A lone Orc? Against the might of the Alliance?

Ah, Deathbringer Saurfang. He was the first problematic encounter we really had in ICC 10 – a boss that forced us to switch raid members, test out various raid compositions, strategies and maneuvers until we all started hating the fight. This also happens to be the boss that forced me to try and raid as Survival for the improved Frost Traps and the immediate burst of triggered Lock and Load Explosive Shots. I hated it.
So, if you hate kiting and want to DPS instead of running around then continue reading and you’ll see how my guild manages to kill Saurfang before he can even cast his Mark of the Fallen Champion!

For a Hunter, Saurfang is a true test of skill. Here we get to prove our kiting abilities, acting as an off-tank of some sort by taunting the wretched Blood Beasts that the Deathbringer summons. I’ll admit to it – while I love kiting things to death (their death.. most of the time) I prefer to unleash hell in a stationary position and not be bothered by blood-thirsty fetuses.
The ultimate kiting technique that we eventually came up with involved 3 raid members – me (SV-specced for the fight), our mage (I think Frost-Fire specced for the occasion) and a boom chicken druid. I would lay down a Frost trap and Distracting Shot taut the Blood Beast on the right and kite it until dead and the left beast was to be frozen in place by the mage. In case of emergency we had our druid Typhoon them back to the frost trap.
Well, that worked and we had a couple of pristine attempts. However, the 3 kiters involved were also our top 3 DPS for the fight. We also found out that kiting the beasts tends to disrupt the 11 yard range distance that people need to maintain in case of Blood Boil. All the moving around is a huge DPS decrease.

SO, we decided to zerg him. We would still kill the beasts but this time we decided to do it in a way that would allow all ranged to stand still for the entire fight and not worry about kiting. But how?
Stun the damned Blood Beasts. Our raid composition features a lot of paladins – usually 3-4. We also have a rogue. Have some of them make sure that hammers are hitting the one of the right and make sure your rogue can find the kidneys of the left one (in case hammers fail) or make your warrior use his jibba-jabba stuns. Stunning is crucial. When both beasts are stunned, all DPS – ranged AND melee – annihilates the right beast and then switches on the left one. If all goes well the beasts will only manage to hit your raid members only a couple of times. The good news is, our raid always has a Discipline priest - if all the damage dealt by a Blood Beast is absorbed it will not give Saurfang runic power.
As long as you keep rinsing and repeating you will have around 30 seconds of spare time to focus all DPS on the boss at all times, which means that raiders can pop cooldowns and trinkets without worrying about Blood Beasts spawning and wasting that potential DPS. Killing the Blood Beasts so quickly also means that Deathbringer Saurfang will take more overall damage, thus spawn less waves of minions. When all ranged stays 11 yards apart, the only movement through the encounter will be done by melee DPS with Blood Boil (they have to get away from everyone else until the effect is gone).
Do this and if people know what they are doing and have above average DPS you’ll manage to down him without even worrying about Mark of the Fallen Champion. If someone does get Marked toss them some heals or let them die. Because you’re zerging him, the extra 5% health that he regains when a Fallen Champion dies means nothing.

What does that mean for us, Hunters? Well, we get to stay in one place and shoot, shoot, shoot and do the spanking not the tanking.
I hope that my guild’s method of zerging Saurfang works out for you and your guild if you’re still having trouble with the encounter. Even though it simplifies the boss fight you need to remember that raid coordination, communcation and good DPS are still needed to succeed. ; )