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All of the latest Mists of Pandaria newsTwo Bosses Enter: Altairus vs. Eregos
by Alex Ziebart 
Apr 11th 2011 at 8:00PM
"What!?" I hear you ask, trembling with rage. "Eregos!? He was a Wrath of the Lich King boss!" He sure was. Not only was he a Wrath boss, he was the winner of the first season of Wrath of the Lich King's Two Bosses Enter, long before our previous wild card, Scourgelord Tyrannus, was even in the game.
"Uggghhh!" I hear you curse, trembling with only slightly less rage than before. "We've already had a Wrath boss wild card! You are just the worst!" Well, perhaps this bit of information will please you: There are no more Wrath bosses amidst the remaining wild cards. In fact, neither of them have appeared in Two Bosses Enter before at all. They could be anything. Anything.
| Altairus | |
|---|---|
| Eregos |
In last week's matchup, we saw Grim Batol's Erudax clash with Throne of Tides' Lady Naz'jar. There was a clear winner throughout the voting process, though it wasn't nearly the landslide that was Ozruk's win at the beginning of the tournament weeks ago.
Follow along for the details of this week's matchup, as well as discussion on last week's matchup.
The rules of the ring
- The WoW Insider Ring is considered neutral territory, where both combatants are able to access their usual encounter mechanics and abilities. If you can't visualize it inside the squared circle, visualize it someplace else -- but you must take into consideration all of each bosses' abilities and mechanics.
- Assume that each opponent is intelligent and capable of strategic thinking.
- All of the competitors' abilities, including crowd control and other effects to which bosses are usually immune, work on their opponents (with apologies to considerations of lore on this point).
- 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. Everything is a factor; seeking balance is your goal as a spectator and judge.
I don't actually say anything in Vortex Pinnacle, so here's some trivia instead! My name is Arabic for "bird of prey" or "flying one"! Whooo-ooooa!
Altairus sits top Vortex Pinnacle, the realm of Al'Akir the Windlord. Altairus controls the wind and commands the sky itself. In this dragon-versus-dragon death match, can Eregos really top an opponent who controls the very battlefield in which they meet?
Altairus's abilities include:
- Chilling Breath
- Lightning Blast
- Being downwind of Altairus will impede Eregos's combat ability, but being upwind of Altairus will be a benefit! Can Altairus keep Eregos downwind?
Such insolence... such arrogance... must be PUNISHED!
Eregos dominated the first Wrath season of Two Bosses Enter. Even Loken, the most dangerous NPC in the game in the early months of the expansion, fell to Eregos. Sure, Altairus controls the skies, but Eregos has proven himself to be the most dangerous
Eregos's beefy toolkit includes: Weren't around in Wrath of the Lich King? Didn't have the pleasure of wiping in Oculus for hours? Read about the horrors from firsthand reports of other players, then!
Erudax rocked last week's competition, and I'm going to pretend it's entirely because of Rai's fiction in support of the Duke of Below. His write-up was quite popular last week, so here's his depiction of what went down between Erudax and Lady Naz'jar.
The deathly silence of the underground arena shattered as the Lord of Below smashed open the doors, lurching across to his half of the battlefield. As the entrance sealed behind him, Lady Naz'jar stood opposite him with her top two arms crossed. Both combatants eyed up one another, taking a moment to prepare. A pair of worker murlocs dragged in a cart of dragon eggs either side, carefully placing them on the ground against the wall. The Lady blinked and tilted her head at Erudax, who shrugged before charging.
"You think you can withstand the force of the seas themselves?" Lady Naz'jar hissed, firing off a Shock Blast at Erudax. The mighty Duke of Below took the hit directly, singed by the lightning but reaching the Lady and beginning to smack her around with his arms. The two were locked in combat, Naz'jar being quicker but Erudax hitting harder each time. He let out a roar, as the room began to fill with a swirling purple vortex. Smirking to herself, the Lady moved into the eye of the storm, a large obvious circle and stood there, firing off another shock blast.
"Predictable cretin!" she laughed.
"We shall see" Erudax replied, as the nova subsided. As Lady Naz'jar prepared to charge at the hulking creature, she spotted two Corruptors lurching into the arena. Peering at the eggs and then back to them, she worked it out.
"Oh no you don't!"
Lady Naz'jar began to summon a geyser under one of the two sets of eggs, before firing off a shock blast at the corruptor headed for the other pack. Erudax stomped after her, hitting at her but she continued the assault, reaching the corruptor as it began to channel a spell onto the eggs. As the geyser on the other side of the room exploded, the second corruptor was killed, the aftershock of the geyser pushing the Duke away as she finished off the first with another shock blast.
"Enough! Your pathetic attempts at egg scrambling are useless!" she cackled, leaping to the centre of the room and casting a waterspout. Water appeared from nowhere, encasing her as she grinned, her servants coming to her aid. Erudax stomped towards them, slowly being overwhelmed from all angles. Without a word, he began to cast Shadow Gale again, filling the entire room with the vortex. "Foolish creature! I am entirely protected for another minute! What could you possibly plan to achieve?"
