WotLK heroics sorted by difficulty

Ranked by "easy", "normal", and "hard". This is based on the hardest boss of the instance. Please post your views and I'll update the post as needed. The rating is based on an "average" trinity group. The numbers in paranthesis are the number of emblems for the entire instance.

Easy
- Utgarde Keep: Keep (3) - strategy link
- Drak'Tharon Keep (4) - strategy link
- Gundrak (5)- strategy link
- Caverns of Time: Culling of Stratholme (4/5)- strategy link

Normal
- Ulduar: Halls of Lightning (4)
- Azjol-Nerub: Azjol-Nerub (3) - strategy link
- The Violet Hold (3) - strategy link 1 strategy link 2
- Utgarde Keep: Pinnacle (4) - strategy link
- Nexus: The Nexus (5 - Telestra can be tricky depending on group setup) - strategy link

Hard
- Ulduar: Halls of Stone (4)
- Azjol-Nerub: Old Kingdom (5)
- Nexus: The Oculus (3) - strategy link (not really)

Please supply input/opinions and I'll rearrange as needed.

Thanks ALOT mate for this one!

Im 2 levels from 80 and this will save me tons of work!

Keep up the good work Fuzz your the man! :)

sticky!

maybe add the links for the strats next to them? But this is nice info 8)

Violet Hold: Depending on teh boss you can get, you could get two easy bosses, or two hard bosses, end boss is very doable and I'd say easy tho. :p So it should be like, varying from easy to hard. The ehtereal boss is a pain to multibox, the boss with the adds only one can see is only doable really if you have a multiple screen set up or atleast all screens simultaniously visible. The other bosses or pretty much all doable however and varying from easy to normal.

Halls of Lightning is a bit tricky. It's not -that- hard with the right tactics, but it has a learning curve. I'd still categorize it as hard because of the nature of the third boss however. Havent done the other uncategorized ones.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by 'Lyonheart',index.php?page=Thread&postID=154450#po st154450

maybe add the links for the strats next to them? But this is nice info 8)

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I'll take a look at that :-)

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Originally Posted by 'Kaynin',index.php?page=Thread&postID=154478#post1 54478

Violet Hold: Depending on teh boss you can get, you could get two easy bosses, or two hard bosses, end boss is very doable and I'd say easy tho. :p So it should be like, varying from easy to hard. The ehtereal boss is a pain to multibox, the boss with the adds only one can see is only doable really if you have a multiple screen set up or atleast all screens simultaniously visible. The other bosses or pretty much all doable however and varying from easy to normal.

Halls of Lightning is a bit tricky. It's not -that- hard with the right tactics, but it has a learning curve. I'd still categorize it as hard because of the nature of the third boss however. Havent done the other uncategorized ones.

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Ok, categorizing HoL under "hard" for now then :-)

I'd put halls of stone under hard simply because the heroic Brann event is . . . hard.

I found nexus to be pretty damn easy, never had a problem with the mage chick, just need to hex when she splits, HoJ and burn one really fast, after that rest is cake.

Utgarde Pinnacle.. I would say easy or averagel. Quite similar to normal mode but some bosses that require much more healing.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by 'magwo',index.php?page=Thread&postID=154704#post15 4704

Utgarde Pinnacle.. I would say easy or averagel. Quite similar to normal mode but some bosses that require much more healing.

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What about skadi? The gauntlet event has caused me some headaches to be honest - at some point the lancers will barbecue my healer and I cant really grab aggro since theyre in the frosttrail. Do you just burn them down, or? Moving Pinnacle to normal for now.

Updated with strategy links from WotLK heroics and tactics compilation thread.

Moved some stuff around, most notably CoT to easy - seems it was just a matter of getting used to :-)

Man I gotta say, I just hit 80 yesterday on my team and i got spanked HARD in heroics. I tried Azjol-Nerub, Old Kingdom, and Utgard Keep and made it to first boss in each place without too much hassle (few wipes on trash every now and then) but each of the bosses just wiped the floor with me. I think for those of us who are controlling the entire team and running a tank+4 team, you really want to gear up the tank a bit before heading into heroics.

