost no space whatsoever, since the first tick of damage from a blue circle doesn't start until after the second circle drops (it is in fact concurrent with when the third circle drops). Mass Barrage is five circles total, so you can stand still for your first two (dropping them directly on top of each other), move to the edge of that cluster to drop the second two, and then move to the inner-corner edge between the two circles to drop your fifth one, then finally land exactly where you started. With this strategy, you can have everyone spread out without any danger of running out of space (even in 16 man!).

 

Give your healers the middle of the room and make the ranged DPS work around them, staying more or less at max range from the boss and adjusting every time he jumps (this sometimes entails running completely across the room after a jump). Cheat toward the force field whenever you can so that you have extra time to see Load Lifters. Push defensives religiously on Load Lifters, just in case Barrel Throw hits you right afterward. As a healer, remember that Scatter Blaster is really the only sustained damage in the whole fight. You need to be healing continuously on the tanks during that phase, ideally with higher burst (e.g. Supercharge). Most of the time, if a DPS or healer takes a spike of damage, you can leave them alone for a little while before you prop them back up, especially if that spike was a Barrel Throw and not a Load Lifter (since Barrel Throws are spaced a bit, but Load Lifters can come right on top of Barrel Throw and Barrel Throw has effectively no warning).

 

As tanks, try to stay at a 90° angle from each other, roughly facing the add spawn location closest to the boss. When the adds spawn, IMMEDIATELY AoE taunt them and build a bit of AoE threat. When dealing with Mine Carts, be sure to move away from the boss a bit (about 10m) to avoid exploding on your cotank or on the melee. Doing this for Scatter Blaster also isn't a bad idea. When the boss teleports, immediately follow him (even if dropping Mass Barrage). If you get into the appropriate position (facing the boss away) before your cotank, then taunt the boss even if you're not the designated "main" tank for that part of the fight. He often Shotgun Blasts right after a jump, and managing this correctly will help your healers a lot.

 

Tanks should drop their Mass Barrage circles on the add spawn location for the second add spawn (specifically getting the last two circles directly on where the adds are about to appear). Later add spawns have Mass Barrage after the spawn, and tanks should be the ones blanketing the adds. The late add spawn (I actually think it's around 2:45, not 2:00) is the only one after the first one where you need to use a barrel. That add spawn comes about 10 seconds after a Mass Barrage and 5 seconds before a Scatter Blaster. AoE taunt the adds, wait for the Scatter Blaster, have your cotank take the boss off you (after SB), then grab a barrel and tag all the adds. Click off the barrel and run them to the purple circle, then get back in position. You have plenty of time to do this before the next Scatter Blaster or Mass Barrage or really anything else that matters, and this allows your DPS to just concentrate on tunneling the boss down to the enviable 3 minute kill time.

 

Good luck!

Edited February 18, 2015 by KeyboardNinja

[Shwarzchild]

That was the best breakdown anyone has given me on this fight. Thank you for that. Seriously. That gives me a real good idea of what everyone should be doing. Awesome synopsis.

[Alucardess]

If your tanks are still really having trouble with the barrels and the adds, you can ask one of the DPS to pick it up. The caveat is that the DPS needs to be aware of what damage he will be taking and also has to be aware of cleaves. Ofc, if the other 3 DPS can't kill Bulo before the enrage, this isn't an advisable strat.

[gssauron]

It is a heavy mechanics based bossfight. One that prog teams just need to pull and pull to learn.

 

Since the first add phases is arguably the easiest - I suggest getting a sorc or merc/pt to grab the first barrel- that way the tanks can focus on swapping taunts and not have a cleave hit the raid.

 

Cleaves hitting raid will kill you. Dps need to be kept above 30k health as one barrel throw will kill them. Tanks as well.

 

Having a dos with speed ability -- have them channel a barrel around 14 sec-- as channel is about to end spam force speed/hydraulic overrides. They will pick up barrel and speed up ramp past ads, drop blue circle and keep running back to safety.

 

After that next two add phases can be clear d with mass barrages. When add spawns- make sure tanks area taunt /reflect if poss. Adds always spawn in and target healers .

 

Instruct dps to threat drop only after tanks swap taunts.

 

Guard healers.

 

Stack mass barrages.

 

Use dps taking turns to barrel runs. Tanks can't kite adds through raid to use blue volleys. Dps can.

 

They just have to coordinate with tanks when approaching tanks cleaves.

 

Good luck!

 

Kinsaa

[KeyboardNinja]

Use dps taking turns to barrel runs. Tanks can't kite adds through raid to use blue volleys. Dps can.

 

Yet, strangely enough, I tank this fight, run the barrels, kite through the raid and never have a problem.

