TBC PVE - Best heroic dungeon comp for newcomers ?

[xtoothbrush]

I want to try tbc multibox, but heroics looks way harder than wotlk.

I have 3 comp idea:

-1 pal / 4sham (totem stacking)
Cons: I know this comp is maybe the strongest with totem stack, but sham and pal have no cc. Starting with no gear or no gold to buy gear could make it harder.
Strat: zerg

-1 pal / 3hunter / 1sham (AP/stat buff + pet scaling)
Cons: not really i guess, maybe pet management and weak aoe
Strat: zerg

-5 druid (feral/3moonkin/1 resto)
Strat: skip all mobs with stealth and rush boss
Cons: hard with no gear, comp not able to do all heroics, only aoe damage is 1 mn cd, mana problem, some mobs/mechanics cant be skip.

-1 pal 1warlock / 2mage / healer (massive pull + AOE)
Strat: make a massive pull with eye of killrogg (when the eye of KR die warlock get aggro) and kill all with blizzard / rain of fire /seed of corruption. Tank and healer are in the back raedy to revive if pull go wrong
Cons: need more brain, not as chill. Dealing with 3 aoe spell that have to be placed can be rough. Maybe caster can be a problem cause they will break the pull

OTHER IDEA:
Get 2 pal to level 70 and buff the team before rdf. It s 2 free greater blessing buff. Repeat the operation if you die or when buff end

[xtoothbrush]

4 comp ideas

[Brutone]

1 prot pala and 4 shadow priests.
https://tbc.cavernoftime.com/spell=34917 does stack and https://tbc.cavernoftime.com/spell=15286 does stack.
So 4 Spriests provide some insane party wide heal and mana reg.
In addition x4 https://tbc.cavernoftime.com/spell=46025 makes you able to keep mobs in a permanent stun lock when you spam mind flay.

[uesce]

Heroics are way harder than wotlk.

I have been level 70 for a few weeks now and my team is prot pally, holy priest, elem shaman, mage and balance druid.

I have good buffs, cc ports and water and also heroism.

But I honestly think 1 paladin and 4 shamans is the best. My shaman is the worst geared and does the most dps and has two cheesy cool downs in the fire elemental and earth elemental pet that allows you to easily beat certain mechanics.

Grounding totems trivialize certain mechanics as well.

I do love the priest as a healer. Prayer of mending, shield, renew and the two aoe heals just feel great.

I haven't even attempted a heroic yet. Sitting around 1.3k gs on each. Trying to finish some rep grinds and at the same time craft the epic tailoring stuff.

I would probably do paladin, priest and 3x shamans if I didn't it over though. Or 4 shamans.

[xtoothbrush]

1 prot pala and 4 shadow priests.
https://tbc.cavernoftime.com/spell=34917 does stack and https://tbc.cavernoftime.com/spell=15286 does stack.
So 4 Spriests provide some insane party wide heal and mana reg.
In addition x4 https://tbc.cavernoftime.com/spell=46025 makes you able to keep mobs in a permanent stun lock when you spam mind flay.

i guess pal + 4 priest or 3 priest + healer can be very good but i'm worried about the fact that :
-there is no aoe damage
-good part of shadow priest damage is dot, so making a castsequence that maximize damage is harder
-vampiric embrace (allow to heal party with shadow spell damage) has a 10 s cd, so many mobs with low health could make it hard.
-only cloth, so gearing from 0 is harder

[Brutone]

I think 4 Spriests would provide enough heal because they can also hard cast healing spells in dangerous situations.
But if you are new to boxing I'd advice to roll ele shamis because they are very easy to multibox. Totem of wrath stacks so prot pala and 4 shamis is a very solid setup.

[atb6]

My comp is almost the same except the tank is a prot war and I've managed to get to some bosses (trash is always the worst part) in heroic.

I'm at a bit less than 1.3k gs, but even if with better gear be advised that trash in heroic does not mess around. Some can even two shot geared tanks (those big felguards in slabs) more dmg than a Karazhan boss x).

Besides skill and setup, at our current non epic gear levels what matters most is how geared your tank is, get close to 480 defense + as much avoidance as possible. Second most influential thing is CC. Coming close in third is damage, big damage = less time for mobs to get a chance to murder the tank.

Things I first thought would matter was damage buffs. Well they kind of do but on a 5 man party with 3 dps the individual merits of a class matter much more. Like, moonkin got 5% crit aura, nice, but does 30% less dmg than mage which no buffs or utility the druid brings can match.

