Captain Greenskin

Captain Greenskin is the goblin pirate hired to command the Defias Brotherhood's warship in The Deadmines. He paces the upper deck of the unfinished juggernaut with his crew, the last fight before Edwin VanCleef himself.

Background

The Defias Brotherhood is the stonemasons' guild turned outlaw army, led by Edwin VanCleef after Stormwind's nobles refused to pay for the rebuilding of Stormwind City. In a hidden sea cave at the end of the mines under Westfall, the Brotherhood is building a juggernaut, an armored warship meant to bring its war to Stormwind's harbor.

Stonemasons are not sailors, so VanCleef hired pirates. Later Blizzard material says Greenskin came from Booty Bay, the goblin port in Stranglethorn Vale, where he once led a fleet of pirate ships. Aboard the juggernaut he commands a crew of Defias Pirates and Squallshapers, with the tauren Mr. Smite as his first mate and the murloc Cookie in the galley.

Abilities

• Cleave: hits his target and the enemy next to it.
• Poisoned Harpoon: throws a poisoned harpoon that does extra damage, then nature damage over time for a full minute. Druids, shamans and paladins can cure it.

Strategy

After Mr. Smite falls at the dock, the group boards the ship. Greenskin walks up and down the upper deck with his crew, and the pirates on the way up stand close enough that groups often pull him by accident.

• Clear the deck below him carefully, one pack at a time, and watch his path before each pull.
• When the fight starts, sap or polymorph some of his crew and focus damage on Greenskin.
• The tank should turn him away from the group so Cleave lands on as few players as possible, and keep him away from the casters.
• Cure Poisoned Harpoon when it lands. The poison ticks for a minute and adds up.

Once Greenskin is dead, only VanCleef remains, in the captain's cabin at the top of the ship.

Loot

Greenskin drops one of three items.

Emberstone Staff is a rare staff with Intellect, Stamina and Spirit, valued by casters. The Blackened Defias Belt is part of the Blackened Defias leather set; VanCleef drops [Blackened Defias Armor], and the other pieces drop from the dungeon's Defias.

Quests

No quest in patch 1.12 asks for Greenskin. He guards the deck between the group and VanCleef, whose head is the goal of The Defias Brotherhood, the last step of the Defias Brotherhood chain from Sentinel Hill.

Trivia

• Hearthstone's Captain Greenskin card jokes that he was this close to sailing the juggernaut into Stormwind Harbor before some pesky kids stopped him.

Later history

Cataclysm (patch 4.0.3a) rebuilt the Deadmines, and a vision of the past in that expansion shows Greenskin's body on the ship, killed when Alliance adventurers stormed the cove. The 1.12 encounter returned with World of Warcraft Classic in 2019.

Sources

• Captain Greenskin, Warcraft Wiki
• Deadmines (Classic), Warcraft Wiki
• WoWDB NPC, loot and quest data for patch 1.12