Two Bosses Enter: Arcurion vs. Lord Godfrey
by Mathew McCurley 
Mar 5th 2012 at 5:00PM
The icy wastes of the Dragonblight are harsh enough without the interference of Arcurion, one of the last undefeared ice ascendants in Deathwing's elemental army. His mission: Stop Thrall from reaching Wyrmrest Temple. Opposite this frosty foe is our championship winner from last season, Shadowfang Keep denizen Lord Godfrey, whose double pistols stole the hearts and minds of readers. Godfrey's cool tricks, as well as some other favorable matches, made last season's competition one of the best yet.
Last week's match was a resounding victory for Mannoroth and Varo'then, easily wrecking Asira Dawnslayer and her night elf allies. It was a serious whooping, friends, with a final tally giving the demon duo 69.5% of the vote. Nice win, kids.
Which of our two champions will advance to the next round of Two Bosses Enter? Only you can decide ...
| Arcurion (Hour of Twilight) | |
|---|---|
| Lord Godfrey (Shadowfang Keep) |
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.
As the Hour of Twilight draws near, heroes from across Azeroth race to the Wyrmrest Temple with former Warchief Thrall, carrying the most powerful weapon ever wielded by the Aspects, the Dragon Soul. Deathwing may be mad, but he is not stupid, for he knows of Thrall's approach and the threat that the Dragon Soul presents. There is only way one forward -- Thrall must die.
After the Bastion of Twilight's destruction and Cho'gall's failure to bring about a new breed of dragon birthed from Sinestra, the ascendants were all but destroyed. Arcurion lives on, however, as one of the last remaining ice ascendants and servant of Deathwing to the bitter, final moments. Thrall must be stopped, and Arcurion's surprise attack in the canyons of Dragonblight will freeze his opponents in their places.
Arcurion's kit includes:
- Hand of Frost Arcurion's icy grip reaches out at an opponent, inflicting frost damage.
- Chains of Frost Arcurion unleashes waves of ice that inflict damage and immobilize opponents.
- Frozen Servitor Minions from atop the cavern walls (or tournament hall) throw huge blocks of ice at Arcurion's opponents.
Silverpine Forest is a shadow of its former self, figuratively and literally. What once were lush farmlands for the kingdoms of Lordaeron and Gilneas, prized lands outside the Greymane wall, have become decrepit bastions of the Forsaken, undead risen in spite of death by Arthas' plague or the nefarious val'kyr, once servants of the Lich King.
Now, Silverpine's fog has been pierced once again by the call of terror from the Shadowfang Keep, once home to the great wizard Arugal and now home to the traitorous Lord Godfrey and his ilk, the slayer of Sylvanas himself. Godfrey is conniving, unrelenting, and powerful, and worst of all, he may have some fans from last season because of his awesome art from the WoW TCG. Beware, opponents.
Lord Godfrey comes to us from season 2 of Two Bosses Enter, when he narrowly beat out Zanzil for the season's crown. It was a great finale, to be sure. Godfrey's abilities include:
This matchup was a tricky one, considering the fight mechanics that make up the Mannoroth encounter are not very well suited for our jokey-fun Two Bosses Enter. However, I know that you little scamps can use your imaginations and think of something cool that can happen with this fight in order to get something coherent out of all this.
While I had a good feeling Mannoroth would take the victory by popularity alone (and let's fact it, Mannoroth is totally cool), I did not anticipate the great Asira Dawnslayer victory write-ups were presented. Rai gives the fight to Asira based on her cleverness and the mechanics of the fight.
I'd have to give it to Asira. While it'd be a fairly even fight between her and Varo'then, he'd have less health and Choking Smoke Bomb would be enough to finish him off.Asira did not, however, win. She is the loser. What better way to celebrate getting stomped on by a big, bad pit lord than to read an excellent recount of the fight by Vaniya-EluneWRA:
Mannoroth gets pierced by the sword. There's a fair amount of time before the first adds would appear, and they're probably not smart enough to block the daggers from Mark of Silence, meaning Mannoroth would spend most of his time fighting Illidan. On the offchance he'd get a Fel Inferno off, there's Choking Smoke Bomb - which by the way he probably wouldn't move out of. This fight is more one-sided than it appears, but there is a minor chance for victory for Mannoroth.
