Lord Marrowgar – Icecrown Citadel (25) - WotLK Classic

Author: Passion
Date: October 9, 2023
Updated: October 10, 2023
Expansion: WotLK Classic

Raised from the bones of thousands of adventurers before you. Lord Marrowgar is the first line of defense for the Lich Kings citadel.

This guide will offer a detailed, step-by-step tutorial on how to deal with Lord Marrowgar and his iconic Bone Storm.

Avoid Coldflame.
Make sure there are always 8 players out of melee range.
Immediately swap to any players impaled at range.

Rotate defensive cooldowns during Bone Storm.
Make sure there are always 8 players out of melee range.
Focus on healing impaled players.

Cleave down Bone Spikes ASAP.
Stay within Marrowgars hitbox to avoid Coldflame.
- Stay at least 8 yards away from tanks to avoid Bone Slice.

Stack together to split Bone Slice damage.
Be as far from the boss as possible during Bone Storm to ping-pong him across the room.

Call out Bone Spike targets.
Call poor-positioned melee DPS.
Call Bone Storm repositions.

Abilities

Boss-Name

Periodically during the fight, Lord Marrowgar will cast Bone Storm, fixating on the player furthest from his current position, changing target every 5 seconds. This will last 5 seconds, with Marrowgar whirlwinding toward them, damaging players based on their distance from the boss.

Every 20 seconds, Marrowgar will cast Bone Spike Graveyard, impaling 3 random non-tanks, dealing damage to them and incapacitating them. Bone Spikes will need to be destroyed by players to free the Impaled target.

Every 5 seconds, Marrowgar will launch a line of Coldflame towards a random raid member. This leaves a burning path on the ground for 10 seconds that deals Frost damage every second to players inside it.

As long as at least 8 players are outside of melee range, this will never target a melee player.

Marrowgar will occasionally Cleave in front of him, dealing 300% of his normal damage split between all targets hit. Most groups will use 2-3 tanks to handle this mechanic.

Raid Composition & Preparation

This fight has no specific class or spec requirements, and as long as your group can out-heal the damage and keep up with Bone Storm‘s damage you should be able to pull through.

You will want 4-5 Healers for this fight, focusing on efficient healing to sustain mana during the fight.

There are no strict requirements for DPS classes or specs here, you simply want a combination of good raid buffs and debuffs, as well as the best players you can muster.

Depending on how well-geared your tanks and healers are, you will need 2-3 tanks for this fight.

Heroic vs Normal

On Normal difficulty, Marrowgar will not cast Bone Spike Graveyard during Bone Storm.

The Fight

Tanks should start the fight by running straight through Marrowgar, standing close together to split the damage from Bone Slice. Melee should attempt to be as close to the boss, even inside his hitbox at all times, while staying 8 yards away from the tanks to avoid incidental Bone Slice damage. This should prevent you from being hit by Coldflame.

You want to make sure you always have at least 8 players outside of melee range, otherwise, Coldflame could target melee players. This is easily solved using Hunters, Healers, and a handful of supplementary DPS classes that are less impacted by having to move out of Coldflame.

Periodically Marrowgar will cast Bone Spike Graveyard, impaling 3 non-tanks. This deals a chunk of upfront damage, followed by incapacitating them alongside heavy damage every second. Similar to Yogg-Saron, players will need to kill Bone Spikes to free impaled players. Melee players should immediately focus on cleaving these spikes down if they are in range. Range DPS should immediately swap to any Bone Spikes not in melee range. Unlike Yogg-Saron, these spikes cannot be instantly broken using Hand of Protection.

After 45 seconds, Marrowgar will cast Bone Storm, marked with the instantly recognizable shout of BONE STORM“. For the next 25 seconds, Marrowgar will whirlwind his way to the target furthest from him, dealing AoE damage to everyone based on distance from the boss. Once Marrowgar reaches a player, he will cast Coldflame in a cross, attempting to cut off their exit routes. It is important that whoever is targeted moves so this cross does not go straight through the raid!

This is best dealt with by having Tanks and Hunters stand as far from the boss as possible, careful not to outrange the healers. The rest of the raid stands stacked toward the center of the room to allow for AoE healing.

Here are some of the main things that can typically go wrong in this fight:

Standing in Coldflame
DPS not swapping to Bone Spikes
Outranging Healers during Bone Storm
Not outranging Marrowgar during Bone Storm
Poor positioning leading to Coldflame on a stack
Poor positioning leading to being hit by Bone Slice

Congratulations on defeating Lord Marrowgar! You passed the gear check, head up the ramp to find Lady Deathwhisper.

About the Author

Passion

I love MMOs of all shades, especially the nitty gritty numbers parts of them. You might recognize me from the Shadow Priest discord, otherwise I play a little bit of everything, especially games with support roles available.