Two Bosses Enter: Gortok Palehoof vs. Krik'thir the Gatewatcher
by Lisa Poisso 
Nov 26th 2009 at 8:00PM
We've got adds here, people: it's Gortok Palehoof (Utgarde Pinnacle) versus Krik'thir the Gatewatcher (Azjol-Nerub). Gortok steps into the Thunderdome fresh from a resounding defeat of Lavanthor, while Krik'thir arrives after besting the Commander Stoutbeard/Kolurg from The Nexus.
Let's review the ground rules:
- Assume that the opponents share similar levels, health pools and comparative overall damage output.
- New clarification: All of the competitors' abilities, including crowd control and other effects to which bosses are usually immune, work on their opponents.
- This deathmatch takes place in neutral territory, which shall in no way hinder either opponent from using his usual resources.
- Don't get caught up in gameplay mechanics and what actual players might do in each encounter.
- Don't neglect style, story and scale.
Gortok Palehoof (Utgarde Pinnacle)What this place? I will destroy you!
The Magnataur Gortok Palehoof is the second boss of Utgarde Pinnacle. He will be preceded in battle by (one at a time, your choice of sequence) his companions the Furbolg, the Worgen, the Rhino and the Jormungar. Consider the relative power they wield as a group; no single opponent shall be considered as powerful as his opponent.
Ravenous Furbolg
Frenzied Worgen
Ferocious Rhino
Massive Jormungar
- Acid Spit
- Acid Splatter
- Poison Breath
- Summons smaller worms
Krik'thir the Gatewatcher (Azjol-Nerub) Keep an eye on the tunnel. We must not let anyone through!
I hear footsteps. Be on your guard.
I sense the living. Be ready.
Krik'thir, an Undead Nerubian vizier, is the first boss of Azjol-Nerub who guards the gate that leads further into the ancient city. His commander, Anub'Arak, is a powerful servant of the Lich King.
Krik'thir is accompanied by three groups of three spiders, led by Watcher Silthik, Watcher Gashra and Watcher Narjil. Some groups contain an Anub'ar Skirmisher. Once the first group of spiders has entered battle, the others (and later Krik'thir himself) will eventually join in.
Krik'thir the Gatewatcher
Read more about Krik'thir and his minions, and check out comments from players who've fought him.
The Thunderdome clash
Remember: no game-mechanic nitpicking. Set aside differences in opponents' health pools, game level and actual damage output. Vote for the spirit of the battle as set forth above, considering each opponent's abilities -- plus the style, scale and story he or she brings to the table. Refer to the ground rules at the beginning for guidance on power and balance.
After you cast your vote, we challenge you to hit the comments with a convincing scenario that will sway fellow readers to vote for your opponent of choice!
Cheer on your favorite inside the Two Bosses Thunderdome during this round of Two Bosses Enter, One Boss Leaves: The Original Wrath Five-Man Season. Review the current fighting bracket and consider who you think will come out on top.Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Fan stuff, Features, Lore, Bosses, Two Bosses Enter
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
PictoKong Nov 26th 2009 8:03PM
Voted on 1-1-1!!!
Gortok gonna impale that scarab for sure!
Rexton Nov 26th 2009 8:44PM
As I said in my post below:
The article states about Gortok and his crew: "He will be preceded in battle by (one at a time, your choice of sequence) his companions the Furbolg, the Worgen, the Rhino and the Jormungar."
Keep that in mind when you come up with your strategies.
shadowhowl1900 Nov 26th 2009 8:04PM
wow, this one is really hard to choose since they are pretty much tank and spank but really it depends on who plays the better team. my vote would have to go to Krik'thir b/c when he is pulled, all the the nerubs will join in unlike Gortok whos previous mobs have to be killed individually.
Ada Nov 26th 2009 8:07PM
Kinda nitpicky, but I see that you copy and pasted.
"Consider the relative power they wield as a group; no single opponent shall be considered as powerful as Lavanthor himself."
Slimpickens42 Nov 26th 2009 8:29PM
(I know you said no game mechanic nitpicking, but) Kirk'thir would obviously win, he just wouldn't activate the stasis crystal. Then he can go up and slay Gortok at his leisure.
