Hamidon Raids - a Main Taunt Tank guide

Hamidon Raids - a Main Taunt Tank guide.

FIRST, A LITTLE BACKGROUND:

Hami fires an AOE attack every 4 seconds that does 935 HP damage to a level 50, and because it’s UNTYPED damage and AUTOHIT (at least I’ve never known it to miss in dozens of raids) no defense or resistance applies. Orange Insperations, temp powers such as the Wedding Band, NOTHING will protect from it. OK, since defense is impossible we have to rely on healing to survive. A typical Heal Other from a level 50 Empath is around 500hp, and it recycles in around 2-3 seconds, therefore the tanker requires at least 3 Empaths on the heal team to safely keep up with this damage.

Additionally you also have the Mitos to worry about, the yellows fire a single target attack dealing around 750 HP with an additional DOT for several ticks of around 50 HP. The blue mitos have a Hold attack that your heal team will need to be protected from by either a Dispersion Bubble/ Sonic Dispersion Bubble or keeping everyone covered with Clear Mind. The green mitos have no attacks and may be ignored by the Taunt team.

TAUNT TEAM COMPOSITION:
Ideally a taunt team will consist of the following; one main taunt tank with a well-slotted taunt and a HP boosting power (Dull Pain, Hoarfrost or Earth’s Embrace), at least 3 Empaths to provide Heal Other to the tank and heal aura to each other at need, one bubbler to provide the dispersion bubble, one kinetic to speed boost the team and provide transfusion to the taunt tank and a Gravity or Ice controller to provide a pet to target thru in the Hold Phase. Storm defenders/controllers can also fill some of the healing required with O2 Boost. Depending on the controller’s secondary you may get two jobs with one toon. A secondary tank can be useful keeping some mito aggro away from the healers if you need to enter the goo early.

BEFORE YOU ENTER THE GOO:
As the Taunt tank you should make the following 4 macros...
1. I’m your Main Taunt Tank tonight, please stay away from me while I’m taunting as I’m getting hit by a 935 HP AOE attack every 4 seconds!
2. Taunt Tank is moving left, beware of Hami aggro!
3. Taunt Tank is moving right, beware of Hami aggro!
4. Taunt Tank is moving back, watch out behind for Hami aggro!

You should also discuss with your team just what you’re going to do, and stress that they stay close together to cover each other with healing aura and a bit away from you. Make sure that they know that you don’t need RA and that the range of RA is almost the same as the range of Hami’s AOE, but that you do appreciate AB and Speed Boost so that your taunt cycles quickly and Dull Pain is perma (3,200 HP is a good cushion against Hami). I recommend that your heal team places the Kinetics on follow so that they stay together for coverage with buffs & the heal aura if they get mito aggro. They should defiantly use the RA’s on each other though, and if you don’t have a bubbler they’ll NEED to keep Clear Mind on each other.

Discuss with the Raid Leader just when you are supposed to enter the goo and start taunt, also coordinate with the Drop Team Leader and the Main Assist.

Just before you enter the goo make your Main Taunt announcement (macro #1 above) in REQUEST, and repeat it in LOCAL during the raid as needed when people get close to you.

ENTERING THE GOO:
When you are ready to enter the goo first get your team together and make sure that they’re ready to start. DO NOT UNDER ANY SITUATION START TO TAUNT UNTIL THE HEALS START TO LAND!!!!! Many times the “ready” you got from your team was that they were ready to move, not that they were actually ready to start healing.

The initial entry into the goo is your most dangerous time, the south or south west area is usually the safest entry area. Have your heal team position themselves in the clearest area while you go right on top of Hami. This accomplishes two things, first it brings your taunt aura (Invincibility, Chilling Embrace or Mud Pots) into play and second it puts you in range for Transfusion from the kinetic; this is the biggest heal in the game so use it. Reassure your Kinetic that you DO have Hami’s aggro and he won’t steal aggro from you with Transfusion.

As you start to set up and taunt have the Drop Team put a PA close to your healers, this will help divert any mito aggro away from the heal team. Also maintain coordination with the MA during the mito clearing, you will need to move from side to side of Hami to get the splash well away from the Mito team. This is what you made the moving macros (binds 2 & 3 above) for, announce the move twice in LOCAL before you move, and be aware of anybody on the ground close to you. Whenever anyone gets close hit your macro #1 (main taunt tank, watch out for AOE) in LOCAL. DO NOT move into someone if you can avoid it.

