This is not by any means a common drop for this mob. We've done him maybe two dozen times and never seen this drop. The boots are the common drop and he usually drops 2 runes.
Duo, the encounter has changed recently. Used to be you could do Menlo by himself without getting any adds. If you were very very careful. Now, he calls adds into the fight every so often. These are lvl 63-64 adds and come in pairs, usually right at your healers. Our guild takes him down fairly regularly and will do it with a raid of 2+ groups with at least 2 CC'ers, preferably chanters though in a pinch Bards do great as well. The faster you kill him the better.
Our guild is in Planar(not Elemental) and DoN armor.