Two Bosses Enter: Lord Godfrey vs. Venoxis
by Alex Ziebart 
Aug 1st 2011 at 5:00PM
This week's edition of Two Bosses Enter marks the first competitor from tier 2 Cataclysm heroics: Venoxis of Zul'Gurub. He'll be up against an old favorite of this expansion, Lord Godfrey. Who'll come out on top?
| Lord Godfrey | |
|---|---|
| Venoxis |
Follow along for the rules of the matchup, a review of what these bosses can do, and a discussion of last week's winner.
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.
Murder never gets old.
Due to popular demand, Lord Godfrey returns to the Two Bosses Enter arena this season. Last season, his winning streak was cut short by the infamous Cardboard Assassin, but this season has no such petty games or machinations. Will Godfrey fare better this time?
Godfrey's bag of murderous tricks includes ... Bang.
Let the coils of death unfurl!
Venoxis as a Cataclysm boss was only a figment of our imaginations at the beginning of the last season of Two Bosses Enter. He had long ago been defeated, and nobody thought we would ever see him in the ranks of this tournament. Now he has risen from the ashes of classic WoW to try and claim some territory in the post-Cataclysm world. Can he pull it off?
Venoxis's arsenal includes: Can Venoxis pull out a win in this tournament, or should he have stayed in the grave?
Last week's matchup was a close one, but the Foe Reaper ultimately took the lead and knocked Commander Springvale out of the tournament with just shy of 54% of the vote. Of course, some readers put a little more creativity into the matchup than others and noticed that while one contender was a forlorn soul without a shell ... the other was an empty shell without a soul.
How curious.
Commander Springvale materialized in a dark room with a single light in the center of what appeared to be a large arena. "Our Vigilance is eternal!" he shouts into the darkness as a second light appears with a Large Mechanical Behemoth comes into view. A single spark shoots from the Ceiling into the over sized Golem causing gears and springs to go into action as the monster twitches to life.
red lights appear in the face on the metal nightmare as a voice crackled from within "Foe Reaper 5000 on-line. All systems nominal" it stated as it lumbered forward swinging its terrifying blades in all directions.
Red lights surround the Commander as the beast bellowed again "Target acquired. Harvesting servos engaged."
"Cowards! I will not fall so easily into your trap!" The commander shouts as he charges forward with undying zeal. He Strikes with unholy power desecrating the ground and weakening the Reaper with Malefic fury.
The Foe Reaper stumbles back and begins to shoot steam from its crevices and sounds a new alarm. "Safety restrictions off-line. Catastrophic system failure imminent" It lumbered as the Commander came to a realization "System? This thing is inanimate! Without soul just as I am without form." A smirk crept upon the commander's ghostly lips "But not longer..."
The Ghostly commander Dispersed into a ghostly mist and invaded the crevices of the Mechanized creatures body as it jerked and twitched unable to process what was happening to it. It suddenly shut down all its lights and steam ceasing. moments passed before the lights reappeared with a haunting misty glow and a Voice crackled echoing in the dark arena
"Commander Reaper online... Our vigilance is eternal and all systems are nominal"
Foe Reaper Springvale? Uh-oh.
| Foe Reaper 5000 | |
|---|---|
| Commander Springvale |
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 2)
Jaq Aug 1st 2011 5:05PM
Lord Godfrey's best ability causes him to stand still. Against Mr. Poison Everywhere, this is a bad idea.
squig_masta Aug 2nd 2011 4:30AM
Unless he uses it during the brief periods where there is no poison and Venoxis is exhausted.
Maiev Aug 1st 2011 5:08PM
Im afraid Venoxis doesnt stand a chance here.
Both have an avoidable frontal-cone-AOE type attack. So lets assume both are smart enough to avoid it. Apart from that Venoxis's only trump card is the poison lines/poison pools, both are avoidable.
The only thing that could possibly cause Lord Godfrey any trouble is Toxic Link. Even the it would have to link Godfrey with one of his ghouls.
Easy win for Lord Godfrey.
nymrohd Aug 1st 2011 5:23PM
Whispers of Hethiss is not really that weak and he practically spams it in p1. But yes every other move by Venoxis is easily avoidable.
Harvoc Aug 1st 2011 5:45PM
I'm voting Venoxis because I always die to him. None of the other bosses in Zul'Gurub kill me but in Venoxis, when I get Toxis Linked, I always Disengage reflexively...right into a Pool of Acrid Tears. Every. Single. Time. The other bosses are a piece of cake, (except for Jin'do, but in that fight, I'm usually the last one standing). I have got to take Disengage off my bars for that fight...
azhandyman.lima Aug 1st 2011 6:07PM
[quote] 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. [/quote]
Jack Mynock Aug 1st 2011 8:37PM
You cannot Disengage from a link into a pool. He only casts link while in troll form and only casts pool while in snake form. Disengage is most likely killing you because you're flying over poison lines in the maze.
