Gunship Battle The Gunship Battle is an aerial battle between the gunship s " Skybreaker " and " Orgrim ' s Hammer " around the spire of Icecrown Citadel . The encounter has some fun elements , and most guilds and PuGs manage it easily , therefore it is often referred to as the " " Lootship Battle " " . Abilities . All NPCs have the same abilities regardless whether they ' re Alliance or Horde , only their designations change . Boarding party . All enemy NPCs except the Commanders and the Battle - Mage / Sorceror gain experience the longer they are left alive , starting from Regular and progressing to Experienced , then Veteran , and finally Elite . Depending on rank , damage and attack speed are increased . Due to this progression it ' s a good idea to kill enemy NPCs quickly . Strategy . Both ships deal siege damage to each other . The one going down first loses the battle . Siege damage is dealt to the enemy ship by firing the guns . The enemy gunship deals siege damage to the player ' s ship by shooting rockets . Besides this siege battle , the players have to deal with enemy boarding parties and also need to send an offensive boarding party on the enemy ship from time to time . Additionally , the rocket teams and other enemy ranged damage dealers keep strafing all players . The rockets can be avoided by moving away from their target marks ( similar to Mimiron ' s rockets , but less damaging than these ) , the ranged damage can simply be healed through . The raid should be split up in a ( smaller ) offensive team which includes enough damage dealers ( melee preferred ) to man the guns , one tank and an appropriate number of healers ( 1 in 10 player , 2 - 3 in 25 player ) , and a ( larger ) defensive team including everyone else . Only the offensive team needs the jet packs provided by the engineer NPC on the player ' s ship , but usually the whole raid finds them interesting enough that everybody takes one . They need to be equipped before entering combat , as they are a clothing item ( shirt ) and cannot be equipped once in combat . The jump pack is used by ' using ' it and selecting a destination to jump to ( this is usually " practiced " intensely before the battle starts ) . Defense . The defensive team is concerned with keeping the player ' s gunship free of enemy boarding parties and with killing enemy ranged attackers . Enemy boarders who don ' t have players on their aggro list instead attack the player ' s gunship with burning pitch , which deals very high amounts of siege damage . Therefore , all members of the enemy boarding party must be tanked immediately . Ranged AoE is highly effective . Due to their whirlwind , melee must be careful until all Sergeants are dead . A few seconds after all members of the previous boarding party are dead , a new boarding party spawns . It may be a good idea to leave the last member of the boarding party alive for some time , so that the ranged damage - dealers can kill the ranged damage dealers on the enemy ship . Another option is to dedicate some ranged damage - dealers full - time to killing the mobs on the enemy ship . Offense . The offensive team consists of melee attackers , a tank , and dedicated healers for that tank . The offensive team fires the guns until they ' re frozen . This freeze occurs every 45 seconds or so . When the guns are frozen , they cannot fire . They ' re unfrozen by killing the mage on board of the enemy ship . The offensive team leaves the guns and jumps over to the other ship ( the healers can actually stay on the edge of their own ship ) . The tank needs to keep the enemy commander busy . The enemy commander gains a stacking buff while in combat , thus the offensive party must be quick to kill the mage ( depending on tank gear 20 - 30 seconds ) . After the mage is dead , they jump back and resume firing the guns . Even if the boarding party is fast , they should not try to kill a few extra mobs on the enemy ship - it is more efficient to quickly man the guns again . The offensive team must be careful not to leave behind anything which could keep the enemy commander in combat ( totems , pets or the like ) . Back on the player ' s ship , the offensive team should move away from the enemy ship to make sure the Commander gets out of combat . The ship ' s guns have two different attacks : a normal shot bound to " 1 " which deals 1000 siege damage . Firing a normal shot also generates between 6 to 10 heat , which fills up the heat gauge on the gun ( begins at 0 , maximum 100 , losing 1 - 2 heat per second while not firing ) . The second shot is bound to " 2 " . It ' s a heated shot which immediately expels all the accumulated heat on the gun and deals 1000 siege damage plus extra damage for each unit of heat , up to just under 10000 with a nearly filled bar . If the heat meter reaches or exceeds 100 , the gun overheats and both shots are locked for five seconds until all heat has been drained . Both types of shot not only deal siege damage but also damage enemy mobs , thus shots should be angled at the rocketeers / ranged NPCs . The siege damage to the player ' s ship is mainly dealt by the rocketeers . So disrupting them and not allowing them to gain high levels of experience significantly reduces the damage done to the player ' s ship . This is most effectively done by the gunners shooting at the rocketeers . Alternate . Keep everything this same , except for the Offensive squad . If the tank and his / her healer can hold the boarding party long enough , all of the DPS can jump to the far boat to down the enemy mage faster , resulting in a faster battle and more time to DPS the enemy boat down . Make sure the tank and healer can handle the mobs long enough for your raid to get over there and back without dying . Try kiting them over to the leader to have him assist if needed .