Ice Burrowers - Torp Shaman soloable?
 

Just like the title says -- are these a go-to target for torp shammies? I don't hear of shammies soloing them often, like I do with CG's, for instance.

They proc a 500 pt cold AE and AE dispel and are 3 levels higher than a CG with no chance at torpor. Not worth the effort or time required. Best killed by an epic Druid who can eventually snare then flame lick kite while charmed pet beats on it from behind never proccing.

The area effect special being a proc makes Ice Burrowers tricky. In a long enough battle if you fight them in normal melee sooner or later you're going to get hit with 3 or 4 specials in a row. Resisting the special is more difficult than average due to their level. At the same time they don't summon but can be snared, and if the burrower isn't in melee its special never fires. They're quite resistant and landing spells usually takes numerous tries even with tash or malo on. On my Shadow Knight I've duo'd those with a Monk before, as well as with the wife's Shaman, but she hasn't solo'd one. In truth she hasn't tried, and I haven't heard of other Shamans doing it either. If it has been done, it's been as a one-off trophy kill, not anything that's done regularly like the nest dragons.

Danth

They don't summon, you can just very slowly aggro kite them?

I was doing some testing this morning, and this is basically the easiest way to do it I found. I tried going toe-to-toe with an Ice Burrower with 253 Cold Resistance, and I was still getting hit by the AoE at least 30% of the time. Sometimes I would get hit for most of the spell damage, sometimes not. The Dispel consistently removes the top buff slot, so you shouldn't have any trouble keeping your important buffs at least.

The Ice Burrower's high level/resistances make maintaining mana difficult while going toe-to-toe. Even with Malosini and Tash I was still getting quite a few resistances on Slows and Epic DoT. As mentioned above, if the Ice Burrower gets a lucky double or triple proc, it could be fatally dangerous. This is especially true if you were cannibalizing at the time, or can't max out your cold resistance.

Luckily you can run away from them at any time. They don't summon and they don't move fast. So when things get dangerous you can just run away, recover, and go back. That means it is definitely possible to kill one with enough time as a Shaman, as long as you don't run too far away and leash them. I think this is why Shaman's don't hunt them. If it takes 30-60 minutes to kill one, it isn't really worth your time, unless you like hunting for crafting materials by yourself instead of buying them.

If you want to safely kill these guys, you can basically just summon your pet and have it slowly bite the Ice Burrower to death while kiting it around. You just need to cast your low level slow on it every so often to keep the Ice Burrower from turning on your pet. I might make a video of this later today, but it will probably be a long one lol.

EDIT: Just as a side note, they do not have crazy fast regeneration like the 4+ Dragons, so you do not need to worry about trying to beat their regeneration. You just need to chip away at their big health pool.

Made a video showing me killing an Ice Burrower:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5fsvt1xfuqY

This is only my second try, so I might be able to find a way to make the fight shorter. As it stands, my current strategy takes about an hour per kill, so it is definitely not a quick process for Shamans. The nice thing about this strategy is you don't really need Torpor. It would take even longer than in this video, since you couldn't heal with Torpor, but it would be 100% doable.

after an hour of hard work you get to chase a mob in the water, what reward. lol

Hahahaha I know. Best way to end the video IMO, empty loot box:D

You're more patient than I am. Makes sense I suppose--Test of Patience is part of the Shaman epic, after all. Those things are terminally boring even in a duo, I don't fuss with 'em much unless some monk buddy wants a chest piece. I could probably solo one in theory on the SK but heck if I'm going to bother with trying. Nice trophy kill, something to hang on the wall, so to speak. What're the odds you'll be doing THAT again with any great frequency?

Danth

Not often lol. It is a very tedious fight for sure. If silks were a very common drop and I could find a way to cut the fight time down considerably, then maybe I would do them more often. But as it stands I could do multiple 4+ Dragons in an hour, which would just be way more profitable and fun:D