Deadmines can be soloed at level 26 by a Retribution Paladin. Last night, server lag was at an all time high. The original plan was to continue our ICC 10 run, but multiple avenues of lag diverted us from our main goal. We ended up running the weekly raid quest for our 5 Emblems of Frost, and called it a night.
The night was still young however, so I decided to keep on playing…if I could. Loading screens when logging into instances and onto other characters were taking 3 minutes or longer. Looting mobs was mind-numbingly painful. The WoW mail carriers must have gone on strike because I couldn’t send mail for the life of me. So what’s there left to do?
I hopped onto my level 26 Paladin, the one I am using for PvP twinkage. I decided to queue for some Arathi Basin or WSG…except none were going. Ten minute waits was not something I was up for. So I can’t log in, loot, or mail items. My choices were to either call it a night, or try something that didn’t involve any of the lag-tastic occurences.
I decided to head into Deadmines, and see if my level 26 Paladin could solo the place. I knew Van Cleef was only a level 20 elite, but how would I hold up against all the mobs?
Marching in, I had right at around 1900 HP with Blessing of Kings buffed. Seal of Command and Judgement of Light were my other two buffs.
The elite trash gave me very little problems. I pulled with Hand of Reckoning, and took on no more than 3 elites at a time. The normal trash were dispensed within a hit or two.
As I marched through the first 3 bosses, I realized this was totally doable, and I wasn’t even breaking a sweat. When I got the pirate cave, I was able to pull 3 and 4 at a time without any kind of HP issues. Mr. Smite was even simple. I killed his adds, and he didn’t have enough punch to blast through my HP, and he fell easily.
Working my way up the ship, I knew Van Cleef would have 4 total adds. In addition to that, I was counting on Van Cleef hitting the hardest of anything in the instance. I was right. I quickly took out his first two adds, and then when the others spawned, I killed them as well. With Van Cleef hacking away the whole time, I think I got down to 33% HP or so, and when I hit 20% I used Lay on Hands. After that, it was just me and him, and my Bloodied Arcanite Reaper made short work of him. Cookie saw my slaughter and tried to run away, but I managed to catch him and steal his Stirring Rod.
So, I was rather proud of myself. Not that this was a major accomplishment or anything, but it’s nice to know how OP Paladins can be sometimes!
Tips for soloing Deadmines at Level 26 as a Retribution Paladin:
- Crusader weapon enchant
- Judgement of Light
- Blessing of Kings
- Pull no more than 3 elite mobs at a time
- Pull no more than 6 normal trash at a time
- Use Hand of Reckoning and Judgement on any mobs trying to flee. Hand of Reckoning is a very cheap version of Hammer or Wrath.
- Hammer of Justice works on bosses.
- Bring lots of mana drinks. Consecrate may suck away at your mana.
- Bring bandages and food as well, just in case. Stat food is optimal.
- Kill Smite’s adds first.
- Kill Van Cleef’s adds first.
- Come in with no less than 1500 HP if you want to play it safe.
- Top end weapon, Bloodied Arcanite Reaper is an excellent choice.
- Conserve Lay on Hands for Van Cleef if possible.
