Beasts of Northrend Beasts of Northrend is the collective term used by Blizz ard for the first three boss encounters of the Trial of the Crusader , added in patch 3 . 2 . These bosses individually are Gormok the Impaler ( a magnataur ) , Acidmaw and Dreadscale ( a pair of jormungar ) and Icehowl ( a yeti ) . Strategy : Normal mode . The Northrend Beasts is a three phase boss fight . First comes Gormok the Impaler , then Acidmaw and Dreadscale at the same time , and finally Icehowl . Phase 1 : Gormok . Phase 1 is Tank and spank with a few refinements : Tanks taunt the boss off each other when their Impale debuff has expired . With two tanks , this normally results in a taunt at 3 stacks , three tanks can keep themselves at 2 stacks . It ' s possible to heal through 8 stacks or more , but a high Impale stack makes the start of Phase 2 very difficult . With careful management of timing , it is easily possible for two tanks to keep themselves at 2 stacks . Taunt off after the second Impale on the other tank , when your debuff should have 8 seconds left . As the cooldown on Impale is 10 seconds , this keeps the stacks on both tanks from going over 2 stacks . This is essential for Hard - Mode 10man , where there is only 2 tanks , and the damage is increased greatly . " Don ' t stand in the fire ! " All ranged classes must avoid the fire patches . They are rather short range AoE , but deal substantial damage . They randomly spawn on players , and rather quickly too . This means that while moving away from one ' s own fire , it ' s possible to enter somebody else ' s . To avoid this , ranged should spread out in a semi - circle , and move outward when they get fire . " Kill snobolds ! " Gormok throws Snobold Vassals onto random players ( even on tanks ) . Snobolds don ' t deal a lot of damage , but they regularly interrupt and / or stun their targets , which is particularly dangerous on healers . Ranged ( if not all DPS ) should kill Snobolds quick , relieving healers first . A common mistake that players new to the instance make is not killing snobolds under the assumption that a tank is supposed to pull it off of them and tank it . Gormok ' s damage can be greatly reduced by disarming him in normal mode . Phase 2 : Acidmaw and Dreadscale . The key mechanic in this phase is interaction between Burning Bile and Paralytic Toxin . Both worms can be tanked normally . They apply their special attack depending on their state , that is the mobile worm applies it only to its tank , while the stationary worm puts it on a random group of players ( AoE ) . The mobile worm also spawns poison circles around itself ( similar to Grobbulus ) , thus must be moved . Initially , Dreadscale is mobile and Acidmaw stationary . This means that random raid members get Paralytic Toxin , and they must run towards the Dreadscale tank to get rid of it . After the first burrow , only the Acidmaw tank gets Toxin , but he must get close to the random raid member who has Burning Bile . Usually it ' s better if one of the players affected by Burning Bile runs to the Acidmaw tank , not vice versa . Positioning is important . No players except the tank should ever stand in front of one of the worms . The distance between players should be as large as possible , so that fewer raid members get Paralytic Toxin at once ( it ' s an AoE centered on one player with 10 yard radius ) . At the same time , players can ' t be more than half the room away from the Dreadscale tank , else the toxin freezes them before they reach the tank . Normally , Acidmaw is killed first , to get rid of Paralytic Toxin , even though after one worm dies , the other enrages for at least 50 % extra damage ( 10 and 25 player normal ) . Hunters should mark both worms when they burrow so they are easily followed underground . Phase 3 : Icehowl . Aside from Icehowl ' s melee range knockback and periodic tank stun , the main mechanic of this phase is the Massive Crash and Ferocious Butt charge : Avoiding the charge is critical . Other than that , healers need only watch out for the Arctic Breath freezing cone attack , which can be broken altogether if the main target breaks the stun using Blink , a PvP trinket , or immunities like Divine Shield . Melee should stand at maximum range to avoid his periodic melee knockback ability . This keeps them doing DPS instead of running back from a knockback . Strategy : Heroic mode . Like normal mode , this is a three - phase encounter . However , the three phases are now on a timer and do not wait for the raid to kill the previous phase ' s boss . These timers are quite tightly tuned ( 2 - 3 min each ) . This makes the fight a major DPS race and you may have bosses overlap for a short time . It helps to have enough tanks to handle two phases simultaneously , at least for a brief period . Phase 1 : Gormok the Impaler . The principles of the fight remain the same , but all his abilities hit harder . The tanks take more damage , and Impale ticks for much higher amounts . Tanks should limit themselves to 3 stacks in 10 player , and 2 stacks in 25 . The Fire Bombs thrown at the ranged now stack a 20 - second DoT , 2 - 3 stacks of which will prove fatal . Ranged must react much faster to fires . In normal mode , Snobold Vassals are only really dangerous when hindering a healer . In heroic mode , they are a significant hazard when they hit a damage dealer because they cut down on the victim ' s DPS in a very tightly tuned encounter . All DPS in the raid should prioritize snobolds and burn them down as fast as possible . Ranged players with a snobold on them must immediately run to the melee . This positioning has two main benefits : melee can help kill the snobold , and it guarantees the player is within range for everyone . Gormok throws a total of four snobolds . After the fourth , Fire Bombs stop too . At this time , everyone should blow their pots and cooldowns to kill him quickly , because Phase Two is about to begin . Gormok should be at 10 % or less when the NPC announces the arrival of Acidmaw and Dreadscale : " " Steel yourselves , heroes , for the twin terrors Acidmaw and Dreadscale . Enter the arena ! " " Phase 2 : Acidmaw and Dreadscale . There are no changes to the mechanics of Acidmaw and Dreadscale . As at least one tank is still affected by an Impale stack , it is useful to have Acidmaw picked up by a ranged tank such as a warlock or a hunter . Paladins can also use Hand of Protection on the tank with the Impale stacks to remove them . The tank with HoP should remember to take off buff before tanking , or else they won ' t be able to attack or gain threat . It ' s also a good idea to blow Heroism / Bloodlust right at the start to get Acidmaw down as fast as possible . Positioning is even more important in Heroic mode . The whole raid must be spread at least 10 yards from each other to avoid having more than one person hit by Acidmaw ' s Paralytic Toxin - the raid can ' t afford to have 3 or 4 people stop DPS and run across the room to remove it . Alternatively , two tanks can take turns on Dreadscale . As soon as the first one gets Burning Bile , the second one taunts so that Tank 1 is free to run around and clear toxin from affected players . Once Acidmaw dies , Dreadscale enrages . It ' s a good idea to save some cooldowns for this part of the fight . If Dreadscale burrows just as Acidmaw goes down , he does not enrage . Dreadscale should be at most at 20 % when Icehowl enters . Phase 3 : Icehowl . Again , positioning is more important than in normal . Initially , Icehowl should stand in the center of the room , ranged spread evenly in a circle . ( If there are any poison clouds left from Phase Two , everyone must make sure not have their back towards them , so they don ' t end up knocked back into one during a Whirl or Massive Crash . ) Among other benefits , spreading out reduces the number of players affected by Arctic Breath . It helps a lot to have a Retribution Paladin with 2 / 2 Divine Purpose who uses the following macro : This breaks Arctic Breath on the initial target , and thus everyone else affected is freed too . Next , healers must quickly top everyone off before Massive Crash , as it now hits for around 18k HP and can easily kill players who are not at maximum health . Whirl is easily avoided by standing at maximum melee range . All melee DPS should attempt to stand at maximum range to avoid Whirl and be able to keep doing DPS to the boss . If that is not possible , stand with your back to the nearest wall , to minimize the knockback . When the stun breaks , players no longer receive a speed buff to avoid Icehowl ' s charge . Moving sideways ( strafing ) is a very good method to avoid it , but keep an eye out for nearby columns . Speed enchants ( Tuskarr ' s Vitality ) or abilities like Pursuit of Justice , Feral Swiftness etc . can help too . The enrage after Icehowl hits a player can be removed as in normal mode , so a hit in and of itself won ' t cause a wipe . However , the loss of DPS due to missing a stun phase can cause you to wipe to the enrage timer . When the enrage timer expires , the next Massive Crash one - shots everyone affected by it . However , it can be survived by Ice Block or Paladin Bubble . If Icehowl is nearly dead , mages and paladins should Ice Block or Bubble through the initial crash , get out of his way if targeted by a charge , and try to nuke him down before the stun wears off . Loot . As with the other bosses in the instances , there are separate versions of each item for Alliance raids and for Horde raids . Video . 25 - man encounter . < youtube > _ c6booW6wsI < / youtube >