WoW Reviews & Guides

The frozen earth of Icecrown roils with throngs of the undead Scourge, reanimated bodies so numerous that there are few physical locations where the Horde and the Alliance can build their camps and strongholds. Instead, the defenders of Azeroth take to the sky.

Two gunships, the Skybreaker of the Alliance and Orgrim’s Hammer, named for the former Warchief of the Horde, patrol the skies of Icecrown. Early in the campaign against the Lich King, these grand vessels were used to scout overland terrain, where they frequently came into open conflict with each other, brightening the skies with their cannon fire.

Now, in the wake of the Argent Tournament, the enemies of the Scourge have finally gathered to lay siege to Icecrown Citadel. With the fortress nearly impenetrable on land and the spires of the citadel touching the sky at their peaks, it’s become clear to the leaders of both the Horde and the Alliance that an aerial assault, spearheaded by these two gunships, is the only way to infiltrate Arthas’s stronghold.

Two prominent warriors have stepped forward to lead the attack: Muradin Bronzebeard of the Alliance and High Overlord Saurfang of the Horde. Both seek to defeat the Lich King and spare the living from another plague — but there are other, more personal stakes for these heroes. Saurfang seeks to uncover the fate of his son, whose body was lost at the battle of the Wrath Gate, while Muradin, bearing the weight of Arthas’s atrocities, seeks justice, closure, and possibly even redemption for his former student.

And yet, even with their noble goals, there will be no shared glory for the Alliance and the Horde in this attack. The dock atop Icecrown Citadel is only big enough for one ship. Halfway up the spires, the Skybreaker and Orgrim’s Hammer are fated to clash again in a storm of gunfire, swinging blades, and bellowing warriors. Foremost in this mayhem are the combat crews, veteran heroes who’ve already begun the assault on Icecrown and who will fight to the last for a chance at Arthas — heroes like you.

Invincible was born to the mare Brightmane on the Balnir Farmstead in Tirisfal Glades, in the winter of the year Stormwind fell. Prince Arthas, then nine years old, was present when he was born, and was given the horse by the Balnir family, who bred horses used by the royal family. The horse had a white coat, different from the usual Balnir stock, which normally had gray coats. Arthas had considered naming the horse “Snowfall” or “Starlight”, but in the informal tradition of Lordaeron knights and nobles naming their steeds after a quality (Uther’s was “Steadfast”, King Terenas’ “Courageous”), he named the colt “Invincible”.

Ten years later in winter, before Arthas was inducted into the Knights of the Silver Hand, Arthas’ exertion in the numbing cold resulted in a crippling injury to his beloved Invincible. Too far from help and unable to heal the stricken horse, Arthas was forced to kill him in order to relieve his pain. He was buried on the grounds of the Balnir Farmstead at Arthas’ request. Invincible’s death was one of the events that inspired Arthas to become a paladin.
Arthas and Invincible from The Frozen Throne.

After the fall of Lordaeron years later, Arthas – now a death knight – ran directly from Lordaeron after murdering his father, to the Balnir Farmstead where Invicible was buried. With the power of Frostmourne, Arthas resurrected the horse as his undead steed. Now fully living up to his name, Invincible could become a spectre and disappear, to be resummoned by Arthas at any time.

During the Scourge’s siege on the Sunwell, Anasterian Sunstrider confronted Arthas in single combat, severing Invincible’s forelegs with his runeblade, Felo’melorn, to dismount him. Witnessing Invincible’s injuries brought on a surge of memories and sent Arthas into a rage, during which he shattered Felo’melorn and struck down Anasterian. This time, however, Arthas was able to necromantically repair the injuries. It is likely that Invincible still serves as his master’s steed, even after Arthas became the new Lich King, though Sindragosa has also been referred to as his mount.

Players who defeat the Lich King on heroic difficulty will have the opportunity to obtain Invincible as a flying mount.

Highlord Darion Mograine wants you to collect 50 Shadowfrost Shards.

Shadowfrost Shards may only be obtained in the 25 person difficulty setting.

