How to: Utgarde Keep - Prince Keleseth
Overview
Prince Keleseth is the first boss your group will come to inside the Utgarde Keep dungeon in the Howling Fjord. As far as dungeon bosses go, he is not particularly difficult, but it will benefit you to know what some of his abilities are before attempting to kill him.
Normal Mode (Levels 70-72)
Shadow Bolt: Deals 2975 to 4025 Shadow damage.
Frost Tomb: Encases a player in a block of ice for 20 seconds and causes 400 damage per second. Other players can destroy the Frost Tomb to free the encased player. This spell is resistible. It used to be that PvP trinkets and select class abilities could remove the Frost Tomb, but some of these have been changed.
Raises Five Vrykul Skeletons: Throughout the fight Keleseth will raise five skeletons to fight against you. You can kill them, but he will resurrect them again shortly. The skeletons cast Decrepify on their target. The skeletons can be crowd controlled.
Decrepify: Decrepifies the target, reducing Strength by 100 and slowing movement by 30%.
Heroic Mode Differences (Level 80)
Shadow Bolt: Deals 5950 to 8050 Shadow damage.
The Pull
When you enter Keleseth’s room, you will see him patrolling on the far side. He simply walks from the left to the right, and back again. In “front” of him are four mobs that can be pulled separately from him. After his room is clear, you are free to engage him.
Tactics
Positioning is key to making this fight as simple as possible. The tank should position Keleseth facing away from the rest of the group. Other group members should stay grouped up behind, but near Keleseth. This way, when the skeletons are summoned they will not be running around the room and the tank can pick up aggro using the AoE move of their choice. This positioning additionally helps when a player is targeted by Frost Tomb. The closer the entombed player is to the rest of the group, the simpler it is for players to switch target to the tomb and destroy it quickly.
While the Frost Tomb doesn’t do enough damage to make it impossible to heal through, not having DPS switching to destroy it can still be detrimental to the group. The simplest way to complete this fight successfully is to destroy Frost Tombs immediately.
It is recommended that skeletons be picked up by the tank using an AoE aggro ability like Death and Decay, Consecration, or Thunderclap. A Paladin’s Holy Wrath ability is particularly useful for this purpose. It is best to kill the Skeleton’s quickly in the event that your Tank becomes the target of Frost Tomb. Only having to worry about freeing your tank and not about controlling 5 skeletons could save the party. The Decrepify ability that the skeletons cast on their target is a Disease and can be removed with a Paladin’s Cleanse or a Priest’s Abolish Disease.
When not killing skeletons or breaking Ice Tombs, keep DPS strong on Prince Keleseth and he will go down quickly.
Pulling off the “On the Rocks” Achievement
If you are fighting Keleseth on Heroic difficulty you may want to try for the “On the Rocks” achievement. This is acquired by defeating Keleseth without destroying any Frost Tombs. There is inconsistent data on whether using abilities like a Mage’s Ice Block to remove the Frost Tomb counts as a “destroy”. The bast tactic for succeeding at this achievement is simply to heal through the Frost Tombs. They don’t do so much damage that this is impossible, but you will lose a party member for the 20 second duration. This can become a problem if the entombed player is the group’s healer. Some choose to take two healers when attempting this achievement, or opt for “hybrid” DPSers, like Shadow Priests, Balance Druids, and Retribution Paladins, who can do a little bit of healing in an emergency.
If your group is attempting this achievement, they must be very careful not to accidentally break the Frost Tombs with AoE abilities. Direct DPS, strong healing, and a well geared tank are the keys to succeeding with this achievement.
Drops
Normal
Dragon Stabler’s Guantlets - Mail Gloves
Keleseth’s Blade of Evocation - Spellcaster Dagger
Reinforced Velvet Helm - Cloth Helm
Heroic
Strategist’s Belt - Melee Plate Belt
Wand of the San’layn - Wand
Infantry Assault Blade - 1H Defense Sword
Battlemap Hide Helm - Leather Spellcaster Helm
This post is part of the series: Free WoW Dungeon Guide - Utgarde Keep
Learn all about the Utgarde Keep dungeon and everything associated with it, including quests, achievements, bosses, and loot! We cover boss strategies for both normal and heroic modes.
