How to gear up for heroics? [Archive]

vikemosabe

11-21-2009, 02:34 AM

Hey, my team just hit 80 tonight so I thought I'd run and do the heroic daily.
It happens to be Gun'Drak.
I was like, "sweet."

I couldn't even down the first boss!

Granted, I don't have the greatest gear.
Am I doing something wrong here?
Should I gear up before attempting heroics, and if so, how do I gear up without doing heroics?

Armory Links:
Tank (http://www.wowarmory.com/character-sheet.xml?r=Nathrezim&n=Ripvantinkle)
Healer (http://www.wowarmory.com/character-sheet.xml?r=Nathrezim&n=Dethrin)
DPS (http://www.wowarmory.com/character-sheet.xml?r=Nathrezim&n=Gobbledegook)
DPS (http://www.wowarmory.com/character-sheet.xml?r=Nathrezim&n=Grimhilde)
DPS (http://www.wowarmory.com/character-sheet.xml?r=Nathrezim&n=Diamklim)

P.S. DPS was doing about 1500, and tank was doing 2k.

Any help will be appreciated.

Ualaa

11-21-2009, 03:33 AM

I'm not sure if this is the best option, but it is an option.

Do the icecrown quests, which open the dailies from the airship, ebon hold and the ledge overlooking Onslaught Harbor.
These quests which open the dailies were all fairly easy with my group while leveling up.
And the dailies will get you an easy 1100g+ per day (I make 1100-1150, running 15 dailies per toon... approximately 1 hour).

Use the gold to gear your tank a little, as that seems to be the key position.
Well, gear them all a bit, but the tank in particular seems to be the make it or don't make it toon.

Compared to Burning Crusade, Wrath level heroics are easy mode.
I remember in BC, heroics being an order of magnitude harder then normal runs.
Heroics are harder in Wrath, but you don't need crowd control when starting, like you did in BC.
It won't be long before you have at least some bosses on farm.
And as you get gear, your progression has a snowball effect.

Naysayer

11-21-2009, 03:55 AM

Well, tell us what went wrong first. Healer run out of mana? Tank lose aggro? Which boss? Cat on fire?

kcin

11-21-2009, 04:23 AM

I've found the most important thing is to gear up the tank. Go do some ntoc/htoc pugs to grab some starter epics and you'll do fine.

Naysayer

11-21-2009, 04:29 AM

I've found the most important thing is to gear up the tank. Go do some ntoc/htoc pugs to grab some starter epics and you'll do fine.

You didn't even bother to look at his tank, did you?

Phanes

11-21-2009, 10:37 AM

Mainly to beat most heroic bosses I find that positioning your crew is important. Like with the Snake Boss in GunDrak I leave my crew at the bottom of the stairs and fight him at the top of the stairs by his stone. That way his nova never hits my crew. I drop DnDs on my crew and that aggros the adds he summons onto my DK.

Pretty much every fight except the straight tank and spanks are all about positioning.

Watch a few videos in the movie section and you will see how people position for fights.

Whowantstoknow

11-21-2009, 10:56 AM

Your gear is fine for starting the easier heroics. I think the problem is therefore execution. I second watching some videos for strategies.

HPAVC

11-21-2009, 11:14 AM

Yeah I look at the gear on that tank and I am sure there is nothing wrong on that side of things.

Coltimar

11-21-2009, 11:21 AM

My priest was undergeared when I started so I specced him disc instead. Mana wasn't an issue then. Instead of a ton of healing I had improved shields and pain suppression. Penance is also very nice.

vikemosabe

11-21-2009, 12:24 PM

Thanks for the great responses.
As I was trying to fall asleep I realized what it was I had done wrong.
I tanked him too close to my guys and poison nova took them down.
I'm hoping I can give it another shot today and have more luck.

I always read strats before trying a new dungeon, I just messed up on implementing it.

I think I'll mix in doing some more dailies and reg toc attempts and try to gear up on three fronts.
Thanks everybody.

aboron

11-21-2009, 01:56 PM

I would go over to the other entrance and kill Moorabi, I found him a lot easier for a first try boss than the snake guy, like you, I have no shamen for the poison totems.

I also found it helps to use the new drums of kings so my pally is free to add a second buff to all.

Raigirin

11-21-2009, 02:47 PM

I have just started on Heroics as well and the most notable difference (apart from tank being spanked) is that my kills take much longer, so I am going to look into increasing my DPS over the weekend.

