Introduction

“Season of Discovery” is a seasonal game mode in “World of Warcraft: Classic”. It was launched in November 2023, and kept getting expanded until April 2025.

I raided every week for the full run, and it was the most fun I’ve ever had playing World of Warcraft! Maybe even the most fun I’ve ever had playing video games!

So, here is my ranking of all the raid bosses in the entire season, from WORST to BEST!

I consider a boss “bad” if it’s obnoxious or boring. I consider a boss “good” if it’s entertaining. I generally did not consider the boss’s loot table to be relevant.

I’ll also group the bosses into tiers, on the way up:

• F TIER – Awful (13 bosses)
• D TIER – Bad (12 bosses)
• C TIER – Okay (16 bosses)
• B TIER – I Like It, Mostly (25 bosses)
• A TIER – I Love It (21 bosses)
• S TIER – Best Bosses Ever (14 bosses)

As a special bonus treat at the end, we’ll use math to rank the raids themselves, based on the average quality of their bosses!

Notes

I’m including “Karazhan Crypts” bosses too, because, even though it was for 5 players, it DID have a lockout. (But I’m excluding “Demon Fall Canyon“, cuz no lockout. IDK, I had to draw the line somewhere. Demon Fall Canyon is good btw.)

It was a little hard to decide which bosses in Karazhan Crypts were “real” bosses, and which ones were more like “minibosses”. Like, is the gravedigger a real boss? Not really, I decided.

I played the entire season as a healing Priest, so this may have affected my perspective.

I didn’t rank the Molten Core secret boss, “The Molten Core”. I never got around to fighting that one. I’m sorry! I didn’t feel like gathering the fire resist gear!

F Tier – Awful

101. Electrocutioner 6000

(Gnomeregan) (Phase 2)

I just really HATE explaining this fight, it’s hell, so much careful positioning. And everyone wants to solve it differently, and you can’t even explain it while you’re in the room, ‘cuz the boss pats around, so you gotta do it 5 minutes before.

Also UGH, so many big knockbacks whenever you wanna cast anything…and then you gotta run back into your extremely precise correct position… The whole thing is an exhaustingly annoying experience that is the opposite of what I want from raiding.

100. Princess Huhuran

(Temple of Ahn’Qiraj) (Phase 6)

Gearing for a particular resist was so exhaustingly “old news” by this point in the season. AND it was a boring fight besides that aspect. Double whammy.

99. Azuregos

(World Boss) (Phase 4)

Soooo boring and damage spongey. And, getting teleported to the center during the fight is kinda pointless. Also temporary reflects are not a very enjoyable mechanic.

Also unrelated to the fight: the lack of map feels very janky–it’s easy to get REALLY LOST, and lose track of your raid team. It’s actually a really scary feeling when you lose everyone, and press M and, oh crap, where the heck am I??

98. Lord Kazzak

(World Boss) (Phase 4)

Similar to Azuregos, very long and boring, I guess they had to do that to make it feel worth the effort to clear a bunch of trash to spawn him. But that just makes the whole experience even more annoying.

I swear people are blowing up who didn’t run out of mana. The main mechanic doesn’t make sense.

97. Moam

(Ruins of Ahn’Qiraj) (Phase 6)

Barely deserves to be called a boss. Something musta went wrong with the scaling. Supposedly you’re supposed to mana burn it?? EW that would suck if it was actually true.

96. Noth the Plaguebringer

(Naxxramas) (Phase 7)

Barely deserves to be called a boss. ALSO you have to decurse, enjoy!

95. Golemagg

(Molten Core) (Phase 4)

Barely deserves to be called a boss. You COULD dodge the boulders from the sky… if you want to make the healers even more bored.

HOWEVER I will admit, I love telling newbies to go look in the window behind the boss, ‘cuz you can see Ragnaros from there. You just have to go waay in there…yeah clip into the lava wall…

94. Chromaggus

(Blackwing Lair) (Phase 5)

It’s all kinda nonsense, yet boring. I hate the sand, and I hate these “straddle the doorway” bosses, feels janky. Tranq shot is uninteresting and yet also way too crucial.

93. Fankriss the Unyielding

(Temple of Ahn’Qiraj) (Phase 6)

Barely a boss. Also I hate bosses where you all stack and never move, it looks so janky, and not immersive. Also sometimes u get teleported away — lol why.

