Icecrown Gunship Battle

[deedubs]

Abilites

Both sides and their mobs use the same abilites that do not change other than increased health and damage.

Own ship

Gunship Cannon

Cannon Blast 150 yd range — Launches a cannonball at the target. Inflicts 1000 Siege damage and generates 6 to 10 Heat. Instant

Incinerating Blast 150 yd range — Consumes all of the cannon's Heat to launch a massive ball of fire at the target. Inflicts 1000 Siege damage plus additional damage per point of Heat. Instant

Muradin Bronzebeard / High Overlord Saurfang

Battle Fury — Increases all damage done by 5%. Instant. 20 sec duration. +7% in 25-player mode

Cleave Melee range — Inflicts 120% of normal melee damage to an enemy and its nearest allies, affecting up to 3 targets. Instant (6 sec cooldown)

Rending Throw 50,000 yd range — Throws your weapon at the enemy causing 3010 to 3990 weapon damage and an additional 2000 Physical damage every 3 sec for 18 sec. Instant

Skybreaker Sorcerer / Kor'kron Battle-Mage

Below Zero 50,000 yd range — Freezes the target in a block of ice by concentrating and freezing moisture in the air. The caster must channel to maintain the ice block. Instant

Skybreaker Mortar Soldier / Kor'kron Rocketeer

Rocket Artillery 50,000 yd range — Launches a rocket that explodes on impact, inflicting Fire damage to nearby enemies and Siege damage to the enemy gunship. 5 sec cast

Explosion 50,000 yd range — The rocket explodes, inflicting 6300 to 7700 Fire damage to nearby enemies and Siege damage to the enemy gunship. Instant

Experienced — Damage done increased by 30%. Attack and casting speeds increased by 20%. Instant

Veteran — Damage done increased by 60%. Attack and casting speeds increased by 40%. Instant

Elite — Damage done increased by 120%. Attack and casting speeds increased by 80%. Instant



Boarding party

Skybreaker Sergeant / Kor'kron Sergeant

Bladestorm — Instantly Whirlwind up to 4 nearby targets and for the next 6 sec you will perform a whirlwind attack every 1.0 sec. While under the effects of Bladestorm, you can move but cannot perform any other abilities but you do not feel pity or remorse or fear and you cannot be stopped unless killed. Instant (7 sec cooldown)

Wounding Strike Melee range — Inflicts 200% weapon damage and leaves the target wounded, reducing the effectiveness of any healing by 25% for 10 sec. Instant. -40% healing in 25-player mode

Desperate Resolve — Increases armor and attack speed by 60%. Instant. +120% Armor in 25-player mode

Skybreaker Marine / Kor'kron Reaver

Desperate Resolve — Increases armor and attack speed by 60%. Instant. +120% Armor in 25-player mode.

Skybreaker Rifleman / Kor'kron Axethrower

Shoot 50,000 yd range — Shoot at the target, inflicting 3800 to 4200 Physical damage. 2 sec cast. 5700-6300 in 25-player mode

Hurl Axe 50,000 yd range — Hurl an axe at the target, inflicting 3800 to 4200 Physical damage. 2 sec cast. 5700-6300 in 25-player mode



Shared Abilities

Burning Pitch 50,000 yd range — Throws gob of burning pitch that sets the target area aflame, inflicting 17250 Siege damage and an additional 7500 Fire damage over 3 sec. 2.5 sec cast

Experienced — Damage done increased by 30%. Attack and casting speeds increased by 20%. Instant

Veteran — Damage done increased by 60%. Attack and casting speeds increased by 40%. Instant

Elite — Damage done increased by 120%. Attack and casting speeds increased by 80%. Instant

IMPORTANT: All enemy NPCs except the Commanders and the Battle-Mage/Sorceror will gain experience the longer they are left alive, starting from Regular and progressing to Experienced, then Veteran, and finally Elite. At Experienced rank, opposing NPCs have damage increased by 30% and attack/cast speed increased by 20%. At Veteran rank this rises to 60% and 40% respectively, and finally at Elite rank this buff rises to 120% and 80% respectively. Thus it is important for gunners and boarding party members to pick off enemy NPCs when higher priority targets are absent, as enough Elite NPCs will stress the healers considerably.




