Tanking Tarinax

[Spangles]

<p>I was MT on a Deathtoll run last night and had no problems holding aggro on any mob on the way down to Tarinax.  But when we got to Tarinax, everything changed.  I understand that he memwipes frequently, but I had a real problem getting aggro back, to the point where we gave up and vowed to come back with a warrior MT next time.</p><p>My question is why was it so difficult to get aggro back?  I tried in both defensive and offensive stances but the amount of DPS didn't seem to make any difference.  Is it just that we are rubbish at snap aggro and we can't raise our profile fast enough to get him back after he repeatedly memwipes and DM and Rescue are both used up?  I read that Tarinax is immune to disease damage - is this the problem - was I actually doing no damage at all and purely holding aggro to start with on the strength of DM, taunts and heals?</p><p>I would like to add him to my list of epic mobs successfully tanked and it is frustrating me that I can't ... just yet.</p>

[Dead Knight]

Tank him in offensive throughout the fight unless you spike red, if your healers can't keep you up they are pretty incompetent unless your gear is instance Legendary or something. If you don't feel comfortable tanking him like that, use your level 4 defensive stance. That way you get 15% boost to armor and only lose like 3-4 slashing/piercing/crushing. When tanking orange mobs, it is imperative to hit them in order to stay high on the hate list, so you can't really afford to tank them with Infernal Circle on 100% of the fight, or you will lose aggro because you're very rarely hitting the mob with the huge decrease in offensive skills and then the raid will probably wipe.

[Navem]

I can't say why you failed to keep aggro.....but I'm pretty sure if you kept it through out the whole zone you would of been able to keep it with Tar. So either your lying...or just block it out when u loose aggro... Have seen a couple of SK's tank Tar before and even though they aren't quite as good as warriors at doing it they are still easily capable. If your worried about your dev stance lowering your chance to hit by taking away some of your slashing crushing etc. then go down the KOS wis aa line as I think the 3rd or 4th step down gives u a large boost to slashing etc. As long as the DPS gives u a chance to build aggro...and the [Removed for Content] in your group starts to attack a little bit before the rest of the raid you should be able to keep aggro no problem. Plus don't forget you have 2 rescues...death march is your friend......

[MaCloud1032]

<p>I know that when my guild has done deathtoll we ran taranex with a dual tank.  We run it with our gaurd mt and me also running as a MT. </p><p>We have the healers go thur the mob and the fury in my group stays trained on me.</p>

[Spangles]

<cite>pisstaker wrote:</cite><blockquote><p>I can't say why you failed to keep aggro.....but I'm pretty sure if you kept it through out the whole zone you would of been able to keep it with Tar. So either your lying...or just block it out when u loose aggro... <span style="color: #00ff00">No, I am not lying.  With 48882 in STR and 748 in INT AA lines, with the EOF Hate AA line maxed out, and with a Dirge and assassin in group I am confident in my ability to maintain aggro. </span> Plus don't forget you have 2 rescues...death march is your friend...... </p><p><span style="color: #00ff00">DeathMarch is my friend, but even with max AA lowering the refresh timer for it, you can still only use it every couple of mins for 10 secs at a time.</span> </p></blockquote><p>My problem seemed to be regaining aggro after a memwipe.  Where normally I can tank comfortably in offensive stance and sit near the top of DPS parses I just didn't seem to be able to regenerate enough hate to get Tarinax back onto me before he munched his way through a couple of squishies, which ultimately results in a couple of extra unwanted adds.</p><p>The timeline for the fight want something like this - mob pulled onto me - I hit it and use both taunts to get aggro - I position it, shield bash it and hit it a few more times - Despoil to get my Mit up a bit more - taunt again - MA announces the all in - all goes well until the first memwipe - I taunt, bash, hit it and manage to get aggro back after it kills someone - all is well until second memwipe - this time I have to use Rescue to get it back  because both taunts are still regenerating after recent use - third memwipe and Deathmarch is fired and with taunts I manage to get it back before too much damage is done - next memwipe is carnage - no Rescue, no DM, taunts and bash don't do enough for me to get aggro - I hit it for all it is worth and by the time I have it back a third of the raid is gone and we are rolling under adds.  It was practically the same story on the attempts we had, although I tried different stances to see if that would make a difference.</p><p>Is it true that Tarinax is immune to disease damage?  I never checked any parses after the fight.  I know I should have, but I was a bit annoyed with the way things went.  I don't understand why it was such a poor performance, but if we cannot do any disease damage it would explain a lot.</p><p>Oh, and it is not that we don't know how to fight it because we have cleared Tarinax a few times with our Guard as MT. </p>

[Di'morDi'ren]

