Patch 5.4 patch notes
Virtual Realms feature revealed
The Proving Grounds are coming
The latest patch 5.4 newsTwo Bosses Enter: Anub'Arak vs. Tribunal of Ages
by Lisa Poisso 
Dec 17th 2009 at 4:00PM
I'm hiding my eyes behind my hands for this one: Anub'Arak (Azjol-Nerub) versus Tribunal of Ages (Halls of Stone). Storyweavers, get ready to spin your webs ... This is the type of match where a good blow-by-blow account in the comments can go a long way toward swaying the vote.
But first, the
- This match takes place inside the Tribunal of Ages in the Halls of Stone ... or perhaps the Tribunal has been transplanted to the Two Bosses Thunderdome ... or perhaps they're someplace else ... Any way you slice it, the Tribunal's basic encounter mechanic functions as usual. Work with it, people! It's a fantasy tournie.
- No matter where you choose to set the match and who you may choose to stand in for Brann Bronzebeard, his survival ultimately determines the success or failure of the mission. Anub'Arak is therefore challenged with holding the Tribunal at bay long enough for Bronzebeard to complete his task. Technically, a "win" for Anub'Arak means that neither opponent dies.
- All of the competitors' abilities, including crowd control and other effects to which bosses are usually immune, work on their opponents.
- Assume that the opponents share similar levels, health pools and comparative overall damage output.
- Don't get caught up in gameplay mechanics and what actual players might do in each encounter.
- Don't neglect style, story and scale.
In Corner One: Anub'Arak (Azjol-Nerub)
I was king of this empire once, long ago. In life I stood as champion. In death I returned as conqueror. Now I protect the kingdom once more. Ironic, yes?
Anub'Arak, the former king of Azjol-Nerub, was among the Nerubians slaughtered in the War of the Spider and later raised as Undead by Ner'zhul the Lich King to do his bidding. Read the extensive lore page on Anub'Arak to learn more about his background.
Anub'Arak's battle strategy includes truly relentless tactics. Besides wreaking havoc with vicious attacks and environmental damage, he swarms opponents with protective Locusts and nettling Carrion Beetles. He periodically burrows underground, besieging opponents with packs of summoned minions.
Carrion Beetles- Locust Swarm
- Impale
- Pound
- Anub'ar Assassin
- Anub'ar Darter
- Anub'ar Guardian
- Anub'ar Venomancers
In Corner Two: The Tribunal of Ages, Halls of Stone
Abedneum: Warning! Life form pattern not recognized. Archival processing terminated. Continued interference will result in targeted response.
Kaddrak: Security breach in progress. Analysis of historical archives transferred to lower priority queue. Countermeasures engaged.
Marnak: Threat index threshold exceeded. Celestial archive aborted. Security level heightened.
Abedneum: Critical threat index. Void analysis diverted. Initiating sanitization protocol.
During the Tribunal of Ages encounter, adventurers must protect Dwarven explorer Brann Bronzebeard long enough that he can access a database to retrieve information required to complete the Halls of Stone quest. Hindering Brann and his helpers are the three stone faces of the Tribunal, Kaddrak, Abedneum and Marnak, plus wave after wave of foes including Dark Rune Protectors, Dark Rune Stormcallers and an Iron Golem Custodian.
Kaddrak Marnak
Abedneum
Dark Rune Protector
Dark Rune Stormcaller
Iron Golem Custodian
Read a description of the Tribunal of Ages event and review comments from players who've completed the related achievement. Review the Tribunal's first-bracket shut-out of Anomalus.
The smackdown
Two Boss matchups are about substance and style, not game play and mechanics. Don't base your strategies on player tactics, which opponent has been easiest or most difficult for you personally, or the difficulty of each opponent relative to instance progression. Vote for the spirit of the battle as set forth above. Set aside differences in opponents' health pools, game level and actual damage output. Absolutely no game-mechanic nitpicking!
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?
| Anub'Arak wins (Brann Bronzebeard or his stand-in completes his task) | |
|---|---|
| Tribunal of Ages wins (Anub'Arak or Brann/stand-in dies) | |
| Tie (something else happens) |
Who rocks Wrath's five-man world? Vote now and cheer on your favorite for this round in Two Bosses Enter, One Boss Leaves: The Original Wrath Five-Man Season. Review the current fighting bracket and consider who you think will come out on top.Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Fan stuff, Features, Lore, Bosses, Two Bosses Enter
Reader Comments (Page 3 of 3)
Silversol Dec 17th 2009 5:55PM
Anub defeats everything. Brann walks into the searing gaze after the event is over and dies. Anub facepalms.... impaling his own forehead.
darian Dec 17th 2009 5:59PM
It's fairly obvious what will happen. Has anyone ever looked *down* during the encounter? You're standing on a glass floor above a bottomless pit. A very pretty pit, but a pit nonetheless.
