A level 60 Mage could solo farm Sunken Temple, including the trolls on the upper levels and the green dragonkin down below.
Gabryell was not especially interested in doing that.
The returns were not as good as Maraudon's purple entrance plus waterfall route. The main issue was simple: Sunken Temple did not have as many mobs. The green dragonkin were beasts too, which meant they did not directly drop coin. Going out of his way to swap into Skinning just for this place would only waste time.
That was why, even though solo farming Sunken Temple was roughly on the same difficulty level as Maraudon, the place remained extremely unpopular among Mages.
Gabryell entered the dungeon. Carlos and the others were already waiting inside.
"Let's go. Straight to Eranikus."
Carlos and the others had already cleared out the lower-level green dragonkin. The only boss left in the entire dungeon was Shade of Eranikus.
Honestly, skipping him would not have mattered much. Missing one Essence of Eranikus quest was not a big deal, and with a six-person party, they would not be able to complete the quest properly anyway.
But after wiping three times, Carlos and the others clearly were not willing to leave without killing him.
With the trash already cleared, the six of them quickly reached the chamber where Shade of Eranikus waited. The dragon lay there in a deep sleep, waiting for the next fearless group of adventurers to come and die.
"So what happened on the wipes?" Gabryell asked.
If they wanted to fix the problem, they first had to know what had gone wrong.
Carlos said, "Eranikus's sleep is complete bullshit. It keeps putting Luna to sleep."
"Every pull," Lunatori said helplessly. "I don't know why, but I keep eating that sleep."
DeathScum added, "From the melee side, his abilities are nasty. He knocks people back and stuns them too."
Carlos nodded. "On the third pull, Luna didn't get slept right away, but I got stunned for five seconds and lost control of the boss. He went straight for her."
"Eranikus hits way too hard," Carlos continued. "Even if Luna shifts into Bear Form, she can't tank him. She just gets deleted."
Hugo glanced at Igor. "Maybe if someone in melee didn't spend half the fight stunned, he could help before Luna dies."
Igor immediately snapped back, "You're ranged. Of course you can stand back there and talk. If you're so good, roll a Hunter and melee the dragon yourself."
After listening to them, Gabryell already understood why they had wiped.
Shade of Eranikus had four main abilities.
Thrash was nothing special. It felt like half the bosses in the game had some version of it, so there was not much to say.
War Stomp
Instant
Knocks nearby enemies back and stuns them for 5 seconds.
This ability could not really be dodged. If you were in melee range, you were eating it. If the main tank failed to resist the stun, those five seconds were more than enough for the ranged players or the healer to pull aggro.
That meant the tank had to build a solid threat lead as quickly as possible, while everyone else had to watch their threat. In World of Warcraft, boss abilities with knockback often came with some kind of threat drop or threat disruption. If the group did not manage aggro properly, someone was going to pull.
Acid Breath
Instant
Melee range
A frontal cone Nature attack that applied additional Nature damage over time.
As long as the melee players had a brain and did not stand in front of the boss with the tank, Acid Breath was not much of a threat. If someone really insisted on face-tanking the dragon from the wrong side, there was no need to be polite. Kick them before one clueless melee dragged the whole group down with him.
Deep Slumber
1 sec cast
30 yd range
Puts the target to sleep, rendering them unable to act. Lasts 10 seconds.
Eranikus's real danger came from Deep Slumber. That was the ability most likely to cause a wipe.
In Gabryell's memory, the boss tended to throw it at the second-highest threat target. If the healer sat at second threat and got slept over and over, the group was in trouble.
That was the part many players did not understand. They let the healer climb into second place on threat, then wondered why the healer kept getting slept and the party kept wiping.
The cleaner solution was to have a DPS deliberately hold second threat and eat Deep Slumber instead.
Carlos's group had been letting Lunatori take the sleep mostly because they had too many melee players. Every time War Stomp knocked the melee back and disrupted their threat, Luna's healing threat naturally rose into second place.
