Benchmarking for Heroics?

[Inukshuk]

I recently switched to prot after going 1-70 holy (I leveled alongside a warrior) and after a few dreadfully easy runs of BM and SV, I decided to see what it would be like to tank a heroic. I hadn't done any research to know the peril, and the daily was BF, so that's where I headed. After a semi-successful first pull (the DPS war in the group died, but we completed the pull) our healer said "I'm not doing this. You don't have the gear to tank this, you were getting hit for like 4K" and he left. After reviewing the stats from the fight, I determined I hadn't been crit or anything, those guys just hit hard, but it seemed to confirm my suspicion that I'm not really ready to tank heroics. Now, I've got some friends who are healers, and we're trying to figure out a good way to benchmark when we'll be ready to tank and heal heroics. Our theory is that we can go into H Mech, pull the first tempest forge patroller, and see how long we can last. This seems like a pretty reasonable plan for benchmarking heroic tank/heal survivability, but I've never actually heard of anyone doing it. Any guesses what would be considered a success?

For reference, my armory link:

http://www.wowarmory.com/character-shee ... n=Inukshuk

I think I'm kind of on the cusp of being ready, but could use a bit more armor, HP, and avoidance. I ran SV 3 times the other night, and while there are 3 (maybe 4 if you count the ring) upgrades on Kalithresh, I've had no luck so far. I'll be back in there again soon, but I'd love to have a way of knowing for sure that if I'm tanking a heroic and we fail, it won't be my fault. At least gear wise.

[Voxe]

Don't worry too much about it mate, Heroic BF is prolly the nastiest of instance to tank for a pally.

Try starting out on the easier instance, like Heroic Ramparts and Underbog. Safe up on some badges and get yer badge loot.

You'll grow in to going heroic BF in no-time

[Katerina]

In general the first pull or two of each heroic includes some of the hardest hitting mobs in that instance. The exception being, perhaps, Arc (where the demons before the 2/3 bosses are the gear check) and BF (where the fel guards near the end hit like trucks).

At the beginning of SP there is a pat of one greater boglobster and two regular ones. If you can tank all three (and be healed through it) then you can clear that instance. The first few pulls of UB has some heavy hitters (though the casters right before the second boss are perhaps the worst trash there.)

I honestly do not think Mech is that easy if you and your healer are both working toward being heroic-ready. Might try Bot instead. Take a mage or spriest to take care of the greenwardens and enough ranged dps to down the third boss (melee either spends a lot of time out of range or tends to die to the hellfire) and it is an easy five badges.

And you only have a few big robots that hit particularly hard, versus like 10 in Mech.

[Kelaan]

Agreed. Ramparts can be rough -- mortal striking mobs that hit hard and come in pairs = ouch.

Slave Pens and Botanica are both relatively easy. A shadow priest makes both EASYmode, esp when they know to mind control the greenwardens and give you a couple hundred extra spelldamage. (-:

Shattered Halls is relatively hard if you don't have good effective health and/or lots of block value. It's doable, but I know I can't survive more than one pack, and still take bunches of damage.

Frickit has a great guide to heroics stickied; it tends to rate them on difficulty as well as the pros/cons of each. Mechanar should be doable as well, but you'll want people who can kick/pummel/HoJ/Earth Shock the charged fists. (the robots hit hard.)

[Losbullitt]

You're not far off of where I started. However the task was daunting, to say the least. But practice makes perfect. You could also get into kara runs for loot and badges (a full clear gives 22 or something like that) to improve your gear. Uncrit is a must imo.

[istrienielle]

I've been healing recently again after tanking for a while. BF is a bad place to start for new tankadins. Being there, done that. I still lol'd whenever I see tanks go in mark skull, X, pull and drop like a fly. :p

Just take it slow, its doable.

[Voyd]

when starting out in a heroic, im guessing you use all the CC at your disposal right? i think im almost ready to do one, but i dont want to embarass myself and waste peoples time if i go in there for the first time and get my butt kicked against 2 mobs.

should i even make a group specifically CC heavy at first? or is the 'real test' being able to tank multiples in heroics and not dying?

[caboom]

put the belt and neck back in ur bags and take out the stamina/armor ones and put em in place

[Lousiana]

If you haven't done it yet, just have a look at Lookits Guide

http://www.failsafedesign.com/maintanka ... php?t=9023