What Heroics to run?

[holysoldier]

Hey there i've checked the boards to see if maybe there was a thread on what heroics to run for ease of getting badges and what gear drops, and i couldn't find any. i was wondering if anyone had ideas on what heroics are easier or quicker runs for getting the 15 badges for the libram. i've been searching on wowwiki and reading alot on heroics just to see what drops and the bosses. i noticed in SH that there are 4 badges on heroic wondering how that place is to run. i'm only revered with HH and CE right now but close to LC and working on Sha'tar. hoping everyone can give thier .02 and it would help people just getting to heroics a place to check and see which places to run for gear and badges. thanks

Holy

sorry if there is already a thread or if this one shold be elsewhere.

[Shibui]

I got my 15 from three heroic Mech runs. Dunno if it's the best/easiest place to go as it would depend on your gear and who's available to run with you... Just saying that 5 badges in a single run is nice.

[adese]

Any instance that gives more than 3 badges is good to run, IMO.

As Shibui said, Heroic Mech is a nice run for 5 badges. Heroic Botanica isn't all that bad either for another 5 badges.

Heroic Shattered Halls actually nets you 5 badges (the Executioner after Bladefist drops a badge as well...not sure if he hangs around after the 55 minute timer goes away or not). If you don't have great gear, it could be tough due to the large number of mobs per pull. I ran it this past weekend (my first full-clear, got to Bladefist before but couldn't down him), and we had no problems at all (only one wipe on Bladefist, the healer had never been on Heroic before). I use gear mostly from Kara (you can check out my armory below, assuming it is up (my server is down for maintence today)) and while we did use CC, I tanked multiple mobs quite frequently without any problems.

Also, Underbog gives 4 badges. It's a bit longer run, but 4 badges aren't anything to complain about.

[Vanifae]

Heroic Mechanar, Heroic Slave Pens, and Heroic Underbog are good starts.

If you have a Warlock, Heroic Steam Vault is exceedingly easy.

[Chadoxx]

I ran Heroic Ramp for 15 badges but was really there to farm Primal Nethers. There are 2 recolored T2 pieces there shoulders and hands along with tanking bracers off Dragon boss.

What do you buy next with badges? Already got the Arena 2 shield.

[Vanifae]

I ran Heroic Ramp for 15 badges but was really there to farm Primal Nethers. There are 2 recolored T2 pieces there shoulders and hands along with tanking bracers off Dragon boss.

What do you buy next with badges? Already got the Arena 2 shield.

Save them for when they add more stuff when they allow badges to drop off bosses in Karazhan and Zul'Aman.

[Gillman]

I ran Heroic Ramp for 15 badges but was really there to farm Primal Nethers. There are 2 recolored T2 pieces there shoulders and hands along with tanking bracers off Dragon boss.

What do you buy next with badges? Already got the Arena 2 shield.

Faceguard of Determination is okay also, but costs 50 badges and there are other other choices: Justicar Faceguard, Tankatronic Goggles, Helm of the Stalwart Defender, I'm holding on to my badges and see what comes out with the patch.

[adese]

I ran Heroic Ramp for 15 badges but was really there to farm Primal Nethers. There are 2 recolored T2 pieces there shoulders and hands along with tanking bracers off Dragon boss.

What do you buy next with badges? Already got the Arena 2 shield.

Faceguard of Determination is okay also, but costs 50 badges and there are other other choices: Justicar Faceguard, Tankatronic Goggles, Helm of the Stalwart Defender, I'm holding on to my badges and see what comes out with the patch.

I bought the Faceguard of Determination, since all of the Dodge + Block on it were enough to make me uncrushable (I only had Righteous helm at the time). For me, it was a good investment until I got the T4 helm and could be uncrushable with it.

[Nerfage]

Gnomeregan Auto-Blocker 600 isn't a bad either, it's one of 3 items in the game that has more that 50 shield block value on a single item.

The others being
Crystalforge Chestguard (Palidan only, get the token in Tempist Keep)
Girdle of Stability (Drops in Black temple)


I'll be getting the Faceguard of Determination as well to hit the golden "uncrushable" status that I've been working so hard for.

[Kivan]

I'm skipping the Facehelm of Determination since I got the Tankatronic Goggles for raids and the T4 helm for 5-mans. Got the libram and auto-blocker so far, and I'm currently working on the Fire Resistance epic gear, which is very, very nice (stacks stamina and fire resistance). Got the chestplate so far, and I'm 3 runs off the leggings. Total of 100 badges for the chestplate, leggings, gloves and boots. So it's a lot of work.

[adese]

I'm skipping the Facehelm of Determination since I got the Tankatronic Goggles for raids and the T4 helm for 5-mans. Got the libram and auto-blocker so far, and I'm currently working on the Fire Resistance epic gear, which is very, very nice (stacks stamina and fire resistance). Got the chestplate so far, and I'm 3 runs off the leggings. Total of 100 badges for the chestplate, leggings, gloves and boots. So it's a lot of work.

