Two Bosses Enter: Skadi the Ruthless vs. Svala Sorrowgrave
by Lisa Poisso 
Dec 24th 2009 at 6:00PM
Here we are at the end of our current bracket ... And what a fight this last one will be! Bring your earplugs, because we suspect this fight's going to be on the loud side: Skadi the Ruthless versus Svala Sorrowgrave. The two Utgarde Pinnacle residents step into the Two Bosses Thunderdome with nearly identical seeding. Skadi took out the venerable General Bjarngrim with 56% spectator approval, while Svala sacrificed Salramm the Fleshcrafter with 57% of the vote.
Let's review the ground rules:
- Why don't we drag Svala's altar around the corner into Skadi's hall? As always, we'll consider the Two Bosses Thunderdome neutral territory, where both combatants are able to access their usual encounter mechanics and abilities. If you can come up with a stylish way to do that in the comments, you may earn more votes for your chosen victor.
- 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: Skadi the Ruthless (Utgarde Pinnacle) What mongrels dare intrude here? Look alive, my brothers! A feast for the one that brings me their heads!
Skadi the Ruthless is an Undead Frost Vrykul who resides in Utgarde Pinnacle. He is named after the northern goddess of winter and the hunt in Norse mythology.
Upon engaging in battle, Skadi flies up above the terrace on his Protodrake, to strafe foes below as they push through waves of his Frost Vrykul. Opponents pick up harpoons to shoot the drake, eventually killing it and forcing Skadi to the ground and into hand-to-hand battle.
Remember that inside the Two Bosses Thunderdome, you should consider Skadi's minions to have the same comparative output as Svala's minions.
Read more about Skadi the Ruthless's battle tactics, and review comments from players who've faced him.
In Corner Two: Svala Sorrowgrave (Utgarde Pinnacle) My liege! I have done as you asked, and now beseech you for your blessing!
Svala Sorrowgrave, the first boss of Utgarde Pinnacle, is a Vrykul who is being transformed by the Lich King himself into a Val'kyr just as you enter her room. She periodically sacrifices an opponent on her altar, held in place by three summoned Ritual Channelers who must be killed to release the victim.
Remember that inside the Two Bosses Thunderdome, you should consider Svala's minions to have the same comparative output as Skadi's minions.
Read more about Svala Sorrowgrave's battle tactics and review comments from players who've fought her.
The Thunderdome 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. Style points and influence to spectators who use the comments to sway other readers to their point of view!
| Skadi wins (Svala dies) | |
|---|---|
| Svala wins (Skadi 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 1 of 3)
revan Dec 24th 2009 6:07PM
Skadi wins. Period.
Jason Dec 24th 2009 8:38PM
Why?
Arbitor Dec 24th 2009 9:16PM
Because LODI DODI WE LOVES THE SKADI!!
Redielin Dec 24th 2009 6:13PM
Assuming Svala can get Skadi off his drake (perhaps her adds are capable enough to click on the harpoons and harpoon guns), this fight can start getting interesting.
Svala and her adds can probably down a fair amout of Skadi's adds, by catching a few of them in Ritual. They're DPSing her adds but not necessarily smart enough to avoid the sword or focus her adds down, although if you're assuming Svala can get him off his drake, I suppose you have to assume Skadi's adds can avoid Ritual at least once or twice.
If Skadi's adds are still alive when he jumps off his drake, then Svala's a goner, because her ritual is only single target. However, if Svala manages to kill all or most of Skadi's adds before knocking him off his drake, Skadi is doomed to eat a ritual (he's the only target) with no way to break out.
Thus it all comes down to who's adds can perform better. Skadi's adds are more numerous, and not tied to a specific event (they're always out unless you kill them). Therefore, Svala can't kill them all quick enough and goes down to Skadi's Whirlwind attack.
Skadi wins.
Angus Dec 24th 2009 6:58PM
I'll add that her adds will be ignored while his will tear svala apart during the ritual.
In fact, her ritual will pretty much cost her the fight. She grabs a single add, and goes up into the sky. The rest look at one another and the ranged guys continue to attack her since she was their first target. The melee mobs beat the snot out of the ritual banshees. Even if they fail to kill the banshees, big deal. Oh look, a single guy died while she was eating shadow bolts and harpoons. Even her alter fire thing won't help her get him off his drake.
