The Four Horsemen

The Four Horsemen are Kel'Thuzad's death knight champions and the final encounter of the Deathknight Wing (the Military Quarter) of Naxxramas. Four mounted riders, Thane Korth'azz, Lady Blaumeux, Sir Zeliek and Highlord Mograine, fight the raid at once from the four corners of their chamber. Each leaves a stacking mark on players near him, so tanks and healers have to rotate around the room on a strict schedule. Many guilds rated it the hardest fight in Naxxramas, and its chest held the Corrupted Ashbringer.

Background

The Horsemen were Kel'Thuzad's royal guard, and the lich considered them his greatest creations. They were mystically bound to him, so they could only truly be destroyed along with him. Three of them seem to have been paladins of the Knights of the Silver Hand in life:

• [[forever:npc:16064]], a dwarf who commands fire and calls meteors from the sky. He was once a paladin named Orthas, and Alexandros Mograine calls him "one of Uther's men".
• [[forever:npc:16065]], a master of shadow who drains the life of her foes.
• [[forever:npc:16063]], a paladin so strong in his faith that the Light still answers him in undeath. He kept his mind and his conscience, and serves the Scourge against his will.
• [[forever:npc:16062]], their leader, is Alexandros Mograine, the great Scourge-slayer who once wielded the Ashbringer. After the Third War, his son Renault murdered him, and the Scourge carried his body to Naxxramas, where Kel'Thuzad broke his will and made him a death knight. His story is told in Alexandros Mograine.

The Horsemen ride armored warhorses and are loosely based on the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse: Zeliek as the white rider of conquest, Mograine as the red rider of war, Blaumeux as the black rider of famine and Korth'azz as the pale rider of death.

Abilities

• Marks: each Horseman regularly marks everyone near him with [[forever:spell:28832]], [[forever:spell:28833]], [[forever:spell:28835]] or [[forever:spell:28834]]. Each new mark deals damage, more for every stack of the same mark already on the player. The marks last over a minute, so no one can stay near the same Horseman for long.
• [[forever:spell:28884]]: Korth'azz drops a meteor on a player, its damage split among everyone near the impact.
• [[forever:spell:28863]]: Blaumeux summons a zone of shadow under a player that drains anyone standing in it.
• [[forever:spell:28883]]: Zeliek's holy bolts jump between players standing close together, doubling with each jump.
• [[forever:spell:28882]]: Mograine's melee attacks can set his target ablaze with holy fire.
• [[forever:spell:29061]]: each Horseman uses Shield Wall at 50% and 20% health.
• After about 100 marks, roughly 20 minutes in, they enrage and mark with no cooldown.

Strategy

The raid splits into four groups, one for each corner, and each corner gets two tanks, eight in all, usually warriors. Each group kills its Horseman separately, never letting any of the riders come together.

The marks make the fight a rotation. After a few marks on one Horseman, a tank moves to the next corner and a fresh tank takes his place, while healers rotate too. Raids moved on a fixed schedule, with a raid leader calling each move. Players spread out near Zeliek so Holy Wrath couldn't jump, and moved out of Blaumeux's void zones at once.

According to Warcraft Wiki, the fight stood undefeated for about seven weeks without any changes from Blizzard. The US guild Death and Taxes got the first kill on August 25, 2006. The main obstacle wasn't working out the tactics but gearing eight tanks good enough to survive it.

Loot

The Horsemen drop no loot from their bodies. Instead, the Four Horsemen Chest appears in the middle of the room. According to Warcraft Wiki, it holds the Tier 3 chest tokens, which kill order doesn't affect:

• [[forever:item:22349]] for warriors and rogues, [[forever:item:22351]] for priests, mages and warlocks, and [[forever:item:22350]] for paladins, hunters, shamans and druids (see Tier Sets).
• [[forever:item:22691]], Alexandros's sword after the Scourge corrupted it, a two-handed sword that drains life from the target. It was one of the rarest drops in the game.
• [[forever:item:22809]], a healer's two-handed mace, [[forever:item:22811]], a hunter's bow, and [[forever:item:23071]], agility leather leggings.
• [[forever:item:23025]], a caster ring, and [[forever:item:23027]], a healer's mana trinket.
• [[forever:item:22726]], a piece of Atiesh.

Later history

In the Ashbringer comic, Alexandros's son Darion Mograine led a small party into Naxxramas, following his father's whispers, and fought the Horsemen there. In Wrath of the Lich King, the Horsemen returned in the relocated Naxxramas above Dragonblight. Later still, the Lich King Bolvar Fordragon had the Four Horsemen re-formed under Darion Mograine to serve the Knights of the Ebon Blade.

Sources

• Four Horsemen (Classic), Warcraft Wiki
• Four Horsemen, Warcraft Wiki
• Thane Korth'azz, Warcraft Wiki
• Sir Zeliek, Warcraft Wiki