Am I ready for Heroics?

[James]

This is my armory.

http://www.wowarmory.com/character-shee ... al&n=James

Before you ask, SoC and Reckoning (as opposed to one hand weapon spec) are for dailies. I am respeccing to something better when I get exalted with SSO.

[Lookit]

Yes, your gear is more than fine for heroics. You'd be fine for Kara as well.

[Wakeman]

You are fine for heroics, but I won't advise you to try Kara as you are too crushable atm.

Btw, your chest, cloak and wrist enchants are all wrong. Please check the stickies for the best enchants. Also, red gems should be +8 dodge, not parry.

[James]

I have gotten some slight upgrades since my last post. How should I tank heroics? How much cc should I use? The maxium amount? Or just one sheep/sap and keep the pull as small as possible? As much as I would like to do a heroic like I did normal Shattered Halls, I know that is impossible.

[rabbel]

CC is purely situational. Use it when you think they'll beat the crap out of you or the pull is difficult (many caster mobs), if you think you can handle it, try it. There will be an increase in repair costs as you learn, but you'll get used to it soon. When in doubt throw away the pride and take the CC-options you have.

Your equipment seems fine for heroics, but I strongly suggest to take a shot at the easy ones before you start with the more difficult ones like Shattereds, Slabs, Arcatraz and (of course) the Terrace.

[xstrykr]

I have gotten some slight upgrades since my last post. How should I tank heroics? How much cc should I use? The maxium amount? Or just one sheep/sap and keep the pull as small as possible? As much as I would like to do a heroic like I did normal Shattered Halls, I know that is impossible.

Work your way up through them. They aren't terribly different from the normal versions of the instances, just that the mobs are significantly stronger in them. There's a post somewhere about the recommended Heroic instance progression. Don't be discouraged if you see yourself constantly at 25% health during a trash pull; healers are supposed to be significantly harder, and until your gear improves, that's just how they'll be.

As far as CC goes, when I was starting Heroics, I had nearly 12k health self-buffed, so I felt comfortable using only one CC at a time (generally a sheep). There are other pulls though that require more CC of course. We walk a fine line regarding this; if we're always keeping pulls to a small number, we're losing our advantage as a Tankadin. It largely depends on the instance - in simpler heroics like Slave Pens, Ramps and Botanica, you really don't need a ton of CC and usually you can get by with one, with maybe another one as a backup CC. Other instances, like Shattered Halls and Magister's Terrace, require maximum CC (as well as excellent group makeup and coordination) to succeed.

And don't worry too much about unintentionally breaking CC - just stay calm, nix the consecrate till the sheep target is firmly staying put, move a few yards away, and start loading up on threat again.

[James]

Yes, your gear is more than fine for heroics. You'd be fine for Kara as well.

Last night I off tanked most of Kara and main tanked the Curator since the warrior switched to his druid. We stopped after him.

[Cosmoz]

actualy, shattered halls is one of the easier HCs, at least thats what I experiance. and its MADE for paladin tanks.
Nothing in there hits hard, realy. Its just a ton of them. unless you pull more then 1 group at a time (witch can be up to 8 mobs or so) there should not be a big problem. My last run in there I had a new DISC priest with me, this was his first HC and he had just abow 1k healing. they all incisted on using maximum CC (we had mage+rogue) and we did. you prolly know how hard it is to get decent agro on 2 CCed mobs when the CC breaks... and how much mana you have to use... well, after 3 wipes, I told them either I will leave group, or screw the CC as I said from the beginning (havend used CC in HCs the past 2-3 months) and we stoped to use CC, and even with our low-geared-wrong-specced healer we made it, even once we pulled 3 groups (12 elites)

paladines shine when playing without CC. CC is gimping us!

if you want a REALy easy instance, try HC botanica... even with all blue gear, the only place where you could need CC is the 4 demon pull befor, um, 3rd boss. and the group-mobs after that boss. once you got a epic or two, you can easily do those without a CC as well.

good luck

[brimstoner]

Just ran heroic Bot last night and the pulls are fairly easy. Shaman DPS outgeared it, but the rest of us were pretty average and the healer was slightly undergeared. Cleared all but the 3rd boss, just couldnt get the timing right on him, and the healer couldnt heal through the hellfire. But compared to him the rest of the instance is cake. I recommend this one. It is slow going learning the layout, but I imagine a couple of more runs and we could take this in a short time.