Shadowfrost Shard (50)

Description
The Lich King’s throne once served as his prison. Kil’jaeden himself crafted the vessel of icy crystals from the twisting nether, its sole purpose to hold Ner’zhul’s vengeful spirit.

When Arthas struck the crystal with Frostmourne, he released Ner’zhul’s soul, allowing it to merge with his own. Splinters from that impact are now scattered throughout the citadel.

I shall require those shards, held only by the Lich King’s most powerful servants, to seal the power contained in your blade.

Rewards
You will receive: 31 gold 33 silver
Gains
Upon completion of this quest you will gain:

• 27550 experience

Highlord Darion Mograine in Icecrown Citadel wants you to kill the Lich King.

• Lich King Defeated

Description
Shadowmourne; a newly forged weapon already steeped in this world’s history, reborn into an unrivaled destiny.

With this weapon you bear a solemn responsibility, and the time to carry out that charge is at hand.

Take this weapon of myth and legend and march on the enemy. Avenge the countless heroes lost in his merciless campaign. Bring rest to their tortured souls.

Steel yourself, <class>, and guide Shadowmourne to fulfill the purpose of its creation.

Rewards
You will receive: 60 44
Gains
Upon completion of this quest you will gain:

• 45400 experience

Perl, with Extra stuff. Much enchanced from Nymbia’s Perl UnitFrames, and a complete replacement for Blizzard’s default unit frames, including raid frames and raid tools, with little remaining of the original Nymbia code.

Supports Game Version 3.3.0

Range Finder (combined with optional health check and/or debuff check) for all frames based on spell or item range test.

HoT Monitor will highlight units clearly that have your own active Heal over Time spells. Regardless of how many other heal over time buffs are on the raid members, you can keep track of your own ones and when they expire.

Debuff Highlighting in standard debuff colours on all friendly frames. Priority given to show debuffs that you can cure first.

Raid Frames, buff icons, MT list units and some other portions or X-Perl are Created on demand. Saving a lot of time and memory at system startup. Defering the creation of many parts of X-Perl to when they are actually required. And of course, most often outside of raids they are never required and are never created.

Raid Target icon support for Target, Target’s Target, MT Targets.

Raid Tooltip will show combat rezzers available (druids with Rebirth ready (or very soon available) and any normal rezzers out of combat) if you bring up tooltip of a dead person.

In-combat indicators for all units.

3D Portraits for player, pet, target, focus, party. Optional. Of course this may degrade your framerate somewhat because you are displaying more 3D character models that without this option. But some like it pretty, and it does look cool.

Red and Green combat flashes for frames when player, pet, target, party, partypets, raid take damage/heals. Useful indication of things happening.

Added time left on party member/target buffs/debuffs when in a raid, these depend somewhat on CTRA/oRA/oRA2 sending appropriate information over the addon channel, although some of it can be determined at run time by X-Perl, when a player gets a buff for example, we know how long it should last, and therefor when it should expire.

Totally new options window including all X-Perl options and access via minimap icon.

Configurable colours for borders and backgrounds. Including class coloured names, and configurable reaction colours.

Much care has been taken with code size, memory load, memory usage per cycle and so on. LuaProfiler/OnEvent mods used extensively and regularly to ensure that X-Perl does not do more work than is absolutely necessary.

Download XPerl-3.0.8_Release

Horde

Meet Lady Sylvanas Windrunner inside the entrance to the Halls of Reflection.

Description

Keep moving, the sword is close.

I need a moment to send one of my Dark Rangers back to the airship. With all of our fodder gone, I will not be caught unprepared – we will need any help they can send.

Go. I will meet you in the Halls of Reflection.

Alliance

Meet Lady Jaina Proudmoore at the entrance to the Halls of Reflection.

Lady Jaina Proudmoore

Description

We must press on, hero. We’ve come so far… we’re so close to our goal. I must delay a moment to send Elandra back to the airship. I’m uncertain how we’re going to escape with so many men lost and so few to keep our path in secure – we will need any help they can send.

