Archbishop Benedictus

From WoWWiki

Archbishop Benedictus

Gender	Male
Race	Human
Level	60 Elite
Character class	Priest
Health	106,800
Mana	115,020
Affiliation	Alliance, Church of Light, Kingdom of Stormwind
Occupation	Leader of the Church of Light
Location	Cathedral of Light
Status	Alive
Mentor(s)	Alonsus Faol

Archbishop Benedictus (formerly Jarl, surname unknown) is a level 60 elite quest giver located in the Cathedral of Light in Cathedral Square, in the human city of Stormwind.

Quests

[30] Cleansing the Eye
[37D] Bring the Light

History

Archbishop Benedictus as seen in World of Warcraft.

The current archbishop is a middle-aged man named Jarl, though following Church tradition he gave up his birth name when he was elected to this high position, and adopted a new, holy name.

In his youth, he was the younger son of a wealthy Lordaeron merchant, and was raised to join the family business. He found religion instead, discovering the Holy Light after meeting an old traveler one night and almost dying when a pack of mercenaries attacked them both. After recovering, Jarl petitioned to join the Church, and was accepted immediately. The kindly Jarl was the student of Lordaeron's religious leader, Archbishop Alonsus Faol. Jarl spent many years learning from his pious master. He rose quickly to the rank of senior priest, and had charge of a large town in Lordaeron when the Scourge appeared. Jarl did his best to evacuate his parishioners and then joined them in their flight to Azeroth. The Church settled him in a town there, but soon promoted him to Stormwind City instead. While there, he helped the Church of Light construct its most striking monument: the Cathedral of Light in Stormwind. He was being considered for promotion to bishop when Archbishop Faol died, and the council chose to elevate him to archbishop instead.^{APG 153-154} The newly named Benedictus took charge of the Church and swore to continue the good work his mentor had begun so many years before.

Politics

Benedictus is a soft-spoken man of average height and stocky build who looks more like a farmer than a religious leader. He still hates the Scourge for destroying his homeland, and has vowed to direct the Church in destroying that threat forever. Despite his quiet ways, Jarl is surprisingly adept at politics — at least in avoiding confrontation and forming alliances — and he has managed to keep the three bishops in check since his elevation.^{APG 154}

Tactics

Not an extremely deadly foe, a small well-planned raid can easily take him out. Besides melee with his staff, he uses 2 types of Holy Smites, one being 1.5 sec casting time and the other being instant. Both do 1400-1600 Holy damage. He also uses Holy Nova when there are at least 2 targets within melee range of him. He also has a Power Word: Shield spell which he'll use throughout combat. Like most World Bosses, guards will spawn during the fight — most raids ignore them and keep concentrating on Benedictus.

Really easy fight if you have shaman and warlock in your group. Shaman casts purge if Archbishop Benedictus uses PW:shield and spams Grounding Totem. Warlock casts Felhunters Devour Magic when Benedictus cast shield and holy fire. Warrior is good tank because warriors can use Spell Reflection to reflect his spells. Use any AoE to kill his Adds. Try to pull him to catacombs so guards and players wont help him.

He is sometimes considered the easiest faction boss for a group of Horde to kill due to his adjacency to a nearly deserted basement where a small group can gather fairly easily to summon reinforcements without drawing too much attention from the Alliance.

As of Patch 3.0.2, he was turned into a 60 elite, and is no longer a faction boss. He is still as powerful as before, so don't think you can solo him.

Trivia

"Benedictus" (or "Benedict") is a Latin name that has been the regnal name (definition) of sixteen Popes of the Catholic Church, including the current Pope Benedict XVI. Given that Archbishop Benedictus' position as head of the Church of Light is similar to that of a Pope, it is possible that the Archbishop's name was influenced by the traditional Latin name of Benedictus. Ironically, the current pope is called Benedictus XVI, so perhaps as new popes come into rule, Benedictus' name may change...