As I write this it's 4:45pm server time. In less than two hours Wild will once again be standing in Icecrown Citadel facing the Lich King. This is it. I wonder how this all will end . . .
It's now 6:30pm. Wild is in game. The Group 2 raid is assembling. We have our top healing team - Wild, Pl (holy priest), and Tk (paladin). Our two tanks are Rs (druid) and Fn (paladin), both regulars. We have the same set of DPSers as we had Tuesday and Wednesday. Lady Hunter leads the raid. Bk runs the battle. We've all been here before. We all know the strategies. There is no need to explain anything. We are ready.
I'll take things one attempt at a time.
Attempt #1: The battle started and Phase 1 went smoothly. Infest and Necrotic Plague was kept under control by the healers and Tk's dispelling. Wild was lucky and didn't get the plague, which allowed me to measure out the healing without burning up my mana.
At 70% we shifted to Phase 1.5. We repositioned to the edge of the platform and began taking greater hits. Wild was forced to go to his high cost Regrowth spell many times more than I wanted to, and Wild's mana dipped down to under 40%. For one second I thought Wild had lost his main tank, Rs, from a sudden burst of damage from the Lich King, but Wild cast his one emergency spell and saved him. I could see from the healing meters of the other healers that they were also strained as we headed into Phase 2.
Wild was still under 50% mana entering Phase 2. Healing was focused on the two tanks. LK cast Quake, destroying the outer rim of the platform. We had already moved toward the center of the platform to avoid falling to our death. The first val'kyr spawned and grabbed Wild as it's target. Wild was lifted into the air and the val'kyr flapped it's way toward the rim. The DPSers focused fired on the val'kyr and brought it down. Wild landed hard, but immediately dumped healing on the struggling main tank, then on himself. We were all still in the fight. Defile struck, but it was well placed away from the center and was avoidable. Another val'kyr struck. Somewhere in there Wild had cast Innervate to recover mana, but I was again draining it fast. Three minute cooldown before I could cast it again.
We entered Phase 2.5. LK cast Remorseless Winter, beating us all down with the massive AoE until we could retreat to the reappearing outer edge of the platform. We fought to get our health back up and the battle continued with another round of Infest, val'kyrs, and Defiles.
The Lich King's health fell steadily as the DPS maintained a merciless attack. LK fought back with the Defiles and Val'kyrs. LK's health hit 40% and we entered Phase 3.
Our greatest concern in Phase 3 was to keep away from the many spirits that deal damage and then explode quite nastily. Wild seemed particularly prone to getting wiped out by them. This time Wild kept his cool, stayed on the move and in range of healing his tank. No more val'kyrs, but the Defiles kept coming. Pl was targeted by the Lich King and was the first into the phased battle with LK's sword Frostmourne. Wild and Tk held things together healing wise until she was tossed back out. There may have been others pulled in, but Wild was too busy to check. Wild was also targeted for the phased battle, but ... well, Wild died right as he was pulled in. The good news was that because of the timing LK did not get the big damage bonus he would have gotten if wild were killed inside the phase. The bad news was that Wild was dead and could no longer help his guildies.
When Wild died that left seven raiders standing. LK was down to 18%. When Pl died, leaving the raid with only one healer, LK was at 14%.
Then it was 13%.
Then it was 12%. The main tank was hit with a massive strike from LK. He was about to go down with his health at 1%. But paladin Fn used his Lay on Hands to save Rs. It was a masterful stroke and Rs was able to hold on and continue tanking.
LK's health dropped to 12%. This was as close as we'd ever been to beating the Lich King.
Then it dropped to 11%.
Then it dropped to 10%. And the the Lich King roared in triumph! Fools! He cried. You have played right into my hands! And with those words the Lich King wiped the raid.
We were all dead.
The Lich King began channeling a spell, striking all of our corpses.
He says to Tirion Fordring: "Watch now as I raise them from the dead to become masters of the Scourge. They will shroud this world in chaos and destruction. Azeroth's fall will come at their hands -- and you will be the first to die. "
Fordring, still frozen, as he has been since the start of the fight, prays to the Light: "Light grant me one final blessing! Give me the strength ... to shatter these bonds!"
Fordring breaks free! He turns on the Lich King and attacks!
Tirion Fordring then resurrected all of us at once. The ten members of the Group 2 raid joined Fordring in raining damage down on the Lich King. Wild abandoned his healing and blasted away along with everyone else.
And it was done. The Lich King was dead. We had done it on our first attempt of the night.
Wild had bought two cakes for the occasion many weeks ago, not realizing how long I'd have to wait to be able to serve them. Finally.
In the celebration that followed we almost forgot that killing the Lich King also meant loot. LK dropped a very nice crossbow that Lady Hunter won. Appropriate, I'd say.
The main hand mace [Valius, Gavel of the Lightbringer] also dropped. Wild and Tk rolled on it. This might be the hammer that LK wields, but the lore also mentions that it could have belonged to Uther the Lightbringer, who was a mentor to Arthas when he was young and of course long before he became the Lich King.
Wild won it. Tk was devastated. I looked the Gavel over, remembering fondly a great Gavel that Wild had earned and used for a long time back in his level 70 days, and which might still be buried in his bank bags somewhere. There is nothing like being able to brag that you carry a weapon taken from the Lich King.
However . . .
Since this was ten man ICC, the Gavel was rated as ilevel 258. Wild's current weapon, [Frozen Bonespike] was won in ICC 25 and rated at i264. Wild's weapon was better than the Gavel.
Wild made a friend for life when I passed the gavel to Tk. Wild was satisfied to wear the Kingslayer title, and know that he'd wrested that weapon from the Lich King and held it in his hands.
There were pictures of course:
Top of stairs at LK's Throne
Close Up (Wild is to the right of the chicken :-) )
Wildshard the Kingslayer
To wrap up: Wild got his first look at the Lich King on 4 Nov. That was the first of nine nights of battling the Lich King over 32 days. We fought the Lich King a total of 77 times before finally bringing him down on our 77th attempt.
Wild will be grinning from ear to ear for days. The expansion Wrath of the Lich King has been defeated; it's final, greatest boss brought down. Someone made a very interesting observation. Arthas and the Lich King have been around since the single player RPG days of Warcraft I, II, and III in addition to vanilla WoW and the two expansions. The real time it has taken to finally defeat and truly kill the Lich King covers nearly ten years.
And in two days, all of that will be in the past. And it will all start again with a new nemesis.
Deathwing.
I love this game.
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