To me this is the most difficult part of the encounter--particularly when bringing in new people into EC.

 

1. The bombers spawn from a random doorway. (Or is there a pattern we've just never noticed?)

 

2. You only have 20 seconds to get in range of them, and kill them. (104,000 hp)

 

Ranged DPS spend about a 1/4 of that time getting into position. So that's 15 seconds to do 26,000 damage.

 

Granted, you can "cheat" on the first two bombers because your tanks can help out. But the third bomber must be killed by DPS a lone, with maybe healers tossing in a pot shot or two. (Tanks being busy with Kephess himself at this point.)

 

 

I find myself in the unfortunate position of having to exclude people. Not because of their gear, or their experience, but because they're class/spec doesn't have the Burst DPS needed to kill the bomber in a timely manner.

 

We use adrenals to help us win the DPS race, but sometimes that doesn't work well.

 

Does your guild/group use any special strategy for burning down the bombers?

You don't need to exclude any dps. The way my guild does the bombers is simply.

When you are finishing the last group of adds, the tanks pull them to the center so that we don't have far to run when the bombards appear.

On the last one we only have one tank kiting the last boss while we wait for the bombard to appear.

Last time we did it we had a sage dps (full Rakata), x2 Dirty Fighting Gunslinger dps (full Rakata), Commando dps (in Healer Rakata).

We had a vanguard and shadow Tank. Our Shadow tank would kite the boss because our vanguard had higher dps.

Our healers were Sage and Commando and they would dps also if they didn't need to heal at that time.

 

As you can see we have 2 DF Gunslingers, their not burst dps and also a commando that switched spec and was in healing gear.

 

So what you need to do is when that last bombard comes out everyone but your single tank you choose the kite the boss should be dps the bombard down.

Also you should be placed in the center so that your dps only have to move and waste about a sec to get close enough to start dpsing.

 

Hope this helps you out.

I don't know what classes you think can't "burst", but that's probably one of the reasons you're not killing it, along with taking five seconds to move.

No way it should be taking you 5 seconds to get into position.

 

They spawn in 3 positions Far left by the back wall, By the entrance door on the right, or by the bunker door on the right.

 

1st: If you make sure your raid is always positioned in the mid of the room when a bomber is about to spawn then you can be close to all 3 spawns. If your raid is taking more than 2 seconds to get into position then they are not paying attention.

 

2nd: Any dps class that cannot put out 26k dps in 18 seconds is 1 of 2 things they are either REALLY under geared. or they are playing their class/spec wrong. The lowest dps class at the moment is commando's due to their reliance on critical procs. all other classes should easily be able to put out this much damage.

 

Also for the first 2 bombers. your healers and tanks should be dpsing the bombers as well as there is relatively low incoming damage during bombers.

 

3rd: the last bomber will always be tough until you get your strats down. ESPECIALLY in hard mode kephass comes down and starts hitting your tanks insanely hard and puts a 5k dot on them. so that will mean the bomber pretty much is only killed by your 4 dps. This should not be an issue if your dps are on the ball

 

Out of curiosity what are your dps classes? Also are you running normal or hard?

You should not have to replace any DPS for this fight on an AC level. If they're under performing as players, you may have to.

 

As a previous poster pointed out, having your tank (Shadow or VG) pull the bomber to the middle of the room helps DPS immensely, especially melee. Definitely do this if you're not doing so already. Also, the first two bombers -- once your DPS are acclimated to the urgency -- are definitely walks in the park. The third one is not. CDs and adrenals should be used for this one.

 

As a last resort, stuns are your friend. Effective chain stunning allows for healers to focus on DPS instead of healing.

 

As a last resort, stuns are your friend. Effective chain stunning allows for healers to focus on DPS instead of healing.

 

On this note: If you have a shadow/assassin tank, make sure he's spec'd into nerve wracking. He should be 2/3 in it without giving up any traditional talents (this is the best way to spend the 2 floater points.) This should be your ONLY stun. If you don't have a sin/shadow tank, let a healer use stuns. DPS should dps only.. the wasted gcd means a loss of 1500-2500 damage just to get a stun off. Let healers/tanks stun. Healers can dps (even if it's 'lightly'.)

 

The third bomber... one tank should still be on. Only difference here is healers will not be able to dps. Do not do the kiting/tank swapping until the bomber is dead. Just have the tank on Kephess use CD's and absorb adrenal if neccessary.

