In Two Bosses Enter, WoW Insider's series of fantasy death matches, the bosses of World of Warcraft face off in the squared circle. Your vote determines who wins and claims the season title.

The bosses of Zul'Aman and Zul'Gurub have not been faring very well in this tournament. Godfrey knocked Venoxis out of the tournament two weeks ago, and last week, Setesh eliminated Halazzi. Setesh. Nobody even likes Setesh! Will Hex Lord Malacrass fare better? Considering he's up against dear Vanessa ... he might have a tough time with it.



Follow along for the details of this week's matchup, as well as discussion on last week's match.

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.

In Corner One: Vanessa VanCleef

My fate is my own!

Vanessa VanCleef made a real mess of this tournament's previous season. She rigged the entire thing in her favor, using the Cardboard Assassin's comedic style to launch herself into the final round. Unfortunately, her opponent was the unbreakable Ozruk, and she fell just short of winning the grand prize: a glimmering golden statue of Tirion Fordring.

Vanessa VanCleef's toolkit includes:

• Backslash
• Deadly Blades
• Vengeance of VanCleef
• An assortment of poisons of the mind rendered useless by the Cardboard Assassin's cardboardiness

Want to learn more about Vanessa? Read what other adventurers had to say about her, or learn more of her story!

In Corner Two: Hex Lord Malacrass

Dis a nightmare ya don' wake up from!

Hex Lord Malacrass is the penultimate boss of Zul'Aman, and while he's a pretty tough dude, it might be fair to say that his level 70 iteration was significantly more dangerous than he is nowadays. Poor Malacrass is losing his tough in his old age, perhaps.

Malacrass's voodoo powah enables him to wield the following:

• Spirit Bolts
• Siphon Soul When siphoning Vanessa's soul, Malacrass would gain the following abilities: Blind, Slice and Dice, Wound Poison
• Drain Power

Can Malacrass top the Defias kingpin? We'll find out, won't we?

Last Week's Winner: Setesh

Poor Halazzi. He lost horribly to a boss the vast majority of players don't even fight. Setesh took the win with 57% of the vote. From reader Scott's point of view, the encounter was extremely one-sided.

Halazzi strode purposefully into the quiet arena, confident in his prowess and in the aid of the Lynx Avatar that flowed through him. That confidence was shaken but not drained by the sight of the towering black stone figure before him. Would Halazzi's wiked claws, searing flame shock and debilitating lightning be enough to overcome such a foe, he didn't know but the doubt was put to the back of his mind as he assessed this foe for weakness.

Setesh stood impassive whilst the puny troll paced back and forth infront of him like some agitated feline. This one certainly seemed different from the others he had glimpsed back in his usual position in the Halls of Origination. As a guard placed by the very Titans, Setesh was quite sure he could account for any foe that was foolish enough to challenge him and this one did look just the right sort of fool to do that.

Halazzi yells: Get on ya knees and bow.... to da fang and claw!

Suddenly the Troll leapt towards Setesh with a rage filled scream of power and started to swing his empowered claws with determination against the cold black stone. Halazzi was momentarily puzzled as his opponent appeared to ignore his attacks and simply walked away, enraged he rushed after him striking with increased fury and rending small but telling blows to the hard shell of this strange foe. A small dark but tinged with purple ball of magic formed at Halazzi feet burning his skin and forcing him to retreat momentarily from his foe, as he moved another ball appeared forcing him further and further from Setesh.

Setesh yells: You fear that which you cannot control. But can you control your fear?

This appeared to be what Setesh was wanting to happen as he finally appeared to take notice of Halazzi. Setesh barely seemed to moved as he effortlessly tossed the ball of rolling blackness at the spot the Troll was crouched in waiting to see what would happen next. Halazzi easily side-stepped the ball of darkness that arced to him but had not considered it would leave the small pool of darkness behind that it did. The pain was enough to convince him to get back in to contact with this strange beast and continue the work he had been forced away from earlier. Halazzi summoned a totem of water on his way back into combat to heal some of the damage he had suffered but the damned statue just strode away forcing Halazzi to follow and not recieve any benefit from the totem.

As he rushed in to continue the attack he noticed a black portal slowly open up behind the equally black figure of Setesh. He wondered if his oponent was intending to flee to some other realm away from the fight that had barely begun of if he was bringing assistance from whatever black hell he had obviously sprung from. As the two worms of darkness slipped through the portal, Halazzi's question was answered. Switching quickly to these new foes, Halazzi felt no danger as these new foes appeared weak and easily subdued. Just in time Halazzi noticed the slow ball of darkness heading towards him just as he finished off the second of the two worms. The searing pain of the pool of darkness was enough to convince Halazzi that it was time to split his strength to deal with what had become a battle on two fronts. His Troll side strode back into combat with the statue and his Lynx half leapt at the new foe slipping quickly through the black doorway.

Halazzi yells: Me gonna carve ya now!

The Lynx half of Halazzi and the new void entity struck terrible blows upon one another but the cat was just strong enough despite the power flowing through the entity's fists to overcome him. Luckly for Halazzi his Lynx half still had the energy and will left to deal with the portal itself before the new foe just emerging was able to fully enter the field of battle. Unfortunately it wasn't able to do both that and avoid the new ball of blackness Setesh was able to unleash whilst the Lynx was occupied and so the two halves were forced back together.
Whilst his Lynx half had been dealing with the void creatures and the doorway Halazzi the Worshiper had been doing the best he could against the stone figure of Setesh. The lightning totem he summoned had done great damage at first but Setesh instinctively summoned more of the small black balls of magic he had used at the beginning of the battle and whilst Halazzi the Worshiper could move away from the totem was unable to avoid the minor but sufficient damage they did and was snuffed out.

As the two halves of Halazzi rejoined they started the same dance with more urgency, determined to finish this troublesome foe as quickly as they could. Unfortunately for Halazzi being a single figure again meant he had to decide whether to continue the assault on the original target or switch to the new portal that opened up before him. He chose to continue on the original target and try and bring it down now. Summoning a new lightning totem appeared to deal well with the worms and even score a few hits on Setesh himself but was unable to reach the doorway and so the second void creature from before was able to re-enter the battle and add its damage to the continued small amounts from the balls of darkness.

By switching to this new opponent and dropping a water totem at his feet he was able to negate and even briefly reverse some of the terrible damage being wrought upon him by his foes. A final lightning totem placed right infront of the portal should have sealed the doorways fate and stopped any more creatures from emerging from it but one was able to slip in before the doorway was sealed. This new entity struck Halazzi with a strange attack that slowed every part of his being and even seemed to shut off the joyful flow of energy from his water totem.

Setesh yells: Do you understand now?

Seeming stuck in a molassess of purple tinged darkness and Halazzi could only stare in horror as the slow moving ball of darkness he had so easily avoided previously struck him directly and leaving the pool of darkness all around him. The flesh of Halazzi screamed as the utter coldness of the darkness engulfed him ... the darkness wrapped itself tightly around the struggling Troll as the life ebbed from him ... Halazzi barely whispered a final defiant word ... you ... can't ... fight ... da power!

Setesh yells: Embrace the end!

Halazzi, maybe you would have won if you didn't keep dropping totems that healed Setesh to full health, eh?



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!

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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.

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Tags: godfrey, halazzi, hex-lord-malacrass, high-priest-venoxis, lord-godfrey, malacrass, one-boss-leaves, setesh, shadowfang-keep, two-bosses-enter, vanessa-van-cleef, vanessa-vancleef, venoxis, wow-boss-tournament, wow-tournament, wow-tourney, zul-gurub, zulgurub

Filed under: Two Bosses Enter