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Utgarde Keep seems to be the next "easiest" based on what I've read here.
Any thoughts confirming that or offering a different suggestion?
I'm wondering if we couldn't modifiy Hachoo's initial post in the "stickied" thread to rank order them? Understanding there probably isn't clear guidance, even a rough idea of the order to take on Heroics would be valuable for new-to-Heroics boxers such as myself.
Gundrak was the one I "farmed" for my first emblem reward, but the first time I tried CoS, it was pretty easy once you get it down. UK is pretty easy after the first boss. Currently, I can't get thru Ionar in HoL or Skadi in UP, so that should maybe give you an idea of my 'skill/gear level' (Skadi is just getting the movement down, but Ionar I can't heal through the lightning spiders like Hachoo does in his vids).
Yeah, wondered about culling of strat as possibly the next one. I'll have to try 'em out.
UK is a horrible heroic. First boss is harder than a lot of the other heroics, and its a really crappy emblem/hr amount.
Second best is probably Culling of Strat if you take it slow and easy - 4 badges and you can practice your speed runs when you get confident. Drak'Tharon keep is also great - you'll probably need to skip the second boss at first (but you never know) - once you get it down its 4 badges in 20-25 minutes.
The easiest way to kill Ionar in HoL is to DPS until he splits. Then run away spread out your characters, let him come to you. DPS @ max range, wait till he splits again, then move back again. Do that till it dies. The only isseus with this, is if one of your charfcters has the chage one it, you will wanna make sure that they are heal'd up before you start to move. I've tryed Hachoo's method, but healing with 4x CH on a target with 50+ stacks of the debuff thatthe sparks give, is just impossiable ( I have same gear as he does )
It was the daily yesterday on my server, i blitzed it in about 25 minutes. Cant say i found the first boss hard at all and never have :/ Maybe i do something different...but i dont think so...Quote:
Originally Posted by 'Hachoo',index.php?page=Thread&postID=193363#post1 93363
I pull it back into the corridor that you come in from and los it around a corner until he appears then just burn him down. A bit like the snake boss in gundrak :\
Anyway, i would recommend having a go at CoS and DTK as the next instance. CoS bosses are a small learning curve although on a mixed class team they could be harder than i can imagine.
Went to CoS last night and flaunted my newbness.
First, my guild made fun of me for not knowing about the portals and instead I portaled to TB and rode down to Gadgetran to ride horses over to the caverns. ;)
Second, I listened to Arthas at the bridge and stayed put. In my defense, he did said for me to "stay here" and not let anything through. Finally, I ask in guild and head up to the city entrance. So, I start the event and am fully expecting the waves of undead to just come to us. Stand there 10 minutes watching the timer tic and again ask in guild. Find out I'm supposed to be scouring the city to find and defeat the 10 waves.
On the plus side, I downed the first two bosses without too much trouble. The low hit point ghouls are any annoyance but I started trying to find ways to AE clear them before engaging the elites/bosses.
It was late when I started following Arthas up for the third boss and I had a wipe on a group of four elites that caught me by surprise. All in all, looks like a pretty fun and well-scripted instance.
When I get some time, I'll have to take a look around for strat guides for these encounters to perhaps add some tips of my own. Please note group compositions, because strats can vary greatly depending on what classes you have. I have a paladin tank and a sole priest healer; my strats are based on having these.
I agree that UK was rather easy to farm for the epics (great caster ring), so long as you don't need to fight the first boss. If you don't really need the first boss, just skip him; run past him hugging the right wall. I was there mainly for the epic drops, and not so much the emblems, at least initially. If you want to take him on, there's already threads discussing that on here.
Second boss(es), I just tear down the caster right away, then just focus on the warrior. The caster will shoot bolts randomly at people whether he is alive or dead, so I don't see the point to taking them both down at the same time, really. Just do NOT kill the warrior first, as you cannot hold agg on him when he's dead (unless you plan to drop the caster within about 10 seconds of him).
Last boss, I line up all my guys about 15 yards apart (anything over 10 yards is enough, this is to avoid the whirling axe AoE in phase 2) and pull the boss into range of them. Stop all casting at the roar (I just jump with all toons), and move the tank away when the slam is coming. Watch for the whirling axe he throws at a random person and get a big heal off on them (or two) after it lands. Save all cooldowns for the second phase when he is revived by the valkyrie. My strat is blow all cooldowns right at the start of phase 2 (tank loses no aggro from phase 1 -> phase 2, so blast away) to take him down ASAP, but it's hardly necessary to do it this way.
