[Guardian] Proving Grounds - What Am I Doing Wrong?

[Chaska]

Hey folks,

First post here, long time lurker and long time WoW player. I've been tanking on my bear since Wrath or so, and he was my main raiding character for all of Cata and part of MoP. Mostly normal raids, but a couple hard modes sprinkled in. I've not done Challenge Modes or anything else "competitive" aside from Brawler's Guild.

However, I really want the Endless Tank title.

I came back from a 6 month break in November, and decided to start working on Proving Grounds. I used my BrM first, but found my Guardian far more reliable and enjoyable. After re-learning my old binds and getting the muscle memory to kick in, I was able to complete the Gold challenge. But for a few days now, and hours of attempts, I've not been able to get further than Wave 10 of Endless.

My gear isn't great, mostly consisting of Timeless stuff, but I know this challenge is more about execution than anything else. I've focused my reforging, gemming, and enchanting efforts on Crit. I also have Nitro Boost on my belt and the dodge cooldown on my gloves.

My talents are:

Feline Swiftness
Renewal
Mass Entanglement
Force of Nature
Ursol's Vortex
Dream of Cenarius

I've tried different configurations (Typhoon, Nature's Vigil, Wild Charge, etc.) but the above spread has been the most consistent for me. Definitely willing to tinker with it more though if you think it would help. The only talent I'm really unwilling to change is Force of Nature. It's just too invaluable for me.

Glyphs are:

Survival Instincts
Might of Ursoc
Maul (might change this back to Faerie Fire)

I use Crit elixirs and Stamina food. Wondering if I should just go with Agility food. The highest Crit food I have access to seems to be 200. Would that be worth it?

Here's my strategy:

Wave 0 - Before starting I use raid markers so I can easily see where I need to go to pick up mobs. I use Symbiosis on the healer to get Elusive Brew. And of course I make sure my Healthstones are topped off, then I head into position for Wave 1.

Wave 1 - Really nothing of note. Is there a way to force her to attack the Wind-Guard first? She did it once, but despite my best effort I've not been able to get her to do it again. Here I just casually use SD and Barkskin as well as Treants to take some heat off me, though it's unneeded. I make sure to pool enough rage for Wave 2.

Wave 2 - I stand on the spawn point and pop SD immediately, then AE the rabbits. I've gotten a feel for when the first ambusher spawns, so I'll root (breaks easily, but gives me a second or two of distance), pick up the monkey and put some threat on it, then babysit it with a treant to avoid the heavy damage. At this point I Ursol's + Stampeding Roar to kite the pack, then pick up the next monkey, also babysit it with a treant. I try to save my cooldowns on this one, but do make liberal use of Barkskin and Savage Defense. If things get hairy I've unfortunately had to go for Renewal or just 'zerk instead.

Wave 3 - I pick up threat on one pair with AE then go get the second Ripper, use my interrupt to close the gap to a caster, and sit treants on both casters to keep from getting Pyroblasted. Make sure the Rippers get the fire debuff, but all in all this is the easiest wave for me by far. I usually have in excess of 10 seconds between this and Wave 4.

Wave 4 - Another one I feel I've really got down pat. I try to put damage on the Wind-Guard first so she'll DPS him down. The next wave is a lot easier with him dead. Once I have good threat on him I use a treant to keep him busy while I run the Conqueror to the Ambusher's spawn point. I've found I can easily survive his enrage with just a SD, sometimes a Barkskin if RNG isn't treating me well. When the monkey spawns I get threat on it then root it just to mitigate its damage. Finish off the flyer, then take whatever's left in the wave to the next spawn point.

Wave 5 - This one only seems to get hairy if the Wind-Guard is left up, as it inevitably knocks me into fire and then goes straight for the healer. Otherwise with careful cooldown use I can tank what I've got there, then pull monkeys through the fire as they spawn. The last monkey I just sic a treant on to avoid damage and let her kill it as I head to the next spawn.

Wave 6 - Here's where it starts getting hairy for me, though I've gotten better about it the last few tries. I stand on the healer and 'zerk as soon as the Wind-Guards are in range. once I have aggro I draw them a bit away and root, then single target whatever she's DPSing. I keep SD running and use rage on healing myself as needed, and making sure the Maul debuff is up. The other two usually break before the first one dies, so I just put my back to a barricade and deal with them, putting a treant on each one to relieve some pressure. There's always 2 left up when I go into the next wave, which is really unfortunate.

