Heroics difficulty order

[Stompya]

So, lastnite I tried my first heroics, needless to say was a disaster, even tho I am over 20k hp and armor with 547 defense.

Tried Gundrak first, then DTK where the first boss hit me for up to 7k damage.

This left me wondering, what would be the easier to harder progression in the heroics?

I asked around lastnite but could not get a consensus between Violet Hold and Utgarde Keep as being the "entry level" instance for heroics.

[Jaonne]

Drak'tharon is pretty easy as far as heroics go - I think you may be experiencing something that many others have as well. Healers aren't used to tanks taking severe damage, and regardless of gear there are bosses that are going to do that right now.

7k per hit isn't that much for a boss, really - it's high, but it's not extraordinary. With proper usage of shield block and other appropriate cooldowns you should be fine on a boss like that, if your healer is on the ball.

[ttocs]

I would argue that DTK is easier than Gun'drak.

Either way, I personally feel UK is easier than VH, but probably because it's shorter. I could see both being an equal level of difficulty when it comes to bosses, depending on who spawns in VH.

[xKhellendrosx]

I would argue that DTK is easier than Gun'drak.

Either way, I personally feel UK is easier than VH, but probably because it's shorter. I could see both being an equal level of difficulty when it comes to bosses, depending on who spawns in VH.

Tried Heroic Violet Hold for the first time last night as I've been hearing how "easy" it is and on portal 12 we got the Voidwalker. Three tries later we just decided it to call it a night. Might have to try out UK, though that first boss always drives me insane as a dk tank.

[Morgraan]

That voidwalker is a beast. Fight took us a few tries to get right in my first group. The rest of the instance isn't bad, though, and the pants off the last boss are well worth it.

[brillopad]

Voidwalker fight in VH heroic got us by supprise. We had no idea what to do, so our group just kept dps'ing the boss. We got him down second try after reading what we had to do.
Worst part was when our druid healer, got the debuff, and he had no way of attacking the void spawns. In any case, it was very challanging fight.

I would conside UK as the easiest heroic, quick run with not so challanging pulls.

[Stearns]

UK is the easiest heroic I've tried so far - much easier than VH unless you get the simple bosses in VH (in which case its pretty easy too)

A lot of us turned into wimps at the end of TBC, so there's been a small learning curve again to get back into the swing. As a tank you want to take the lead in that. Dont be afraid to admit to yourself that you dont know what you're doing! Its actually fun being a noob again. Make sure you do your homework on bosses etc. Also dont be embarrassed to use cc. Having said that, once you get more confident and your gear improves even a little, you'll be able to go much quicker. A big part is just knowing the new bosses. Oh... and running with people you know and trust. I died many times in H Strat the first time with a pugged healer - then the next day with a guild healer we were *that* close to the timed reward.

[Elyvern]

Finished all the heroics, Your mileage may vary but IMO, this is the heroic difficulty order:

1. UK
2. CoT-Strat
3. Nexus
4. DTK
5. VH
6. HoS
7. HoL
8. UP
9. Oculus
10. Gundrak

[ttocs]

It's not bad to do the first boss of UK as a DK, though i guess it depends on the spec. I start out putting up UB to pick up the adds, then using pestilence whenever they pop. It wont let me get in a 3rd scourge strike on the second rotation, but he's not much of an issue.

[Paramount]

Keep in mind the switches on the walls in VH.

They do some nice damage when you push them. I didn't even know about it till around my 12th run on regular or so when one of the pugs all of a sudden went, "what's this?" and just flipped one.

[Ott]

I'm no expert, as I have never done 4 of the instances but this is my take as a healer:

Easiest
Utegard Keep
Azjol'nerub
Violet Hold*
Nexus
Drak'tharon
CoH: Stratholme***
Gundrak
Oculus**
Hardest

* I have found VH to be stupidly easy... Unless you get the Etherial. The orb AoE damage is huge and unless your group is already familiar with the kiting pattern, this boss alone shoots VH up a couple of spots.

** Oculus is hard in that the pulls are large and the drakes confusing the 1st time. I think if you had a group were everyone had done it maybe two or three times before, the difficulty would drop several spaces.

*** I am unsure where this falls if your not doing a drake run. I have only been there with groups attempting the timed run, so its quite intense.

