Lord Marrowgar

Wiki is yet to be completed. This is the 10 man Icecrown Citadel breakdown of Lord Marrowgar boss fight strategy for the use of Cabal members.

Lord Marrowgar
Lord Marrowgar is the first boss of the Icecrown Citadel raid. Pieced together by the Lich King from the bones of a thousand vanquished adventurers, he is the guardian of the Frozen Throne within The Spire, and wields the power of the throne itself.

Abilities
Bone Storm

Attacks nearby enemies in a whirlwind of bone that lasts until cancelled.

3 sec cast.

Every two seconds, triggers AoE damage that drops off as you get farther away from the boss.

- Roughly 6k standing on top of him

- 4k just inside his hitbox

- 2k just outside

- 800 or so at around 30 yards

The boss charges 4 targets before ending the Bone Storm. 30 sec cooldown.

Bone Spike Graveyard

Hurls a massive bone spike which impales any enemies in the way.

Deals 10% health per sec for 5 seconds or until killed.

3 sec cast.

10 sec cooldown.

Coldflame

Summons a line of frost that hits enemies in the way.

Instant. 8 yd line of effect.

Deals 6000 Frost/sec for 3 seconds.

Random target.

Saber Lash

Melee range

Splits 200% of normal melee damage to an enemy and its nearest ally, replacing melee attack.

Used every second, but not during bone spike graveyard cast; prevents the targets from being targeted by Bone Spike Graveyard.

Strategy
Tanking

Tanks need to stand on top of each other to soak Saber Lash.

The key to the fight is managing the transitions between the Bone Storms and going back to the Bone Graveyard phase. You have 10 seconds from the end of Bone Storm until Lord Marrowgar starts casting Saber Lash again (until then he simply melees his target) - the tanks need to pick him up and position themselves together in that time. (The 10 second grace period also applies to the beginning of the encounter, counting from when he is first aggroed, giving the tanks time to set themselves up.)

Tanks should avoid sandwiching themselves between Marrowgar and a wall. The trails of fire need a place to land behind the tanks, or they will be cast inside the hit box, effecting the tanks.

DPS

DPS (with the exception of hunters) stay close to the boss to avoid the Coldflame, which starts slightly away from the boss. Stacking in the red circle under the boss will indicate if you are in the safe zone from the coldflame. Hunters should position themselves close enough to the raid grp so Melee can assist if the hunter is bone spiked. It is best to designate one person in this group for the raid group to stack on.

Bone Spike Graveyard

Ranged DPS, or nearby melee, should immediately free players impaled with Bone Spike Graveyard. Bone Spikes should die within 3 seconds (two GCDs); any longer and you will have issues. In addition, it is confirmed that Paladin ability Hand of Salvation removes Bone Spike Graveyard, and it's most likely that similar abilities remove it too. Communication from any Hunters is important should they get hit with Bone Spike, the DPS can quickly react to it and make adjustments.

Coldflame

Coldflame is a single line of frost that runs radially outward for 8 yards. Touching it inflicts a large amount of damage. Since it moves in a straight line, melee can sidestep out of its way, while ranged players can avoid it entirely. Because it starts a small distance away from Lord Marrowgar, melee can also avoid it by staying in very close, but only do this when Lord Marrowgar is not casting Bone Storm.

Bone Storm

Every 30 seconds Marrowgar will execute Bone Storm. This whirlwind attack cannot be avoided, and damage is dealt every two seconds based on your proximity to the boss as he spins. The closer you are, the more damage you take.

While in his Bone Storm Lord Marrowgar will randomly target and charge a raid member. When he reaches them he stops moving for around six seconds before targeting another random raid member. Every time Lord Marrowgar reaches his target and stops he will fire four lines of Cold Fire along the semi-cardinal points (NE, NW, SE, SW - they form an X). Unlike during phase 1, the cold flame lines start directly underneath him. After his fourth target the Bone Storm will end. When Marrowgar announces bone storm, the raid party needs to run away from the boss prior to the bone storm commencing. Players must also watch their positioning to make sure they don't stray into the front of the boss and risk getting hit with the Saber Lash.

Healing

The tanks take moderately-high damage (10-15k every second from Saber Lash). During the Bone Storms, everyone takes damage. People who don't move when they're targeted by the boss during Bone Storm will be taking full Bone Storm damage in addition to Cold Fire damage from up to four separate Cold Fire effects. They will probably die.

Notes

Lord Marrowgar has a red positioning reticule below him. Stacking your entire raid (with the exception of the two tanks and any hunters) on the back edge of the reticule does three things:

Prevents all incoming Coldflame damage. (No one is hit by the fire)

Controls the location of Impales so they may be quickly DPSed.

Allows Healers and Caster DPS to remain stationary, maximizing throughput.

The raid must disperse during Bone Storm. Bone Storm damage is negligible, but Priests need to be mindful that Inner Fire charges are depleted by this ability. Stay mobile, and re-collapse to the rear of the positioning reticule once the tanks regain control after it stops.

Note that tanks do not take damage during the Bone Spike Graveyard cast, which can be very handy for moving into position or catching up on healing.

Cabal strategy for Bone Storm is to run, as a unit, to either the left or right hand side of the room as called by the raid leader, and then to follow the back wall of the room to the other side then to regroup on the designated (marked) raid member as phase one recommences. Ranged DPS, as they become familiar with this fight should have time as they move along the back wall to stop and DPS the boss while being aware to move as necessary.

After 10 minutes, Marrowgar will Enrage increasing his damage done by 500%, attack speed by 150% and makes him immune to taunt. If he is not killed before he enrages, he will quickly kill the entire raid!

Achievements
Boned

Defeat Lord Marrowgar without any raid member remaining impaled for more than 8 seconds

Storming the Citadel

Defeat the first four bosses in Icecrown Citadel