Is there anywhere that you actually need that much FR though? Admittedly, I've never personally done anything past Gruul's Lair, but from all that I have heard I can't think of anywhere that absolutely requires a lot of FR gear. Well, you could use some FR on Illhoof if you AoE to keep the imps on you, but if your healers are good even that isn't necessary (or if you have a Warlock in your group to cast Seed of Corruption).

[Kivan]

Yeah, the only places I've really ever used FR gear so far has been heroic Mechanar on the fire mage boss, heroic Ramparts for the dragon and for the satyr boss while running heroic Botanica. I currently have about 250 not including aura, which is ample for the above. I've been wearing just the heroic breastplate the last couple of Illhoof kills but, along with the aura, that's all I think is necessary. Need to keep taking damage to get mana back for all those consecrates afterall.

I haven't been past Gruul yet myself, but I've heard exactly the same thing. But then, we don't know what Zul'aman holds yet, and then there's pvp to think about as well. Plus whatever else Blizzard throws in. I guess my point is that it's just nice to have, and there's not a whole lot else to spend badges on.

[Igrado]

I have found Heroic Botanica to be easy with Mage (sheep) and Warlock in the party. A long run is 2 hours. All the boss fights are the same, the bosses simply have more HP and hit for a bit harder, but your team should be better geared than they were for regular anyways. It may be a good idea to skip the 3rd boss (Demon) as he can sometimes be very troublesome. First run ever we 1 shot him, next day with a different group he wiped us twice and we elected to move on. Possibly bad luck with sacrifice, possibly bad placement or something else.

Heroic Bot makes a great place to run after Mechanar Heroic, particularly as the group is already tested and Paladin tanking has some great benefits in this instance. Demons = Exorcism, Birds = AOE (also protect target with BOP), the 2 plantlet pulls u can hold aggro fine. You will find a section of pulls (where 1 plant is mixed with 3-4 humaoids) where u can simply sheep 1 and AOE tank the rest. As with any AOE run though, its success will depend on the gear of each member, first yours, then the healers, then the DPS.

For gearing comparison: My gear is all pre-kara except boots, and craftable Bracers of the Green Fortress. I have all the proper enchants however, and have SSE's in my Sha'tar shield and my Shoulders (from Laj, regular bot). I do not know how the others' gear was, but I believe both healers had a few Kara pieces and proper enchants. Obviously a guild run (assuming that your guild is a good one ) would fare you a bit better. Tell them 8-10 badges in 3 hours, with a good chance to have it down to 2 hours within 2 weeks of running!

[adese]

I haven't been past Gruul yet myself, but I've heard exactly the same thing. But then, we don't know what Zul'aman holds yet, and then there's pvp to think about as well. Plus whatever else Blizzard throws in. I guess my point is that it's just nice to have, and there's not a whole lot else to spend badges on.

I do find it rather odd that there is so much level 70 FR gear (between the BS Aldor set and the badges items), and yet there isn't a place where you really need it (like MC at level 60).

As for nothing to spend badges on - I think that will change as of 2.3. Last I heard, in that patch they will be adding new items to the vendor to buy with badges, and badges will drop from the bosses in Karazhan and Zul'aman. Since there isn't anything that I really want from badges that I haven't gotten already, I'm just going to save them so I can (hopefully) buy something nice when that patch hits in a few months.

[wingman]

From looking at wowwiki, there are some nice purple drops for a tankadin that hasn't completed kara yet.

http://www.wowwiki.com/Girdle_of_Valorous_Deeds drops from Aeonus in heroic BM. (heroic BM may be too hard pre-kara though)

http://www.wowwiki.com/Lion%27s_Heart_Girdle drops off last boss of ramparts (no int, but sta, str, agi, and +def is nice)

http://www.wowwiki.com/Eaglecrest_Warboots is from blood furnace, and once again has sta, agi, str, and +def

http://www.wowwiki.com/Boots_of_the_Righteous_Path paly tank boots from Shattered halls (stam, int, def, spell damage)

http://www.wowwiki.com/Bracers_of_Dignity paly tank bracers from heroic Arcatraz

if someone can summon him, Yor in heroic mana tombs drops epic rings like http://www.wowwiki.com/Yor%27s_Revenge

http://www.wowwiki.com/Spaulders_of_Dementia from heroic sethekk

http://www.wowwiki.com/Gauntlets_of_Dissension from heroic Bot


So, for paly tank epics, Arcatraz, Shattered Halls, Black Morass are the preferred instances. The problem I see with this is that these are 3 of the harder heroics, and by the time you could complete them without too much trouble, you'd probably have better gear anyway (but maybe they're good for filling in a hole in your gear).