Continue on. I will meet you in the Halls of Reflection.

Series

1.Inside the Frozen Citadel
2.Echoes of Tortured Souls
3.The Pit of Saron
4.The Path to the Citadel
5.Deliverance from the Pit
6.Frostmourne

Explore Azeroth as a gnome priest, blood elf warrior, or one of the other never-before-available race and class combinations.

The Crimson Hall is an area inside the northern side of Icecrown Citadel. This section is the headquarters and home of the San’layn, the vampiric darkfallen blood elves in the service of the Scourge.

The area is luxuriously decorated in red decorations and scarlet coloured curtains similar to other blood elven decor. The Hall is connected to the rest of the instance by the Spire surrounding the Frozen Throne in the middle level of the zone.

Blood-Queen Lana’thel is the leader of the San’layn, a sect of blood elves who were raised in undeath by the Lich King.

Following the destruction of their homeland, the determined blood elves began to regroup and rebuild. It was during this time that the battle-hardened warrior Lana’thel stumbled upon Quel’Delar, and soon afterward the greatest opportunity to use the blade presented itself: Prince Kael’thas Sunstrider raised an army and combined forces with Illidan Stormrage, who led them north to Icecrown on a mission to destroy the Lich King. Lana’thel readily followed her prince with one thought in mind — revenge against the Scourge — but only tragedy awaited her.

In the icy hills of Northrend, Arthas ultimately defeated Illidan and Kael’thas, and the expedition’s few survivors were scattered across the frozen wastes. One by one the Lich King sought out those who had challenged him, and Lana’thel found herself cornered. Using Quel’Delar, she struck at him with all her might… but Frostmourne’s evil powers overwhelmed her. Through his blade, the Lich King chose Lana’thel to serve him in undeath as blood-queen of the San’layn, a group responsible for overseeing the Scourge’s operations across Azeroth.

Blood-Queen Lana’thel eagerly carried out her new duties, but every time she looked at her blade, maddening anger would swell within her as she remembered her former life. She could not afford such distractions, and with a scream that echoed throughout Icecrown, she shattered Quel’Delar and flung the fractured pieces as far as she could.

She now resides in the Crimson Halls of Icecrown Citadel and is the second boss of the wing.

The majority of the fight is spent in the land phase 1, interrupted occasionally by healing intensive phase 2. During the land phase, you will want a few things kept in check. Two tanks will have to swamp on the boss, so they don’t get overwhelmed by the bleed from Delirious Slash. The tanks will also have to be close to each other – the OT needs to be the closest player to the MT, so they soak the damage transferred through Blood Mirror. Other players will want to be relatively spread out (at 6-10 yards range), but still close enough to be able to run to each other quickly when Pact of the Darkfallen happens. Run out of the mandatory void zones Swarming Shadows, of course.

The trick to the fight is to not run out of people to bite as a vampire. Since Lana’thel will bite a player every 20-30 seconds or so, and those players will need to bite somebody after a minute, you may find yourself running out of people very soon. Do not risk and wait to bite another player though, as a single person gone frenzy can and will wipe the raid. Keep in mind, biting requires melee range with the target.

Phase 2 lasts only a few seconds and is preceded by the spawning of a few Blood Whirls throughout the room. Make note of them and spread out so you are at least 6 yards away from each other. Healers will have to heal through the high damage the raids will take, and then phase 1 will re-start.

Lord Marrowgar is the first boss of the Icecrown Citadel raid. Pieced together by the Lich King from the bones of a thousand vanquished adventurers, he is the guardian of the Frozen Throne within The Spire, and wields the power of the throne itself.

Lord Marrowgar is a fairly simple encounter that should not give any guild prepared for Icecrown Citadel any difficulty assuming you have ToC hard modes on farm. If your guild is farming ToC normal 10-man and nothing higher, be prepared to hit the learning curve.

