Tanking Rogue 3: Return of the Gaeowyn, or Illidan dies
by Daniel Whitcomb 
Jun 24th 2008 at 3:00PM
You've seen him tank Shahraz and a 5-man Gruul run, and now Gaeowyn, of the Shards of Existence guild (US Illidan-A), has struck again. Technically, he gave us some teaser footage about this back at the end of his Shahraz video, but he's now released a full video of a successful Illidan tanking. As on his last 2 videos, Gaeowyn was able to use gear, talents, and buffs to stack enough dodge and parry to fully avoid all physical attacks (with a little help from Scorpid Sting and Insect Swarm, of course).
Alas, it looks like this will be his last video. He says that he doesn't want to wear out the concept -- after all, there's only so many videos you can make of a rogue standing in front of a giant monster and dodging a lot. In addition, he's switched characters to a priest to help his guild with a shortage of healers. I'll miss the series, myself, if only because it's great to see people conquer challenges in unconventional ways. It makes the game a little fresher and a little more interesting.
[Thanks for the forward, Allen!]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Frank Jun 24th 2008 3:20PM
So very cool.
But I bet this makes Blizzard very angry.
*That Rogue isn't being played inside of the little box we created for it to play in! Blasphemy of the great Blizzard!*
Kryptonls Jun 24th 2008 5:00PM
Indeed - for Blizzard's hand will strike us down soon :(
Balasan Jun 25th 2008 12:11AM
They already did.
See: Sunwell Plateau - the Sunwell radiance thingy.
Ekimus Jun 24th 2008 3:34PM
Guess I should re-roll rogue from my Feral Tank...
sotallytober Jun 24th 2008 3:35PM
This is going to be a lot harder with the change to cheat death (shear+soul draw is completely resisted by cheat death in its current state)...as well as not possible for sunwell due to radiance (as well as all the bosses having either spell damage or rogue unfriendly mechanics).
The illidan kills with him tanking are pretty cool though.
Zanzi Jun 24th 2008 4:39PM
Gaeowyn is the grandmaster hero of every agro-pulling *erghm* I mean over-enthusiastic Rogue in Azeroth. Now this is how Rogues were meant to be played! We will leave our shadows of obscurity, leap into the spotlight we so deserve and use our shiny blades to deflect said spotlight at our enemies, blinding them at our whim with no cooldown!
Ok, just kidding.
Seriously, though, I greatly admire his use of an unconventional strategy and getting out side that "this is how it has to be to raid" mentality. I hope Blizzard encourages this kind of creativity in future patches.
/salute
Michael Jun 24th 2008 5:08PM
Gaeowyn sounds like a class-act. I hope to see more from him.
Solex Jun 24th 2008 5:40PM
I think this is pretty rad but on the other hand, I feel bad for this guy, his guild got to the point with tanks where they had to grab a rogue to tank bosses and now he has to go play a priest because his guild doesn't have enough healers. I don't want to play down this guild's tenacity or patience but... DAMN! Is his guild comprised entirely of dps classes?
Salty Jun 24th 2008 7:02PM
A lot of endgame people are leaving the game because the challenge is over and the rewards short-lived. On the other hand, raid leaders of extremely hardcore guilds tend to go through healers like toiletpaper and for much the same reason as we do.
Of course, there are plenty of legitimate reasons to swap toons. Obviously this guy's rogue has seen a lot of farming time to have built up what amounts to the most extremely awesome feral gear in the game and his guild bored enough to let him tank endgame bosses, hehe.
TobiasX Jun 25th 2008 3:50AM
Great boss to finish on. Gratz to Gaeowyn on your tanking prowess!
Quevedotio Jun 25th 2008 9:41AM
I have a rogue 70, and i admire him, it's a shame he don't keep up his astounding job ^^
mdm-adph Jun 25th 2008 10:17AM
Next up -- watch my priest shield-tank Hogger, more at 11.