Majordomo Executus

Majordomo Executus is the steward of Ragnaros and the highest of the flamewakers, the last obstacle in Molten Core before the Firelord himself. He only appears once the raid has doused every Rune of the Firelord. The fight is unusual: the raid never kills him. Instead it kills his eight guards, and Executus surrenders, leaves his master's treasure behind, and goes to wake Ragnaros.

Background

Executus stands just below Ragnaros in the elemental hierarchy. Warcraft Wiki's account says he earned the post by proving nearly unbeatable in the wars of the Elemental Plane, and that he is rumored to have replaced Baron Geddon at the Firelord's side, which Geddon has never forgiven. The lesser flamewakers and Geddon all wait for him to make a mistake, since Ragnaros does not tolerate failure.

He waits at the edge of the lava lake in front of Ragnaros's chamber. The seven runes around the Core, guarded by bosses from Magmadar to Sulfuron Harbinger, keep him hidden; once a raid has defeated their guardians and doused all seven with water from the Hydraxian Waterlords, he appears with four Flamewaker Healers and four Flamewaker Elites. Lucifron guards no rune, so in principle he can be skipped.

Abilities

Executus himself does little damage. His abilities protect his guards and punish whoever stands closest:

• Aegis of Ragnaros: a shield of shadow magic that absorbs damage and burns melee attackers.
• Magic Reflection: for ten seconds his guards reflect half of the harmful spells cast on them.
• Damage Shield: for ten seconds his guards deal arcane damage back to anyone who hits them.
• Teleport: throws a player, usually the closest one, into the burning coals near him.

The Flamewaker Elites cast Fire Blast and Blast Wave, and the Healers cast Shadow Shock and heal the others.

Strategy

The encounter is won by killing all eight guards. One tank keeps Executus busy; because he teleports the nearest player to the fire pit, some raids had a paladin with Divine Shield stand closer to him than the tank so that the teleport always took the paladin.

Mages handled the Healers. At the pull, each mage takes a Healer and keeps it polymorphed, while tanks take the four Elites. Patch 1.3 made the Healers immune to polymorph once four guards have died, so the order of kills matters. A common plan for new guilds was to kill one Elite, then all four Healers while they were still controlled, then the rest of the Elites. Watching the shields was everyone's job: during Magic Reflection casters stopped casting, and during Damage Shield the melee held back.

The fight is long and costly in mana, so healers came with Major Mana Potions, and the raid used fire and shadow protection potions.

When the last guard falls, Executus yields with a famous line: "I go now to summon the lord whose house this is." He teleports to Ragnaros's chamber, and when the raid follows and speaks to him, he summons the Firelord, who kills his servant for failing him before he turns on the players.

Loot

Executus drops nothing himself. Instead he leaves the Cache of the Firelord, a chest that holds his loot. Since patch 1.4, the cache is only filled the first time the encounter is beaten in each Molten Core lockout.

Items the cache can hold include:

• [Core Forged Greaves] for warriors and paladins
• [Wild Growth Spaulders] for druids
• [Fireproof Cloak] and [Gloves of the Hypnotic Flame] for casters
• [Core Hound Tooth], a dagger, and [Finkle's Lava Dredger], a two-handed mace
• [Fireguard Shoulders], leather shoulders, and [Cauterizing Band], a healing ring
• [Ancient Petrified Leaf], a hunter quest item
• [The Eye of Divinity], a priest trinket that starts a quest

The killing of his guards also gives reputation with the Hydraxian Waterlords.

Quests

Two class quests start in the cache. Hunters who loot the [Ancient Petrified Leaf] take it to the ancients in Felwood, beginning The Ancient Leaf, the chain for the bow Rhok'delar. Priests who find [The Eye of Divinity], a trinket, can see the ghost who sets them on the path to Benediction, the priest staff. Neither item is guaranteed, and both classes waited many weeks for them.

Later history

Executus died at the hands of his own master. When Ragnaros returned in Cataclysm, Fandral Staghelm took the title of majordomo in the Firelands.

Sources

• Majordomo Executus - Warcraft Wiki
• Molten Core (Classic) - Warcraft Wiki