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Headless
Horseman Legend
- href="#2"> Summoning the Horseman - href="#3"> Headless Horseman Strategy - Relatated
Achievements

The Headless Horseman is an summoned
5-man boss only available for two weeks during the Hallow’s
End event which lasts two weeks. Once the event has ended the Headless
Horseman will once again return to his grave until the next year.
Continue reading for more information on the legend behind the Horseman
and for those heroes with enough bravery to venture into his domain;
how to summon and ultimately defeat
the dreaded Horseman:

name="1" id="1"> Headless Horseman Legend

The legend of the Headless
Horseman begins with a noble knight of the Silver Hand known as Thomas
Thomson. Helping to defend against the Scourge, Sir Thomas witnessed
first hand the betrayal of Baron
Rivendare. Shortly after Thomas would
learn of Price Arthas’s decent into darkness with the murder
of his father and eventually Uther the Lightbringer.
The final straw,
the one that would set the workings of fate into motion was the defeat
of Alexandros Mograine, the Ashbringer.

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src="http://www.tentonhammer.com/image/view/197963/preview">

Sir
Thomas
Thomson.

Desperate to save his family
from the doom he saw speeding towards them he ordered his wife to flee
to Kalimdor while he remained in service to the Scarlet Crusade.
However, like the grand majority of the Scarlet Crusade,
Thomas’s fervor became so fanatical that he began to see
everyone and everything as being tainted by the plague. This blind
fanaticism would take Sir Thomas on many raids where innocents were
slaughtered in the name of the Crusade. However, the true extent of
Thomas’s progressing illness was not seen until he
accidentally killed his own family before realizing who they really
were.

Devastated by his actions and
falling further and further into madness Sir Thomas was taken back to
the Scarlet Monastery. Nothing could save the brave knight though, and
he went totally and utterly mad, believing that the entire world was
infected with the plague and only he could save them. Thomas turned on
his fellow knights slaughtering many before he was stopped and
beheaded. Despite his madness, Sir Thomas was given an honorable burial
by Dathrohan inside the Monastery where he was entombed and supposed to
rest for all eternity.

But as we all know Sir
Thomas’s peace was not long lasting. Dathrohan, who had
insisted upon Thomas’s burial inside the Monastery, was
actually the demon Balnazzar in disguise. Balnazzar entered
Thomas’s tomb and warped Thomas’ corpse into
becoming a Death Knight that would rise up during Hallow’s
End to reign destruction down on Azeroth, thus creating the Headless
Horseman we know today.

name="2" id="2"> Summoning the Horseman

All you need to do now is queue for the dungeon finder. We have historical information here for fun:

Before 2011: To summon the Headless Horseman
players must venture into the Graveyard wing of
the Scarlet Monastery. Here in the middle of the Forlorn Cloister,
players will encounter an eerie pumpkin shrine.
One player must click

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width="245">The
Pumpkin Shrine inside the Graveyard of the Scarlet Monastary.

on the Shrine to receive the quest
“Call of the Headless
Horseman”. This quest will require the player to take the
provided Dreary Candle to the Loosely Turned Soil located at the back
of the Shrine. Turning in the quest will light the candle which will
effectively
summon the Headless Horseman. Be warned that the Headless Horseman will
attack whomever disturbed him from his unrest. Players may only summon
the Horseman using this method once a day during Hallow’s
End, however, they may participate in the kill as many times as they
wish.

After 2011: Players using the Dungeon
Finder must queue specifically for this event in order to be able to
summon the Horseman. You can summon him once per group. A pumpkin loot bag will be given on the first completion each day.

name="3" id="3"> Headless Horseman
Strategy

The Headless Horseman encounter
is a three phase fight:

Phase One

When the Headless Horseman
makes his grand entrance he will automatically attack whoever summoned
him. If the player who summoned the Horseman is not the tank, the tank
should quickly taunt to avoid any unnecessary deaths. After the tank
has aggro Phase One becomes a total tank and spank. The only special
ability the Horseman will use during this time is a basic Cleave.