The Dewd Aug 2nd 2011 1:50PM
If you want to go that route, I've seen warrior tanks solo Venoxis from about 40% on down. I've, myself, downed him from 50% or so as a healer with nothing else but a hunter and hunter pet (ferocity, not tenacity) left alive.
Venoxis seems to kill more people because you wind up with 1 or 2 people who don't know what they're doing and don't bother to ask how the boss works - and then they die and/or kill other people with the link. Godfrey is "easier" for a lot of reasons.
Jabadabadana Aug 1st 2011 6:02PM
Venoxis is a loa empowered high priest troll.
Lord Godfrey is an annoying human who got un-deaded.
I'm going to go with story scale, and say that Godfrey doesn't stand much of a chance here.
Fightwise, this becomes whispers and link vs cursed bullets and mortal wound. (the ghouls are too dumb to not be maneuvered into varying quantities of green stuff) And link does a lot of damage base, with whispers going on nearly the entirety of troll phase if they aren't interrupted (godfrey can't), and bloodvenom phase, he's being chased by 3 beams from 3 places through the maze, which makes it nearly impossible to avoid all of them for the whole time without the ability to teleport or jump. Cursed bullets hurt a lot, but so do Venoxis' abilities, and mortal wound's main threat is the healing debuff, and Venoxis doesn't heal.
Deathknighty Aug 1st 2011 6:24PM
I know another annoying human who got undead-ed.
His name was Arthas.
Not particularly insignificant.
GhostWhoWalks Aug 1st 2011 7:05PM
Arthas claimed a powerful runeblade, was undead-ed, was second-in-command to the Lich King and eventually became the Lich King.
Godfrey killed himself, washed up on a shore in Silverpine, was undead-ed and his major accomplishment is stabbing someone in the back.
Bit of a stark difference between the two.
DeathPaladin Aug 1st 2011 9:00PM
Godfrey did manage to take down Sylvanas with one shot. Guy's pretty handy with a gun.
Jabadabadana Aug 2nd 2011 2:15AM
I'm guessing him shooting Sylvannas is in the new forsaken early quests? I haven't been able to stomach the new set, now that they've become decidedly evil, though I really ought to for lore's sake.
And let me add to what I said: annoying and relatively insignificant human, as opposed to a high priest troll being empowered by a snake loa. Because you're right, Arthas was fairly annoying, but also became very powerful. (Though did he really die, or just lose his soul? I don't ever seem to recall a death sequence till I beat his head in in ICC.)
Natsumi Aug 2nd 2011 11:16AM
@Jababdbadana
I guess you missed the parts in the old quest chains where the Forsaken were trying to kill everyone. I remember doing at least 3 quest chains to develop a NEW PLAGUE, the Wrath Gate cinematic, and you know every other quest for the Forsaken or their offshoots (Hand of Vengeance, Apothecary Society, etc.) where you do horrible horrible things. I actually though that the new quests were rather refreshing, far less evil (don't get me wrong, there's still a LOT of evil) and they're far more open about it (none of this, "Oh we're ending the Zombie Plague for the good of all, but really it's to perfect the New Plague we're making to kill everything that's not us" crap. Maybe now all the Sylvannus fanboys that say she's just misunderstood will finally get it through their skulls that she's an evil harpy-bitch that needs to be put down. Ah, who am I kidding, fanboys will be fanboys.
dcjanes Aug 2nd 2011 11:39AM
Godfrey one-shotted Sylvanus.
alzeer Aug 1st 2011 6:36PM
for me this fight will end up with double KO
venoxis create multiple pools while godfrey jumping around until he slip on banana peel
and drop right into one , while he is sinking he takes one last shot at the crazy troll.
but i do share Jabadabadana opinion , story-scale seems venoxis will win
paccoachnick Aug 1st 2011 6:46PM
Sham! Sham, I say! Sham! You pea-coats with your hula-hoops and klezmer beats (or whatever it is your kids are into these days...) can keep going on as if our greatest national tragedy hasn't taken place on this website, but I refuse! The Cardboard Assassin will not be forgotten, nor will the railroading of such a great avatars go silently into the night! Sham, I say! Sham!
GhostWhoWalks Aug 1st 2011 7:02PM
Venoxis is gonna destroy Godfrey.