It depends on Thrall. Is Thrall smart enough to block the daggers? He probably wouldn't, considering Mannoroth's size.
So as said above, I'd give it to Asira. It'd be a long fight but she has the toolbox to do it - and I doubt her minions would be powerful enough to break through her Blade Barrier, or move out of her Choking Smoke Bomb.
Asira crouches behind the arm bone of the massive dragon, eyes following Thrall and the adventurers as they fought through the cultist lackeys. Then, her target, a red drake, flies into view. She takes a running start and jumps towards the drake. As she is gliding through the air, the drake stops, and its scales turns bronze as Asira falls into a portal. "That was easy..." mumbled Chromie.Does it really get better than that? Not only does Asira get stomped on, but Malfurion bites it, too. Get this story approved as legitimate as soon as humanly possible.
Asira falls through the bronze timeway, landing deftly on the scorched ground. "What the.." she muses, then a giant pit lord catches her attention. "Some help would be appreciated, stranger!" cried a night elf with a blindfold on. He was fighting, somehow, the pit lord without being hit.
Before Asira can make sense of this, another elf cries "For Azshara! for our Queen!" Varo'then runs at her, sword held high. Leaping out of the way, Asira throws one of her enchanted daggers at Varo'then, binding his tongue with magic.
Varo'then and Asira trade blows for a while, and soon she has him on his knees. Mustering all his strength, Varo'then casts off Asira's hex, shouting "Mannoroth! Aid me!" The demon opened a portal, from which waves of lesser demons poured forth from.
"Damn." Asira cried. Seeing Varo'then trying to stand, she cut him down swiftly. By that time, the demons had reached her, and in return she used a fan of knives to cut swathes of them down. Mannoroth, still dealing with Illidan, sent two Nazrethim to deal with her once and for all. They landed a ways from her, and channeled their dark and debilitating magic on her. Being the skilled assassin she was, Asira knew she would fall in a matter of seconds if she did nothing.
So she threw her daggers, the last weapons on her, at them. The projectiles struck home, and the nazrethim burst into clouds of dark energy. But Asira was running out of options. Still, demons poured through the portal, so she grabbed Varo'then's crackling sword from the ground and began cutting down the demons. Reaching the portal, she disrupted its focus by using the enchanted sword.
At that moment, she heard a cry from behind her. Turning to look, she saw Illidan flyin through the air, falling quite far away. "Illidan!" cried the previously unseen night elven woman, as she dashed to his aid. "I guess it comes down to you and me then." said Asira, turning her attention to the pit lord.
Letting loose a war cry, Asira hurled the blade at Mannoroth, Landing a direct hit. "AAAUUGGHH!" cried Mannoroth. Growing tired of the Rabble, he summoned a firestorm of fel energy, pretending to focus all his attention on maintaining it. In reality, as Asira bobbed and weaved from the firestorm, Mannoroth was cleverly opening a connection to the Twisting Nether.
Grabbing her daggers from the twisted armor of the nazrethim, Asira formed a plan in her head. Silence the oaf when he was done, drop a smoke bomb, and cut his oversized throat. Simple was often the best. What she wasn't expecting was, when the fire cleared, another army of demons was waiting for her. Shit. She dropped a smoke bomb, Planning to flee from the scene. But when she went to run, she found a surprise. There was the pit lord's hand, a split second from grabbing her. Her last thought was of how she never got the payment for the last job.
Mannoroth wiped the elf blood n' bits off his hand on the grass. Ready to take over the world now, he turned his attention to the elves he had earlier lost track of. They had just finished slaughtering his army. The female cried "Goddess, guide my arrows!" and fired at him. The arrows, while not fatal, distracted him from the other elf, who cut his connection to the portal in the well. "Noooooooooooo!!!!!!" he cried as he was pulled into the well.
