Two Bosses Enter: Grand Magus Telestra vs. Herald Volazj
by Lisa Poisso 
Sep 24th 2009 at 5:00PM
Grand Magus Telestra's reputed "hot factor" was much cited in her first-round battle against Utgarde Keep's Prince Keleseth, but we can't puzzle out a way it could have any impact at all in this week's cage fight against the faceless Herald Volazj of Ahn'Kahet: The Old Kingdom. Telestra's Nexus brand of magic may find the Herald's boss-beating brand of Insanity a tough audience for her hair- (and opponent-) flinging ways.
We'll use the standard Two Bosses Thunderdome ground rules:
- Assume that the opponents along with their minions share similar levels, health pools and comparative overall damage output.
- This deathmatch takes place on neutral territory, which shall in no way hinder either combatant from using his or her usual battle abilities.
- All the usual minions will be available to each boss.
- Don't get caught up in gameplay mechanics and what actual players might do in each encounter.
- Don't neglect style, story and scale.
Grand Magus Telestra (The Nexus) There's plenty of me to go around. I'll give you more than you can handle.
Grand Magus Telestra is a High Elf mage of the Kirin Tor who has allied herself with Malygos in order to retain her arcane powers. She guards part of Keristrasza's prison inside The Nexus and is leader of the effort to redirect the ley lines in the Dragonblight.
- Firebomb
- Ice Nova
- Gravity Well
- Mirror image: splits into Fire, Frost and Arcane forms
Herald Volazj (Ahn'Kahet: The Old Kingdom)Ywaq maq oou; ywaq maq ssaggh. Ywaq ma shg'fhn. (They do not die; they do not live. They are outside the cycle.)
The faceless Herald Volazj belongs to the ancient race known as servants of the Old Gods (maybe even Yogg-Saron). Volazj whispers directly into opponents' minds, slowly and relentlessly driving them insane and causing them to fight one another.
Read more about Herald Volazj's combat and review insights from players who've defeated him.
The cage match smackdown
Two Boss matchups are about substance and style, not game play and mechanics. Don't get swept up into thinking about how players would react – there are no players in the Thunderdome. No game-mechanic nitpicking! Vote for the spirit of the battle as set forth above. Set aside differences in opponents' health pools, game level and actual damage output.
Who wins, and why? We'll see you down below in the comments. Can you come up with a convincing scenario that will sway other readers to your point of view?
| Grand Magus Telestra wins (Volazj dies) | |
|---|---|
| Herald Volazj wins (Telestra dies) | |
| Tie (something else happens) |
Cast your vote in this match of Round Two of the five-man Wrath of the Lich King season to help us determine who rocks Wrath's five-man world.Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Features, Lore, Bosses, Two Bosses Enter
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
Gnosh Sep 24th 2009 5:06PM
Hmm. It comes down to who does more damage- if Volazj uses Insanity before the Split, it won't do a thing.
Clydtsdk-Rivendare Sep 24th 2009 5:06PM
Novos?....
Meanwhile, how is Insanity supposed to work in this matchup?
Raegar Sep 30th 2009 4:59PM
I believe Novos holds the edge because if she splits during insanity or out she will be doing massive damage to the one add or to the herald himself
Ravasha Sep 24th 2009 5:15PM
I think Volazj would win. It would hypnotise Telestra, pick him up with the tentacles and then do something with his tentacles everyone with tentacles would do with a woman.
Elmo Sep 24th 2009 5:19PM
I'd say Insanity is perfect against her splits.
pfooti Sep 24th 2009 5:20PM
Yeah. First: tentacles vs hot chick. Tentacles win. But seriously- insanity vs her split? Boom. One dead Magus.
Tyler Sep 24th 2009 5:21PM
Herald lies in waiting, chaining his basic abilities to stop the hurt from Tel's magic and patiently, cunningly springs his trap when the moment is perfect. Tel splits into her three forms and gets hit with insanity. Her three forms are split from the same mind, know their own strengths and weaknesses. They battle amongst themselves trying to break out, but by the time she reforms, the damage will have been done. A shadow volley punishes the dragon-elf-thing and she fades from the mortal coil.
csulz Sep 24th 2009 5:28PM
would each mirror image have to fight mirror images of the other mirror images?
i dont see Telestra being able to keep track of all that and the insanity would never fade.
IvanZephyr Sep 24th 2009 5:29PM
Volazj would win almost any way you look at the fight.
The fight begins, Volazj charges and begins attacking Telestra. Telestra begins casting her spells while Volazj uses Shadow Bolt Volley and Mind Flay when available.
