Headless Horseman

From WoWWiki

During Hallow's End, the Headless Horseman is a summoned elite boss spawned in the Pumpkin Shrine in the middle of the Forlorn Cloister in The Graveyard, an instanced wing of the Scarlet Monastery. Additionally, he attacks Horde and Alliance villages at various times throughout the event.

The Horseman was once a knight of the Silver Hand, but is now cursed. He is of the belief that he is alive, while those who face him are dead. When defeated, he is revealed as Thomas Thomson ( aka Sir Thomas).

To spawn him, first click on the Pumpkin Shrine to receive  [70 Daily] Call the Headless Horseman. Click the Loosely Turned Soil behind the shrine to hand in the quest. Each character can summon the horseman once per day.

He can also be summoned once only by players with the quest starting at the Shade of the Headless horseman. This quest can only be obtained from the Costumed Orphan Matron when the Shade has been defeated in one of the villages and the Large Jack-o'-Lantern is on the ground.

Whilst the horseman can be summoned, killed, and looted as usual in a raid, the instance limit is 5 people.

Contents 1 Attacks and abilities 2 Strategy 2.1 Phase one 2.2 Phase two 2.3 Phase three 3 Quotes 4 Additional notes 5 Loot 6 World spawns for village event 7 Videos 8 External links

Attacks and abilities

• Basic Melee: Deals ~1.8k base damage.
• Cleave: Standard cleave, hits for ~3k base damage.
• Whirlwind: After losing its head, the body will AoE whirlwind for ~1.4k/sec.
• Conflagration: An AoE DoT, can only be removed with a PvP Trinket or other similar abilities(Ice Block, Divine Shield, etc). Ticks for a percentage of your maximum health every second and confuses the target. Lasts ~5 seconds. Feigning Death right before the conflag hits will cancel the fear effect, although the emotes and animations will still proc. You can attack/move as normal. Not sure if this also cleanses the DoT too.
• Head of the Horseman: Active after the Horseman suffers 99% damage each phase. ~27000 Health.
• Pulsing Pumpkin: Tossed on the ground during phase three. Casts sprout after ~15 seconds. ~10k Health. If a pumpkin lands on a player, they get a disease named Squash Soul which is -18 Spirit for 20 minutes.
• Pumpkin Fiend: Sprouted from the Pulsing Pumpkins. Deals ~650 base damage and has ~10k Health.

Strategy

The Headless Horseman encounter is a three phase fight.

Phase one

The Horseman makes his entrance and engages whoever lit the candle. The tank should taunt immediately if they did not start the event. Watch out for Cleave and DPS him down.

At 1% the horseman will go immune, toss his head, walk around disoriented, and occasionally use a Whirlwind attack. The Head of the Horseman will become an active target while the body heals to 100%. All DPS should have a target macro for Head of the Horseman. After the party damages the head to about 60%, or the body heals to 100%, the head will rejoin the body and the next phase begins.

Phase two

When the Horseman rejoins with his head, he targets the player with the highest threat. This is the same as phase one except he will randomly cast Conflagration on a random party member (not the tank). You can use a PvP Trinket to remove the Conflagration. Healers and ranged DPS should be alert to the location of both tank and Conflagration target; steer clear of these.

Phase two ends if the head reaches about 30% health, or when the body heals to 100%.

Phase three

The Horseman does not use Conflagration in Phase Three. Eventually he will toss four Pulsing Pumpkins, which sprout Pumpkin Fiends after several seconds, and they will completely heal. The pumpkins have around 10k health and the Fiends will crit cloth wearers for 1k. The fastest course of action seems to be having the tank stand in the middle of the pumpkins with focus abilities at the ready. The rest of the party continues DPS on the Horseman until his head is tossed. If the party has low DPS, a second or even third wave of Pulsing Pumpkins can be spawned before the head is tossed.

Tanking the Horseman on the steps to the underground area will cause all the spawns to land very close to the boss. This should make it very easy for the tank to pick them all up.

Once the Head of the Horseman dies, the Headless Horseman has been defeated, and the remaining pumpkins will die. If you don't kill the Head of the Horseman before the Horseman heals to 100%, Phase Three will repeat, meaning you have to nuke the Horseman again to get him to toss his head. This is almost certainly a wipe since the yard will be covered with Pumpkin Fiends.

Notes:

Having a Paladin tank makes this Phase much easier due to Consecration. The rest of the party hugs the Paladin, inside the spell's range, allowing the tank to pick up the Fiends, thereafter the DPS can burn these down.

The key to the Headless Horseman is to find and DPS down the head as fast as possible when it is off the Horseman. The head does no damage so all DPS should feel free to unload on it. The macro /target Head of helps with this, as it allows you to pick up the head almost as soon as it detaches.

Quotes

SCARLET MONASTERY:

Player: Horseman rise... Your time is nigh... You felt death once... Now, know demise!

Horseman Entrance: It is over, your search is done! Let fate choose now, the righteous one.

Lost Head: (Head of the Horseman) Over here, you idiot!

Rejoined: Here's my body, fit and pure! Now, your blackened souls I'll cure!

Conflagration: Harken, cur! Tis you I spurn! Now feel... the burn!

Sprouting Pumpkins: Soldiers arise, stand and fight! Bring victory at last to this fallen knight!

Horseman Death: This end have I reached before. What new adventure lies in store?

Player Death: Your body lies beaten, battered and broken. Let my curse be your own, fate has spoken.

