Kharins Quest − Utgarde Pinnacle

Utgarde Pinnacle

Posted May 27th, 2010 by Kharin

Skadi's whirlwind

This is a challenging and interesting instance with a variety of boss encounters and cut scenes. In particular, the Skadi gauntlet event can cause groups new to this instance a lot of grief – and team work, knowledge and speed will help groups to survive and even ace it. The two quests can be picked up from inside the instance which is particularly suited for those transported to the dungeon in a random group. This guide details related quests, achievements, boss fights including the Skadi gauntlet event, and dungeon map to take some of the pain out of your encounter.

History: Utgarde Keep is the main base of the giant, Norse-like vrykul warriors led by King Ymiron (who resides in it upper levels, the Pinnacle). The vrykul were most likely create by the Titans and are the seed race for humans. In ages past they established a vast and prosperous civilization but suddenly vanished leaving behind deserted villages and abandoned temples for a few thousand years. However, due to the encroachment of the Alliance settlement of Valgarde on on their traditional lands, they have recently returned to attack Horde and Alliance settlements and allied themselves with the Lich King whom they call their “Death God”. Thus, they are raising the best of their warriors (male and female) to serve Arthas in life and undeath.

Location: Utgarde Pinnacle is the second 5 man dungeon in Utgarde Keep, Howling Fjord. Just north of Valgarde and north-east of New Agamand, the Keep between the northern end of the fjord and by the shores of Cauldros Lake. The Pinnacle is in the upper levels of the keep and has its own meeting stone.

Level: 75-80 (Regular; advised 80); 80 (Heroic)

Quests:
There are two quests both of which are given by the dwarf Brigg Smallshanks who stands just inside the entrance to the instance (and therefore can be picked up when doing a random dungeon):

Junk in My Trunk (required level 78) – Briggs asks you to find 5 untarnished Silver Bars, 3 Shiny Baubles, 2 Golden Goblets, and a Jade Statue. These are easy to find throughout the instance.
Vengeance Be Mine! (required level 78) – Briggs asks you to kill King Ymiron (the last boss encounter of the dungeon).

Bosses:
Svala Sorrowgrave
Gortok Palehoof
Skadi the Ruthless
King Ymiron

Achievements:
Hail To The King, Baby: Defeat King Ymiron in Utgarde Pinnacle with your orphan out. (10 pts: Children’s Week) – just make sure you have your orphan out while engaging and defeating the final boss.
Utgarde Pinnacle: Defeat the bosses in Utgarde Pinnacle. (10 pts) All four bosses need to be defeated.
Heroic Utgarde Pinnacle: Defeat the Utgarde Pinnacle bosses on Heroic Difficulty. (10 pts)
The Incredible Hulk: Force Svala Sorrowgrave to kill a Scourge Hulk on Heroic Difficulty in Utgarde Pinnacle. (10 pts) See below.
Lodi Dodi We Loves the Skadi: Defeat Skadi the Ruthless in Utgarde Pinnacle on Heroic Difficulty within 3 minutes of starting the gauntlet event. (10 pts) See below.
My Girl Loves to Skadi All the Time: Defeat Skadi the Ruthless in Utgarde Pinnacle on Heroic Difficulty after having killed Grauf from 100% to dead in a single pass. (10 pts) See below.
King’s Bane: Defeat King Ymiron in Utgarde Pinnacle on Heroic Difficulty without anyone in the party triggering Bane. (10 pts) See below.

Map:

Run Through:

With this dungeon, the group essentially follows linear circuit even though it has a couple of levels with stairs leading both down and up.

First Boss: Svala Sorrowgrave

After picking up the 2 quests from Smallshanks, go straight ahead along the central aisle of the King’s Hoard. It is only necessary to clear the passageway of hulks and undead as you go. At about ¾ of the way turn right and exit into the balcony or veranda-like Raven’s Watch. Here, in addition to the hulks are undead Vrkyl . At the end of the Raven’s watch turn left into the Observance Hall and go down the flight of stairs. As you enter a cut scene will play between Svala Sorrowgate and the (image of) the Lich King. Svala is changed into a Vallkyrie pledging both her loyalty and worthiness to serve. Arthas gives her first task – to deal with the intruders (i.e. you). Once the scene has finished, the fight can commence.

The first phase (is basically a tank and spank). The tank & melee normally engage Svala on the platform – ranged can stay below. After a certain period Svala will elevate and cast ritual of sword. Three ghostly priests will appear while one member of the party (player or pet) will be stunned and placed on the altar below Svala. The three must be burned down to break the stun. Svala will continue to cast the ritual until the sword descends and does significant burst damage to anyone under it (including a hulk, see below). Svala will then descend and the fight continues basically as a tank and spank. As of patch Patch 3.3.2 she only casts ritual of sword once (instead of the original 3 times).

