Prince Kael’thas Sunstrider
Faction: Monster
Class: Mage
Race: Blood Elf

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“Energy. Power. My people are addicted to it. Their dependence made manifest after the Sunwell was destroyed. Welcome to the future . . . a pity you're too late to stop it. No one can stop me now. Selama ashal'anore!” —Prince Kael’thas Sunstrider

Kael’thas Sunstrider is the leader of the Blood Elves. From Wowwiki.com:

“The last of the Sunstrider dynasty, Kael'thas Sunstrider (often shortened to Kael) was the Prince of Quel'Thalas and a senior member of the Kirin Tor of Dalaran. After the death of his father, King Anasterian Sunstrider, and the destruction of most of Quel'Thalas, Kael'thas has led what remains of his people—first in the increasingly hostile Alliance, and then in the service of Illidan Stormrage—acting only for the benefit of his shattered homeland and its aggrieved people.

But Kael'thas now acknowledges a more sinister being as his master. Subsequent events have led him to betray Illidan, his own people, and existence itself . . . giving himself willingly to the service of the Burning Legion and its lord, Kil'jaeden the Deceiver.”

I couldn’t have said it any better myself (which is why I decided to copy/paste). For the time the content was released in the MMO and people were raiding Tempest Keep, relatively speaking, I would say Kael’thas is very high up on the list of hardest bosses in the game. I guess what I’m trying to say is: Kael’thas Sunstrider is srs bsns.

For those of you who don’t care much for lore, here’s something you might like. (Although even if you do care about lore, you’ll like this.)

Nasty.

“0 Armor?! But this is Legendary, and that’s the lowest armor on any character! Kael’thas is stinky! QQ” —Some noob on the forums

Of course, the 0 armor is the first thing you notice, since this is the first time we’ve seen it. However, take a look at the first ability in Kael’s text box.

Shock Barrier — Attackers roll 1 fewer die while attacking Kael’thas and adjacent allies.

That makes Kael’s armor better than 1 and his resist better than 4 because it’s like a die that always hits. So imagine he said 1 armor, 4 resist, but you’re guaranteed to hit at least 1 defensive roll every time you roll dice. Sounds pretty good, right? Well, Kael is even better than that. While he is guaranteed to reduce damage by 1, he’s also reducing your opponent’s chance to crit. And he does it for all of your adjacent allies!

Like I said . . . nasty. With 9 health and those defensive stats, Kael’thas is no pushover. The Legendary drawback only matters if your character actually dies, amirite? So what’s he doing while he’s out? Kael’s attack is a very respectable 3 for 7 at range 3, one of our best attacks. We’ve seen it before on Archmage Arugal and Morganis Blackvein, and it definitely doesn’t tickle when you get hit by either one of them. Of course, Kael is no different there. Oh, except for this.

“Get out of the fire!” This is generally a good idea, especially in this case. You don’t want to be caught dead in the affected area of this Flamestrike. And I put emphasis on the word dead. If you get stuck in here when this goes off, it’s going to hurt, and sometimes it’s really hard to avoid getting at least one of your characters struck by this. If you have some 3 tick or more attacks, it’s almost certain that Kael will be able to catch at least that character. If you have anyone else near them, you’re in for a world of pain, so always be ready for the Flamestrike when you’re playing against Kael’thas. Don’t let him catch you with your pants down. Even on one character, though, 8 dice for 2 ticks is no joke, and any more you get with it is just gravy. If your opponent isn’t expecting it, you might get 16 or even 24 dice for those 2 ticks. Where else can you get those kinds of numbers?

Oh yeah, I almost forgot—the way this plays out is that it’s Kael’thas’s turn after the Flamestrike actually goes off. So if anyone is hanging around with a few health after the impact, Kael’s sure to go over and finish them off with his main attack.

Really, though, I don’t need to do too much talking. This guy speaks for himself.

“When the flames settle, we shall see who still stands!” —Kael’thas Sunstrider

Have fun.

John Fiorillo