For some reason you’ll find that some people seem to have a death wish and will want to come close to you in spite of you telling about the AOE. Don’t move intentionally into them, but if they insist on coming right up to you even after you make the announcement about the AOE then there’s nothing you can really do. I do try to move a bit to clear the splash from them so they can rez if possible.

As the Mito team clears around you stay on the opposite side of Hami from them announcing each move in advance; your heal team should be able to remain in one place and still reach you with the heals, the range of Heal Other is 83' and so long as your heal team remains within that range you're golden. You may want to have your heal team waypoint you so they know the range to you at all times (Thanks to Kestrinia for that suggestion). If you do see a mito going for your healers feel free to toss a taunt at it; if your heal team is healthy and on the ball you can handle one yellow attacking in addition to Hami, two if you’ve got a really good team. MAKE SURE YOU PUT YOUR TAUNT ON AUTO, and make sure you’re targeted on Hami. This last seems like a no-brainer, but it’s really easy to send a tell to the raid leader or MA and not realize you’ve targeted on them instead of Hami. This is the Voice of Experience here unfortunately. Keep up the movement binds in LOCAL as you have to move from side to side of Hami as the Mito team continues to clear.

HOLD PHASE:
Once the Mitos are clear you need to move back away from Hami in order to clear the area for the Hold team to set up. Announce you’re moving back away from Hami (dang, another bind ) and back up about 20-30' making sure you’re still in range for Taunt. Oh, before you fall back be sure to get your hit in on Hami.

At this time have the controller on your team toss a Singularity or Jack Frost out on your side of Hami (far enough away from you to be out of the AOE) so that you will have a pet to target thru. I recommend making the following macro to target a pet - /macro sing “target_name singularity$$target_name jack frost” This will automatically target a pet for you to taunt thru.

Here’s the real reason for having that pet on your side of Hami - we all know that Hami frequently vanishes in the hold phase, but lately when he vanishes ALL of the holders vanish with him and you’re looking at an empty crater; all you can see are your teammates and their pets. This is why it’s VITAL to have a pet on your side of Hami to target thru. If you loose aggro on Hami he will wipe out the hold team; if this happens below 50% HP the raid will fail in a Yellow Dawn of a Mito spawn.

If you can see Hami then you’ll want to watch for the Block of Ice or Fossilize animation under him which will indicate that he’s held. Remember that the Stone Cages, Ring of Fire or other IMMOBILIZE animations DO NOT MEAN HE’S HELD. If you see a constant HOLD animation then inform the raid leader of this; then most leaders will start a stopwatch and after a certain time of constant hold animation they’ll call for the debuffs. Remember that Hami will continue to fire his AOE until he dies, so you cannot allow yourself to loose his aggro or he’ll wipe out the Hold team. Just keep taunting away until you hear that Hami-O drop into your tray!

The Tanker in the Hold Team thing...
One thing you’ll hear is that “we can’t use tanks in the hold phase because of punchvoke/gauntlet.” This is not true, no amount of punchvoke will steal aggro from a constantly taunting tank with a decently slotted taunt. Also remember that Knock out Blow from the /super strength secondary is a MAG-3 (4?) Hold as is Seismic Smash from Stone Melee. The only danger of tanks is if either they have their taunt aura on or they deliberately taunt Hami. With 15 AM’s on them they can, unfortunately, steal aggro from you. On Guardian we’ve been using tanker holds since issue 6 and have NEVER had a tanker steal aggro without taunting.

A word on slotting taunt:
I highly recommend you have a decently slotted taunt before you attempt to take on the taunt role, I personally have taunt slotted 2 recharge/2 taunt duration. I’m not convinced that range is needed in taunt for this job since you’ll never be very far from Hami. With the slotting I have, and a speed boost, Taunt cycles in around 3 seconds so I can build and maintain a nice stacked taunt. A tanker with only the base slot in taunt will have problems keeping aggro, particularly if you loose sight of Hami or loose target on him somehow (usually by sending a tell or taunting a mito off of your heal team). I know that while I’m taunting I’ve got Hami’s attention for at least 20-30 seconds even if I loose target.