I'm having problems seeing ANY boss win against him thanks to the gauntlet.
Conrose Dec 24th 2009 9:09PM
Skadi's Harpoon and Whirlwinds are really a nonfactor since the moment he sets foot on the ground, he's gonna be set to the altar.
This whole fight hinges on Svala's ability to take on Skadi's adds before her health hits zero... she's got two other abilities that though players can go through her without ever really noticing them, they are a single target Sinister Strike to compliment her melee attacks, and an AoE Attack for moderate amounts of damage. I think she'll be able to mow through Skadi adds easy enough, and her Ritual of the Sword gains effectiveness the closer to the Harpoons, and farther from the Ritual Stone she gets.
The Scarlet Mathematician Dec 24th 2009 6:19PM
I think Svala's got this one made. I figure at her first opportunity, Svalva sacrifices Skadi's dragon, completely foregoing any of that messy harpoon business. If Skadi has the help of his on-the-ground minions, it's possible they could try to kill the channelers in time, but something tells me they wouldn't make it. Skadi sends these guys out in wave after wave, and they clearly aren't the cream of the Vyrkul crop. Things look even worse for Skadi after his proto-drake drops. If he's lucky, maybe he can get a whirlwind off before Svalva paralyzed him and shoves a sword through him. Svalva is done in time for tea and crumpets with the Lich King.
DeathPaladin Dec 24th 2009 6:49PM
"I figure at her first opportunity, Svalva sacrifices Skadi's dragon, completely foregoing any of that messy harpoon business."
At which point Skadi whirlwinds, kills the banshees holding the drake in place, then hops back on and starts strafing the area again.
Felix_rew Dec 25th 2009 9:42AM
Depends on the arena, if its a gauntlet type, Skadi, a open arena type, Svala
Xanyr Dec 24th 2009 6:48PM
Skadi gets pulled down by "Ritual of the Sword" but then his dragon comes and kills all the adds that are paralyzing him. Then he Whirlwinds and kills Svala, thus proving that anyone with a dragon instantly wins.
Rangen Dec 24th 2009 7:00PM
Let's be honest here, Skadi is by far the more difficult boss to fight for players, as you have to deal with his whirlwind, but Svala's abilities were basically made to counter his. She has wings, for one thing. When he whirlwinds, all she needs to do is ascend and she avoids everything. She does not need to do the harpoon part of the fight, as she can merely fly up to Skadi's drake and kill it, and when she does the ritual of the sword Skadi's minions may be able to free Skadi a few times, but after a few times the Shadows in the Dark debuff would kill every one of them, leaving Skadi wide open to a sacrifice to the Lich King every time Svala casts it. Seeing as how there are few people who can survive The Ritual of the Sword, Skadi would be lucky to even survive one. Because Skadi has no way of getting rid of Svala's most powerful attack, and Svala can fly away from Skadi's most powerful attack, it's really no contest.
Angus Dec 24th 2009 11:21PM
At no point in time in the normal run does Svala fly away. It isn't an ability she will use in the fight.
She can't kill the drake, as it is only killed by harpoons when it is nearby, she won't have a window of opportunity open.
Let's say she does, just to be nice. It's actually worse for her. There is an entire hallway full of angry undead now assaulting her. She grabs Skadi, and goes up in the air. Melee kills the banshees before she can finish killing them, harpooners and warlocks are knocking her around in the air. While he's free, Skadi poisons her because it is funny and waits. A Crush followed by a Whirlwind as she lands and she may be able to get the ritual off. She's still being eaten alive by the ranged and poison while the few remaining melee finish banshees. He proceeds to end her as she lands.
Come on, a group consisting of 2 melee and a hunter was able to kill her while she was doing her dumb little ritual, Skadi has a bunch of ranged attacking guys and poison along with that whirlwind when she's on the ground.
ben Dec 24th 2009 7:05PM
Svala, because im mad at Skadi for not dropping the freaking blue protodrake.
Saravok Dec 24th 2009 8:17PM
And because Skadi the Fruitless beat the General when we should have been rolled.
Sorrowgrave has wings, and can avoid the entire gauntlet, then sacrifice Skadi off he drake. Furthermore, Valkyr > Vykrul.
Rictus Dec 25th 2009 10:37AM
"And because Skadi the Fruitless beat the General when we should have been rolled."
