Two bosses enter... but only one will get to leave in our series of fantasy deathmatches. Over at WoW Insider HQ, we've selected some of the most dangerous bosses to be found in the
World of Warcraft today, and now we're pitting them against one another in a fight to the death where only one can be champion. And the best part of all this fun? You get to pick our winner! That's right -- after reading up on each boss, your votes and comments will determine who goes on to the next round and whose lifeless body gets a victory screenshot.
This week we're looking at Prince Malchezaar from Karazhan and Hakkar the Soulflayer from Zul'Gurub -- and before you balk that Karazhan and its inhabitants are much more difficult than those in the lower-level Zul'Gurub, I must remind you that the rules of our little game mean we attempt to consider these bosses on equal footing. That means they're both going into this fight with approximately the same level, health, and damage ability -- what we're debating here is how they fight, not which one has the most hit points.
If we've piqued your interest, keep reading for a rundown of each bosses' mad fighting skillz!
Heavy shadow and melee damage aren't Malchezaar's only trick -- he also summons infernals to aid him in combat. When these land, they cast a wide-range fire-based AOE attack and once Malchezaar is below 30% health, they're summoned frequently, and will overwhelm a standard player raid in a couple of minutes. Malchezaar's abilities are summed up as follows:
- A Shadow Word: Pain DoT
- A Shadow Nova shadow damage AoE with knockback
- Infernals summoned with a fire AoE
- Higher melee damage when under 60% health, when he summons axes to fight with (when using these he can Thrash to gain additional attacks and Cleave to hit multiple targets)
- Flying axes when under 30% health which randomly attack targets
Anyone experienced with the Prince Malchezaar fight will notice that I've left out a major portion of it -- Enfeeble. During a standard fight, Malchezaar will randomly cast Enfeeble on five raid members, reducing their maximum health to 1 and preventing all healing and health regeneration. This is tricky, because it means these raid members have to carefully position themselves out of range of Shadow Novas and Infernal drops. However, Malchezaar will never cast Enfeeble on the main tank, and since this fight is a one on one, with Hakkar essentially acting as the main tank, Enfeeble shouldn't come into play.
For those of you who want all of the gory details on Prince Malchezaar's abilities,
WoWWiki is the place to check.
For players, Hakkar is a gimmick fight. If you know the trick to the fight, the execution is simple -- but if you don't know the trick, you'll never beat him. For his abilities, we're going to presume that he's on his own, without any support from his priests or priestesses, which leaves a simple fight for us to consider. Hakkar brings down his opponents with the following abilities:
- Corrupted Blood, a shadow damage DoT
- Blood Siphon, a channeled spell that stuns the target, does damage, and heals Hakkar for about five times the damage done. Hakkar casts this like clockwork every 90 seconds. (For player raids, the trick is to get poisoned by nearby mobs -- then Hakkar's Blood Siphon will siphon the poison and damage him instead of healing him. Without this, he simply heals too much to be killable.)
- Enrage: after 10 minutes, Hakkar will enrage, greatly increasing his damage output
Hakkar also has two different mind control abilities, but these would both be rather pointless in a one on one situation. This should tell you what you need to know for our purposes, but for the complete details of the Hakkar fight,
check out WoWWiki.
Now comes the time you've all been waiting for -- time to vote! However, before you make your decision, I'd like to remind you again that we're trying to consider these bosses with approximately the same level, health, and damage output. So don't just say Karazahn is higher level than Zul'gurub and be done with it, but instead think about what might happen if these two actually encountered one another with reason to fight.
Tags: hakkar, hakkar the soulflayer, HakkarTheSoulflayer, karazahn, malchezaar, prince malchezaar, prince melchezaar, PrinceMalchezaar, two bosses enter, TwoBossesEnter, world of warcraft, WorldOfWarcraft, wow, zul'gurub
Filed under: Two Bosses Enter
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Qualm Aug 26th 2007 5:46PM
I'm going to have to say Prince, simply because Hakkar will only be healing off of ONE person, which isn't THAT much.
Prince can easily dps that down, especially with his phase 2.
With infernals, extra damage and eventually floating axes, Hakkar's few abilities pale in comparison.
Live2Win Aug 26th 2007 11:31AM
The main thing you have to factor in is whether or not Prince Malchezaar read up on Hakkar strats before the fight. If he doesn't know to get poisoned in order to counter Blood Siphon, this is an easy victory for Hakkar.
But, assuming they're on neutral ground, would there even be any nearby mobs that Malchezaar could poison himself with?
Finnicks Daerkhiv Aug 26th 2007 11:31AM
I'm going with Hakkar on this one.
With all Melchezzar's Infernal adds (who aren't exactly likely to be pre-poisoned), Hakkar is going to be healing through EVERYTHING Melchezzar could possibly do.
Joshiepoo Aug 26th 2007 11:34AM
Don't forget that Hakkar is a god. While Malchezzar is just a Prince.
Gogey Aug 26th 2007 11:37AM
Once again, you didn't say whether prince would go into the poison. Since you didn't mention, I'll assume he didnt. So Hakkar wins.
