Two Bosses Enter: Maiden of Grief vs. Prince Taldaram
by Lisa Poisso 
Apr 23rd 2009 at 8:00PM
On the heels of a Zuramat the Obliterator (Violet Hold) victory this week over Hadronox of Azjol-Nerub, we bring you this week's fantasy deathmatch: the Maiden of Grief from Halls of Stone versus Prince Taldaram of Ahn'Kahet: The Old Kingdom. Can you predict the outcome?
The usual rules apply: Assume that these foes share similar levels, health pools and damage output. The battle will take place in neutral territory; Prince Taldaram will not be protected by a force field that must be taken down before battle. Focus your debate on the three S's: Style, Story and Scale. Don't get caught up in game mechanics and what actual players might do in each encounter. Consider the flavor each villainous gladiator brings to bear, leave your comment on what you think would happen and why, and then cast your vote for who you think would come out on top.
Maiden of Grief You shouldn't have come...now you will die!
The Maiden of Grief, who resides in the Halls of Stone, is a Titan – a darker version of her sister-in-arms, Karazhan's Maiden of Virtue.
Despite the physical resemblance of the two foes, the battles are considerably different. Opponents battling the Maiden of Grief will need to be watchful and mobile throughout the fight.
For all the sorrow that she can impart, will the Maiden of Grief be able to withstand Prince Taldaram's Embrace of the Vampyr?
Read this overview of how the Maiden of Grief conducts herself during battle, and review comments from players who've defeated her.
Prince Taldaram I will drink no blood before its time.
Prince Taldaram of Ahn'Kahet: The Old Kingdom is a Darkfallen, a group of Undead Elven renegades from Quel'Thalas who are sworn to serve the Lich King. Like his fellow Blood Princes, Taldaram hungers for blood and flesh even in death.
In Ahn'Kahet, he is protected by a force shield that must be deactivated before one can engage his bloody attentions. Since our deathmatch here takes place in neutral territory, the force shield will not be a factor before or during the duel.
Will Prince Taldaram be able to bear through the Maiden of Grief's relentless shadow damage?
Read this overview of Prince Taldaram's battle tactics, and review comments from players who've defeated him.
The smackdown
The usual rules apply: assume that the opponents share similar levels, health pools and damage output. They are fighting in neutral territory; there is no need to break down Prince Taldaram's force shield either before or during battle.
Can you come up with a convincing scenario in the comments that will sway other readers to vote for your victor of choice?
| Neither; it's a tie | |
|---|---|
| Maiden of Grief | |
| Prince Taldaram |
Filed under: Features, Bosses, Two Bosses Enter
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Zerkownea Apr 23rd 2009 8:16PM
Maiden wins.
Though Taldaram can heal throughout the fight, Maiden has more DOTs at her disposal.
The winning strat for Maiden is to remain standing in Storm of Grief, as it out DPSs Taldaram's Embrace of the Vampyr. Throw in the rest of her abilities, and Taldaram dies a slow, sorrowful death...
csdx Apr 24th 2009 8:56AM
I agree.
MOAR DOTS always wins the day
ALEX_ODST Apr 23rd 2009 8:18PM
Maiden Wins aways
muffin_of_chaos Apr 23rd 2009 8:23PM
The Fire Orbs are gonna make mincemeat of Maiden, since there's only one of her and the damage won't be split amongst party members.
seanfury Apr 23rd 2009 8:28PM
Taldaram.
Hattai Apr 23rd 2009 9:25PM
Taldaram, no contest, maiden is screwed once he start draining her
Llothtank Apr 24th 2009 12:44PM
Maiden wins. all she needs to do is throw one of her Reese CUps underneath her, and when Prince tries vampiric embrace on her, he is just sitting IN the DoTs. his healing wont be enough to counter all the damage the giant Reese Cup will cause him.
Vaglas Apr 23rd 2009 9:40PM
Since we're assuming they're both intelliegent beings, Taldram knows he won't be able to Drain the Maiden, as she's not exactly a mortal like his other victims were. However, he still has his nifty fire spheres and a personal reset to the fight via vanish. The Maiden pretty much knows she can stand within her own storm of doom and win this.
As soon as the fight starts, the Maiden brings out a storm but the prince stays out, casting his fire balls to deal easily with her.
The maiden notices and uses her shock of sorrow to interupt him. she sprints to the prince and brings her hammer down to crush him. However, the count vanishes and strikes from behind with his blood thirst.
the maiden gets out another Storm under feet inpreparation of his Assault. The prince however spams his flame spheres and the maid takes major damage as she attempts to leave her storm. In trouble, the maiden risks it all by covering all but 2 parts of the arena in her storms, when she comes into smash the prince, he vanishes again, landing in the only place he can.
The prince looks down, his eyes wide in horror as the floor erupts into a pillar of woe and he falls dead to the floor.
Para Apr 26th 2009 1:10PM
Or the fire spheres destroy her in no time, those spheres do a large amount of damage even when split against other characters and so all of those beams pointing at 1 boss will mean he will outdamage her in notime at all.
