Great Father Arctikus - Ice troll warlord

Circumstances beyond my control and a severe case of writer's block have messed with my update schedule lately. To everyone reading this, I'm very sorry for that and will try to do better in the future. I was recently re-motivated by finding and photographing three more rarespawns I was missing in-game, which made me very happy. I'm not sure I'll reach completion before Cataclysm arrives, but I'm going to try!

Anyway, onward to today's entry.

Interestingly enough, starter area rares are often more interesting than those found in secondary leveling zones. For some reason, many memorable critters exist in the starter areas which have some piece of lore, a quest, unique loot or just look interesting, whereas rarespawns in the level range of 20-40 rarely have any of that. Today we're visting yet another rare mob found in the dwarven homeland of Dun Morogh, and a quite interesting one at that!

This post is about Great Father Arctikus.



Where to find Arctikus

Great Father Arctikus is a rare mob troll found inside Frostmane Hold in Dun Morogh in the Eastern Kingdoms.



Frostmane Hold is not very large, just your average-sized cavern complex. Arctikus will patrol around inside, usually walking around one of the larger chambers. Since he is on a very short respawn timer (like most starter area rarespawns), this means that he is rather easy to find.

Combat and loot

Unlike many non-elite rares, Arctikus can create a bit of a problem for an unprepared player encountering him. He is level 11, a good 3-4 levels higher than anything else in the Frostmane area, meaning a character doing quests around those lower levels may get in trouble. Furthermore he is fortified by a paladin-like Devotion Aura which reduces physical damage done to him and hits quite hard.



His most dangerous ability, however, is that he has a pair of healing spells. One is a heal-over-time and the other is a heal which will restore him to 100% health. None of his abilities pose a danger if you are close to his level or higher, but engaging him at a lower level may end up very messy. Fully restoring his health before chopping your character down is something he is perfectly capable of. Interesting how his abilities are Paladin-like, eh?



For those adventurers lucky enough to encounter and kill Arctikus at the appropriate level, he has two unique pieces of loot! One is a simple white-quality belt, and the other is a simple mace. Neither is very exciting, but it is always nice to find unique pieces of loot.

What's his story?

Compared to many rarespawns, Great Father Arctikus has a place in lore. His title and the names of his drops were good indications, but in this case we actually have a confirmation: Arctikus is the leader and ruler of the Frostmane Tribe. It's always great to find reference to a rarespawn in lore, and this confirms his place as the "big bad" of Dun Morogh, sending out his warriors to attack the dwarves and gnomes.



As with most ice trolls, Arctikus also got something of a makeover with the release of Wrath of the Lich King. With the creation of the new, beefy ice troll model used for the Drakkari and other trolls in Northrend, even their old world cousins received some attention and got upgraded. This makes sense, as according to lore the Frostmane are closely related to the Drakkari. As with the new forest troll models previously implemented, the female trolls look the same as normal jungle trolls. A shot of Arctikus' old model can be seen in the lore link above.



Finally, Arctikus is one of few rare mobs that has some unique lines. I didn't even notice this the first time I ran into him, but when he attacks you he will shout out a line in the troll language.



I must confess that I didn't actually go back with a troll character to learn what it is he's saying. Instead I just looked it up online. According to WoWhead observers, his two possible lines are:

"You dare defile Frostmane Hold, [race]. Prepare to die!"

and

"Oh, we are going to get along just fine, [name]."

I love that he has these extra lines as well, they really cement him as a unique individual within the Frostmane community. I wish more mobs had little touches like this!

In closing, Great Father Arctikus is an awesome rarespawn. He has a great model, a solid place in lore, unique drops (which fit with the lore) and even some quotes! I love this guy and think everyone who hasn't seen him should go look for him.

Until next time, watch out for troll ambushes;

~Dragonshade