Marduk Blackpool

Marduk Blackpool, known as Marduk the Black, is a death knight of The Scourge who teaches in the Viewing Room of Scholomance. Before he came to the school he was one of the Scourge's most feared field commanders, the death knight who broke the defense of Darrowshire in the Third War.

Background

During the Third War, Marduk led the Scourge through the human lines at the Battle of Darrowshire in what is now Eastern Plaguelands. He corrupted the spirit of the town's champion, Joseph Redpath, turning him into Redpath the Corrupted, and with Redpath's help the undead killed everyone in the town. The Darrowshire quest chain in Eastern Plaguelands, which ends with players reliving the battle, retells that day.

Marduk later lost his runeblade near Corin's Crossing, where a dwarf captain shattered it on an enchanted shield. The sword sank into the ground and corrupted it, carving the gorge called the Infectis Scar. Marduk retreated to Caer Darrow and became a tutor at the school, working beside Vectus on the Scourge's plagued dragons.

Abilities

• Cleave: hits his target and up to two others beside it.
• Defiling Aura: an aura that keeps lowering the shadow resistance of everyone near him.
• Shadow Bolt Volley: shadow damage to everyone nearby.
• Shadow Shield: absorbs damage for 30 seconds.

Strategy

Marduk, Vectus and their students in the Viewing Room are neutral: the group can walk in and out without a fight. Attacking either teacher, or any student, makes the whole room hostile at once, and the students in their normal form hit hard and have a lot of health.

There are two ways to deal with them. The slow way is to kill the students one by one before touching the teachers. The common way uses [Dawn's Gambit], a device from the Argent Dawn. Used in the room, it turns the students into weak hostile skeletons that area attacks clear quickly. After that, groups pull Marduk on his own, usually before Vectus, keeping him turned away from the party because of Cleave.

Loot

Drop chances are from our database (patch 1.12).

Marduk usually drops nothing but his Scourgestone, which the Argent Dawn takes in exchange for reputation and Valor Tokens. The [Ebon Hilt of Marduk] is a one-handed sword that was a long-term pick for many rogues and warriors.

Quests

Marduk is not the named target of a Classic quest, but he stands in the room for the Argent Dawn quest Dawn's Gambit. Betina Bigglezink at Light's Hope Chapel wants Dawn's Gambit placed in the Viewing Room to destroy the students and their teacher, Vectus.

Later history

Patch 4.0.3a lowered him to level 41, and Mists of Pandaria removed him with the rest of the old school. A vision of him still appears in the Darrowshire quest in Eastern Plaguelands, and he returned with the Legacy of Scholomance in patch 10.1.5.

Sources

• Marduk Blackpool - Warcraft Wiki
• Vectus - Warcraft Wiki