Two Bosses Enter: Erudax vs. Eregos
by Alex Ziebart 
May 23rd 2011 at 4:00PM
Before this week's matchup gets underway, I want to announce that the Two Bosses Enter arena now has a ceiling. Bosses with wings cannot simply fly away and win. Capisce?
With that out of the way, this week a glutted tick and a scaley bird face off!
| Erudax | |
|---|---|
| Eregos |
In last week's matchup, we kicked off the Crazy Eights of this season of Two Bosses Enter with a showdown between Ozruk of the Breaking Body and Shadowfang Keep's Lord Godfrey.
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.
Come, suffering ... Enter chaos!
Erudax remains the bane of countless adventurers who have delved into Grim Batol. Last time we saw Erudax in action, he was locked in combat with Throne of Tides' Lady Naz'jar, which I typoed as "Lazy Naz'jar" while writing this sentence and briefly considered leaving it like that for hilarity's sake. Despite Lady Naz'jar's mechanics' countering Erudax's almost point for point, the Duke of the Below ended up overwhelming her.
The Duke of Below's abilities include: Erudax's Corruptor minions can cast: Maybe you've been lucky enough to avoid Erudax entirely in your travels -- you might not know his battle style at all. In that case, you should read what other adventurers have to say about this encounter.
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:
- Arcane Barrage
- Arcane Volley
- Enraged Assault
- Planar Shift and summon Planar Anomalies
- Eregos cannot fly in the Two Bosses Enter arena!
The moment Ozruk was seen on the Two Bosses Enter roster this season, readers everywhere predicted he would make a clean sweep to the finals. So far that prediction is looking solid, as he's utterly trounced both Asaad and Lord Godfrey thus far.
| Ozruk | |
|---|---|
| Lord Godfrey |
Reader Devin had the most exhilarating depiction of the encounter.
And it was never continued. Did you get home, Devin? We're worried about you!Meanwhile deep in Shadowfang Keep...
"What now?" Godfrey muttered. Lifting himself up, he walked past his table of experiments that moments ago he had been elbow deep in research. Arriving at the window he raised a boney hand to clear away years of dust and grime from the glass to see what caused the commotion. Squinting to see outside in the courtyard, he saw nothing. Growling to himself about the disturbance he turned his focus back to his table.
Godfrey noticed a small spec of light beside his table. The light grew larger and brighter. Twisting itself and emitting vapors, the light grew into a portal. Godfrey reached for his pistols and stepped toward the portal. As if grabbed by his stomach Godfrey felt himself fly through the air. An instant later Godfrey found himself tumbling to the floor.
Picking himself up he stated scanning the room. He noticed he was in an arena, yet had never seen anything like it before. On the far side of the arena he notice a large pile of rocks. Godfrey quickly walked across the arena to the rocks, thinking he could climb the rocks and either make an escape or figure out how to make one. As he approached he noticed movement.
"Hello?," he shouted.
With a loud rumble the rocks spoke, "I am Ozruk. Protector of the World's Heart."
The World's Heart?, thought Godfrey. Thinking it might be a relic of great power Godfrey decided he wanted that heart. A split second later Godfrey jumped out of the way. Narrowly being crushed by a giant fist slamming into the ground where he just stood. "NONE MAY PASS," Ozruk roared with anger.
Pulling out his pistols Godfrey muttered, "so this is how it plays."
Firing off a few rounds at the giant Godfrey takes off across the arena. While reloading Godfrey mutters a few incantations preparing a curse for his next rounds of shots. Ozruk thinking quickly to this menace, prepares an elemental bulwark to attempt to reflect the incoming damage. The bullets bounce off Ozruk's bulwark and are sent flying off into the stadium.
Ozruk lifts his fists into the air and brings them down slamming them into the stadium floor. Reading he'll need to keep his distance from Ozruk, Godfrey kept running for the opposite wall. Feeling he was far enough Godfrey turned and used his magic to call forth his ghouls. Lifting his pistols to deliver a twofold attack Godfrey found himself unable to move. His ghouls not understanding their master's need quickly became angry.
To be continued as soon as I get home...
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 1 of 3)
jaypea May 23rd 2011 4:04PM
Team Erudax represent
MattKrotzer May 23rd 2011 4:06PM
I'll vote for anyone that goes against Eregos.
Eregos ftw! May 24th 2011 12:19AM
And I'll vote for Eregos no matter who he's against! I've voted for him on three computers, my ipod, and my phone so far. I have no other devices, so I can't vote anymore =\
Micheal May 23rd 2011 5:46PM
One's an overgrown cockroach, the other is a freakin' blue dragon!
cygnus May 23rd 2011 5:32PM
I beg to differ. Erudax is a Lieutenant of the old gods, not a regular cockroach.
Revnah May 24th 2011 2:19AM
That sums it up pretty well, Michael :-D
Nopunin10did May 23rd 2011 4:17PM
As much as I'd prefer Erudax to win, I think he's a bit too fat to ride on those poor little drakes.