With that hate build and group I can't say why you lost agro really. I was MT on Big T because a warrior couldn't get agro back after the memwipes. We have 3 extreme agro go getters rescue, harmtouch, and deathmarch (its just the using deathmarch that has the hate on it the effect is nice but its the quick high agro you ware looking for) not to mention about 4 fairly high quick hits that have life tap on them (2 if your not reaver). When he memwipes your raids dps needs to stop (have them targeting through Big T so when they see his target change they stop this is the most important step in this method any dps that doesn't stop will have agro and if the dragon breaths its a wipe just lay down and die. You can work in the assassin doing a little bit if you have one feeding you hate) and you MUST be paying close attention the second his target changes you BAM rescue, harm touch or deathmarch. Save all 3 for that fight and use them ONLY when he mems. Worked everytime I MT'd him. We had enough dps to have him burnt by that point and if we didn't we had our guard, who mt'd pretty much all of the zone to this point with me OT, up there too ready to rescue on a 4th mem (or if I happened to fall) if he lasted that long. Just a run down how I did it. I also tanked him in Defensive stance, with a lack of defense as is as a SK sacrificing anymore would not be a good idea IMO, BUT to each his own so can't say it might not work for someone else. You'll find alot of people have success in different ways so this is my way. Good luck fellow Knight. Oh and no he isn't immune I would at least show up on most parses don't see how I could if he was immune, I'm spec'd more for spell damage then I am melee.

[cptnapa]

<p>There is nothing wrong with your / ours tanking or aggro ability.</p><p>The reason you loose aggro on Tarinax and can't get it back easily, is because thats the part of the challange with that mob. He doesen't memwipe like a normal mob, or like a coercers amnesia would memwipe, he memblurs the current target only, ie, dropping the current target to lowest hate. So instead of, like in a normal memwipe, you are all reset, and start building aggro again, with Tarinax, only YOU are reset, while everyone else has maybe 50,000 points of aggro or whatever, and you need to get ALL of that aggro back.</p><p> That's why usually you have two tanks tanking him, so when one is dropped, the other one takes over, and the first tank starts quickly gaining aggro back, without using his emergency aggros. Then when the 2nd tank is dropped, the first tank can use his emergency aggro to get quickly back to 1st hate position, if he hadn't already built up aggro to be 2nd in line behind the other tank.</p><p> /Shadarr, 70SK of The Rat Pack, Venekor</p>

[Spangles]

Thanks guys.  Very useful comments and much appreciated.  I look forward to the next attempt.

[Wytie]

<cite>Spangles wrote:</cite><blockquote><p>I was MT on a Deathtoll run last night and had no problems holding aggro on any mob on the way down to Tarinax.  But when we got to Tarinax, everything changed.  I understand that he memwipes frequently, but I had a real problem getting aggro back, to the point where we gave up and vowed to come back with a warrior MT next time.</p><p>My question is why was it so difficult to get aggro back?  I tried in both defensive and offensive stances but the amount of DPS didn't seem to make any difference.  Is it just that we are rubbish at snap aggro and we can't raise our profile fast enough to get him back after he repeatedly memwipes and DM and Rescue are both used up?  I read that Tarinax is immune to disease damage - is this the problem - was I actually doing no damage at all and purely holding aggro to start with on the strength of DM, taunts and heals?</p><p>I would like to add him to my list of epic mobs successfully tanked and it is frustrating me that I can't ... just yet.</p></blockquote><p>We always have two tanks at full taunt and he bounces agro between the two, even if a Guard is our MT, main reason is if hes facing the raid for any amount of time your done for the second tank can snap agro back away from the raid.</p><p>So in all honesty our best luck has been a 2 tank setup for him and I prefer to be the off tank  (SK's can snap agro back faster than any tank) when he mem wipes and our MT cant get agro back fast enough, cause if he faces the raid for more than a few sec they're toast.</p>

[CHIMPNOODLE.]

