Below is an overview video and detailed walk-through strategy guide on how to easily defeat the Lich King encounter in Icecrown Citadel! The Lich King encounter is a great conclusion to the Wrath of the Lich King expansion and packed with tons of story and fight mechanics that can be enjoyed by any World of Warcraft player. This Lich King Strategy Guide will give an overview of the entire Lich King encounter and all players' roles. Please enjoy this Lich King Overview & Strategy Guide and if you have any questions or feedback, feel free to post them below in the comment section or on our forums.

• Overview: How to Easily Defeat the Lich King encounter in Icecrown Citadel!
  Suggestions: Shadow resistance buff, Flasks, buff food, vent, and most importantly, have fun!

Icecrown Citadel - Lich King Strategy Guide: Setup and Phase 1~1.5

The Lich King fight is surprisingly easy in parts but when all the parts are put together the fight becomes increasingly complex and difficult for most guilds. I suggest taking things slow and perfectly each part as you go and try to think of the fight in sections. The raid setup is quite typical with a standard 2-3 healers, 2 tanks, and the rest DPS. The fight consists of 4 phases which are fairly straightfoward but can get a bit complex when combined.

• The first phase is super simple. Have your raid group split into 2 groups. A melee, tank group and a range, healer group. Finally, have your off-tank a bit to the side between the range and melee. As the fight goes on, the off-tank needs to taunt the Shambling Horrors that spawn and as many Drudge Ghouls as possible. DPS should focus on the Lich King and ignore all adds. Throughtout the fight healers need to pay attention to Infest and top everyone off. It's a good idea to pre-shield the raid before Infest goes out as well. Arthas will also cast Necrotic Plague and anyone infected needs to immediately run to the back of the Shambling Horror and call out for a dispel. Never run in front of the Shambling Horror or you can be one-shotted. Dispels can be resisted also so it's a good idea to assign a back up dispel'r just in case. The debuff will then jump to the Shambling Horror and Drudge Ghoul adds and kill them. This is why no DPS should ever need to DPS Shambling Horrors. Periodally the Shambling Horrors will become enraged and a Hunter ideally or a Rogue needs to dispel it.
• At 70% the Lich King will enter phase 1.5 for 1 minute. This phase is fairly simple and as it transitions the Lich King will run to the center casting an AoE called Remorseless Winter. The Shambling Horror should almost be dead at this point and kited to the edge away from the Lich King's AoE. If anyone besides the off-tank has the Necrotic Plague they should get to the OT immediately and have it dispelled. Once the Shambling Horror is dead, the off-tank should get the Necrotic Plague dispelled and make sure it's off before joining the raid. Range should spread out a bit and one should be assigned to taking out the Ice Spheres that spawn from the center of the room. In this phase, a Raging Spirit will be spawned from a random player and needs to be picked up quickly by one of the tanks and faced away from the raid. Be careful of aggro and noone should ever be in front of the add. The add will cast a silence on the tank and therefore they may not be able to taunt any lose adds. You can however dispel the silence if need be.

Icecrown Citadel - Lich King Strategy Guide: Phase 2 & Phase 2.5

• After the third add has spawned and 1 minute has passed the fight will transition into phase two. The whole raid needs to run towards the center range killing any Ice Spheres that are left. Warlocks should leave a portal on the edge and can even dps from there without stacking up. If they are picked up by a Val'krys they can tele back to the platform and resume DPS. The main tank will pick up Arthas and the off-tank will kite the remaining Raged Spirit to the center facing it away from the raid. The whole raid should stack on Arthas' back and focus DPS on the remaining add. During this phase, the off-tank needs to taunt off the MT within 5 seconds of Soul Reaper being cast. If for some reason they can't, this is where a cooldown should be used to prevent the tank from getting one-shotted. After a few seconds, Arthas will summon Val'kyrs and they need to stunned or slowed in some way and quickly nuked down. However, do not stack the CC too much or you can hit a DR wall and cause them to become immune and bolt for the edge. Immediately following that, Arthas will cast Defile on a random player and they need to try an drop it away from the raid on the outer edge of the center circle. The easiest way to do this is spread out just before it's cast. After it's cast the raid should quickly collapse for Val'kyrs and rinse and repeat. This is by far the most difficult for most raid groups. If your group can successfully drop Defile and kill Val'kyrs before they drop someone off the edge, you're pretty much good enough to kill the Lich King.
• Once the Lich King reaches 42-43%, have the tank move him to the outer edge while the DPS nuke him to 40%. At 40% phase 2.5 begins and it's pretty much like phase 1.5 so there will be Remorseless Winter AoE and Ice Spheres. Once again, assign a range to the spheres. The only difference is four Raged Spirits will spawn instead of three. Once the third one spawns, pop Blood Lust or Heroism and nuke it down.