Also GOD he looks stupid. Even for a bug.

92/91/90/89. Four Dragons of Nightmare

(World Bosses) (Phase 7)

Emeriss, Lethon, Taerar, and Ysondre. 4 separate fights. All pretty annoying.

Everybody loves getting nonstop chain-CC’d so they can’t play for like a minute, right? Especially when it’s so random/hard to avoid–apparently there’s gas to dodge? I don’t believe it.

Also at least one of the bosses had a glitch, where a core mechanic never worked, and it never got fixed. Jankiness in boss fights really bothers me.

OK, admittedly, the one fight where a fake Horde/Alliance raid arrives halfway through, to try to wipe your raid, is genius. I forget which one. But we ended up having a couple players kite those, so after a while I forgot that was even a part of the encounter.

D TIER – Bad

88. Broodlord Lashlayer

(Blackwing Lair) (Phase 5)

Who? Very forgettable. Also, enjoy your camera being screwed up! Yet another boss where you all stack and never move and it’s boring.

87. Thunderaan

(World Boss) (Phase 5)

Apparently there are visuals to dodge? I could never see them, maybe my graphics settings for Raids was too low. Also healing this was INSANELY hard pre-nerf. Also ew, don’t make people Mana Burn bosses.

86. Magmadar

(Molten Core) (Phase X)

Fear Ward to win, that’s it. Bad gameplay. Doesn’t even matter if you stand in fire, it’s just a tickle, just ignore it.

Wanna know a secret? Fear Ward doesn’t actually matter either. Nothing bad happens if the tank gets feared too (in SoD).

85. Shade of Eranikus

(Stumpy Temple) (Phase 3)

Wow this is just waaaaayy too many mechanics, and discerning anything is awful. If you wipe in the final phase, good luck figuring out what your raid did wrong and how to solve it. Also interrupt rotations suck.

Also, infamously, it was unbalanced and way too difficult on launch day.

84. Twin Emperors

(Temple of Ahn’Qiraj) (Phase 6)

There’s a lot going on, and yet, all that actually matters is that the tanks get hit REALLY hard.

83. Firemaw

(Blackwing Lair) (Phase 5)

Explaining this fight is IMPOSSIBLE, and I hate these janky “straddle the doorway” bosses. Decent challenge though.

82. Loatheb

(Naxxramas) (Phase 7)

Super boring for healers: only the tank HP is going down, and there’s very little you can do about it. Lotta standing around. DPS looks fun, but frustrating if someone griefs you.

81. Ossirian the Unscarred

(Ruins of Ahn’Qiraj) (Phase 6)

Only interesting for the tanks (but kinda sux for them), but sadly you can cheese it with a glitch, and ignore the mechanics entirely. Very disappointing for a final boss.

80. High Priestess Jeklik (bats)

(Zul’Gurub) (Phase 5)

IDK what’s going on but it doesn’t seem to matter. Also you might get silenced? But I don’t understand why.

79. Ouro

(Temple of Ahn’Qiraj) (Phase 6)

IDK what’s going on but it doesn’t seem to matter. At least he looks kinda cool, biiiiiig worm!!

78. Gluth

(Naxxramas) (Phase 7)

Fear Ward to win–boring. The kiting seems cool…for like 2 people, so who cares.

77. Avatar of Hakkar

(Stumpy Temple) (Phase 3)

Too much to explain + I fundamentally don’t like bosses where 1 person can wipe the raid = very bad combo!

Being directly after the difficult Eranikus fight, probably affected my opinion of this one, as I was usually too tired and annoyed to enjoy this one.

C TIER – Okay

76. Sulfuron

(Molten Core) (Phase 4)

Pretty fun to heal but IDK what’s going on, I guess people are interrupting stuff? This boss seems like nonsense.

75. Garr

(Molten Core) (Phase 4)

Mostly annoying stuff: assigning tanks/banishes, snares, knockbacks, dispelling, etc.

I like the chaos of it though. And when things go wrong, there are ways you can personally adapt to clutch it out.

74. Razorgore the Untamed

(Blackwing Lair) (Phase 5)

Unique idea but boring to play–I’ve never died here ever, IN MY LIFE. Clicking the eggs probly boring too. I respect the creativity at least.

