Headless Horseman During Hallow ' s End , the Headless Horseman is a summoned elite boss spawned in the Pumpkin Shrine in the middle of the Forlorn Cloister in The Graveyard , a special seasonal instance of the Scarlet Monastery . Additionally , his shade attacks Horde and Alliance villages at various times throughout the event . The Horseman was once a knight of the Silver Hand , but is now cursed . He is of the belief that he is alive , while those who face him are dead . When defeated , he is revealed as Thomas Thomson ( aka Sir Thomas ) . After using the Dungeon Finder and entering the graveyard , click on the Pumpkin Shrine to summon him . Each character can summon the horseman once per day . In Mists of Pandaria . As of Mists of Pandaria , players need to be a minimum of level 89 , which is a break from tradition , to queue for the dungeon . Usually characters of many levels can participate , with some looking forward to doing this each year on lower level characters to decorate them and get unique items . The Headless Horseman can no longer be reached without using Dungeon Finder as he appears in a special instance separate from the regular versions of the Scarlet Monastery instances . Strategy . The Headless Horseman encounter is a three phase fight . Phase one . The Horseman makes his entrance and engages whoever lit the candle . The tank should taunt immediately if they did not start the event . Watch out for Cleave and DPS him down . At 1 % the horseman will go immune , toss his head , walk around disoriented , and occasionally use a Whirlwind attack . The Head of the Horseman will become an active target while the body heals to 100 % . All DPS should have a target macro for Head of the Horseman . After the party damages the head to about 60 % , or the body heals to 100 % , the head will rejoin the body and the next phase begins . Phase two . When the Horseman rejoins with his head , he targets the player with the highest threat . This is the same as phase one except he will randomly cast Conflagration on a random party member ( not the tank ) . You can use a PvP Trinket to remove the Conflagration . Healers and ranged DPS should be alert to the location of both tank and Conflagration target ; steer clear of these . Phase two ends if the head reaches about 30 % health , or when the body heals to 100 % . Phase three . The Horseman does not use Conflagration in Phase Three . Eventually he will toss four Pulsing Pumpkins , which sprout Pumpkin Fiends after several seconds , and they will completely heal . The pumpkins have around 10k health and the Fiends will crit cloth wearers for 1k . The fastest course of action seems to be having the tank stand in the middle of the pumpkins with focus abilities at the ready . The rest of the party continues DPS on the Horseman until his head is tossed . If the party has low DPS , a second or even third wave of Pulsing Pumpkins can be spawned before the head is tossed . Tanking the Horseman on the steps to the underground area will cause all the spawns to land very close to the boss . This should make it very easy for the tank to pick them all up . Once the Head of the Horseman dies , the Headless Horseman has been defeated , and the remaining pumpkins will die . If you don ' t kill the Head of the Horseman before the Horseman heals to 100 % , Phase Three will repeat , meaning you have to nuke the Horseman again to get him to toss his head . Loot . Headless Horseman loot : In addition , everyone in the party gets 5 after every kill . You will also receive a the first time you kill him each day . Pre - Mists loot . For historical purposes , these items were only available prior to Mists of Pandaria . 2007 / 2008 loot table . For historical purposes , these items were only available during the 2007 and 2008 events .