Beasts of Northrend Encounter Guide: Strategy, Abilities, Loot

The Beasts of Northrend is the first boss you will encounter in the Trial of the Crusader raid instance. This encounter features three different bosses all of which have unique abilities and specific ways they should be handled.

• You will want to stay loosely spread around all three of the boss encounters to mitigate fire damage during Gormok, which avoids any unnecessary damage from Burning Bile while trying to clear Paralytic Toxin and avoids too many raid members being hit with Icehowl's Arctic Breath.
• If you see a Snowbold Vassal Kill it!

• You will want to stay loosely spread around all three of the boss encounters to mitigate fire damage during Gormok, to avoid any unnecessary damage from Burning Bile while trying to clear Paralytic Toxin and to avoid too many raid members being hit with Icehowl's Arctic Breath.
• Consider using abilities such as Paladin's Hand of Protection to clear Gormok's Impale stacks off your tank if the damage is becoming too much.

• Consider using abilities such as Paladin's Hand of Protection to clear Gormok's Impalestacks off your tank if the damage is becoming too much.
• Make sure it is clear which tank will take which boss when Dreadscale and Acidmaw are active and ensure they are not facing the raid at any time.
• Have a clear path at all times for the tank with Burning Bile to be able to cleanse those in the raid with Paralytic Toxin before they get stunned.

• Impale — Gormok will apply a bleed to his current aggro target, this debuff stacks.
• Staggering Stomp — Gormok will occasionally stomp dealing physical damage and interrupting any spell casting, this ability only has a 15 yard range and can be avoided by being at max casting range.
• Rising Anger — Each time Gormok throws one of his Snowbold Vassalls he will a 15% damage increase, stacking infinitely, or until he runs out of snowbolds.
• Gormok will occasionally throw a Snowbold Vassal from his back onto a random player in the raid, they will interrupt the target they are fixated on upon any non-instant spell casting and occasionally stun them for 2 seconds.

• Acidic Spew — Acidmaw channels a cone of nature damage to anyone infront of him for 2.5 seconds. This ability is only use when Acidmaw is mobile.
• Paralytic Bite — bites his current aggro target dealing massive nature damage and injecting them with Paralytic Toxin. This ability is only use when Acidmaw is mobile.
• Slime Pool — Acidmaw will occasionally spawn a pool of slime beneath him dealing massive Nature damage to anyone standing in it. This ability is only use when Acidmaw is mobile.
• Sweep — Acidmaw will occasionally knock players within 15 yards away. This ability is only use when Acidmaw is stationary.
• Paralytic Spray — Acidmaw will choose a random target in the raid and deal nature damage to them and apply Paralytic Toxin to that target and anyone within 10 yards of the target.
• Acid Spit — Acidmaw will deal Nature damage to a random target in the raid.

• Molten Spew — Dreadscale channels a cone of Fire damage to anyone in front of him for 2.5 seconds. This ability is only use when Dreadscale is mobile.
• Burning Bite — bites his current aggro target dealing massive Fire damage and afflicts them with Burning Bile. This ability is only use when Dreadscale is mobile.
• Slime Pool — Dreadscale will occasionally spawn a pool of slime beneath him dealing massive Nature damage to anyone standing in it. This ability is only use when Dreadscale is mobile.
• Sweep — Dreadscale will occasionally knock players within 15 yards away. This ability is only use when Dreadscale is stationary.
• Burning Spray — Dreadscale will choose a random target in the raid and deal Fire damage to them and apply Burning Bile to that target and anyone within 10 yards of the target.
• Fire Spit — Dreadscale will deal Fire damage to a random target in the raid.

• Ferocious Butt — Icehowl will occasionally headbutt his target dealing massive physical damage and stunning for target for 3 seconds.
• Arctic Breath — Icehowl will occasionally target a random member of the raid and breathe on them dealing massive frost damage and stunning them and anyone near them.
• Whirl — Icehowl will occasionally knock players within 15 yards away.
• Massive Crash — Icehowl will jump to the center of the arena knocking all players back against the walls of the coliseum. He will choose a random target and rush toward the original location of his target.

This encounter will require two tanks, the amount of healers you choose to bring will depend entirely on your raids familiarity with the mechanics to mitigate damage taken, typically the the more DPS you can bring the better as the quicker the boss dies there are less mechanics to handle. Anywhere from 3-5 healers will work depending on your raid team. Bloodlust and Heroism can be used on the boss you believe your raid is struggling with the most, this often times will be Dreadscale and Acidmaw as there is the most going on during this portion of the encounter.

Gormok is a relatively simple encounter that will require your tanks to occasionally swap aggro due to his Impale debuff. Tanks should taunt at two stacks or have the bleed removed via a Paladins Hand of Protection or if the tank themselves is a Paladin Divine Shield. The raid should be evenly spread in a semi circle around Gormok as you can tank him where he spawns. Make sure to stay away from other player to mitigate damage from the Firebombs the Snowbold Vassals will be throwing. Snowbolds will occasionally be thrown onto raid members by Gormok and can be ignored depending on who they get attached to, if attached to a healer or a spell caster they must be killed, if a melee dps they can be ignored until the transition. It is important to kill Gormok as quickly as possible to limit his Rising Anger stacks which he gains each time he throws a Snowbold.