73. Lady Saravess

(Blackfathom Deeps) (Phase 1)

It’s fine, but not memorable. Not much to it: stay outta the snow. The numbers are balanced well enough though.

72. Mason the Echo

(Stumpy Enclave) (Phase 8)

This is the boss with the two pirate ships. Seems cool for 2-3 people who get to go clear out the ships during intermissions…but the rest of us don’t matter, we’re just watching them figure it out. Except we can’t even see it!

71. Gahz’ranka (fishing boss)

(Zul’Gurub) (Phase 5)

Not much to it, but getting launched super high is kinda fun. You can try to find ways to avoid it, too–Season of Discovery adds some ways!

70. Anub’Rekhan

(Naxxramas) (Phase 7)

Seems like the numbers are wrong in SoD, no fun part where the tank runs away. Again, getting launched is fun though.

69. High Priestess Marli (spiders)

(Zul’Gurub) (Phase 5)

Not much to it, but randomly occasionally getting super drunk is kinda funny.

68. Patchwerk

(Naxxramas) (Phase 7)

The hateful strike stuff is nonsense, nobody understands it. But I like tank-and-spank sometimes, and this one is more iconic & exciting than most.

67. Grobbulus

(Naxxramas) (Phase X)

I love the whole “running away to drop your fart somewhere safe” concept, but this boss is just too easy in SoD, which ruined it. You can pretty much ignore the mechanic.

66. Atal’alarion

(Stumpy Temple) (Phase 3)

The rising pillars don’t really make much gameplay sense (people have explained to me what they do, but I have a hunch it’s all fake), but healing this fight is kinda fun.

65. Shazzrah

(Molten Core) (Phase 4)

Exciting to heal, and fun for the raid to play Nokia Snake, moving as a group. Probly less fun for other classes though. Probly have to decurse or something.

64. Vaelastrasz the Corrupt

(Blackwing Lair) (Phase 5)

The haste buff is a fun concept but I don’t like the exploding and dying. This boss is too stressful for me.

63. Nefarian

(Blackwing Lair) (Phase 5)

Fear Ward to win, lame. The class calls sound cool in concept, but ultimately don’t matter that much, kinda disappointing!

62. Instructor Razuvious

(Naxxramas) (Phase 7)

It’s a crazy idea, and I respect it, I just wish Mind Control was less janky in this game.

61. Morphaz and Hazzas

(Stumpy Temple) (Phase 3)

A little overcomplex, but sometimes getting stuck auto-running with the fire was funny (like if there’s nobody left to wake up by dropping your fire debuff on them). That tail whip was nasty for us!!

B TIER – I Like It, Mostly

60. Gothik the Harvester

(Naxxramas) (Phase 7)

The waves are maybe too easy, but splitting into 2 raids is a fun change of pace! Good boss for voice chat.

59. Ghamoo-Ra

(Blackfathom Deeps) (Phase 1)

Cute turtle, avoid bubbles, what’s not to like? I guess there isn’t much strategy to the turtle’s big absorb shield (at least I never figured one out).

58. Jindo the Hexxer (shades)

(Zul’Gurub) (Phase 5)

Good concept, getting teleported into skelly pit is fun, and the curse to see the ghosts, is rad. Wish any of it mattered, ‘cuz it was too easy in SoD!

57. Majordomo Executus

(Molten Core) (Phase 4)

Fun to heal, seems fun to DPS. Leaving the boss as the last one alive is a nice twist for story reasons.

56. Unk’omon

(Karazhan Crypts) (Phase 7)

Secret boss, you might not have seen him! Need certain classes to do secret stuff to spawn him.

Patchwerk-style boss, but he hits VERY VERY HARD and VERY FAST at the end! Like insanely fast. Having the option of using standard Crowd Control on him, to catch up on healing, is such a cool interesting option! SUPER stressful to heal, makes me pee my pants (negative).

55. Buru the Gorger

(Ruins of Ahn’Qiraj) (Phase 6)

It was fun getting randomly chosen to kite the boss to the right place, ’til we realized we don’t need to–it was too easy in SoD, you can just focus the boss.

