Let's predict bosses from 9.1. SoD raid (spoilers)

[Explorer]

As we've learned from Blizzconline, 9.1. will feature Sanctum of Domination raid, likely the one called "Maw raid" in datamine files before.
There'll be 10 bosses in the raid, and we already know 5 of them. They are:

1. Tarragrue - my guess it'll be either first or one of the first bosses. Would seem logical that it's protecting entrance to the most important halls of Torghast.

2. Eye of the Jailer - formerly Odin's eye, which Zovaal has turned into a surveillance system to look over the Maw. And maybe even beyond. Ironically - in Legion Odin himself was a boss, now guys go fight his missing eye. Funny.

3. Fate of the Damned - a number of souls who were cast into Maw originally, by Arbiter's sentence and tortured personally by the Jailer. 9th circle's prisoners, so to say. Who can they be? I doubt there'll be too many chatacters we know, space is big. There can be Arthas, but that'd be controversial decision. Gul'dan maybe? But we fought him already in Legion.

4. Kel'thuzad. Well that was pretty obvious. He got away in Maldraxxus, the moment I saw cinematic I knew he'll be a boss in Maw raid. Though I did hope to see Maldraxxus raid, to be honest. Expect him to be near the end of the raid.

5. Sylvanas Windrunner, the Banshee Queen. Finally. At long last. Please don't speculate here about whether she dies in the raid or not, or how it ends etc. Just the fact - she's the endboss. And again, ironic - Sylvanas and Kel'thuzad will fight together, as allies, in the same raid. Who could've thought of it.

That's what we know for sure. Now let's speculate who the other 5 bosses may be.

1. Almost certainly - some noname creatures, representing different denizens of Maw. One most certain is big new dude that was shown on the art of raid itself, revenant-type guy made of some torture machines and with lots of spikes on it.

2. Also I think there can be more of typical Maw creatures. I expect a council-type encounter made of some guards, casters, a maw necromancer, who use old Jailer's model, one with a long beard. Also a soul amalgamation, probably a stygia golem. Surely there can be more than 1 boss of that type. Something like "a chief warden(s) of this section of Torghast".

3. Now to more interesting ones. It's really likely that we'll see Helya again. If not, that could only mean that she has some greater role in the future patches, but I'm sure that we'll encounter her several times in quests in the Maw during 9.1 campaign, kick her ass a couple times and then finally destroy her for good in the raid.

4. What if it's Tyrande? It's almost 100% that she was trapped in Torghast, most likely by Zovaal himself. So now she's being tortured. Of course we'll set her free during the raid and she will take part in Sylvanas encounter, but what if we'll have to defeat her first? Say, she's gone a bit mad in the torture prosess, or takes us for an illusion, some servants of Jailer in disguise, or just blames us as "Horde scum\Alliance traitors", responcible for Teldrassil, etc. Anyway I'm sure they won't miss an opportunity for us to fight a Night Warrior, some of the strongest creatures ever.

5. Finally, I think it's possible that there'll be saving of the Runecarver, who is most likely the Primus of Maldraxxus. I expect it to be something like Sun King's Salvation encounter, mostly an add fight. But if Primus is mind-controlled, we'll fight him as well. It's just an opportunity to fight on of the Eternal ones, someone of Denathrius' level of power, i.e. nearly a Titan-level creature. And returning Primus would be a great feat for us, cause we're at war with Jailer, and Primus is probably the best strategist and tactician in the universe. Still, his escape might happen earlier, during 9.1 questlines.

6. One more idea came to my mind. Since dreadlords will return and have their own quest chain, it's possible that this chain will end here too. Expecting to see Mal'ganis, or a dreadlord council, and learn more of their plans and deeds.

Not sure that I managed to remember all the possible candidates.
What about the turned Anduin, I think that he won't go down in 9.1 at all. If we speculate, I think he'll be a boss in 9.2, assault oh the Heart of the Forest that keeps Maw closed. And I'm sure he will open it.

[Glorious Leader]

Giant maw rat boss

[KOUNTERPARTS]

Helya, for sure. Would be funny if it were an exact copy & paste from her 'Trial of Valor' boss encounter.


I would imagined a Dominated-Anduin boss encounter. Or maybe he'll appear in secret Mythic-only phase during Sylvanas' boss fight.


Personally, I would love to see a Mueh'zala raid boss fight. I think his encounter in 'De Other Side' is pretty cool despite how mindlessly easy the mechanics are... but on a scale of 10-25 people with some difficulty increase to mechanics (or brand new mechanics altogether) would be awesome.


But alas...

