Icecrown Citadel: Pit of Saron Strategy Guide

The second instance in the sequence of three being added in patch 3.3 is the Pit of Saron, a large-scale Scourge operation using Alliance and Horde slaves to mine Saronite for weaponry and other tech. In order to gain entry to the Pit of Saron you must first complete the Forge of Souls dungeon and the associated quest for your faction. Inside the pit, you will need to free the slaves alongside either Jaina Proudmoore (Alliance) or Sylvanas Windrunner (Horde) and defeat the Scourge operations and their masters. The instance has three boss encounters which must all be defeated and the quest line completed in order to progress onwards into the Halls of Reflection.

Forgemaster Garfrost

Garfrost is a flesh giant and a master of scourge weaponry. He can be found in the southeast corner of the Pit of Saron. This boss will mostly be dealing frost damage to your party, so having a paladin use their Frost Resistance Aura or wearing a piece of frost resistant gear may help if you are struggling. The fight works in three stages as follows:

In stage one when the fight begins, players must first kill all of the smiths in the room using whatever AoE abilities are available before focusing on the boss. Other than this the first stage is a simple one, Garfrost will melee the tank and will occasionally throw a saronite boulder at a random player. As long as the person targeted with a boulder moves out of the way there is nothing to worry about here.

Throughout all stages of the fight with Garfrost, players will be taking damage from a ticking AoE and a stacking debuff known as Permafrost which increases the frost damage players take. If permafrost stacks get too high, it may well put a strain on the healer. Hiding behind one of the thrown saronite boulders can help to prevent this happening.

When Garfrost’s health reaches 66% and 33% he will run to his corner to forge a new weapon (similar to Smite in Deadmines). This increases frost damage dealt by 50% (100% on heroic) and before re-engaging the boss everyone should try and let their debuff wear off. In stage two, the boss will begin using a frontal cone AoE ability so it is important that only the tank is in front of him during this stage. During stage three, Garfrost will cast Deep Freeze on a random player. This debuff runs for 14 seconds, at the end of which it will deal around 6K damage to the person affected by it.

Krick and Ick

Krick is a devious leper gnome who oversees many tasks in the Pit of Saron from atop his disturbing plague eruptor zombie minion Ick. The fight is relatively straightforward in that there are no stages to speak of and it is mostly about movement. Since Krick cannot be targeted directly, all damage will be done to Ick instead. Before engaging the boss you will probably need to clear up some of the surrounding plague eruptors as they can be accidentally pulled during the boss encounter and make things a tad more complicated.

For the most part, Ick will simply melee the tank whilst Krick will place patches of AoE poison on the floor. The tank will need to keep Krick and Ick moving around to keep the party out of danger. Occasionally though, Krick will use one of three additional abilities that the party will need to be aware of. Firstly, he will get Ick to target a random player and chase them. This player will need to stay well away from Ick at this time as his attack power is increased and he will easily kill the player if he catches up. The second ability is Poison Nova, which is a stationary AoE cast over 5 seconds with an 18 yard range that will hit for massive damage and then tick for additional damage after. Everyone will need to run out of range while Ick is casting this to ensure survival. Finally, Krick will occasionally begin laying mines at every player’s position for 18 seconds, which will explode after a few seconds. During this ability the party will need to move fast to avoid being blown up.

Scourgelord Tyrannus

Scourgelord Tyrannus is a powerful death knight mounted on a frostwyrm known as Rimefang. The final boss in the Pit of Saron, he will engage the party on foot after some dialog and Rimefang will attack the party from the air. Rimefang cannot be targeted during the encounter. Tyrannus will hit pretty hard even in normal melee (around 8K on plate in heroic) and will occasionally use Forceful Smash on the tank which knocks them back and deals massive damage so the tank must constantly be kept at full health. During the fight he will also place a debuff on a random target that must be paid attention to: Overlord’s Brand. This ability if cast on a DPS will make all damage done by that player mirror onto the tank (Tyrannus’ target). If cast on a healer, the debuff will amplify any heals they cast and will mirror them onto Tyrannus himself. While all this is going on Rimefang will be casting frost bolts at random players in the party that hit quite hard if not avoided. These bolts also leave a patch of frost on the ground that will temporarily incapacitate any target caught in one. This is important for Tyrannus’ final ability: Unholy Power. When the boss powers himself up with this buff, his damage will be increased by 100% on heroic mode, meaning even the tank must avoid being hit. The patches of frost laid by Rimefang have a slowing effect on the boss which can be used to kite him whilst his empower ability is active.

This guide is only the beggining. You will want to check out Zygor's Guide or Joana's Horde Guide to really be a great player.