My strategy is basically to get as much out of my tradeskills as possible, for shamans leatherworking offer some nice items at 80.
Then I'll get on the big rep grind and get further items there.

Everyday I'll go and kill poor Moorabi, he is certainly the easiest boss by far.

vikemosabe

11-21-2009, 02:55 PM

Good idea about the kings buff!
I'll have to try that

suicidesspyder

11-21-2009, 04:29 PM

Try this with the first boss. Place your guys at the start up top where they can dps halfway down ramp. Bubble hot w.e your tank. Have your tank run down and initiate taunt. Then run back up the ramp. When ur withing dps range stay there.

This will allow all the adds to stop at your pally making it easier on you. I do it that way everytime just so i dont have to worry about the poison shit and all.

vikemosabe

11-21-2009, 05:25 PM

Of course I go in and the bosses on either side and what do they drop?
Mail, and plate.
Nothing I need of course.
Couldn't keep aggro on eck for some reason.
I'll have to go back when I have more time.

moosejaw

11-21-2009, 11:06 PM

eck is a aggro dumper. When he leaps run back a bit and taunt him back. Then it becomes a ping pong fight. Sometimes you can get that magic distance where he doesn't jump but it is hard to judge. Just be ready to aoe heal when he jumps and move the team backwards if necessary.

vikemosabe

11-22-2009, 12:41 AM

Well, I got eck down.
The elemental dude spews purple sludge everywhere and murderlates me.
I'm giving up for now and trying some others.

Ualaa

11-22-2009, 08:38 AM

Depending on your team, some have had decent success just burning him and ignoring the sludge. A decent AoE healer and/or healing stream totems can make the damage manageable.

deadguyfred

11-22-2009, 12:14 PM

I did WG everytime it was up and when I dinged 80, I bought bracers and belt (only 30 total WG marks) for a nice boost over the quest items i was wearing. The PVP gear is actually better than most of the 5 man heroic items u can get.

Deadguy

Gomotron

11-23-2009, 02:10 AM

My advice:

Eck - when I followed some of the strategies on the videos, I still would get the random aggro dump problems which would result in an occasional wipe. I did the "magic distance" trick and now it is EZmode. The "magic distance" is the distance your DPS has to be from Eck in order to prevent him from aggro dumping and jumping to the new aggro target (usually DPS). If you look at the floor, there are 2 piles of bones a ways away from the entrance to Eck's lair (where cave turns to a stone hallway). I usually plop my shaman about halfway between the two bone piles and then tank Eck halfway into the hall. Basically, position your tank where you are planning on tanking Eck and check the healing range. Then. once engaged, if you are OOR of DPS spells, you can inch forward until you get into range.

For the Colossus, it is highly recommended to use nature resist if you have it. Some people advocate strafing to avoid the pools but I tend to just heal through it. Of course healing through it is easier with Chain Heal x 4.

Naysayer

11-23-2009, 03:43 AM

My advice:

For the Colossus, it is highly recommended to use nature resist if you have it. Some people advocate strafing to avoid the pools but I tend to just heal through it. Of course healing through it is easier with Chain Heal x 4.

he posted his team, he obviously doesn't have a nature resist buff...

Bettysue

11-23-2009, 05:25 AM

Naysayer

11-23-2009, 06:38 AM

Druids which he does have provide 54(base could be talented for a slight increase) more resistance to nature than not having a druid...so yes he does have a buff albeit a small one.

I just found junk gear on the AH to put myself to about 150 NR on my mixed team and it helped quite a bit, until I was able to out heal the dmg or nuke him down.

A shaman can help a ton with NR totem providing about 130 to the party, that is if you have one that wouldn't mind coming along. Once the healer and tank are good to go bring the DPS that sat out in for gear/badges.

motw isn't ToNR or AotW, and obviously isn't making a difference.

He doesn't need to put on NR gear, lol. He just needs to learn to move his alts out of the puddles. A simple keypress and he's good to go. It's not much different than learning the Nexus Keristrasza fight.

jimbobobb

11-23-2009, 10:23 AM

motw isn't ToNR or AotW, and obviously isn't making a difference.

He doesn't need to put on NR gear, lol. He just needs to learn to move his alts out of the puddles. A simple keypress and he's good to go. It's not much different than learning the Nexus Keristrasza fight.

