How to Fight the Battle Before the Citadel in World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King

If you’ve gotten to be a Champion of one of your faction’s cities in the Argent Tournament, you’ve opened up a new series of Daily Quests. Among them is The Battle Before the Citadel. Very similar to a previous quest, it requires you to head to the base of Icecrown Citadel and fight some nasty Scourge troops. But unlike the previous quest, this one has you fighting the tougher troops. Here’s how to walk away from the battle.

Difficulty: Moderately Challenging

Instructions

1. Give yourself three charges of Defend before you leave the Argent Crusade base camp. This ensures that you can meet the enemy and not die quite so fast. Also make sure that you keep Defend at the green level and that you Refresh your mount between fights if you are below 90% health.

2. Clear the path of Scouts first. Each one takes two Shield Break hits, a couple melee hits or a single Charge Attack (if they’re flying low to the ground) to bring down. Clearing the path of the Gargoyles should be the first thing on your list. Why? Because you don’t want to pull a Scout when you’ve already pulled a Lieutenant or a Commander. Getting rid of them first buys you time to pull the mounted troops without having your Defend charges shocked away.

3. Pull the Lieutenants. You will need to destroy five of them, and they are on the level of Argent Valiants. They Charge, Shield Break and Defend, but not as much as the Commanders. Open with a Charge Attack or a Shield Break, then swing around to destroy any Skeletons around them (you don’t need to attack the Skeletons; just run over them with your mount to kill them!) Back away from any other enemies, then melee the Lieutenant down. They do not typically refresh their Defend, so if you can get rid of it, they will be dead before they can raise Defend again.

4. Pull the Commander carefully. Commanders are always surrounded by Skeletons and flanked by Lieutenants. Clear the Lieutenants around them first before you try to pull the Commander. Treat the Commander like a Champion. They will Charge, Shield Break and keep Defend at a high level. Pull them away from the group, then Charge/Shield Break to bring their defenses down. Once you’ve done that, you can hit them hard with melee attacks until they run off to try and Charge you. Hit them with another Charge/Shield Break and start in on melee again. It is critically important to zoom out and keep an eye on what’s around you. Fighting two Commanders at once is a death sentence. Remember, you only need to kill one Commander!

5. Keep your panic button handy. Just in case you happen to pull two Commanders or three Lieutenants, run back to the staging area. Most enemies typically stop at the front, allowing you to exit combat and refresh yourself before attacking again. If they follow you into the staging area, keep running until you leave combat. If you get dismounted, keep your panic button handy (bubble, shield wall, fade, whatever you’ve got) so that you can attempt to make a run back to the staging area.

6. Help a friend out! Even if you don’t do the quest with a party, help out anyone nearby. If you see them fighting a Commander, hit the Commander with a few Shield Breaks and/or Charges to make life easier for whoever is fighting him. They’ll be grateful for the help, and most players will return the favor.