Shade of the Horseman Shade of the Horseman will attack Kharanos , Goldshire , Azure Watch , Razor Hill , Brill , and Falconwing Square . These attacks consist primarily of Shade of the Horseman circling overhead on a flying horse . As he circles the village , he throws flaming pumpkins at the various buildings , and at points , at players . The Shade of the Horseman is currently spawned by a player starting the daily quest . This quest is only available during the Hallow ' s End World Event . World spawn and event . A player who has completed or ( as appropriate ) may start the event by accepting the quest Players who are present while the Shade of the Horseman is present are offered instead . These are both daily quests , and only one can be completed each day . For a short time after the event has concluded ( by the characters slaying the shade , or the shade riding off ) , neither quest will be offered . The Shade will throw flaming pumpkins at several of the buildings in town . Fires will appear there , and start throwing burning embers , starting fires nearby . The players are able to loot from a nearby " large water tub " , and throw the water as a targeted AoE effect either on a fire , or to a nearby player . Each time a bucket of water is thrown on a patch of fire , the fire there will be reduced somewhat , or extinguished . Fires increase in size over time , though , and when they have reached their maximum size they start causing nearby areas to catch on fire as well . If all the fires are put out before the Shade rides off , then the Shade will land and attack characters who are nearby . When slain , a Large Jack - o ' - Lantern will spawn on the ground nearby , offering the daily quest for a short time . ( You need not have been present when the shade was defeated to be offered the quest . ) During the time the pumpkin is on the ground , the Orphan Matron nearby will offer high level characters the quest , leading to the Headless Horseman Event in the Scarlet Monastery Graveyard . Tactics . Shade of the Horseman cannot be attacked while he is in the air . The encounter may scale to the number of players in the area . This makes it possible to solo the event if you ' re alone , but it can also make the event near impossible to complete if there are a number of people not participating . The encounter starts with the shade setting 1 - 3 fires ( depending on number of people in the area ) . Fires are laid out on a square grid . Fire have three levels , and periodically grow in size if left alone ( the speed of growth is also dependent on number of people nearby ) . When a third level fire grows , it sends out embers into any adjacent spaces that don ' t currently have fires , starting level one fires there . The trick to fighting established fires is to limit their potential growing area as you slowly push them back . If an entire building is on fire , pick one end to start with , otherwise start with whatever side is open to more burnable spaces . Don ' t put out level one fires if there are level three fires adjacent , or they ' ll just be re - kindled ; knock the level three down first ( or along with the level ones ) . Buckets hit a number of spaces at once , so try to center them one space into the burning area , so you ' re putting out the front line while you ' re driving down the spaces behind them . If you can get everyone to concentrate on a single building at a time , it makes putting out the fires a lot easier . The fires spread if you leave them alone or cannot put them out fast enough , so its easiest to put out one building and then the next rather than trying to put out two buildings simultaneously . A useful tactic is to form a bucket line . Someone stands close to the water tub , loots water buckets from the tub , and throws them to someone closer to still - burning fires . If necessary , that person throws to someone yet closer . Because of these , it is useful to arrange the bucket line before starting the event . Another useful tactic is for all nearby players to have buckets in hand before the event is started . Putting out fires that are further away from the bucket , before they get a chance to spread , makes it much easier to win the event . If you are not in a bucket chain , any speed increase is useful . Druid s and Shaman s can use items while shifted so Travel form and Ghost Wolf respectively make you much more effective . Also , if you are in a group with a Hunter they can make you run much faster with Aspect of the Pack . Also , as you instantly mount the Flying Broom , it makes it a useful mount for this .