Once you have damaged the
Horseman down to 1% he will become immune to attacks and toss his head,
which will now become an active target and the focus of the groups
attacks. Having a simple macro set up (/target head of) will allow DPS
to transition smoothly from the body of the Horseman to the head.
During this period the body of the Horseman will be healing itself back
to 100% as well as wandering around occasionally casting Whirlwind
which should be avoided by players.

Once the head has been damaged
to around 60%, or the body has reached 100%, the head and body will
come together and Phase Two will begin.

Phase Two

As the Horseman’s
body and head rejoin he will launch an attack on the player who has
generated the most aggro against him. The tank should taunt the
Horseman and the fight will resume much as it did in Phase One, the
only difference in this Phase is that the Horseman will shake things up
a bit by occasionally throwing out a
Conflagration.

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width="245">The
infamous Headless Horseman.

This new ability will randomly
target
any player besides the tank. Conflagration will tick for a percentage
of the player’s maximum health every second and confuses the
player causing them to run around like a maniac for 5 seconds.
Conflagration can cause damage to other players so the rest of the
group should avoid players who are affected by this spell.
Conflagration can be removed PvP trinkets, Ice Block, Divine Shield,
and other similar abilities.

DPS the Horseman to 1% again to
pop his head off. Damage the head to around 30% to begin Phase Three.

Phase Three

Phase Three is when things can
get really interesting. Essentially the fight will be the same as Phase
Two, players will want to focus their DPS on the Horseman with the goal
of getting him to 1%. The difference in this phase is that the Horseman
will lose the Conflagration ability, but will gain the ability to toss
out four Pulsing Pumpkins.

These Pulsing Pumpkins will
each sprout one Pumpkin Fiend after several seconds. The Pumpkin Fiends
can potentially cause some real havoc in your group if they are left
unchecked as they can run around and do damage To prevent this have
your tank position himself into the middle of the pumpkin spawns where
they can be picked up easily. Once they have been grabbed by the tank
the DPS can use various AoE abilities to wipe them out while still
maintaining DPS on the Horseman.

[PROTIP]Tanking the Horseman on
the steps to the underground crypt will cause the Pulsing Pumpkin
spawns to land very close to the boss[/PROTIP]

Once the Horseman has reached
1% the head will once again become detached and players should shift
their focus appropriately. This time however, the object will be to
destroy the head entirely. Once the head dies, the encounter is over
and the Headless Horseman is defeated. The remaining pumpkins will
despawn and loot will rain down upon you. Fail to defeat the head
before the Horseman heals to 100% and the phase will begin again.

Loot

From the Headless Horseman

  • [ps item=88167]Band of the Petrified Pumpkin[/ps]
  • [ps item=88166]Wicked Witch's Signet[/ps]
  • [ps item=88168]Seal of Ghoulish Glee[/ps]
  • [ps item=88169]The Horseman's Ring[/ps]

From the Loot-Filled Pumpkin Bag

  • [ps item=87569]The Horseman's Horrific Hood[/ps]
  • [ps item=87570]The Horseman's Sinister Slicer[/ps]

name="4" id="4"> Related
Achievements

Bring
Me The Head of…Oh
Wait

  • style="font-weight: normal;">Kill the Headless
    Horseman

The
Horseman’s Reins

  • Obtain The
    Horseman’s Reins from The Headless Horseman in the Scarlet
    Monastery during Hallow’s End.

The Headless Horseman is only
one of the many great activities players can take part in during
Hallow’s End. Check out our href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/wow/guides/seasonal/hallows-end"
target="_blank">Hallow’s End Guide for
more information on this spooky holiday!

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Last Updated: Mar 13, 2016

About The Author

Amunet, also fondly known as Memtron, is an organic life form best known for its ongoing obsession with Blizzard Entertainment's numerous properties. To that end, Amu has authored hundreds (thousands?) of the most popular World of Warcraft guides, editorials, and Top 10 lists on the planet. When not gaming and writing, Amu is busy chasing after her three children in a perpetual loop of ongoing disaster.

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