 

And yes.. if it takes you more than 2-3 seconds AT WORST to get dps on the bomber, you have other issues. I feel bad when it takes us 3 seconds for the LAST person to be attacking on 16 man. Also.. if you aren't using a site like torparse to see who is dpsing bombers effectively and who is not... you'll struggle with this and probably NiM as well when released.

On this note: If you have a shadow/assassin tank, make sure he's spec'd into nerve wracking. He should be 2/3 in it without giving up any traditional talents (this is the best way to spend the 2 floater points.) This should be your ONLY stun. If you don't have a sin/shadow tank, let a healer use stuns. DPS should dps only.. the wasted gcd means a loss of 1500-2500 damage just to get a stun off. Let healers/tanks stun. Healers can dps (even if it's 'lightly'.)

 

Nerve wracking is a good talent for this fight, but it is in every other case inferior to Force Break. Kinetic/Darkness specs don't have "two floating points" in PvE; our spec is pretty cut-and-dried. This isn't a shadow/assassin discussion though, and I don't want to hijack the thread, but I thought I would throw that out there.

 

Tanks should definitely be the primary stuns. Healers should help out (especially scoundrels, who are great in this bit). Our DPS also throw stuns on the bomber and we never really have issues beating the timer. I have seen groups which have significant issues here though, and sometimes it can be hard to figure out why. I ran with a group once that was full Rakata + Black Hole across the board, with *very* high DPS, and they still couldn't reliably down the bombers.

I ran with a group once that was full Rakata + Black Hole across the board, with *very* high DPS, and they still couldn't reliably down the bombers.

 

I imagine gear isn't the issue if its coming to that

make sure no one is knocking the bombers out of other pplz dmg. snipers are sometimes guilty of this.

Nerve wracking is a good talent for this fight, but it is in every other case inferior to Force Break. Kinetic/Darkness specs don't have "two floating points" in PvE; our spec is pretty cut-and-dried. This isn't a shadow/assassin discussion though, and I don't want to hijack the thread, but I thought I would throw that out there.

 

Tanks should definitely be the primary stuns. Healers should help out (especially scoundrels, who are great in this bit). Our DPS also throw stuns on the bomber and we never really have issues beating the timer. I have seen groups which have significant issues here though, and sometimes it can be hard to figure out why. I ran with a group once that was full Rakata + Black Hole across the board, with *very* high DPS, and they still couldn't reliably down the bombers.

 

MATH TIME

 

4 dps on the bomber we will assume 4th phase hard mode where it is difficult for healers to help. so maybe figure 8-10k dmg out of the off tank before he has to tank swap. that will bring us to 96-98k. for a bad situation lets say he has 100k after tanks damage.

 

100k / 4 dps = 25k Hp for each dps to burn.

 

Your dps should have a minimum of 18 second burn time if they are doing their job right.

 

25k / 18 seconds = 1400 dps.

 

Over 18 second pretty much every dps in game can pull 1400 dps with no problem. you should have all your cd damageing abilities off cd for this. NEVER burn your big damage hits with 20 second cd's on the prebomber packs.

 

The way we have our dps use their cooldowns is as follows:

First set, this is the 2 minute cd's such as relics and such, of cd's burned after first bomber to get walker down as far as possible. we usually get him to ~55%.

 

Second set: third walker burn. Use your second relic or other shorter CD's here because you are gonna want them back for the next burn phase.

 

Third set: is for kephess sub 60%. this is a soft enrage here and you need him dead fast.

The way we have our dps use their cooldowns is as follows:

First set, this is the 2 minute cd's such as relics and such, of cd's burned after first bomber to get walker down as far as possible. we usually get him to ~55%.

 

Second set: third walker burn. Use your second relic or other shorter CD's here because you are gonna want them back for the next burn phase.

 

Third set: is for kephess sub 60%. this is a soft enrage here and you need him dead fast.

 

This is, I believe, the correct strategy. It is essentially what we use. We also generally run with at least one sentinel, who will burn Inspiration in the first set as well as the third set (which should be a little over 6 minutes after the first set). Note that Kephess actually *does* have a hard enrage in addition to his soft enrage (you know, where he just kills everyone), it's just that you need insanely boss tanks+healers and fairly poor DPS in order to ever see it.

you can stun them with a 4s stun when the explosion is about to go off to buy more time.

you can stun them with a 4s stun when the explosion is about to go off to buy more time.

 

This is incorrect. Please do not post things you have 'heard' but have not confirmed.

