Advertisement

Two Bosses Enter: Murozond vs. Archbishop Benedictus

Mathew McCurley
Updated ·9 min read

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

It is no strange surprise that the Echo of Tyrande would retain the love, energy, and passion her fans bestow upon the night elf priestess, even here at the End Time, when Deathwing has taken what he felt was rightfully his. Wait. What? Tyrande lost? To Warlord Zon'ozz? By 43 votes?!

We'll get to this hilarious (to me, anyway) upset in a little bit. There's another important matter to discuss, which is that we have two brand new competitors on Two Bosses Enter and what seems to be an epic match up in the works.

Murozond, the twisted form of the aspect Nozdormu, has manifested himself in the End Time, ready to end all daring time travelers' adventures. As time itself bends around his gargantuan form, only the use of a magic hourglass can give even the most stalwart heroes hope of besting the great infinite. Up against Murozond is a fallen hero who wields the power of the Light unlike any other power on Azeroth. Once the leader of the Church of the Holy Light, now Archbishop Benedictus reigns as the Twilight Father, assisting Deathwing in ending all of our puny existences.

Who wins, friends? Does the great infinite dragon best one of the most powerful wielders of holy and shadow magic? You decide!

%Poll-73478%



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: Murozond

In the distant future, Nozdormu, the aspect of time, has seen his own demise. As protector of the timeways, he cannot allow time to be altered in horrendous ways, for damaging the time line damages everything in the past, present, and future for all time lines. Much to his sadness, in one distant time line, Nozdormu has fallen to temptation and attempts to stop his own demise by turning the Infinite Dragonflight loose upon time itself. Warped into the twisted Murozond, this Nozdormu doppleganger threatens to stop the timeways from being altered again, putting an end Deathwing's madness.

Your first thought when going into this encounter on Two Bosses Enter should not be "But he's an aspect! He can beat anyone!" Ah, to be so young again. No! Where there is Murozond, there is Nozdormu. Where there is time, there is ... untime. For where Murozond appears is Nozdormu alongside with the magical hourglass of magic time stuff. Groups have still wiped! He is still powerful! But if you write "but he iz aspeckt," I will hunt you down.

Murozond's abilities include:

  • Temporal Blast Kaboom! Murazond hits his enemies with arcane energy.

  • Distortion Bomb Orbs of temporal energy are launched around the arena, exploding and causing a zone of temporal distortion that does damage.

  • Infinite Breath Much like other dragons, this one breathes.

  • Nozdormu does swoop in to buff up Murazond's enemies, and you guys know how the hourglass works.


In Corner Two: Archbishop Benedictus

There is nothing stronger than faith. Ask the men and women of the Silver Hand, Argent Crusade, or the Church of the Holy Light. The faith of Azeroth's citizens fuels a power greater than we know. For every soul saved for salvation, there is another turned to the shadow and the madness. Archbishop Benedictus began as a humble priest learning from Alonsus Faol, moving through the ranks of the church until reaching Archbishop status. His story was out of a fairy tale.

When the world reached its limits and Deathwing punched a hole in Deepholm itself, madness encompassed good men with thoughts of cults and doom and twilight. Great men have great limits, and Archbishop Benedictus' was evidentally reached. As he descended into madness and followed the great Deathwing into twilight, he rose to power as the Twilight Father after the defeat of Cho'gall at the hands of adventurers in the Twilight Citadel.

His command of the light is still intact. His command of the shadow is unmatched. Even the greatest will of the light was broken by The Destroyer.

Archbishop Benedictus has two forms, holy and shadow. The abilities largely remain the same.


Last Week's Winner: Warlord Zon'ozz

Whaaaaaaaaaat? Seriously? Well, to be fair, I can't say I didn't exactly see this coming. You see, a lot of what colors our opinions about these bosses, heroes, and characters in WoW is our experience and time with them. Positive experiences give us favorable feelings toward one character and make us react to them in positive ways. Boss encounters that are nothing but slogs of trash through barely lit forests while your healer is off who knows where and your DPS won't let you get aggro because you're a protection warrior and are rage starved and AoE taunt is on cooldown ... Did I get away from myself there? Sorry. Everything leading up to the Echo of Tyrande encounter is a slog and annoying.

