Tanking Titan HM

[Thorauku]

Not sure if I should laugh, but this is really what a tank should do when tanking Titan HM

[Kyana]

When you start, move Titan slightly northwest or do that after the first jump.
Reason is that you can stand at the edge of the arena between the bombs the whole time without getting hit by any of them.
You might have to move a bit left or right depending on bomb pattern but your healers will love the reduced burden.

And as others already said, remember that after heart phase you will get hit by mountain buster followed by stomps and then plumes.
Healers will be busy keeping everyone alive, so you should do everything you can to help.
Using a damage mitigation skill and Convalescence helps alot if you are not familiar with the fight.

After that you will get hit by mountain buster after every landslide.
So, if you see landslide, prepare for that by using one of your defense abilities.
Titan will turn back to you, hit you 2 times, then use mountain buster on you.
Flashing right before the attack and casting Stoneskin on yourself makes this easier.

It's true that during P1-P4 you don't have to do alot as tank besides evading bombs.
But if you just stand there during P5 doing nothing but using a cooldown for every mountain buster, you are just lazy.

Also, a combination of WHM+SCH will make this fight alot easier and less hectic than 2 WHM.

[AlrikRouge]

... wondering what is this CD that people kept on saying to pop? Is it like a food meal Paladin has to consume for the fight? Sorry if it is a noob question

"CD" applies to every class you use. It is short for "cool down", meaning any defense or offensive action that has a real-life time limit on being able to use it again. For the tank, this is any defensive buff you can put in.

Not sure if I should laugh, but this is really what a tank should do when tanking Titan HM

Definitely laughed at this, as it is basically true. But I also agree with Kyana:

It's true that during P1-P4 you don't have to do a lot as tank besides evading bombs.
But if you just stand there during P5 doing nothing but using a cooldown for every mountain buster, you are just lazy.

I try to make it as easy as possible for the healers, since there is a LOT going on during the last phase.

[blowfin]

Not sure if I should laugh, but this is really what a tank should do when tanking Titan HM

Almost 100% accurate. Tanked the HM's the other night for my WAR relic and was stunned by how easy Titan was

Regarding bombs it's just easier to stand there and eat the damage rather than trying to dodge. You can wind up facing Titan at the DPS/Heals, and nobody wants that. The only exception is the "X" formation where you can run across a little bit to the open area.

Apart from that there's no reason to move more than a couple of paces, for the entire fight.

But if you just stand there during P5 doing nothing but using a cooldown for every mountain buster, you are just lazy.

No, it's actually the cleanest way to do the fight, for the reason mentioned above. As mentioned though there's no reason not to move for the "X" formation of rocks.

[Kyana]

No, it's actually the cleanest way to do the fight, for the reason mentioned above. As mentioned though there's no reason not to move for the "X" formation of rocks.

I think you misunderstood something.
I didn't say to take Titan for a walk.
But if you position yourself correctly (best to do in P3 because you have a clean edge to stand on), you won't have to take a single step the rest of the fight and won't get hit by any bomb.
No matter if overgeared or not, healers will like you.

Just standing there, relying on your defense cooldowns and eating bombs every turn and not using abilities like Stoneskin and Flash on predictable big hits, is lazy.
(Yes, I know WAR and PLD have access to different skills)

[MirielleLavandre]

Thanks again for all the replies and I hope this thread helps others! I have another question - was trying to help out a LS member last night with Titan, and the first attempt I ate 2 bombs trying to find the right position on the ledge and died. After that, I just went ahead and ate 1 bomb at the 12 o'clock position (north) and did fine. My question is this, in regards to a few of the posts above: Should I or should I not attempt to find that 'sweet spot' between the bombs and tank Titan there, or go the safer route and just hold him north and eat 1 bomb (I do use my CDs to alleviate MB and such -- it was only eating those 2 bombs at the start that got me smushed). Thanks!

[Fiosha_Maureiba]

If you anticipate having to eat a bomb, use a defensive cooldown early so the bomb damage is reduced.

Also ideal to apply a Stoneskin to self while Titan is doing his Landslide during this scenario. This is assuming that healers are not applying Stoneskin to you before the Rock Buster / Mountain Buster combo.

In the circle bombs, if luck favors you, you might be positioned between the first and the last bomb. In which case, stand on last bomb til' first explodes, then shift over to the first (minimal Titan movement).

I would say that if you're looking for a sweet spot, wait until the raid seems like it's going to be a wipe, don't jump off, play around until you reach a bomb phase. See if you can find the sweet spot during this wipe experimentation time, pushing how far you can go on the ledge. Once you get a feel for it a few times, it will greatly relieve pressure off of healers and also minimize Titan repositioning swipes.

I like to pair Bulwark with the Flash blind debuff. If it is not a miss, I'm hoping at least for a 20ish% damage reducing block.

I'm incoherent.

[Shinkyo]

Should I or should I not attempt to find that 'sweet spot

It's optional really... if you feel your healers are having difficulties topping you before MB, then avoiding them will help a lot. But you'll most likely wipe a couple of times before you can consistently find the sweet spot.
In 2.0 as WAR, I had to learn to avoid all bombs because it's was such a hard fight at the time and my FC healers were struggling avoiding the bombs+landslide while topping me before MB so I did all I could to help.
Though I can do it, I don't like doing it because it requires to be precise and takes my attention away from the fight for a couple of seconds. Now, I just move aside while making sure I keep titan in place for Landslide. I find it easier and more engaging for me.

In the end, a good tank will mitigate all MB. An better tank will also avoid all bombs.
Healers will appreciate but it's unlikely that it'll make a significant impact to win the fight.

[Versiroth]

I tanked it last night and got my Relic. My biggest tips are below.

- You can dodge all the bombs by standing in between then. You don't need to run Titan all over to avoid the bombs. Even in phase 5, when the three rows spawn, simply move to the edge of the platform in between them and you won't get hit. The "sweet spot" isn't really difficult to find as long as you move to the edge and in the middle of two bombs. I did this and didn't eat a single bomb. For those that recommend eating it, you better have a great healer as Mountain Buster is coming shortly after!

- As others have said, Mountain buster comes a few seconds after phase 5 begins and after each land slide. Try to time your CDs so you can Sentinel/Rampart/Hallowed Ground/Foresight+Awareness before each one. Also, Flash works to Blind titan, so throw in a flash if you don't have a CD to use or if you're using a weaker CD.

- Be ready to provoke/Shield lob at the beginning of the heart phase as you have no enmity on the heart and everyone will be trying to go crazy as soon as it pops. You don't have to Provoke to begin with, but if your initial shield lob doesn't work and he charges the healer, a provoke plus lob (Fight or Flight as he lands is great here too) will normally get it back quickly.

- During phase 5, if people start dying, you may be targeted for a Weight of the Land.. so, be ready to move out of it!


Good luck!

[Vortok]

On a war front. Is 7k health good enough to war tank Titan?

I healed it pre 2.1 (aka, old Inner Beast/Wrath mechanic) with Warriors that were sub 6k. It wasn't pretty, but it was doable. 7k is basically full darklight (assuming Vit allocation from level up points), which is more than enough. It really depends on the quality of your healers, but that's true whether you have 6k or 10k health.

The line bombs in phase 5 aren't too hard to find the safe spot for. The circle bombs are a lot trickier, but since they only come every 3 minutes (full rotation that includes two MBs is 1 minute exactly) it should be easy to have a strong cooldown if you haven't found the circle bomb safe spot/don't want to risk walking off the edge positioning for it. If you're unsure if you're safe from the line bombs, pop a slightly smaller cooldown for those just in case.