[LinearCitrus]

It hasn't been long since I hit 80 and I'm looking to get into tanking heroics, but I'm not sure if I'm ready just yet. I was curious what you guys thought would be the best heroics to start out with in terms of difficulty, or if I'm even geared enough to start them

Armory (might still be in dps gear)

I know I still need to work on my argent crusade rep a bit more for the helm enchant and get the exalted SoH shoulder enchant, but other than that, am I ready for some of the easier heroics?

Right now in bear form, self buffed, I'm sitting at 24.4k health and 35.2% dodge.

Thanks a lot for the info!

[Mecer]

Easiest ones imo are:

UK, Nexus, and Gundrak. You can do more if your healer is really good. Fights where adds spawn are tough, A) because if you are new to tanking heroics its hard to get a feel for spawn rates/locations, and B) if your gear is lacking you will be requiring more healing and the healer will need to heal you more and probally pull agro. Both UK and Nexus have bosses with spawns, but they are predictable and easily intercepted by the tank.

The next teir would probally be VH, DTK, and CoT (non-drake run), where things start to hit harder, and require more controll. (if you skip King Dred in DTK, the rest is pretty easy, but even at 31k unbuffed Ive had him kill me with Grievous bite +fear the healer).

[Brucimus]

my list. Uk, VH, and DTK

[Roana]

Utgarde Keep is the easiest heroic, with Nexus following closely.

Note that "easy" does not mean that you can afk through it. It means that a reasonably attentive group should not face any unsurmountable challenges even in all blues.

Heroic Gundrak and Heroic Drak'Tharon Keep are not necessarily good starter instances. Both have at least one boss that can prove to be quite the challenge for a party in pre-heroic gear. Worse, they both have bosses where you need (sigh) competent damage dealers.

Another instance, aside from Utgarde Keep and Nexus that can be easy is heroic Violet Hold. This, unfortunately, depends entirely on which bosses you encounter. A couple of them can be quite nasty, but if you don't get them, it is smooth sailing.

That said, a lot of the so-called "harder" heroics are less gear checks and more skill checks for the group (Halls of Lightning and Old Kingdom both aren't very demanding on the tank if you don't go for achievements, but require competent play from everybody). The key for those is not to gear up in all the purples that you can get beforehand, but to play with people you can trust. Good DPS is just as critical for those as good tanking and healing.

[Theotherone]

I agree with Roana 100%, especially H VH, if you draw the etheral and/or void it's a royal pain; if you get the others it's pretty much cake.

H UK is a good starter to learn to tank heroics on - it has some pulls that can get messy and requires the tank to use good judgment e.g. the second pull, if you do it right you'll pull two at a time, if you time it wrong you'll aggro 6 and depending on your heals/dps it's either a lot of fun or a potential wipe.

[Reavi]

UK, Nexus, VH are my testing waters.

UK is simple, if you cant handle that there's bigger problems.

Nexus gives you a nice variety of bosses to try out.

VH, imo, requires the tank to have 24k+ hp, or else I'm hesitant to run with them. Barring that, it's as simple as can be fight wise.

[Alaama]

Source: Reavi UK, Nexus, VH are my testing waters. UK is simple, if you cant handle that there's bigger problems. Nexus gives you a nice variety of bosses to try out. VH, imo, requires the tank to have 24k+ hp, or else I'm hesitant to run with them. Barring that, it's as simple as can be fight wise.

I have too agree and disagree at the same time.

Nexus the first Boss can be hard when she seperates into 3 ( or was it 4 ) adds, i have had a priest fearing them all the time so tanking was really funny ;(

VH can also be very hard, depends on what Minibosses you get. One you have too kite so if you havent had that one before that could be a little bit hard.

In my opinion you can clear almost every Heroic Instance just check that you are Crit Immun for them. The Ulduar Instances might be a little bit harder then the others but thats a question of the group not of the tank.

My first Heroic was Caverns of Time:Stratholme, i was maybe 2 or 3 hours at 80 and had almost no clue about tanking. Still we managed to do the Timerun even it was close.

Just grab some people of your friendlist or guild and try out some Heroic´s before you go with randoms, it can be very frustrating to go with random´s the first few heroics. I was overpulling in one Instance for example thank god i was with my guild there so they said its no problem, with randoms it´s most of the time a flamewar then


PS: Hope you can read my bad english, haven´t written anything in a while

[Novalok]

The First Heroic I ever Actually Tanked was VH, but i have done nexus, VH, and some other one(cant remeber the name) And i try to get a VH in every day. Its quick simple and i like the Emblems. But All i am is 540 Def. My HP is only 25k Buffed and Well Im still gearing up. Tanking is about keeping aggro and having 540 def lol. The rest is your healer and DPS. But i have knoticed there is a HUGE lacking of Good DPS.
When the tank is 2nd in DPS its time to get out. lol

[ZakThePally]

I can't comment on your gear because I have no idea what good druid gear is and whats not lol. But my first heroic was DTK and it went smoothly. I lost aggro a few times to a naxx geared rogue there. (be aware now that there are a lot of well geared people just wanting conquests, they might not understand you are still trying to get geared up)

[Hit Me]

My list from easiest to hardest is something like this.