Ironically, Godfrey's biggest asset in his last major match-up, against Tyrannus, will work against him this time around: a nasty targeted ability that might be placed on one of his Ghouls. Against Tyrannus, the fact that the Ghouls could eat a Frostbomb aimed for Godfrey was a saving grace; this time, if two Ghouls get Toxic Linked, it spells major trouble for our undead Gilnean.
Why? Well, to quote Fony in his coverage of the Venoxis fight "if you are meleeing the boss, keep in mind that even if you are not linked with the tank, you will still AoE him, aka me, so please go away." Think the Ghouls would be smart enough to go away when they get Toxic Linked? I'm guessing not. Godfrey can't even back away to avoid the AoE from Toxic Link, because Venoxis follows him, the linked Ghouls follow Venoxis...yeah, it's a bad situation for Godfrey. He won't even have much room to run to because of the snake lines on the floor of the arena.
Everything else is incidental; Breath of Hethiss is easy for Godfrey to avoid, Whispers will do some nasty damage but Godfrey can just counter with Cursed Bullets and the damage will be about the same. The "run from the lasers" phase will probably spell Godfrey's doom unless he gets lucky, because if he gets stuck in a dead-end and a laser's blocking his only exit, he can't escape without taking a bullet (ha, I made a funny) from one source of major damage or the other.
So yeah, in conclusion, Toxic Link > Godfrey. GG.
I feel your pain, Godfrey, even though I dislike you, I feel your pain.
squig_masta Aug 2nd 2011 4:45AM
Oh crud, you're right! Lord Godfrey, the guy infamous for duelweilding pistols, will be in deep trouble when he's in melee range and Venoxis pops toxic link.
...Wait...
Sincerity Erisvale Aug 1st 2011 7:20PM
Lord Godfrey sat back, polishing his guns and loading it with his cursed bullets. How amusing to be called to arms for a silly competition- it would easily be a victory for him. It didn't matter who his opponent was, he downed the Banshee Queen, this other rabble would mean nothing to him.
Upon finishing, he heard the opposite gate open- all he saw a cloud of green gasses, and he laughed, “Poison? An undead? What a foolish endeavor…” His laugh echoed in the arena only to be drowned by a loud hiss, the troll stepped out into the arena, and he spoke with slithering hisses on every S.
“You disssssturb the plans of Gurubashi, little one. It'sss too late for you!” As soon as the gate closed, Lord Godfrey began immediately; he would waste no time with this rabble! He fired a pair of cursed bullets which struck the troll in his shoulder. He hissed loudly, from his mouth a chain of venom bolts burst forth, striking the undead in his chest again and again, while the cursed bullets sizzled in the troll’s skin.
Raising his arms in the air, Lord Godfrey summoned some mindless ghouls, use everything you could- when the ghouls started to jump towards their target- venomous lines started to appear on the floor- the first five ghouls disintegrated into a mass of green goo and undead flesh. “Your sssacrifice pleases him.”
“Idiots!” Lord Godfrey cried and went in for point blank shots- the closer, the more damage- and then a venomous bubble of poison surrounded Godfrey, and another his ghoul, and the venom went back and forth between the two, causing the undead to feel the pain of Hethiss’ venom. Kicking the ghoul into a line of venom, it burst into a pile of flesh and venom, freeing Godfrey of the poison, and a bullet barrage burst from his guns, firing multiple shots- spreading cursed bullets all through the Troll’s flesh.
“Let the coils of death unfurl!” From the troll’s form a snake burst fourth, and with a deep breath, venom shot from his mouth, and Godfrey fired more cursed bullets. As the venomous breath came from the snake’s mouth, it covered his clothes and skin. He rolled out of the way, into a pool of venom that certainly wasn’t there a second before.
Godfrey struggled to get out of it, and then summoned another set of ghouls, all of which leapt to Venoxis. Opening his mouth again, poison spewed , covering the ghouls and melting them into more piles of nothing. Venoxis seemed to be weakening, but Godfrey seemed to be rotting to nothing but bones. Another barrage of bullets, and Venoxis’ voice echoed in the arena, “Hisss word, FILLS me, MY BLOOD IS VENOM, AND YOU WILL BATHE IN THE GLORY OF THE SNAKE GOD!” When the tendrils of venom burst from Venoxis- they had only one target, and they all creeped to his position, and with all four striking his flesh, searing it with venom, and pulling the flesh, ripping apart the valkyr’s magic, “I wished for a clean death. I didn’t receive it. I would have done the same...” It left nothing but a pile of bones, leftover venom residue, and a hissing, but weakened Venoxis hissing out, “The mortal coil unwindsss...”