[TyrianFC]

Remember, we might 'confront' Sylvanus but not fight her. Anduin puppet could be the actual thing we fight on that encounter, even if Sylvanas is involved doesnt necessarily mean we actually fight her.

It wouldnt be implausible to say we beat/free Anduin and together we convince Sylvanas to turn on the Jailer.

[Thundertom]

Maybe we'll fight Sylvanas' toenails, just like we did for Deathwing.

[chiddie]

I don’t think Tyrande will “enter” the fight with Sylvanas, too predictable (also imho Sylvanas is on a whole different planet of power but that’s my opinion).

[Zyky]

I'd LOVE to see a twisted Saurfang encounter

[Swnem]

Giant maw rat boss

I approve. It would be funny. At the end if should spawn a load of add rats and when it dies explodes and kills them all.

[exsanguinate]

sylvanas is the final boss of the raid (and let me add, i'm beyond excited. i'll be losing my mind during that boss fight, and i hope that like azshara, they make it worthy of the character).

Garrosh survived in MoP (except wod), Azshara survived in BFA, time for someone to die for good. She must die

[Explorer]

Recently confirmed by Ion: we'll meet "1 or 2 more" familiar names in the raid, who were not mentioned before.
So most probable candidates are:
1. Helya.
2. Primus.
3. Malganis\Dreadlord council.
4. Tyrande.
5. Mueh'zala.
6. Anduin.

Still I'm almost sure that Anduin will not be a boss in 9.1 at all.

[Woobels]

Helya/Dreadlords and the rest mostly filler. (Which doesn't mean bad bosses by any means)

[Engal]

- Helya,
- Nathanos ( why not ? )

And this being we saw in Gorgoa, The Magister.

https://www.wowhead.com/npc=164016/t...ister#comments

[Alduin]

1. Tarragrue
2. Eye of the Jailer
3. Fate of the Damned
4. Kel'thuzad.
5. Sylvanas Windrunner, the Banshee Queen.

6. If there is KT, there has to be Sapphiron because you know dragons and Vanilla flashback. (similar to huntsmen)
7. Tyrande got captured and we have to free her (similar to Kael'Thas in Castle)
8. Sire Denathrius/Kael'Thas - because everything in Shadowlands is a set back. But I guess we need a Dreadlord so: Varimathras and Grand Apothecrary Putress OR Balnazzar and Detheroc (similar to blood council)
9. Has anyone see Varian Wyrnn yet? Guess they have to solve some daddy issues (similar to sludgefisto)
10. Saurfangs - Varok and Dranosh - because why not both. (similar to Stone Legion)

mentionable:
Helya - will be back for Trial of Valor 2.0 aka the Uunat two boss raid.
Kyrestia the Firstborne - she "died" in that cinematic but we have no clue what happened after
Some eternal boss like Xy'moz

Over all I guess we will have to do a lot of gimmicky fights like dancing/open valves/run things around.

[Cariboulou]

Calling it now, council fight: Royal Mawrat Authority

[Nosnogard]

Maybe we'll fight Sylvanas' toenails, just like we did for Deathwing.

Dude, don't even joke about that. I still hate Dragon Soul with a passion. If we end up with something similar I'll blame you personally :P

[un_known]

As we've learned from Blizzconline, 9.1. will feature Sanctum of Domination raid, likely the one called "Maw raid" in datamine files before.
There'll be 10 bosses in the raid, and we already know 5 of them. They are:

1. Tarragrue - my guess it'll be either first or one of the first bosses. Would seem logical that it's protecting entrance to the most important halls of Torghast.

2. Eye of the Jailer - formerly Odin's eye, which Zovaal has turned into a surveillance system to look over the Maw. And maybe even beyond. Ironically - in Legion Odin himself was a boss, now guys go fight his missing eye. Funny.

3. Fate of the Damned - a number of souls who were cast into Maw originally, by Arbiter's sentence and tortured personally by the Jailer. 9th circle's prisoners, so to say. Who can they be? I doubt there'll be too many chatacters we know, space is big. There can be Arthas, but that'd be controversial decision. Gul'dan maybe? But we fought him already in Legion.

4. Kel'thuzad. Well that was pretty obvious. He got away in Maldraxxus, the moment I saw cinematic I knew he'll be a boss in Maw raid. Though I did hope to see Maldraxxus raid, to be honest. Expect him to be near the end of the raid.

5. Sylvanas Windrunner, the Banshee Queen. Finally. At long last. Please don't speculate here about whether she dies in the raid or not, or how it ends etc. Just the fact - she's the endboss. And again, ironic - Sylvanas and Kel'thuzad will fight together, as allies, in the same raid. Who could've thought of it.

That's what we know for sure. Now let's speculate who the other 5 bosses may be.

