Favorite raid boss of all time?

[PsyBomb]

I've seen several hate threads about raid bosses, including one that's going now for "Most Hated" (which incidentally inspired this thread). I'm curious, what boss is your FAVORITE of all time?

No polls here, there are too many candidates to even hope to cover in one poll. All I ask is that you say WHY you like them, not just a name. I'll start things off with an example of each.

For Mechanics, my favorite fights of all time are tied and both from Karazan. Keep in mind that a Warlock is talking, but Netherspite was a kick and a half with a decent guild and the Shade of Aran is the very definition of a skill showcase. In the former, as an Aff lock I routinely tanked the entire Blue Beam then popped trinkets and put the old-style, 60-second bomb of Curse of Doom just to see what it would do. Cracked a 10k crit in KARAZAN (cue "Over Nine THOUSAND!" jokes). For the Shade, the fight is hectic and chaotic... but a truly skilled group can take almost literally no damage if their execution is perfect (again, as an Aff lock I was very busy in that fight between Spell Locking Frost and CC for two of the Elementals).

For Memories, I have to go back to Gehenna of Molten Core. Fight wasn't much, but my guild group of warlocks plotted out a prank as he was approaching a kill. For those who don't remember (or weren't playing), he had a wicked Rain of Fire effect that you HAD to get out of. My guild was a bit melee-heavy, and we had 5 bored warlocks. Cue us dropping our own Rains on top of the raid as he hit 5% to watch them SCATTER

[Karrion]

My favorite boss fight would either be Lady Vashj or Kael'thas in Tempest Keep. Both fights were incredibly well designed and there was so much to do for each player except the usual DPSing the boss/don't stand in shit: throwing the cores, kiting the striders, killing adds in the right order in P2, in P3 killing spore bats and a very tight DPS race in the Lady Vashj encounter.
Kael'thas was also mind blowing with the legendary weapons, all 4 adds reviving at once and of course the last phase where Kael'thas goes berserk.
One of them would be my choice for the best raid encounter.

[Ispamx]

I love Kael'thas in the Eye. Although some close contenders are Lich King Heroic, Ragnaros (New One) Heroic and Yogg Saron no keepers. Also, Chimaeron in Blackwing Decent from a healers POV. That was the most frantic healer fight in the game that didn't involve unfair instant tank deaths (to a degree).

Edit:

God damn I loved Mimiron

Forgot about him. Firefighter is also one of my all time favourites.

[Arch0s]

God damn I loved Mimiron

[Deleted]

God damn I loved Mimiron

Amen to that.

[Deleted]

1.cthun

2.twin emperors and 4hms as a concept (not as a fight tho, having to steal geared warriors is not fun)

[Deleted]

I'd say Lady Vashj. It was such an exciting fight. Actually I enjoyed pretty much all bosses in TBC (some exceptions of course).

So:
1. Lady Vashj
2. Kael Thas

And I also agree with estereth: 4HM in Vanilla is a great concept but it was so hard to execute.. I remember being stuck on 4HM for ages...

[WiNiFiX]

Maiden - from Karazahn - without Question.

[tilatequila]

Its probably half nostalgia but i remember how awesome it felt back in kara days, especially fighting prince malchezzar (spelling?) for the first time, a lot of the fights from tbc were actually quite amazing to be honest, nothing over the top or complicated, exiting and engaging though.

[jupiteran]

all time its vashj with kael thas being a close second. in cata its heroic maloriak. proving everyone wrong as an affliction lock on that fight and topping meters.

[Deleted]

Omnomnom defense system was the funniest tanking encounter in a longlong time

[Bakis]

As weird as it may sound, my fave is actually Brutallus SWP. Cos it was such an insane dps check (and gear check).
Didnt even have to get such an extreme dps focus on my LK25 hc world30 kill.

[Strah]

Prince Malchezaar .

[Deleted]

I only started playing end TBC and raiding properly in WoLK, so I never got to experience those early bosses except in OP groups...

As a healer Anub'arak HC was a lotta fun and probably my single favourite boss. I know a lot of people hated ToC but Anub p3 was really good fun. LK probably was the most epic feeling kill for me - not a great fight in terms of mechanics (he just hit stupidly hard), but I really liked the narrative arc of WoLK so it felt really satisfying to down him... Generally Cata felt a lot less epic than WoLK, only really exciting boss to down was Raggy, and that was just because he'd wiped us so many times.

[Igloo]

I've always had a thing for the Al'ar encounter in TK. Such a magnificent fight.

[shamestia]

Heroic spine of death wing.

/end sarcasm

[Deleted]

Kael'thas I think.

I am happy however that Blizzard rethought the whole "let's fight nonsense for 10mins". Those attempts were really aggrivating having to go through all the phases every time.

Alot of the bosses in BC felt great because downing them was defeating them. Hard modes only really worked in Ulduar for me. The rest was meh ...

[Madruga]

I find it hard to name just one, so here goes:

- The Lich King
- Yogg + 0 keepers
- Mimiron, both normal and firefighter
- Professor Putricide, also both normal and heroic
- Kaelthas in TK
- Shade of Aran
- Killjaeden, just for the epicness!
- Alysrazor as a Fire Mage \o/
- New Ragnaros, though I have yet to do his heroic version =(

And just for the record, I hate Vashj... People should learn to play football before setting foot in there...

[Jainzar]

Algalon

[Monoxyde]

mimiron firefighter