Questions about/looking for tips for A1s as warrior

Hey all this is my first time getting into hardcore content in an mmo, I'm really proud of my group, we crushed Faust before enrage even if it was with 200 weapons. What I'm having problems with is the boss.

So far I've been taking .5 in deliverance and pushing damage- most of his hits don't hit hard and I turtle up into defiance and IB + vengeance before plasma hits. The problem I'm facing is I'm getting gradually worn down and don't feel like I'm getting enough healing- I'm not topped off before plasma hits and not getting healed up after. On one run I was extremely low so I just homl'd plasma and healed up with second wind and equilibrium after, and he proceeded to grind me back down with no heals.

Does the healer just need to get used to the content? Should I be in tank stance at all times even when I'm not getting face smashed? Should I be keeping up path 24/7 even though it kills dps? Thanks for any tips.

This is a very tricky question. A1S is breaking a lot of new healers to be sure, but it might also be something on your end.

Are you using STR accessories? All str + DPS stance may be excessively hard on the healer, especially if you don't have enough HP after Hypercompressed plasma to survive the auto attack. This is why pentamelds are oft recommended: It gives you survivability with the VIT while also giving you STR for DPS. Also, the tankbuster isn't the only strong attack... any extra CDs or mitigation you can do to help out, helps.

If you're using VIT accessories or pentamelds already... and feel confident with your CD rotation... well, you probably need to work with the healer to find out what they can do to improve (or, worst case, replace them). It might help if you could have experienced tanks and healers watch your group's stream to figure out where the problem might be.

You should most definitely be in tank stance when fighting oppressor. Healers have the hardest job on this fight and anything you can do to make that easier on them then absolutely do it. The dps check can be met with both tanks in tanks stance. As a rule of thumb I would say typically to worry about getting to enrage and thru the fight mechanics before worrying about dps. Once you start getting to "the end" of the fight and hitting enrage then start working out the dps optimization.

Dante_V is right. That fight is pretty demanding all around. It requires tanks, heals and dps to be on their A game. I've played around with deliverance in that fight and the only time I feel comfortable enough to use it is if I have Conva. + Bloodbath + Berserk available. The outgoing damage isn't really intense in tank stance but once you take it off, like you said, you get withered down fast.

Regarding your question about path, I only use it for the tank buster / if I get mini / healing reduction debuff from a failed placement of alarum.

Thanks guys, I'm skeptical of how much a larger raw hp pool would help with the issues we're having but I can definitely see how the improved healing will help the group as a whole hopefully lock down that clear. Will path impact damage on others from prey and such too, or would it only affect the oppressors direct attacks?

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Originally Posted by ArdorGrey

Will path impact damage on others from prey and such too, or would it only affect the oppressors direct attacks?

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All outgoing damage is affected. It's impossible (AFAIK) to tell which prey belongs to which oppressor beforehand, however.

My group recently got their first A1S clear, I'm not a tank (nor a healer) on that fight myself but our tanks 'rotate' invulnerability cooldowns for the tank buster. So our WAR will holmgang plasma without any cooldowns on one rotation and then the next rotation the other tank will use hallowed/living dead to do the same. If you're using holmgang on the buster you can use your other cooldowns before or after or use them while in deliverance to make it a bit safer to dps.

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Originally Posted by Ash_Smokespear

If you're using holmgang on the buster

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Ya know. . . I've always been scared to try this. My raid group is going to be in for a fun AS1 clear this week LOL

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Originally Posted by Ash_Smokespear

My group recently got their first A1S clear, I'm not a tank (nor a healer) on that fight myself but our tanks 'rotate' invulnerability cooldowns for the tank buster. So our WAR will holmgang plasma without any cooldowns on one rotation and then the next rotation the other tank will use hallowed/living dead to do the same. If you're using holmgang on the buster you can use your other cooldowns before or after or use them while in deliverance to make it a bit safer to dps.

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I'll discuss this with my group. Usually I love doing that with holm and I like the idea of alternating so the healers are never too overburdened but I don't think our group is comfortable enough with the content yet.

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Originally Posted by Dante_V

You should most definitely be in tank stance when fighting oppressor. Healers have the hardest job on this fight and anything you can do to make that easier on them then absolutely do it. The dps check can be met with both tanks in tanks stance. As a rule of thumb I would say typically to worry about getting to enrage and thru the fight mechanics before worrying about dps. Once you start getting to "the end" of the fight and hitting enrage then start working out the dps optimization.

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Not true at all. Sure the healers have a hard time in there, but there's no reason a tank should be forced to sit in their tank stance the whole fight. Proper CD rotation mixed with knowledge of the fight does wonders for knowing when you can push and when you need to turtle up. The only time I'm swapping to Defiance in A1S is for Plasma. The rest of the time it's Deliverance unless shit hits the fan. The rest of his hits are a joke and any competent healer can handle the incoming damage.

Deliverance + Foresight + Awareness until Resin Bomb (build 5 Abandon during this time) -> Defiance + Unchained -> Build 5 Wrath, put up Eye and Path -> Vengeance + Conv + IB the cleave -> Infuriate + Thrill -> IB the Plasma -> Equilibrium -> back to Deliverance + RI after laser AOE -> Second Wind for the last cleave

You can also stay in Deliverance for all of the first and third Plasma, Holmganging them to survive. If you Holmgang at the end of the cast, you'll also catch the 2 autos that follow (which are followed by the laser AOE which means you're not getting hit). You can either have your healer manually heal you up after Holmganging Plasma or (if applicable) have your WHM Bene you.

All that aside, that particular sequence is the hardest part to actually heal in the whole fight. There are multiple ways to handle it and it's up to your healers what they find most comfortable. Some have 1 healer solely focus on the 2 Prey targets and the other to heal up the tanks. Some split the Prey targets and the tanks. Something important to keep in mind is that as long as the Prey target lives through the Prey damage, they'll be fine even sitting on low health. The most important people to keep alive here are the tanks, as that will be a 100% unrecoverable wipe. Practice makes perfect, it's not something most groups get down their first couple times seeing it, so don't sweat it too much.