One Tanking Kara (the Front Half)

Last night, one of my favorite healers wanted to run Kara for badges, so I told him I'd help. Our guild had already run a couple of Kara's this week, so the group ended up being a hodge-podge of those that hadn't yet run it and alts. Our composition was:

1 Feral Druid
1 Resto Shaman
1 Rogue
2 Elemental Shamans
2 Hunters
1 Mage
1 Holy Priest
1 Shadow Priest

Interesting make up...1 tank, 2 healers, and an odd mixture of DPS. But, we made it from the beginning to Curator (skipping Nightbane) in under 2 hours with no wipes...so not too bad.

Since I was the only tank available, I had to 1 tank everything...except for 2 times when one of our Elemental Shamans brought in his Fury Warrior to off tank. So, this post is going to focus on tips for 1 tanking with the assumption that you already know how to run Kara with 2 tanks as well as general tanking and threat generating skills.

1 Tanking Attumen the Huntsman

One tanking Attumen really isn't any more trouble than double tanking him. You start off tanking his horse, Midnight, and once Attumen spawns, you pick him up. It's best if you set up a target macro as follows:

/tar attumen

Once you get aggro established with Midnight with a Mangle and 3 Lacerates, cease to use Mangle (you don't want it to be on cooldown when Attumen pops up) while continuing to Lacerate and Maul to keep threat. Attumen spawns when Midnight is at 95%, so once you get him to 97%, start spamming your target macro as you Lacerate and Maul Midnight. As soon Attumen spawn, hit your Mangle to get his attention then follow it up with 3 Lacerates. After that, switch back to Midnight and burn him down while using Swipe liberally to keep Attumen glued to you. Once Midnight is at 25%, he and Attumen will merge. At this point, you will need to re-establish aggro and tank and spank as usual.

1 Tanking Moroes

For Moroes, one of our Elemental Shamans logged and brought in his Fury Warrior to help off-tank. But, and no offense to him as a player, he just couldn't hold aggro, so the fight was closer to 1 tanking than 2 tanking.

Honestly, 1 tanking and 2 tanking Moroes is basically the same, except if the 2nd highest threat is a ranged DPS or Healer, you will need to Charge and drag him back to the 'tank spot' as soon as your Blind or Gouge wears off. Other than that, it's normal Moroes tankage.

1 Tanking Maiden of Virtue

Well, since the Maiden is always a 1 tank job there is nothing different here...move along people.

1 Tanking the Opera Event: Wizard of Oz

When we got to the Opera Event we discussed the various ones we hoped we'd get and hoped we wouldn't get...Big Bad Wolf is what we wanted, Romulo & Jullianne was our second choice, and the Wizard of Oz is what we did not want...guess what we got...

If you find yourself faced with the Wizard of Oz event and only 1 tank, just know that it is doable. In fact, we did it on the first try. Typically, I, as OT, would tank Rawr and pick up and hold Tito and our MT would tank the Tin Man. However, last night, I had to manage all three.

I first picked up Rawr and tanked him as I normally do. Once the Tin Man was up, our two Shamans Frostshock kited him around until Rawr was dead. After Rawr died, I picked up the Tin Man and Tito. Our Mage tanked the Stawman as usual. Once the Stawman and then Tin Man were dead, I dragged little Tito over to Dorothee and we began working on her. When we got Dorothee to about 40%, I noticed Tito was almost dead! And, before we had a chance to tell the raid to not DPS him he was lying on the floor, lifeless. Ooops. Oh well, we burned down Dorothee before we encurred her wrath...and who wouldn't be pissed off if their dog was killed before their very eyes? Then the Crone spawned and it was the typical tank and spank on her.

1 Tanking Curator

Curator was pretty easy as well. Basically, we picked the person with the 2nd highest hit points to be the 'off-tank' of sorts to take the Hateful Bolts. That person was one of our Hunters who had about 13k hit points. I think anyone with 12k or more hit points who can generate a resonable amount of threat can off tank Curator. The key here is that the other DPS need to watch their threat and stay below him. Now, since DPS should be focusing on the sparks and only DPSing the Curator after they are down, it shouldn't be too much of a challenge.

As far as the MTs role here...normal tank and spank as you'd typically do.

1 Tanking Trash

Most of the trash was not an issue. We had 2 priests for shakles on the trash before Attumen reducing the number I would need to tank. We had a Mage for AoE pulls, so I did the 'initial' pull on those with a Moonfire, followed by Barkskin and Hurricane so I'd take most of the damage. Any pulls with 2 elites such as; the 4-5 group pulls right before Attumen, the Philanthopist pulls, etc., I would Starfire and Moonfire target X (our 2nd target on the kill list), then Moonfire Skull (the 1st target on the kill list), switch to bear and proceed with Mangle, Lacerates and the liberal use of Swipe. If I was tanking 3 mobs, I'd Starfire and Moonfire the 3rd on the kill list, Moonfire the 2nd, switch to Bear form and proceed as above.

The only problem on trash were the Skeletal Ushers before the Philanthopist hallway. These mobs ice block the tank and typically an off tank is needed to take over when this happens. This is the other area where our Elemental Shaman logged on his Fury Warrior to off tank. However, we still had the problem with him not being able to maintain aggro, although letting him make the pull did help a little bit.

Conclusion

One tanking Kara is doable even with a Feral Druid. It makes it a bit more challenging and lets us use our full arsenal of tricks...which always makes things more fun. However, one tanking is not for those new to Kara. If you're still gearing up from Kara, Heroics, and Badges of Justice, then don't try this at home. ;p It's also is a must to have good healers as well. Honestly, I'd like the chance to one tank the later half as well just to see how much of a challenge it is and see if I can tank Nightbane and Prince which are the only bosses I have yet to tank myself.