Priest is really good, especially the stamina buff. Bonus aoe fear for oh **** moments + prayer of mending to help tank agro on pull (prayer of mending heal give threat to the healed one, not the priest). Fade is good too.
Mage polymorph does wonders, + going arcane you have the best "sustained burst". Bonus points for quality of life refreshment table.
Shaman is the best class in tbc, so yeah, bloodlust grounding totem and very good dps at blue gear levels (elemental).
Druid is... meh, damage is subpar. A warlock or second mage would be much better imo. Going from 1 reliable cc to 2 is going to be huge. Cyclone is dangerous to use since after its over in 6 seconds that mob is going straight for the healer and you have to time the recast very well. I'm considering replacing my druid for a mage, but it's not like I'm blocked by it anyway.

1xPala 4xEle Shaman can work with a bit more gear using a rush strat, basically make an earthbind totem path then kill mobs before they get close to you. The pala is there to kite whoever the shamans are not focusing. Totem of wrath stacks crit too. Bloodlust doesn't give sated debuff.

Aoe strategies aren't really going to work generally.
Aoe kiting with blizzard is not reliable as not every pull consists of just melee mobs and you have to just make one mistake to get wiped and then most likely not even killing 1 mob as consolation.
Aoe tanking with these gear levels is just being suicidal, assuming the tank can handle more than 3-4 mobs (forget 5), the longer you take to kill any one mob the more likely the tank is to die.

So, from experience, single target nuking + cc is going to be the solution that works for every heroic.

4x shadow priest is not nearly enough healing to the tank. And 3x spriest + 1 heal is also not enough damage to quickly kill mobs when compared with other comps. Blackout stun is only on the focus target, meanwhile the rest of the mob pack pummels the tank.

Melee teams are very tough to make work as a lot of mobs have close range aoe spells that a ranged team doesn't really have to deal with.

3x hunters could really be nice, but requires more skill imo. Correctly placing the traps + pulling into them + managing the dead zone is not that simple as it sounds.
Warlocks can be nice too, but have to be careful of fear potentially chain pulling.

Tank choice: I think the 3 can work, but I consider prot war better at these gear levels. Easier to gear, tankier, the best strat to clear all packs is single target kill + cc so aoe threat is not an issue, has 20% attck speed reduction debuff on mobs + demo shout, has aoe fear + last stand + (god forbid you use it) shield wall, intercept + intervene.. Disarm + stun (while bears and pala only have one stun). Spell reflect is situationally very useful too.

There's choice, but not that much choice.

[Brutone]

Back on the Outland realm i have cleaned all HC dungeons except Magisters' Terrace with 4 ele and 1 hpala.
But the shamis had complete s4 pvp gear which made them able to tank most stuff. It was also very effective to use x4 Earth Elemental to tank hard hitting bosses.

I never tried Spriests in TBC but I think having 3 Spriests would be very effective because of their stacking mechanics. Your team will never run oom, the kill target will be in permanent stun lock and your dedicated healer can focus on healing the tank while the spriests heal the party through vampiric embrace.

[Kruschpakwins]

Ive done a few hcs this week to get my trinket and its really important to have a geared tank, I doubt the 5 shaman setup that could do heroics like on previous Outland server or retail tbc would work well here. I farmed MT/UB/SP and even with full karazahn geared tank as 5th and my 4 ele shamans it had to throw heals after 1-2 lightning bolts on most bosses. Dropping earth elementals trivilized encoutners usually but for the people running mage/priest or other non tank teams its gonna be really difficult. Also manapots were occasionally required (first boss UB and MT if he doesnt kite well). The event on Mechanar endboss is also ridiculously hard without running back to the elevator for passiv reg.

[Jonnan5567]

I’m currently running a Prot Paladin, Holy Priest, 3 Beast Mastery Hunters, and it’s a very beginner-friendly setup.

You have access to 3 traps, 3 stuns, plus the Paladin’s hammer of justice, so crowd control is decent, not terrible. Positioning takes a bit of practice, but it’s manageable.

Most of your damage comes from your pets, making it a very hands-off playstyle. In tougher situations, you essentially have 4 tanks in your group when needed, thanks to the pets and the Paladin. If you macro each individual growl, you can just keep playing ping pong with bosses & mobs that hit really hard

Group quests and leveling are a breeze. You even save gold on mounts by using the Hunter’s Aspect of the Pack as your mode of traveling.

One change I’d consider is adding a Mage to the party for the Refreshment Table and a reliable Polymorph for crowd control. Other than that, it’s a very fun and beginner-friendly composition!