Lord Marrowgar Lord Marrowgar is the first boss of the Icecrown Citadel raid . Pieced together by the Lich King from the bones of a thousand vanquished adventurers , he is the guardian of the Frozen Throne within The Spire and wields the power of the throne itself . This boss tests if the raid is able to survive the Icecrown Citadel raid . If the boss wipes the raid , then the raid will probably not survive the other Citadel bosses . His trademark attacks are Bone Storm and Bone Spike Graveyard . He has an enrage timer ( 10 min ) , which is a lot of time , so it is not exactly a DPS race as much as a Battle for survival . Strategy . Lord Marrowgar is a fairly simple encounter that should not give any guild prepared for Icecrown Citadel much difficulty . Tanking . Tanks need to stand on top of each other to soak Bone Slice . If you are short on tanks and the raid has plate DPS available , one can be put in front of the boss with the tanks to help soak the Bone Slice damage . If said DPSer has a tanking set , equipping a piece or two to increase their HP is an option should they be taking too much damage . Note that the tanks will take substantial damage during the fight - using an off tank of this sort is not advised , as it will make healing even more difficult , although it is better than insufficient tanks . It is entirely possible to single tank Marrowgar , in 10man , should the tank be sufficiently geared . In 3 . 3 ( a ) Marrowgar ' s damage was further reduced , making this an even more viable strategy . Be advised that although this frees up another DPS in your 10man raid , the tank will take heavy damage . The key to the fight is managing the transitions between the Bone Storms and going back to the Bone Graveyard phase . You have 10 seconds from the end of Bone Storm until Lord Marrowgar starts casting Bone Slice again ( until then he simply melees his target ) - the tanks need to pick him up and position themselves together in that time . ( The 10 second grace period also applies to the beginning of the encounter , counting from when he is first aggroed , giving the tanks time to set themselves up . ) Tanks should avoid sandwiching themselves between Marrowgar and a wall . The trails of fire need a place to land behind the tanks , or they will be cast inside the hit box , affecting the tanks . DPS . " Lord Marrowgar has a gigantic hit box " You will want to have a dedicated ' spike team ' - chosen dps members who will kill the Bone Spike Graveyard as soon as it impales a player . If you ' re doing 10 - man without a dedicated spike team , the melee need to be grouped near the healers until you out - gear the encounter , or are attempting his heroic mode . Melee can choose to stay close to the boss to avoid the Coldflame , which starts 8 yd from boss , and still attack the boss . Bone Spike Graveyard . Ranged DPS , or nearby melee , should immediately free players impaled with Bone Spike Graveyard . If the raid has an abundance of melee , members should stay relatively close together to reduce travel time . Bone Spikes should die within 3 seconds ( two GCDs ) ; any longer and you will have issues . In addition , it is confirmed that Paladin ability Hand of Reckoning removes Bone Spike Graveyard , and it ' s most likely that similar abilities remove it too . Coldflame . Coldflame is a single line of frost that runs radially outward for 8 yards . Touching it inflicts a large amount of damage . Since it moves in a straight line , melee can sidestep out of its way , while ranged players can avoid it entirely . Because it starts a small distance away from Lord Marrowgar , melee can also avoid it by staying in very close , but only do this when Lord Marrowgar is not casting Bone Storm . In heroic , touching the line of frost will apply a bleed effect . Cold Fire during his non - Bone Storm periods will be directed at a given person , thus ranged should spread out radially , preventing more than one from having to move from any given spawn . Bone Storm . Every 30 seconds Marrowgar will execute Bone Storm . This whirlwind attack cannot be avoided , and damage is dealt every two seconds based on your proximity to the boss as he spins . The closer you are , the more damage you take . Additionally , in heroic this will also leave a bleed effect on anyone hit by it . While in his Bone Storm Lord Marrowgar will randomly target and charge a raid member . When he reaches them he stops moving for around six seconds before targeting another random raid member . Every time Lord Marrowgar reaches his target and stops he will fire four lines of Cold Fire along the semi - cardinal points ( NE , NW , SE , SW - they form an X ) . Unlike during phase 1 , the cold flame lines start directly underneath him . After his fourth target the Bone Storm will end . Tanks will need to be close by to absorb Bone Slice when Bone Storm ends . Healing . The tanks take a fair amount of damage during combat ( 10 - 15k damage every second from Bone Slice , or 13 - 17k damage on 25 man ) . During the Bone Storms , every raid members takes damage . People who don ' t move when they ' re targeted by the boss during Bone Storm will be taking full Bone Storm damage in addition to Cold Fire damage from up to four separate Cold Fire effects , which will probably result in their death . Note that Lord Marrowgar has a red positioning reticule below him . Stacking your entire raid ( with the exception of the three tanks and any hunters ) on the back edge of the reticule does three things : The raid must disperse during Bone Storm . Bone Storm damage is negligible , but Priests need to be mindful that Inner Fire charges are depleted by this ability . Stay mobile , and re - collapse to the rear of the positioning reticule once the tanks regain control after it stops . Note that tanks do not take damage during the Bone Spike Graveyard cast , which can be very handy for moving into position or catching up on healing . Tips : During bone storm try only to move to avoid the cold flame , it is easy to heal through the bone storm . Simply keep an eye on Lord Marrowgar to see whether or not you will be in the way of the cold flame Alternative Positioning Strategy . The entire raid ( except the tanks ) collapse into a single group behind Lord Marrowgar within the red circle visible on the ground when he is targeted . Hunters should stand as close to this group as possible , but still be far enough away that they can still shoot . Communication from any Hunters is important should they get hit with Bone Spike , the DPS can quickly react to it and make adjustments . This strategy has the bonus of being able to very quickly bring players out of the Bone Spikes , and if everyone is within the red circle , any Cold Flames launched at players will miss , as the flames don ' t land on the ground until they are just outside of the circle . As a downside , players must quickly move out several seconds before Bone Storm begins otherwise the raid will take heavy damage . Players must also watch their positioning to make sure they don ' t stray into the front of the boss and risk getting hit with the Bone Slice . Heroic Mode . The same strategy you use in normal mode should work in heroic mode , as the fight is largely unchanged though with drastically increased Bone Storm damage . The cold flame lasts longer and if you use a strategy where everyone stands inside Lord Marrowgar hitbox , your tanks will need to work around 3 or more cold flames up . During the bonestorm phase , Lord Marrowgar will continue to cast bone spike . This could lead to easy deaths if the bone spike sits on top of a cold flame , with Marrowgar spinning at the same location . Players caught in this situation need to be vocal and ask for a healer cooldown to survive . Quotes . Sound files . See " Sound Files of Icecrown Citadel : Lord Marrowgar " Trivia . Due to not being allowed to show bones in - game in China , Marrowgar has a completely unique look on their servers . To play Marrowgar ' s voice in a macro , simply add : < br > codice _ 1 < br > One of his quotes , " I see only darkness , " is later spoken by The Lich King upon his defeat .