The Steamvault Strategy Guide
Group Composition for The Steamvault
Similar to the other Coilfang dungeons, a strict group composition of specific classes isn't as required for this Heroic as much as others. We strongly recommend having a Shaman for their Tremor Totem to negate fears from trash mobs here. One particular mob, however, the Coilfang Myrmidon, is incredibly unfriendly to melee players due to their Sweeping Strikes ability. Most of the time, there is only one of these in a trash pack. However, before approaching the final boss, there are two trash packs with two of them, along with other mobs that have very powerful abilities, such as healing and silencing.
Since they can be hard crowd-controlled through something like a Mages Polymorph, or slowed with their Blizzard or a Hunters Frost Trap, your group composition should tailor around these trash packs towards the end, as this dungeon can be either easy or frustrating depending on what you bring. If your comp is melee heavy, make sure to have enough stuns like Hammer of Justice, Cheap Shot, & Kidney Shot, or have slows and CC's to temporarily mitigate more dangerous mobs.
For tanks, in terms of pure face tanking these mobs, the Druid will shine the brightest here, with the Warrior coming in second, as there is also one mob, being the Coilfang Oracle, that can and will silence your Paladin tank. There are three hard-hitting mobs in particular, and in order from least to most dangerous, would be the Coilfang Warrior > Coilfang Myrmidon > Bog Overlord. If opting to kite and AoE, then the Paladin will shine the brightest, just be careful of the aforementioned silence from the Coilfang Oracle.
For healers, due to the lack of any serious AoE damage outside of a very avoidable Blizzard from one trash mob, no particular healer will outshine another in this Heroic. If having a very heavy melee composition, then opting into a Holy Priest for their Prayer of Mending and Circle of Healing would be advised to counter the Coilfang Myrmidon's Sweeping Strikes.
Trash Tips for The Steamvault
The trash here can either be a walk in the park or incredibly painful. First, let's mention the best route to take when getting to the first boss, Hydromancer Thespia. After clearing the first two mobs and the patrolling pack, we suggest going hard right and taking down the two Bog Overlords along the way.
It is recommended to use any 2-3 minute personal cooldowns, both damage and defensive, while fighting these. With their Disease Cloud, melee should be checking in on their health to see if they need to back out for a bit, as the healer's main focus should be keeping the tank alive.
From here, you will have to take on several 4 packs of trash. Ranged should do their best to max range from the packs to try and avoid the Sonic Burst from the Coilfang Oracle. Any time there is a Coilfang Siren, make sure Tremor Totem is up, or this mob is CC'd. In this room, before the first boss, trash mob packs are very tight-knit, leaving very little room for error. One wrong turn or fear can lead to a wipe. Depending on the amount of CCs you have in your group, we opt into always CCing the casters and focusing the melee mobs first. If only having access to 1 CC, we recommend using it on the Coilfang Siren, as the fear is the most dangerous ability that these trash packs have, and groups can very quickly take down Coilfang Oracles before they cast their healing or silence.
After you clear the first boss, in the room where the final boss's door is located, you'll find a 4 pack guarding the hallway to Mekgineer Steamrigger. We recommend either CCing the Coilfang Siren or the Coilfang Myrmidon, and then focusing down whichever one wasn't CC'd. In the hallway with the patrolling Coilfang Slavemaster, if this mob is near any of the Dreghood Slaves when pulled, it will aggro them as well.
The Dreghood Slaves have a very loose threat and will often swap targets very easily. However, it is also very easy to get threat back. If these pull with a Coilfang Slavemaster, simply hard focus them down and ignore the slaves, as they will deaggro after the Slavemaster is killed.
Once you defeat both bosses and deactivate their security systems, the final boss's doors will open, leading to the most challenging trash packs in the dungeon. The first two packs will consist of two Coilfang Myrmidons, a Coilfang Siren, and a Coilfang Oracle. If your group is mostly ranged with a slow available, you can kite these mobs down, just make sure the Coilfang Oracle does not get a heal off, as it heals mobs to 100% HP. If your group has even 2 melee, then the tank should hold down the Coilfang Myrmidons while everyone else focuses on the casters.
Boss Tips for The Steamvault
The bosses here are all fairly simple, with none having any additional mechanics in Heroic. In fact, one of the bosses actually seems easier compared to their Normal counterpart.
For Hydromancer Thespia, if your damage is low or your tank doesn't have great AoE threat, you can Banish one of the elemental mobs to completely take them out of the encounter, as they despawn once the boss is defeated. They are also not stun immune, so use them if available! Regardless if you choose to CC one or leave both up, they should be taken out ASAP, as they don't have much health, and they are a bit annoying if around too long. Lung Burst and Enveloping Winds are both dispellable, so do so ASAP!
Mekgineer Steamrigger is the weird one of this encounter, as he actually seems to summon fewer Steamrigger Mechanics on Heroic compared to normal. These guys are not to be taken seriously; any sort of AoE will disrupt their healing channel on the boss. If you have a Protection Paladin, their Consecration will always interrupt their healing channel, trivializing an already trivial encounter.
Next run for sure Hunters
The final boss, Warlord Kalithresh, is also not a challenge, and hopefully will drop your Hunters Beastlord set and Wrathtide Longbow! Just like in normal, take out the distillers ASAP when they're active, and casters be careful of his Spell Reflection!
