Sicco Thermaplugg Sicco Thermaplugg was once a proud and ambitious gnomish engineer who sought to make Gnomeregan a great and powerful nation . His greedy desire for power combined with a lust for revenge against those he felt had cheated him from his rightful place in gnomish society turned him into the greatest traitor of Gnomeregan . Biography . Mekgineer Sicco Thermaplugg was once a brilliant and wise tinker , who despite being incredibly frail even at a young age , was destined to be High Tinker . He cunningly laid the way to the seat , charming people to his side and cranking out one great invention after the next . He worked unceasingly toward his goal , for Thermaplugg planned not only making High Tinker , but also becoming the gnome ' s first true king in over four hundred years . He envisioned a great kingdom out of Gnomeregan , carved out of the entire western half of Dun Morogh , even if it meant relocating the nearby dwarven communities in the name of progress . Nothing would stop him ! However , his closest friend , Gelbin Mekkatorque , ruined all of his goals when the council of tinkers decided that Thermaplugg was too ambitious and chose Mekkatorque instead . Thermaplugg ' s sanity broke that day , and he planned on gaining revenge over his friend . Through working the system and gaining favor among the intellectual elite , Thermaplugg eventually won the seat of advisor to the High Tinker . A brooding but imaginative engineer , he served as Mekkatorque ' s chief advisor for many years , continuing to covet the role of High Tinker . It was his idea that , during the trogg invasion , the gnomes shut themselves from the world . Thermaplugg claimed that the world outside didn ' t need to be bothered by gnomish problems , for he had an idea that would both destroy the image of Mekkatorque and win him the throne . After weeks of debate , he convinced Mekkatorque to flood the halls of Gnomeregan with radiation via a bomb , thus killing the troggs . If a few gnomes died in the process , he stated , it would be a worthy sacrifice for saving the entire race . This treason against his people was only worsened when he used trickery and guile to convince the High Tinker to open the flood vents and release the bomb ' s radiation upon the grand city knowing well the result . It is rumored that Thermaplugg actually knew of the trogg invasion before it began , and that he ushered in the events that befell the Gnomish race . Though those reports were never verified , Mekkatorque believes they could be true . It ' s currently only speculation , but many believe that Thermaplugg was the mastermind behind the entire trogg invasion . However , due to reasons even Thermaplugg can ' t remember , he found himself locked inside Gnomeregan when the bomb release began . Despite his age and frailty , he did not die . Some speak that it was his ambition that saved him , while others say he hid and suffered the least of the poison . Despite this , he lived and mutated into a leper gnome . The radiation killed more gnomes than troggs , and many other gnomes in Gnomeregan ' s walls also suffered from radiation and became leper gnomes . However , in the ensuing chaos , Thermaplugg had begun calling himself a king . To this day he rules over the leper gnomes and continues fighting the troggs . He controls his land with a tyrannical fist , destroying outsiders as rapidly as any other enemy . After the irradiation of the majority of the gnomish race , Sicco was branded a traitor and was . He disappeared shortly after the evacuation of the irradiated city . None could say whether or not he still lives within the toxic halls of Gnomeregan . He keeps to himself most of his time since becoming king of Gnomeregan , working on insane world - conquering inventions . Thankfully , few if any will ever see the light of day . Paranoid beyond rational thought , Thermaplugg destroys anything that disturbs his work , even his own leper gnome servants . Recently , however , he opened up negotiations with the Dark Iron dwarves , allowing them use of Gnomeregan ' s tunnels in exchange for a part of Ironforge to call his own . No one knows what may be come of this alliance , but it won ' t be good . Driven mad by the radiation , Sicco Thermaplugg remains in the former Tinkers ' Court carrying out his twisted designs . His obsession for explosives shows for whenever he is threatened , the many bomb machines start up and begin producing explosive protectors , the Bom bot s , for their master . Be wary of these machines and deactivate them as soon as Thermaplugg starts them up with a bolt of electricity from his Mechanical Battle - Mount that he is never without . Sicco retains none of his former pull over the short race , but those who remain in Gnomeregan , driven mad , still follow his lead . Some of the lieutenants and commanders were lost in the catastrophe of Gnomeregan and remain with their machinations of war to aid Thermaplugg . One fact is certain : he intentionally sabotaged the city so that he could become High Tinker . He now lives permanently within a purpose built mechanical walker which makes him a most terrifying sight to behold , and considers himself to be the High Tinker of the shattered city . The immense loss of life at Gnomeregan weighed heavy on Mekkatorque ' s shoulders , and in his fury he ordered the death of Thermaplugg . A band of heroes took up the mission and returned with a tale of victory , but after analyzing the claim , Mekkatorque realized that the mechanized overlord defeated in the depths of the city was likely nothing more than a cleverly engineered facsimile of Thermaplugg . During the campaign to retake Gnomeregan , Sicco attempted to trap and kill High Tinker Gelbin Mekkatorque in Gelbin ' s old study . Gelbin managed to reverse engineer the trap , however , and using it he killed a number of troggs and bisected Thermaplugg ( who was wearing a human - sized battlesuit at the time ) . It is not known whether he survived the incident , but the nature of his injuries means that he may have survived . In World of Warcraft . Mekgineer Thermaplugg is a level 28 elite mechanical boss found in the Tinkers ' Court in Gnomeregan . Strategy . Thermaplugg will probably be quite a hard fight for you . Thermaplugg activates ( via lightning ) bomb dispensers , which create homing , exploding Walking Bomb s . The bombs can be killed ( without exploding ) via a relatively small amount of damage , but the key is to prevent them from being created . Buttons on the side of active machines can be pressed to deactivate the dispensers . You may find assigning one party member to button duty to be effective , while others have vouched for a zone - defense strategy where some amount of buttons are assigned to different players , to reduce the time to run to them . With proper clearing , there will be no non - bomb adds . One of Thermaplugg ' s attacks is a knockback which reduces the threat of the party member knocked back . A warrior may find taunts sufficient to hold interest , while other tanks at this level may have more trouble . You should probably have a second character ( offtank , or DPS ) intentionally staying above your healer in threat . The fight will take a while . Thermaplugg has roughly 7000 health .