Summary
World of Warcraft: Dragonflighthas introduced a number of new antagonists, ranging from Primal Incarnates to wayward shamans and Infinite dragons. Each threat to Azeroth has taken the combined effort of many brave adversaries to quell, but there’s oneWorld of Warcraftvillain that could end up being a letdown.
Thus far, thePrimal Incarnates have been the most fearsomeand powerful antagonists in the expansion, especially Iridikron. He is the Incarnate of Earth, and at his own admission, he is much more focused on bringing about the end of the world than his siblings. His only desire is revenge against the Titans themselves for their wrongdoings, and he will stop at nothing to visit his wrath upon Azeroth.
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Iridikron’s Boss Fight in World of Warcraft Doesn’t Live Up to the Hype Surrounding Him
Despite Iridikron’s grand schemes, he is in fact the secondPrimal Incarnate to feature as a boss. The youngest of the four elemental proto-drakes, Raszageth, was slain as the final encounter in Dragonflight’s first raid. Hers was a fight of epic scale, worthy of such a dangerous foe. She is featured in multiple cinematics, blasting other dragons with chaotic elemental energy.
Her oldest brother, on the other hand, found himself battling players in theDawn of the Infinites mega-dungeon. Iridikron’s fight is intense and full of mechanics that will instantly kill players if they’re not where they should be. However, this fight doesn’t end in the proto-dragon’s death, and merely stalls for time. It doesn’t seem worthy of the great Iridikron, who has also been in many an ominous cinematic at this point.
It is possible Iridikron will fight players again in a raid, but havingdone so already in Dawn of the Infinitesdulls the edge of excitement surrounding the potential of such an encounter. Iridikron has been touted as the most powerful and evil of all his siblings, and he has to be stopped, but it could make players wonder whether they’ll have the task of taking him down.
Players were enamored with the idea of fighting a massive proto-drake that commands the powers of earth and stone but having already done so in a dungeon dispels much of that mysticism. Now, players can onlyhope to fight Fyrakk, the Flame Incarnate, or his sister, Vyranoth, the Ice Incarnate, and have that showdown be as spectacular as they imagined.
World of Warcraftdoes excel at creating intricate, grandiose boss fights with a real sense of scale and world-ending importance. This will no doubt come in handy for any Primal Incarnates in future raids, and especially for therumored final boss of the expansion, Galakrond. At the moment, there is the luxury of choice when selecting which bad guys will feature in the coming raids, so Iridikron might have to take a backseat and let his siblings show off their power.
If Iridikron doesn’t end up being a final boss, the disappointment could be mitigated by giving him a proper sendoff through other means. Having him fight to the death with another character or be betrayed by his allies in a stupendous cinematic could easily suffice. Otherwise, one of the Primal Incarnates could decide to switch teams, leaving more space for players to fight thefinal two Incarnates one-on-one. It’s unlikely this will be the case for anyone except Vyranoth, as her true motives don’t seem to align with evil.
As a final option,Iridikron’s boss fightcould be combined with another antagonist’s. It’s uncommon, but not unheard of for a final boss to be made up of multiple adversaries. However, this presents its own challenges, and players don’t appreciate boss fights that are too tedious and complicated. Whichever method gets utilized, one can only hope Iridikron lives up to his hype and will be remembered as one of Azeroth’s most terrible threats.
World of Warcraft: Dragonflightis available now for PC.
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