1. Almost certainly - some noname creatures, representing different denizens of Maw. One most certain is big new dude that was shown on the art of raid itself, revenant-type guy made of some torture machines and with lots of spikes on it.

2. Also I think there can be more of typical Maw creatures. I expect a council-type encounter made of some guards, casters, a maw necromancer, who use old Jailer's model, one with a long beard. Also a soul amalgamation, probably a stygia golem. Surely there can be more than 1 boss of that type. Something like "a chief warden(s) of this section of Torghast".

3. Now to more interesting ones. It's really likely that we'll see Helya again. If not, that could only mean that she has some greater role in the future patches, but I'm sure that we'll encounter her several times in quests in the Maw during 9.1 campaign, kick her ass a couple times and then finally destroy her for good in the raid.

4. What if it's Tyrande? It's almost 100% that she was trapped in Torghast, most likely by Zovaal himself. So now she's being tortured. Of course we'll set her free during the raid and she will take part in Sylvanas encounter, but what if we'll have to defeat her first? Say, she's gone a bit mad in the torture prosess, or takes us for an illusion, some servants of Jailer in disguise, or just blames us as "Horde scum\Alliance traitors", responcible for Teldrassil, etc. Anyway I'm sure they won't miss an opportunity for us to fight a Night Warrior, some of the strongest creatures ever.

5. Finally, I think it's possible that there'll be saving of the Runecarver, who is most likely the Primus of Maldraxxus. I expect it to be something like Sun King's Salvation encounter, mostly an add fight. But if Primus is mind-controlled, we'll fight him as well. It's just an opportunity to fight on of the Eternal ones, someone of Denathrius' level of power, i.e. nearly a Titan-level creature. And returning Primus would be a great feat for us, cause we're at war with Jailer, and Primus is probably the best strategist and tactician in the universe. Still, his escape might happen earlier, during 9.1 questlines.

6. One more idea came to my mind. Since dreadlords will return and have their own quest chain, it's possible that this chain will end here too. Expecting to see Mal'ganis, or a dreadlord council, and learn more of their plans and deeds.

Not sure that I managed to remember all the possible candidates.
What about the turned Anduin, I think that he won't go down in 9.1 at all. If we speculate, I think he'll be a boss in 9.2, assault oh the Heart of the Forest that keeps Maw closed. And I'm sure he will open it.

Wouldn’t be surprised if we get a council like boss encounter, like a supped up version of the convocation rare elities

[Zendhal The Black]

some random no names for the most part

Nathanos Simpcaller

Kel'thuzad (BEs joined Horde with orcs that wanted conquer Silvermoon and undead that actually destroyed it so there's no reason they could write Sylvanas to join him... why the fuck not)

[Tradu]

sylvanas is the final boss of the raid (and let me add, i'm beyond excited. i'll be losing my mind during that boss fight, and i hope that like azshara, they make it worthy of the character). KT tarragrue and odyn's eye confirmed, so i'd guess maybe one more VIP soul.

this could sound dumb, but finding arthas' soul and having some kind of sun king style encounter with it doesn't sound too ludicrous. i think finding arthas in the sanctum and having a talk with him would actually help the cause.

dominated anduin is a decent pick for 2nd to last. there should be some coven style boss as well, a little early for the dreadlord council though (that'll certainly happen at some point once we figure out how deep they're in with zovaal). i think helya will be 9.2, so they'll save her. so maybe a mawsworn council style fight.

drust aren't working with zovaal right? i'd say one of them if they were. aside from that, torture machines, giant maw rat would be cool, and maybe the deadsoul chorus. now that i say that, deadsoul chorus boss would be pretty sweet if they used the mechanics from torghast.

In other words absolutely miserable to actually play, especially for healers?

[Malefic]

In the announcement/interview they specifically mentioned about the players thinking about some of the most evil souls that could have gone to the Maw so it's very likely we see some notable entities in there.

When we look back to previous expansions notable names that stick out to me as potentially being in the Maw are:


Neltharion (I think this is very very likely we see a human Neltharion fight)
Malygos
Helya - we know she was in the Maw but we don't know the full extent of her story.
Gul'dan, maybeeeee.
Teron Gorefiend

I would say Garrosh, but he's basically confirmed to be somewhere Venthyr related - although us not getting any follow up post Sire death given the Venthyr cinematic before release makes me wonder what's going on there.

[Ryzeth]

I don’t think Tyrande will “enter” the fight with Sylvanas, too predictable (also imho Sylvanas is on a whole different planet of power but that’s my opinion).

No she isn't. Not after Tyrande became the Night Warrior, at least. She's literally an avatar of Elune.