Lich King (tactics)

The Lich King is the final boss of the Halls of Reflection, and thus of the Frozen Halls, in Icecrown Citadel. Players must escape through the Hidden Passage from the Shadow Throne to the outside in order to complete the encounter.

Abilities




The Lich King also creates ice walls to halt the party and raises various Scourge minions to battle them (see the Strategy section, below).

The Chase
In order to reach the Lich King after defeating Falric and Marwyn, players must battle a skeletal Frostsworn General and Spiritual Reflections of the party members. Upon entering the Shadow Throne, they find their faction guide (Jaina Proudmoore or Sylvanas Windrunner) in combat with the Lich King, and near death. The guide makes her way out into the Hidden Passage while ordering the party to follow her out, and the Lich King - not willing to let his quarry escape - gives chase.

The Lich King raises a series of four ice walls throughout the Hidden Passage to block the escape of the party. At each wall, the Lich King raises groups of undead to attack. The groups consist of the following:


 * - Upon entering range, the ghouls leap at their targets.
 * - The abominations Cleave their targets and also spray vomit on their targets.
 * - vargul spellcasters who cast Shadow Bolt, Shadow Bolt Volley and Curse of Doom.

In order to break through each ice wall, the groups of undead must be destroyed. Typically, a half-dozen non-elite ghouls are spawned first, then a few risen witch doctors, and finally a lumbering abomination or three. More and more Scourge are spawned at each wall, so kill quickly and keep close to the guide.

The risen witch doctors must be killed first as they attack from range and may end up behind the Lich King, thus causing a wipe if the group is heavy on melee DPS.

Upon reaching the end of the tunnel to the platform outside, the party finds they are trapped on the ledge - and the Lich King is close on their tails. Suddenly, their faction gunship (The Skybreaker or Orgrim's Hammer) rises up and opens fire, collapsing the tunnel before the Lich King can reach them. The ship's captain ( or ) encourages the party to get on board before the mountainside collapses; a chest with the loot for the encounter is on the deck, as is a portal to Dalaran. If the instance was entered by the Dungeon Finder, the portal will actually lead to wherever you entered from, just as if you used the Dungeon Finder to teleport out.

Alliance

 * Entering the Shadow Throne
 * yell
 * Jaina voices the sentences "There's nothing left of Arthas. Only the Lich King remains..."
 * yell


 * Starting the gauntlet
 * yell


 * First ice wall
 * yell
 * yell


 * Second ice wall
 * yell
 * yell


 * Third ice wall
 * yell
 * yell


 * Last ice wall
 * yell
 * yell


 * Gauntlet ends
 * yell
 * The path ends there - you're trapped! As he approaches, the Lich King laughs maniacally.
 * yell
 * yell
 * At that moment, The Skybreaker comes up from below!
 * yell
 * The Skybreaker's guns open fire on the tunnel, collapsing it. A ramp leading up to the deck is lowered.
 * yell
 * yell
 * yell

Horde

 * Gauntlet begins
 * yell
 * yell


 * First ice wall
 * yell
 * yell


 * Second ice wall
 * yell
 * yell


 * Third ice wall
 * yell
 * yell


 * Last ice wall
 * yell
 * yell


 * Gauntlet ends
 * yell
 * The path ends there - you're trapped! As he approaches, the Lich King laughs maniacally.
 * yell
 * yell
 * Suddenly, Orgrim's Hammer comes up from below!
 * yell
 * Orgrim's Hammer's guns open fire on the tunnel, collapsing it. A ramp leading up to the deck is lowered.
 * yell
 * yell

Bugs

 * There used to be a trick where players could stand on the platform next to the start of the path and have the Lich King pass them. The spawns still target you, but the Lich King walks away from you. As long as you make it outside your faction's ship blasts the mountainside, you are fine. With Patch 3.3.2, The Lich King deals massive damage to players standing in this position.
 * If you entered the instance using the Dungeon Finder, the portal to Dalaran will not actually lead to Dalaran, but rather to wherever you were before teleporting into the instance. It is unknown whether this is a bug or intended behavior.
 * There have been a few reported cases of the faction guide (Sylvanas or Jaina) having far less health than she normally would during this encounter. Her health has been known to reach as low as 1.  Nonetheless, it is still possible to succeed.  In such a scenario, it is actually best to have all party members stay away from the guide, so that any multi-target spells or attacks from the mobs don't accidentally hit her (since her death will result in an instant wipe).  It is actually unknown if this is a bug, or dependent on the time it takes the party to reach their guide following Marwyn's defeat.  Her health has been known to return to more manageable levels if the party should have to try again.
 * While not necessarily a bug, players can run past the location of the first ice wall before it is created. If the player is inside the ice wall, they are technically allowed to walk back out and continue as normal. While this does allow the player to get to the airship right away, your faction guide will still be stuck at the ice wall and the party will wipe when the Lich King makes it to her.

Killing the Lich King
It is proposed that the Lich King can indeed be killed in this encounter. Having a typical set up of 1 tank, 1 healer, and 3 dps, and a time limit of 7 minutes, each dps would need to do about 15k dps if the tank is doing 2k dps. This would have to be constant damage of course, and the adds would have to be taken care of at the same time or else Lich King will catch up. Also, being in melee range means players will be taking AoE damage from Remorseless Winter, meaning heals have to be on top of that. Overall it appears almost impossible with current gear out, but seems still slightly doable in this context.