<p>If you're DPS is high enough 1 tank is sufficient, doesn't matter if it's a guard or SK. </p><p>Tarinax is reputed to be resistant to Disease...not immune. Defiler, Dirge, SK etc.. Debuffs knock that down a peg either way.</p><p>Honestly, if he is (and I'm not convinced he is)...the resistance is a negligible factor. Use 2 hate transfers on you....3 if you are very concerned. SKs have 3 effective rescues following mem-wipes (and extra ones are available as items/God abilities). You don't need to use an AOE timer either (but it helps)....just have people aware/calling the wipes/mob target for the DPS.</p><p>After first memwipe use Deathmarch......after second mem-wipe use pestillant touch....after third memwipe use rescue.</p><p>...if he's not dead, or on his last few % for a burndown at this point, either use deathmarch if it is back up for a fourth and last wipe......or use a god ability (like Brells 3 second Stun with large DD strike) as a ghetto rescue (Volatile fluid, screwloose bombs etc have worked as ghetto rescues in the past here as well). If he's not dead by this point, it wouldn't matter if it was a guard or SK single tanking, aggro will bounce.</p><p>Offensive stance does help, but it depends on you and your raid force's aggro CTRL, if you feeel you need it and find it helps, then why not. Keeping your DoTs stacked helps too. This is actually an advantage over warriors for these types of fights, it's a mem-wipe....it doesn't clear DoTs. You can also have STOP/SLOW DPS calls for 2 secs after mem-wipes too...but not usually needed for most raid forces (shouldn't be needed anyway).</p><p>If your force isn't killing him quickly enough to single tank him....use the 2 tank set up. Tons of guilds do. We've done it with 2 SKs and SK/Guard setups many many times as well. Just have the 2 tanks coordinate when they use their "big" taunts/ aggro abilitties after mem-wipes. Preferably in an order setup in advance...can call em on TS/Vent or using macros too if you really want to. Can setup 2 tank groups and give em both hate transfers (we have 2 transfers on each when we do it this way).</p><p>Keep a few (Grand) Master Noxious Cures on your Hotbar for yourself too, just in case your healers are slow (or they go off and get themselves killed for whatever reason). The AOE block guild item increases your Hate by 10% as well, FD can help etc...lots of other little tricks at our disposal really.</p><p>Ooo 1 thing....right off the bat he often mem-wipes (on incoming).....don't waste a 'big' taunt on that 1, it's not neccesarry.</p><p>Also, it's a complete mem-wipe, not a Blur. We have had him going after people that were not even engaged after a mem-wipe...on their way to the fight etc (even at zone entrance once AFK from fight start to finish...ie. not even on the hate list at all)</p><p>PS. SK snap aggro is second to none imo <img src="/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></p>

[Lord Hackenslash]

when i tank Tarinax, I get myself comffortably on top of the aggro list and hold my big spells and area taunt till after he mem wipes. for example. i will use area taunt shield bash, abominable wrath tap veins, and our kick. immediately after the mem wipe. alos use death march as your first rescue ability as it refreshes faster than rescue or PT. other than that keep your dots constant on him. this helps get you back on his hate list faster so DM will have greater impact.

[EQ2Luv]

Tarinax's mem wipe is indeed an odd one.  Here's a story that won't help much but to demonstrate his weirdness.  Our raid wiped on Tarinax except my monk.  Sadly I had no rez item so the raid revived at the zone in.  I went to join them via suicide by tarinax, but the moment i walked up to big T, he turned aggro onto a warden *at the zone entrance*.  That's not the weird part. I threw 3 taunts and 4 combat arts at him before he got out of range and continued to pursue the warden.  He reset of course before reaching the warden but yea, she had no hate to start, and yet he chased her down over my 3 taunts and multiple attacks.... 8^D

[CHIMPNOODLE.]

I think that's an interesting thing, and can't think of anything except a Bug or a Scripted rarity...Vilucidae has occationally done that off the pull as well in the past. He chooses a random target after being initially aggro'd by the MT (often a chanter or healer in our cases) and has been so fixated as to completely ignore even Rescue. It happened a couple times actually, though not recently for us (was prior to the "stuck stance" issues he had at times).

[melaine_dvarvensplitter]

CHIMPNOODLE. wrote: <blockquote>I think that's an interesting thing, and can't think of anything except a Bug or a Scripted rarity...Vilucidae has occationally done that off the pull as well in the past. He chooses a random target after being initially aggro'd by the MT (often a chanter or healer in our cases) and has been so fixated as to completely ignore even Rescue. It happened a couple times actually, though not recently for us (was prior to the "stuck stance" issues he had at times).</blockquote>I have seen this type of behavior with Vyemm, Doom Triad as well. It is a pain, but I am glad to see that it isn't just a Labs issue. *Been too long since I have been in LoA or DT <img src="/smilies/9d71f0541cff0a302a0309c5079e8dee.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />*

[Phalong]

<p>Although my gukld hardly ever does KoS raids anymore, we notemally do Tarianx with two ore more tanks.  Pretty much any fighter raiding will hang out infront of him, and when he mem whipes, we take turned getting rescue off and keeping agro till the next memwhipe.  Just a much easier way to do it for us.  We also do it pretty quick.  Shadow Knights have the ability to use rescue and DeathMarch, so we can normally tank the majority of that fight with little to no help.  </p><p>Anyway, just a suggestion.  Its also to get in the habbit of using other tanks.  A lot of the EoF raids will require more then one tank.</p>

[Pentarum]

Ro's Fury on a mage speced SK does wonders for holding argo even on memwipe mobs. That extra bit of damage(400 per spell) Can glue a mob to you if your really going at it. Not to mention its great for fights where you cant use a weapon like Corsolander and Vulicade. If you still lose agro with the above mention tools and Ro's Fury running you have other issues than agro.