How To Practice For Dungeon Challenge Modes

Dungeon Challenge Modes were announced at Blizzcon 2011 as a way for players to earn extra rewards in Mists of Pandaria. Much like the Zul’Aman bear run, these challenges will give special items for completing the dungeon as quickly as possible. Unlike those runs, however, all gear will be normalized, meaning you cannot simply overgear the instance and get the rewards. You have to play smart, and there are 3 main concepts that make a run go smoothly and quickly:

You can practice these techniques right now by testing yourself against the Zul’Aman bear run. While this run is fairly trivial for players in Firelands gear, it’s still a challenge for those wearing 359 JP gear or the 353 iLevel for which the dungeon is tuned. But even if you outgear the instance, you can still perfect these strategies.

Communication

Communication is the most important factor in conquering a dungeon quickly. It’s why you rarely see a bear run finished in a PUG unless the players vastly overgear the dungeon. Little to no communication is ever established and if everyone isn’t on the same page, accusations fly and slow the group down even more.

Good communication doesn’t mean you have to have Ventrilo or another voice program, but it certainly helps. It’s much easier to say something quickly than it is to type it. If you’re running dungeons using voice chat, however, you’re probably running them with a guild or friends, and that will also give you an advantage.

Try queueing for ZA using the Random Dungeon Finder. Make sure you check the Dungeon Guide box. Before the doors are even opened, assess your group and sort out which bosses you’re doing first, what you’ll skip, when you’ll use Bloodlust/Heroism, and how quickly the pace can be set. Make sure everyone’s familiar with the instance and is in agreement on whether or not there will be looting or anything else until the end.

You may find your instruction unwelcome in a PUG, but it’s all in how you phrase it. Make sure everyone wants to do a timed run and take it from there, asking if there are any objections or contributions to the plan. Many PUGs suffer from lack of leadership, but you also don’t want to be That Guy who throws his weight around.

Dungeon Awareness

To pull off a successful timed run, everyone in your group needs to know the instance. It’s not just the tank’s responsibility, because DPS will need to know what to avoid and what to focus, and healers need to know when they can drink and when they have to conserve mana and press on.

In ZA, knowing the instance well is a huge part of getting it done in time. You have to know there are whole packs you can skip, and even more with the use of creative abilities like Water Walking or Mind Soothe. Your tank needs to have marks hotkeyed and know which mobs need to be CC’d and which need to be focused. Your CCers need to know which mark to CC and need to be on the ball as soon as the mark goes out. Now that CC doesn’t draw aggro there’s no excuse for taking more than a few seconds to get it done. It may not be needed for your group, but it’s less mana your healer has to use and less chance they have to drink.

Dungeon awareness can be difficult to practice in a PUG. First you should check to make sure everyone has completed the dungeon before, then lay out a clear plan. Very few people will speak up and you can’t assume everyone knows shortcuts or proper targets. If someone makes a mistake, don’t lay into them. It wastes time and it will help nothing. Try to salvage the situation and recover as you can, pushing forward all the while.

Group Composition

When you outgear an instance, most any group composition will do. But you won’t have that luxury for Dungeon Challenge Modes and you’ll need to get used to stacking the deck. Players can overcome class problems with skill, but sometimes it’s something you can’t avoid, like the lack of CC for warriors and DKs.

How much you stack the deck depends on the dungeon and what you need, but it’s always good to have at least one melee and one ranged, at least two consistent forms of CC, someone providing Replenishment, someone providing Bloodlust/Heroism, and someone who can battle rez.

When planning your ideal group, consider the dungeon. What types of mobs are in it? Where’s most of the damage going to come from? Is there a lot of room to move around? If I decided to stack a group for ZA, assuming all players had equal skill, I might choose an enh shaman, sv hunter, and shadowpriest for DPS, then a druid healer and a warrior tank. ZA requires moving swiftly through things, and the warrior and druid have great mobility; the druid can also brez. The shadowpriest gives passive healing and can Mind Soothe one of the bear packs. They can also DoT up while moving. The enh shaman provides a lot of buffs including Bloodlust/Heroism and can easily CC and purge. The hunter offers great CC and other utility and can give extra buffs to the group with their pet. They can also feign and Mass Res the group as needed.

That’s just one example, and certainly not what everyone would choose as an ideal group, but it is balanced enough to provide a lot of  tools and account for different situations. If it comes down to it, though, the player with more skill will always be the better choice, and when Dungeon Challenge Modes become active with normalized gear, skill will trump almost everything else when deciding how to build your group.