I'm just going to farm up the trash in heroics (and maybe try a few different bosses) until I hit wyrm revered, which should give 2 more nice plate items. Then maybe Kiron Tor revered for spell damage stuff for my shamans. I think I'll also try respecing one of my shamans resto, I've cleared all the 80 instances (except Loken, too hard for me right now) with pally tank+mage+3 ele shamans, but it might be time to respec one as resto and dedicate him to healing.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by 'puppychow',index.php?page=Thread&postID=155964#po st155964

Man I gotta say, I just hit 80 yesterday on my team and i got spanked HARD in heroics. I tried Azjol-Nerub, Old Kingdom, and Utgard Keep and made it to first boss in each place without too much hassle (few wipes on trash every now and then) but each of the bosses just wiped the floor with me. I think for those of us who are controlling the entire team and running a tank+4 team, you really want to gear up the tank a bit before heading into heroics.

I'm just going to farm up the trash in heroics (and maybe try a few different bosses) until I hit wyrm revered, which should give 2 more nice plate items. Then maybe Kiron Tor revered for spell damage stuff for my shamans. I think I'll also try respecing one of my shamans resto, I've cleared all the 80 instances (except Loken, too hard for me right now) with pally tank+mage+3 ele shamans, but it might be time to respec one as resto and dedicate him to healing.

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Don't let the talk about heroic farming at the "easy" category fool you - it still takes gear and patience to get it down. I've done Utgarde Keep, which is the easiest heroic instance in my opinion, 6-7 times and I still manage to wipe on prince if I get a bad run of ice tombs (three in a row on the tank or healer will usually do the trick). My chars are equipped with mostly blue items (item level 200) and 3-5 epics, and while I started heroics with significantly worse gear, it gets a LOT easier as your gear gets better.

However, if you don't have a dedicated healer, that's a very good place to start. Also, dont understimate the AH for gearing up. You can get nice blue BoE items level 187-200 for 20-200g per item and it'll help you a ton. Do the normal level 80 instance quests, which also gives level 187-200 items and other quest with useable rewards (wowhead is your friend). Craftable items are underpriced at the moment because people use them to skill up - buy some of those and maybe even some blue pvp-items if you still have greens or low-level stuff.

Start out with Utgarde Keep and do Strath/Drak/Gundrak next - they're all fairly doable. You don't have to finish them if you don't have the routine/gear to do so, the level 200 blues which drop off all bosses are a big help too.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by 'Fuzzyboy',index.php?page=Thread&postID=156004#pos t156004

Quote:

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Originally Posted by 'puppychow',index.php?page=Thread&postID=155964#po st155964

Man I gotta say, I just hit 80 yesterday on my team and i got spanked HARD in heroics. I tried Azjol-Nerub, Old Kingdom, and Utgard Keep and made it to first boss in each place without too much hassle (few wipes on trash every now and then) but each of the bosses just wiped the floor with me. I think for those of us who are controlling the entire team and running a tank+4 team, you really want to gear up the tank a bit before heading into heroics.

I'm just going to farm up the trash in heroics (and maybe try a few different bosses) until I hit wyrm revered, which should give 2 more nice plate items. Then maybe Kiron Tor revered for spell damage stuff for my shamans. I think I'll also try respecing one of my shamans resto, I've cleared all the 80 instances (except Loken, too hard for me right now) with pally tank+mage+3 ele shamans, but it might be time to respec one as resto and dedicate him to healing.

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Don't let the talk about heroic farming at the "easy" category fool you - it still takes gear and patience to get it down. I've done Utgarde Keep, which is the easiest heroic instance in my opinion, 6-7 times and I still manage to wipe on prince if I get a bad run of ice tombs (three in a row on the tank or healer will usually do the trick). My chars are equipped with mostly blue items (item level 200) and 3-5 epics, and while I started heroics with significantly worse gear, it gets a LOT easier as your gear gets better.

