Faction Champions

Faction Champions
Race(s)	Blood elf, Draenei, Dwarf, Forsaken, Gnome, Human, Night elf, Orc, Tauren, Troll
Level	?? Boss
Location	Trial of the Crusader, Crusaders' Coliseum
Status	Defeatable
Trial of the Crusader Northrend Beasts Lord Jaraxxus Faction Champions Val'kyr Twins Anub'arak (lore) (lore) (lore) (lore) (lore) Other Crusaders' Coliseum instances Trial of the Champion (5) Trial of the Grand Crusader (10/25)

The Faction Champions is the collective term used by Blizzard to represent the third encounter in the Trial of the Crusader raid dungeon. Players encounter members of the opposite faction in PvP Arena-styled combat.

Members

Class	Champions
	Alliance	Horde
Death knight	Tyrius Duskblade	Gorgrim Shadowcleave
Druid (Caster)	Kavina Grovesong	Birana Stormhoof
Druid (Heal)	Melador Valestrider	Erin Misthoof
Hunter	Alyssia Moonstalker and her lioness	Ruj'kah and her lioness
Mage	Noozle Whizzlestick	Ginselle Blightslinger
Paladin (Heal)	Velanaa	Liandra Suncaller
Paladin (Retribution)	Baelnor Lightbearer	Malithas Brightblade
Priest (Heal)	Anthar Forgemender	Caiphus the Stern
Priest (Shadow)	Brienna Nightfell	Vivienne Blackwhisper
Rogue	Irieth Shadowstep	Maz'dinah
Shaman (Heal/Caster)	Shaamul	Thrakgar
Shaman (Melee)	Shaabad	Broln Stouthorn
Warlock	Serissa Grimdabbler and her felhunter	Harkzog and his felhunter Zhaagrym
Warrior	Shocuul	Narrhok Steelbreaker

Most of the champions have 2,400,000 health in the 25-man version; some have only 1,900,000. In the 10-man version most have 403,200 health and some have 322,600.

Heroic Mode

On the heroic version of Faction Champions, they have 2.6M or 3.2M health each. Every champion also hits for more damage, is untauntable, and has a PvP trinket at their disposal (with a cooldown of 5 minutes). Crowd control and being alert about being targeted is very crucial to survival.

Strategy

This encounter is much like an arena match vs. 10 (or 6 at 10-man) quasi-player NPCs. Prior to the encounter, everybody should switch to PvP mode. The opponents act very much like a good arena team, and some (but not all) PvP mechanics are applied to the NPCs. For example:

• The NPC healers switch to spam healing DPS target(s), and should be Crowd Controlled or killed early
• The NPC damage dealers gang up on a single raid member and try to focus fire
• All NPCs, including healers, use crowd control abilities like Polymorph, Fear, Hex, and even Banish - Tremor Totem and the like are very useful here.
• Resilience though does not reduce damage taken
• Faction champions do more damage than typical players, have drastically more health (2.4 million on 25 man), and cast enormous heals, e.g. the druids rejuvenation ticks for over 50,000
• The NPCs are immune to mind control, and Repentance doesn't work either. All other forms of crowd control seem to work, but are subject to Diminishing Returns - after 3 casts, the NPC becomes immune to that Crowd Control effect for 15 seconds.

As with any arena match, picking a damage target and focusing it down is critical. While one target is picked to be killed, all other enemy combatants should be controlled by whatever mechanics are available, including CC and focused distractions (e.g., keeping a warrior on the rogue NPC to disarm, hamstring, intercept, stun etc.). The NPCs reset their aggro tables every 9 seconds. This frequently leads to the damage dealers ganging up on a single raid member, fortunately, healers do not get disproportionately frequently targeted. The NPCs are generally very difficult to tank.

The resulting very chaotic nature of this fight (especially early on when all 10 NPCs are alive), requires fast and smart decision by every single raid member. When one or more of the melee champions targets a soft target, that target needs to run, fear, snare, escape, stay alive. To facilitate these maneuvers, it is best not to clump together. Every second that a champion is traveling to its target is a second that it is not doing damage.