54. Gehennas

(Molten Core) (Phase 4)

Surprisingly intense to heal, and dodging rain of fire is fun. Decursing’s probly not fun though–although nice that they let you DPS via decursing!

53. Onyxia

(Onyxia’s Lair) (Phase 4)

Too much Fear Ward, and tryna heal people over the terrain lumps, sucks. But dodging deep breath and managing adds is great!

52. Lucifron

(Molten Core) (Phase 4)

I love when bosses mind control ppl, it’s one of my favorite “common raid boss mechanics”. This one is all about VERY FAST reaction time to dispel it, before hell breaks loose!

51. Jammal’an the Prophet & Ogom the Wretched

(Stumpy Temple) (Phase 3)

Dodge stuff, and heal the raid really really hard? Sounds good! The weekly swap of which boss you must kill first, is cool, and how it changes the mechanics slightly (the difference barely matters tho TBH).

50. Grand Widow Faerlina

(Naxxramas) (Phase 7)

Again, surprisingly intense to heal, and dodging rain of fire is fun. Basically Gehennas but less annoying.

49. Edge of Madness

(Zul’Gurub) (Phase 5)

Fun change of pace every time, and some of these bosses can really getcha!! Watch out!

48. Heigan the Unclean

(Naxxramas) (Phase 7)

The dance is fun, but I wish the ranged could do it too, was a bit easy in SoD to kill it before then. ALSO, getting teleported to the eyebeam room suuucks.

47. Grand Crusader Caldoran

(Scarlet Enclave) (Phase 8)

A LOT of hard stuff to figure out, and I’m outta patience by this point in the raid, so my memories of this boss are mostly being exhausted. Definitely an interesting challenge tho. A fairly deserving final boss to Season of Discovery, in terms of epic vibes.

46. Baron Aquanis

(Blackfathom Deeps) (Phase 1)

Platforming during the boss is rad, love that! Getting dazed in the water, by extra mobs down there, is less cool.

I’ve never been a fan of having to watch your debuffs to know what to do, not very immersive, I wish there was a clearer environmental indicator that you have the debuff, like a zappy effect from you to the boss.

45. Kurinnaxx

(Ruins of Ahn’Qiraj) (Phase 6)

Dodge the sand traps, what’s not to like! Big punishment to whoever doesn’t dodge it, I like that. Lil too easy tho.

44. High Priestess Arlokk (panthers)

(Zul’Gurub) (Phase 5)

Fun chill boss in a cool temple basement. I like when she disappears and lotsa panthers spawn.

43. High Priest Thekal (tigers)

(Zul’Gurub) (Phase 5)

I always like a “kill them all at the same time” boss. Probly a lil too easy, but whatevs!

42. Ayamiss the Hunter

(Ruins of Ahn’Qiraj) (Phase 6)

Fun to heal, feels pretty epic for some reason, although I dunno what’s going on, but that’s ok, other ppl do! If you’re in voice chat, it’s fun to joke about being sacrificed, or make fun of who’s being sacrificed.

41. Reborn Council

(Scarlet Enclave) (Phase 8)

OK, yes, an absolutely epic idea, bringing back Herod, Doan, and Vishas. Hectic fun, and lotsa SIIICK stuff going on everywhere in the room, simultaneously! (The bottom layer of the room fills with friggin’ LAVA sometimes!)

But I don’t like how long the fight is, and I fundamentally don’t like interrupt rotations, or the awkward camera stuff. Also OMG IT’S SO DIFFICULT.

40. C’Thun

(Temple of Ahn’Qiraj) (Phase 6)

Intuitive, but takes practice! That’s what I want from a raid boss. While healing, I often find myself “saving people” just in time, which is fun! Sooo long tho.

39. Kharon

(Karazhan Crypts) (Phase 7)

Lotsa cool stuff, love finding and un-rooting my friends in the dark! But I don’t like wipes due to bad luck (e.g. the wrong abilities going off simultaneously), in such a SUPER LONG fight.

38. High Priest Venoxis (snakes)

(Zul’Gurub) (Phase 5)

Deadly chain lightning is fun, especially when you all gotta keep moving, and re-adjusting for it. Great voice lines.