A voice, rather dragon sounding, whispered in his ear "take the Druid with you!" and so Mannoroth's last act on Azeroth was taking Malfurion with him to the Nether. Let's hope he doesn't make it back. Knaak on wood. (Knaak pun courtesy of Ask a Faction Leader: Chromie)
Personally, I feel like I also went with the popular option instead of what I actually preach. I like Asira all well and good, but I have a past with Mannoroth. He's been with me for a long time, man. Actually, that's probably one of the reasons the Well of Eternity is such a great place and wonderful instance -- we know this time and this place but have never actually seen it. I like it.
Let's get back to business -- you need to vote on a winner this week. Will the cold-hearted Arcurion be able to withstand the might of last season's champion Lord Godfrey? Vote now!
| Mannoroth and Varo'then (Well of Eternity) | |
|---|---|
| Asira Dawnslayer (Hour of Twilight) |
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 1)
Angus Mar 5th 2012 5:37PM
You may not be Thrall, but you will not pass me either, undead creature.
"who said I wanted to leave? I promised the ladies another blood bath, now we get to see if you bleed water or ice."
(5 minutes of cursed bullets, pistol barrages and ghouls happily wailing on a hapless Ascendant later...)
"Looks like Ice. "
"Now I know. And knowing is half the battle... Why did I just say that?"
GhostWhoWalks Mar 5th 2012 5:47PM
Of course, people are going to vote for Godfrey AGAIN, despite the fact that he is completely undeserving of his popularity (and now that I've played through both the Worgen starting zone, all of the Silverpine quests and Shadowfang Keep on both level 20 normal and 85 heroic, I can say this with complete certainty), but let's ignore that for a moment and look at the current match-up.
Arcurion's got a hefty advantage here. He can immobilize Godfrey with Chains of Frost, keeping the Gilnean out of melee range and rendering him unable to dodge the ice boulders thrown by Arcurion's minions. This distance is, of course, no issue for Arcurion, who can just spam Hand of Frost all day. And in the event that Godfrey does somehow manage to get his health low, Arcurion can simply start channeling Torrent of Frost and (frost)burn Godfrey down with ease.
Game, set, match. Begone with you, Godfrey.
paul.morales91 Mar 5th 2012 6:17PM
A hefty advantage? lolololol, ur funny. Ok, I know we're not supposed to focus on mechanics that heavily, but lets face it, at least some pugs had a chance of wiping on Godfrey. Nobody wipes on Arcurion. Nobody, not even on the day 4.3 dropped.
Here's how the fight REALLY goes. So he immobilizes Godfrey with Chains of Ice, fine. Godfrey can just respond by casting Cursed Bullets and following up with Pistol Barage. Rinse, repeat. True, he can't dodge the ice boulders, but Thrall will be protecting him anyway, so they won't matter.
Now lets assume Arcurion is spamming away with Hand of Frost, Godfrey is immobilized with Chains of Frost, and Thrall has just been trapped in his Icy Tomb so he can't protect Godfrey from the boulders. Godfrey has three options: Keep firing at Arcurion, turn his bullets on Thrall's ice, or, and this is my favorite, summon his ghouls to break Thrall out and keep hitting Arcurion with his bullets.
Undeserved or not, Godfrey is gonna win this on both popularity AND mechanics.
GhostWhoWalks Mar 5th 2012 7:46PM
Do note that Arcurion can dodge Pistol Barrage. Cursed Bullets hits hard, but Hand of Frost hits pretty hard too. And not only would the Ghouls be locked down by Chains too, but even if they were free, they're very easily killed and aren't a huge threat.
But hey, we both know this is a popularity contest and that logic barely factors into it.
Rai Mar 5th 2012 6:06PM
I'd post a witty comment about Godfrey utilising his ghouls and cursed bullets, of which Arcurion couldn't dodge at the end, and such but Arcurion is, in my opinion, the weakest boss in Cataclysm.