Icecrown Citadel - Lich King Strategy Guide: Phase 3 & Phase 4

• After the forth add spawns, you will enter phase three. Just like phase 1.5 to 2's transition, the main tank needs to pick up Arthas while the off-tank carefully kites the remaining adds to the center, facing them away from the raid. Melee DPS should focus on the adds until they're dead while ranged DPS focuses on killing the Vile Spirits the Lich King has spawned. To make dealing with these Vile Spirits easier, have the tank move Lich King to the edge until he finishes unleasing the spirits and then kite him to the opposite edge. This will provide enough distance for DPS and slowed to be fully effective in killing the spirits before they reach the raid. The Vile Spirits are pretty nasty and can two-shot most players on impact. Boomkin, Fire Mages, Affliction Locks, and Shadow Priests are very effective at AoE DPS'ing the spirits down before they move or reach the raid. Earthbind totems and traps have also been found to be effective in buying time to kill the adds before they explode on someone. The off-tank can also help by taunting the spirits to the side away from the raid and let them blow up on him. Defile and Soul Reaper will resume during this phase along with a new ability, Harvest Soul but, there won't be any Val'kyrs. Harvest Soul isn't too bad but whoever it's on needs to be healed up quickly and topped off before they enter Frostmourne. Inside Frostmourne there will be one add who is fighting King Terenas's spirit. If you're DPS, kill the add and if you're a healer, heal Terenas. It's that simple but make sure not to pull aggro and interrupt the add's Drain Life type spell. After the add dies you will be returned to the raid. The Lich King will continue to cast Defile and unleash Vile Spirits until he reaches 10%.
• At 10% the forth phase begins and the Lich King will wipe the raid. Don't freak out or release. Just sit back and enjoy the RP action or get a cold one from the fridge. After the RP finishes up, you will be rezzed and can auto-swing the last 10% while you grab another cold one. Basically, if you get the Lich King to 10% you've downed him, congrats!

Icecrown Citadel - Lich King Strategy Guide: Recap and Final Thoughts

• So here's the recap.

  Phase 1:
  Watch for Infest & heal immediately
  Never go in front of Shambling Horror
  Dispel Necrotic Plague on Shambling Horror's back
  Hunter/Rogue dispel Shambling's enrage

  Phase 1.5:
  Stay on outer ring
  Semi spread out
  Never be in front of an add
  Tank add facing away from raid
  Kill Ice Spheres & Raging Spirits

  Phase 2:
  Collapse to center
  Locks put port on edge
  Nuke last Raging Spirit
  Collapse for Val'kyrs
  Nuke/CC Val'kyrs
  Spread out for Defile
  OT taunt for Soul Reaper

  Phase 2.5:
  Stay on outer ring
  Semi spread out
  Never be in front of an add
  Tank add facing away from raid
  Kill Ice Spheres & Raging Spirits
  Pop BL or Heroism on 3rd add

  Phase 3:
  Collapse to center
  Range on Vile Spirits
  CC Vile Spirits
  Spread out for Defile
  OT taunt for Soul Reaper

  Phase 4:
  Enjoy the RP and Cinematic
  Don't release
  Anhk or SS up for kicks
  Get a snack & drink
  Grats yourselves for downing LK
  
  and most importantly, have fun!

  So there you have it. A simple, ok semi-complex, walk-through of the Lich King encounter. It really is a fun fight and a great final boss to the Wrath expansion. Please tell me what you think about any part of the Wrath expansion in the comment section below.

  Thanks for watching and reading this guide!

  'Now Go Wreck the Lich King or Somethin'