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Cannon Master Willey

This is revision 1, from Oct 29, 2026 04:23. See the current page.

Cannon Master Willey commands the guns of the Scarlet Crusade on the living side of Stratholme. He is a ranking crusader who fights from a hall lined with cannons, calling riflemen to his side, and the fight is won by turning his own cannons on his reinforcements.

Background

The Scarlet Crusade holds a fortress in the northwest of Stratholme, the Scarlet Bastion, under Grand Crusader Dathrohan. Willey is one of its officers, in charge of the artillery that keeps the undead out of the crusaders' part of the city. Like the rest of the Crusade's soldiers, he believes he is fighting a holy war against The Scourge, unaware that his commander is a demon.

He has little more story than his title. His loot carries the theme, from a portable cannon to boots and a belt named for his trade.

A Crimson Rifleman, the reinforcements Willey calls
A Crimson Rifleman, the reinforcements Willey calls © Blizzard Entertainment

Abilities

Strategy

Willey himself is not hard. The trouble is the steady stream of Crimson Riflemen who arrive, stand in one spot at the end of the hall and fire on the group. The cannons beside him are the answer. Piles of ammunition lie next to them, and a player can load a cannon and fire it down the hall to kill the riflemen in one blast.

On the way in, blacksmiths should look at the floor of the hoard room before his hall: a parchment of Blacksmith Plans can lie there, and picking it up calls the Crimson Hammersmith, who drops a rare blacksmithing plan.

Before the fight, groups pick one player, usually a healer or a ranged attacker, to work the cannons. They fire whenever a group of riflemen gathers, but keep at least one shot in reserve: when Willey dies, a final wave of riflemen spawns that is hard to kill any other way.

Inside the Scarlet Bastion, the Crusade's fortress in Stratholme
Inside the Scarlet Bastion, the Crusade's fortress in Stratholme © Blizzard Entertainment

Loot

Drop chances are from our database (patch 1.12). Patch 1.10 added several items to his table.

Item Chance
[Willey's Portable Howitzer] 10%
[Master Cannoneer Boots] 10%
[Cannonball Runner] 10%
[Shadowcraft Spaulders] 10%
[Barrage Girdle] 10%
[[forever:item:22406]] 10%
[[forever:item:22404]] 10%
[Plans: Heartseeker] 6%
[Miniature Cannon Balls] 100%

[Willey's Portable Howitzer] is a gun, and he always drops [Miniature Cannon Balls], a stack of gun ammunition. [Shadowcraft Spaulders] are the rogue's Dungeon Set 1 shoulders (see Tier Sets). The [Plans: Heartseeker] teaches blacksmiths to make the [Heartseeker] dagger.

Quests

No Classic quest names Willey. Stratholme's Scarlet quests center on the archive guarded by Archivist Galford and on the Grand Crusader himself.

Later history

After the Cataclysm, Balnazzar slaughtered the Crusade's soldiers in Stratholme and raised them as the Risen. Willey rose as Willey Hopebreaker, one of the Risen bosses of the later Stratholme.

Sources

Categories: Bosses

Last changed October 29, 2026: Written by QuestCore