For the achievement The Incredible Hulk engage one of the two nearby Scourge Hulks and get his health down to between 9000-10,000k before engaging Svala. The tank will then need to pull the hulk to the dias under the sword at the appropriate moment while still keeping aggro on the boss. Note that if the hulk has more than 10-15% hit points he can bounce party members of the platform at the most inconvenient time. Applying crowd control on the hulk helps to keep him in place. You will get the achievement if the ritual of sword kills the hulk instantly (if it has 9000k or less) or if the hulk is killed in the next 2-3 secs while the ritual’s DOTis still active.

Second Boss (optional): Gortok Palehoof

After defeating Svala go out the door on the right (facing towards the image of the Lich King). Deal with the hulk at the door and then go up the stairs. The mobs are . At the top of the flights of stairs, enter the Trophy Hall and clear the group of mobs in the hall.

To start the encounter with the second boss, the podium needs to be activated by clicking on it. A floating, fiery ball will activate the frozen figures of gigantic Northrend beasts one by one (all for Heroic and all but one for Regular). Each must be defeated. Last of all Gortok Palehoof is activated. This is a reasonably simple fight which requires the party to dps him down before the periodic withering roar (does damage and gives a stacking debuff on all party members) takes the party down.

Third Boss: Skadi the Ruthless

Once Gortok has been defeated, take the right door at the end of the passage. There is another long corridor or balcony-like Eagle’s Eye. Skadi and his dragon Grauf will be standing towards the beginning the Eagle’s Eye. As the group approaches them, Skadi mounts Grauf and flies off and the group will face a gauntlet of Vrkyl warriors as well as Gruff’s very damaging icy frost breath (about 3k/sec). Watch out also the “Witch Doctors” who generally cast at healers.

The tank should run to about half way and engage the first group of warrior and then continue moving along towards the end of the corridor while engaging the other 3-4 waves of 5-6 Frost Vrykul each. When Grauf exhales her deep breath, half the corridor will be covered with a low lying, fog that is extremely damaging – watch out for the emote “Grauf takes a deep breath” and stay out of the white stuff! The Ymirjar Harpooners will drop harpoons – these should be looted (often by a designated party member) and used to fire the harpoons guns at the end of the corridor when Skadi is within range (on the emote “Skadi is in Range of the Harpoons”). After 3 harpoons are fired Skadi will come back down to the balcony (this is down from 5 harpoon strikes since patch 3.3.2).

Once down, the tank must pick up aggro as quickly as possible. Skadi’s crush can do considerable damage to the tank. His whirlwind can hit random party members hard (over 2k/sec) so it is best to stay out of range as he spins after the targeted party member. He will also throw a poisoned spear which hits for about 6k and then a DoT of 2k/sec. This encounter is arguably the hardest of the instance.

The two achievements (to kill Skadi within 3 minutes of the gauntlet event and taking Grauf down by 100% within the first pass) require picking up the harpoons as quickly as possible and (for Grauf) firing all three as soon as the harpoons guns are ready. This can be expedited by either running to the end of the corridor and engaging all the gauntlet mobs (for a strong group) and/or picking up the required harpoons on the first run, then resetting the boss encounter to start again with the full complement of harpoons.

Fourth Boss: King Ymiron
Once Skadi is defeated take the left door and go down the flight of stairs – watching out for the broken staircase. On the stairs there is a hulk. (In 2010 Lunar Festival, Elder Chogan’gada was in an alcove under these stairs.) Now clear the small room just beyond the stairs. The mobs in the next room, the Ruined Court, can fear and there are a couple of patrols. It is advisable for the tank to draw the first few groups at least back into the previous room. The hulk against the far wall can be ignored. At the end of the Ruined Court turn right into Ymiron’s Seat. The King is sitting on a throne in a chamber with four boats. Deal with group being careful not to aggro King Ymiron.

During the fight, Ymiron will buff himself with bane which will damage players every time they attack the king. Bane can be purged or stolen (spell steal). Four times (at each 20% of health) during the encounter with Ymiron, he will stun the whole party with scream of the dead for a few seconds and will then go to each of the boats with a floating Vykryl in turn to activate a different ability. Pvp trinkets, everyman for himself etc can end the stun.

There are at two or three possible strategies to get the achievement King’s Bane that I’m aware of. If you have a high dps group the simplest approach is to dps Ymiron fast enough (by 20% under 20 secs each time) so that he does not have time to trigger bane from the initial encounter and between switching to the different boats. For a group with lower dps, the group should stop hitting the boss (click empty space, hit esc key or target assist the tank with the f key) as soon as bane is triggered (usually several times during the fight). This means deactivating passive damage such as thorns and dismissing pets. Shield Slam. Purge, Dispell, Tranquility, and Spell Steal can then be used to reduce the time bane is up. Be careful as the achievement is negated if the mage is hit while the stolen bane is still active. Alternatively, a warlock can have his/her Felhunter use Devour Magic on auto-cast to prevent bane being cast. If Bane is triggered and/or one or more party members hit the boss while it is triggered it is possible to reset the boss encounter by pulling him down the ramp into the adjoining room.

Once the instance is completed, you can go through the doorway on the right through the now opened door (after dealing with the hulk) to the King’s Hoard to either hand in the completed quests to Briggs or to exit the instance.

Have fun