However, if you don't have a dedicated healer, that's a very good place to start. Also, dont understimate the AH for gearing up. You can get nice blue BoE items level 187-200 for 20-200g per item and it'll help you a ton. Do the normal level 80 instance quests, which also gives level 187-200 items and other quest with useable rewards (wowhead is your friend). Craftable items are underpriced at the moment because people use them to skill up - buy some of those and maybe even some blue pvp-items if you still have greens or low-level stuff.

Start out with Utgarde Keep and do Strath/Drak/Gundrak next - they're all fairly doable. You don't have to finish them if you don't have the routine/gear to do so, the level 200 blues which drop off all bosses are a big help too.

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So what stats were you starting drak'thalon on?

The first boss just owns me (well i got him to 3% once ) :( classified as "tank and spank" wich is kinda true but the consume aoe just eats my shamans.. Is there no way to avoid it?

He starts out on 3k hits but after a while he hits for 5-6k fast and what mostly happens is that my tank dies when i chain heal myself.

Lets say i dedicated one healer to make things easier in the start it seems like you can stay out of los from the shadow aoe.

So topping the tank then chain healing the group?

I did UT keep VERY easy thanks to hex the trash was easy and i wiped once on the prince.

one shaman was left on the second boss but i burned down the meele boss to fast (didnt expect him to have such low amount of hit points)

I most likley spec one shaman resto tomorrow!

got any tips on macros for the resto one to make healing as easy as possible?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by 'Dominian',index.php?page=Thread&postID=156539#pos t156539

So what stats were you starting drak'thalon on?

The first boss just owns me (well i got him to 3% once ) :( classified as "tank and spank" wich is kinda true but the consume aoe just eats my shamans.. Is there no way to avoid it?

He starts out on 3k hits but after a while he hits for 5-6k fast and what mostly happens is that my tank dies when i chain heal myself.

Lets say i dedicated one healer to make things easier in the start it seems like you can stay out of los from the shadow aoe.

So topping the tank then chain healing the group?

I did UT keep VERY easy thanks to hex the trash was easy and i wiped once on the prince.

one shaman was left on the second boss but i burned down the meele boss to fast (didnt expect him to have such low amount of hit points)

I most likley spec one shaman resto tomorrow!

got any tips on macros for the resto one to make healing as easy as possible?

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If you don't have a dedicated healer, that's the first step. It's no mystery that you're wiping on trollgore if you don't have a dedicated healer. As for the healer setup, check out my UI post in the general forum. Doing Trollgore I top my tank off with healing wave, chain heal when explosions hit and make sure shadow resistance is up. It's mostly just a dps race, so remember to trinket and use heroism/bloodlust.

Thanks fuzz i now finally downed him quite easy!

earthshield and riptide gives me that extra edge even thought the bosses hit hard as hell!

Mana tide is crazy and even with a hybrid elemental spec im doing great :D

I'm too busy to play this week (damn holidays!!) but I would suggest perhaps doing Gun'drak, I cleared the instance this weekend with just a few wipes, I found it suprisingly easier than Utgarde Keep and the spider instances.

I found heroics have pushed my team a bit. If your just getting into them and your gear is mixed I suggest these three bosses be first in your badge collection grind to better gear:

GunDrak (H) - Moorabi (Mammoth), straight tank and spank, interupt all his transformations and get an acheivement (also he drops a good tanking helm).
Nexus (H) extra - Kolurg / Stoutbeard, two healers with him to cc or nuke fast, after you control the adds its fairly straight forward.
GunDrak (H) extra - Eck, dps race (he enrages in 60 to 90 secs) need your dps classes (3 at a min) at over 1100dps (on an 82) to get him in time

I also completely agree that as the better gear comes in the heroics get easier.

