Hunter solo - Durendil vs Ansurek (worldfirst)

Описание: Well, I have a new contender for hardest solo - it was definitely as hard as Tindral, KJ or Denathrius. And both fun and frustrating, - so many moving parts, no room for error.

Except for the part where the boss dies on the try where I make one mistake that would have ended any other run, but many other things were done really well so I barely made it. For the explanation, see the wowhead guide.

So, for the first time in wow history, a raid was fully cleared during the next season ! And for the first time in ages, I had serious competition - on the chinese servers, a rogue (   • 11.1.5 Rogue Solo: Silken Court  ) and a multi-spec tank player (https://space.bilibili.com/561177/upl..., not to mention the famous Thedruidman (   / @thedruidman  ) was setting foot in Nerub'ar too.
So I'll write this worldfirst title for once, since I had real monsters competing.

Logs : https://www.warcraftlogs.com/reports/...

I made a short description below, but also made a detailed one on Wowhead, please check it out if you're interested : https://www.wowhead.com/guide/soloing...

The wipe mechanic in phase 2 is unavoidable (the range is a lie), and lasts the entire fight. So I had to outheal it, plus the damage from phase 3.

Which means I was forced into the Dark Ranger hero talents for the 15% shadow damage leech.
So I was forced into Marksmanship (MM). Which I never played in raids, so I had to learn that too.
However, marksmanship has terrible aggro issues, and serious RNG on dps and therefore healing.

First, I maximised leech and shadow leech : shadow enchantments, embellishments and item procs.
Then full defensive gear : Cyrce's circlet with healing gems and DISC belt with a healing power, then the two most powerful tank trinkets, plus careful planning on when to use them.

I had little versatility, so I used Vantus rune and Versatility flask. If I still needed more survivability, I would have gone get more.

I also had the 2 healing potions.

Due to the RNG nature of MM, my healing depended a lot on procs, and also belt procs. In case of no procs, I had my self-heal (70 seconds CD), and after that, I could save myself twice with potions. Then I died.


Now back to aggro : phase 3 was a nightmare.
I had to dismiss pet during the Infest cast. Then resummon pet, and FD before the Gorge. I FD'd too fast, pet died. I FD'd too late, she cast Gorge on me. I got up too fast, she cast Gorge on me, but too late and I wiped.

And, to make things harder, my pet had to die during the Gorge so I could rez and misdirect him. So I had to heal him but not too much before the infest, while healing him enough that he didn't die from the melee before the Gorge.

The, after the rez, if I didn't misdirect enough I'd grab aggro later then wipe.
Then I had to FD after the portal spawns. If I FD'd later, I wouldn't have it before the next Gorge. And if I FD'd earlier, I'd probably grab aggro before the next infest.
Same for the second misirection, if I didn't misdirect enough I took aggro before infest.

Execution was extremely hard here, missed combos and aggro issues killed me so many times, and that's why it was the main cause of wipes.

Also, my pet needed his defensive CD for when the boss melee'd him for 30 full seconds, and without a defensive he dies. So I had to manage that rotation too.

I also had to kill the big adds before they exploded, giving the boss a 100% buff. But if I really had to I could have ignore the last one, though it would have been risky.

Then there's phase 2. If two "opposite side" adds are near each other, they become immune.
For the first add, I bursted him before he finished his cast.
For the second one, I used FD to prevent the Guardian snapping.

The Devoted Worshipper must die before he finishes his cast, or the bridge doesn't spawn.

For the final platform, the opposite Voidspeaker will take forever to teleport, so not an issue.

DPS wasn't an issue if the strategy was well done. I also planned my bursts at specific moments to maximise value. Not to mention that since I was new to MM so my rotation was far from perfect.
See the wowhead guide for details.
So, as usual, what mattered the most was the strategy, and the dps would follow.
I could have dps'd more in phase 3, and if truly needed ignore an add.


And that's a wrap for Nerub'ar !
So next patch, I'll have Nerub'ar Heroic and Undermine normal to solo, which is extremely exciting.
I wholeheartedly support this whole stacking buffs + turbo boost + dinars + minor patch items : it's really great for soloing.

I also look forward how other soloers manage Ansurek in season 3 - phase 2 is by no means impossible without FD.

Thanks a lot for my guild who gave me the Bombsuit, Azortharion for my guides, and the soloing community for the competition and discussions.