Solo MoP Classic: Heroic Spine (!!!!!!!!!!!!)

Rarely going over 10x (!) in the title these days. Although, to this day, this current version of Heroic Spine might be the only SSS Rank boss I've ever soloed, alongside Mythic Blackhand (albeit a far lower one) performed with the DH during Legion. So, what makes this version of Heroic Spine so tremendously difficult in comparison to the past? For an easier accessibility to the core pieces of information, I'm inviting you to refer to the original kill during MoP (with every bit of the strat explained in the description), and which can be found here:    • Solo : Heroic Spine of Deathwing   Firstly, the ilvl is only 551 (ToT gear). This means losing over 100k max HPs. On top of the 5% health reduction cumulative debuff, it means finishing the fight below 400k max HPs. Since Blood of Death debuffs tick for 900k, and can crit for twice the amount on bad RNG (friendly fire), the CD management has to be beyond flawless (even more so with 3 or 4 overcharged amalgamations poundering at once upon you, and healing absorb debuffs — 180k — making the whole act even more so chaotic). But that goes without even taking into account the DPScheck. Indeed, the 30% raid nerf (under MoP Classic) instead of 35% (original timeline) plays a huge factor here. Adding on top of that the fact that the tendons were initially unnerfed during Cataclysm Classic, it makes their whole HPs going from 7M straight to 8M (and a flat 13% increase is by no means a small difference here)! Still taking the reduced ilvl into account, the whole issue can be resumed as such: it is currently impossible to reliably pass the tendons in 3 access, unless every tendon phase leads to keeping an amalgam alive to procure enough Vengeance in order to bypass that wall. Subsequently, this leads to precious seconds adding up here or there, for it is no longer necessary to slain a new tentacle from groundworks, every time a tendon phase is over. The whole sequence of going into a new tendon phase is therefore a LOT more fluid. But: Surviving while managing the Blood Death debuffs during a tendon phase is critical. It often results in a wipe. Consequently, unless the tentacle death timing is flawless as well, tentacles' grips usually occur during the tendon phase (from the moment one removes the healing absord), resulting in an instant wipe. So, from here on, you get the gist of it. Compared to the initial Heroic Spine kill years ago, the current restrictions on the DPS and the survival make this wholesome fight absolutely relentless, when it comes to the rythm. Goodbye, these lovely tendon phases of being grabbed, taking a breather, and simply enjoying a straightforward DPS without giving a care in the world about sustaining that absord debuff or not (for healing oneself wasn't even necessary, making the grips non-threatening). Now, it might seem that everything has been said at this point, right? Well... hell, no... For Blizzard undertook another fishy critical change during MoP Classic. That of enlarging the range of the GotO healing spheres (while turning them from green into yellow): therefore leading one to often trigger them from their spawn while moving, due to the hitbox being a lot larger. Do you see what I mean here? It is NO LONGER possible to delay the absorb debuffs beyond a certain threshold (which can go from 5 seconds to 30 seconds, depending on RNG). And breaking an absorb debuff obviously means triggering a tentacle grip (unconditionnal wipe cause) right after. So, yeah. Heroic Spine MUST be played a lot more aggressively than it was before, due to the absorb debuff leaving less room for sustainability. This puts a heavy strain on the CD management. As well as a lot more vigilance on the direct incoming damages taken, later in the encounter. All in all, just going to the second platform with the current version of Heroic Spine is already quite the accomplishment, for only 1/7 attempts manage to do so. Reaching the third platform is even harder. Here, we are talking about less than 10 phase 3 out of all of my attempts. The wipe count is 198. This is a titanic amount, for a boss upon which I already have more than 700 wipes behind me, from the time, as well as a whole strategy almost entirely conceptualized before diving straight into the practice (very minor changes were undertaken. The talents and glyphs haven't changed at all, for once). Now, if one wonder if the current version could have been soloed at the time, the answer is no. This Heroic Spine is 3 to 4 times harder than it was. And without some 580+ ilvl gear and a 4 digits wipe count, I cannot foresee my past self being able to prevail over this absurd challenge. Anyway, the core boss of what I consider to be phase 2 is now gone! Music (I'll be damned for using some Blue Archive soundtracks, but whatever): The Koan of Jericho - Re:Aoharu, Pt. 1 - Things Lost And Others Held On To Re:Aoharu, Pt. 2 - A Hatred That Is Not Ours Re:Aoharu Pt. 3 - Where All Miracles Begin