Highlights

  • Boss fights are a crucial part of World of Warcraft, offering players the ultimate challenge.
  • Characters like Anduin Wrynn, Sylvanas Windrunner, and Jaina Proudmoore make the case for more epic boss fights with longtime NPCs.
  • Potential boss fights with characters like Alleria Windrunner, Xal'atath, Khadgar, Tyrande and Malfurion.

Boss fights are a quintessential part of World of Warcraft and perhaps the apex of its player experience. In both lore and gameplay, everything rides on boss fights, be they in raids, dungeons, or quests. To truly get the most out of a WoW character and experience their power, grit, and determination, at some point, they ought to face the players head-on.

Characters like Anduin Wrynn, Sylvanas Windrunner and Jaina Proudmoore all featured as raid bosses through varying circumstances, yet they managed to survive. Sometimes, players show mercy to their foes, or the bad guys make a daring escape. Either way, there are a few characters who deserve a chance to show their true mettle to World of Warcraft's players and live to tell the tale.

world of warcraft dragonflight hunter quivers coming in 10.1 patch alleria
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World of Warcraft: Alleria Windrunner’s Connection to the Void Explained

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Alleria Windrunner

Former Ranger-Captain of Silvermoon and older sister of Sylvanas, this high elf has a long history of heroics. She has battled trolls, orcs, and even oversaw the defeat of the Burning Legion, all to protect the world and the people she loves. More recently, she has embraced the Void as an effective, albeit volatile, means to fight for Azeroth.

The true extent of Alleria’s power isn’t always clear, however. She’s unmatched with a bow, to be sure, but the shadowy energies brimming beneath her cool exterior make her a potentially devastating threat. She has faced players briefly in an alternate void-conquered reality, and she was formidable even in that mini-encounter. Horde players can also fight with her as the faction leader of Stormwind, but again, this battle does her no real justice.

Especially given The War Within’s announcement and Alleria’s dangerous proximity to the Void, it’s not much of a stretch to imagine a real boss fight with her. However, hopefully, it won’t mean her death. Given all she’s capable of, a raid fight with Alleria Windrunner would be a real spectacle.

Xal’atath

xal'atath from the war within trailer world of warcraft

As The War Within draws ever nearer, a pivotal character from WoW: Legion will make a resurgence. Once bound within a sinister dagger of the same name, Xal’atath has since gained her freedom. She seeks nothing more than to bring about a new order for the universe in which the Void reigns supreme. She’s conniving, wily, and patient, and there’s no telling to what extent she’s magnified her powers.

A boss fight with Xal’atath is highly likely to come about during The War Within, and if it’s inevitable, she needs to make herself memorable. Ideally, she would survive well into the World Soul Saga, as she’s proven her resilience and her sense of self-preservation. She won’t sacrifice herself for anything or anyone, so one can hope that means she’ll be around for more than one epic encounter with players.

Khadgar

Khadgar WoW

If there’s one character that’s been an integral part of World of Warcraft since the beginning, it’s the king of dad jokes himself, Khadgar. This master of the arcane has saved Azeroth countless times, so he’s always been on the side of the players. However, his actual abilities outside teleports and exposition are scant, to say the least. There’s no substantial reason players would have to lock horns with Khadgar, but it could still happen.

Much like Jaina, fighting an Archmage of such caliber would be a wild encounter. While Lord Admiral Proudmoore specializes in frost magic, Khadgar almost exclusively sticks to the arcane, which makes his potential mechanics limitless in their possibilities. Manipulating time and space, creating magical constructs, and teleporting basically anything anywhere are just some of his tricks; it would be no easy task to outsmart the Archmage either.

Tyrande and Malfurion

Each member of this dynamic duo is capable of incredible power, and facing them as a combined force would practically be suicide. However, neither has truly faced players before, despite their ongoing importance to the game’s story. Tyrande even had an entire vengeance arc in Shadowlands where she was nearly consumed by Elune’s power, but even without that vicious boon, her abilities are a force to reckon with.

Tyrande Whisperwind is a master of both glaives and the bow, coupled with the incredibly potent magic she derives from the moon. She can use lunar spells to both heal and vaporize her foes. Archdruid Malfurion Stormrage, on the other hand, is a shapeshifting master of nature magic who can shred enemies to pieces, choke them with thorns, or wipe them away with cyclones. While this married couple has decided to take a break from heroics for a while, seeing them smack raid teams back and forth would be a show to remember.

The Four Horsemen of the Ebon Blade

Many a WoW player will remember their first encounter with the original Four Horsemen, be it in Vanilla or Classic World of Warcraft. These undead riders have been the bane of raid groups and guilds alike, terrorizing the unprepared for years. However, the mantles of the Scourge's Horsemen have been passed between individuals over the years, usually because their predecessors have been slain. In Wrath of the Lich King's Naxxramas, the roster had changed, and it transformed once again in WoW: Legion. As part of the Death Knight Class Hall Campaign, the player, guided by Bolvar Fordragon as the Lich King, created a new team of Horsemen, and this time they would fight for Azeroth as members of the Knights of the Ebon Blade.

Each of these Horsemen is a famous character in their own right, all raised from the dead specifically for this purpose. They include Nazgrim, a famous Horde general, and Thoras Trollbane, the last great King of Stromgard. Sally Whitemane is also among them, and players will recognize her as the former leader of the Scarlet Crusade. Finally, as the spearhead of the four, there is Darion Mograine, son of the Ashbringer and a death knight who has given more than any other to save his world. Fighting these dark heroes and their sinister steeds would not only be an epic callback to times past, but would solidify the new Four Horsemen into legend.