The Frozen Throne Guides


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Arthas, the Lich King is the last and hardest encounter in Icecrown Citadel and one of the most complicated encounters in the game. There are three distinct phases to the fight as well as a transitional phase that occurs twice in the fight. Almost anything you can think of that could occur in a boss encounter seems to be going on in this fight. There are adds, debuffs, movement, adds, tank swaps, and much more. Like I said, it is very complicated so pay close attention and you just may get him down. Oh, and you only have 15 minutes before he enrages and wipes the group.

The Lich King also casts an ability called Necrotic Plague on a random target which is a DoT that inflicts huge damage after being on the player for 5 seconds. The trick here is that when dispelled or when it kills its target it jumps to the next nearest target, friend or foe. This is how you deal with the adds, which we will talk about next. Important to note though is that the Lich King gets stronger each time the plague is dispelled.

In this first phase you are forced to deal with two different types of creatures in addition to the Lich King. These creatures are ghouls and shambling horrors. The ghouls can pretty much be picked up by the off tank and then ignored, since any AoE damage will kill them over time. The real issue is the shambling horrors which need to be tanked away from the group. This is due to their shockwave attack that hits everyone in their front arc and can kill anyone that is not a tank.

Arthas awaits
The best way to deal with the shambling horrors is to have have them all tanked at range with the off tank then whoever gets the plague runs to get close to them and have it dispelled. The plague will then jump to them, kill them, and then jump to the off tank. This way it can be cleansed off of them to another tanked creature and you rinse and repeat until you get the Lich King down to 70% health at which point you enter a transitional phase.

Transition
In the transitional phase Arthas will run towards the center of the platform and start casting Remorseless Winter. This spell does damage over time to anyone on the platform, and does enough to kill anyone very quickly. To escape it you need to step out onto an extension of the main platform that will spawn in this phase. This spell is why you tank Arthas near the edge in phase one, so that you have a little more time for everyone to gather at the edge while he runs to the center.

In the transitional phase there will also be three raging spirits summoned, one every 20 seconds, that silence anyone in their front arc, these need to be DPSed very quickly. Also frost orbs will be launched at you from the center of the room, and need to be DPSed before they reach the group or they explode knocking players off. Lastly Arthas applies a DoT called pain and suffering to a random player and it does damage to that player and spreads to anyone close by each time it ticks. It also stacks, so staying close together can lead to wipes very quickly. The transition lasts for one minute.

While inside Frostmourne you must assist King Terenas in defeating a Spirit Warden. If you are a healer you can simply heal the King and let him defeat the Spirit Warden, if you are DPS you must burn it down before he kills the King. Also while inside Frostmourne you gain a buff that increases your damage by 100% for 60 seconds after which it kills you. If you die inside of Frostmourne the Lich King is healed to 100% and the group will surely wipe as you will hit the 15 minute enrage timer.

This phase lasts until you get Arthas down to 10% health.

Final 10%
If you manage to get the Lich King down to 10% health he will use an ability that immediately kills the raid. Don’t panic just yet, this is a mechanic and lets you see part of the storyling. After a brief interruption in the fight you are resurrected and can finish the Lich King off while he is trapped. Then you get your real reward, a chance to see the video sequence that follows. Sure, many players have seen it online already, but this time you will have earned it. Congratulations on defeating one of the hardest bosses around.

Heroic mode – Lich King
The Lich King is an already extremely complicated fight and one that many guilds have not even successfully completed on normal mode. As would be expected on heroic mode the fight becomes much harder. In addition to more health, the Lich King also causes a lot more damage. Also several of the mechanics in the fight change.

In the first phase in addition to all the adds that you need to deal with, the Lich King also throws out shadow traps. These are shadow traps that last for a while and sent you flying off the platform when they detonate. This can add a lot of movement to the fight depending on where they land.

In the second phase the Val’kyr change substantially. First, their health pool is almost tripled making them harder to deal with. Secondly, they will drop the player they are attempting to carry away at 50% health instead of when they die. However, once a player is dropped they will move over the center of the raid and start casting Siphon Life on random players in the raid until you kill them. This makes DPS on them a high priority, they must first drop the player quickly and then be killed.

The third phase gets a huge change, where instead of a single player being pulled into Frostmourne, the whole raid is. The mechanics remain the same, and therefore no one can die or the Lich King becomes buffed, likely leading to a wipe.

As you can see, finishing off the Lich King on heroic mode will truly be something for your guild to celebrate as it will not be easy.