 

The trick is just not running off with the adds while you either a) have the boss, or b) know that Scatter Blaster is coming. You always run the barrel as a tank after Scatter Blaster and only once your cotank has taunted off you. There's plenty of time after Scatter Blaster to move the adds around. If you're four-DPSing, you really only need one barrel anyway, and the timing is such that said barrel is conveniently right after a Scatter Blaster.

[Memo-]

Since the first add phases is arguably the easiest - I suggest getting a sorc or merc/pt to grab the first barrel- that way the tanks can focus on swapping taunts and not have a cleave hit the raid.

 

No. This is harder on the healers and more complicated. It's much easier to do it the following way:

 

* The whole raid stacks on boss in the beginning.

* Tanks taunt off each other until the other tank breaks off at ~10 seconds (the exact timing depends on your raid dps, since the first wave spawns at 90%)

* Tank picks the barrel and runs to the terrace above the boss. He might get the Barrel while running. He WILL get Volley if everyone is still sitting at the boss.

* Tank drops Volley on adds and runs the rest through it.

* Tank clicks the Barrel debuff off.

* Tank immediately taunts Bulo off the other tank.

 

If done correctly, the taunt will land on Bulo before he even starts Scatter Blaster. Even at the absolute latest, you manage to taunt him just as he does the first cast on the other tank and thus you will get the second one.

 

Also, one Scatter Blaster will not kill the raid if they are sitting at full HP, as they should since there's no reason for them to not stay stacked until Volley comes. Even if you get Barrel in the raid, only the first tick deals damage and thus your healers have time to top everyone off before Scatter Blaster starts.

Edited February 19, 2015 by Memo-

[gssauron]

Yet, strangely enough, I tank this fight, run the barrels, kite through the raid and never have a problem.

 

The trick is just not running off with the adds while you either a) have the boss, or b) know that Scatter Blaster is coming. You always run the barrel as a tank after Scatter Blaster and only once your cotank has taunted off you. There's plenty of time after Scatter Blaster to move the adds around. If you're four-DPSing, you really only need one barrel anyway, and the timing is such that said barrel is conveniently right after a Scatter Blaster.

 

Nice! I figured could time it and get back for cleaves- but the volleys dps drop never seem to be close lol. I just make a low dps grab it

[gssauron]

No. This is harder on the healers and more complicated. It's much easier to do it the following way:

 

* The whole raid stacks on boss in the beginning.

* Tanks taunt off each other until the other tank breaks off at ~10 seconds (the exact timing depends on your raid dps, since the first wave spawns at 90%)

* Tank picks the barrel and runs to the terrace above the boss. He might get the Barrel while running. He WILL get Volley if everyone is still sitting at the boss.

* Tank drops Volley on adds and runs the rest through it.

* Tank clicks the Barrel debuff off.

* Tank immediately taunts Bulo off the other tank.

 

If done correctly, the taunt will land on Bulo before he even starts Scatter Blaster. Even at the absolute latest, you manage to taunt him just as he does the first cast on the other tank and thus you will get the second one.

 

Also, one Scatter Blaster will not kill the raid if they are sitting at full HP, as they should since there's no reason for them to not stay stacked until Volley comes. Even if you get Barrel in the raid, only the first tick deals damage and thus your healers have time to top everyone off before Scatter Blaster starts.

 

The dps should never get hit- so it's easier on healers- especially if a tank doesn't make it back for adds.

 

Dps can go through 2 openers - grab barrel and punch a speed ability--- (tank cleave should have just blown). Clear lane up ramp as adds coming--- Fire barrel misses behind the dps-- adds start following--- as dps drops blue volley-- and dps is back in position as adds die-- zero dmg.

[gssauron]

Yet, strangely enough, I tank this fight, run the barrels, kite through the raid and never have a problem.

 

The trick is just not running off with the adds while you either a) have the boss, or b) know that Scatter Blaster is coming. You always run the barrel as a tank after Scatter Blaster and only once your cotank has taunted off you. There's plenty of time after Scatter Blaster to move the adds around. If you're four-DPSing, you really only need one barrel anyway, and the timing is such that said barrel is conveniently right after a Scatter Blaster.

 

You're a legend KBN, I doubt your prog team even slowed down until torque- we, however, had to adapt a little.

 

So while a dps grabbing the first set of adds may not be "optimal"- it can work; alleviating a common problem= tanks losing high threat and seeing a cleave hit raid- followed by a fire barrel that could kill them

 

Which happened to us on more than one occasion. Lol.

 

Just once I'd like to see KBN a in action I hear you're running around my server : hit me up on the rbon hawk sometime

 

Cheers!!

Kinsaa

[Memo-]

The dps should never get hit- so it's easier on healers- especially if a tank doesn't make it back for adds.

 

Dps can go through 2 openers - grab barrel and punch a speed ability--- (tank cleave should have just blown). Clear lane up ramp as adds coming--- Fire barrel misses behind the dps-- adds start following--- as dps drops blue volley-- and dps is back in position as adds die-- zero dmg.

