Heroic difficulty order ?

[Moorea]

Hi, can someone confirm what are the easiest heroic to start with - I think from reading the stickies it would be

UTK
and
Gundrak

which one is easiest (for 4 shamans and 1 dk if that matters), next easiest and so on (progression) ?

[aboron]

The first 2 heroic bosses I downed were moorabi and sladran from gundrak - i've got a dk, 3 spriests and pally healer, so moorabi is actually the easiest one for me, i just let him go ahead and change, the pally can heal the tank all day and the aoe thing i just holy nova x3 and go back to burning.
Sladran was harder for me until i concentrated on gearing more dps, now i get him about 90% of the time.
Doing Eck was next, he's really simple if you just max range tank him (35+ yards) and he won't jump. I had to glyph mind flay to get him.

Next i went over and spanked the root shaper boss in nexus - just clump up right behind the tank on the steps and it's simple.

Also, while there, I go up and get the first boss in the oculus, the trash is harder IMO than the boss. just run up with the tank on this one too, ignore the bombs and just do a little aoe healing as needed (i made it the first try on just VE healing).

And last on my current list of starter bosses is prince from UK, just make sure to have the /target frost tomb part in your dps macro.

These are the ones i'm farming for badges right now, getting about 6/day until i can finish a complete heroic myself.

I get killed on the collosus in gundrak as soon as he transforms (i have no nature damage mitigation, and my priest holy nova healing works best when they are all clumpped up, which can't be done on this boss.

I almost have the twins in UK down, just need practice.

[Starbuck_Jones]

First Heroic I was able to complete was Utguard Keep. Second boss is harder than the last in my opinion. I had been holding back on trying Heroics till I got all decked out in craftables and some rep rewards, but I said frak it and just went and tried. First run through H:UK and I wiped only once on the second boss. Rest was a 1 shot. Other than being DEF capped my guys are not that geared. Like 1200spell power is all, no dedicated healer.

Now I just run my dailies, hit the AH for epic mats, and try a heroic or two.

[Multibocks]

Moorabi is definitely the easiest. I dont like suggesting UK because people tend to get stuck on the first boss and its not worth the effort to clear all that trash for just 2 bosses. My guess at difficulty would be this:

Gundrak
Draktheron
Utgarde Keep
Culling of Stratholme (if you arent racing clock I would call this the easiest instance.)
Violet Hold
and I never really ran the rest more than once. Most were awful to boxers.

[jimbobobb]

My personal recommendations for absolute beginners with little confidence:

Culling of Strathholme:
Ignore the clock completely and just slowly work through the instance. The bosses are all basically tank and spank with little twists. Heal whoever gets chained on the first boss, heal whoever gets blown up on the second, aoe heal a bit when the third boss berserks, and face the last boss away from the group/drop a grounding totem if you have one. Grats on an epic, decent loot, and a frozen orb.

Drak'theron keep:
First boss is just a tank and spank with a bit of a timer. Aoe heals really help. You can skip the second and even the third bosses if they give you any trouble. The final boss is the easiest final boss of all the heroics. Grats on an epic, decent loot, and a frozen orb.

Gundrak: You can do Moorabi and the Snake guy pretty easily, and they're only 3 pulls each before you can attempt them. If you have an aoe healer the golem/elemental is a joke. Finally the last guy is very easy. Just keep him at range when he's a troll, hug him when he's a rhino, and clump your guys in a corner.

These three instances are extremely easy. However once you figure out the little tricks for each heroic, they're all pretty easy. It's simply a matter of running them enough times and reading up on the boss fights that you figure out the easiest/best way to do it for you. There is a lot of absolutely great information in the stickies.

Once you're at the level where any heroic is no problem, you'll find that the two easiest to farm for badges/orbs/abyss crystals are violet hold and culling of strathholme. They're both more or less located in Dalaran, and you can do them both in less than an hour for 7 badges, 2 orbs, 2 abyss crystals, and a ton of other de/sellables.

[Moorea]

I got morabi and eck and the snake guy in Gundrak (yeah ! my first badges "solo") but after that it went downhill and maybe I was tired or what but I kept wiping on collosus (bad pull; was trying to position my guys and 1 aggroed unexpectedly) and then even on trash ... about 350g of repairs later I gave up and went back to AV and WG and dailies... I'll try to get some more gear (or stick to those 3 bosses)

In COS last time I tried I wiped on trash after the waves, up in the inn, when mobs spawn fast... but I was worsed geared maybe I'll try again

[KvdM]

I'd advice that you try all heroics. Even the ones that are listed as difficult. You might not be able to clear them, but you'll still be able to beat some of the bosses and get some good gear upgrades and badges from them. For instance, you could try to kill the first two bosses in UP after you've cleared UK. It only takes about 20 minutes to kill them and since you're in the area anyway...