Cody Nov 26th 2009 8:34PM
Here's how I see the fight starting out. For the sake of this, we'll say that Gortokk and his posse break out of UP and travel to AN.
So, Gortokk sees all these bugs and decides to send in the Jormungar first. He meets the first of Krik'thir's groups and they have it out with the Jormungar barely making it. He's killed by the second wave and Gortokk sends in the Furbolg, who's chain lightning makes short work, and the Worgen to keep each other from getting wrapped. They dominate this second group and make it through the third but get killed by Krik'thir himself. Gortokk sends the rhino in who dies to Krik'thir but manages to get him down a bit. Gortokk comes in and is able to finish the job.
Now, that's if they can get out of UP. If Krik'thir and his boys come up there, then we'll see how this fight goes:
Jormungar: has his worms so the wrap really isn't a problem but he'll still have a heck of a time killing a group.
Worgen: No aoe but can probably dps them down quickly enough. At least, he'll get through one group on his own.
Furbolg: Chain lightning and a fear...he'll take out at least one group.
Rhino: aoe and a dot, he can take out a group.
So, we see that the before portions are fairly matched up. At the very least, it'll be a ping pong sort of thing during the mini-groups and the last one standing will fall to the boss, most likely not doing a ton of damage. So, Krik'thir and Gortokk are going to start at even health. A combination of Gortokk's dot and whithering roar will make short work of Krik'thir.
tl;dr-Gortokk wins.
Meethan Nov 26th 2009 8:35PM
Anyone else notice these guys look SCARYYYY?
Krik'thir wins. Why? Because he's not a bumbling oaf who tries to smack people after being taxermized (a word?). He has a purpose, a plan, and poison that makes even the noblest of druids cry. Long live the Nerubian Empire!
Larg Of Sargeras Nov 26th 2009 8:36PM
To me, Gortok and his crew would just jump on one group of Krik'thirs' friends and wipe them out, especially considering Gortok's Arcing Smash. There aren't enough web spinning adds to get all of them, and that last person would be on web breaking duty. I think Gortok's group has more tricks up their sleeves then Krik'thir's group, and that is what's going to win the fight.
Larg Of Sargeras Nov 26th 2009 9:03PM
Ignore the above, didn't read Gortok's bio.
Rexton Nov 26th 2009 8:42PM
As always, vote on Krik. The adds decimate the compitition every time. In terms of intelligence, Nerubians far outshine Gortok's pets, especially since the beasts are only summoned one at a time (read Gortok's bio in the article. "He will be preceded in battle by (one at a time, your choice of sequence) his companions the Furbolg, the Worgen, the Rhino and the Jormungar."). The Furbolg and the Jormungar would be the biggest threats with chain lightning and acid. By the time the Nerubians are done with the beasts, I could see them down to Krik and six of his adds at the very minimum, still with all three watchers. At that point it really isn't a challenge for Krik to take down Gortok. Curse of Fatigue+Mind Flay should keep Gortok far enough out of range. Gortok will continually throw his spears at Krik while arcing smashing the nerubians. Withering roar is causing a DPS race for the Nerubians as well. Gortok's a pretty strong guy (I'm placing him on the same level as Krik, a couple levels higher than the nerubians), so he'll be going through the adds with relative ease. However, Gortok doesn't have numbers on his side, and even with his abilities being strong against a melee heavy group, His attacks and movement are going to be too slow to bring them all down because of CoF.
Krik'll come out of this with two, maybe three of his nerubians.
Larg Of Sargeras Nov 26th 2009 9:02PM
Yeah, I kinda skipped past that part where Gortok only sends in one at a time. While I think it's a retarded stipulation for the fight, there's no way around it. Grats Krik'thir:\
Rexton Nov 26th 2009 9:04PM
Bleh. Sorry if all that came out weird. Stream of consciousness thing going on there.
