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All of the latest Mists of Pandaria newsToravon: Strategy for the latest Wintergrasp boss
by Matt Low 
Feb 10th 2010 at 8:00PM
Toravon is the latest boss to appear within the Vault of Archavon, however we're not quite sure if he is the last of the VoA bosses to be seen in this expansion. The boss is fairly simple conceptually, but don't take him too lightly. I'll walk you through what you need to know to get score some sweet tier 10 PvE gear and equivilent PvP gear.
Gear Drops
He drops tier 10 level gloves and legs along with PvP gear (like belt and boots). Unlike his brothers, he drops 3 items on 25 instead of 2. And yes, he does drop Emblems of Frost. Its a fairly simple encounter for an equipped raid group. There aren't any fires to stay out of or anything. You'll need 2 tanks and at least 4-5 healers (on 10 man, you can get away with 2).
Tanks
Tanks will need to switch off of each other to shake the Frostbite debuff. It can stack up to 100 times and each application places a DoT which hits for about 1000 every couple of seconds. Your tanks can switch when they feel the debuff is getting high.
Frozen Orbs
No, this isn't the crafting reagent. Toravon will summon up 3 Frozen Orbs (1 on 10 man), and they can hurt if not taken care of. Its like a Whirlwind effect that goes around at random. It'll nail anyone within 8 yards of it and it needs to be targeted and destroyed. Ranged players can take care of it. But if there are any that spawn near the melee, go ahead and switch over to finish it off. They start off as glowing rings on the ground before the actual orb spawns.
Other abilities
He'll freeze players and root them to the ground with an ice spell called Freezing Ground. Its a magic and can be dispelled. Make an effort to shake off this debuff especially when there are Frozen Orbs flying around frozen players.
Lastly, watch out for the Whiteout. This ability won't fix your mistakes exactly or anything, but every time it's cast it will continue to increase the amount of frost damage your raid takes. You can think of it as a sort of soft enrage.
Quick tips
Frost Resistance aura or a Frost Resistance totem will help mitigate some of the damage coming through. Even if your raid has neither, the encounter is fairly easy enough to get through. Don't worry, you're not going to need any frost resist gear.
Patch 3.3 is the last major patch of Wrath of the Lich King. With the new Icecrown Citadel 5-man dungeons and 10/25-man raid arriving soon, patch 3.3 will deal the final blow to Arthas. WoW.com's Guide to Patch 3.3 will keep you updated with all the latest patch news.
Reader Comments (Page 3 of 4)
Mac10 Feb 10th 2010 9:53PM
Wow, 3 - 4 weeks?
Thats a long time to be on your period.
You should get that checked
Trickshots Feb 10th 2010 11:49PM
@Mac10: waaahahaahahaaaa! Oh, rofl!
Frank Feb 10th 2010 10:10PM
WOW, Mac10 that was Fing funny
JAREDO Feb 11th 2010 6:04AM
Maybe the editor's will get a spellcheck button when we get out edit button?
I'm just messing.
Whispertrance Feb 10th 2010 9:45PM
Everytime that I do this boss, every person vehemently protests any melee taking part in the death of the Frozen Orbs, preferring to keep all melee classes focused solely on the boss. This works out wonderfully until one or two Orbs spawn right on top of the melee, and they don't do anything to them! They simply expect the ranged DPS to come running in to deal with them so the melee can keep concentration on the boss.
I think the advice here is sound: melee should switch over if they are in danger. I've seen too many wipes because the melee gets wiped by Frozen Orbs, which then lets Toravon run around one-shotting pretty much everyone else with the giant club of his.
Stridez Feb 11th 2010 5:08AM
If they're ranged dps, why would they come running in? Wouldn't they just, you know, dps from range?
Dhorvin Feb 11th 2010 2:44PM
If the ranged are doing their job, they should start nuking the orbs the moment they spawn, which will generate threat and drag them off of the melee (despite what the post says, they don't move randomly at all, and will simply move slowly towards whoever is highest on their threat table). If the melee dps start nuking it, it'll deal heavy AoE damage to the melee group while the ranged dps try to grab aggro from them and pull it away. Furthermore, if the tank is doing his job, he should drag Toravon away when he sees that orbs are about to spawn on the melee group so that it becomes a non-issue.
rkaliski Feb 10th 2010 11:38PM
The only sort of check this guy provides is if your raid is asleep. My guild did him to warm up for Icecrown.
