Icecrown Citadel (instance)

Icecrown Citadel is the pinnacle of the Wrath of the Lich King expansion, and was released in Patch 3.3.0 on December 8, 2009.

Layout

 * 4 floors and 12 boss encounters
 * Waypoints and teleporters are being reused here because the instance is really big. The instance is built around the spire where the Frozen Throne sits.
 * On the second floor, players will have to board an airship with their faction's military leader and race against the other faction to reach the third floor. Players will eventually board their ship with rocket packs and use cannons to fight them.
 * The third floor is the biggest one and features 3 wings.
 * The fourth floor is where players fight the Lich King.

Difficulty
Icecrown Citadel is home of the updated instance difficulty setting which can be changed on a boss per boss basis. It is also able to be switched at any time during a raid without leaving and reentering the instance.

Some restrictions on when you cannot change it are in place. Such as, you cannot change the difficulty in combat or during certain scripted events. To enable it you will have first have to have defeated the Lich King on normal mode, and heroic mode does not affect trash in any way and only changes the bosses.

Access progression
Icecrown Citadel is split into four sections since release, in the following order: The Lower Spire (the first four bosses), the Plagueworks (the next three), the Crimson Hall (the next two), and Frostwing Halls (the last three). There was a period of some weeks after the opening of the first section before going on into the second. The Lich King may not be fought until Professor Putricide, Blood-Queen Lana'thel and Sindragosa are dead. Any heroic modes may not be attempted until the Lich King has been defeated on normal mode, and you cannot face the Lich King on heroic mode during that week's lockout unless you defeat Putricide, Lana'thel and Sindragosa on heroic mode.

The second wing of the Citadel, the Plagueworks, was opened on US servers on January 5, 2010. The third wing, the Crimson Hall, was opened two weeks later, on January 19. The fourth wing was opened with content patch 3.3.2 on February 2, 2010.

Dungeon Denizens
Ghostcrawler stated that there would be 31 bosses in the Citadel, but later admitted it was a joke. It was later confirmed at Blizzcon that Icecrown would contain 12 bosses, plus an additional 7 in the 5-man wings.



Bosses and encounters

 * The Lower Spire
 * Lord Marrowgar
 * Lady Deathwhisper
 * Gunship Battle
 * Deathbringer Saurfang, described as "the Lich King's most powerful death knight"


 * The Plagueworks
 * Festergut
 * Rotface
 * Professor Putricide


 * The Crimson Hall
 * Prince Valanar
 * Prince Keleseth
 * Prince Taldaram
 * Blood-Queen Lana'thel
 * Blood-Queen Lana'thel


 * Frostwing Halls
 * Valithria Dreamwalker
 * Sindragosa, former consort of Malygos, raised as the Queen of the Frostbrood.


 * The Frozen Throne
 * The Lich King, master of the Scourge, is the final boss of Icecrown Citadel.