This. A thousand times this. TBE became kayfabe after that farce.
icepyro Dec 24th 2009 7:17PM
Svala. Skadi's adds come in waves, and while this will overwhelm at first and force the pace to a slow crawl, he doesn't do much to help just flying around on his drake. Also, she flies up for rituals leaving her own adds for melee, so she won't take a whole lot of damage during this time. At the end of the gauntlet she will be down probably half health, but that's more than enough to fly the harpoons up herself to take out the drake. He may even hurt her some more with poison spears or whatever, but all she needs is one Ritual. And then he will watch helplessly as the sword descends upon him with noone to help. Quite the finish.
How does the saying go? Hell hath no fury as a woman Scourged... Undead hath no fury as a woman from Skorn... Something like that...
OTOH, if she immediately uses the harpoons as she gets them while adds still live (being an impatient, overconfident, vrykul/val'kyr and all) then she is definitely dead. The adds can keep him out of the Ritual and then she has little to nothing on him.
PocketFox Dec 24th 2009 7:22PM
No matter how I look at it, Svala is really just a one trick pony. The only really dangerous thing about her is her Ritual of the Sword, and as others have said before me, either Skadi's Whirlwind or Grauf's breath attack would be enough to take those out, probably fast enough that Shadows in the Dark wouldn't stack high enough to be truly dangerous.
Skadi's minions might be mindless, but they still hurt if you let enough of them pile up (what's that saying about stupid people in large groups? ^_~ ), and I don't think Svala's got enough in her to deal with them all, particularly if her own banshees only show up when she's sacrificing someone. Even if she manages to kill Grauf and get Skadi on the ground permanently, by then his vargul minions would have put enough of a dent in her health that Skadi's Poison Spear and Whirlwind would take her out without much trouble.
Win to Skadi, without a doubt.
Netara Dec 24th 2009 8:01PM
Question is,,, Is Grauf and Skadi smart enough to move from the ritual? If they dont,,, Dead people. And considering Svala isnt allowed to be smart enough to simply be out of reach of all the little adds,,, Skadi and Grauf cant be smart enough either :P
Dominika Dec 24th 2009 8:12PM
Let's review the facts.
Skadi doesn't do his own fighting. Skadi throws vargul at his opponents, slows them down with his proto-drake...it's only when you really piss him off that he jumps down to take you on one on one. Now, what are these vargul he throws at you? Vargul, of course, are the vrykul judged as unworthy by the val'kyr.
There's but one reason a val'kyr would fight a vrykul: to prove his worth. And he's not going to do that by hiding behind the unworthy. Skadi's hands are tied. He has to take her on one on one. His main advantage then, is his poisoned spear. His whirlwind hurts, but it's difficult to hit someone who can fly.
When he finds himself trapped on the altar to be sacrificed, his vargul brothers know that they can't hold back any longer. They bumrush the stage to free him. The enraged Skadi tells everyone to take Svala (that's what she said), but if there's one thing that hordes of undead do poorly against, it's fire. The flames from the brazier make short work of them all, leaving just the vrykul and the val'kyr once more.
And when the next ritual comes, Skadi will only have enough time to think of the words he heard echoing down from the keep below long ago...
"Your pathetic failure will serve as a warning to all."
Maymer Dec 24th 2009 8:49PM
Grunts and gasps could be heard all throughout Utgarde Pinnacle as a handful of Ymirion servants tried their best to move a 20 ton altar up the stairs. Svala gazed as her servants placed the altar at the foot of a 20 foot stuffed Worgen.
"...Hrmmmmm....no, not quite right...move it a little north, so the sunlight can catch it glimmering...it will look absolutely GORGEOUS then, especially after a fresh sacrifice!"
Eyeing each other with a pathetic look, the Ymirion picked the altar and moved it up towards the hall, placing it at the feet of a giant stuffed rhinocerous.
"Eh, I don't know....just doesn't have that FEEL of 'Hey adventurers! Come look at this beautiful altar as I strew your entrails across it!' No, won't work. That vase I bought from Dalaran Barn might, but not the altar".
Meanwhile, Skadi sat with his beloved blue drake...erm...something something...he was going to name it eventually...wondering what to do.
"Maybe I should buy a lava lamp, that would spice this hallway up. Maybe add some red lights, get this thing Hugh Heffnered up" Skadi said.
