As for my Beast party: done heroic Shek’zara with it, despite picking up an awkward Cursed Treasure (why did I bother, without even needing those extra coins?).
Oh! That has always been my main strategy, and I’ve always considered big green dragons like Nefarian (my original combination for him, I think, used to be Diablo, Gruul and Malfurion for the first stage and a standard Nature party on the bench for climbing and, if needed, reinforcements; of course, subsequently I also discovered the Garrosh method online) and Smolderwing as Gruul’s chance to shine (and there is also Drakisath, but I actually used Old Guardian’s method when I got the necessary mercs into shape… except for me, Thrall wouldn’t die there 
, maybe due to the upgraded poacher and using Howl of Terror tactically). As for Smolderwing, Gruul’s passive essentially negates his passive. I’ve been using the ‘Holy-Human’ team, which I considered (and probably still do, although there could be decent alternatives nowadays) the best in Alterac, to climb safely, with Gruul as a special guest just for the boss. At the actual boss fight, I would use Gruul with Velen and Anduin, the latter two taking care of red mobs and providing some healing. Sometimes one merc would die, but it did get the job done.
PS Oh, and using Gruul in that fight also adds some flavour, since you’re allied with the Stonemaul clan there, and Gruul, as far as I know, is generally allied with ogres.
Interesting. Pirates are arguably the most OP tribe in PvE and quite obnoxious in PvP as well, though (the recent Old Gods might be a contender to that title), so no big surprise here… although I would think you’d still take some damage from that passive. I think the old-fashioned way would be to use Rokara with Krush or Rathorian to destroy all those totems one by one on turn 2.
I’ve actually tried Deathwing there, but it’s not that effective, if you ask me. Unless they changed something in the most recent patch(es), Demon Soul doesn’t prevent summoned minions from attacking first (which is also the case with Nefarian — the mercenary, that is, not the boss, and Drakonid Rush in particular), only taking control of them afterwards… It might help with the count of dead minions/dragons, but not much more than that. But then again, heroic Onyxia is doable with 6 dragons — I think I’ve tested it for some recent event… didn’t use Deathwing then, though, since I believe there are better dragons available.
Speaking of which: one should definitely try Chi-Ji on (heroic) Balinda. Firestorm used to do obscene amounts of damage there, I don’t even know whether it’s a bug or not… But Chi-Ji, Anduin and Velen is probably the easiest combination for the boss fight.
PS Oh, there’s another hilarious one: Leeroy Jenkins vs (heroic) Ahune. If your main method is using Velen + Anduin, then you either need spell power or another merc with decent AoE to get rid of the first group of shards before they can act for the safest method. Well, enter Leeroy… By the end of this fight, he can get so much attack from Ninja Looting… it’s probably one of the biggest Leeroys you’ll see.