A few tips for starting Heroics
by Mike Schramm 
May 9th 2007 at 4:08PM
Most players by now that started rolling to 70 when the expansion hit are probably either just starting or in the middle of running their first few Heroic dungeons. I fall into that group-- my guild has had a few folks running Heroics for a while, but the majority of us are just now starting to pick up the Revered rep needed in the different factions to make running Heroics a regular possibility. So here's a few tips I've picked up just in the past few weeks or so about how to get started running the most challenging 5mans in the game. Please feel free to add your own below.-Easiest Heroic: in general, you're going to want to start in the Slave Pens. I've heard good things about Underbog and Old Hillsbrad (Ramparts is comparably easy as well, especially if you've got your FR gear on), but really I've found that Slave Pens is a good indicator of whether your group is ready for Heroics or not, and it seems like Cenarion rep is pretty easy to come by, so you've got lots of keyed folks to choose from.
-Best place to get badges: Heroic Mechanar. Even the Gatekeeper minibosses, who don't give good loot in the normal instance, will drop Badges for you in Heroic, which means that if you skate through this place in under an hour, you're earning five badges in that time.
-In Heroics, it's not the bosses you have to worry about, it's the trash. Trash hits hard (really hard), so there's no room for error (read: letting the mobs go after clothies). If you don't have the standard CC you need (and you should-- heroic groups are best when every class type is well-represented), then fear is your friend, because in most heroics two hits are enough to cause a wipe.
-So how do you keep wipes from happening? The usual-- use the raid icons, plan things out, and don't pull aggro away from the tank. Establish a kill order and follow it. Have your mage or hunter pull their sheep or trap away from the rest of the group (with a rank 1 frostbolt or a distracting shot) so no one gets confused. It's basic stuff, but heroic enforces it to the max: no one should be getting hit but the tank, and that way the healer only has to heal one person.
-If you don't have the gear, come back when you do. Heroics are merciless, and that's why they're so damn fun. But if you don't have what you need to finish off an instance, that fun melts away, wipe after wipe. If your group isn't ready to start heroics, there's an easy way to fix it: go run Shadow Labs or Arcatraz (or Karazhan, if you can) again, and then come back with better gear.
I love running Heroics-- they were a terrific idea by Blizzard to put a new challenge into what are quickly becoming familiar instances (here's hoping, as always, that we get some more Heroics in the even older instances). The truth is that as gear continues to get better, Heroics will get easier and easier, so it could be that the fun to be found in there is right now-- when people are first starting to learn the tricks. After a while, Heroics may become old hat. But until then, players seem to be having a great time meeting the challenge and earning those Badges.
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Tips, Instances
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Sylythn May 10th 2007 9:17AM
And don't be expecting a Warlock's Seduce or Priests Mind Control to work on mobs in Slave Pens until patch 2.1 - yeah...so much for that plan...
Chronnick May 9th 2007 4:22PM
Thank you for this article! My guild is finally getting ready for heroics and Karazhan and this is definitely something we needed. We were concerned about the 2-hit death to clothies and thought we had been doing something wrong. I hope to see some more commentary about the heroics, as I just can't stomach the idea of getting 25 people geared, keyed, and motivated for a raid anymore.
Grega May 9th 2007 4:34PM
Finished heroic mechanar few days ago with guildies, and we had quite strange composition. 3 affliction warlocks, 1 feral druid and 1 resto druid. The fastest mechanar I ever compleated on heroic, and I've run trough it quite few times. Though, we wiped due to the fear breaking at worst time posible, but still, it was fun!
plunge May 9th 2007 4:43PM
Old Hillsbrad is definitely not one of the easy ones. The main thing to remember is that the first part is a near total ninja mission: the dog pats are nearly impossible to beat unless you are uber geared (they are immune to most CC, extremely fast, and spawn two tough adds that rush your clothies) so you have to just avoid them. The key is to have one party member lead the guards away from the buildings (hunter's beast skills work best) and then someone else sneaks in to the set the fire. The first boss hits like a mac truck with his mortal strike, and it takes some really good timing on behalf of the tank and the healer to compensate.