37. Viscous Fallout

(Gnomeregan) (Phase 2)

Too hard to be Boss #2! Pretty tough DPS checks. But it’s cool strategizing what to do, when the adds spawn/evolve. Fun moving around the obstacles, as a group–I wish more fights had complex arenas like this one, with lots of walls to worry about.

36. Grubbis

(Gnomeregan) (Phase 2)

WAY too hard to be Boss #1! Maybe the hardest “first boss” of any of the raids. BUT actually kinda fun to explain, especially the strategizing of how the gas clouds interact with the adds, and how the players should make decisions around that. Don’t forget to dodge the fart!

A TIER – I Love It!

35. Bug Trio

(Temple of Ahn’Qiraj) (Phase 6)

Lotta running around, I love that. Nice chill boss. Cool how it’s different, depending on the order you kill them!

34. Bloodlord Mandokir

(Zul’Gurub) (Phase 5)

Hehe I like the threatening gaze mechanic, standing perfectly still. Very silly. Fun to see someone mess it up. Great boss for laughing in voice chat.

33. Viscidus

(Temple of Ahn’Qiraj) (Phase 6)

Fun to heal, and I like when it splits into tons of slimes and chaos ensues, everyone running around DPSing.

32. Lorgus Jett

(Blackfathom Deeps) (Phase 1)

I really love dodging the boulder, and the DPS killing themselves during reflect totem is funny too.

31. Six Atal’ai Defenders

(Stumpy Temple) (Phase 3)

Remembering what each boss does is awesome! The shackling of ghosts gets annoying though, I don’t wanna.

30. Maexxna

(Naxxramas) (Phase 7)

I mean come on, the boss room alone makes this unforgettably cool. Getting webbed on the wall and people gotta save you? Rad! This boss was a little too easy in SoD though.

29. Baron Geddon

(Molten Core) (Phase 4)

Iconic for a good reason, just good mechanics everyone can enjoy, and he looks really cool.

28. General Rajaxx

(Ruins of Ahn’Qiraj) (Phase 6)

I like wave-based bosses, when the waves are actually balanced decently well! Also, keeping away from your own ghost (on hard mode) is SUPER FUN.

27. Ebonroc and Flamegor

(Blackwing Lair) (Phase 5)

I’ma sucker for 4-Horsemen style bosses, where you get debuff stacks from one boss and gotta go run away and fight the other. This one’s a little janky for the tanks though.

26. Alexei the Beastlord

(Scarlet Enclave) (Phase 8)

Again, I’ma sucker for 4-Horsemen style bosses. This has some cool other stuff to dodge too, I like bullet hell stuff. Good strategizing!

25. Harbinger of Sin

(Karazhan Crypts) (Phase 7)

Maybe the #1 coolest looking boss ever! Especially when u first spot him in the fog. Dodging his stuff is too easy though.

24. Solistrasza

(Scarlet Enclave) (Phase 8)

This one is absolutely nuts, I can barely keep up with what’s going on, but it’s all epic. The room becomes an absolute MESS of fire. This is a true firey dragon fight.

23. Creeping Malison

(Karazhan Crypts) (Phase 7)

Scary as hell!!! Scariest vibes in WoW. Love the insane hordes of baby spiders that arrive, cool strategizing around when to light the fires, to clear the room. Just way too hard of a boss though! Frustratingly often a run-killer in my PUGs.

I love to hate it, though. Very memorable boss.

22. 3 Failed Apprentices

(Karazhan Crypts) (Phase 7)

Good spooky mysterious vibes. Getting to choose who to fight, keeps the dungeon feeling fresh on each run. All 3 have fun stuff to dodge, all I really need in a fight!

I don’t have a picture of these guys, so instead, accept these 3 maps I made of the dungeon! I made these!

21. Battleguard Sartura

(Temple of Ahn’Qiraj) (Phase 6)

I die a lot here, but it always feels like I could have played better, to avoid it! Love the chaotic start.

20. Dark Rider

(Karazhan Crypts) (Phase 7)

The mechanic where a clone of one of your party members spawns during the fight, and only YOU can see it, and you have to spot it and kill it before it’s too late, is soo outrageously cool and thematic.

All the other stuff is pretty cool too. Very fair difficulty.

19. Mekgineer Thermaplugg

(Gnomeregan) (Phase 2)

Holy crap what an epic masterpiece! 5 phases!! It’s just too difficult, and sooo much work, especially the neverending stream of bombs, and the communication needed for that. I’m not crazy about fights that need this much communication. So freaking long, too.

