Two Bosses Enter: Arcurion vs. Lord Godfrey
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.
The icy wastes of the Dragonblight are harsh enough without the interference of Arcurion, one of the last undefeared ice ascendants in Deathwing's elemental army. His mission: Stop Thrall from reaching Wyrmrest Temple. Opposite this frosty foe is our championship winner from last season, Shadowfang Keep denizen Lord Godfrey, whose double pistols stole the hearts and minds of readers. Godfrey's cool tricks, as well as some other favorable matches, made last season's competition one of the best yet.
Last week's match was a resounding victory for Mannoroth and Varo'then, easily wrecking Asira Dawnslayer and her night elf allies. It was a serious whooping, friends, with a final tally giving the demon duo 69.5% of the vote. Nice win, kids.
Which of our two champions will advance to the next round of Two Bosses Enter? Only you can decide ...
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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: Arcurion
As the Hour of Twilight draws near, heroes from across Azeroth race to the Wyrmrest Temple with former Warchief Thrall, carrying the most powerful weapon ever wielded by the Aspects, the Dragon Soul. Deathwing may be mad, but he is not stupid, for he knows of Thrall's approach and the threat that the Dragon Soul presents. There is only way one forward -- Thrall must die.
After the Bastion of Twilight's destruction and Cho'gall's failure to bring about a new breed of dragon birthed from Sinestra, the ascendants were all but destroyed. Arcurion lives on, however, as one of the last remaining ice ascendants and servant of Deathwing to the bitter, final moments. Thrall must be stopped, and Arcurion's surprise attack in the canyons of Dragonblight will freeze his opponents in their places.
Arcurion's kit includes:
Hand of Frost Arcurion's icy grip reaches out at an opponent, inflicting frost damage.
Chains of Frost Arcurion unleashes waves of ice that inflict damage and immobilize opponents.
Frozen Servitor Minions from atop the cavern walls (or tournament hall) throw huge blocks of ice at Arcurion's opponents.
Read a little bit more about Arcurion at Wowpedia.
In Corner Two: Lord Godfrey
Silverpine Forest is a shadow of its former self, figuratively and literally. What once were lush farmlands for the kingdoms of Lordaeron and Gilneas, prized lands outside the Greymane wall, have become decrepit bastions of the Forsaken, undead risen in spite of death by Arthas' plague or the nefarious val'kyr, once servants of the Lich King.
Now, Silverpine's fog has been pierced once again by the call of terror from the Shadowfang Keep, once home to the great wizard Arugal and now home to the traitorous Lord Godfrey and his ilk, the slayer of Sylvanas himself. Godfrey is conniving, unrelenting, and powerful, and worst of all, he may have some fans from last season because of his awesome art from the WoW TCG. Beware, opponents.
Lord Godfrey comes to us from season 2 of Two Bosses Enter, when he narrowly beat out Zanzil for the season's crown. It was a great finale, to be sure. Godfrey's abilities include:
Last Week's Winner: Mannoroth (and Varo'then)
This matchup was a tricky one, considering the fight mechanics that make up the Mannoroth encounter are not very well suited for our jokey-fun Two Bosses Enter. However, I know that you little scamps can use your imaginations and think of something cool that can happen with this fight in order to get something coherent out of all this.
While I had a good feeling Mannoroth would take the victory by popularity alone (and let's fact it, Mannoroth is totally cool), I did not anticipate the great Asira Dawnslayer victory write-ups were presented. Rai gives the fight to Asira based on her cleverness and the mechanics of the fight.
I'd have to give it to Asira. While it'd be a fairly even fight between her and Varo'then, he'd have less health and Choking Smoke Bomb would be enough to finish him off.
Mannoroth gets pierced by the sword. There's a fair amount of time before the first adds would appear, and they're probably not smart enough to block the daggers from Mark of Silence, meaning Mannoroth would spend most of his time fighting Illidan. On the offchance he'd get a Fel Inferno off, there's Choking Smoke Bomb - which by the way he probably wouldn't move out of. This fight is more one-sided than it appears, but there is a minor chance for victory for Mannoroth.
It depends on Thrall. Is Thrall smart enough to block the daggers? He probably wouldn't, considering Mannoroth's size.
So as said above, I'd give it to Asira. It'd be a long fight but she has the toolbox to do it - and I doubt her minions would be powerful enough to break through her Blade Barrier, or move out of her Choking Smoke Bomb.