Trenan Apr 23rd 2009 9:52PM
Taldaram wins this so long as he is smart enough to get out of the storm. Maiden has no counter for the healing from bloodthirst, and since she is the only target, flame spheres will be pelting her as she attempts to get away. She also has no counter for embrace, so shes gonna be trapped while he takes off her health. He can also use vanish to get away if she gets near him. Her dots would be her only way to fight back, however, pillar of woe isnt enough to outset Taldaram's damage, resulting in a victory for him.
Wulfkin Apr 23rd 2009 10:25PM
Maiden wins - I doubt Taladrem's embrace would work on a titan construct, and although he can avoid her and hit her with fireballs, her abilities will really hurt him as a caster. Eventually he would get worn down.
squig_masta Apr 24th 2009 12:23AM
Gotta give this to the maiden. Since I'm pretty sure she doesn't HAVE blood to drain, the only tricks he has at his disposal are flame spears and a disappearing act (easily counterable by shock). That plus the mana drain from Parting Sorrow and the Nasty Dot from Pillar of Woe (plus I doubt his melee attacks would do all that much to a living statue) It's a pretty one sided fight.
I'm not saying the Maiden would be indestructible, she just needs to be taken on with someone with a lot of brute force to smash through her (wtb General Bjarngrim or King Dred) not an undead elf who specializes in running away then biting your neck when your back is turned. The poor prince would chip his fangs.
Netara Apr 24th 2009 12:52AM
The prince doesn't really have anything useful. The maiden uses her shock and then uses her pillar of woe always keeping a storm of doom under her feet. Disappearing doesn't do much as he'll be forced to stop draining her life after a few tics from the storm and all the dots. Flame spheres... She keeps him moving, end of story :P
Jabadabadana Apr 24th 2009 1:27AM
Taldaram wins this, with our without blood to drain.
He's quite mobile and intelligent, he wont stand in the void zones. He can heal himself, burn her, and lets not forget, he's not just some piddly weak elf. He's a vampire, and last I checked, super strength was part of the gift/curse. I think he can dismantle her into plenty small enough bits with his melee.
And if we're counting embrace, this is really no contest.
Aureliusz Apr 24th 2009 2:38AM
I think Prince Taldaram would win. Being a smart little Blood Prince, I think he'd rush in there with the Bloodthirsts going as much as possible until the Pillar of Woe DoT was at a point where he can use Embrace without being interrupted. Maiden will be helpless as he slowly drains massive damage from her. This would be followed by Maiden putting up a storm and Taldaram vanishing, and a flame sphere or two. The anti-mana bolt would hurt, I think, but wouldn't cause too much trouble. As long as Taldaram keeps up the Bloodthirsts, and keeps Maiden either running away from him (vanish+spheres) or right next to him, incapacitated (embrace) he's got it down.
ccbutch Apr 24th 2009 3:10AM
I almost gave this to the Maiden until I realized that Taldaram's Embrace of the Vampyr doesn't suck blood, it "consumes the life force."
Both characters are smart and would be constantly dodging the others attacks, Taldaram won't stand in the Storm and the Maiden would to keep his embrace to a minimum, but in the end Taldaram has more at his disposal. If the shock didn't break on damage it would have been a different story.
Jawajoey Apr 24th 2009 4:35AM
Close fight that goes to Taldaram.
Shock of Grief won't help her much in a one on one, especially with an intelligent, mobile enemy and all the storms and pillars she'll throw around.
Embrace of the Vampyr will be a nice tool, though assuming the Maiden is smart enough to keep Pillar of Woe on him, and keep him moving with Storms, it won't dominate her.
So far, Taldaram has a slight advantage, and the rest of their abilities spell out the rest. Parting Sorrow is nothing special. But Taldaram has healing to keep him up, vanish to give him mobility and flexibility.
The DOTs and ground targeted AOEs will keep Maiden competitive when she's dodging the Flame Sphere, but it's still going to cost her.
Simply put, the Maiden doesn't have anything to give her an edge over Taldaram. It's a close fight, but all the tricks are up Taldaram's sleaves.
Arkhell Apr 24th 2009 4:37AM
Prince hands down,
most people say his embrace won't work cause maiden has no blood, but as mentioned before it's the life force he drains so not the blood. maiden is screwed since she can't shake that, and she's to masive to get away fast from the spheres, which are... pretty hot fire dmg on metal... melting.... cutting trough the armor making the defence she gets from beiing a titan much less, and there comes the prince with his melee hitting the weak armor bam insta kill.
so gratz prince on beiing an enoying bugger ^^
Robert Apr 24th 2009 6:28AM
Taldaram as soon as he starts draining her its over since no one is there to inflict damage to maiden to stop him she dies and if it ends before then she has low health he pops flame sphere and its over.She may try to use DoTs to kill him while he dinks but the chances of it bieng enough in time are....just not there.
Ray Apr 24th 2009 8:06AM
Maiden wins. How do you drink blood from a rock?