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Two Bosses Enter: Ozruk vs. Eregos

Alex Ziebart
Owner
Updated ·5 min read

In Two Bosses Enter, WoW Insider's series of fantasy death matches, the bosses of World of Warcraft face off in the squared circle. Your vote determines who wins and claims the season title.

Readers have been saying all along that Ozruk is going to sweep this tournament, and he's on course to do just that. He's in for his most difficult battle yet this week, however. Could Eregos, Wrath of the Lich King Two Bosses Enter champion, pull out a win over him?

Remember, audence -- we've put a roof on the Two Bosses Enter arena. Eregos is a formidable opponent, but he cannot just fly away and call it a win!

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In last week's matchup, Shadowfang Keep's Baron Ashbury went head to head with the corrugated menace. How did he fare?

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Follow along for the details of this week's matchup, as well as discussion on last week's match.



The rules of the ring

  • The WoW Insider Ring is considered neutral territory, where both combatants are able to access their usual encounter mechanics and abilities. If you can't visualize it inside the squared circle, visualize it someplace else -- but you must take into consideration all of each bosses' abilities and mechanics.

  • Assume that each opponent is intelligent and capable of strategic thinking.

  • All of the competitors' abilities, including crowd control and other effects to which bosses are usually immune, work on their opponents (with apologies to considerations of lore on this point).

  • Assume that the opponents share similar levels, health pools, and comparative overall damage output.

  • Don't get caught up in gameplay mechanics and what actual players might do in each encounter.

  • Don't neglect style, story, and scale. Everything is a factor; seeking balance is your goal as a spectator and judge.

In Corner One: Ozruk

Break yourselves upon my body!

Ozruk utterly dominated his opponent in round one with 81% of the popular vote. He knocked our Lord Godfrey with just shy of 70% of the popular vote. That's pretty good! Eregos has been faring pretty well, but he has yet to break the 60% threshold against any of his opponent this season. Will Ozruk's dominance continue?

Ozruk's arsenal includes ...

If you haven't witnessed Ozruk's gleaming, perfectly chiseled body yourself, perhaps you'd like to learn more about his flawless physique or read other adventurers' first-hand reports.

In Corner Two: Ley-Guardian Eregos

Such insolence ... such arrogance ... must be PUNISHED!

Eregos may not have broken the 60% threshold against his opponents this season ... but is that important? All he needs is one single vote more than the other guy, right? The question is ... can he pull it off against the fan favorite?

Eregos's toolkit includes:

Weren't around in Wrath of the Lich King? Didn't have the pleasure of wiping in Oculus for hours? Read about the horrors from firsthand reports of other players, then!

Last Week's Winner: Cardboard Assassin

The Cardboard Assassin is easily the most reviled Two Bosses Enter competitor in the history of the tournament. Adolescent joke or complete badass? He's on a winning streak either way. His luck may be running out, however, as next week he's up against Whitemane and Mograine.

Let's not get ahead of ourselves, however. We still need to look back on his last battle.

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Though Baron Ashbury ultimately met an untimely demise last week, I quite enjoyed Thayer's depiction of the encounter:

The Baron enters the arena, his glowing yellow eyes alert for any movement until he spots the box in the middle of the room. Innocuous though it may seem, he nonetheless examines it from afar. He heard what happened to the leader of the Defias in a previous round and has no intention of suffering a similar fate. His skeletal toes click on the floor as he cautiously approaches the box. If he were inclined to emotion anymore he might feel pride at his lack of reaction when the Cardboard Assassin pops out of the box, but since his emotions have gone the way of his flesh he merely nods his satisfaction upon seeing his foe reveal itself.

Flexing his bony digits, the Baron prepares to deal with this mockery swiftly. "This is just too easy..." Shadow courses through him to inflict pain and suffering upon the engineer's creation before him. A hint of uncertainty crosses his features when his foe appears unconcerned, but he continues, casting wracking pain upon the bobbing cardboard figure. Still no reaction from his foe. He grits his teeth and raises his skeletal hands, intent on choking the life from the slowly swaying assassin, then thinks better of it. "I grow tired of this hunt .... time to die!"

Shadow-dark wings grow from his back and the Baron throws back his head and laughs, a bone-chilling sort of laugh, as wave after wave of Shadow pulses from his undead self, unleashing a Calamity upon the simple Cardboard Assassin. One might call it overkill, watching the Shadow tear the cardboard form to shreds. Baron Ashbury didn't think so. As he turns to leave he mutters scornfully, "There was no sport in that kill..."

Firecrow provided an alternate scenario:

As the Baron walks in to the roar of the crowd, his eyes scan the arena, expecting a monstrous competition. As his eyes befall the cardboard assassin, he let's out a raspy sigh. "Alex, I'm coming for you instead." He turns away, exiting the arena to begin his hunt. The judges, baffled, declare it a forfeit from the baron.

... crap.

The battle begins!

Remember, Two Bosses Enter matchups are all about substance and style, not gameplay, mechanics, and numbers. Don't base your strategies on player tactics, which opponent has been easiest or most difficult for you personally, or the difficulty of each opponent relative to instance progression. Vote for the spirit of the battle as set forth above. Set aside differences in opponents' health pools, game level, and actual damage output. Absolutely no game mechanics nitpicking!

Set aside the world order -- let the WoW Insider Ring determine who's the champion! Your votes determine the outcome in WoW Insider's series of fantasy deathmatches, Two Bosses Enter, One Boss Leaves.