Asira did not, however, win. She is the loser. What better way to celebrate getting stomped on by a big, bad pit lord than to read an excellent recount of the fight by Vaniya-EluneWRA:
Asira crouches behind the arm bone of the massive dragon, eyes following Thrall and the adventurers as they fought through the cultist lackeys. Then, her target, a red drake, flies into view. She takes a running start and jumps towards the drake. As she is gliding through the air, the drake stops, and its scales turns bronze as Asira falls into a portal. "That was easy..." mumbled Chromie.
Asira falls through the bronze timeway, landing deftly on the scorched ground. "What the.." she muses, then a giant pit lord catches her attention. "Some help would be appreciated, stranger!" cried a night elf with a blindfold on. He was fighting, somehow, the pit lord without being hit.
Before Asira can make sense of this, another elf cries "For Azshara! for our Queen!" Varo'then runs at her, sword held high. Leaping out of the way, Asira throws one of her enchanted daggers at Varo'then, binding his tongue with magic.
Varo'then and Asira trade blows for a while, and soon she has him on his knees. Mustering all his strength, Varo'then casts off Asira's hex, shouting "Mannoroth! Aid me!" The demon opened a portal, from which waves of lesser demons poured forth from.
"Damn." Asira cried. Seeing Varo'then trying to stand, she cut him down swiftly. By that time, the demons had reached her, and in return she used a fan of knives to cut swathes of them down. Mannoroth, still dealing with Illidan, sent two Nazrethim to deal with her once and for all. They landed a ways from her, and channeled their dark and debilitating magic on her. Being the skilled assassin she was, Asira knew she would fall in a matter of seconds if she did nothing.
So she threw her daggers, the last weapons on her, at them. The projectiles struck home, and the nazrethim burst into clouds of dark energy. But Asira was running out of options. Still, demons poured through the portal, so she grabbed Varo'then's crackling sword from the ground and began cutting down the demons. Reaching the portal, she disrupted its focus by using the enchanted sword.
At that moment, she heard a cry from behind her. Turning to look, she saw Illidan flyin through the air, falling quite far away. "Illidan!" cried the previously unseen night elven woman, as she dashed to his aid. "I guess it comes down to you and me then." said Asira, turning her attention to the pit lord.
Letting loose a war cry, Asira hurled the blade at Mannoroth, Landing a direct hit. "AAAUUGGHH!" cried Mannoroth. Growing tired of the Rabble, he summoned a firestorm of fel energy, pretending to focus all his attention on maintaining it. In reality, as Asira bobbed and weaved from the firestorm, Mannoroth was cleverly opening a connection to the Twisting Nether.
Grabbing her daggers from the twisted armor of the nazrethim, Asira formed a plan in her head. Silence the oaf when he was done, drop a smoke bomb, and cut his oversized throat. Simple was often the best. What she wasn't expecting was, when the fire cleared, another army of demons was waiting for her. Shit. She dropped a smoke bomb, Planning to flee from the scene. But when she went to run, she found a surprise. There was the pit lord's hand, a split second from grabbing her. Her last thought was of how she never got the payment for the last job.
Mannoroth wiped the elf blood n' bits off his hand on the grass. Ready to take over the world now, he turned his attention to the elves he had earlier lost track of. They had just finished slaughtering his army. The female cried "Goddess, guide my arrows!" and fired at him. The arrows, while not fatal, distracted him from the other elf, who cut his connection to the portal in the well. "Noooooooooooo!!!!!!" he cried as he was pulled into the well.
A voice, rather dragon sounding, whispered in his ear "take the Druid with you!" and so Mannoroth's last act on Azeroth was taking Malfurion with him to the Nether. Let's hope he doesn't make it back. Knaak on wood. (Knaak pun courtesy of Ask a Faction Leader: Chromie)
Does it really get better than that? Not only does Asira get stomped on, but Malfurion bites it, too. Get this story approved as legitimate as soon as humanly possible.
Personally, I feel like I also went with the popular option instead of what I actually preach. I like Asira all well and good, but I have a past with Mannoroth. He's been with me for a long time, man. Actually, that's probably one of the reasons the Well of Eternity is such a great place and wonderful instance -- we know this time and this place but have never actually seen it. I like it.
Let's get back to business -- you need to vote on a winner this week. Will the cold-hearted Arcurion be able to withstand the might of last season's champion Lord Godfrey? Vote now!
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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.
