OutDPS!

Just like better gear can change the way we approach group content, it can also change the way we approach extreme soloing.  This is a new guide for hunters soloing normal Stonecore up to and including the mount boss, Slabhide.  It reflects what is possible in ilvl 359 or better gear.

This post is written with a few assumptions:

• that the hunter is in roughly ilvl 359 gear or better, something easy to achieve in 4.2 (you don’t have to have that item level to solo the place, you just need to put more thought into CCs and interrupts on trash the further you are below ilvl 359)
• that the hunter is able to put this gear to good use in terms of doing dps high enough that CC is not needed
• that the hunter knows the Stonecore instance from running it as dps and doesn’t need its layout or basic mechanics explained

Preparations

Soloing normal Stonecore is ‘extreme soloing’ in the sense that it involves tackling content that (1) was never meant to be attempted alone and that (2) is reasonably challenging to attempt alone.  It requires a few deviations from conventional soloing in my opinion, listed here in decreasing levels of importance:

• A tenacity pet with an appropriate spec.  I favor a turtle because Shell Shield is very useful.
• Glyphs of Mending and Misdirection.  The boost to Mend Pet and the ability to transfer threat on demand are very helpful.
• Drum Kings.  The stat and resist bonuses are simply powerful and the buff lasts long enough to be used on more than one run of the instance.
• Other things like two pieces of tier five, flasks, a soloing spec, buff food, etc., are certainly helpful but aren’t as important in my opinion.

The Run

In broad terms your strategy is to drive Millhouse Manastorm down to the Corborus spawn point so that Corborus bursts through the wall and opens your way to Slabhide.  To get Millhouse to move, he needs to be brought to 50% health at each of his stops at the various trash packs on the way to Corborus; every time he hits 50% health he runs to his next stop.  I encourage you to attack the trash packs out of sequence (as I describe below) because if you approach them in order without also clearing them out you’ll just cause Millhouse to bounce between packs rather than ever go down to the Corborus spawn point.  Once Corborus is spawns, you’re free to Camo and run down to Slabhide’s encounter area and kill him.

Pack One

• Zone in and mark Millhouse.
• Sendyour pet to attack Millhouse, casting MD, Mend Pet and Shell Shield as it moves in.
• Multishot to give the pet a threat lead on all the targets.
• Try to stand at max range so you take as little damage as possible, the closer to the zone entrance the better.
• Burn Millhouse until he reaches 50% health and runs away to trash pack two.
• Disengage toward the exit and leave the instance to reset pack one.  Dismissing your pet or letting it die and then feigning also works.
• Zone back in.  Millhouse should now be standing with pack two.

Between Packs

• Run to the left around pack one.
• Camouflage past Millhouse and pack two.
• Kill any roaming elementals you can between packs two and three; be careful to not agro pack 2.

Pack Three

• Send pet in to attack the Earthshaper.  Pop MD, Mend Pet and Shell Shield as the pet moves in.
• MD a multishot.
• Burn the earthshaper.
• Burn the Bruisers and Beserkers down one by one.
• Don’t let them stand behind your pet.
• Keep Mend Pet up the whole time.  Use Cower and Shell Shield liberally.
• Tranq the Bruisers’ enrages.
• Stand more than 30 yards away to avoid the Berserker’s charges.  That, or drop trap at your feet so that when one charges you it gets frozen.
• CC if you like, but it shouldn’t be necessary.

 Pack Two

• Same procedures as pack one.  The goal is to burn Millhouse to 50% so he runs down to the Corborus spawn point (because pack three is now gone).
• Attacking Millhouse at pack two will call whatever is left of pack one in to help, so you have to burn Millhouse fast.  Use dps cooldowns if necessary.
• Once Millhouse runs, use Feign Death and let your pet die or dismiss it (credit to Nagrenol for the dismiss idea).
• Once all the trash resets, stand up and rez or summon your pet.

Moving to Slabhide

• Pop Cheetah and Camouflage and run past Corborus and all the tunnel trash down to Slabhide.

Fighting Slabhide

• Keep your pet alive and let it have agro the whole fight.
• Don’t stand in fire.  Move at least five yards when you see a dust cloud at your feet.
• There will only be three fire patches up at a time.  Knowing this can help with planning your movements out of and around them.
• Stay in line of sight of your pet for Mend Pet.  Fallen rock can block LoS.
• If you see that a rock is going to fall on your pet, move your pet.  Pets can sometimes get hung up if they get hit by rockfalls and can effectively be out of LoS from any angle, ensuring that the pet will die.
• In ilvl 359 gear, Slabhide kills should take around three minutes (at least as SV).

Post-Fight

• Note the teleporter in the room with Slabhide.  It will take you back to the entrance, making the process of starting a subsequent run very quick indeed.

Edit: The mount dropped for me and so I can confirm that it still drops on normal mode as of 4.1.