[Marker]

Just ran heroic Bot last night and the pulls are fairly easy. Shaman DPS outgeared it, but the rest of us were pretty average and the healer was slightly undergeared. Cleared all but the 3rd boss, just couldnt get the timing right on him, and the healer couldnt heal through the hellfire. But compared to him the rest of the instance is cake. I recommend this one. It is slow going learning the layout, but I imagine a couple of more runs and we could take this in a short time.

Just look forward to when you can breeze through it in 35 mins with a good group

[uke]

Depending on the instance, even awesome tankadins need cc sometimes.

For example, I ran h-bot and h-SV back to back last night. Bot we plowed through with no CC at all. Just throw shield, LOS casters back, and consecrate till dead. Healer was pro.

On Steamvaults after that, healer wasn't as good (resto druid with lots of PVP gear, ewwww), and the sirens and oracles were just kicking our butts with heals and fears into other packs. After a couple wipes, I broke down and had the rogue with us sap a caster, with the hunter trapping another, which still left me with 3 mobs. Run went tons smoother after that. Sometimes close together caster packs demand more cc, regardless of how good your gear is.

[Cosmoz]

there is a easy sulotion for that, fearing mobs.

with a tankadin, those groups are just a breeze. easy to hold agro and they dont realy hit hard. so DO NOT SKIP THE GROUPS. I have run that isntance so many times, and usualy people do want to skip 2 of the big groups, but I dont let them. I tank and I pull
75% of the time, with a pug, if you skip some groups, people will accidently pull them, or get feared and pull the group we skipped. so, now i never skip any groups. takes 2 min to kill 2 groups, but it takes 15 min for everyone to run back and buff up again. even with SS/ank or whatever, it will prolly be more then 2 min to get going again.

only Heroic a good geared paladin could need CC is HC MgT, and even there, you dont need it, if everyone has good gear, and knows how to play and what to do. Im only in ~badge/T4, and i have done it without CC.

[scythe93]

I guess I might as well post here to ask essentially the same question.

http://www.wowarmory.com/character-sheet.xml?r=Ner%27zhul&n=Garbar

there is my armory. My plan is to go holy while doing karazhan for badges (1700 healing) and gathering the tanking gear the mt and ot dont need. I was hoping to be able to do heroics in the mean time though. Is this gear good enough for that?

stat breakdown:
def: 511
dodge: 18.81%
parry 18.17%
block 20.57%
spell damage: 169
Health: 10297
Mana: 4188
Armor: 11553

[Sarutankah]

My avoidance gear has about the same stats but meh - it's a bitch getting into heroics with less than 12-13k hp unbuffed.


I actually prefer the higher stam less avoidance gear cos of Mana return and threat for most instances.

[Zulfiqar]

I have this same question, actually. I know my avoidance needs work, hence the running of heroics to get badges, but I figured 12.2K HP unbuffed and 501 defense rating would make heroics a lot easier than being at aprox. 11.7K HP unbuffed with a 487 defense rating and an uncrush at 90.5%. But we got slaughtered in Heroic SP last night. I know I need to start getting used to CC, and I do great when a mage is in the group, but a hunter trap always breaks since it gets trapped too close to the mobs I am taking. Is there a way to use a hunter trap and then pull the mobs further away before consecrating? The hunter knows what he is doing, so I am gonna say it is my problem that I need to fix. I can take on four mobs without dying, but the fury warrior I was with was giving me a hard time about my low avoidance ('course, I was out DPSing him, so whatever).

My gear.