Erudax said nothing, pointing what would otherwise be considered a finger at her underlings. One of them, a Tempest Witch, was stood in the eye, but the other two were not so lucky. Lady Naz'jar continued to laugh, shaking her head with pity. Suddenly, there was a look of terror in her eye. Two more corruptors stumbled into the room as the Shadow Gale faded, before Erudax glared at the last assistant, casting Binding Shadows and draining health from the naga before killing it. The two corruptors moved into position and began channeling as Erudax turned to face the Lady.
"Your cowardice will be your undoing."
The corruptors finished their deeds with the eggs at approximately the same time the Waterspout wore off. Whelps burst forth from the eggs, flapping towards Lady Naz'jar and clawing at her. The corruptors began to drain life from her, throwing a heal at their leader. The Naga Lady grunted in agony.
"You... Ozumat... you shall..."
"No" Erudax said, smashing the Lady with an Enfeebling Blow, shortly before his assistants drained the last of her life. He nodded at the whelps, which began to feast. The Duke then turned to his corruptors, performed the equivalent of a Faceless One clicking their fingers and walked towards the exit of the arena, his cohorts in tow and his Gale of Shadows trinket in hand.
| Erudax | |
|---|---|
| Lady Naz'jar |
Personally, I was rooting for Lady Naz'jar so I could paste in this piece from Morohtar instead. C'est la vie.
The battle begins!
Remember, Two Bosses Enter matchups are all about substance and style, not gameplay, mechanics, and numbers. 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 mechanics nitpicking!
Set aside the world order -- let the WoW Insider Ring determine who's the champion! Your votes determine the outcome in WoW Insider's series of fantasy deathmatches, Two Bosses Enter, One Boss Leaves.
Filed under: Two Bosses Enter
Reader Comments (Page 4 of 4)
Morohtar Apr 15th 2011 8:55AM
Altairus flew through the sky with thoughts as fleeting as the wind dancing through his head. His master's domain was expansive and contained many wonders that the Storm Drake had never seen in the elemental plain. In the distance there appeared just such a wonder, a spire of light encircled by tiers of rings. Curious, Altairus flew closer to get a better view.
"Brash interloper! You are out of your element!" came the sudden cry. It cut into Altairus' silent serenity like a sudden and violent windstorm. From behind the topmost ring came a giant winged beast. "I am Eregos, the Ley Guardian," it said, "What is your business here?"
Altairus said nothing.
"I will ground you!" Eregos yelled, shooting bolts of arcane energy at Altairus. He dodged them easily and flew straight at Eregos, rolling at the last second and striking out lightning-quick with his claws at Eregos' flank. Eregos roared in pain and swiped back but Altairus was too fast. As Eregos turned to face his opponent Altairus gathered his energy and let loose a blast of Chilling Breath. Again, Eregos roared.
He felt the wind pick up and suddenly he was in the middle of a windstorm the likes of which he had never felt before. He felt sluggish, as if he were struggling feeblishly through quicksand. He could see Altairus in front of him, not speaking, not moving save for the rythmic beating of his wings. There appeared a tornado in front of Eregos and it appeared to be growing larger. It was difficult to make out due to the wind raging all around it, but it was definitely getting closer. It smacked into him with an astounding amount of force, but the Blue Dragon would not give in.
Eregos called out and there came a company of whelps to his aid. They began converging on Altairus, firing arcane bolts as they went when there appeared more tornadoes. They hit the whelps hard, flinging them away from Altairus. When they had reached the peaks of their flight Altairus let out with lightning blasts that ripped into each whelp, utterly destroying each and turning them into piles of ash that were soon scattered by the roaring winds.
Eregos let out a cry of anguish. "The younglings!" he cried. He seethed with rage at what he had just witnessed and exploded at Altairus. "Such insolence... such arrogance... must be PUNISHED!" His body began to disappear as he shifted his form. Altairus' attacks passed through Eregos' planar form harmlessly as he summoned spheres of sparking arcane energy to shoot at Altairus. The magic orbs detonated brilliantly when they got to Altairus, pushing him back and causing his wings to falter for a moment. As Altairus regained his balance the larger dragon returned to his corporeal form.
Altairus continued his tornado assault with renewed vigor. "No magic of nature will help you now!" Eregos roared as he sped towards the storm drake. Altairus let out another breath, but it did nothing to slow the raging behemoth. Eregos slammed into Altairus with such force that the wind was knocked out of him. With one mighty swipe Eregos sent Altairus crashing onto the platform below, sending up a cloud of dust and lightning. Eregos landed on top of Altairus, pinning his limbs the ground. "No more will you defile this sacred site!" Eregos yelled.
Altairus struggled beneath the huge dragon's weight but to no avail. He readied another blast, hoping to break free but before he could let it out Eregos clamped down around his mouth with a massive claw. "You will cause no more harm here," Eregos exclaimed. With his weight firmly on Altairus' wings Eregos lifted him up, ripping the drake's wings free from its body. Altairus' eyes went wide with shock. With a mighty heave Eregos launched the smaller dragon into the air and fired a barrage of arcane bolts at him. They all hit home.
"It's a long way down..." Eregos began, "Enjoy the fall!" And with that Eregos watched as the smoking remains of Altairus fell past the platform.