Titan EX - When are best times to tank-swap ?

[zPanda]

you can do this with 1 tank because the debuffs drop off. If you have enough dps to push phases fairly fast you can force the debuffs to drop off the tank between phases before they get stacked to where its a problem. and using only 1 tank will open up another dps slot to make this go even better.

How are the adds handled using a single-tank method? Does the main tank pull 1, both, or none of the adds to the tank spot? Can this method be pulled off successfully still having 2 healers in the group (and 5 DPS) ?

Thanks.

[bokchoykn]

It's not unnecessary if your dps is strong but not overpowering and a third stack comes in before he jumps. Titan EX is all about playing it safe. Safe, safe, safe. Why take a risk when it's so easy not to? Why risk making life harder on the healers just before he jumps when you don't have to?

A third stack (if it happens) is really not that dangerous. You even advocated for a third stack in the final phase, which is even more dangerous because the healers are a lot more busy and tanks are better off using defensive cooldowns in other parts of that phase.

The final phase should be:
-OT Voke after the first set of Plumes.
-MT Voke during Stomps before Double Plumes.

[Avalon_Albrook]

A third stack (if it happens) is really not that dangerous. You even advocated for a third stack in the final phase, which is even more dangerous because the healers are a lot more busy and tanks are better off using defensive cooldowns in other parts of that phase.

The final phase should be:
-OT Voke after the first set of Plumes.
-MT Voke during Stomps before Double Plumes.

I didn't advocate a triple stack in the last phase. I advocated being prepared for it as a possibility to always be ready for IF the OT still has an add on him not burned down, or is stuck in the aoe and still trying to make it over, by the time the next buster comes and when a sensible swap time would be should that end up happening.

[Remn]

HEART PHASE
No switching. Stacks reset very early on into phase.

Just FYI on this part, It is possible for OT to pull aggro form MT during Heart Phase. I have experience a few time myself as OT with Sword Oath.
in 2.1, it is possible for MT with Shield Oath to hold aggro against Sword Oath, but MT need to be on the ball for his/her aggro Gen.

[bokchoykn]

Just FYI on this part, It is possible for OT to pull aggro form MT during Heart Phase. I have experience a few time myself as OT with Sword Oath.
in 2.1, it is possible for MT with Shield Oath to hold aggro against Sword Oath, but MT need to be on the ball for his/her aggro Gen.

Yeah, Titan's aggro considers the enmity generated on the Heart. This is the biggest reason why I don't like the third tank swap just before the Heart phase.

The OT is gonna want to go max DPS on the Heart. Sword Oath Paladin generates a ton of aggro with Halone combo. If the MT doesn't already have a huge enmity lead on the OT, there is a big risk of the OT pulling aggro from the MT before the Gaols, and getting the entire raid Rock Bustered.

If the OT has to hold back on DPS to prevent this from happening, you're losing valuable Heart DPS. Ideally, you want to break the Heart before the Landslide during the Circle Bombs, just because this Landslide and the subsequent Weight of the Land poses a big risk to the party. Off Tank DPS is pretty important in the Heart phase.

[Avalon_Albrook]

While I've seen this happen in only one party I've done with Titan EX (but I was doing summoner, not tanking) and have heard a couple others like yourself mention it, I've not yet encountered the aggro swap for myself during the heart phase. When I do the switch, it's immediately after the buster during gaol animation, and I only hit Titan the entire time, never the gaol, because 3 dps and the OT have already broken that 4th dps out, so there's a ton of time that goes by where it's just me solidifying my aggro on him. By the time heart phase starts, the gaols happen so quickly and the OT is back to breaking out the people in them while I'm never stopping dps on the heart, and I've never had the problem of aggro loss for myself.

[bokchoykn]

I was MTing once as WAR since we had an less geared PLD. I've had Titan jump immediately after gaoling us and Mountain Bustering. We had to break the rocks while he was in the air. I voked him and he jumped.

When he landed, I couldn't open with my Storm's Eye for extra damage and PLD couldnt use Halone combo at the beginning because of aggro concerns.

From then on, (I usually OT this fight) we had MT pull, two pre-heart tank swaps only. MT keeps Titan and enters heart phase with two stacks. I spend most of the fight out of Defiance, which helps us push Titan's HP and skipping phases.

I think you can make a case for both methods but I really like two pre-heart swaps for this reason. I think there is less risk.