WORLD SPAWN:

At the beginning of the attack:

Prepare yourselves, the bells have tolled! Shelter your weak, your young and your old! Each of you shall pay the final sum! Cry for mercy; the reckoning has come!

Part-way through encounter:

The sky is dark. The fire burns. You strive in vain as Fate's wheel turns.

Time almost up:

The town still burns. A cleansing fire! Time is short, I shall soon retire!

Upon successfully dowsing his flames:

My flames have died, left not a spark! I shall send you now to the lifeless dark!

Upon failing to douse his flames:

Fire consumes! You've tried and failed. Let there be no doubt, justice prevailed!

Upon successfully defeating Shade of Horseman's body:

So eager you are, for my blood to spill. Yet to vanquish me, 'tis my head you must kill!

Additional notes

When the Horseman was introduced in 2007, making multiple attempts required resetting the instance each time and creating multiple instance IDs, running up against the 5 instances per hour rule. In 2008, the event was changed so that resetting the instance was no longer required.

Loot

 [Tricky Treats] drop on every kill.

 [Ring of Ghoulish Delight],  [The Horseman's Signet Ring],  [Witching Band], and  [Weighted Jack-o'-Lantern] are common drops.

 [Magic Broom],  [Hallowed Helm], and  [Sinister Squashling] are moderately rare drops.

 [The Horseman's Blade],  [The Horseman's Helm], and  [The Horseman's Reins] are rare drops.

Headless Horseman Loot

The Horseman's Reins Binds when picked up Requires Level 60 Item Level 60Disenchants into: Not disenchantable Requires Riding (75) Use: Teaches you how to summon this mount.	Magic Broom Binds when picked up Mount Requires Level 30 Item Level 1Disenchants into: Not disenchantable Requires Riding (75) Use: Summons and dismisses a rideable magical broom! This mount changes depending on your Riding skill and location.	Ring of Ghoulish Delight Binds when picked up Unique Finger +31 Stamina Requires Level 70 Item Level 110Disenchants into: [Void Crystal]: 1-2 Equip: Increases attack power by 60.	The Horseman's Signet Ring Binds when picked up Unique Finger +19 Stamina +17 Intellect Requires Level 70 Item Level 110Disenchants into: [Void Crystal]: 1-2 Equip: Increases spell power by 35.
Witches Band Binds when picked up Unique Finger +22 Stamina +21 Intellect Requires Level 70 Item Level 110Disenchants into: [Void Crystal]: 1-2 Equip: Increases spell power by 25. Equip: Restores 6 mana per 5 sec.	The Horseman's Blade Binds when picked up Unique Sword Main Hand Speed 2.70 165 - 308 Damage (87.6 damage per second) +14 Agility +16 Stamina Requires Level 70 Item Level 115Disenchants into: [Void Crystal]: 1-2 Equip: Increases attack power by 46. Use: Summon Pumpkin Soldiers to burn your foes. (10 Mins Cooldown) "Soldiers arise, stand and fight!"	The Horseman's Helm Binds when picked up Plate Head 1129 Armor +40 Strength +46 Stamina Red Socket Yellow Socket Blue Socket Socket Bonus: +4 Strength Durability 100 / 100 Requires Level 70 Item Level 110Disenchants into: [Void Crystal]: 1-2 Equip: Improves critical strike rating by 30. Use: Let the Horseman laugh through you.	Hallowed Helm Binds when picked up Cloth Head 3 Armor Durability 20 / 20 Item Level 1Disenchants into: Not disenchantable "There's a hole for your head..."
Sinister Squashling Binds when picked up Item Level 20Disenchants into: Not disenchantable Use: Teaches you how to summon this companion.	2020 Tricky Treat Unique (100) Item Level 1Disenchants into: Not disenchantable Use: Dangerously sweet sugar-frosted taffy with a rich syrup center. Goes bad in only a day.	2020 Weighted Jack-o'-Lantern Use: Jam onto your head, or throw at your friends!

World spawns for village event

Since 3.0.2, the World Spawn of the Shade of the Headless Horseman has been changed to a player spawned event, and is described fully in the article Shade of Horseman. The Shade attacks Kharanos, Goldshire, Azure Watch, Razor Hill, Brill, and Falconwing Square in the form of the Shade of Horseman.

After either spawning the Shade with  [35-70] "Let the Fires Come!"/ [35-70] "Let the Fires Come!" or joining the event in progress with  [70] Stop the Fires! quest from the  Masked Orphan Matron or  Costumed Orphan Matron nearby, players are required to use  [Water Buckets] from the large water tub (also part of the Hallow's End  [70] Fire Training and  [70] Fire Brigade Practice quests) to douse the flames.  [Water Buckets] can also be thrown to other players to pass it to them.

If you can get everyone to concentrate on a single building at a time, it makes the quest  [70] Stop the Fires! a lot easier. The fires spread if you leave them alone or cannot put them out fast enough, so its easiest to put out one building and then the next rather than trying to put out two buildings simultaneously.

After the fires have been extinguished, the Shade of Horseman drops to the ground and engages in hand-to-hand combat as a level 11 mob.

He is generally easily dispatched and the reward is a large pumpkin head in the center of the village that players can "smash" to start another daily quest  [70] Smash the Pumpkin that is handed into the  Masked Orphan Matron or  Costumed Orphan Matron who gives you a  [Crudely Wrapped Gift] containing event goodies.

Videos

Headless Horseman Kill Headless Horseman Kill

External links