Burning through Mana

[theckhd]

SoWis is bad, see the post Epimer linked. It's even worse when compared SoCom for the same reasons.

For VH in particular, I tend to keep Consecration in my rotation for the 3+ spawns, since it's a reasonably good DPS/mana tradeoff on those. If I dip too low, then I'll drop it, since HotR and ShoR along with auto-attacks and SoCom are more than enough to hold aggro on those packs.

For the single spawns I usually drop it from the rotation entirely to conserve mana. I also use the "Pop DP 5-10 seconds before the spawn" trick, and drink between pulls if necessary.

Though the best advice in this thread so far is to tank pantsless.

[lythac]

Though the best advice in this thread so far is to tank pantsless.

Really? IRL or in game?

I never bought into the idea of tanking pantless in WOTLK.

[Wrathy]

I like to play wow in my spiderman underoo's - Pantsless is the way to go!

[Lightknight]

Just swap to Retri-Specc, change Stamina-Trinkets to DPS, put on Bryntroll and have fun. Judgement of the wise ftw.

[99sitr]

Just swap to Retri-Specc, change Stamina-Trinkets to DPS, put on Bryntroll and have fun. Judgement of the wise ftw.

There is no need to do this though. You can keep well over 30% mana if you are being wise about your actions. Also OP may not have a secondary spec for Retribution with the gear you are talking about.

Get hit more
Block more
Judge Wisdom
use consecrate less

Heroics are no longer a challenge or issue for most and those that are having issues with them likely won't have ICC 25 raid gear to swap a spec into. There is also less of a DPS race in VH now with the gear that is out now so if the OP has enough threat he should be able to just stand there and auto attack while his DPS kills it and he regens his mana.

[Neroth]

If you have ret gear... swap in a couple ret items.

I run heroics with ret trinkets, a dps wep with berserking (will probably change enchants to mongoose soon) on it, and a couple ret pieces. I just keep enough defense to be crit immune.

You take a little more damage which equals more mana regen from healing. You do more damage and threat... so you don't have to spend as much mana holding mobs. My mini goal every heroic is to win the damage meter with no one dying... way more fun than trying not to run out of mana.