Vykromond May 9th 2007 4:45PM
I don't know about Hillsbrad being so easy. It's actually a very, very unforgiving instance in my experience, with some primo melee hate (Lt. Drake), extremely heavy-hitting mobs in some portions, and Polymadness from the Mages in the 'escort Thrall' section. Note that most of this is being revised in 2.1 and Hillsbrad will become much more manageable then.
Underbog is much easier but I wouldn't even call that one of the easier ones- Steamvaults, Mechanar, Ramparts (you don't really need FR but you do need to limit your melee DPS to 1 if possible), and Auch Crypts fill out the bottom rung:
Easy: Pens, Vaults, Mech, Ramps(1), Crypts
Easy-Medium: Underbog(2), Seth Halls, Furnace(3)
Medium: Botanica(4), Shadow Lab, Arcatraz (5)
Medium-Hard: Durnholde, Mana-Tombs (6)
Hard: Black Morass (7), Shattered Halls (8)
(1) Don't bring more than 1 melee DPSer, it's not worth the pain on Omor.
(2) Bring somebody that can CC elementals, eg hunter, warlock, or even mage (snare kiting). Can be done without, just painful
(3) Bring somebody that can CC things in combat for Broggok. Also have either a hunter or warlock in group for megahit demon packs before Kel'dan, which are nerfed in 2.1.
(4) AR on the tank for robot pulls- amended in 2.1. Some form of defensive dispel (priest, paladin, felhunter) is required for 1st boss. 3rd boss (Thorngrin the Tender) is doable but a major pain and not really worth the effort, fixed in 2.1. Shadow Priests trivialize much of the instance.
(5) Zereketh is very hard and SR on the tank is recommended. Bring 2 healers for Skyriss.
(6) SR on the tank for Pandemonius. Melee DPS is largely a liability on both Pandemonius and Shaffar. Bring tons of DPS for Shaffar, requirements hopefully eased in 2.1.
(7) Bring tons of DPS.
(8) Have 2 or more players who can CC. Bring a paladin, Limited Invulnerability Potions, or a group with KTM and impeccable tricky aggro control for the second boss, hopefully fixed in 2.1.
Robert May 9th 2007 4:49PM
What Vykromond said. That's some good advice.
Mike Schramm May 9th 2007 4:55PM
Aye Vyk, thanks for the rundown. This is just tips for starting Heroics (like Chronnick said, we'll hopefully have more tips for the later ones as more players get involved in them), but those tips are all very helpful.
I haven't run Old Hillsbrad yet, I just heard it was one of the easier ones. I can see how it would be tougher, though.
Robert May 9th 2007 6:25PM
My advice for starting heroics:
1- There's a reason you need to be revered to zone into heroics; learn the instance on normal difficulty first. Most of them pull the same way, and knowing how to pull correctly is crucial when a bad pull will wipe you in seconds.
2- There's trash in heroic that hits harder than bosses in Karazhan. Usually bosses are pretty easy and trash pulls are the tricky parts.
3- Success or failure largely depends on your tank and healer's gear. If either one of them is undergeared, the tank won't be able to survive and it will be impossible to progress. Tanks need to gear for survivability, not avoidance, as 60% dodge rate doesn't help when you get insta-gibbed. Healers need to gear for thoroughput, not longevity, as most fights don't take very long but the tank will be taking massive amounts of damage.
4- Most heroics can be done with almost any group. A few need specific group compositions. The best group is one tank, one pure healer, one DPS/healer, and two DPS/CC. A group like this, while not at all necessary, will make learning heroics very easy.
5- Use consumables.
Artaz May 9th 2007 7:57PM
As someone who farms heroics daily, I remember when we first started and will stress whats said above in that gear is important. You must be decked out in the best end game blues you can get in every slot, unless you enjoy slogging through 6 hours of painful wipes.
While a balanced group is more flexible, there is no class that is a "must" for any heroic. Skill shows through here more than anything. On some pulls, our hunter will double trap mobs off a pull (ie frost trap two mobs at the same time), on others our shadow priest will MC a mob to their death, then MC another mob and offtank (great in shadow labs), and on others the warlock will enslave a mob and we will spam heal it while that mob takes down the rest of the pack (Mech), or our shaman will frost shock kite a mob around indefinetly while we kill the other (slavepens).