Moving during that fight is silly, and a waste of time, especially when he has dps problems to start. Holy nova is more than enough aoe healing to negate the puddles as long as his guys are partially spread and not stacking the ooze. Just put holy nova in your healing rotation to fire on every cooldown and then it's just a tank and spank with 4 predictable aggro dumps. I really don't get why people still insist on making that fight harder than it is. Every single healer has an aoe heal now. Just use it.

And more on topic:

Your team is more than finely geared for starting heroics(the easy ones). It looks like you might just need a bit more experience with implementation. There are tons of threads about this, but in my opinion the two easiest are - Culling of Strathholme not worrying about timer, and zul'drak (skipping ice guy and dinosaur if they give you trouble). Also if you can manage it TOC is extremely good for gearing up even if you can only do the champions - you can just reset the instance over and over till you get an easy set of 3 even.

Naysayer

11-23-2009, 10:36 AM

Moving during that fight is silly, and a waste of time, especially when he has dps problems to start. Holy nova is more than enough aoe healing to negate the puddles as long as his guys are partially spread and not stacking the ooze. Just put holy nova in your healing rotation to fire on every cooldown and then it's just a tank and spank with 4 predictable aggro dumps. I really don't get why people still insist on making that fight harder than it is. Every single healer has an aoe heal now. Just use it.

That's just stoopid. Those puddles stack and do a lot of damage to comps without totw/aotw, especially when it's a new group that only puts out 1500 dps each.

wowphreak

11-23-2009, 11:05 AM

Why dont yeh run all yer guys up the stairs on moorabi ? just tank em near the bottom of the stairs that way yeh dont have to worry about the nova?
With Drakkari Colossus yeh gotta use lots of aoe heals. and some movement.

well yer dps and healer are undergeared looks like yeh spent most of yer time gearing yer tank

Do the Amphitheater quest in zuldrak give yeh a quick upgrade on all the yer dps and healer.

jimbobobb

11-23-2009, 01:16 PM

That's just stoopid. Those puddles stack and do a lot of damage to comps without totw/aotw, especially when it's a new group that only puts out 1500 dps each.

Actually they do very little damage when they aren't stacked (spread your guys and they don't stack)
I use no nature resist, no totems, no nothing. Just spread your guys against the railing but in range of holy nova. The fight is a joke.

This would be about the 10th time I've had to explain this. I have no idea why boxers ever got the idea to move during this fight when the aoe damage is close to nothing when the puddles aren't stacked.

If you are moving during this fight, you're doing it the hard way.

edited:
Testimonial - guy has problems and problems - finally listens and just stands still, and kills the boss. There are at least 2 other threads like this.
http://www.dual-boxing.com/showthread.php?t=25201

Malekyth

11-23-2009, 03:35 PM

This would be about the 10th time I've had to explain this. I have no idea why boxers ever got the idea to move during this fight when the aoe damage is close to nothing when the puddles aren't stacked.

I might've been listening to you, back when I couldn't kill the Colossus because standing in the puddles killed me! "Your mileage may vary" is always in effect.

I don't know if this would work for the OP's mixed group, but with three warlocks, I put my toons on follow as soon as the first puddle drops and let DoTs and pets chip away at the sludge monster while we do laps around the room. Stop every few seconds to fire off a shadowbolt, and Bob's yer uncle.

gitcho

11-23-2009, 04:04 PM

man, i hear ya ... i had exact same questions about gearing up for heroics. The sad truth is that you don't need to "gear-up" for heroics ... Maxion hit 80 and proceeded to clear HToC the next day without a single epic ... he went on to get 20+ heroic achievements in the next 3 days. See here : Multiclass team hit 80 and cleared H ToC within a day :D (http://www.dual-boxing.com/showthread.php?t=26024). You have enough gear to clear all the heroics.

*sigh* ... it's not gear - it's strategy and skill. Sadly, I'm lacking in both.

vikemosabe

11-23-2009, 07:52 PM

Well, that tip about spreading team out may be priceless.
Didn't read anything about it stacking when close.
I've had my guys standing ON TOP of each other.
Doh!

About my tank gear:
My tank hit 80 and I raided with her while everyone else was still 60 or below.

Im gonna go back and see how I do, but I've been busy opening up phased areas in icecrown and such.