Gabryell had not run Sunken Temple that many times, so he could only arrange the strategy based on what he remembered.
"Here's the plan. I'll hold second threat and eat Deep Slumber. If I'm remembering the mechanic right, the boss sleeps whoever is second on threat. Luna, watch your threat and stay under me."
His addon already had a threat meter. It was not perfectly accurate, but it was still useful as a reference.
Lunatori hesitated. "The boss hits Carlos really hard. If I have to spam heals, keeping my threat down won't be easy."
Restoration Druids not having a reliable threat drop was awkward.
A Resto Druid's healing threat was not actually that high, much lower than a Priest's or Paladin's in many situations. But when there was only one healer, that healer's threat still added up fast.
Right.
If one healer generated too much threat, then they just needed two healers.
"Igor, stop DPSing. Your damage isn't moving the needle anyway. If you run in, you'll just get stunned with the rest of the melee. Stay back, help heal, take pressure off Luna, and split the healing threat."
Now that Gabryell had joined, his damage alone was worth several level 53 Retribution Paladins.
Igor had just opened his mouth when Carlos cut him off bluntly.
"Ogabs is already level 60. Igor, stop pretending you're a DPS and heal properly. That's the holy path."
A level 60 Mage's damage was not something a level 53 Retribution Paladin could compare to.
Igor had no choice but to swallow the last bit of his stubbornness and temporarily become a healer.
With two healers, Lunatori's pressure would be much lower. When the boss used Deep Slumber again, even if one healer got slept, the other could keep Carlos alive.
"Hugo, stand at max range and keep Distracting Shot ready. If Carlos gets stunned and the boss runs for someone else, pull it off them."
Gabryell arranged for Hugo's Hunter to act as the emergency punching bag.
"Kite it for a few seconds. You can handle that, right?"
Hunters had Feign Death, so once Carlos woke up and regained control, Hugo could wipe his own threat. Mail armor was not plate, but he would not get deleted in only a few seconds.
"Yeah, I've got it," Hugo said.
"Good. Pull when ready."
Gabryell was now level 60, and his damage was more than enough. Building second threat would not be hard. As long as nothing unexpected happened, they should not wipe again.
Sure enough, with a max-level Mage in the group, the first Deep Slumber target changed from Lunatori to Gabryell.
That was the advantage of a high-threat ranged class. His damage pushed his threat up quickly, and he did not have to eat melee knockbacks that disrupted threat.
If Carlos's group had replaced one melee with a Mage or Warlock earlier, they probably would have killed Eranikus long ago.
With two healers keeping the tank alive, the party's health stayed stable throughout the fight. There was only one dangerous moment when Eranikus stunned Carlos and turned toward Lunatori, but Gabryell had prepared for that in advance.
Hugo immediately used Distracting Shot and pulled the boss away.
On the second Deep Slumber, Gabryell had not rebuilt enough threat in time, so Lunatori got slept.
In their previous attempts, Luna getting slept had always led straight to a wipe. This time, with Igor acting as a half-baked healer, they managed to keep Carlos alive until she woke up.
"He's down! He's down!"
The moment Eranikus fell, Carlos shouted in excitement.
"Damn, that took way too much work. We finally killed him."
If Gabryell, the level 60 Mage, had not joined, they might have wiped again. His damage was fierce. One max-level Mage was worth more than a couple of level 53 Rogues and Hunters combined.
"Let Luna loot."
This boss could drop an epic one-handed sword. Even though Gabryell could not use it, he still wanted to see it.
Lunatori stepped forward and opened the loot window.
The moment the purple item prompt appeared on the screen, Gabryell's eyes lit up.
"Holy crap. Luna's luck is no joke. She actually got it."
Dragon's Call (Epic)
Binds when picked up
One-Hand Sword
72 - 135 Damage Speed 2.50
(41.4 damage per second)
Durability 105 / 105
Requires Level 52
Chance on hit: Summons an Emerald Whelpling to fight for you for a short time.
Dragon's Call.
The green dragon sword had actually dropped.