Now cracks a noble heart. Good-night, sweet prince; And flights of angels sing thee to thy rest.

Last night I logged in to an invite for heroics, always the good start to an evening of wow. The group consisted of a Frost DK, Unholy DK, Retadin, Shadow Priest and Me doing the healing. As a restoration shaman with chain heal glyph you can't really ask for a better group. We went for a timed run of culling. For those of you who don't know, Caverns of Time: The Culling of Stratholme has a timed event. You have 25 minutes to clear 10 waves with two bosses, and then tear through the innards of the town hall and clear the third boss. On your way to see Mal'Ganis and give him a good old down home Azerothian beat-down, an extra boss spawns if you still have time left on your timer. The Infinite Corruptor is really a tank and spank and after you down him, you get a lovely little present Alas I didn't win it, but it's 100% drop rate so if you can do the timed part, you can go back and just farm yourself a nice little companion. Before I get into the tips and tricks of healing I would like to say something about this instance. I am a lore junkie, I love it, its one of the reasons I continue to play this game. This instance is PHENOMENAL! If you haven't done it, even just regular, please go do yourself a favor and go do it. It's well designed, ton's of lore and honestly is just a lot of fun. Now with that said....

Last night was the first time I've gotten to do this one on heroic, so first time doing a timed run. So the tips I'm going to give you or comments are going to be based on Heroic Culling with a Completed Timed run being the goal. Regular is very straight forward.

If you're going for a speed run You're going to be healing on the fly quite a bit. The tank is going to be running ahead tagging mobs left and right and usually dragging a bunch with him. Luckily most are non elites and can be killed very quickly. If you happen to get any on you when the tank stops to kill the boss, drop a Magma Totem by the last tick they should all be dead around you. You're not going to be able to rely on yoru dps to get rid of them for you if you are going for a speed run and any help you can offer to save your own bacon just makes it go that much smoother. Healing-wise, Earth Shield , Riptide, and Lesser Healing Wave (with Glyph) are going to be your new best friends for healing the tank in motion. Obviously when things slow down for one of the wave bosses or larger pulls, if you have a melee centric group (or ranged that flock together), laying down some Chain Heals is good, but keep your fingers on the trigger for LHW and Riptide. Just keep up with the group and you should be fine. A couple intense areas are going to be in the last 5 waves near the town hall, the tank will have A LOT of mobs on him so you will pretty much be chain casting. Don't be afraid to chug a mana pot when on the move between spawns, this way it's on cooldown if you need it in a fight, and your mana pool will be good enough to keep pushing. When you stop you can always drop Mana Tide. The first two bosses are tank and spank so honestly no need mentioning them, just get your badges. Third boss is where it get's fun. The third boss Chrono-Lord Epoch is fun. He's got a few abilities: Curse of Exertion, Time Stop, Time Warp and Wounding Strike. Wounding strike and time stop are your real concerns as the fight is over or should be over well before all your mana is consumed from exertion. Keep the tank topped off! Riptide, LHW and Chain heals. You should honestly be chain casting until time stop occurs or the Wound debuff has worn off. He hits decently hard too and two shots me =P after he is down all you do is make your way through the bookcase to the undead gauntlet. Here is where I caution you. Put your hots on the tank, and follow RIGHT behind him. Some things will come find you and will try to eat your face. Don't be lodur and don't explode here =P. I fell back a couple paces from the tank and I got my face chewed on. Just move with him till he stops, then drop your Magma Totem again and heal heal heal. After the gauntlet is done you will be presented with a fork in the road. Left to the extra boss, and right to Mal'Ganis. Go left first, no matter how much time is on the timer, just kill the extra guy first, Mal will be there still to taunt you later. This guy is pretty much a tank and spank just knock him down and take his loot. Now double back and go pop Mal'Ganis in the demon sack. He's also pretty straight forward the only thing to watch for is his Sleep. Use Tremor Totem it breaks the sleep (as of now that may change later) so you can keep healing. Collect your loot and have a good night knowing you just helped little Chromie keep the past in one piece.

That's pretty much it. It's not bad, just watch your mana and dump constant heals into the tank and you'll have plenty of time left to get a new drake.