Anyway, I thought we'd start the new year off by talking about one of the, or maybe the only, really tough heroic instance in the game at the moment - Halls of Reflection. There are basically two fights (not counting the dude that summons party look-alikes) which can either be really challenging and fun or really challenging and pain-in-the-assish, depending mostly on the outcome. Wipe usually ends in sad faces. I've had it all, everything from the perfect run with no deaths to the repeated wipes. So I thought I'd share some of my thoughts on healing and tanking HoR, since that is usually the critical and most hectic role ergo the most fun stuff to talk about.
I've done HoR as every role so far, well except melee dps actually. Although I have a holydin I haven't tried healing that instance with her yet, simply because I haven't had the desire to do so. Maybe I'll add a note about that when I get around to trying it. I won't mention dps because it might be a little tougher, but basically the same as in every other place. Don't get aggro and kill whatever needs to be killed first. If you can cc, you should. That's about it.
I actually thought about doing one big post about every role I've tried, but I soon noticed that would simply be too large. Therefore I will do one post per role, starting with my beloved healing priests. The rest of the posts - tanking warrior and healing shaman - will follow in the coming days.
Healing - Priest
First of all, if you've got the choice, I strongly recommend healing as discipline on the first event. Mostly because of the better mana regen. Also the fast Penance and PWS healing is superb at that event where the dmg mostly consists of no dmg... no dmg... ALOT of dmg! Being able to pick someone (because anyone could drop low at this event) back up fast, all the while being able to keep everyone topped with shields, pom and the occasional renew is great. Holy would do well too methinks (haven't tried tbh), but as I mentioned mana could become a problem here. And the shield is really kickass.
As a priest you won't be able to remove the poison the mercenaries use or the curse the hunters cast. The curse is of less trouble but the poison could become bothersome. They use two different, one which only does dmg and one which is stacked in three and does dmg and slows movement. A renew and shield will take care of these poisons well, if they're on a dps or yourself. If they're used on the tank you've gotta be ready to throw some extra healing. Now and then the priests will cast a shadow word pain on someone but that is of course easily dispelled. It doesn't do much dmg though so any healing needed has prio over using a gcd for dispels.
The are three things to really watch out for in this event.
- First of all, if someone else than the tank gets aggro from something they will need alot of heal, and fast. Be ready with your nukeheals at all times (this means Desperate Prayer too).
- Secondly, don't stand close to the melee ever. They bash/kick which will silence you for an absolutely non-acceptable amount of time (7 sec or something I think).
- Thirdly, the rogues/mercenaries kidney shot the tank from time to time, which will make him/her unable to block, dodge or parry any blows. Yet again you need to be very ready with big and fast heals.
Also the hunters will trap a random target into ice now and then. If you feel you've got the gcd for it, dispel it. If its on the tank you have to dispel it. For the chance it will land on you, making you unable to heal for some 3-4 second you should keep some hot (sorry paladins, your hot isn't much to hang in the christmas tree) on the tank at all times.
The first boss is tricky with his aoe fear and dmg combo, and a priest has a huge advantage here (as opposed to shaman) from being able to use aoe heals and shields/hots to ease it up. The second boss is easypeasy so not much to say about that.
I hopefully don't have to tell you the obvious stuff like keeping shields, pom and the like up at all times (spells depending on spec). It's even more important here than anywhere else. This event is actually harder than many raidencounters, in my opinion.
The second boss, or Run From Arthas-event, is alot easier. As long as you have enough dps and the tank knows how to tank there won't be much for you to think about. The Abominations do a spew which can hurt quite alot, so be ready to abolish and heal that. The casters will use a curse which you can't remove, but it doesn't do much dmg. A shield/renew on the target and it's nothing to worry about. If the rest of the party do their job this will be cakewalk healingwise.
Good luck on healing HoR with your priest! It's alot of fun!
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