Frost Mage PvE: Gunship Battle

Posted by Tuna on February 16th, 2010 11 Comments Printer-Friendly

After defeating Lady Deathwhisper, you make your way up the Lower Spires of the Icecrown Citadel to reach the next level. On your way, you run into the opposing faction, and at one point the Alliance’s “Skybreaker” and the Horde’s “Ogrim’s Hammer” will battle and race each other to the second level of the Icecrown Citadel.


Gunship Battle image taken from Wowwiki.com

This Gunship Event is fun battle, and a very nice break from the “Tank and Spank” boss system. This fight also serves as a “Raid Coordination” check, and can be a roadblock for some raids. Is refered to as the “Lootship Battle” by some guilds.

Boss Stats:

  • Hit Points – ??? (10man), ??? (25man)
  • Enemy Ship has more HP on Heroic Mode
  • No Enrage Timer

Abilities:

  • High Overlord Saurfang & Muradin Bronzebeard
    • Battle Fury: Increases all damage by 10%, stacking. Lasts 20 seconds, refreshed with each stack. Applied every time Saurfang or Muradin strike a target.
    • Cleave: Inflicts 110% weapon damage to up to 3 targets in front of Saurfang or Muradin.
  • All Troops
    • Experienced: Increases damage by 30%, and attack and casting speed by 20%. Applied if a soldier has been alive for more than ~20 seconds.
    • Veteran: Increases damage by 60%, and attack and casting speed by 40%. Applied if a soldier has been alive for more than ~40 seconds.
    • Elite: Increases damage by 120%, and attack and casting speed by 80%. Applied if a soldier has been alive for more than 60 seconds.
    • Desperate Resolve: Increases armor and attack speed by 60%. Applied when a soldier’s health gets below 20%.
  • Kor’kron Sergeant & Skybreaker Sergeant
    • Bladestorm: Inflicts weapon damage to up to 4 nearby targets every 1 second for 6 seconds.
    • Wounding Strike: Inflicts 200% weapon damage and reduces all healing done to the target by 25% for 10 seconds.
  • Kor’kron Axethrower & Skybreaker Rifleman
    • Hurl Axe: Inflicts 3,800 to 4,200 Physical damage.
    • Shoot: Inflicts 3,800 to 4,200 Physical damage.
  • Kor’kron Battle-mage & Skybreaker Sorcerer
    • Below Zero: Freezes the enemy gunship’s cannons, rendering them inactive. Channeled spell. Cannot be interrupted.
  • Kor’kron Rocketeer & Skybreaker Mortar Soldier
    • Rocket Artillery: Targets an area on the players’ ship and launches a rocket there. The rocket travels for a few seconds, causing an Explosion when it lands, inflicting 6,300 to 7,700 Fire damage to players and Siege damage to the gunship.
    • Rocket Artillery will also have a 7 yard knockback in Heroic Mode.


Recommended Consumables:

Your role will be different depending on what you will be assigned for during this Gunship Battle Event.

Frost Mage Overview:

  • Pet Friendly: Friendly
  • Cooldowns: No need to save your Ice Blocks or Cold Snap for anything, so use them for any emergencies such as pulling aggro.

Your Water Elemental won’t be targeted by any mobs, but will be taking some raid damage. Since your pet will have a 80% AoE damage reduction so it won’t get killed easily. Put him on aggressive and let him go nuts.

Gunship Cannon

If you are assigned to be one of the Cannon Gunners, you will get to be doing direct damage to the enemy Gunship. You simply mount one of the Gunship Cannons and you will be given a new vehicle spellbar.

You will only have two options:

  • Cannon Blast: Inflicts 1,000 Siege damage and generates 6-10 Heat.
  • Incinerating Blast: Inflicts 1,000 Fire damage and additional Fire damage per point of Heat. Consumes all of the cannon’s heat.

You have to keep an eye on your Cannon’s Heat meter. Make sure it never goes to 100% or else your Cannon will Overheat and will be unable to fire for 3 seconds.

What I do is spam Cannon Blast (1 on your spellbar) until it reaches around 95% heat, then use Incinerating Blast (2 on your spellbar). It makes your Incinerating Blast do more damage, and also purges all the heat from the Cannon so it won’t overheat.

At some points during the fight, the opposing ship will summon a Mage out which will freeze your Cannon’s until they are killed. You will be ejected from the Cannon, and at this point you should help the Defending team kill any adds that are aboard your ship.

*Important* You probably won’t want to be on Cannon duty since it will render your Water Elemental useless every time you mount and dismount from the cannons. You will be forced to resummon your Water Elemental to fix the Pet action bars.

Defending the Gunship

If you are on defense or part of the “Home Team”, your job is to kill any enemies which boards your ship. There will be a portal in the middle of your ship, and mobs will spawn from it. The longer they stay alive, the more damage they do. So after your tank picks them up, kill them as soon as possible.

Since you are also a Ranged DPS, you can also attack the enemy Axe Throwers or Riflemen that are on the enemy ship. Be on the look out for Rocket Artillery. There will be a target circle on the ground where the rocket will land, so don’t stand near it.

Boarding Party

If you are selected to be the boarding party of the “Away Team”, you will get to have the joy of using your [Goblin Rocket Pack] to board the opposing Gunship. Just remember to equip the Rocket Pack to your shirt slot, and add it to your action bars for easy use.

When the opposing Gunship calls out for the Mage to freeze your Cannons, that is the queue for the “Away Team” to hop on over and kill that Mage. Make sure your tank jumps over first so that he can keep you safe from Saurfang or Bronzebeard.

After the Mage is dead, it is recommended that the “Away Team” return back to the ship before Saurfang or Bronzebeard builds up too many stacks of Battle Fury, which will pretty much allow them to kill your tank very easily. Make sure you return to your ship BEFORE your tank does. If he leaves before you, that will leave Saurfang or Bronzebeard to kill any stragglers.

While you are on your ship waiting for the enemy Mage to appear, you will be helping with any adds on your ship.

Strategy

Cannon Gunners attack enemy ship, “Away Team” kills Mages, “Home Team” kill adds. Rinse and repeat. Take down the enemy ship’s HP before they take down your ship. Collect your loot.

Mage Loots:

A lot of good drop for Mages from the “Lootship Battle”. The only item that is iffy, is the Midnight because of the mp5 on it. I personally have been passing them to any healers that needed them. If no healers needed it, only then I would grab it. There are plenty of weapon alternatives out there.

[General Strategy used was taken from WoWHead.com]

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