That's why I think she had a falling here. Tyrande should have done better but didn't because of the trash leading up to her in game. Live and learn, boss encounters. Live and learn.

Reader Saf gave this fight to Warlord Zon'ozz with a short write up that I agree with wholeheartedly. Zon'ozz's damage output goes through the roof at some point, even in the Raid Finder, and his attacks are brutal to the main tank, who would be Tyrande in this case:

Assuming RF mechanics that prevent Zon'ozz's ball from hitting the wall, and that send it into him after a set amount of time regardless of how long it's been, I'd still have to give the fight to him over Tyrande because of the amount of damage he does to his main target.

When fighting Zon'ozz in RF, if you are ever going to wipe, it is going to be from the tank dying to his melee attacks, or from the raid dying to the AOE phase. Yet, when fighting Tyrande, you are most likely going to wipe because your healer can't do F-all between the stuns and silences.

Therefore, in a 1v1 fight, Zon'ozz would win because of sheer damage output. Tyrande simply doesn't have enough single target attacks to kill Zon'ozz before he smashes her face in. Ball bouncing or not... Heck, it be an even quicker kill because he'd be able to cast Disrupting Shadows on Tyrande, which would tick for the full duration even if he gets stunned/silenced.<

Now, I gave this one to Zon'ozz ... but that was before I read the killer description of the battle by Vaniya, who goes above and beyond and even brings Dori'thur into the fight. That's some serious lore dedication right there. Read for yourselves:

While I really want Tyrande to win, I guess this could be taken as a tie or even a win for Zon'ozz. I really like writing these because it's great practice :) Hope you vote for Tyrande!

Zon'ozz approached the darkened shrine in a flash of light. Confused and disoriented, he stomped around, looking for a reason for him being brought to the place. His twisted eyes had little problem seeing through the unnatural haze, and he quickly took in what appeared to be a small humanoid kneeling in a pool of darkness.

Tyrande quickly takes notice of the abomination. "Mother moon, let me guide this poor soul into your light." she said, as she fired off a moonbolt.
"xythl mas htecor axt'tzl!" shrieked Zon'ozz, blocking the attack with his claw. Not in the mood for this, he summoned tentacles from the depths of the earth, ready to obliterate his opponent.

As the tentacles closed in, Tyrande plead "Mother Moon, I can no longer see your light! Guide me from this darkness!" stepping out of the shadows came fragmented sentinel souls, accompanied with twisted nightsabers. The sentinels held the tentacles back, as Tyrande summoned stardust to deal with Zon'ozz. He was anticiPating this, and sent a sphere of pure darkness at Tyrande. It hit her, and she fell to the ground.

Zon'ozz then cruelly drained the remaining light from the darkened place, absorbing the essence of the sentinels and tentacles, locking Tyrande down. "Elune, your daughter can no longer see your radiance!" a beam of light shot down from the heavens, enshrouding Tyrande.

Zon'ozz fired off another void, ready to finish his foe, when Tyrande's call was answered. In a flash of moonlight, the last vestiges of Tyrande's eternal companion Dori'thur swooped down and blocked the void, sending it back to Zon'ozz's surprised face. Taking advantage of him being stunned, Tyrande got back up and conjured a moonlance.

With one final burst of strength, Tyrande threw the lance at Zon'ozz, and he burst in an explosion of light, his fractured carapace smoking in the darkness. With the last of her power gone, the eyes of Elune descended upon Tyrande, finally calling her to the afterlife.

Dominic put it as simple as it could be put:

Zonn'ozz has to take this fight. I don't think we should be assuming Raid Finder version of him, because we don't consider Tyrande in some weakened state. I think we'd have to consider Zonn'ozz at Normal difficulty. Even when you make their health and damage comparable, with his self heal I think Zonn'ozz will just outlast Tyrande.

Wonderful submissions this week, everyone. Tune in next week for the next exciting episode of Two Bosses Enter. Don't forget to vote for this week's winner!

%Poll-73376%

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.