Tanking the Coliseum (Part 3: Twin Val’kyrs)
The Twin Val'kyr encounter is a lot of boring punctuated by a few moments of less boring.
You might wonder why I am glossing over Faction Champions. Largely, this is because tanks are often asked to DPS on that fight, so I think that examining it from a tanking perspective is probably not productive. To all those who say you can’t tank faction champs, I submit for your inspection, our World of Logs for last week, which is consistent with our kills in the past. Turns out they hate when you interrupt and chain stun a healer.
Anyway, on to Twin Val’kyrs. First off, which one do you tank? I recommend that a warrior tanks whichever Val’kyr the melee will be attacking. This will ensure that Sunder Armor is always on their target. Additionally, you should grab the opposite color of essence. In my raid, the melee attacks Edyis Darkbane, and I have on Light Essence.
The center of the arena is a great landmark for you and the melee
Positioning
You will want to pull your mob to the middle of the arena. You will tank her here, and you never have to move. Easy as can be.
Special Abilities
Once about every 45 seconds, the twins will use a special ability. It can be one of these four, with respect to your attunement: Opposite color shield, same color shield, opposite color vortex, same color vortex. These will be cast at random, but each will be done before it repeats. Think the shuffle function in iTunes. The most important two are the opposite color vortex, and the same color shield.
Shield block makes dual wield look like a joke.
Same Color Shield
This is when they mob you aren’t tanking casts a shield. The val’kyr you are tanking will start dual wielding, and her damage will spike. Save Shield Block for this. Her attacks don’t hit hard, there are just a lot of them. Thus, Shield Block trivializes this spike in damage. Additionally, it’s a good idea to keep sunder armor on the other Val’kyr to improve melee damage on that shield.
The vortex can cause a lot of raid damage. Don't make things any harder for the healers than they have to be, use Shield Wall.
Opposite Color Vortex
The other key ability is vortex being cast by the mob you are tanking. While most of the melee will run off to switch colors, you should just stand there and eat the damage. This is the single biggest spike you will eat. I recommend glyphing and talenting Shield Wall for this occasion. With that on you, you will take almost no damage. The only fear is that you will get hit with the vortex twice before the cooldown can finish. This happens when the vortexes are within two specials of each other. I’m not going to go into the math on it, but that will happen in 18.75% of all attempts. When you do get a vortex with Shield Wall down, call for a healing cooldown, if possible, or pop your Last Stand and call for healing.
General Mindset
Tank damage in this fight is insignificant. You will probably be hit with a Beacon and left to your own devices. This doesn’t mean you can slack off, though. Healers will have their hands full with all the raid damage in this fight, and you should do what you can to not be a burden to your healers. Don’t count on your healers to keep you up through a dual wielding Val’kyr, use Shield Block to reduce the damage. Pop potions and healthstones if you can’t Shield Wall through a vortex. Do everything you can to make their job easier, you owe it to them for all the times they’ve healed your ass.
