Noth the Plaguebringer

Noth the Plaguebringer is a necromancer of the Scourge and the first boss of the Plague Wing (the Plague Quarter) of Naxxramas. Once a mage of Dalaran, he now curses raids, blinks around his chamber, and retreats to a balcony to send waves of plagued undead at them. His fight is a test of decursing: a single curse left on a player can spread to the whole raid.

Background

Noth was a respected mage of Dalaran who heard the Lich King's call, much as Kel'Thuzad did. Hungry for power, he joined the Scourge and put his skill at necromancy and curse-weaving to work for it. When he saw how many innocent lives the Third War was taking, he began to doubt his choice. Kel'Thuzad dealt with that doubt by freezing the living heart in Noth's chest. One of the items he drops, [[forever:item:23029]], is named for it.

In Naxxramas he guards the entrance of the Plague Quarter, the wing where the Scourge brews the plague that turned northern Lordaeron into the Plaguelands.

Abilities

• [[forever:spell:29213]]: curses several players. If the curse isn't removed within ten seconds, it turns into [[forever:spell:29214]], which deals heavy shadow damage to the cursed player and everyone around them. A few missed curses wipe a raid.
• [[forever:spell:29211]]: every 25 seconds or so he blinks a short distance, wiping his threat.
• [[forever:spell:29212]]: each time he blinks, players where he was standing are slowed and weakened. It can be dispelled.
• Summon skeletons: about every 30 seconds he calls up [[forever:npc:16984]] around the room.
• Balcony phases: about 90 seconds into the fight he teleports to a balcony where he can't be reached, and waves of [[forever:npc:16983]] attack the raid. Later balcony phases add [[forever:npc:16981]]. After the waves, or after a set time, he returns.
• Berserk: after his third balcony phase he goes berserk.

Strategy

The heart of the fight is Curse of the Plaguebringer. Mages and druids, the classes that can remove curses, are each assigned a part of the raid and remove every curse at once. Guides of the time stressed that no curse should ever be allowed to run out.

Blink is the other problem. Each time he blinks, his threat resets and he runs at the nearest player, often a healer. Raids keep a second tank near the healers and ranged players, ready to grab him, and warriors can use Intercept to reach him quickly. A priest or paladin removes Cripple from the tank right away.

On the balcony phases the raid gathers, tanks the champions and guardians, and kills them with area damage. Priests can shackle some of the undead, though the guardians are immune. Then Noth returns, and the raid has to kill him before his third return ends in a berserk.

Loot

From our database (patch 1.12):

Noth drops the Tier 3 belt tokens (see Tier Sets). The [[forever:item:23029]] is a held-in-hand item for healers, and the [[forever:item:22816]] a one-handed axe with attack power and critical strike. He also drops class relics, a [[forever:item:23006]] for paladins and a [[forever:item:23005]] for shamans. The [[forever:item:22726]] is a piece of Atiesh.

Quests

• [[forever:quest:9229]]: he has a small chance to drop [[forever:item:22708]], which starts a quest at Light's Hope Chapel.
• Tier 3: his tokens go into quests such as [[forever:quest:9041]] for warriors and [[forever:quest:9101]] for mages.

Later history

In Wrath of the Lich King, Noth appears at the Plague Cauldron in the death knights' starting area, the Scarlet Enclave, and the new Naxxramas above Dragonblight brought him back as a boss.

Sources

• Noth the Plaguebringer (Classic), Warcraft Wiki
• Noth the Plaguebringer, Warcraft Wiki