Wave 7 - This is the wave I fail on the most. So long as I'm conservative with my cooldowns, I'm usually able to keep myself alive. I've just had problems keeping the Wind-Guards off of her amid the rest of the chaos. What inevitably happens is I pick up the big group, get SD up if it wasn't, run off to the side, Ursol's, Stampeding Roar, then the Wind-Guards both drop off at the same time. I get them back, then pop a cooldown to survive enrage. Root to buy myself a little time if the rabbits are still up, but they usually go down fast.

Wave 8 - I have a hard time with this wave because there are just so many ambushers up. I'm really not sure how to mitigate their damage any further, and their Fan of Bananas seems really RNG based. Sometimes they spam it, sometimes it's cast at intervals. When they spam it, I drop like a rock. I just try to cycle cooldowns as much as possible and use treants to buy myself some time, taking the rest of the pack away from the monkey that's being held by the treant.

Wave 9 - I don't find this wave too problematic, but that's only if myself and the healer are both good on health. I pick everything up and take it off to the side, then Ursol's and Stampeding Roar. If it gets down below 4 I'll go ahead and root since she isn't AEing.

Wave 10 - If I make it to this wave, I usually die once the ambusher spawns. I sic treants on the caster to eat his pyroblast, and I interrupt him about halfway through his fire cast. This Conqueror usually requires a heftier cooldown. The few times I've gotten here, I usually just completely explode by the time the ambusher spawns, but my strat would otherwise be the same as the earlier wave--root him, sic treant on him, deal with the big guy.

Do you guys see any flaws in my approach? Do I just need to play better overall? What waves do you eat with cooldowns, and what waves do you typically kite? Also, some specific questions:

1. I still have one or two greens. (I know... I maxed a couple characters before my druid, then took a break ) Should I replace those? I'm well over the iLevel it scales to, just wondering if it's biting me in the rear.

2. I use TidyPlates: Threat Plates and Grid to easily see health and aggro states. Are there any other addons you recommend?

3. Is going for Crit optimal for these challenges? I'm wondering if I should focus on a stamina heavy build (bleh) or something else.

I apologize for the wall of text, but this has been extremely frustrating. I'm the type of person who, as long as I feel I'm making progress, has no problem beating their head against something. But the past two nights (2-3hrs a night) I feel like I've made absolutely zero progress.

[Arielle]

It's really odd that you're finding Wave 10 is the hard one. Make sure you kill the Ambushers first, and use Barkskin for the Conqueror's Enrage.

Zerk: 2, 6, 9
SI: 6, 9
MoU is usually reserve.
Barkskin is almost on CD.

Crit is pretty much the best option. Just remember to target your DPS so that the Monk kills the correct thing. Ahanss would be a better one to talk about this though.

[Chaska]

It's not Wave 10 by itself so much as waves 8 and 9 putting the hurt on and leaving me in bad shape. And I honestly think by that point I'm frazzled and not thinking as clearly as I could be. I think your tip on targeting DPS will help make transitions smoother.

Thanks for the cooldown help, too! Good to know I'm not wasting Zerk in wave 2. I'll do that from now on and hopefully I won't be limping along at the end there. I'm really not a fan of kiting endlessly in these. It just disorients me. :/

[Arielle]

I usually only have to kite on 2 to reset stacks, and on 9 if it gets really bad.

FYI there's a little gimmick with FoN's targeting where it will reset to your current target if it loses threat on something. Really annoying when a lot of the time you want to sit them on the Mantid because you can't afford to have the monkeys too close to the Monk.

[Spoonman]

I cba reading thru the text....

The flame on the ground gives enemys debuffs btw. Dont interupt that starter lava ability the caster do. <--- Game Changer for me at least :P

[Chaska]

Yeah I noted that I utilize the fire. Thank you, though! It definitely does make a difference, I agree.

I did manage to get to Wave 12 this morning, but reviewing my gear I noticed I'm severely lacking gem slots. Since gems don't scale, I'm attempting to grab a few upgrades that have slots, and hopefully get a nicer trinket. As far as execution is concerned, I've had the most success when being a little more conservative on Wave 6. Obviously keeping SD up and using Barkskin on cooldown, but making sure I have Renewal and and SI ready. Once the Wind-Guard knocks me back, I kite until she's killed the rabbits.

I think it's just going to ultimately come down to being more conservative with my cooldowns so they can absolutely be ready for 7 and 9 when I need them most.

And yeah I've noticed that with the treants. Their threat doesn't "stick" very well either. I especially have issues with them on Mantids. When I put them on monkeys, I make sure I've got some threat on them and have pulled them away from the healer, then I'll sit one tree on them and get out of their AE range. This works really well for me on wave 2, with both monkeys. It's taken me from barely squeaking by in that wave to barely taking damage.