Shortly into the fight Anub'arak will burrow, shattering the glass floor and causing everyone to plummet into the endless darkness. This totally destroys the Archives in the process.
The Tribunal loses its purpose and goes insane, the Matrix is destabilized and by Cataclysm we have Keanu Reeves duking it out with Hugo Weaving while Vegita shouts something about their power levels.
In this scenario, the only winners are the Mudkipz.
lockanon Dec 17th 2009 11:57PM
You, sir, have just created a vacuum in which no other living being has internetz... you have possessed them all.
Adrian Dec 17th 2009 7:26PM
I voted for the tribunal, but have since sat and thought about it. See there's mobility and numbers at stake here, Anub can have swarms of insects defiling the tribunal and crawling all over it impeding a lot of the attacks, same thing goes for the tribunal adds, he's big, and packs a punch, he can grab the adds and fend off easily. All they need is Brann, or Mega-insect touching the controls in the right order for them to be shut down.
WE have the insects attack as they know best, playing a huge numbers game, sure you can attack an anthill with a magnifying glass, but unless you get all of them at once, they will just keep coming.
Vodkamartini Dec 17th 2009 7:36PM
The Lich King sits on his throne, with Kel'Thuzad glimmering in a smoky image. There is a sudden crash, bang and pow as saronite, ice and stone explode from the earth as Anub'arak burrows his way into the room.
"Can't you use the front door?" The Lich King screams.
"Most sorry, but your doors were designed 25 dwarves across or one abomination, not for a spiderlord beetle creature such as myself," Anub'arak says.
"Quite. I told the architecht, but they were in a hurry, my lord," Kel'Thuzad adds. "It was a small miracle we got the dragon into Naxx."
"Whatever. Tell your lackeys to clean it up and put it on Azjol-Nerub's bill," The Lich King says. "Anub'arak, you have been given a quest to represent not only the glory of the Scourge, but one to gain information of the highest order. You must infiltrate the Tribunal of Ages and access its system."
"Gladly, but I only got the hang of Windows," Anub'arak says.
"I know," the Lich King states flatly. "Unfortunately, the only person with some rudimentary knowledge of such a primitive system that isn't busy with ICC affairs is ... Patchwerk."
"WHAT?" the spiderlord interjects, mandibles reaching toward the floor as if to pick up his disbelief.
Kel'Thuzad interrupts. "Apparently, a chunk of the abomination's brain was a gnome that did archaeological work in Northrend. We saw him successfully access Aloe Kittie Island Adventures on an Amigo 64 machine left on the Titans' ruined road in Dragonblight. We believe with ... sufficient time ... he could access the information."
"An infinite room of monkeys on an infinite number of typewriters," the Lich King growls. "Just do it."
-Fast forward-
"Lich King says Patchwerk on loan from Naxxramas. Loan make Patchwerk ANGRY!!" the abomination screams as he walks his dirty feet onto the glass floor of the Tribunal of Ages.
"Shut up and do the job," says Anub'arak, pointing a claw towards the access panel of the Tribunal of Ages, hoping that hours of listening to the hulking vat of flesh whine for ice cream and "we dere yet" as finally come to a close.
Patchwerk rumbles toward the keyboard and begins banging his multiple fists on the device. "Play?"
The Tribunal of Ages whirs. "Greetings, Professor Branbronzan. Would you like to play a game?"
"Patchwerk want to play," says the abomination, banging harder on the machine as it loads, hatefully striking it. A vicious fart blasts from Patchwerk as he brushes his body against the mainframe. Drool from Patchwerk's mouth and bile from his open guts wipe across the machine, causing it to rescan its surface. Sirens begin to wail and light flash, burning the two undead massives.
"Initiating sanitization protocol," the machine blurts.
Anub'arak turns to see a small army of iron dwarves and golems approach, wielding weapons and disinfectant. He looks back at his partner. "A pestilence upon you! Patchwerk?"
"No more play?" says Patchwerk, looking at a monitor that has gone to a screen saver with barrelhead goby and glassfin minnows swimming, and asking for a password to resume.
Anub'arak hisses in disgust with his situation and turns toward the attackers. "You shall experience my torment first hand!" he bellows at the army running toward the room. "Auum na-l ak-k-k-k, isshhh!"
Anub'arak begins to dig up the floor but then -- by the grace of all the nerubian kings before him -- remembers how to cling to a wall, as he suddenly remembers the floor is nothing but glass, leading down to a light-filled shaft into nothingness. But the stress is already too much, and the crack spreads across the surface that supports the tonnage of machine, abomination and spider. The glass floor breaks, sending the console and the abomination down the shaft.