 

Zero dmg, but you will also be so behind on any reasonable dps goals that it's pretty sad. If tanks learn to manage barrels and the opener with the swift "comeback-taunt", your kills will become much more painless and fluid. Also, the adds keep shooting their target even when chasing, so any dps will take a load of hits that is unnecessary damage since tanks have higher natural damage reduction + any add damage can be both shielded and defended.

[gssauron]

Zero dmg, but you will also be so behind on any reasonable dps goals that it's pretty sad. If tanks learn to manage barrels and the opener with the swift "comeback-taunt", your kills will become much more painless and fluid. Also, the adds keep shooting their target even when chasing, so any dps will take a load of hits that is unnecessary damage since tanks have higher natural damage reduction + any add damage can be both shielded and defended.

 

I see the benefit of both ways. I was just offering another way to manage that opener that some teams seem to struggle on.

 

The adds will not shoot you or attack you when following. When they stop - they begin attacking. Trust me the barrel running dps does not take dmg. (Unless he runs through a cleave, or stands in the volley).

 

If done properly - he's out of fight for 7 seconds.

 

Bulo is not a huge dps check like torque or lurker. It's more about survival!

[jade_de_aguilera]

Note that the adds will only spawn where the boss is.

 

Actually NO. Adds span not at boss, but at the tank that is 1st on aggro. How i know ? By being where i should not be

So if tanks not stay completely in middle you will not have more middle adds after the first.

[Jerba]

Trust me the barrel running dps does not take dmg. (Unless he runs through a cleave, or stands in the volley).

From my experience, it's not as easy as that. A lot of times, the person on top will also get the Barrel Throw, and from time to time, he also gets the first tick from the blue circle. While it is possible to run out of the blue circle most of the times, sometimes due to lag you can still get the first tick. And of course, if the tanks are not standing correctly, the boss may also hit the DPS with a cleave attack. Up there, the player is out of range of the healers, so it is completely dependent on RNG if he survives or not.

Therefore, we had a tank take the first add group, it's much safer than taking a DPS. That way, we have more damage on the boss, and if the tank does everything correctly, he'll be back in time before Scatter Blast starts.

 

Actually NO. Adds span not at boss, but at the tank that is 1st on aggro. How i know ? By being where i should not be

So if tanks not stay completely in middle you will not have more middle adds after the first.

We had a theory about that but we were never able to really confirm it. Gonna try that with my group this week, though we then have to figure out where to put the mDPS during the Mass Barrage if the tanks go to the doors.

Edited February 19, 2015 by Jerba

[Levram]

We had a theory about that but we were never able to really confirm it. Gonna try that with my group this week, though we then have to figure out where to put the mDPS during the Mass Barrage if the tanks go to the doors.

 

The Drunken Pirates always spawn from the door closest to the position of the player that Bulo is aggroed on when the red text appears announcing their arrival. No exceptions. There is no RNG to the Drunken Pirate spawn position. My co-tank and I make them spawn wherever we want to, every single time, which for us means never in the top-center position.

 

Your tanks need to constantly taunt the boss, especially at the beginning of the fight, to ensure that they are the top two in the aggro list when Scatter Blast starts.

 

There is no reason to be stingy with taunts at the beginning of the fight. You want the tanks to be rock-solid in the #1 and #2 positions on Bulo's threat table. Therefore they should be taunting their asses off prior to the first spawn of Drunken Pirates so that one tank can go pick up a barrel without losing threat prior to the first Scatter Blast.

 

My co-tank and I taunt Bulo a total of six times in the first 20 seconds of the fight. This results in one tank having multiplied their threat by 483% and the other tank by 627%. With guards starting out on the top two DPS in our team (later swapped to the squishy healers to reduce their damage taken from Barrel Tosses), I can go pick up the first barrel, kill the Drunken Pirates, fall asleep for a moment, and still not have lost threat to a DPS.

Edited February 19, 2015 by Levram

[JouerTue]

we found that having tanks aggro the adds and holding threat until mass barrage is ''safe'' unless they eat double scatter blaster. also after the mass barrage, we have a couple of dps standing south of the tanks+boss trying to drop volley there, so when a tank takes the barrel ,he doesn't have to cleave the party to kill the adds Edited February 20, 2015 by JouerTue

[bailingwire]

Has anyone actually seen the enrage time for the fight? I ask because my team just started on the fight and I was wondering

[FerkWork]

Has anyone actually seen the enrage time for the fight? I ask because my team just started on the fight and I was wondering

 

I have not. But it must be quite long or non existent.

[shackboredguy]

Has anyone actually seen the enrage time for the fight? I ask because my team just started on the fight and I was wondering

 

It's somewhere around 5 minutes. The dps required on this fight is really low so it's pretty tough to hit enrage even if you decide to try the icky 3 heal method.