Cobalt May 23rd 2011 4:24PM
I'm more worried about what happened to Devin, to be honest.
But as far as the match goes, it does not bode well for Eregos. While he can enrage himself and summon arcane-barrage shooting entities, I'm not sure if he can do enough damage to overwhelm the Corrupter Minions' healing. Add into the equation that Eredax can turn invulnerable while summoning a huge hurty AoE effect that denies Eregos the luxury of moving about and damaging the Corrupters whenever he wants to, and you've got a recipie for outlasted dragon stew.
Homeschool May 23rd 2011 4:44PM
Erudax doesn't go invlunerable when AoE-ing - in fact, he takes double damage. Eregos is the one who can go invulnerable.
Jabadabadana May 23rd 2011 5:08PM
One of the rules has always been to assume similar health pools, which in this case is probably Erudax level, not Eregos level..
Otherwise, the only thing competing with Eregos would be Ouzamat.
Devin May 23rd 2011 8:40PM
I am OK! I was typing the story on a train ride home when my cell phone battery started to die. I got home and forgot all about it. I AK sorry and will try to finish it tonight.
Jaq May 23rd 2011 10:14PM
Hurrah, Devin is okay! :D
Homeschool May 23rd 2011 4:28PM
I must not fight Eregos.
Eregos is the party-killer.
Eregos attempts are the little-death that brings total frustration.
I will face Eregos.
I will permit Eregos to pass over me and through me (in his phase shifted form).
And when Eregos has gone past I will attempt to turn my drake to see his path.
Where Eregos has gone there will be arcane explosions. And whelps. And big flashy attacks. And confused drake-riders trying to steer and mash their usual hotkeys.
Only Eregos will remain.
ukandrion May 23rd 2011 4:33PM
I really hate that people don't think when they vote for these things. it seems to no longer be a "which boss could defeat the others?" article, but instead a "How many times have I died to this encounter?"
such crap. Erudax wins, the corrupters would heal through Eregos' damage and Erudax would remove his mobility with shadow gale.
Tomaj May 23rd 2011 4:38PM
Eregos' adds totally wipe out Erudax' adds. They're too concerned about hatching eggs, and the flying pink balls of doom *HURT,* and can completely counter Shield of Nightmares. However, since they do, in fact, explode, if Erudax isn't in range, it really doesn't matter.
Two key things to remember: Shadow Gale leaves Erudax completely vulnerable to damage, while Eregos can't be damaged during Planar Shift.
With wise usage of Enraged Assault, I honestly don't think Erudax stands a chance against Eregos.
No mention of Eregos' whelps, however, which cause a whole other layer of issues (again, countering Erudax' adds, and additional dps time on Erudax, especially during Shadow Gale).
Tomaj May 23rd 2011 4:40PM
Also, I completely forgot to mention. Given Eregos' health pool, and the damage of Binding Shadows and Shadow Gale themselves, it's minimal damage to him at best, and could potentially be ignored.
GhostWhoWalks May 23rd 2011 4:55PM
Eregos is a tough contender, but I'm going to have to give this one to Erudax. Just so this fight isn't over in 30 seconds, let's pretend that Eregos can somehow fit himself into the tiny safezone of Shadow Gale (or hover just out of range of it or something, doesn't matter). Eregos can hit hard, no questioning that. With all of the arcane damage he flings around and phase shifting and anomaly summoning and all that, anyone he steps into the ring with is going to be leaving with one hell of a headache. But that's all Eregos does: damage. He can't slow, or stun, or use any debuffs to cripple enemies or anything.
The way I see it going down is that Eregos and Erudax, early on, will be evenly matched. Eregos hits harder but Erudax can root and steal some life, offsetting Eregos' extra hits. Shadow Gale starts up and Eregos avoids it (somehow). But then the adds come in. Eregos can maybe focus down one fairly quickly, but without any slowing ability, one or both adds have reached the eggs and now there are Twilight Hatchlings in the air. Slowly but surely, more and more add waves come in and more Hatchlings start piling up. Before long, Eregos is being buried under a pile of Hatchlings bombarding him from above and Corruptors harassing him from below. Erudax will probably be pretty banged up by the time all is said and done, but in the end, Eregos is the one who will expire first.
ZeroDesu May 24th 2011 5:03AM
Just for the sake of argument for Shadow Gale, dragons can turn into human-sized creatures...
alin_85q May 24th 2011 9:52AM
Idd i think that the longer the fight lasts the more chances Erudax has more chances of winning. I honestly don't believe that Eregos' adds can keep up with the hatching, that is because Erudax can ignore Eregos for a while to peel the whelps off of his adds (i don't think Eregos has enough burst, given he has no slow, to kill the hatchers).
Bottom line with eggs hatched and being healed, Erudax wins, not by a land slide, but he will be the last one standing (the heals are too brutal)
Bumblebee May 23rd 2011 4:56PM
Planar Shift is a mighty powerful ability. Probly enough to make Eregos take this one too.