Then again, maybe that's just post-Mannoroth syndrome.
mibu.work1 Mar 5th 2012 6:39PM
While I'd normally vote against what is clearly the most popular boss on principle, I honestly feel Godfrey has this in the bag. His cursed bullets will just keep chipping away at Acurion, his bullet storms will more than match Acurion's frostbolt storms, and until that happens, Acurion attacks too slowly for him to adequately deal with the ghouls. I just think this is a fight between two DPS-style bosses, and Godfrey just has more to offer.
Jaq Mar 5th 2012 7:02PM
While I think Godfrey is inexplicably popular...really, all he does other than temporarily kill Sylvanas is stand in one spot and shoot with two guns...unfortunately, Arcurion is easily the least of the bosses in all of the Cata heroics. Here comes the beat down.
byronius_prime Mar 5th 2012 7:17PM
Although I ought to vote for Arcurion (I highly doubt a zombie with a pair of pistols could beat an ascedant tasked with stopping Thrall from getting to Wyrmrest Temple), I believe that their mechanics dictacte Arcurion would die.
Vaniya Mar 5th 2012 7:44PM
Hi! Guess I'll put a quick note up here, I'm Vaniya and I play on both Elune and Wyrmrest Accord, and any time in the past you've seen the name Vaniya on these, it's me :P Story Time!
Arcurion stood outside the double doors, unsure how he got to be there, when an arguing duo of a Worgen and Undead rushed past him, breaking down the door. Arcurion shot a bolt of frost magic at them, but it dissipated in a small flash of light. The pair, still unaware of him, shouted "Godfrey! You will pay for your crimes!"
Lord Godfrey, disturbed from his work, looked over and swiftly shot at the two. They were flung out of the room, past Arcurion, who was walking into the room. After he passed the threshold, a bronze shield covered his only exit. Godfrey turned towards the Ascendant, saying "More interruptions? This will not stand!" he fired a round of cursed bullets at Arcurion, who leapt out of the way. In response, Arcurion fired a Hand of Frost at Godfrey, grabbing his throat.
"Insolent wretch!" Godfrey cried as he flung Arcurion with inhuman strength away from him. Arcurion, angered, called upon his magic and summoned forth his elemental minions. Not pleased, Godfrey raised a small army of ghouls, which went to attack. After seeing his minions dispatched of, Arcurion said "You shall not survive today, Mage!" and conjured up a Torrent of Frost, cutting down swathes of the undead.
"I can do that too." stated Godfrey calmly, aiming his pistols at Arcurion. While running from the barrage of dark bullets, Arcurion formed an icy prison around Godfrey, trapping him in place. Walking smugly to the now frozen man, Arcurion charged up a massive spell. "Guess we know who is stronger." said Arcurion.
Right as the spell shattered his prison, Godfrey blinked past Arcurion, shooting him in the back of his head, killing him instantly. "Guess we do." said Godfrey. And at that moment, Sylvanas fired seven arrows into his black heart. "That's for killing be, you bastard."
Ballmung Mar 6th 2012 1:02AM
There are 3 reasons why Godfrey takes this:
1) He has the popular vote. Just admit that you like him and press the button for him now. Those that need convincing go to point 2.
2) The mechanics for both bosses are decently matched until you remember Godfrey has two pistols and a mini ghoul army as opposed to a single spam spell, a limited duration snare, and elementals that have as much aim as Thrall during Asira's fight.
3) Simply in terms of lore Godfrey is superior. He's intelligent, conniving, and simply put he can ACTUALLY kill the person he sets his guns to. If he can kill a beloved, while homicidal, faction leader and Arcurion can't even seriously hurt one that has become really over played this expansion and now really annoying because we have to escort him in TWO dungeons now then that's just proof he can handle one of the last ice ascendants.
Eclari Mar 6th 2012 2:14PM
I will go with the huntard with ghoul pets.
No, really, Godfrey has guns, so being snared is not really a problem. Minions trhowing rocks from afar? Again, he has guns, he could pistol barrage the boulders or just shoot at the minions.