Just noticed something... slap some sta armor patches on your gear to get 1-2k hp extra..
18k = dead tank
20k = no room for mistakes
24k = it's going to be a rough ride

And if necessary put them on your other chars as well, it will make aoe heavy encounters like the colossus a bit easier.

[Greythan]

I can't speak to all heroics, but my belief is that they are ALL about refining technique.

So, I'd recommend Gundrak as the one to focus on initially. Once I perfected my technique, I could farm five badges in under 2 hours. (Probably faster, but I'm being a big cautious.) There are a ton of upgrades in Gundrak for my mixed team. I then went on to UK and find that a pretty easy dungeon now too. However, there's a ton more trash to clear in UK than Gundrak.

I need to expand to VH and CoS. My few tries at CoS I was able to get the first two bosses easily. However, getting past the dragonkin in the first building was killing me. Need to try it again as I've gotten some gear upgrades.

So, farm Gundrak for five badges per day, upgrade gear, and expand to other Heroics. My two coppers.

[Raskaz]

I personally find Gundrak and DTK quite good for getting into heroics since they allow you to skip certain bosses.
The first two bosses in UP are quite easy as well and the first one drops some really nice caster DPS pants.
Same goes for HoL, the first two bosses are not that hard, Ionar however can be really annoying.
CoS is all about being patient and just completely ignore the timer.
And ofc good all UK, if you manage to beat the first boss the rest isn't really that bad.

[Tdog]

You know it also depends on your group makeup

[Kalros]

Well, I'm running a Prot Pally and 4x Elemental Shamen. The day I hit 80 (this last saturday, the 13th) with just a few crafted gear upgrades I was able to do Drak'Tharon Keep and Gundrak. The first time I did DTK I had to skip Novos after about 5 wipes. I eventually got a couple more gear upgrades, refined my strategy, and can now take Novos out with little problems.

I finished Utgarde Keep with no problems whatsoever, mostly because I know the strategies for all the bosses like the back of my hand because I was running that 4 times a day on normal with my team when I first hit Northrend!

I can finish Culling of Strat, but I actually get more wipes in that zone than any of the others. Not quite sure what I'm doing wrong there.

I'm farming the first boss in Halls of Lightning because I want those plate shoulders for the Paladin. I have not had the courage to continue yet.

I just made my first attempt at Utgarde Pinnacle yesterday. Getting all the way up to the gauntlet was fairly simple, and I got to the point where I knocked him off his mount, but by then I was down a shaman and almost OOM with everyone. I KNOW I can finish it, just need better gear.

So those are the only one's I've tried, but since my shamen have only been 80 for 4-ish days, its not bad.

My personal goal is to finish The Occulus on Heroic! Everything I've read on the boards make it sound like its virtually impossible to 'box. Sounds like a challenge to me!

[Simulacra]

my first was grundrak - found it pretty hard and used to wipe on sladran a lot until I found my pally cleanse button lol, the collosus was a pain and I used to wipe on him time and again, I finally figured out not to worry about the slime pools and just heal through them, arrange your guys in a square pattern around the circle so they always have a clear shot as the ele like to move around a lot. The rhino boss on the other side can be frost shocked out of his transformation so you could have that on a castsequence. The last boss is just dps/heal race, he gets a lot easier when you get slightly better gear, just remember to park your guys in the corner where the tombstone is dps like crazy in troll form, have your tank run in circles out of range when he's spinning and heal like crazy when the rhino appears, he hits like a truck so keep the tanks heals up - he has great tanking gloves.
Ooops, almost forgot eck! - after you've cleared the room arrange your shammies in a square pattern around the entrance to his lair, this is because if your tank doesn't hold aggro he jumps around a lot so when he does all your shammies will still have a clear shot.

UK - prince - keep your shammies on follow and as you get close to him start dropping totems, I ignore the tombs and have a castsequenece macro on my shammies for thunderstorm to take care of the adds. Just heal regularly and take it easy. If things start going pear shaped drop yuor earth eles to take the heat off. You'll also get an achievement for not shooting the tombs :). The next two guys need to be taken down at the same time or one of them will spawn a shadow version of himself which is a pain, so just alternate your dps and finish off with a chain lightning, they also have adds which the castsequence thunderstorm can take care off.
The last guy is a pain and I wiped so many times on him I almost hung up my boxing hat, eventually my gear got a bit better and I was able to take him, park your guys clumped together at the end of the bridge with clear access to either side as you need to strafe when his flying axe comes at you, if it connects it's a wipe. Just tank him and heal the tank fairly regularly and chain heal the shammies and it'll be fine.

