16 Man Triple Black Hole Commendation Run – Step by Step

Every weekend my guild and I sponsor a 16 man triple Black Hole commendations run. We have about 12 guild members show, and we pick up a few strays for kicks and promotion. We run the 3 weekly operation grade missions in a row. Everyone gets a hefty chunk of 45 Black hole commendations, and have more fun than is allowed by Imperial Law.

Keep reading for a step-by-step on how to sponsor your own Triple Coms Run!

First up, every needs to grab these three weekly missions.

[Weekly] Deadly Operations – Karagga’s Palace Hard Mode
[Weekly] Galactic Operations – Explosive Conflict Story Mode
[Weekly] Galactic Crisis Points – Terror From Beyond Story Mode

You’ll want to have this Operation’s Composition.

2 Tanks
4 Healers
10 DPS

You will tackle them in this order – KP HM > EC SM > TFB SM. A few technical things to make sure you are on top of.

You can invite everyone you want to your Operations group, but to enter you have to set the Phase to 16 man. Starting off you’ll set it to 16 Man Hard Mode. Make sure no one enters the Operation until you have it set correctly. Transitioning to EC SM, you’ll have to reset all instances then set the difficulty to SM. Moving into TFB SM, you’ll have to reset the instances again.

Loot will drop, and a lot of it. A loot master will spend all day putting up /rolls for gear. It’s my recommendation to handle it two ways.
Let the rolls just happen with the default system. You can add a verbal addendum if you want. Something like “Don’t be ‘that’ guy and roll need on stuff you don’t need for your main spec.”

The loot master can hold it all for distribution at the end of the runs. This can really speed up the run, but you’ll need a lot of bag space.
Speaking of gear, it’s recommended to have a full Columi compliment on all Puggers brought along. Your core guild group should be Rakata or better for a smooth, no issues, and fun run.

KP Hard Mode

Trash, can’t be CC’ed, so just burn it down.

1st Boss – Bone Crusher

Same mechanics as 8 man HM, no aggro table and two Add spawns at 50%. Don’t forget about the ‘red’ gamorrean snacks that fall. You don’t want the boss enraged. !Protip: turn on Target of Target in your UI menu to see who the boss is targeting.

2nd Boss – Jarg and Sorno

Same mechanics as 8 man HM. Split your group in two. One team focuses Jarg, the other Sorno. Both teams will have 1 tank, 2 healers, and 5 DPS per target. Try to assign melee DPS on Sorno and Ranged on Jarg, it helps with healing. Assign the Sorno Tank to interrupt the ‘Unload’ skill, and the DPS to interrupt the boss’ healing scan. When Sorno jets to the ceiling it will cause multiple Carbonizer Droids to spawn, burn them down fast. There is a nasty Rail Shot that goes out sub 20% health, watch it.

EC Story Mode

Trash, weave through it like always. Taking down what you need to. CC is of little use in 16 man.

1st Boss – Toth and Zorn

Same mechanics as 8 man SM, which is really simple these days. Separate the bosses across the canyon. Use the handler on the ‘right’ cliff as your marker to tank Toth, exactly opposite on the other side drag Zorn. Hold each boss on the opposite canyon wall. Burn them down. Each team needs 1 tank, 2 healers, 5 DPS on each target. It’s helpful to keep melee on Toth, to keep the jump damage down. The fearful debuff in SM is of no consequence, so there is no need to move bosses or tanks. That means when the Toth jumps, just taunt back into his original position. Toth and Zorn’s Handler will drop down after the Drouks are dead, squash him.

2nd Boss – Firebrand and Stormcaller

These two Hover-Tanks are a good time, and if handled correctly will cause no headache to your 16 man Commendations run. The player Tank on Firebrand will soak the Incinerate Armor attack, using a cooldown to help healers along. The healing team on Firebrand will stay on the ground to ‘kite’ electrical missiles fired on them. Note: You need two players on the ground in sixteen man. The rest of both teams are on the hover tanks smashing away. The player-tank on Stormcaller will run behind his DPS and Healer team to drop the Double Destruction attack. During transition phases the player-tank on Stormcaller will force that Hover-Tank to focus fire on him only. Damage is light, have fun with it. After the transition adds are downs and Firebrand is done shooting rockets on the ground get back onto the hover tanks. Rinse, Repeat, Loot.  !Protip:  Turn on your focus target in your UI and enable your focus target cast bar.  Before the fight starts focus target Firebrand by clicking on it and hitting Alt-F.

TFB Story Mode

1st Boss – The Writhing Horror

Make your way through the trash. Don’t get too crazy and pull everything at once. (Trust me it gets out of control real fast).
When you arrive at the boss’ pit take him down the same way as 8 man SM. Two tanks taunt swapping the boss and Jealous Male while ranged DPS stands in a pheromone pool and attacks the small adds. Make your way around the room and move on once it’s down.

2nd Boss – The Dread Guard

This is a standard council encounter. Kill Heirad (Center), then Ciphas (Left), last Kel’sara (Right). The only mechanic you have to correctly execute is the first one. Ciphas will shield Heirad, whom you are trying to take out first (Because he has no aggro table). Swap to Ciphas and pop his shield, then interrupt his cast. Then All DPS goes back to Heirad. There is a tank swap when Kel’sara’s tank hits a 6 stack of Crushing Darkness debuff. You can stack it higher, but there’s no need. Have the doomed player absorb green pools, everyone else avoid them. When Kel’sara homes in on a player with the green laser, run away.  !Protip:  Mark the bosses with target Icons.  Who can remember their names anyway?

Nicely done, no head back to the fleet and collect your easily won 45 Black Hole commendations.

If your group has time, you can finish SM TFB 16 man for some hefty loot drops. The last two bosses will award your group with 8 Black Hole level drops. The same mechanics from 8 man story mode apply to the rest of the Operation.

I’ve given brief run-downs on the encounters, hit up dulfy.net for a more detailed explanation if your planning your first trip into an operations.
This type of Fun Run is a great guild and moral builder for your team.

The Silverstrike Legacy can be found on The Bastion’s Vaiken Space Dock in the company of his fellow Zergadins.