As their health begins to drop, Telestra pops Mirror Images. At this point, Volazj uses Shadow Bolt Volley and Shiver, attacking all the adds twice. He then proceeds to use Insanity.
While the Mirrors images fight each other, Volazj sits back and laughs at the stupidity of Telestra. When Insanity finishes, the Mirror Images will all but be dead, and if they are not, a simple Mind Flay will finish it off.
The fight continues the same way until Telestra pops Mirror Images again, to which Volazj uses Shadow Bolt Volley and Shiver once more, and then Insanity.
Overall, Telestra's Mirror Images, which are the niche of her fight, are fairly negated due to Volazj's aoe abilities damaging them initially, and then they are weakened by Insanity further.
Telestra's images round 2 are destroyed and Volazj finishes her off with Mind Flay, Shadow Bolt Volley, and Shiver.
She never stood a chance.
noDEforyou Sep 24th 2009 5:35PM
"Novos' minions, too, are subject to these effects. They must slay the mirror images of their cohorts before they will be able to turn on the Herald – unless the Herald kills them first."
Uh, I thought we were talking about Grand Magus Telestra? Since when does she have Novos's minions? Cut-and-paste gone wrong? Laziness corrupting a pretty simple post?
Shock Sep 24th 2009 5:48PM
This might be the easiest fight to call. Vol wins it without breaking a sweat.
Tel runs in and starts damaging Vol for just a few % of his hp. Vol comes back with mind flay spam.
Tel realizes the only way she can do more damage is to split into her mirror image. This is just what Volazj wants. The second she casts it Volazj hits her with shiver.
Before Tel has a chance to counter, Volazj casts Insanity and watches Telestra kill herself, while laughing.
She comes out of it - casts gravity well followed by frost nova to seal him in place for firebomb attacks. It doesn't do enough and she pops Mirror Image only to see the same thing happen.
The dust settles and you see Volazj standing over her corpse laughing with hardly any scratches on him.
Adamanthis Sep 24th 2009 5:49PM
So, Volazj uses Insanity right after the split, resulting in three Telestras fighting six hostile Telestras? Big deal. Insanity without a druid or pally to kill? Piece of cake. She wins.
moonblaze Sep 24th 2009 6:09PM
This really comes down to how Volazj's Insanity would react to Telestra's Mirror Images. If he creates a copy of each image than the original, then she would have no fighting power. If he doesn't, each of her splits would surely overpower even his Insanity.
I don't think of Insanity as a copycat spell though. I think of it as an illusion attempted by the boss. So he wouldn't be able to copy her specific abilities, just her general attack pattern, leaving out the Mirror Images.
StaTich Sep 24th 2009 6:11PM
Herald Volazj didn't farm alterac valley to reach level 80 like Telestra did, he pugged instances, thus while at lvl 72 he pugged a nexxus group defeated Telestra and lernt the tactics by hart. After they are both put in the thunderdome, the fight begins with both spamming their spells trying to get one another dead. At 70% Telestra splits thinking she has the upper edge in the fight, but Volazj doesn't use insanity at first, he first casts enough shadow bolt volleys and shivers to get the images at 5%, then BAM insanity.
The 3 mirrors fight till they die against their 6 counterparts then Telestra forms again, having to fight the 6 images, after she defeats the 6 images, they form another 2 Telestras resulting in a 2hour long fight.
Insanity ends, Telestra exits the fight with 10% health remaining just to find Herald Volazj with full health (having a bandage debuff of course), riding a "Brewfast mount" with 10 empty beer bottles scattered all around the arena. Her mind explods thus proclaiming Volazj the absolute winner.
Arrace Sep 25th 2009 10:43AM
The best description of the fight. You win everyone else fails great job mate!
althalas Sep 24th 2009 6:17PM
This just seems to be bad Hentia waiting to happen. I mean really, He i smostly tentacles and she splits into 3 people.
eric_barbaric Sep 25th 2009 10:39AM
lol...I was going to mention the hentia aspect too, but you beat me to it.
Marolas Sep 25th 2009 3:58PM
If you're going to bring 'hentai' into the conversation, at least spell it right...
ash Sep 24th 2009 6:21PM
I don't how big of a deal this is since its all hypothetical but Telestra's split images aren't even real, so Insanity would not work on them -- Insanity would be a useless spell in this battle.
Nazgûl Sep 24th 2009 6:29PM
Insanity doesn't actually clone real things and pit them against each other; rather, it makes a real thing (Telestra) insane, causing them to see illusions of their allies attacking them.
Hence their reality is irrelevant: Volazj wins.