"One shot, one kill!"
"How can that Shadow Bolt deal so much damage?"
Gehennas's Shadow Bolts targeted players at random, and the healers couldn't keep everyone topped off at all times. Some players were always a step too slow dodging Rain of Fire and ended up taking two or three ticks of damage.
As the fight dragged on, the raid inevitably started losing people.
"No more deaths! DPS, if your health is dropping, pop a health pot whenever you can."
He'd given every melee DPS two stacks of healing potions. Using them at critical moments could take a lot of pressure off the healers.
"Don't try to save the guild money. We gave you those potions so you'd use them when you need them. Don't even think about hoarding them just to sell them on the Auction House later."
"The rewards from clearing Molten Core are worth far more than whatever gold you could make selling a few potions. The gear in here can put you among the best-geared players on the server."
His words had an immediate effect. Several melee players who had been running low suddenly shot back to full health after popping healing potions at almost the same time.
You couldn't really blame them for being stingy. Not everyone had Gabryell's kind of money to throw around.
OldSeven was a perfect example of the average broke player. He pinched every copper he could, and even using guild-funded health or mana pots made him wince despite the fact that he wasn't paying for them.
Every spell a healer didn't have to cast meant a little more mana left in reserve for unexpected situations.
"Everyone, switch to the boss."
Losing a few DPS hadn't disrupted the raid's overall pace. The second Flamewaker went down, leaving only Gehennas.
With the boss alone, the fight became much easier. As long as everyone dodged Rain of Fire and the curses were properly removed, Gehennas simply didn't deal enough damage to seriously threaten the tank.
Carlos had held him from beginning to end without much pressure. Gehennas really did live up to his reputation as one of the weakest bosses in MC. Compared to Garr, he felt more like an LBRS boss.
"Don't lose the rhythm. Mages, keep decursing. Handle that properly and we've got this."
Gabryell cleared Carlos's curse almost the instant it appeared. As long as the tank stayed clean, the healers had no trouble keeping him alive.
"Haha, this boss is kind of trash."
OldSeven immediately started getting cocky again.
"Nobody actually wipes on this guy, right?"
If the members of Halalei heard that, they would probably cry.
Gabryell smiled. Without the strategy briefing, his calls throughout the fight, and the guild-funded flasks and consumables, their first raid team probably would have wiped even harder than Halalei.
For Fearless's first raid team, their guild leader was basically a cheat code.
They had cleared Lucifron after only one wipe, then one-shot both Magmadar and Gehennas. A record like that already surpassed every guild of this era.
"Once the boss dies, everyone back away together. Don't rush in to loot."
"Luna, you loot this one."
With the Obsidian Edged Blade already having dropped, there was no way Gabryell was letting Coldhands loot another boss. OldSeven was already cocky enough. If another amazing piece of gear dropped, his ego would go through the roof.
After thinking it over, Luna was still the best choice. Garr was next, and he could drop his half of the Bindings of the Windseeker, so she might as well test her luck now and warm up those lucky hands.
The moment Gehennas fell, every melee player backed away. Not a single person rushed forward to loot the corpse.
One reason Fearless's first raid team had made it this far was its discipline. Most other progression guilds still didn't have stable DKP rosters. Every time they formed a raid, they simply invited whoever happened to show up first.
With different players coming and going from run to run, each raid was practically starting progression from scratch.
That was also one of the main reasons other guilds still couldn't kill even a single boss. Until they solved their roster stability problem, making real progress would be nearly impossible.
"Haha, go on, Luna. You're definitely going to loot something good."
He waved her forward, and no one was more excited than Hugo. No Hunter gear had dropped in the raid yet, and he had been waiting forever for some.
"I'm rooting for Luna."
Half of DeathScum's current gear had dropped on runs with her, so of course he wanted her streak as a Rogue's best friend to continue.
This was her first time looting the corpse of a 40-player raid boss. Gabryell was eager to see what she would pull—and whether those lucky little hands were still working.
"What dropped?" he asked.
"A pair of gloves, a ring, and a formula," she replied.
A ring!
If he remembered correctly, Gehennas only dropped two rings: the Heavy Dark Iron Ring for tanks and the Ring of Spell Power for spellcasters.
Either one would already count as an extremely lucky drop. The former would make Carlos even harder to kill, while the latter would have every caster DPS fighting tooth and nail over it. It was one of the best spell damage rings in MC.
Gabryell blinked over to see exactly what had dropped.
"Luna, you really never disappoint."
After getting a clear look at the loot, he had to admit it: out of the three bosses they had killed so far, Gehennas had given them the luckiest drops.
Seeing him move over, everyone else could no longer contain themselves and crowded around to inspect the loot.
Nightslayer Gloves (Epic)
Bind on Pickup
Leather
Hands
125 Armor
+12 Strength
+18 Agility
+17 Stamina
+7 Fire Resistance
Durability 40 / 40
Classes: Rogue
Requires Level 60
Equip: Improves your chance to hit by 1%.
Luna really was a Rogue's best friend. The very first MC boss she looted had given them the Rogue Tier 1 gloves.
These gloves had hit chance, so unless a Rogue was going for the full eight-piece Tier 2 set, there wasn't much reason to replace them with Tier 2 gloves. Dagger Rogues were the main exception, since Aged Core Leather Gloves were even better for them and also dropped in MC.
"Hahaha! I knew it! Luna was definitely going to pull Rogue gear."
DeathScum was thrilled. He'd switched to Dal'Rend's Arms a while ago, and both weapons had dropped on runs with her.
TwinBleeds said, "Luna's awesome. Next time, come with me to Upper Blackrock Spire and help me farm Rend."
After reaching level 60, he had switched to a Sword Rogue. In his own words, "If I don't use swords, I'm disgracing my own name."
He still didn't have Dal'Rend's Arms and couldn't afford the Krol Blade, so all he had were Mirah's Song and Argent Avenger. His damage output lagged noticeably behind DeathScum's.
"This ring is freaking insane!"
Coldhands spotted the other drop and immediately voiced what every caster DPS was thinking.
"+33 spell damage? This one ring is almost as good as the two I'm wearing combined."
Ring of Spell Power (Epic)
Bind on Pickup
Finger
Requires Level 60
Equip: Increases damage and healing done by magical spells and effects by up to 33.
Coldhands was using Maiden's Circle together with the Songstone of Ironforge, giving him a total of 36 spell damage—only 3 more than a single Ring of Spell Power.
Maiden's Circle was a high-end BoE that most players simply couldn't afford, and its Auction House price was outrageous. At the moment, most caster DPS had the Songstone of Ironforge in one slot and whatever decent ring they could scrape together in the other.
In terms of value, the Ring of Spell Power was worth more than the Heavy Dark Iron Ring. For Mages, it was one of the best endgame rings currently available.
The Ring of Spell Power wasn't unique, either. You could equip two of them, which meant every time one dropped, the caster DPS would fight tooth and nail for it.
In his previous life playing WoW Classic, Gabryell had never managed to get a Ring of Spell Power, right up until the day he was reborn. Yet on his very first MC progression run after rebirth, the third boss had dropped one.
Fate really had a strange sense of humor.
Besides the two pieces of gear, Gehennas had also dropped a formula.
Formula: Enchant Weapon - Healing Power (Rare)
Requires Enchanting (300)
Bind on Pickup
Enchanting Recipe
Use: Teaches you how to permanently enchant a weapon to add up to 55 points of healing to healing spells.
He would have preferred the recipe for the +30 spell damage weapon enchant, but the +55 healing recipe was still excellent. Putting it on every healer's weapon would give their healing a significant boost.
...
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