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Two Bosses Enter: Echo of Baine vs. Peroth'arn

Mathew McCurley
Updated ·7 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.

With a resounding roar of the crowd and the spectacular boom of the fireworks overhead, Season 3 of Two Bosses Enter has begun! Our first matchup mixes up the past and the future in one fell swoop by bringing two combatants from two edges of time into the same arena. From the bleak future of End Time comes the coalesced fear, anger, and sorrow of tauren chieftain Baine Bloodhoof, a powerful entity lingering on in an Azeroth obliterated by Deathwing. Plucked from the past is Peroth'arn, a satyr guard of the Well of Eternity, placed in the majestic palace courtyard to ward off invaders of the Well rituals. Both of these combatants have their work cut out for them in this matchup.

Since many bosses are being designed these days with area of effect abilities and environmental obstacles that must be overcome in order to defeat the encounter, I want to stress the rules a little bit on Two Bosses Enter -- environmental abilities and cool stuff are fair game and always have been fair game. The arena can be whatever you want it to be. For instance, Echo of Baine has a very cool ability with which he destroys platforms floating in lava. From here on out, the mages of Dalaran employed by the great Tirion Fordring on his Board of Tournament Creation and Trusts will now magically transform the arena into whatever the combatants could reasonably ask for. Remember this when discussing the outcome, readers.

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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: Echo of Baine

The remnants of the shattered essence of the tauren chieftain Baine Bloodhoof is a sad tale of regret, remorse, and ultimate defeat. Deathwing's prophecies and proclamations have come -- the Hour of Twilight has long tolled the Azerothian bell. With ultimate failure comes the ultimate price -- too strong to die, too weak not to walk the remains of the world, a bitter, shattered echo of your former glory. This is Baine's ultimate fate if Deathwing is to succeed.

Baine's echo dwells in the Obsidian Dragonshrine in the Dragonblight, a nest of dangerous black dragons with vicious fire attacks in an inhospitable swamp of molten lava. It's hot, too. Uncomfortably hot. In the middle of the lava lake float large stones that Baine expertly navigates with jumps, devastating crashes, and weapon throws.

For the purposes of the fight between the Echo of Baine and Peroth'arn, the arena will resemble the Baine environment in the Obsidian Dragonshrine. Peroth'arn will understand that Baine can, at any moment, crash into a platform and sink the sucker. It's pretty apparent anyway from the size of Baine. Look at that guy.

How would you feel if you had failed not only yourself, your people, your Horde, and your ancestors, but also the world itself? You failed. You were too proud. Then, in a moment, all of that fear and doubt became real and began to wander, aimlessly, through the dragon graveyard. Forever.

Baine's abilities include:

  • Molten Axe Echo of Baine's axe gets supercharged when he dips into the lava around his platforms.

  • Molten Fists Echo of Baine's enemies can also dip into the lava for a Molten Fists buff, inflicting extra fire damage on hit.

  • Pulverize Baine slams down his totem, destroying the platform he is on and hitting all nearby enemies for a nice chunk of damage. Platforms will eventually return but take some time.

  • Throw Totem Echo of Baine throws his totem at a target, causing lots of damage and knocking his target back. His totem can then be picked up and thrown back at Baine, stunning him briefly and increasing his damage taken.

You can read more about the Echo of Baine on Wowpedia.

In Corner Two: Peroth'arn

When the Well was young and the World Tree stood tall and proud in the middle of the great kaldorei civilization, many Highborne practicing the arcane arts began to feel a strange pull. This strange pull was tugging at their hearts, their minds, their very magical essences, teasing them with aspirations and powers and forces uncontrollable. This was the Twisting Nether, and it was beautiful chaos. The pull was too great for many, and eventually those many plead their allegiance to Xavius. They became the satyrs, demonic corrupted Highborne who aided the Burning Legion in the first takeover attempt of Azeroth. Once and for all, the Burning Legion and Sargeras would reap terrible vengeance on the Titans.

As the summoning of Sargeras through the Well of Eternity was proceeding, Titanic constructs rebelled against the summoning of the fallen Titan. The Dragon Aspects had been tricked into forming the Dragon Soul and, well, you know the rest of that whole ordeal. At the Palace of Azshara, a demonic army marches out from the Twisting Nether into portals that will take them to their invasion points all over Kalimdor. The invasion would be total, and it would be final.

Guarding the gates of the palace was Peroth'arn, a satyr suckered in to the same fate of his breathren Highborne, now with no choice but to serve Fel leaders. His speed, fel flames, and dangerous Eyes will ferret out any sneaky foe. Fel corruption oozes out of his every pore, decaying everything in his vicinity. There is nothing in Peroth'arn of the original night elf, so naive, so easily tempted by a fool's power.

For the purposes of the fight, Drain Essence does not need to be interrupted by Illidan, but if you want it to be interrupted by Illidan, by all means.

Peroth'arn's abilities include:

  • Corrupting Touch Peroth'arn's melee attacks apply a stacking debuff, increasing their damage taken by 10% a stack.

  • Fel Flames Calling on the might of the Legion, Peroth'arn calls down a fel fireball on a target, inflicting damage and fire decay over time.

  • Fel Decay Peroth'arn's presence and sickly touch causes a random target to decay from within. (Gross!) Healers who attempt to heal the sickly target will have their healing inflicted as shadow damage against them.

  • Drain Essence When he hits 60%, Peroth'arn casts Drain Essence. This attack is immediately followed by the Eyes of Peroth'arn, which hunt his prey. If prey is found, they are stunned, and Peroth'arn gets a big boost to his attack speed.

  • Endless Frenzy Peroth'arn goes into a frenzy at 20% health, increasing his damage by 25%.

Who wins this round, readers? Will the fel energies of Peroth'arn be enough to combat the strength of the earth that Baine possesses?

Participate in Two Bosses Enter

You know that there are multiple ways to follow the fun and join a creative community with Two Bosses Enter, right? It is so easy! Just by voting for this week's champion, you are adding to the ever-growing vote tallies and numbers we see in the column. If you're the creative type, hit the comments with your own FightFiction (totally a thing), your own account of the battle as it happens.

Two Bosses Enter is all about the readers, so let's hear from you. Who is taking this season's grand prize? Tune in next week for the outcome, and post your descriptions of the fight below.

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.