Easiest Non-Heroic Northrend Instance

[beyond-tec]

Heya :)

My druid tank dinged lvl 80 and tbh.. the content is very boring for a non-raider and pvp-hater :-D
So I'm planning to reactivate my shaman accounts and push them to level 80 (currently they're lvl 73).

I don't have that much instance-experience in the Northrend content (only seen two of the instances so far).
So, which instance is the easiest ? I'm looking for an instance full of boring tank & spank mobs. Any tips?

thx in advance
bt

[Clone]

Utgarde keep is the easiest. Just use fire elementals and bloodlust on first boss as he's probably the hardest. Still weaksauce though :-)

[Siaea]

If you're running shaman as DPS/Heals then I would say Gundrak, and you get more emblems with it.

[beyond-tec]

oops... forgot to mention that I want to use the druid to
rush through the instances. So my setup will be:

1 lvl 80 druid tank
4 lvl 73 dps shaman

[Clone]

If you're running shaman as DPS/Heals then I would say Gundrak, and you get more emblems with it.

you don't get emblems in non heroic.

I'd definately say uk up till 75 then possibly gundrak or DTK up to 80.

[Klesh]

With 1 or more lvl 80 in a group, all northrend starter instances are very easy. Your tank won't get hit very often, and he got way more HP than required.

UK is very easy, just position all chars so they are facing each other and add a "/target Frost Tomb" to your DPS macros for the first boss. Last boss is all about correct positioning + some jumping (with all toons) and moving with your tank.
Gundrak isn't really at your level yet afaik (mobs are 76? not sure, never did that one on normal).
Nexus is quite easy too, if you know the fights and got the strat down (positioning for Ormorok, maybe Telestra too, the rest is cake).
AN is kinda annoying (I don't like that place) but not that hard either.
DrakTharon is kinda a gear check (first boss, but am mostly speaking from heroic perspective here, didnt really try it on normal either), the rest isn't hard if you know the fights a bit.

Other than that, I'd suggest leveling with quests (yes, even the collection ones). Grinding mobs for experience is too much like EQ, but maybe that's just me...

[Smoooth]

Old Kingdom was my favorite at that level. The xp there was amazing. With rest each pull gave ~10k XP. None of the bosses will give you any problem after the first time you learn them. Also it is the first instance where the blues disenchant into dream shards instead of small dream shards.

I spent most of my 73-75 in old kingdom and it went real quick. Only left to clear each other instance once or twice for quest/gear/achievements. At 76 I started clearing Halls of Lightning and all the other 80 dungeons a couple times. You will need 2 characters at least 77+ with flying to summon them there with the stone if you are under 77 but HoL is worth it for the xp and gear.

[Siaea]

Hah, yea, I mis-read the title. It was 4 am here when I originally read/replied. Non heroic, probably UK like others said. The first boss is the hardest, just use magma totems or fire elementals, they take care of the tombs.

[Starbuck_Jones]

I found Utguard Keep to be a huge pain in the butt. I did not finish this instance till my whole group was 76-77. The first boss was easy sauce. It was the second pair of bosses that just kicked my butt. The melee guy could 2 shot any of my slaves with his charge, I could never keep agro on the caster guy even going full tilt on him. He would just stand there while my tank beat on him and just throw shadowbolts at my casters non stop like he wasnt even there.

I would say if you are going for xp. Nexus is your zone. Any and all of the bosses can be skipped, so if any one of them gives you fits like the caster lady you can just skip it. It also loops around so if your doing a trash xp run you end where you started, Not one of the specal gate opens only after the last boss dies shortcut that most zones use. Gundark or Violet Hold after that if Nexus dries up as you level. Culling of Stratholme too because its a lot of fun.

[Tonyx]

The key to the second boss(es) in UK, IMHO, is being able to individually heal each of your slaves easily (i.e. one button spammable heal for each of them). This will make life so much easier.

[elsegundo]

on the second boss of UK, i find that standing at max range (right around where the fallen rocks are) will keep the SB spams away. but thats only if the tank tanks the bosses by the foot of the stairs. killing them both at the same time is essential. if one dies, you cannot taunt/agro their ghost.

[beyond-tec]

Thanks for the help guys - I really appreciate it.

I've done a Heroic Gundrak run (my first heroic & my first run on Gundrak) with my guild yesterday (I've played my druid solo / no boxing)
while I was waiting for a nice GM which restored one of my deleted shamans (hey I needed the spot in the char list)

:D

So finally I got my "old" crew back again. Now I just need some more fans in my case to keep the gfx-card cool
and then I'll start with Nexus (I hate UK the first two bosses are annoying).

[Zaelar]

For the second boss in UK I group everyone up at melee range so I don't get charged. With a priest healer I just used prayer of healing for any non tank damage(which is frequently). Not the most efficient way to do it but it worked well. This worked for a group of all 71s involving 3 cloth wearers. I imagine a mass chain heal button would be fine for your group, but you might just want to have two use chain heal if it starts cutting too much of your dps.

I could see the first boss being annoying with a druid tank, but you might be able to stack up and straight burn through him at 63.

[st4rk]

At level 71 in full northrend greens my pve group ALWAYS ran out of mana on the first bosses of Nexus and UK. It was such a pita, still never downed either boss.