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Originally Posted by 'Multibocks',index.php?page=Thread&postID=154438#p ost154438

sticky!

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Seriously!
Sticky!
Please. :)

More useful instance data like this stickied would be great!

The Ocululs - Very Hard maybe even 'own category' hard. I haven't perfected it yet by any means but still this instance is rough. mage boss is massive aoe fight with lots and lots of movement and the final boss is a vehicle based fight that is also very rough. I'm working on a guide to the final boss I'll get out when I can. Feels good to down him as a boxer.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by 'genocyde',index.php?page=Thread&postID=159185#pos t159185

The Ocululs - Very Hard maybe even 'own category' hard. I haven't perfected it yet by any means but still this instance is rough. mage boss is massive aoe fight with lots and lots of movement and the final boss is a vehicle based fight that is also very rough. I'm working on a guide to the final boss I'll get out when I can. Feels good to down him as a boxer.

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Nice, you downed the last boss in Oculus on heroic? That's very impressive!

Is this still accurate?

I thought it would be useful to add the number of badges each one yields, 1 per boss.
So you can choose the instances of the level you want with the most badges (although after compiling the data there's not much variety).

Anyway - just in case it's useful (no. of bosses in brackets)

Easy
- Utgarde Keep: (4)
- Drak'Tharon Keep (4)
- Gundrak (4)
- Caverns of Time: Culling of Stratholme (?) Cant remember how many I think at least 4

Normal
- Azjol-Nerub: Azjol-Nerub (3)
- The Violet Hold (3) (difficulty varies depending on random bosses)
- Utgarde Keep: Pinnacle (4)
- Nexus: The Nexus (4 - I thought there is a 5th named guy before the 1st bossbut cant remember if he drops an emblem)

Hard
- Ulduar: Halls of Lightning (Ionar) (4)
- Ulduar: Halls of Stone (Brann event) (4)
- Ahnn'kahet: The Old Kingdom (5)
- Nexus: The Oculus (4)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by 'shaeman',index.php?page=Thread&postID=182772#post 182772

I thought it would be useful to add the number of badges each one yields, 1 per boss.
So you can choose the instances of the level you want with the most badges (although after compiling the data there's not much variety).

Anyway - just in case it's useful (no. of bosses in brackets)

Easy
- Utgarde Keep: (4)
- Drak'Tharon Keep (4)
- Gundrak (4)
- Caverns of Time: Culling of Stratholme (?) Cant remember how many I think at least 4

Normal
- Azjol-Nerub: Azjol-Nerub (3)
- The Violet Hold (3) (difficulty varies depending on random bosses)
- Utgarde Keep: Pinnacle (4)
- Nexus: The Nexus (4 - I thought there is a 5th named guy before the 1st bossbut cant remember if he drops an emblem)

Hard
- Ulduar: Halls of Lightning (Ionar) (4)
- Ulduar: Halls of Stone (Brann event) (4)
- Ahnn'kahet: The Old Kingdom (5)
- Nexus: The Oculus (4)

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Gundrak is not only the easiest but it also has 5 badges, you only listed 4. Also you listed 4 for Utgarde Keep when it only has 3. CoS has 5 if you can do the run in 25 minutes or less, otherwise its 4.

I was counting the bosses in an iphone app that gives you lists of drops, in heroics, normal, badge and rep items (warcraft chest)

However I just counted the bosses - I forgot that one of the bosses in utgarde keep is actually a pair and only one is lootable.

It also failed to mention Eck (is it) in Gundrak.

Thanks for pointing those mistakes out.

Post updated

HoS eats me alive at tribunal norm, cant imagine it Heroic!

Isn't there already a sticky in this forum with strategies?

WotLK heroics and tactics compilation thread

Halls of Lightning's difficulty is far overrated. I cleared it pre 3.08 with 4 elemental shaman when elemental was still broken and completed the Loken 2 minute achievement along with the other 2 there. It's really not hard.