Thorlo Nov 26th 2009 8:54PM
all of those guys at the beginning of the krik fight destroy lower gear groups or beginning healers. (Heroic of coarse)
Clydtsdk-Rivendare Nov 26th 2009 9:03PM
I'm actually going to call it a draw here. Anyone who's played beyond level four knows that while you can stop whole armies alone by fighting them one at a time, pulling more than a few adds results in a wipe unless a healer is sitting behind you. Krik'thir and Gormok probably both know this -- it's common sense -- so they'll want to rush each other as hard as possible. Now here's the sticky part: Krik and Gormok by definition have the highest damage output, and therefore would be the most threatening (from a logical standpoint, not just a game-mechanics one). So all the adds rush both of the bosses. In the ensuing melee both bosses die. The last standing would probably be the Furbolg due to Chain Lightning doing heavy damage to Krik's adds.
Clydtsdk-Rivendare Nov 26th 2009 9:05PM
And BTW, that "one-at-a-time" clause does not apply--the fight takes place on neutral ground. UP is not neutral ground. Therefore, the fight does not take place in UP. Because UP is not the location of the fight, Gormok and company are also not in UP, which means they escaped the stasis somehow.
Clydtsdk-Rivendare Nov 27th 2009 8:54AM
I get downrated, but the "Thanks for completely screwing over Gortok for me" post below is blue?
IvanZephyr Nov 26th 2009 9:06PM
Krik'thir's watchers are more powerful than Gortok's "allies"(Which we don't even know they are, they all just got stuffed and then shoved in a room together - whose to say they don't kill each other first?). Couple this with the fact that Krik'thir's groups also have adds besides the Watchers themselves, and all of Gortok's minions are pretty much done for.
Although it is interesting that if it was just Gortok vs Krik'thir, Gortok would win hands down. However, since we're including the allies, Krik'thir wins by a landslide.
The watcher/mobs abilities are far more damaging than Gortok's subordinates.
Wulfkin Nov 26th 2009 9:34PM
I figure Gortok would win through attrition, although only just. I think any of Gortok's add would be more on less on par with Krik's adds, so they'd pretty much kill each other. This would leave one of Gortok's incarnations to take a bit of health of old Krik before he returned to his bigger, nastier original body.
Ultimately, Gortok would win, but he'd have suffered a lot to get there.
chetoos Nov 26th 2009 10:10PM
for this, I am saying that this happens in UP. krik activates the orb, and sends in his first of 3 sets of 3 adds against the furbolg. the furbolg manages to take them all down because of AoE, but is killed in the process. next is the worgen, against whom Krik sends the next watcher and add pack. worgen kills the two weaker adds, but is killed by the watcher almost immediately after. then the rhino is taken out, no prob, with out killing anything, but the last add pack of kriks is down to half health all. jormunger, last add pack is down, so its just krik and his last watcher. 431k boss against 431k boss with 130k add isnt a contest, its slaughter. anywhere else, it is a tie, because they would all go in at once, and its kill and be killed.
Vodkamartini Nov 26th 2009 11:04PM
Dear WoW.com,
I want to thank you for setting the rules in my favor. With my team able to take on my opponent's lackeys one at a time, it was a simple slaughter. I can't remember if it was the idiot furlbog or the worm (A WORM? WHO BRINGS THE BOTTOM OF THE FOOD CHAIN TO A FIGHT?) that aggroed the entire room, but it went quite quickly after that. Watcher Narjil believed the opposing group, with one attacking in hopes of the "watch him die" achievement, while the rest stupidly stood there, too busy to contemplate imminent slaughter or arguing over who gets my Golden Limb Bands, may have been in what the humanoids call "a Leeeroy Jenkins moment." It does not matter; they were foolish to come.
However, while the match may have made sense in a group point, I'd like to point out that any opponents that had previously been reduced to taxidermical statues by a group of chemically imbalanced - and tactically obtuse - vrykul are already an unfit batch. (And why did King Ymiron spend his energies and wealth on preserving a giant worm? Is there some great stuffed fish in that lake of his?)
I digress. I hope this turn of events does not affect me or my squad adversly in the rankings or on the chat boards. I suppose with the defeat of neighbor Herald Volazj, I should be grateful. But I long ago lost the capacity.
Love and mandibles,
Krik'thir