Edit: Added more tips to this.
We got it!
Took us almost four hours but Gate of the Setting Sun isn’t the hardest of the Challenge Modes. It’s a good first instance to start with in getting your feet wet. Luckily, the hardest aspects of the instance occur in the first stretch. Your awareness is going to be stretched to the max here. Load yourself with the recommended Discipline talents and glyphs. Ensure your Void Tendrils are on your bar and ready to go as you’ll need them.
Gold – 13:00
Minimum – 25 enemies
These are the things you need to keep in mind:
- Where the bombs are
- How long before detonation
- If your group is within the Line of Sight clouds
Make your way through to the boss. Keep Power Word: Barrier on standby along with Pain Suppression. Don’t be afraid to drop a Barrier at any point especially if the tank gets caught in a blast. Be aggressive with cooldowns. If you wipe here, it’s not a total loss. You’re still near the beginning. Expect to spend some time here until your group masters it.
Saboteur Kip’tilak should not present a significant threat once you get to him. It’s the bombs he throws out that can wreck your day. Not a big change from heroic mode.
When you’re finished with him, you’ll make your way along the way. Your tank will need to snag the Mantid that appear as the pandaren on the walls get overrun. As you cross the wall, you’ll notice Raigonn periodically charging into the door. If you can time it, it’s possible to avoid the stun. Jump right before he hits the wall and you’ll be able to keep moving. The next room after is going to be tricky. Make sure the Rager gets dropped first and burn your CDs as needed. Don’t stand in front of the Rager. After you get past them, you’ll run into a group of 2 Ragers and a Wind Shaper. You can burn down the Wind Shaper and use your Void Tendrils on the two Ragers. They’ll reset the moment your whole party gets on the elevator and begins moving up.
We found the biggest obstacle in our attempts was trying too hard to cut and shave off time. Ultimately, we were better off just taking it slightly slower but much more methodical. We did run into a few tough spots. The pull immediately after the gate in the little fortification is one of the hardest ones. Those Windshapers can really do a number on the tank. Our interrupts and stuns had to be spot on against them. I kept a Psychic Scream in reserve just in case (plus they’re great for interrupting incoming damage overall and giving some time to the healer to help them recover the group).
The actual bosses weren’t that much of a challenge themselves. Raigonn himself went by super fast after we destroyed the weak spot. I’m just happy my DPS was high enough to help secure that gold run.
After the run, we continued discussing our group and compositions. Ultimately, we decided that our resto shaman is better off switching to elemental and myself back to discipline. While I’m excited with the prospect of returning to healing again, a part of me is a little reluctant. It’s been a long time since I did any kind of demanding healing and I’m worried that I might not be at a level that’s good enough.
But screw it! I’ll figure this out.
Our team’s next target? Scholomance. They were able to snag silver a while ago. Let’s see if can go for the gold.