"What happened to --" says a surprised Patchwerk as the forces of gravity take hold of his massive frame.
A burning light comes out of one of the faces on the wall, hitting the back of Anub'arak but wires from the plummeting console yank the malicious head down the hole. The agony is not finished for the crypt lord, as the army of iron dwarves and golems run oblivious to the sudden lack of a floor, pelting the great spider's back as they fall to oblivion. In panic, Anub'arak's wings flap, bouncing some of the flailing automatons around the pit like pinballs going down a drainpipe.
The waves of iron lemmings abate as the sirens and lights end. "Session ... terminated," whispers a calm voice from the wall.
Anub'arak, bruised, comes up from the pit. Reporting a failure to the Lich King is not foremost on his mind. He glances down the pit. "Never thought ... I would be free of him."
Fletcher Dec 17th 2009 10:54PM
I voted for Anub'arak to win ... but I'd like to change my vote. You, sir, win an Internet. I laughed until I cried.
dodgeballer2005 Dec 17th 2009 7:40PM
Easy, Anub wins. He summons adds, has that giant pound, and wih mobs like that, instand one-shot, especially when his venomancers come into play.
a.orr09 Dec 17th 2009 8:02PM
How can you people vote for Anub? As soon as he burrows underground the guys run in and kill Brann.
DreamOfTheRood Dec 17th 2009 9:11PM
I suspect that the Tribunal would win by default after Anub'arak devoured Brann Bronzebeard.
geveldion Dec 17th 2009 9:39PM
The post with Patchwerk in place of Brann was fucking hilarious. :D
I'm giving it to the beetle of course. Yes, he's a huge target for the giant lazer. Yes, he's not the ice cold killer from TOTC. But........I remember fighting this guy as a n00b and fighting him now as a tank alt. HE HITS FRIGGING HARD. Let's assume Anub isn't incompedent and that we're letting him think this fight out abit. The adds are not a threat. Compare relative sizes and strength. He can sit on them and win. He can literally pick them up and beat them to death with each other.
And even if we go by game mechanics and assume they can hurt him, he can one shot them all with pound or his other abilities. Now, if he has to burrow, there might be an opening for them to get to Patch....err, Brann. :p But there's nothing saying he can't just summons the adds early, or that he won't just spike whoever goes after Brann. plus, there's a delay on the tribunal adds if we want to argue that way.
For those who say Anub cannot burrow through the Titan complex.........you might be right. Except that we've seem the place being mined in the Halls of Stone itself. So obviously it's not indestructible. Otherwise Yogg-Saron would never have broken out, or XT wouldn't have malfunctioned, etc. Anub's strength was enough drive his spikes up through solid rock and burrow with them like a shark. Azjol Nerub is still standing for the most part even after a war and what appears to be no upkeep. And Anub has no trouble there. And we also see bits of rubble and broken parts in the halls of stone. Maybe the main complex is tough, but I see nothing saying the halls of stone are the same.
MountainLynx Dec 18th 2009 12:22PM
One-on-one with any single boss and Anub'arak would easily destroy them (Pound), but with swarms of adds, and the Tribunal constantly firing crap in every direction that would wipe out his own adds, I honestly don't see how Anub'arak can manage this one.
Larg Of Sargeras Dec 17th 2009 11:36PM
I voted for other. Here's what happens.
Anub'arak finds a convoluted reason to go into the halls of stone, and encounters the Tribunal of Ages. For some reason, they fight, but they are interrupted by a group of adventurers who are escorting brann to do the tribunal event. The group of adventures faceroll both bosses because they're over geared for the content. They then shard the worthless gear from both bosses and then post damage meters into party chat.
Pudgemeister Dec 18th 2009 6:45AM
Can you really see this being a win either way?
the only loser: Braan Bronzebeard.
Reason?
Abub'arak serves the lich king...who (if you have read the recent post from know your lore about saronite (Being the black blood of the old god)) needs saronite (Yogg-Sarons black blood) to forge his weapons and create his buildings. Considering the fact that neither the lich king or the scourge can be affected by saronites and yogg-sarons crazy mind effect due to them being undead (neither alive or dead), Anub'arak is not just about to go and defend Braan who is trying to find out about his own lore that will eventually (being a good guy) lead to him trying to defeat the old god and ending any chance for more saronite to be produced.
To summarise: Anub'arak kills Braan to stop him from eventually leading a raid in to kill Yogg'Saron, Then walks away to report to the lich king that there will be plenty of stocks of saronite left for when he rules the world. When Yogg'Saron eventually strikes out of his prison, he will be faced with a problem: Undead-throwing his whole insanity attack out the window.
(What I meant to say? This fight is a draw)