The vast world of Azeroth has expanded tremendously over the past two decades. Nine expansion packs have been released for World of Warcraft since the game's vanilla version came out in 2004. Each expansion came with its own nasty boss and epic battle at the end of the main quest line.
Players spend hours of gameplay in order to reach the final quest, which promises not only great loot, but a boss fight to remember. There were, however, hits and misses over the years from Blizzard's side, and not all boss fights lived up to players' expectations. Here are all nine, ranked from best to worst.
9 Arthas Menethil, The Lich King - Wrath Of The Lich King (2008)
The Lich King is the final boss of World of Warcraft's second expansion and is no doubt the most famous of all bosses in the franchise. For fans of Warcraft 3, this battle is shrouded in lore and nostalgia, and there are many throwbacks to characters such as his father, Terenas Menethil.
In the Icecrown Citadel raid, Arthas waits for players in his castle atop the Citadel and proves to be a formidable opponent. Moreover, players have to defeat 11 bosses before him in order to finally have the opportunity to battle the Lich King himself.
8 Argus The Unmaker - Legion (2016)
Although Legion seemed slightly off-genre for World of Warcraft, with an odd sci-fi twist towards the end, it presented the best boss fight since the Lich King. The final Legion raid is visually impressive, with celestial effects and titans sitting around the players, watching them as they battle Argus.
Visual effects aside, for the first time in the game, this raid also adds a death mechanic, where Argus would wipe out the entire raid part in one sweep as part of the battle. At the time, this would have been an enjoyable new mechanic for players.
7 Kil'Jaeden - The Burning Crusade (2007)
One of the big baddies from Warcraft 3 and one of the most powerful villains in Azeroth, Kil'Jaeden presents a satisfying boss fight for players in the Sunwell Plateau raid. Although in retrospect it might not seem like a big deal, at that time players would have been pleasantly surprised to find Kil'Jaeden as the final boss fight, as Blizzard in fact advertised IIllidan as the big bad.
Even more, Sunwell Plateau presented the expansion's hardest raid boss and a very big challenge, even for experienced raid parties, presenting players with a satisfying close to the expansion.
6 Garrosh Hellscream - Mists Of Pandaria (2012)
After a shaky era for World of Warcraft following the rather poor reception of Cataclysm, Blizzard gave Azeroth a new feel with Mists of Pandaria, which boasts an ambitious final boss fight. The battle with Garrosh Hellscream in the Siege of Orgrimmar raid can last up to 20 minutes on its hardest difficulty.
Moreover, for the first time in the game, the boss had a mythic phase, which was very novel at the time. To add to the challenge, players had to thoroughly prepare for this encounter, as they would need to group strategically to take down the boss.
5 Archimonde - Warlords Of Draenor (2014)
Despite engaging game mechanics and a fairly challenging raid, the choice of Archimonde as a final boss fight in Warlords of Draenor sparked some controversy among fans regarding the game's lore. According to World of Warcraft lore, demons can only truly die within the Twisting Nether.
Since players kill Archimonde outside the Twisting Nether in this battle, everyone is still confused whether Archimonde is really dead or not. Nevertheless, the Hellfire Citadel raid also has a mythic only phase, and challenges players to work as a team, which were rare at the time.
4 Raszageth The Storm-Eater - Dragonflight (2022)
The game's latest expansion, Dragonflight, presents a brutal and taxing final boss fight, but it fails to hold up to the likes of the Lich King or Argus the Unmaker. There are two aspects of the Vault of the Incarnates raid that players find rather frustrating.
First, this boss fight feels like a number checkpoint that lacks deeper engagement from players. If one does not have the right amount of DPS and healing points, the raid simply won't work. Moreover, it has a controversial mechanic, where Raszageth sweeps everyone off the platform, making this raid very difficult and too repetitive at times.
3 Zovaal - Shadowlands (2020)
Also called The Jailer, Zovaal was one of the bosses that failed to live up to players' expectations. Finally, destroying The Jailer is somewhat anti-climactic. He is built up throughout the expansion as a formidable villain, but in the end, killing him is just too easy and lacks player motivation.
Furthermore, the Sepulcher of the First Ones raid has an overused mechanic where Zovaal would drop a bomb on the raid party. Apart from being a cliché, this means that a lot of planning has to go into the raid, which players might not be willing to do considering his vague character motivations.
2 N'Zoth - Battle For Azeroth (2018)
The giant squid monster, N'Zoth, presented a fair challenge for players at mythic level but became clothed in controversy after despawning for all players across American servers. Apart from this controversy, the Ny’alotha, the Waking City raid also has a rather mediocre ending.
The final cut scene shows a beam of light that shoots through a portal and kills the monster, which feels very anti-climatic compared to the epic ending scene from Legion, for example. In terms of World of Warcraft lore then, N'Zoth's presence (and death) seems quite insignificant.
1 Deathwing - Cataclysm (2010)
It is generally agreed that the Dragon Soul raid featuring Deathwing was the worst World of Warcraft raid ever released by Blizzard. The encounter with Deathwing, who is responsible for burning up half of Azeroth throughout the game, in the final raid is awkward and mediocre.
Players had to fight two separate parts of the dragon in two disparate sections of the raid and not the dragon as a whole. Not only is this unsatisfying, but also a huge let-down after the epic encounter with the Lich King in the previous expansion.
World of Warcraft and its latest expansion, Dragonflight, is now available on PC.