Nerve wracking is a good talent for this fight, but it is in every other case inferior to Force Break. Kinetic/Darkness specs don't have "two floating points" in PvE; our spec is pretty cut-and-dried.

 

Agree, don't want to derail thread.. but pm sent. There are obviously several things about shadow/sin tanking you do not understand.

There are floater points in the Shadow/Assassin tank spec. But in a general, non-specifc fight sense, are they better in Nerve Wracking? No. If your DPS are good enough to down the previous HM bosses, there should never be a need for 2 points in Nerve Wracking.

There are floater points in the Shadow/Assassin tank spec. But in a general, non-specifc fight sense, are they better in Nerve Wracking? No. If your DPS are good enough to down the previous HM bosses, there should never be a need for 2 points in Nerve Wracking.

 

Seeing how you haven't downed Kephess HM, I'd try it out. Also, since you haven't downed him... are you having problems with the bombers as well? Or just tanks can't handle Kephess?

Seeing how you haven't downed Kephess HM, I'd try it out. Also, since you haven't downed him... are you having problems with the bombers as well? Or just tanks can't handle Kephess?

 

Our problem isn't DPS on the bombers.

 

edit: IMO DPS on the bombers is one of the easiest parts of Kephess HM. It's something that DPS should be fully capable of on their own if they can down the previous three.

Edited May 30, 2012 by Mavery

It appears the bombers have the same 104k health on both story and hard mode. Is this true?

Not sure about SM (no videos, haven't run that in over a month). HM 16 they have 229k, HM 8 they have 112k.

In story mode atleast if the tank on the boss times his cooldowns correctly he can avoid the need to be healed for a few seconds so at least one of the healers can DPS the boomer.

Use a Powertech to grapple the bomber into the center of the raid as soon as it spawns. Edited June 1, 2012 by Aszhalin

The way we have our dps use their cooldowns is as follows:

First set, this is the 2 minute cd's such as relics and such, of cd's burned after first bomber to get walker down as far as possible. we usually get him to ~55%.

 

Second set: third walker burn. Use your second relic or other shorter CD's here because you are gonna want them back for the next burn phase.

 

Third set: is for kephess sub 60%. this is a soft enrage here and you need him dead fast.

 

Never really had a problem with Kephess sub-60%...but I credit our tanks and healers for being really good.

 

Like you, our DPS focuses on the first time the walker is down with relics/adrenals/cool downs, and then again for the 3rd bomber. Don't use big attacks with long cool downs more than once on the two droids, because you will need those for the bomber. And all DPS should equip a clicky campaign power relic, rather than a passive damage one, for this fight.

 

EDIT: one more thing...we have one tank and healer pick up Kephess until the walker is down. The other tank picks up the bomber. It sounds like the OP may have both tanks pick up Kephess.

Edited June 1, 2012 by NoFishing

You guys all have a healer that heals you while you kite Kephess around D:?!

 

My healers are ******es D:<.

 

That's not entirely true, but they do let me get pretty low sometimes. As an Assassin Tank, I always pull the first and second bombers to the middle, so that my DPS can beat the stuffing out of them. I also always knock him down and stun him on Hard Mode -- not because it buys us extra time before he explodes, but because I don't like eating the rocket to the face if I don't.

 

During the 3rd bomber, when Kephess has dropped down, I am the one that gets to kite him around. I pop my armor adrenal and my shield relic to soak up the first few seconds, allowing everyone but me to beat up the bomber. When Kephess leaps into the sky, I force sprint into the mix and throw out a Wither and Shock, then start running to wherever the red circle has appeared.

 

If I'm feeling particularly randy, I simply taunt Kephess and pull the bomber near my group, then run away with the boss. Everyone focuses fire on the walker after that, because our Marauder pops predation and I only get hit when Kephess jumps to me.

I don't know what classes you think can't "burst", but that's probably one of the reasons you're not killing it, along with taking five seconds to move.

 

this totally. if you have people that take 5 seconds to react and start dpsing them, you need new people.

I'm an assassin tank on Kephess, but I off-tank. The main reason we are able to easily get the bombers down is Force Pull. There is also Grapple that you can use to pull it closer to the group. A few seconds before the bomber appears, I run to the middle of the room, some yards in front of the warwalker. All melee generally stack on where I'm standing. From there I just stare at the minimap to wait to see where the red dot appears. It took awhile to get the hang of which direction to turn, but now I can react and pull it within 2 seconds of it spawning, it gets pulled to the group and no time spent running towards it.