18. Aku’mai

(Blackfathom Deeps) (Phase 1)

Dodging the breath is fun. The mechanics all interact with each other, making this fight interesting to try to solve.

17. Hakkar

(Zul’Gurub) (Phase 5)

Lotta mechanics I like, and all very intuitive! Really well-balanced fight on hard mode. I love bosses that MC ppl.

16. Kel’Thuzad

(Naxxramas) (Phase 7)

Like Hakkar: lotta mechanics I like, intuitive, well-balanced, and I love bosses that MC ppl. I like the socializing phase too, lol.

The super-hard-mode’s extra phase is FANTASTIC and epic, with the death circle getting smaller and smaller until you’re all crammed into the center of the room, meanwhile KT is falling apart.

15. Mechanical Menagerie

(Gnomeregan) (Phase 2)

I’m a sucker for “kill them all at the same time” bosses, and this is the all-time best.

Did we need THIS MANY MECHANICS to explain though? And did it need to be this insanely stressful to heal?? And did it need to be this long??? And did the free mana buttons need to be this glitchy?!?!?!? The hardest part of this fight for me was deciding when to do my “/reload” to get the mana buttons to work again (yes I know there’s a debuff too).

S TIER – Best Bosses Ever!

14. The Four Horsemen

(Naxxramas) (Phase 7)

I adore this type of fight, everyone managing their own stacks, moving around the room, adapting! Lil’ too easy in SoD.

13. Thaddius

(Naxxramas) (Phase 7)

Come on, finding the correct +/- side is just really fun. And the jump! So silly. Lotta laughing in this fight, brightens our day.

12. Lillian Voss

(Scarlet Enclave) (Phase 8)

So frantic, I love it! Helps that the RL can just call out what we should all do. Good VFX help too. Constant tank swaps!

11. Sapphiron

(Naxxramas) (Phase 7)

Looks awesome. Lotsa stuff to dodge, lotsa stuff to heal. The “hide behind an ice block” mechanic is very good. Silly ice rink in the middle!!

10. Balnazzar

(Scarlet Enclave) (Phase 8)

Tons of outrageously epic stuff going on (especially the visuals!!! I take at least 1 screenshot pretty much every time), but ultimately pretty simple to execute, once you understand it all.

I love how, as a caster, your movement is SO restricted to these tiny circles–very scary to get feared out of it! Can’t even heal myself out there.

9. Dreamscythe and Weaver

(Stumpy Temple) (Phase 3)

Don’t get buffeted into the hole, or into the slime border! Hilarious, chaotic, and fun as hell, and usually some adapting to do! (I loved seeing our druids doing clutch swaps to bear form during this fight, as I inevitably failed to keep our tanks up.)

8. Ragnaros

(Molten Core) (Phase 4)

So epic! The Sons of Flame make this really interesting, especially adapting when they keep spawning at the end. Also come on, he melts people’s weapons? That’s the funniest shit I’ve ever heard. Maybe he should be #1 actually.

Snowballs are OP if you get booped!!! Open trade with me for snowballs.

7. Prophet Skeram

(Temple of Ahn’Qiraj) (Phase 3)

Everybody chaotically running around, chasing down the bosses when they appear! More bosses should feel like this. Cool layout, all the stairs to jump around on. Also he’s kinda cute?? I love this model. And, I love bosses that MC ppl (last time I’ll say that!).

6. Festering Rotslime

(Stumpy Temple) (Phase 3)

Freaking GENIUS idea, a boss where you’re all getting chased infinitely! So scary and cool. I love how the hallway becomes a COMPLETE MESS, with all the goop that drops off people, (a really interesting aspect to strategize!).

Knocking things off the walls is a funny concept, but cool, I like it. And, getting eaten is hilarious.

5. Opera of Malediction

(Karazhan Crypts) (Phase 7)

GOTTA love a rotating opera event! These are adorable. And they’re all pretty intuitive, well-balanced, and fun.

It’s also arguably the creepiest part of Kara Crypts. Like, why is this here? Why would there be an opera in a crypt?? Are these ghosts? Hauntingly putting on this show, eternally, in the dark, for nobody? Or is it some twisted dark-world-reflection of the real Karazhan opera up above? I love it, creeps me out.

