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Wrath 101: Attunement & Gating in patch 3.3

Adam Holisky
Editor
Updated ·4 min read

There are a lot of questions out there about how gating in Icecrown Citadel will work, and how attunement to the 5-man instances will function.

We've collected some of the most common questions and put them in an F.A.Q. format for you to look at. After the break we'll answer them, or you can click on the links to be immediately taken to the answer.



Question: How do you define gated content?

For the purpose of this article, we define gated content as content which has artificial real-world time restrictions in place in order to prevent it from all being attempted upon release. Examples of some previous gated content include a few bosses of the Sunwell Plateau and a few bosses of The Tournament of Champions.

Question: What content is gated in patch 3.3?

The Icecrown Citadel wings are gated. You can only do the first wing and all the bosses therein. This first wing is called The Lower Spire. It has the following encounters: Lord Marrowgar, Lady Deathwhisper, Icecrown Gunship Battle, and Deathbringer Saurfang.

Question: Can I do heroic Icecrown right away?

No. You have to clear all of normal 10-man Icecrown Citadel to do any heroic 10-man Icecrown Citadel. You have to clear all of normal 25-man Icecrown Citadel to do any heroic 25-man Icecrown Citadel. Because Arthas is part of the gated content, and because you have to kill Arthas to attempt any heroics, you are going to have to wait a while to do any heroic Icecrown.

Your attunement to 10-man heroic ICC does not mean you are attuned to 25-man heroic ICC. Likewise, your attunement to 25-man heroic ICC does not mean you are attuned to 10-man heroic ICC. Each heroic attunement must be completed on its own.

We have more information about the heroic gating and requirements available for those who are interested.

Question: How long until Icecrown Citadel is completely open? When will I be able to fight Arthas?

We don't know. Blizzard has previously said several weeks will go by before the next wing becomes available. We speculate that Arthas will be enabled sometime in February 2010. You'll see the news posted on WoW.com as soon as we know an exact date.

Question: What content requires attunement in patch 3.3?

  • Heroic 10-man Icecrown Citadel

  • Heroic 25-man Icecrown Citadel

  • Pit of Saron (normal and heroic)

  • Halls of Reflection (normal and heroic)

Question: I'm still confused about the 5-man attunement, can you phrase it another way?

Forge of Souls -> Pit of Saron -> Halls of Reflection.

Question: Will the Dungeon Finder let me ignore attunement (or other requirements)?

No. When you use the Dungeon Finder to find random group members, or attempt a random heroic, you can only go into instances for which you are attuned (or meet the requirement).

Question: What quest chains do I need to do to get access to the heroic version of the Icecrown Citadel raids?

None that we know of at this time. From all the information we right now, it is a straight attunement that you just get when you've defeated Arthas. However remember, you only get access to the heroic version of the instance you've killed him in (ie: 10-man Arthas kill on normal gives access to 10-man heroic ICC only).

Question: What quest chains do I need to do to get access to the normal or heroic version of the 5-man Frozen Halls dungeons?

You don't need to do quest chains to access the heroic versions of the instances once you have access to the normal versions. However, you must complete the attunement quest chain to do access any version of the Pit of Saron or the Halls of Reflection. See the walkthrough for more information.


Patch 3.3 is the last major patch of Wrath of the Lich King. With the new Icecrown Citadel 5-man dungeons and 10/25-man raid arriving soon, patch 3.3 will deal the final blow to Arthas. WoW.com's Guide to Patch 3.3 will keep you updated with all the latest patch news.