Tanking

Tanks need to stand on top of each other to soak Saber Lash. If you are short tanks and the raid has plate DPS available, one can be put in front of the boss with the tanks to help soak the Saber Lash damage. If said DPSer has a tanking set, equipping a piece or two to increase their HP is an option should they be taking too much damage. Note that the tanks will take substantial damage during the fight – using an off tank of this sort is not advised, as it will make healing even more difficult, although it is better than insufficient tanks.

It is entirely possible to single tank Marrowgar, in 10man, should the tank be sufficiently geared. In 3.3(a) Marrowgar’s damage was further reduced, making this an even more viable strategy. Be advised that although this frees up another DPS in your 10man raid, the tank will take heavy damage.

The key to the fight is managing the transitions between the Bone Storms and going back to the Bone Graveyard phase. You have 10 seconds from the end of Bone Storm until Lord Marrowgar starts casting Saber Lash again (until then he simply melees his target) – the tanks need to pick him up and position themselves together in that time. (The 10 second grace period also applies to the beginning of the encounter, counting from when he is first aggroed, giving the tanks time to set themselves up.)

It is important to note, after every Bone Storm, the boss resets aggro. The DPS must give the tank a chance to re-establish threat, before continuing to DPS.

DPS

Lord Marrowgar has a gigantic hit box! If the melee are hugging the boss, they’re standing way too close. This is true for those melee who wish to dodge the cold fire rather than avoid it completely by standing in his hit box, but if you’re doing 10-man without a dedicated spike team the melee need to be standing with the healers until you outgear the encounter or are attempting his heroic mode.

Bone Spikes

Ranged DPS, or nearby melee, should immediately switch to Bone Spikes to free impaled players. If the raid has an abundance of melee, members should stay relatively close together to reduce travel time. Bone Spikes should die within two GCDs; any longer and you will have issues.

Cold Fire

Cold Fire spawned by Marrowgar should be avoided entirely by ranged DPS, and moved out of immediately by melee. It moves in a straight line out from its spawn point in melee range and if moved out of immediately by melee no damage will be taken. It is also possible for melee to stand inside his hit box and avoid it completely, as the cold fire spawn starts outside of his hit box. Touching this flame applies a short but potent Damage over Time effect in heroic mode.

Cold Fire during his non-Bone Storm periods will be directed at a given person, thus ranged should spread out radially, preventing more than one from having to move from any given spawn.
Bone Storm

Every 30 seconds Marrowgar will execute Bone Storm. This whirlwind attack cannot be avoided and damage is dealt every two seconds based on your proximity to the boss as he spins. The closer you are, the more damage you take. Additionally, in heroic this will also leave a bleed effect on anyone hit by it.

While in his Bone Storm Lord Marrowgar will randomly target and charge a raid member. When he reaches them he stops moving for around six seconds before targeting another random raid member. Every time Lord Marrowgar reaches his target and stops he will fire four lines of Cold Fire along the semi-cardinal points (NE, NW, SE, SW – they form an X). Unlike during phase 1, the cold flame lines start directly underneath him. After his fourth target the Bone Storm will end.

Healing

Need clarification and correction here.

The tanks take moderately-high damage (10-15k every second from Saber Lash (13-17k 25 man) [pre-3.3a nerf]). During the Bone Storms, everyone takes damage. People who don’t move when they’re targeted by the boss during Bone Storm will be taking full Bone Storm damage in addition to Cold Fire damage from up to four separate Cold Fire effects. They will probably die.

Note that Lord Marrowgar has a red positioning reticule below him. Stacking your entire raid (with the exception of the three tanks and any hunters) on the back edge of the reticule during phase 1 does three things:

1. Prevents all incoming Coldflame damage. (No one is hit by the fire)

2. Controls the location of Impales so they may be quickly DPSed.

3. Allows Healers and Caster DPS to remain stationary, maximizing throughput.

The raid must disperse during Phase 2. Bone Storm damage is negligible, but Priests need to be mindful that Inner Fire charges are depleted by this ability. Stay mobile in Phase 2, and re-collapse to the rear of the positioning reticule once the tanks regain control after phase 2.

Note that tanks do not take damage during the Bone Spike Graveyard cast, which can be very handy for moving into position or catching up on healing.