UK, Nexus, VH, DTK, Gun, AN, HoL, OK, UP, CoS, HoS, ToC
I'm probably leaving some out.

CoS is that high assuming you're attempting to get the drake. It would fall way down the list if you're just taking your time.

I didn't include Occ because I've only run it twice and I really didn't like it, but it had nothing to do with it's difficulty.

VH can be really simple for a new tank or a major pain in the ass depending on the bosses. Once you get the harder bosses down, it's pretty easy.

[Meldwyn]

Personally, I would cut my teeth on a few lvl 80 regular instances like HoL (N), HoS (N), UP (N), or another one of choice. There are actually some nice drops for tanks in those instances (defense trinket from HoL), in addition to a whole lot less pressure while learning the fights.

Don't be afraid to tell everyone in the group that you accept any and all feedback as well. The more open you are to help, the more understanding your group will be if mistakes are made.

Good luck, and stick with it!

[Rominoodle]

My first heroic was CoS. As a paladin though I had a slight advantage to that place. Sitting at 541 defense and 20.5k unbuffed health, it was definately a challenge. For starting out, I'd agree to go with your friends or guild mates. I pugged for a Naxx 10 when I had 27k unbuffed health, and 551 defense and got told I didn't have good enough gear to tank...so pugs can be a little brutal whether you are starting or decently geared. Don't be in a rush to get all epics, they come with time :-)

[geros]

Source: Novalok Tanking is about keeping aggro and having 540 def lol.

technically for heroics its 535 but close enough. I think H UK VH and nexus are good starting points.

Gear suggestion time:
1) Get a helm with a meta gem. Not too concerned about what helm it is, but you can gain a huge amount of stam just from having a meta gem helm.
2) there's a crafted cloak that should do you pretty well, durable nerubhide cloak is it's name I think.
3) do the argent tournament dailies and get the feral staff from that. It's a pretty darn good staff.
4) Darkmoon card: Greatness is great for both cats and bears. It'll last you a very long time.
5) The black heart from normal ToC is as close to BiS as you'll ever get. I suggest running the crap out of ToC normal and you'll probably find the leather from there to be superior to whatever you are wearing anyways.

[Bashal]

If you're running with an overgeared healer, you can really do any of them, as long as you don't pull too much at once. Without the uber heals, what people have been suggesting already is what you should go with.

As far as acquiring tanking skill, VH is best as your very first one, in my opinion.

[slvr92]

Here is my list from easy to hard
Culling of Stratholme
Utgarde Keep
Gundrak
Drak'Tharon Keep
Violet Hold
Azjol-Nerub
Utgrade Pinnacle (if you're going to tank this, watch some videos for the strategy which is real simple and easy).

I have yet to tank OK, HoL, HoS, Oculus, and Nexus.

[Roana]

Source: slvr92 Here is my list from easy to hard Culling of Stratholme Utgarde Keep Gundrak Drak'Tharon Keep

(Tail of the list omitted)

I'd have to strongly disagree with this ordering, insofar as fresh 80s are concerned.

First of all, keeping an undergeared tank alive in Culling of Stratholme can be a horror trip, especially if you aren't a healer who can cleanse both diseases and poison. (For example, if you have a druid healer who gets hit by the Bile Golem's randomly targeted disease, her healing is immediately reduced by 35%, and the only way to fix that is to have the disease wear off.)

The first boss in Gundrak is probably still the hardest heroic boss out there. Making it your first heroic can be a pretty traumatic experience.

King Dred in Drak'tharon Keep -- let's just say that a couple of weeks ago I took over 30k damage in less than three seconds. His and his adds' stacking debuffs (75% reduced armor, 15% reduced stamina, increased bleed effects, massive bleeds) really have a lot of synergy if he even gets a bit lucky. It's also not exactly the easiest fight to tank (you have to pick up adds, anticipate breaking fears, maintain LOS to the healer if you can't break a fear, hit cooldowns at the right moment). Nothing really hard, but beyond the tank-and-spank of the easier heroics. Trollgore can also be pretty rough if your DPS is subpar and allows him to stack his damage buff.

All of these potential issues tend to be obscured these days because most people on most servers run in raid/Trial of the Champion/emblem gear these days. But if you don't have that gear (because, say, you've hit 80 recently or are playing on a new server, or both), then things can change quite a bit.