And just to add my strat for Ionar, since I have a priest (groups heals), I just spread my toons out into a 5-point star in the large hallway at the base of his stairs and pull him there so no "spider" can touch more than one person at a time, and pretty much only use group heals until he forms up again. Use a big heal if you get a few all stacked up on one person. With a priest and good spacing, there's no need to even move. Just don't be overzealous on the healing or you might run out of mana too fast. EDIT: How could I forget to mention Nature Resist Totem, too.
CoS, just go nice and easy. First run is more about learning the instance than anything. The infinite dragonflight was the biggest pain for me. For the upstairs hallway, I wait for Arthas to go in and then I just pull them off of him right away (he's a bad tank), rather than following him into the hall and having 2 enemies in front of me and 2 behind me.
I find Drak Keep to be pretty easy, except for the dino boss -- he tends to fear my tank and then pound on her from behind (insert your own joke) and he hits pretty hard. Tremor totems don't really fix this due to the way they tick now, if you get unlucky with timing you'll run out of range before they break it for you. Based on dice rolls he can cause repeated wipes, so I just skip him now. 2nd boss is all about healing and that frost resist totem; if I try to zerg him I get into trouble, but if I go carefully and keep health bars topped off he's no problem. Last boss is tied with first as easiest, just don't get spell locked and he's ezbajes.
UK's first boss is the hardest, overall the instance isn't too bad, but it takes me 45 minutes plus to clear. There's a lot of trash pulls in that one.
Culling of Strat isn't too hard if you take your time and make sure to take mana-up breaks when needed. In general I find gauntlet-style events stressful while boxing, the 3rd boss in UP has been a block for me so far (but UP is easy up til that).
So far IMO Gundrak is the best one to farm, 5 badges in under an hour, plus a frozen orb & abyss crystal to auction off.
Nexus (last boss is the only semi-difficult boss) and Utgarde Keep are the two besides Gundrak I run for easy badges. The trash before the first 2 bosses in CoS still give me headaches, but the bosses and the rest of the instance is easy.
Last boss in Nexus all depends on how well your tank is geared. Boss hits pretty hard. Other than that, if you have some decent gear on your tank, it becomes pretty easy.Quote:
Nexus (last boss is the only semi-difficult boss) and Utgarde Keep are the two besides Gundrak I run for easy badges. The trash before the first 2 bosses in CoS still give me headaches, but the bosses and the rest of the instance is easy.
Golem boss in Nexus still gives me a run for my money occasionally when I don't avoid the spike. I've had it basically 1shot all 4 of my shammies at the same time.
Gundrak, Utgarde Keep and Nexus are currently my every day runners. Nexus has an awesome main hand spell damage weapon off the last boss and some of the bosses in there are just downright easy.
I haven't tried CoS yet, but it may be up next on my list. Drak'Tharon was a wipe fest on the second boss. Azjul-nerub was a wipe fest on the second boss. Still haven't tried HoL or HoS, mainly because I haven't been to those zones yet to quest (Dinged 80 in scholozar and started heroics the next day.)
Here is the order i wish i did it in:
UK
Drak'Thalon
CoS
GunDrak
HoL (would recomend atleast 14-15k HP on every char and a strong aoe healer vs Loken, rest of the instance is pretty easy with 2 healers)
VH (Depends on the bosses ofc)
The Nexus
Old Kingdom
Azjol-Nerub
HoS (I barley managed the Brann event but its certainly doable, even in my gear!) Last boss could have been cleaner but i got the job done! :P
UP
The Oculus
OFC this vary ALOT on your gear and setup..
My setup was Protadin,2 elemental shamans,1 resto shaman and a survival hunter. Done me all and this is pretty much the heroic order i personally recomend althought everyone got theyr own opinion!
completed UK on my first run through, very easy except for 1 wipe on prince, second attempt he went down after I popped 4 fire eles to take care of adds - gotta say that this was way easier than grundrak and my pally got a nice sword upgrade. The last boss was a joke, face him away from the team and tank&spank. I'll be adding this instance to the daily farm.