Fear the ToC!

Be afraid.

Be very afraid.

I was, the first time I realized we'd have to joust in the new 5-man instance, Trial of the Champion. I hate the jousting mechanic, and I have yet to unlock all the Argent Tournament dailies simply because jousting annoys me too much to pay for the dubious pleasure of participating.

But, like so many things in life, jousting is made better by having friends. Or, at least by having a meat sack distracting the riders while you get clear to charge the NPCs. (My friend John, who insisted I mention him here, makes a good meat sack. hahaha Well, what else are you going to do with a gnome warrior?)

So, strap on your lance, hop on a horse, and be thankful you're only doing this for half of the first fight! You can switch horses in mid-fight if your horse gets low on health. Just remember to keep your shield up at all times, and charge as much as possible, because that takes the most health away from your opponent. While charge is on cooldown it's a good idea to knock their shields off, but you don't have to make that your priority. When you get to the named mobs, have someone stand on any that have fallen so that they don't make a dash toward new mounts and prolong the fight!

While your jousting the named mobs, keep in mind your strategy. Are you going to fight them as you dismount? Or are you going to make a mad dash toward the door to reset the encounter? (You only have to joust once, thank goodness. Once you've beaten that part you're done, even if you wipe.) Both have disadvantages, especially for squishy members of your party. I've been killed a few times while running for the door. Either way, you'll want to try your best to dismount your opponents close together! If you're running for the door, dismount them near the door so you can run for it faster and have less chance of getting killed. If you're standing your ground, make sure your tank can grab all three right away. These guys munch clothies in about two hits, even if you're decently geared. (I haven't been oneshot by them, but I haven't brought in a fresh 80 yet, either.) Bring someone who can cleanse poisons, interrupt the healer, and if you get the hunter make sure they don't make a pincushion of your healer while you're focused on something else. Those arrows hit HARD, especially on heroic.

The second encounter is fun. You get three sets of three trash packs. Watch out, they MC! Kill the lightwells when they pop up, and kill the priestesses first. If you have a priest in your party, they can mass dispel the monk effect on heroic. Also, all three types of trash mobs can be stunned, unlike the bosses you face.

You'll face either Paletress or Eadric. Paletress is fun, if you enjoy the nostalgia of old bosses but don't want to deal with any of their old and annoying abilities. She will call a shadow of the past, a boss from the nightmares of your memory, to terrorize you while she sits back and hits you with her holy spells. Healers have to be on the ball, since her smite hits for an annoying amount and badly timed holy fire can kill someone if they're feared. Did I mention the fears? Apparently your character is still deeply afraid of Hogger, or Onyxia, or one of any bosses she'll summon from the depths of your subconscious to battle you. You'll thank your friendly neighborhood tremor totem, if have the luck to have a shaman along.

Eadric is a lot less interesting to heal through. When he emotes, turn your back on him. (On my healer, I just keep my character turned the other way.) When he throws his hammer, remove the stun if you have someone in the party who can. If not, the target will get pretty banged up! I've heard of clothies getting oneshot by his hammer, but so far I haven't seen that happen for myself. Other than that, he's a pretty simple fight.

After you've fought over the contents of the chest, it's time for the return of the Black Knight. (Or, it might be the first time you face him, like it was for me.) You have to kill him three times. He's got some fancy versions of DK abilities. The first time he'll have a ghoul. The second time he'll hit you with Army of the Dead and the occasional ground effect to dance out of. The third time...is where I usually run into trouble healing. He does fairly steady damage to everyone in the party, and a great deal of damage to one member of the party. It can be hard to keep up on, so DPS needs to burn into him with everything they've got in the third phase. At least there's no adds!

At any point in the fights, you can run back into the instance. The graveyard is nice and close, and since it's in Icecrown you'll be able to fly back. Every boss drop is a Naxx or better quality epic, even on regular, so if you've got well geared friends you can gear up an alt or a fresh-faced main pretty quickly. I wouldn't recommend bringing a whole group in blues into the instance, however. It's tuned for people who have been at least grinding Naxx, and I've even run into problems and had wipes with people who have been doing Ulduar a while. (Okay, we may have been underestimating the fights a little, since it's just a 5-man...but still!)

ToC is fun, and it's pretty fast. It's NOT your usual instance, though. It's tough. It reminds me of MgT, when that first came out and the trash mobs would roflstomp your face with their glowy purple bubbles and their annoying glaive throws. Thankfully it's not nearly the same time investment as MgT was. It's over and done with in about 15 minutes, making it the easiest and fastest loot in the game, if you've got the group for it.