Heroics are about thinking outside the box, using all your abilities and staying focused.Its amazing how many people forget that I can hibernate mobs.
As for the easiest ones - All the Coilfang ones really aren't that hard. You will need to do slavepens at some stage to start your attunement for Serpentshrine so its a recomended start regardless (and moreso if you are up to Nightbane in Kara or attempting Gruul). Underbog has far to much trash in it, but is still easily doable (tip - grounding totem asorbs horror effects).
I recomend avoiding ramparts in the begining. Its a little to gear intensive at the end for most starters. Heroic Mechenaar is extremely easy once you learn where to skip mobs and which pulls are the nasty ones (tip: silence or stun during charged fist works wonders).
If your only just starting heroics now here are the best two tips I can offer:
1. Wait until the patch. Its probably this or next week anyways so its not far off. The patch is going to tone down some of the damage done by mobs in heroics as well as remove a fair bit of the trash and increase the rewards.
2. Speak to someone who has done that heroic before. The most important information you can get is which mobs are CC'able and which aren't (Tip: Rule of thumb, female naga's are CC'able, male are not), which mobs you should kill first (tip: the healer! ;)) and if there are any significant tactic changes on bosses (Eg. Heroic Murmur).
Most of all have fun. Heroics might be the same instance, but they are a real step up in skill level and really push your abilities. You might die a few times learning that first heroic or two, but its a great feeling of accomplishment when you conquer it.
billadong May 9th 2007 9:37PM
http://www.spiteandmalice.org/viewtopic.php?t=343
Really good heroic guide here.
Oli May 10th 2007 7:49AM
Im looking forward to heroic deadmines, its my all time favorite instance. Plus all the low lvls asking for boosts will get RSI from asking so much.
Tanuviel May 10th 2007 6:42AM
It is really interesting: I just wrote a similar list of tips on my blog! http://tanuvieladventures.blogspot.com/2007/05/heroic-instances-in-tbc-tips-and.html
ben1778 May 10th 2007 10:20AM
One little note:
For a Heroic Skyriss fight, I love to have a hunter there with the snake trap. Also a demonology spec'd warlock is nice for fast summoned pets. The more mobs for skyriss to have to choose from the less chance you'll get heroically mindflayed. Plus it always makes me laugh to see Skyriss flaying a tiny critter while the rest of us wail on him/it.
crsh May 10th 2007 10:30AM
I'm still just in the "easy" heros so far, and I like them a lot; can't wait to try out the tougher ones. In most cases, the trash is almost always tougher than the bosses, with a few exceptions.
Hero Slave Pens is really the easiest, except for those un-CC'able Defenders that hit like a truck on crack, bring a good kiter as they come in pairs. The bosses are push-overs.
Hero Mech is a joke, but it's a lot of fun, especially the added abilities some bosses have (like the robot boss with the polarity debuffs); one thing, the boss before the last one tends to get skipped a lot, her summoned elementals are a bitch to heal through as they do a lot of damage (but the last boss is still easy with one or two fearers).
Hero Crypts: bring a priest (even a shadow one) for shackles and a hunter with traps, it can be challenging given the undeads trash mobs will summon.
Corrodias May 10th 2007 11:10AM
The strategy we use on the second-to-last boss in the Mechanar is to make her the last boss. We use a druid/rogue to pull her and Dash/Sprint their way down to the last boss's room. She keeps up, but the elementals don't. We then have a while to beat on her before they arrive, and the idea is to burn her down before they can reach us and wreak too much havok.
Elra May 10th 2007 12:45PM
so umm. as a warrior, just qusting and doing stuff, what gear is tagged "best endgame blues"? is it vindicators hauberk combined with dungeon 3 (bold) or what? is crystalline kopesh still the #1 pre heroic and raid tanking weapon or have i got it all wrong? anyone got any helpful tips for a instance nub?
Maedhras May 10th 2007 3:08PM
Elra: that's right, end-game blues mean whatever you can get from quests, faction bought items, and non-heroic blues.
Personaly I only have the shoulders of the bold, I think the rest of the set is not as good as a mismatch of other lvl 70 blues/blue quest rewards (do those group quests, they have awesome rewards!) and the set bonus just makes me die a little inside.