4. Twilight Lord Kelris

(Blackfathom Deeps) (Phase 1)

The mechanics/visuals synergize super well, especially in the final phase, which is absolutely thrilling, it feels like the world is falling apart! Blew my mind compared to the ugly WotLK raids I’d been doing.

“Dust to dust” was so legendarily catchy, great tagline for SoD phase 1 as a whole. When you hear this too many times, you know you’ve just about wiped… although I’ve had some amazing moments where we pulled through with 1-2 people left.

Good fair challenge, fun to strategize, love that you can bring certain consumables to make it easier, but it’s still pretty tough.

3. Gelihast

(Blackfathom Deeps) (Phase 1)

The shadow murlocs look SICK, and dodging them is SO FUN!!!! Lotta stuff to dodge (my fav!) and it’s all obvious, almost no explanation needed.

I wish this was a lil harder, like maybe the final phase could be harder at least–you can pretty much ignore the tentacles that spawn. But saving the difficulty for the later bosses in the raid, was probly a good call. Also, it’s the first dang raid of the season.

2. High Commander Beatrix

(Scarlet Enclave) (Phase 8)

A spectacular amount of spectacle. Love being surrounded by the EPIC huge scarlet army, love dodging all the cool marching waves of infantry and cavalry coming from all directions, love all the other cool (and thematic!) mechanics, love the easy raid leader callouts, love all the aoe, and the hectic tank pickups, and all the chaos!

Oh and getting to disable some of the mechanics each week, is fun for the raid leader, and keeps it fresh. Masterpiece of a boss fight. One of the best bosses in ANY game I’ve played! Also I like her eyepatch. Final Fantasy 9 is cool.

1. Crowd Pummeler 9-60

(Gnomeregan) (Phase 2)

Nothing’s better than comedy, and there’s nothing funnier than watching your friends get PUNCHED IN THE FACE, by a giant punching robot, so hard, that they fly into the sky, off the platform, to their death. Reallllly fun dodging fight.

(And the gears…the GEARS are the REAL menaces!!! They always forget to mention the gears…) (It’s me, I forget to mention them, no regrets!)

Using Math to Rank the Raids Themselves

Suppose each raid starts at 0 points, and:

• For each boss in the F Tier, we’ll award that raid 1 point.
• For each boss in the D Tier, we’ll award that raid 2 points.
• For each boss in the C Tier, we’ll award that raid 3 points.
• For each boss in the B Tier, we’ll award that raid 4 points.
• For each boss in the A Tier, we’ll award that raid 5 points.
• For each boss in the S Tier, we’ll award that raid 6 points.

Then we’ll divide each raid’s Total Score by its Boss Count (otherwise the biggest raids will always have the highest score). The result will be the Average Boss Quality of each raid!

Then, we can use that, to rank the Raids themselves! And we can group them into Tiers again, based on how close together their final scores are!

Here is the final table, from WORST to BEST, based on Average Boss Quality:

Rank	Raid	Boss Count	Total Score	Average Boss Quality	Final Tier
13th	World Bosses	7	8	1.14	F
12th	Blackwing Lair	7	19	2.71	D
11th	Ruins of Ahn’Qiraj	6	20	3.33	C
10th	Temple of Ahn’Qiraj	9	31	3.44	C
9th	Molten Core	10	35	3.50	C
7th (tie)	Zul’Gurub	10	38	3.80	B
7th (tie)	Naxxramas	15	57	3.80	B
6th	Stumpy Temple	8	31	3.88	B
5th	Onyxia’s Lair	1	4	4.00	A
4th	Gnomeregan	6	25	4.17	A
3rd	Blackfathom Deeps	7	33	4.71	S
2nd	Karazhan Crypts	7	34	4.86	S
1st	Scarlet Enclave	8	39	4.88	S

At least, that’s one mathematical way of looking at it, based on my boss ranking!

It mostly matches my actual opinion of the raids as a whole… (Although, personally I’d put the AQ raids higher, I quite like those raids, actually.)

And I’d move Karazhan Crypts up to #1, that was my favorite part of SoD for sure. There was a lot more to it than just the bosses.