FoxOfWar Feb 12th 2010 5:37AM
This, pretty much.
When I heard about him getting nerfed, I couldn't help but wonder "Buh? It's possible to make that fight EASIER?"
Loot Piñata like all the others in there, let's go in there once or twice a week to do a /roll to see who gets gear. Whoopee.
Superthrust Feb 10th 2010 10:00PM
agreed. But I am not an Gearscore idiot. I hate all the idiots who wont let others raid because of their "low gear score"
Hoggersbud Feb 10th 2010 10:10PM
I got a toon over 4K GS without a single raid. With triumph badges in heroics nobody has the excuse to demand they be allowed to raid without at least some demonstration of effort on their part.
It'd be one thing if it was a guild run of Naxx, or Ulduar, but a PuG of Vault...it's a fair bit of hubris to demand to go along when your contribution will be minimal at best. Really, the unfairness can cut both ways.
Hoggersbud Feb 10th 2010 10:14PM
Note, of course, I don't know what applies to you, but I've seen enough people who are poorly geared and/or spec'd and refuse to do anything about it that I can understand why a raid leader might be selective and exclude some people.
There's only so many people I'm willing to carry every so often.
Superthrust Feb 10th 2010 11:09PM
well, my new main account lacks wrath of the lich king so i am not 80. But, when i was, it was an issue. i was in t9 and cause i wasnt in 9.5, i couldnt do TOTC25.
Jabbaprime Feb 11th 2010 4:38AM
Your 4K gearscore is cute considering most raids demand 5k to 5.5k
Wish there was a skill score :(
Beruza Feb 11th 2010 8:25AM
Instead of GearScore, get NameScore! It may give your group something funny to talk about
Hoggersbud Feb 11th 2010 9:57AM
>well, my new main account lacks wrath of the lich king so i am not 80. But, when i was, it was an issue. i was in t9 and cause i wasnt in 9.5, i couldnt do TOTC25<
Too bad for you that ran into somebody with such high standards? I can't know what was in the head of the person leading the raid. My concern is more for the people who want in to raids when they haven't even done enough heroics to get their 4pc9.
>Your 4K gearscore is cute considering most raids demand 5k to 5.5k<
Not for the content I expected to do on that toon. Which was even before Toravon came out, so that wasn't even an issue.
>Wish there was a skill score :(<
Not until you have a consistent way to define skill.
Superthrust Feb 11th 2010 12:15PM
>Not until you have a consistent way to define skill.<
Well, scrap gearscore and start giving people chances. People DO have alts...and like me, whose done yogg, 2 guardians, I don't have a achievement or the gear to prove it on my new account, So "i haven't done it".
Skill can only be determined by those who GIVE skill a chance.
Lets have it start with you. Spread the word..."CHANCE Score"...
DOWN WITH GEAR SCORE.
Evelinda Feb 12th 2010 9:09PM
i just want to say, i dont much care for gearscore either, but as i dont really raid, its not an issue... having said that, my most recent 80 is currently sitting on just over 4800gs without ever doing a raid more involved than hitting naxx for the weekly raid quest, and thats with two ilvl 200 trinkets, one epic one rare... if i can grab some trinkets, and finish off my tier 9, i will clear 5k gs without raiding. tell me why gs is a good measure of skill and usefulness again?
Superthrust Feb 12th 2010 9:12PM
Well, like i said...I have been kicked from the holiday bosses on my main account and from a simple naxx badge run while on alts because my gearscore wasn't to par with their liking.
Then i logged my main and they wanted my dps but i told them to go F themselves and left the guild.
AeroRising Feb 10th 2010 10:13PM
I downed this last week and I was tanking on 10 and 25 we switched off at 4 frostbite which seemed to be about our limit before it started getting a little to hard to heal. You could push it farther but 4 seems to be a good number to swap at.