Azurogg Aug 26th 2007 11:50AM
Unless there are plenty of mobs around to poison Prince this will be an easy fight for Hakkar. He simply heals himself for too much even if the infernals aren't being drained as well.
dotorion Aug 26th 2007 11:58AM
No poison on Prince and def. not on his infernals (since they're summoned) will make it an easy drain tank strategy for Hakkar.
Morrigän Aug 26th 2007 12:04PM
You never know. After all, OVER NINE THOUSAND infernals can pop up at Hakkar's head... or not.
Freakin' lucky fight... I hate Prince.
(and infernals have no health nor blood to be sucked...)
Lanth Aug 26th 2007 12:13PM
I take it we are assuming Hakkar gains none of the abilities he gets when the other bosses in ZG aren't killed?
Some notes of interest:
Malchezaar's Abyssals cannot be targetted or attacked, which means Blood Siphon will only affect one target. That means 1000 healing per second for Hakkar, rather than the 40000 that would normally occur when facing 40 people without the poison. Some may say that 8000 health is pretty useful, but not when he uses it every 90 seconds.
Malchezaar's Enfeeble does nothing, because it cannot affect his primary target. Neither does Hakkar's Will of the Hakkar, for it only affects humanoids, and Malchezaar is a demon.
Hakkar's Cause Insanity is fairly pointless in this fight, because it means Hakkar and Malchezaar will just stand there doing nothing for 10 seconds in 10-15.
Given this, I believe Malchezaar will win, because he has many abilities, such as Shadow Word: Pain, Shadow Nova and Thrash, as opposed to Hakkar's Corrupted Blood and Blood Siphon. Also, an Abyssal (or two) might land directly on Hakkar, increasing Malchezaar's damage output a fair bit.
WatcherZero Aug 26th 2007 12:20PM
Since when has Hakkar ever been a 40 man fight?
assuming prince hasnt killed the other avatar bosses first this will be a very easy fight for Hakkar.
Lanth Aug 26th 2007 12:24PM
@9: Woops, forgot ZG was only 20 man. Still, 20000 per second for 8 seconds is still a lot more than 1000 per second.
Adam Aug 26th 2007 12:42PM
I'm going to have to go with Prince on this one. I don't think blood siphon would be healing for that much (and that's IF price doesn't know the trick to it or there's no mobs to get poisoned on); I think prince could out-dps the blood siphon that is just on himself.
Charmed Aug 26th 2007 1:07PM
the fight would be over before the first blood siphon. Prince would own him.
Shiffer Aug 26th 2007 1:42PM
Hakkar fights not Malchezzar alone, but the LEGIONS he commands!
Assuming all other ZG bosses are down (this is given), even Blood Siphon will not heal Hakkar through his highness' phase 2.
A well matched and interesting fight, though. I'd watch it.
Neifir Aug 26th 2007 2:01PM
Hakkar and Prince meet at a bar. some oaf spills a drink on Hakkar and he assume's it was the Prince behind him. Fight ensues.
They DOT each other up, Hakkar rushing in to melee. Prince uses his Shadow Nova, pushing Hakkar back and begins summoning infernals. Hakkar bulls ahead once more.They pummel each other, infernals raining down. Hakkar uses his first blood siphon and Prince throws him back again with Shadow Nova. They go back and forth, Hakkar Hovering around 85-90% until Prince hits the 60% mark. Using Shadow Nova again, he pushes Hakkar back and begins an all out with his summoned Axes. Hakkar's health starts falling more towards 60, then 50 and they even out at 40% health, cleaving and thrashing the whole way. Hakker hits his 10 minute enrage. They duke it out, Prince's axes flying all over as they pummel Hakkar. Prince continues to use Shadow Nova to his advantage, pushing back Hakkar. Hakkar's Siphon is reduced as the Prince's damage output increases through Cleave, Thrashing, and summoned infernals.
In the end, Hakkar falls dead, pummeled and burned to singe as Prince stands victorious with 15% heal and a legion of infernals behind him.
Just my $.02
Neifir Aug 26th 2007 2:08PM
We should be asking...does the knockback effect of Prince negate the Siphon effect of Hakkar? If not, I'd say it'll be close. If it does, hands down, Prince. The prince just gets more damage output as the fight continues. IF he can get Hakkar down in 10 minutes, it's golden. If Hakkar can last 10 minutes, he might be able to pull ahead, but chances are slim. That's a long fight with the Prince only getting more options as he takes damage.
crapton Aug 26th 2007 2:10PM
just reading the feature and the comments make me angry.
on equal level and hit points a warlock would beat anything so let's just forget the whole thing ;)
Seamus Aug 26th 2007 2:43PM
"Gimmick", indeed. Unless there is some way for the other boss to get poisoned, Hakkar is not only going to win this fight, but all the fights thereafter.
Xiryc Aug 26th 2007 3:45PM
Anyone who thinks Hakkar can heal through Prince's damage with just one target to siphon from has never fought Prince in game.
Ichigo Aug 26th 2007 6:29PM
One on One, this fight is the Prices.
However, if the following is true, then the Price gets whooped like Ali did against Frazier in their 1st fight.
Did the Prince take out Hakkar's cronies? If not, bonus Hakkar.
Are the Price's Infernals target-able by Hakkar's Blood Siphon? If so, and Hakkar can survive the first 90 seconds of the Prince's attacks, then it's checkmate.