PTR 3.3: Sindragosa Raid Encounter [Video]

Sindragosa, cold as ice!

The dreaded frostwyrm Sindragosa was tested on US PTR realms Thursday, and boy was she one stone-cold mamma-jamma! After being nearly incapacitated by Deathwing, thrown halfway across the world, and left for dead by everyone (including her beloved master, Malygos), I’d be more than a little angry, too. And she doesn’t have a problem “expressing her feelings” all over your puny little raid. This post has taken a little longer to go up than the rest because I have not one, but two videos to share with you. Spoilers ahoy!

With each new encounter I’ve tested, it’s become increasingly obvious that one of Icecrown Citadel’s main themes is “mini-boss battles.” The Plagueworks features two lupine abominations reminiscent of Gluth, called Stinky and Precious, and the Valithria Dreamwalker encounter (which will go up later) has one, as well. I’d say that the trash is much harder in general. I’m not sure if that indicates the return of crowd control (I haven’t noticed any need for it yet), but there’s quite a bit of variety in terms of abilities and new mechanics.

Sindragosa’s trash is no different. While you can faceroll the two packs of Whelp trash, an additional pair of imposing Frostwyrms stands between you and the Queen of the Brood, herself. They are Rimefang (remember him from Pit of Saron) and Spinestalker. Here is how they work:

One thing you might have noticed is that, at the end of the clip, Sindragosa comes down immediately after Spinestalker is killed. If even one of your raid members is on the steps, this is what will happen. So when it goes live, you either better be prepared or make sure that everyone is on the platform up top. After wiping, we came back and gave Sindrgosa a go:

This was, hands down, the hardest fight I’ve encountered in Icecrown Citadel so far, and I have the feeling that it’s going to give many guilds a run for their money. Unfortunately, as I pointed out in the video, I died constantly to the stacking debuff placed upon me for melee attacking her. MMO-Champion shows that “Permeating Chill,” the ability that I assume causes “Chilled to the Bone” is supposed to slow your movement by 1000%. Instead, it was adding a stack of 1000 extra Frost damage every few hits, and with Sindragosa’s built-in Frost aura, we’re talking somewhere around 13,000 damage a second. This may be bugged, but if it wasn’t, I’m not sure what other option I had. It was either stand there and do nothing or contribute some very limited DPS.

Regardless, this fight has a little bit of everything. Constant damage, required positioning, a need to be both mobile and offensive during the Air phase, and some serious raid healing skills. What do you guys and gals think of Sindragosa?