Strategy

Overview
The objective is to deal more siege damage to the enemy gunship than it does to yours. Siege damage is done by firing the guns on your gunship. The enemy gunship will attack yours mainly using rockets and hand-held ranged weapons. The enemy will periodically attack your ship with a boarding party, which must be tanked and killed before they can do too much damage. Ranged DPS are preferred for the defensive party. The enemy will periodically deploy a mage to stand on their deck and freeze the guns of your ship preventing them from firing, and this mage must be killed to free your guns so that you can keep damaging the enemy gunship. In order to do this you should form a boarding party of your own consisting of a single tank, some healers and some damage dealers (preferably melee). The boarding party can jump to the enemy gunship and back using jetpacks provided by your gunship's engineer. The tank must tank the enemy commander while being healed. The enemy commander will gain a stacking buff over time while in combat that increases his damage, so the boarding party must kill the enemy mage before the commander gains enough buffs to kill the tank. If any time remains the boarding party can also kill the rocket teams. After this it is essential that the entire boarding party jumps back to the friendly ship in order for the enemy commander to be left alone and lose his stacking buff before the next mage comes out and freezes your guns. The enemy ranged infantry can be killed by the defending ranged DPS while they are not killing an enemy boarding party. If all of these things are done you should comfortably win the DPS race.

Tactics by Role

Defenders
Their main role is to eliminate enemy boarding parties that will teleport over. While there is no boarding party they can kill the ranged DPS on the enemy gunship, hence ranged DPS are preferred for this group. The boarding party can be tanked by a single tank, who will of course need healers. The enemy rocketeers will fire rockets at your gunship that should be avoided by looking for the (easy to spot) target markers and moving away before the rocket lands. The boarding party consists of Sergeants and Reavers/Marines. The Sergeants need to be tanked as they hit very hard and can flatten a non-tank. Reavers and Marines can also hit moderately hard but not hard enough to one-shot clothies (unless at elite rank). Any members of the enemy boarding party which have no raid members or NPCs on their aggro table will instead attack the ship with depth charges; this must be avoided at all costs, as this ability is extremely damaging and will sink your gunship in less than a minute if left unchecked.

Gunners
Their main role is to damage the enemy gunship while their guns are not frozen. While their guns are frozen they should leave their guns and help with another activity, such as defending against enemy boarding parties, or damaging the enemy's ranged DPS. They can also join the boarding party and help kill the mage, but once the mage is down they should jump back immediately to fire their guns again rather than stay and kill the rocketeers.

Guns have two different attacks: a normal shot bound to "1" which fires a shot that deals 1000 siege damage to the opposing ship, as well as some damage to any enemy NPCs caught in the blast radius. The normal shot also generates between 6 to 10 "heat", which fills up the heat gauge on the gun (begins at 0, fills at 100, will lose 1-2 heat per second if the gun is not fired). The second shot is a heated shot which immediately expels all the accumulated heat on the gun and deals 1000 damage as well as additional damage for each unit of heat, up to 5000 damage with a nearly filled bar. If the heat meter reaches or exceeds 100, the gun overheats and both shots are locked for the next five seconds until all heat has been drained. Gunners should note that both gunshots not only damage the opposing ship but also damage enemy NPCs, thus shots should be angled at rocketeers/mortar soldiers to wear them down and kill them before they stack to dangerous levels of experience.

Boarding Party
Make sure you pick up a jump pack from your gunship's engineer and equip it before the fight, as it is a clothing item and cannot be equipped once in combat. The jump pack is used by 'using' the item of clothing and selecting a destination to jump to (you can practice before the battle starts). They can defend against enemy boarding parties while not busy, but should remain ready to jump over to the enemy ship when the mage comes out (which will be announced by a raid emote by the enemy commander). A single tank is required who should jump first with his healers shortly after to keep the enemy commander busy. The commander has a ranged attack but should be tanked at melee range, as his ranged attack applies a stacking impale dot that is weak at first but will quickly become unhealable. The other enemy crew members will not bother you. The DPS should kill first the mage, then try to kill the rocketeers, and then jump back. The tank and healers should then make sure they jump back together to avoid being killed on the way out. The boarding party is on a time limit and must at least kill the mage before the enemy commander gets enough buff stacks to endanger the tank (around 20-25 stacks, though this will depend on the strength of your tank and healers and cooldowns used). The boarding party must all leave and wait for the enemy commander to lose his buff before they can return. For this reason the boarding party should only jump over when the mage freezes your guns, and not jump over early. It is not necessary or desirable to DPS the enemy commander - he is only tanked.

Be very careful about units you leave behind on the enemy gunship, namely summoned pets and totems. For example, totems left on the deck of the enemy gunship can keep the enemy boss attacking (and thereby refreshing his stacking damage buff) between two sorceror rounds. This can cause the damage buff to stack as high as 40 to 50, which is untankable. If you drop totems or summon pets on board the enemy ship, recall them as you're leaving. In addition, after jumping back, be sure to move a comfortable distance away from the edge to ensure that the enemy commander breaks combat with you and resets, as he can use his ranged attack across the gap if you are too close to the edge, which will keep him in combat and delay losing his buff.

Source:
www.wowwiki.com/Icecrown_Gunship_Battle
www.tankspot.com/forums/f206/59640-icecrown-gunship-battle.html