Manny and Joce are back after a hectic November to talk about WoW’s 14th Anniversary, some hot fixes to live, the story of Tiragarde Sound, and the strategy for completing Freehold.

Happy Birthday World of Warcraft

On November 23rd, WoW officially turned 14. Until November 30th, the event offers a vendor with various cosmetic items.

  • Timewalking World Bosses: Lord Kazzak, Azuregos, and the four Dragons of Nightmare
  • Historian daily trivia
  • Celebration Package: Rep and EXP boost item, Timewarped Badges
  • New Item: Overtuned Corgi Goggles
  • Celebration Announcement

Mythic Plus Hotfixes

In a recent hotfix, we have seen several hotfixes adjusting dungeon difficulty as well as adjusting the mechanics of affixes.

  • Grievous now stacks every other tick (was every tick), and now deals 2% of the player’s total HP per stack (was 1.5%)
  • Grievous is currently bugged getting 2 stacks initially
  • The health of Explosives has been reduced by 50%, and Explosives should no longer spawn from a crowd-controlled enemy.
  • Nerfs to encounters in King’s Rest, Shrine of the Storm; and, Temple of Sethraliss
  • 3 min timer extensions for Tol Dagor and The Underrot
  • Nov 16th Hotfix Summation

Uldir Nerfs Abound

In the same Nov. 16th hotfix, changes were made to M.O.T.H.E.R and Mythrax; however Blizzard has announced further changes to Uldir.

  • Nerfs to Mythic Fetid Devourer and Mythic Ghuun.
  • Mythrax received a multitude of changes:
    • N’raqi Destroyer adds had an HP reduction on all difficulties
    • Visions of Madness no longer prefer targeting ranged players
    • Oblivion Sphere now strongly favors targeting ranged specs across all difficulties.
  • Upcoming Uldir Changes (Nov 27th)

Freehold

The base of operations for the Irontide pirates, Freehold is also home to thieves and criminals of several banners. This lawless town is a 4 boss dungeon available on Normal, Heroic, Mythic and Mythic keystone difficulties. This guide will cover mechanics for the mythic bosses. Some mechanics discussed will be less impactful or absent on lower difficulties.

  • Skycap’n Kragg
    • A 7 mana 4/6 with Charge, Skycap’n Kragg cost 1 less for each friendly pirate on your board.
    • A 2 Phase encounter that involves keeping spread out and reacting quickly to minimize the damage taken.
    • In phase 1, Skycap’n Kragg is mounted on Sharkbait.
      • He will randomly hit players with Pistol Shot. This is unavoidable damage that must simply be healed through.
      • He will target the location of a player and cast Charrrrge dealing damage and knocking back all players within 8 yards of the location.
    • At 75% health, he will dismount and begin phase 2.
      • In phase 2, he will no longer have the abilities from phase 1 but will have new abilities.
      • Azerite Powder Shot is an upgraded version of Pistol Shot and will damage all players in a 30 degree cone of a random player.
      • The Cap’n will occasionally channel Revitalising Brew, healing him for a percentage of his maximum health over 5 seconds. This should be interrupted immediately. A player can pick up the dropped bottle to gain a 5 second HoT.
      • While fighting Kragg, Sharkbait will be disrupting the fight via Vile Bombardment which will drop literal patches of poop upon the location of a random player.
      • Sharkbait will periodically drop down and Charrrrge across the encounter area towards a player. This will damage and knock back any player in his path.
  • Council o’ Captains
    • A 1 phase fight with 2 of 3 captains, while the 3rd is friendly (assuming you joined the crew via the events before the boss area.) Each Captain has an individual health pool and unique abilities
    • Captain Eudora will jump across the area and cast Grapeshot. This will unleash a rotating series of cone attacks. She will always rotate clockwise. If you are fast you can move ahead of the attacks; however if you are slow you should use a defensive and take a single cone and resume attacking.
    • Captain Eudora will attack players by spamming Powder Shot dealing damage a random party member.
    • Captain Jolly is the swashbuckling master of swords and will frequently use Cutting Surge at the location of a random player. All players within 5 yards of the location will be dealt damage and a physical damage DoT.
    • Captain Jolly’s second ability is Whirlpool of Blades which will do a large amount of damage to anyone hit by the ability. These blades will boomerang back to Cpt. Jolly.
    • Captain Raoul throws Blackout Barrels at random players disorientating and blinding the affected player. The Barrel must be burst down to free the player.
    • Captain Raoul will also cast Barrel Smash at his location which will deal a large hit and knock back any nearby players.
    • The Bartender will throw brews at the location of the bosses. 2 of the 3 are beneficial but 1 applies a DoT. Move the boss into the Caustic Freehold Brew and keep the good stuff for your party.
  • Ring of Booty
    • 3 “event” fight
    • First event: catch the pig which needs to be clicked on 5 times. The easiest way is to surround the little bone pile in the center of the arena and spam your interact button. (no default for mouse-over interact but default for interact with target is the “;” (semicolon key)
    • Event 2: Ludwig Von Tortollan: Basically a Patchwerk fight other than avoiding the turtle shells that will bounce around the arena.
    • Event 3: Trothak
      • Ripper Punch will hit a random player in melee dealing some damage and will apply a DoT to that player
      • Shark Tornado is a bladestorm ability. Back away and wait for it to end before re-engaging in melee combat.
      • Pools of Chum will be thrown into the arena players who walk into the pools will be slowed by 50%.
      • Shark Toss will throw on the sharks at the location of a random player. When the shark lands it will deal damage to any player within 8 yards of the location and then the shark will begin hopping towards the closest player. The shark must be kited and will deal damage to any player close to it as it flails around. These sharks must be kited into the pools of chum which will slow the shark while it is active.
      • Throk will then cast Rearm, charging towards the location of one of the sharks and hit anyone in the path.
  • Harlan Sweete
    • The boss of the Irontide Pirates and the final boss of the dungeon.
    • 1 phase encounter with increasingly powerful abilities as the boss loses health.
    • Throughout the fight Harlan will mark players with Cannon Barrage. Artillery fire will rain down on marked players locations. Any player directly hit will take damage and suffer a DoT. The Cannon Barrage will also leave void zones which will damage players standing within it and limit the available fight area.
    • Harlan will periodically use Swiftwind Saber to shoot slicing wind blades out in a direction. Any player hit by this attack will take damage and be knocked back.
    • Throughout the fight, Irontide Grenadiers will spawn and fixate on a player. They will chase down the player and then explode dealing heavy damage to anyone nearby. These adds should be killed before they reach their target.
    • At 60%, he will empower his abilities with Loaded Dice: All Hands!
      • Cannon Barrage will target all non-tank players
      • Swiftwind Saber will be used repeatedly in different directions
      • Multiple Grenadiers will be summoned at the same time
    • At 30%, he will empower himself with Loaded Dice: Man-o-War
      • He will cast his empowered abilities more frequently
      • He will attack twice as fast
      • He takes twice as much damage