Arcurion's most damaging ability requieres him to be standing inmobile, open to any attack. They way I see this fight, his only hope to win would be landing an ice tomb on Godfrey.
Ikana Mar 7th 2012 10:11PM
Lord Godfrey walked into the frozen stadium, silently cursing Tirion Fordring for deciding to send him here just so that Arcurion would be able to summon his own minions. Of course, Godfrey already had his own ghouls by his side, the mindless undead making strange noises, all the way to this place the undead lord told them to shut up countless times.
"WHO DARES?"
Godfrey stold there, watching the ice elemental who seemed to be pissed off just because he walked into this place. Tirion came flying down on one of the Argent Gryphons,
"Champions-" he got cut off by Arcurion's yell.
"WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?!"
Tirion gave Arcurion a look,
"Didn't you get the letter?"
"WHAT LETTER?!"
"It got lost in the mail then, just fight Lord Godfrey." Tirion flew up higher to make sure he didn't get hit by the boulders that are surely going to be flying.
Arcurion turned to Godfrey, who was sitting on the ground looking bored.
"Oh? Time to fight?" Godfrey got up and pulled out him pistols. "Fine.... this should be easy."
Tirion yelled, "CHAMPIONS, FIGHT!"
Arcurion started with throwing an ice bolt at the undead, thinking he'll one shot him. Godfrey moved out of the way while firing bullets at the elemental. The ghouls had already jumped on Arcurion, and attempted to eat the elemental.
Arcurion laughed, "PATHETIC."
Godfrey suddenly felt a burst of cold hit him. He stopped himself from yelling in pain and tried to move out of the way. He was frozen to the ground. The ghouls that had been "attacking" the elemental were killed instantly by the attack. Arcurion summoned his own minions, who lifted giant boulders and was about to throw them.
Godfrey stared at them, while firing pistol shots at the elemental, which seemed to be doing barely anything. He was still stuck there, and trying to figure out a way to get out.
Then the thought hit him. Back when he was working for Sylvanas, he used fire spells. Godfrey mentally cursed himself for forgeting them. He cast a firebolt at his feet, freeing himself from the ice's grasp, and ran out of the way of the falling ice boulders.
Godfrey decided to use his fire magic instead of the normal shadow that was in his guns. Upon casting a firebolt at Arcurion and hitting him, the elemental yelled out in pain, "DAMN YOU UNDEAD!"
Godfrey laughed, "This is going to be easy now."
More and more of Arcurion's servants were coming and throwing boulders, Godfrey was only nearly dodging them, "Of course, I should have never said this was going to be easy."
Godfrey continued firing firebolts, along with a flameshock once in a while, at Arcurion, who was attempting to freeze Godfrey in place again. Godfrey thought he had this, since Arcurion seemed to be almost dead. Until he got hit by one of the boulders.
Godfrey got thrown to the ground with the boulder nearly crushing his leg. The undead yelled in pain.
Arcurion laughed, "NOW YOU WILL DIE!"
Godfrey refused to just die. Grabbing his guns, he charged up a mix of shadow and fire magic. Arcurion charged a massive amount of frost magic. Godfrey, having started earlier sent a barrage of bullets, shadow, and fire magic at Arcurion. The elemental suddenly yelled out, unable to protect himself from the attack.
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"
Arcurion fell, turning into nothing more than a husk of an elemental.
Godfrey groaned, and pushed the boulder off his leg, and attempted to get up, but ended up just having to sit down again due to the pain that coursed through his leg, "Crap. I'm not going to be walking for a bit..."
Tirion flew down, after telling the other Argent Paladins to take Arcurion's servants away.
"The winner of this match is Lord Godfrey!"
Godfrey stared at the Paladin, "So... am I going to get a heal or something?"
Tirion looked at the Undead, "When we get back to the tornament grounds."
"Damn it..." Godfrey passed out after that.
----------------------------
Please tell me how that fightfic was. It was my first try at one. In fact my first comment on any of these. All I want to say is,
Go Godfrey!