Each tank should pick up one of these two bosses and ensure they are facing away from the raid at all times without pointing the bosses at each other. The bosses will take turns being either stationary or mobile, which will also effect which moves each boss is capable of using.

While Acidmaw is mobile he will be applying Paralytic Toxin on his aggro target via Paralytic Bite. This debuff must be cleaned by the member of the raid afflicted by Burning Bile which will be applied to a random member of the raid thanks to Dreadscale's Burning Spray ability. This reverses when the mobs alternate between being stationary and mobile, Burning Bile will be applied to the tank via Burning Bite and a random member of the raid will be slowed and eventually stunned if not cleansed of Paralytic Toxin which gets applied by Paralytic Spray. To remove the Paralytic Toxin debuff the player with Burning Bile must simply run into them and it will be dispelled. Otherwise this is an extremely simple portion of the encounter where all you have to do is heal through spot damage caused by either boss, avoid the puddles left by Slime Pool.

The raid should focus on killing Acidmaw and I would recommend using Heroism/Bloodlust here to get him down as quickly as possible. Keep in mind Dreadscale enrages when Acidmaw dies so try to deal as much damage to Dreadscale as possible while still focusing on getting Acidmaw down as quickly as possible.

Icehowl is another very simple boss, tanks should swap when Ferocious Butt is cast to avoid Icehowl hitting a stunned target. The raid should spread in a circle surrounding the boss to mitigate the effects of Arctic Breath. The only other mechanic to deal with is avoiding being killed by Icehowl's Massive Crash ability by moving away from the targetted area. Rinse and repeat until the boss is dead.

There are no new abilities on the Heroic version of this encounter. Instead, the bosses will now have substantially more health, deal considerably more damage, and now spawn on a set timer instead of when you defeat the previous one. Gormok remains the first boss that spawns when the encounter begins. 150 seconds into the fight Dreadscale and Acidmaw will appear and 350 seconds into the encounter Icehowl will join, so it is crucial you are doing everything possible to maximize your groups DPS.

Item	Type/Slot
Shoulderguards of the Spirit Walker	Mail Shoulders
Armbands of the Northern Stalker	Mail Bracers
Collar of Ceaseless Torment	Neck
Icehowl Cinch	Cloth Belt
Acidmaw Boots	Leather Boots
Belt of the Frozen Reach	Plate Belt
Carnivorous Band	Ring
Girdle of the Impaler	Plate Belt
Gauntlets of Rising Anger	Plate Gloves
Shoulderpads of the Glacial Wilds	Leather Shoulders
Dreadscale Armguards	Plate Bracers
Rod of Imprisoned Souls	Wand

Item	Type/Slot
Belt of the Impaler	Plate Belt
Acidmaw Treads	Leather Boots
Collar of Unending Torment	Neck
Dreadscale Bracers	Plate Bracers
Gormok's Band	Ring
Pauldrons of the Glacial Wilds	Leather Shoulders
Pauldrons of the Spirit Walker	Mail Shoulders
Girdle of the Frozen Reach	Plate Belt
Gauntlets of Mounting Anger	Plate Gloves
Bracers of the Northern Stalker	Mail Bracers
Icehowl Binding	Cloth Belt
Scepter of Imprisoned Souls	Wand

Item	Type/Slot
Band of the Violent Temperment	Ring
Belt of the Ice Burrower	Mail Belt
Blade of Tarasque	Dagger
Boneshatter Armplates	Plate Bracers
Boots of the Courageous	Plate Boots
Boots of the Unrelenting Storm	Leather Boots
Breastplate of Cruel Intent	Mail Chest
Chestplate of the Towering Monstrosity	Plate Chest
Cord of the Tenebrous Mist	Cloth Belt
Crystal Plated Vanguard	Shield
Drape of the Untamed Predator	Cloak
Flowing Vestments of Ascent	Cloth Chest
Leggings of the Broken Beast	Leather Legs
Shawl of the Refreshing Winds	Cloak
Steel Bladebreaker	Dagger

Item	Type/Slot
Ring of the Violent Temperament	Ring
Binding of the Ice Burrower	Mail Belt
Barb of Tarasque	Dagger
Boneshatter Vambraces	Plate Bracers
Sabatons of the Courageous	Plate Boots
Boots of the Harsh Winter	Leather Boots
Cuirass of Cruel Intent	Mail Chest
Hauberk of the Towering Monstrosity	Plate Chest
Belt of the Tenebrous Mist	Cloth Belt
Forlorn Barrier	Shield
Cloak of the Untamed Predator	Cloak
Flowing Robes of Ascent	Cloth Chest
Legwraps of the Broken Beast	Leather Legs
Drape of the Refreshing Winds	Cloak
Stygian Bladebreaker	Dagger

Beasts of Northrend is one of five encounters present in the Trial of the Crusader raid of Wrath of the Lich King Classic. If you would like to learn more about the others, or would like to see the loot tables of every boss at the same time, please see our other pages for the raid below.