nevermind

[mmcookies]

as i upgraded my equipment, i realized that my problem wasn't one of strategy, but of raw power
once i got to 2k+ spell power and 13k health 15k mana,
the heroic bosses were nowhere near as harrowing as they were before

[mmcookies]

Utgarde Keep (2008-12-27)

Team Stats Snapshot (Buffed)

1 Protection Paladin: 23114 health, 537 def
4 Elemental Shamans: 12945 health, 13416 mana, 1552 sp, 21.05% crit

Trash Notes

- Take out Runecasters and Spiritualists first
- Keep shamans away from exploding mines and whirlwinds
- Kill the protodrake handlers first
- Keep left at the top of double flights of stairs

Boss: Prince Keleseth

Paladin Aura Used: Shadow Resistance
Set Up: After clearing room, charge in with shamans on follow, make sure Keleseth's between you and the other corridor (where the skeletons come in)

Ability: Shadow Bolt [ouch it hurts]6-8k damage, occasionally on non-tank
- eat it and heal through

Ability: Frost Tomb [dangerous if unattended] remove target from action for 20 seconds, DoT 8000
(I thought I saw this going for 2k per tick, but can't seem to find more info about that)
- break tomb with 7000 damage
- use macro /target Frost Tomb
- may have to back up shamans slightly to put the tomb in front
- be prepared to heal

Ability: Skeletons [mostly harmless] reanimating 5 skeletons that slow and weaken
- keep shamans within consecration distance
- magma or fire nova totems

Boss: Dalronn the Controller and Skarvald the Constructor

Paladin Aura Used: Shadow Resistance
Twin boss fight, the dead one rises again as untargetable shade
Set Up: Leave shamans with back to wall just past the pile of rocks to your left, tank them near the stairs
First Attempt: Dalronn to ~20%, switched to Skarvald until ~40%, switch to kill Dalronn and then Skarvald

Ability (Dalronn): Shadow Bolt [could leave a mark] 4-5k damage, cast in succession, often on non-tank
- spam grounding totem every cooldown

Ability (Dalronn): Debilitate [a bit annoying] 3k DoT, slows
- heal through

Ability (Dalronn): ]Summon Skeletons [just some bones] summons near himself
- consecrate

Ability (Skarvald): Charge [a bit of a spook] stuns random member, returns to tank
- take it eajy?

Ability (Skarvald): Stone Strike [annoyance] knock back, sometimes non-tank
- keep shaman backs to wall

Ability (Skarvald): Enrage [not that angry] speed and damage increase for 10 seconds
- be prepared for healing pace changes

Boss: Ingvar the Plunderer

Paladin Aura Used: Shadow Resistance
Two phase fight, raised as undead after death and scene
Stackable debuffs, kill him quick
Set Up: Spread shamans out between first set of pillars, tank him past the third set of pillars

Ability: Cleave [only armslength] hurts in melee range
- just have the shamans stay where they are

Ability: Enrage [takes a while] stackable 5% attack speed increase
- kill him quick

Ability: Smash [move or die] 13-17k frontal cone 10 yards
- watch for casting, tank run through him to behind

Abilty: Staggering Roar [timing can suck] 2-3k damage 60 yards, interrupt spellcast for 6 seconds
- watch for casting, jump to stop shaman spells
- keep tank health high

Ability (Undead): Dark Smash [still deadly] 9-11k frontal cone 10 yards, 2k damage everyone else, knock down
- same strategy as smash

Ability (Undead): Dreadful Roar[that is loud] 5-7k 60 yards, interrupt for 6 seconds, stackable 10% damage increase
- same strategy as staggering roar
- keep shaman health high as well, chain heal afterwards
- kill him quick

Ability (Undead): Woe Strike [boo hoo] heals cast on target hurts healer 2k
- more chain heals for shaman

Ability (Undead): Shadow Axe [rarely a problem] spinning axe at random member, 10k AoE over 10 seconds
- target says random but often near the tank, perhaps random target within X yards
- keep shamans spread out in case it does go after them

[Niley]

wouldn't that be the same thing as
WotLK heroics and tactics compilation thread ('http://www.dual-boxing.com/forums/index.php?page=Thread&threadID=16797')
?

[dRiN]

It might have be but I do like this format it is posted in. Thanks.

[puppychow]

Would love to hear some of the strats you guys have for heroic violet hold, specifically the water boss, the boss that is a giant void walker, and the ethereal boss. The bird boss is very simple, just burn the boss first then the adds - no significant damage to speak of. The dog boss is also simple tank'n'spank. The final boss is also very easy, just move out of blizzards and chain heal through the aoe damage. But man, just cannot handle at all the voidwalker, water, or ethereal guy.

In solo mode the ethereal guy is kited backwards along the top stairs slowly, this is a lot harder though as a solo player since your team is lagging behind you so sometimes the spawns will reach them. Haven't really found any sort of safe spot, I heard if you fight him in the water you are safe but that totally did not work for me. The water boss is similar, she just does crazy AoE dmg - i have tried to use the red crystals to blow up her adds but when I'm running to the next one usually people start dying. Maybe position everyone near a crystal or something (kinda too far though for boss then!) The shadow boss is also horrible, I do purge his buff but I can't realistically handle dpsing the adds on the single person who gets the buff. I've heard a warrior tank makes this crazy easy since they can spell reflect the bolts, and a DK tank I imagine may be able to put up their anti-magic bubble long enough for the boss to die. gg pally tank :(

This is all heroic mode btw, cleared regular violet hold no real problems, but at 80 you really outlevel the instance quite a bit.

[Multibocks]

So any reason you are suggesting to kill the handlers first in UK on protodragons? I found they do negligible damage to my casters (healing stream totems pretty much cover their damage) and the proto-drake can do some massive damage fast if he breaths fire and immediately melees ( about 12kish damage). I wouldn't want to let him live long and I take him out first and just ignore the adds. Once hes down the tank can handle 2 of the handlers with ease.

[mmcookies]

i might change that about the protodrake handlers, this was based on my first time experience
i'm pretty slow with these, still lots of experimentation, and remember these are based partly on my preferences

[Multibocks]

ok was wondering if maybe the handlers gave the dragon a melee damage buff =)

[blast3r]

Not sure if this will work in heroics but in regular mode you can drop a few fire elementals back near the wall and they will come up and deal with those Frost Tombs but not attack the main target due to distance. Someone suggested that in another thread so I tried it and it worked.

[Hachoo]

Better strategy for the frost tombs in general with shamans:

Bring your tank up to prince with your shamans following right behind (do not leave your shamans back at all, keep them RIGHT behind your tank).

Drop 4 fire elementals after you get aggro, and use a castrandom macro that rotates between LB/CL/LvB

Your Fire elementals and CLs will hit not only the boss, but all the skeleton adds AND the frost tombs. Basically then you'll ONLY have to worry about his shadow bolts which are cake to deal with.

[mmcookies]

It's kind of bizarre. I've done UK 3 times now, and all three times things have been different enough that I needed to try out different strategies.

Today Ingvar actually turned around while casting his smash and hit me behind him a few times, and I had to keep myself topped off and preemptively healed as he finishes his smash.

[Hurricane]

Mmcookies! Great layout for heroic tacs. We need a good post with 4 ele shamans and 1 pala tactics. I will be starting doing heroics anytime (same setup as yours) soon and can contribute with tips when i learn em.

I liked this old BC heroic overview aswell:
Heroic dungeons difficulty, rated. ('http://www.dual-boxing.com/forums/index.php?page=Thread&postID=77650&highlight=Heroic#post77650')