From wow.incgamers.com

Contents 1 Background 1.1 Horseman Raids 1.2 Call the Headless Horseman 1.3 Special Abilities 1.4 The Fight 1.4.1 Stage 1 1.4.2 Stage 2 1.4.3 Stage 3 1.4.4 Loot 2 Interesting Facts

Background

NOTE - Also see:

Complete Hallow's End Overview Page
Hallow's End Achievements Page, complete with tips

The Headless Horseman haunts the Graveyard wing in the Scarlet Monastery during the Hallow's End event, and was first encountered there on the live realms in October 2007.

For the duration of Hallow's End, the Horseman is also raids outlying villages, which players can defend, and will be rewarded for should they succeed.

"The Headless Horseman, once a knight of the Silver Hand and hero among his fellow paladins, is cursed. Driven insane within the Scarlet Monastery, he believes that he is alive and we are dead. Now, his fervor no longer serves the Light. With the coming of Hallow's End, he spreads gloom and fire across the villages of Azeroth."

Horseman Raids

In addition to residing in the Scarlet Monastery Graveyard, the Headless Horseman regularly raids villages and attempts to set them on fire. You may help with the fires by filling a bucket of water and quenching the flames. If you go to a village that is being periodically raided, you may accept the quest Fire Training from the Masked Orphan Matron by the tub of water. You can practice for when the Horseman arrives, by putting out the flames of nearby flaming practice objects, which can be found in Goldshire for Alliance characters, and Razor Hill for the Horde.

Once you have completed that quest, the Masked Orphan Matron will give you the quest to defend the town from the Headless Horseman attacks.

Call the Headless Horseman

The quest to summon him in the Scarlet Monastery Graveyard, Call the Headless Horseman, is a daily quest, and counts towards your daily quest limit. However, you may be in a group that kills him as often as you wish during a day, as long as a new person summons him every time.

The Headless Horseman fight was a tough one last year, but due to gear improvements, in 2008 he can go down with 4 players easily. Although the encounter takes place in the Graveyard wing of the Scarlet Monastery, an instance for players around the levels 29 - 34, the Horseman is a level 70 elite, so be warned!

The Headless Horseman deals mainly melee damage, including the Warrior skills Cleave and Whirlwind, as well as Conflagration, an ability originally used by the last boss in Upper Blackrock Spire, General Drakkisath.

Below is a guide of the Horseman's special abilities, but for a guide on the full encounter, see The Fight section.

Special Abilities

• Conflagration: An Area of Effect spell that does fire damage over time and sends the target wondering off in confusion.
• Pulsing Pumpkin: The Headless Horseman throws 4 of these to the ground during the fight, which turn into Pumpkin Fiends.
• Pumpkin Fiend: These come from the Pulsing Pumpkins, they deal melee damage, and cause high damage to cloth wearers.
• Head of the Horseman: When the Headless Horseman's hp drops to 1% he becomes immune, his head detaches and becomes targetable while the Horseman's body regenerates. Once the head has taken about 9k damage, it will rejoin the body, and the fight with the Horseman begins again. This happens twice, the third time it is possible to kill the head, which concludes the confrontation.

The Fight

There are 3 stages to the fight with the Headless Horseman. He does a lot of melee damage, so a tank should have aggro from the start.

Stage 1

A party member starts the event by accepting the Daily quest Call the Headless Horseman from the Pumpkin Shrine, located in the middle of the Forlorn Cloister (this should be the tank, as the Horseman attacks this player first). Once accepted, the player is provided with a [Dreary Candle] which he then buries in the Loosely Turned Soil behind the Shrine. This action starts off the Headless Horseman encounter.

The Horseman enters and makes straight for the player that placed the candle. He deals mainly melee damage of around 1.8k per hit. He will also use Cleave which deals around 3k damage, so ranged characters such as healers should stay far back.

Once his hp is down to 1%, his head detaches. The body section becomes Immune, and walks around looking for the head. The head is targetable, so all damage should now focus on that. Once the head's hp is down to around 18k, it will return to the body section, and the next stage of the fight begins.

Stage 2

Once the Headless Horseman is whole again, he will target the player with the most threat. In this stage, added to the melee damage and the Cleave ability, he will now cast Conflagration, so again, ranged characters need to be at a distance.

When the Horseman is down to 1% hp this time, the body section will do Whirlwind, so watch out for that. Everyone should now focus damage on the head until it reaches around 18k hp and joins up with the body again, which starts stage 3 of the event.

Stage 3

This stage is the same as stage 2, but the Horseman throws out 4 Pulsing Pumpkins, which will sprout and grow into Pumpkin Fiends. These nasty vegetables have around 10k hp, and cause melee damage. The tank should try to aggro them as soon as possible, as they can hit clothies quite hard. All dps should remain focussed on the Headless Horseman, and once his head becomes detached this time, it is finally able to be defeated. Once the head is dead, the encounter ends and the Pumpkin fiends die.

Loot

The Headless Horseman drops the following loot:

• [Tricky Treat]
• [Sinister Squashling]
• [Hallowed Helm]
• [Magic Broom]
• [Unknown Item: The Horseman's Reins]
• [The Horseman's Signet Ring]
• [Ring of Ghoulish Delight]
• [Witching Band]
• [The Horseman's Helm]

Interesting Facts

• At the end of the fight it is revealed that the Headless Horseman used to be Sir Thomas, Son of Thomas.
• Look out for The Headless Horseman raiding villages during the Hallow's End event.