Just then, a loud THUD! was heard. Glancing up in astonishment, Skadi saw a vengeful angel of doom directing her Ymirion slaves, plopping a giant sacrificial stone altar...right on top of his Al Green and Stevie Wonder records.
"WHAT!? What the Twisting Nether are you doing!? You know the sound quality those things had!? I HAD A LIMITED EDITION RECORD SIGNINGS!!" Skadi declared in anger.
Svala, suddenly put on the spot, glanced down at the broken records..."But....but...the altar looks so GOOD here! Won't you agree? Anyways, have you ever heard of something called, I don't know, the i-Titan? Yeah, time to update big guy" Svala declared in her defense.
"That's IT!!! MEN!!! A FEAST FOR THE ONE THAT BRINGS ME HER HEAD!!" Skadi bellowed, forcing his men to appear from the northern hallway.
Ymirion soldiers stared in astonishment at the Svala, wondering how to tell their lord and bum chum Skadi that what he wished wasn't possible.
"...But sir, she's, um, you know, kinda dead" a Ymirion Harpoonist said.
"Actually, it would be physically impossible to harm her when you think about it with these pathetic little hunk of stone called harpoons...In fact, how the hell could these things, let alone only 5 of them, kill a full grown Proto-Drake!?"
"The real question" a Ymirion Witch Doctor pipped in, "is how can she fit into what appears to be a leather, metallic thong. Seriously, even if she's a ghost, show some class lady!"
Skadi stared on, droning out the nonsense of his friends as they rambled on how there was no chance "10 people could POSSIBLY kill an Old God when not even the Titans could", how "Casual raiders are the new thing", and even to "The meaning of life IS in fact the number 42".
"ENOUGH!!!! If you just manage to kill her, OR JUST TO GET HER TO MOVE HER DAMN ALTAR OUT OF HERE!!! I will personally throw a wicked party in that person's name" Skadi said.
Svala, not to be out done, screamed "Fine! We'll see who is the best of the best! I manage to kill you, I get to KEEP my altar here, and use you as the altar boy cleaner".
Skadi yanked his Proto-Drake into the air, yelling "Catch me if you can! My men will NEVER give you the harpoons to take me down! They would soon DIE than to let me down! Isn't that right fellas?"
The Ymirion were quite. They shuffled on their feet, till one broke the silence saying "Well sir, I'm kinda getting married next week, you know, the healer chick in the Keep? Yeah, her name is Peggy, and with, you know, being kinda rotting already, I would prefer to keep most of my limbs intact, so if she really wants this harpoon....."
Skadi felt himself facepalm himself, praying to the Death God this would be over quick. As he flew through the blistering air, Svala blared by the men, hacking them to bits and grabbing the harpoons herself. Skadi could feel his adrenaline pump, commanding his drake to pull towards the front of the hall. "LET LOOSE MY PET!" Ice and frost erupted from the mouth of his beast, freezing all in its grasp. Though Svala was knicked by it, its pain was tremendous. Svala, seeing a Witch Doctor focusing his attack on her from afar, used her OWN dark magic on him, bringing him to her altar.
Skadi watch helplessly as his men ran like chickens without their heads (Though, in defense for some, Svala DID part their heads from their necks), as his own men were offered up in a dark sacrifice. But luck was on his side.
Though she continued to approach him, she would seem to randomly grab a minion of his, dragging him not TOWARDS HIM, but towards the back, where is men continued to poar into, throwing dark magic and harpoons at her as she slowly fell the sword into the victim. Finally, with a last cry, Skadi's Drake bellowed a frost attack, whipping Svala in full. She crumpled to the ground.
Skadi jumped from his drake, triumphant. "Ha! I win! Now you will listen to me, for I am SUPERIOUR! BOW BEFORE THE GREAT..."
Skadi nevered finished his sentence, for Svala had one last, secret and dark ritual just for Skadi's type. Grabbing the leather on her chest, she ripped it off, screaming "RITUAL OF THE BREASTS MOTHER @($*@%$!!!!".
Skadi's face gaped, drawn in a hypnotic stare. Svala quickly placed her Leather She-Ra bra back on, softly saying "Now, be a good boy, and listen.."
Skadi, like a puppet, nodded his head up and down rigerously.
"Good, now, you are under my control.........so would you be a dear and pick this altar up? That spot at the northern end looks perfect!"