Draktharon Keep - my favourite instance - still tricky but a lot of fun - first boss tank/spank - that's it. Second boss, run in next to her and put your teams back to the wall facing her, several small waves of ads will come out but they're easy, once the waves are finished she'll attack, dps her and chain heal until she's around 50%, at this point I drop 3 fire eles and as she concentrates on them, heal up and dps like crazy. Third boss is a tank and spank with a twist, put your shammies to the right hand side of the stairs facing the dinosaur park and drop some trmor totems as the king fears. Just dps and keep the tnks health topped up. The final boss is crazy fun, park your shammies at the top of the stairs and have a trmor totem or two out, he's not hard and I got him on the first try (ive wiped since lol) just keep your heals up, he'll change all your team into skellies and change your casting bar so that you only have 4 buttons. I usually just press whichever is up next on the gcd and that seems to work, when you get near the end of the skelly bit, stop pressing the button and just click the 4th button which is a shadow bolt so that your tank has aggro. After the skelly bit I always heal up before dps. It sounds complicated but it's actually pretty easy and he has nice drops. Beware the mobs in the first hall, the little ones should be taken out asap as they cast a shadow pool on the floor beneath your casters which if you don't strafe out of straight away is a wipe.

get the deadly boss mods addon

instances i'm having trouble with are:
halls of lightning, first 2 bosses are easy but the lightning guy just wipes the floor with me, even after watching hachoos video - meh.
violet hold: was there tonight and wiped on trash >.< - I really hate this place, I also hated that other one in CoT where you had to run around too - I really need the tanking pants from here but the repair bills are killing me.
UP: really hard for me - don't know why.
CoS: I really don't like instances where you have to go through a whole story just to get to the action, plus I wipe regularly here too, I should be able to do this .... no idea what I'm doign wrong but I just keep wiping.
I haven't been anywhere else on heroic.

[Marious]

Gun is cake, had issues at the beginning but my tank is almost epic and has no issues. The DPS(Shaman) is in good shape and my Dis Priest is a healing fool. Gun really dont take me that long to do under an hour. DTK I skip Novos I am sure I can take him but just easier to skip him, same for Dread I skip and go for the boss, dont see any reason to do those 2 other than the 2 extra badges, UK is cake all bosses are wimps, Strat is cake sometimes I lose a guy or something but its all easy bosses, trash is probably harder than some of the bosses. UP is a totally different story, first boss is cake all other bosses I ride the fail boat. Gauntlet run sucks even on regular it sucks, second boss on UP is a pain not really the adds but the bleed/poison effect always kills my guys and I die. Dont do Nexus, Oculus, HoS or HoL. OOh hope the new dungeon in 3.2 is gonna be easy to do.

[aboron]

Just got heroic UK completed today, my first full heroic. The healer pally died really early on part2 of ingvar from repeated woeful strikes, but the shadowpriests kept the tank alive just fine with renews and pw:s, plus he really doesn't hit too hard as long as you run through him on the smashes. I also have an odd unholy/blood spec that still gives me access to rune tap and Mark of Blood for just such emergencies.

Of course I got a stupid purple crossbow which noone can use, er i mean i got a shiny new abyss crystal to start a new collection with. Plus the first frozen orb i didn't have to buy.

Edit- just realized why my pally was such a slouch in there today - i ran the who thing with him holding a fishing rod. D'oh!

[Greythan]

Get used to abyss crystals. They're taking up a lot of space in my enchanter's bank. ;)

[Simulacra]

Just got heroic UK completed today, my first full heroic. The healer pally died really early on part2 of ingvar from repeated woeful strikes, but the shadowpriests kept the tank alive just fine with renews and pw:s, plus he really doesn't hit too hard as long as you run through him on the smashes. I also have an odd unholy/blood spec that still gives me access to rune tap and Mark of Blood for just such emergencies.

Of course I got a stupid purple crossbow which noone can use, er i mean i got a shiny new abyss crystal to start a new collection with. Plus the first frozen orb i didn't have to buy.

Edit- just realized why my pally was such a slouch in there today - i ran the who thing with him holding a fishing rod. D'oh!lol fishing rod ftw ha ha - gratz on the first heroic, great feeling isn't it!

[Malekyth]

Hah!

I ran normal Gundrak with my druids, and barely got through it because my bear tank was just getting murdered. He was in Feral spec, but I realized later that he'd been wearing his Balance gear. Doh! I can't believe I was able to finish it. Low armor, no attack power, moderate stamina ... man. Trees heal really well, I guess.