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WoW.com's Guide to the Lich King

Michael Gray
Updated ·6 min read

The Lich King is not only the titular character of this expansion, but is the ultimate raid boss in the Icecrown Citadel. Finally, after two years, members of the Horde and Alliance will have the opportunity to settle up their scores with Arthas. Befitting the final boss of the expansion's raiding progress


Table of Contents

Composition


In 10-man mode, you will need two tanks and three healers. In 25-man mode, you'll need 6 or 7 healers. But, as always, the number of healers you actually use will change a little depending on their throughput.

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General strategy


The Lich King is a three phase fight. Each phase transition enjoys a handful of things to pay attention to, but the fun doesn't stop there. In addition, the transitions between phases themselves act like additional phases. However, in the quick summary version: the goal of the Lich King encounter is to dwindle his health before the platform crumbles entirely away beneath you. However, for most raids, the goal is to not die to Defile.

In phase one, you will be introduced to Shambling Horrors and Drudge Ghouls. You will also be introduced to Necrotic Plague, which is the major gimmick of phase one. Necrotic Plague does an immense amount of damage to its target, and will jump from the original target to a new unit if the plague is dispelled or the target dies. To handle the plague, the person with the debuff should go to where the tank and off-tank is handling the Horrors and Ghouls, so that the Plague jumps to the NPCs when the plague is dispelled. Check out the video for more information.

This will be your first time with the transitions. Spread your raid out to avoid too much Pain and Suffering damage, and kill the ice spheres as soon as they spawn. The Raging Spirit should be faced away from the casters in your raid to avoid Soul Shriek silencing the raid.

Phase two is the legendary val'kyr phase of the fight. Instead of summoning ghouls, the Lich King will summon a Va'kyr Shadowguard. This val'kyr will grab players and attempt to drop them off the edge of the platform. It is therefore incredibly important that everyone puts in extra effort to killing that val'kyr. This is also the phase during which you learn about Defile. The Lich King will target a random player and cast Defile. The person has two seconds to move before a large patch of shadow forms on the ground. The patch does damage and grows in size and damage every time it gets to inflict damage. It is therefore critical that everyone gets to the outside areas (away from the raid) as quickly as possible.

At 40%, the Lich King enters his third and final phase after another transition. His add during this phase is called the Vile Spirits. He'll summon a handful of these vile spirits, which must be killed quickly; if not, they will explode for great damage on the raid. The more impressive spell during phase three, however, is Harvest Soul. The Lich King will perform a brief channelled spell. If the target lives through it, then they will be transported "inside Frostmourne." This is a phased encounter, during which you will do battle alongside Terenas against a Spirit Warden. If you're a healer, heal Terenas and do what damage you can. If you're a DPS character, just blow the Spirit Warden up.

If you get through all these phases, you will then die. Don't panic and release or anything; this is normal. You can proceed to enjoy the scripted event, and collect your phat loots from the Lich King. Please note that the Lich King actually has a lot of miscellaneous spells; check out our awesome raid instruction video to become better versed in the encounter.

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Abilities


Phase One

  • Shambling Horror: Summons a zombie who can perform Shockwave and Enrage

  • Drudge Ghouls: Summons three ghouls.

  • Infest: Deals around 7,000 shadow damage to the entire raid in 10-man normal mode. In addition, the infected targets will suffer increasing damage every second. You get rid of Infest by topping off the player. It does around 10k shadow damage in 10-man heroic and 25-man normal, while it does around 18.5 damage in 25-man normal.

  • Necrotic Plague: Inflicts around 50,000 shadow damage every 5 seconds. If the plague is terminated, it will jump to another unit (including the non-Arthas NPCs.) The Lich King gains a Plague Siphon with each jump. Necrotic Plagues does 75k damage in 10-man heroic, 100k damage in 25-man normal and 25-man heroic.

Phase Two

  • Summon Val'kyr: The Val'kyr must be killed, or else they will grab a raid member and toss them off the platform.

  • Infest: Deals around 7,000 shadow damage to the entire raid in 10-man normal mode. In addition, the infected targets will suffer increasing damage every second. You get rid of Infest by topping off the player. It does around 10k shadow damage in 10-man heroic and 25-man normal, while it does around 18.5 damage in 25-man normal.

  • Soul Reaper: Inflicts significant shadow damage on the tank and additionally increases the Lich King's damage against that character for 5 seconds.

  • Defile: As discussed in the video, drops beneath the affected player. Every time someone takes damage from Defile, the defile area grows.

Phase Three

  • Defile: As discussed in the video, drops beneath the affected player. Every time someone takes damage from Defile, the defile area grows.

  • Soul Reaper: Inflicts significant shadow damage on the tank and additionally increases the Lich King's damage against that character for 5 seconds.

  • Harvest Soul: If the affected player is still alive after the effect, the player is transported inside Frostmourne where they must do battle alongside Terenas against a Spirit Warden. If you're a healer, heal Terenas and do what damage you can.

  • Vile Spirits: Summons Vile Spirits which will explode for raid damage.

Transition Phases

  • Remorseless Winter: Deals frost damage to all players within 45 yards.

  • Pain and Suffering: Deals shadow damage in a frontal cone, as well as additional shadow damage every three seconds. This additional damage can stack up to three times; players should move out.

  • Ice Sphere: The ice sphere can Ice Pulse and Ice Burst.

  • Raging Spirit: The spirit is summoned three times during each transition and will Soul Shriek.

  • Quake: The Lich King will break down the edges of the platform



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Other Resources


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