As you can see, I have never done HoS, HoL, OK, or UP. I assume several of those are quite difficult. They have not been dailies for me or contain desirable healing upgrades, so I have not sought them out.

[Tierax]

1. UK
2. CoT-Strat
3. Nexus
4. DTK
5. VH
6. HoS
7. HoL
8. UP
9. Oculus
10. Gundrak

I think I'd put Gundrak before UP or Oculus, but beyond that I pretty much agree with you. Gundrak was the first heroic I did, right when I freshly dinged 80. The only difficult part really is the snake boss, first time through we wiped to him 6 times, but once we downed him the rest of the instance was a breeze. (Not a single additional death)

[Einlanzer]

1. UK
2. Nexus
3. VH (These first three are my "I need 11 badges in less than two hours" run)
4. Draktharon

The rest are about similar difficulty, depending on gear. I would say Meathook in CoT is one of the bigger gear checks for tanks, because he hits like a truck and the fight can be extended by unlucky chain silences, making cooldown management a high priority.

For my money, Halls of Stone is the hardest heroic in the game, between Maiden of Grief's void zones/constant AoE Repentance, and the Ages "gauntlet of death", don't bother going in there until your whole group has some epics under their belt.

[Elyvern]

Ah crap, forgot the Azjol ones.

Here it is again in order of easy-hard difficulty:

1. UK
2. CoT-Strat
3. Nexus
4. DTK
5. VH
6. HoL
7. HoS
8. Azjol
9. UP
10. Old Kingdom
11. Oculus
12. Gundrak

a. Reason why I put VH near the middle is because while it can be insanely easy, it can be hard as well with the voidwalker and ethereal bosses.

b. After some consideration, I would put HoL before HoS, the Brann event can be awful without an aoe class.

c. Azjol and Old Kingdom rate up there because the former is a bitch without poison cleansing and stuns, and the latter, a squishy healer can get insta-gibbed at Elder Nadox from guardian immunity. I don't have problems dpsing down my phased group-members, but needing to burn down the boss with 2 dspers dead from their phased fights isn't fun either. :P

d. Oculus is fine until the last boss. *shudder* Once we get the hang of drake fights, it can be downgraded.

e. And yeah I may be biased because Gundrak was my first heroic and that run gave me nightmares. Subsequent runs were much easier. Still, it's ridiculous how the rhino boss insta-kills clothies with an impale.

[Stubbi]

Wow ...

I too did Gundrak as my very first one in pure quest/ah blues. Even got the Snake achievement thing doing it.

If thats considered one of the toughest, I really need to be more confident in my gear.

[Chisgule]

1. UK
2. Nexus
3. VH (These first three are my "I need 11 badges in less than two hours" run)
4. Draktharon

The rest are about similar difficulty, depending on gear. I would say Meathook in CoT is one of the bigger gear checks for tanks, because he hits like a truck and the fight can be extended by unlucky chain silences, making cooldown management a high priority.

This is right on. I ran CoT with pro heals and dps and still got smoked by repeated CC on my healer for Meathook. On one attempt I died in three hits (25kish HP is what I'd had at the time). I was wearing half S4 and half tank gear, since I'd just hit 80. But to give perspective, we had absolutely zero difficulty clearing the top 4 above in the same 'garbage' gear.

Until you either have gear (it sounds like what you have is fine), you bring an off-spec healer as one of your dpsers, or bring a druid for the hots, meathook will be a beast.

[Shadevarr]

My personal order from my experiences, order may change in the future as I experience them with different healers.

1. COT-strat
2. Nexus
3. Utgarde Pinnacle
4. Violet Hold
5. Draktheron Keep
6. Halls of Lightning
7. Utgarde Keep
8. Halls of Stone
9. Oculus
10. Gun'Drak
11. Anjol-Nerub
12. Ahn'Kahet

[grandebob]

I agree about the new learning curve. Most of my bad runs have been with healers who can't heal, or aren't used to me taking so much damage.

Just remember to use your cool downs and time them right. Shield wall should be popped every fight. Some bosses enrage then calm down, other enrage and stay that way till they die. Knowing the fight teaches you when to do it. Dieing is the way to learn the fight.