A Comical Guide to the Master and Supreme Overlord of the Scourge, Lord of Northrend, the Lich King, Arthas Menethil

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This is a funny video that a fellow guildmate Gufoni in Alea Iacta Est made. I thought it would be appropriate since today the Icecrown Citadel Raid Buff has reached its maximum of 30%.

With the ICC Raid Buff now at 30% its time to get The Frozen Throne achievement along with the highly coveted title "The King Slayer".

This video cracks me up every time I watch it and it helped me learn the Lich King fight. I've done a bunch of practice runs on it with the raid group I'm in and hope to down it this week for my first time.

This is a more technical guide than the above, if that didn't do it for you.

Phase 1 : Shambling Horrors

You will need at least 2 tanks and preferably 3 healers for this fight in 10 man. The main tank will position him at the bottom of the stairs. The raid will be slightly to the right of the middle of the platform. The offtank will be toward the right of the stairs.

After the pull the Lich King will cast Infest which is an AOE that applies a dot raid wide that does damage and can only be dispelled by the person infected being healed to 90% hp. It's important for healers to get their raid healed while conserving their mana and not over-healing. He will continue doing this throughout the fight.

The Lich King will spawn Drudge Ghouls which are pretty harmless. Just have the off-tank pick them up. He will eventually spawn a Shambling Horror. The off-tank must pick this up as well and face it away from the raid because he has a frontal cone that does damage. He will also periodically enrage increasing his damage. His enrage can by "dispelled" with a hunters Tranquilizing Shot. The Lich King will cast Necrotic Plague on a raid member. That person will need to run from the group to the off tank and stand on the outside of him so that you're making a lovely sandwich with the Shambling Horror being in the middle and the off-tank and raid member being the bread. When this debuff is dispelled it will jump to the closest target and intensify in damage. This is how the Shambling Horrors will be dps'd down mainly. If the debuff isn't dispelled and wears off it will kill the raid member. The rest of the raid should still be attacking the Lich King. When Necrotic Plague intensifies this will also give the Lich King a damage buff.

Once the Lich King is down to 70% he will start phase 1.5 it is important that the Shambling Horrors are dead. If they are not, Ranged DPS should finish them off now though usually Necrotic Plague will finish them off.

Phase 1.5 : Raging Spirits

Again at 70% The Lich King will go into phase 1.5. It's important for everyone to run to the outside ring, usually the right side and spread out into 3 groups. Usually the back group, now the far left group looking inward, is a healer, main tank, and dps then dps and healers for the other groups. The off-tank might still have a Shambling Horror and he will be at the outside edge on the far right comparatively from all the groups. Some DPS'ers can help dps the Shambling Horror to make it die a little more quickly. The off-tank will need a big heal because he will be the last one with Necrotic Plague on him when the Shambling Horror dies while he also waits for it to be dispelled before joining the group.

During this time the Lich King will be casting Remorseless Winter which does damage to anyone standing in the inner circle of the platform. This is why everyone is on the outside edge. Frost orbs will also slowly make their way to the raid group from the Lich King. Ranged DPS should pick those off as it's fairly easy because they have low health. Raging Spirits will also begin to spawn. It takes about 5 seconds for them to spawn once someone has been targeted. It's important for the tanks to pick them up and for everyone to DPS them down. They have a frontal cone silence and I've seen them kill healers all the time.

The Lich King will also cast Pain and Suffering during this phase which is a random stacking dot that could spread to more players if you are bunched up. It is the reason why everyone spreads out at the beginning of this phase. After the third Raging Spirit, the Lich King will cast Quake and the raid must move inwards as the outside ring will now crumble and fall below. The raid will run back tanking the Lich King in the middle while being sure to avoid any frost orbs, killing them, and killing any Raging Spirits still alive.

Phase 2 Val'kyrs

While tanking the Lich King in the middle every player should stack on each other as close as possible. The Lich King will cast Defile which is a dot that will drop an AOE that when is touched by any raid member, grows larger in size. Defile is actually bigger than its graphic so players can trigger it to grow even if they are just on the edge of it. This is why everyone should be stacking close to each other so they can quickly run away when someone has defile. It is better to drop them on the left and right side of the raid group. You can also try dropping it in a V pattern, with the Defile being the tops of the V and the Lich King and raid group being the bottom point of the V.

During this phase he will also summon Val'kyrs. Val'kyrs will pick up a raid member and carry them in a direction off the platform. The raid must dps them down. Stuns and slows will also help. Having someone die to a Val'kyr is hard to recover from. You can predict which way a Val'kyr will go. If you are in the middle of the room, the Val'kyr will move in the direction closest to the edge. So if you move slightly in a direction where the path is not going over a Defile, the Val'kyr will carry you in that direction.

The Lich King will also cast Soul Reaper. The tanks should switch off taunting so the tank with the Soul Reaper debuff is not tanking.

Phase 2.5 Raging Spirits Again

When the Lich King is at 40% he will enter this phase which is exactly like phase 1.5 but will spawn one more Raging Spirit than phase 1.5.

Phase 3

If any Raging Spirits are still up it is important to get them down. The Lich King will spawn numerous Vile Spirits from above that will move toward the raid and detonate. They can be slowed and taunted but raid members should move out of the way if they are getting too close. They need to be dps'd down. He will still cast Defile and Soul Reaper during this phase but will not Summon Val'kyrs or cast Infest.

The Lich King will cast Harvest Soul which does a lot of damage to a raid member. If that raid member survives they will be transported inside Frostmourne to meet Teranas Menethil. There is a Spirit Warden that needs to be killed so you are released from this "room". If you are a healer, heal Teranas Menethil and he will kill the Spirit. The more health he has the more dps he does. If you are a DPS kill the Spirit before Menethil dies. The Spirit casts a drain with a dot that can be dispelled or interrupted. It is important to do so otherwise Menethil will die at the end of it. You will gain a damage debuff but if you don't kill the Spirit fast enough that debuff will kill you and buff the Lich King.

Phase 4

At 10% the Lich King will cast Fury of Frostmourne wiping the entire raid. Do not release. Some people try to and get a message in the form of a whisper saying you cannot because "You belong to the Lich King". Some players can bug out and release so it is good to just not press it. The fight is basically over anyway. Some RP begins, and eventually you will be mass resurrected and the Lich King will be incapacitated. Dps him down and you've done it. There is no race at this point. You can AFK and Tirion Fordring will kill him if you let him. It's rumored to take a complete hour by himself to do so.

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