Tank like a girl

The third leveling instance is in Dragonblight, with a level range of 72-74. Both Alliance and Horde have flight points right in the area (Star’s Rest/Agmar’s Hammer respectively). There are two quests, Death to the Traitor King and Don’t Forget the Eggs, both can be picked up right outside the instance, no pre-reqs necessary. The latter quest has a very solid plate tank reward, Expelling Gauntlets.

Azjol-Nerub is unique in that it has a surprising lack of trash mobs. Three bosses, little trash, and you’re in and out of the instance in 30 minutes. Azjol-Nerub, the fast food amongst instances! The normal version is not too challenging, but I hear it’s one of the rougher heroics, largely because of the first boss.

 
Trash:

As far as classic trash goes, there are exactly three trash pulls in the whole instance. A patrol of two nerubians at the instance entrance, a group of three before the first boss encounter, and a group of two before the final boss. Of the trash mobs, the Skirmishers are by far the most annoying ones and I would kill them first. They have an Enrage that makes them focus on a random target in the party for 10 seconds, which can be lethal if it’s a cloth-wearer. While they’re enraged, they’re immune to taunt and any form of CC. Only thing that’ll help are stuns and Tranq Shot. As prot warrior, keep your Concussion Blow ready for the enrage. All other trash isn’t very exciting and shouldn’t be a problem. If you want to use CC, all mobs are undead, so Shackle is the best form of CC here.

Krik’thir the Gatewatcher:

The first boss has three groups of mobs waiting before him. Every group has a Watcher plus two friends. As soon as you pull the first group, you start the event. Once you have a group down, the next group will engage shortly afterwards. Be careful, you can pull an extra group if you’re too close to it, been there, done that. All three groups have Skirmishers, so kill them first, or CC them before they are an issue. Once all three watchers are down, the big guy himself will come running. Tank him in the center of the room. His Mind Flay can be interrupted with Shield Bash, I actually haven’t tested if you can reflect it. Periodically, annoying little swarmers will pop from the walls which need to be DPSd down, you can add a couple Thunderclaps to the mix.

As far as drops go, nothing to see here for prot warriors.

Hadronox:

Once you move down into the spider-webbed area, you can already see Hadronox at the bottom of the spider-web, chewing his way through masses of Nerubians. You on the other hand will see three Nerubians not far below you, at the bottom of a set of doorways. Pull them up to you while still keeping the endless stream of non-elites that come fleeing out of the doorways under control, and do the same for the other elite groups that will come out of the doors. Eventually, Hadronox will have moved up to the doors where he will kill the rest of the Nerubians, web the doors closed, and then it’s time to deal with that huge, disgusting spider (I am arachnophobiac, so I hated this part) once all the Nerubians are dead.

Hadronox himself isn’t that challenging. Ideally, you have someone in the group who can dispel poison. If not, the poison damage will have to be healed through. Don’t stand in the acid clouds. Other than that, tank and spank.

Again, absolutely no loot any prot warrior could use.

Anub’arak:

Once you’ve run down the web, done the huge jump down (best part of the instance!) and killed the lone trash group before Anub’arak, it’s time to face this bug that some might remember as really cool hero unit from Frozen Throne. It’s important that everyone moves onto his platform as you engage him, as it will be webbed closed behind you. You don’t want anyone locked out.

Make sure to position Anub’arak so that his back is to the rest of the group, because of his Pound ability. This will only affect people standing in front of him. Pound has a cast time and it is possible to run through him while he casts, but not entirely necessary. It’s just important that no one else is in front of him. At 66%, 33% and 15%, Anub’arak burrows. At this point, you should be ready to pick up the elite adds that come in from the spot you entered as well. The rest of the group can DPS down the non-elites, but you should tank the elite adds. At the same time, make sure to move when you notice the ground shake beneath you when Anub’arak tries to Impale you, to avoid extra damage. Rinse and repeat, until the Crypt Lord is dead.

He drops Signet of Arachnathid Command, which is a pretty nice tanking ring and due to proper itemization for WotLK tanks might even beat the Exalted rep ring from The Violet Eye.

And that’s it for the shorter Nerubian instance, Ahn’kahet: The Old Kingdom will be next.