With your dumb faction leaders rebuked for causing needless deaths, it's time to move on to what Tirion calls the final challenge.

ENCOUNTER 4: THE VAL'KYR TWINS

Tirion Fordring: Only by working together will you defeat the final challenge. From the depths of Icecrown come two of the Scourge's most powerful lieutenants -- fierce val'kyr, winged harbingers of the Lich King!

Before I start the actually summary of this fight, I'll pose this question: Have you ever played the game Ikaruga? Yes? Okay. Because this fight is Ikaruga.

For those not in the know, I'll break it down.

Eydis Darkbane and Fjola Lightbane are each one color, Light or Dark. The Val'kyr will turn members of the raid Light or Dark as well.

Dark Essence -- You have the Dark Essence! You absorb Dark damage, deal less damage to Dark targets and deal bonus damage to Light targets. Absorbing Dark damage can cause a Surge of Speed!
Light Essence -- You have the Light Essence! You absorb Light damage, deal less damage to Light targets and deal bonus damage to Dark targets. Absorbing Light damage can cause a Surge of Speed!

Absorbing Dark or Light damage brings up your buff stack, and when it reaches 100 you proc:

Surge of Speed -- Increases move speed by 50% for 10 sec. Stacks. (0 yd, cast: 0 seconds

I'm unsure why this speed boost is necessary, but it must mean something. There are a ton of spells that talk about summoning Light or Dark "Bullets", which makes me think of Ikaruga even more.

The twins have a number of attacks and dual spells, like:

Twin's Pact -- The Twin's Pact heals for 10% of their total HP.
Power of the Twins -- The shared power of the Twins increases Physical damage dealt by 20% and allows the Twin to Dual Wield for 15 sec.
Val'kyr Quickness -- The Power of the Twins increases attack speed by 10% for 15 sec. Stacks.

There's more, too! A pair of void zones that each deal Dark or Light damage, on the fly switching of colors, a spell that allows damage to be shared between the sisters ... it seems like a crazy fight. Like Thaddius 2.0. You'll be attempting to DPS whatever Twin is your color opposite, though, is the heart of it. Oh, and don't kill your raid members of the opposite color.



With the Val'kyr twins defeated, everyone's ready to celebrate ... when the bottom drops out of the Coliseum and drops you the challengers into Naz'anak, the Forgotten Depths.

And that's where you meet an old friend.



ENCOUNTER 5: ANUB'ARAK

Anub'arak: Ahhh ... our guests have arrived, just as the Master promised.

Yep, he's back. Never mind that we took his head and his carapace. It doesn't matter. What matters is that he's here now, as a raid boss, just like everyone wanted.

He's brought back a number of his trademark abilities:

Impale -- Fires spikes up through the floor above Anub'arak, inflicting 11310 to 12690 Physical damage to anyone in their path. This attack ignores armor, but cannot penetrate Permafrost.
Leeching Swarm -- Releases a swarm of insects that attack the caster's enemies, leeching 10% of each target's current health every 1 sec. A minimum of 250 health will be leeched. This damage heals Anub'arak.

He also summons a number of different adds, including Burrowers. They have a buff similar to Auriaya's cats:

Spider Frenzy -- Increases attack and casting speeds by 50% for each Nerubian Burrower within 12 yds
.
Now, it appears that his Impale is back and better than ever, but this time he'll also Pursue someone with it, chasing them and causing Impale spikes to appear in his path. Clearly the aforementioned Permafrost works into this encounter somehow, but I'm unsure what causes the Permafrost to form or whether it's already there in a predetermined location.

Permafrost -- Freezes the ground in a small area, preventing most creatures from burrowing through it and reducing movement speed over the area by 70%.

Judging from the achievement, it's possible to kill Swarm scarabs with Impale spikes, which may be the most efficient way to deal with Anub'arak's post-30% swarm 'n' submerge tactic.


And that's my Coliseum raid speculation roundup. We'll post actual impressions of the fights once they get opened on the PTR -- thanks for reading and keep an eye out!