BQL - how to bite efficiently/reliably

[tobermoray]

Evening all

I’m trying to crowd source some information to improve my play, specifically on BQL. So I know all the mechanics, I’ve read guides, I’ve seen videos. But when I’m in the thick of the action, I really struggle to bite a fellow raider when the time comes. I’ve tried a few things, but I still struggle to find someone that isn’t already bitten, and position myself to then actually make a bite. I don’t always mess it up, but I mess up more often than I would like.

Can anyone give me a really detailed guide on how to do it? What prep do you do as the timer is running down? Is there an add on I can get that allows me to select somebody not yet bitten reliably? If not, exactly how do you actually click on a suitable target? Any tips on positioning? I have DBM of course, so I’m getting all the warnings, I just need a way of reliably putting all the pieces together.

Thanks in advance!

[stefco015]

Using addons such as Grid, vuhdo or healbot can help you to track buffs and debuffs. That way you can see who is bitten or not

[ArchShyman]

Using addons such as Grid, vuhdo or healbot can help you to track buffs and debuffs. That way you can see who is bitten or not

yeah I am also the same
use Grid2 to show all raid member
avoid group 5 because usually they are reserved for healers
avoid biting Tanks , coz we dont wanna mess up their agro
make sure you dont target "already bitten" one

watch your debuff timer
min. 5 secs before timer due, target your bite target, I use command follow : /f to help me move closer to target

[ThinkofabetterName]

First of all proper guilds make one simple tactic, everyone STACKS on everybody except tanks. Hunter are also stacked closest range to shoot.
And if you use grid2 or you can also put focus on a specific person from the raid list by right clicking on him...your dps that you gonna deal within that time is done by others within 0.1 sec

[tobermoray]

Thanks so much for these tips all. Definitely a few things for me to try here.

/salute

[fdbsfhe4rfar]

Huh. stacking dps one on top of eachother, doesn't that make finding someone to bite harder?
Blood Queen always bite the highest dps of the group first. then the rest in decreasing order, from highest to lowest.
Imo, if dps are close to each other, but not stacked, you can cleary see who is bited already, they have a purple glow. no addons needed.

[Sixtyninee]

Huh. stacking dps one on top of eachother, doesn't that make finding someone to bite harder?
Blood Queen always bite the highest dps of the group first. then the rest in decreasing order, from highest to lowest.
Imo, if dps are close to each other, but not stacked, you can cleary see who is bited already, they have a purple glow. no addons needed.

Yeah.. I returned to find that new tactic too and I'm not a fan. I find it strange that a tactic was created to make things easier on people who don't use addons or vision to track these things but the tactic itself makes it harder to select the right person unless you're using something that defeats the purpose. It becomes even more questionable when you consider that good guilds are supposedly using this, cause apparently they need training wheels, but that's just how tactic edumacation works here.

[Viiscral]

Yeah.. I returned to find that new tactic too and I'm not a fan. I find it strange that a tactic was created to make things easier on people who don't use addons or vision to track these things but the tactic itself makes it harder to select the right person unless you're using something that defeats the purpose. It becomes even more questionable when you consider that good guilds are supposedly using this, cause apparently they need training wheels, but that's just how tactic edumacation works here.

It just solves multiple problems: easier targeting for bite for everyone as everyones stacked, Pact and the associated aoe damage from it is more nullified as it instantly disappears more or less.

Downsides are:
- if people don't pay attention to Swarming Shadows you can wipe the entire stack, so this is pretty much the only thing the raid needs to call out and pay attention to.
- Twilight Bolt gonna deal a whole lot of raid damage. Healers gonna need to work trough that, but..better than Pact damage.

[iceicemage]

try using a focus macro, or just shift left click and focus frame someone you have in mind and STAY CLOSE TO HIM (basically the answer to your question) so you can bite him easily. pay more attention to the debuffs on your raid frame 5-10 sec before the bites about to happen.

[tobermoray]

Quick follow on post to report back on my findings.

Following recommendations I now have healbot setup for this fight. I track the essence debut as priority number 1, and have any characters with it shown as bright white. I can see instantly anyone shown in white is already bitten.

I set the skin up for healbot to show raid by group, which helps find dps reliably and quickly as usually dps are in 2/3/4.

I’ve set healbot up so I can select a raid member with a mouse click from the bars.

Lastly - and I can’t tell you what a game changer this was - I have a macro set up to /follow target (genius bit of advice). So once I’ve picked a target with a click, one keystroke will very quickly run me into position/turn me the right way to bite.

Yesterday on BQL I had first target picked, but someone beat me to it. I then switched to another, and someone else beat me to that one too. But with this systematic approach I still had time to switch to a third target and successfully bite within time. Believe me, that set of circumstances would have been guaranteed fail and probable raid wipe before your advice.

Thanks again to all for helping me iron this one out.

[oOoblachkoOo]

I'm assuming you're asking as a pug raider. The way it's done in my guild - and I'm pretty sure in most other raiding guilds - is that we assign positions and a bite order before the fight starts. What it does is that every member only needs to remember 2-3 names of their "bitees" - who will also move towards their corresponding biters a few seconds before the frenzy. Pre-assigned positions also mean that you won't have to search for your target mid-fight, you will already know where they are supposed to be.
As mentioned above, Grid helps a lot with tracking players and their status. Make sure you're also using DBM, it shows a frame with bitten players and a range frame to avoid splash damage from blood bolts.

[giodimm1]

You can bite very easy without any addons. Just drag blizz frames for raid and set as option show debuffs. Now you can see clearly who havent it. Ofc be sure you not mark tanks or heals [heals can be bitten if all dps already bitten]. If your RL is good he will place top dps in same grp and lowest dps to another sep grp. Just choose your non bited target from raid frames, when 1 sec left when essence is going to expire and click follow. If your target is ranged you may need to move to middle of room, until follow option enables. So target, follow, bite. If you y use nameplates addon, it can be setted to show hp of fruendly target, only when marked. This way you dont even need to use follow, because the only nameplate you seeing will be your bite target.

If you do heroic and it have bite order the best way is not bited to move to not bitten, but opposite. This way your top dps will maximize dps, instead of moving, wasting time and lose dps. Ofc i mean ranged, melees always stacks. So the best way is if 1st bites is a melee, next in order which must be a ranged, to move to melee range to receive the bite. If ranged, let melee move to him. Before the bite your dps is on half anyway.