Another aspect of this encounter at odds with an arena match is that all opponents and their classes are known ahead of time, so it is possible to create a variety of control macros that target specific roles by name. This is strongly recommended. It is often very difficult to pick a control target from within the crowd while at the same time healing or dealing damage, and evading. Every class with a control ability should be using it as often as possible, including healers. Because of diminishing returns, it's a good idea to regularly switch the control target.

The fight becomes exponentially easier as each champion is killed, so getting the first one down quickly greatly increases the odds of winning. All cooldowns, including Bloodlust/Heroism, should be used immediately. The priority of targets is dependent on raid makeup, usually the most effective strategy is to kill the healers first. The healers (in order of their effectiveness) and their abilities are:

• Restoration druid: Rejuvenation, Lifebloom, Nourish, and Regrowth. Two can be interrupted, three must be dispelled.
• Restoration shaman: Healing Wave, Lesser Healing Wave, Earth Shield, and Chain Heal. Three can be interrupted, one must be dispelled.
• Holy paladin: Flash of Light, Holy Light, Hand of Freedom, Divine Shield, and Hand of Protection. Divine Shield is cast at around 25% health and should be broken swiftly (by [Shattering Throw] or [Mass Dispel]) so the Holy Light which she immediately starts casting afterwards can be interrupted. Similarily she casts Hand of Protection(which can be broken by Shaman Purge) on other low-health NPCs, often the first dps target.
• Holy priest: Greater Heal, Flash Heal, Renew, and Power Word: Shield. Two can be interrupted, two must be dispelled.

The most effective healer is the restoration druid. As with arena combat, they are very difficult to kill by themselves. In this encounter, it is further complicated by the other healers (if present) focus healing the druid (or any other focus target the raid chooses). Nontheless, the raid should kill the druid first, because the very powerful HoTs otherwise need extreme awareness from the raid dispellers, and if the NPCs use a fear bomb, high amounts of damage done can be undone very quickly. Using as many stuns and interrupts as possible while focussing the restoration druid, and using the longest-duration crowd controls on the other two healers, makes burning him possible.

If there are competent warlocks in the raid which can keep the druid banished, it may be viable to focus on one of the others first. Remember that the banishes are subject to diminishing returns, so this approach should only be chosen if the other focus target dies before the druid becomes immune to banish.

After the restoration druid is dead, one of the other healers is usually chosen next. The shaman uses a powerful earth shield which makes him slightly more dangerous than the priest; in addition, he casts Hex. Fortunately, he has no self-rez. Besides Divine Shield in combination with Holy Light the Paladin has the nasty habit of removing CC effects with Hand of Freedom.

After the healers are dead, the next highest priority should be the melee DPS. The rogue is probably the most dangerous followed by the warrior, the retribution paladin, and the death knight; the rogue is also a softer target than the plate wearers and thus dies more easily. The enhancement shaman is the weakest of the melee champions and is weaker than most of the ranged. It is safe to kill him last.

Once the healers are dead the fight becomes several orders of magnitude simpler and boils down to a burn phase. Keep the DPS champions chasing and the raid healers alive. Players assigned to distraction on various enemies should continue distracting until their target is picked for the kill. One of the primary jobs for distraction players is to watch their target's target and call out who they're pursuing.

Two of the most important abilities in this encounter are offensive dispelling and spell interrupts. All of the champions are susceptible to spell interrupts, and offensive dispel is critical to cut through the healers' effects. Another strong ability to remember is mass dispel, which can remove Divine Shields and Ice Blocks, both of which are used by enemy champions. [Mortal Strike] and [Wound Poison] also help a lot. The death knight and rogue use disease and poison effects so Cleansing Totems should be down.

PvP trinkets are very useful as well, as the champions use a lot of CC. For all but the most elite raid groups, this fight usually lasts close to 10 minutes, so the trinkes can be used several times throughout the battle.

To avoid healers being overwhelmed with switching targets to try to heal those being focused, reserve anyone who can crowd control melee and casters to remain on that target until they are dead.

• Tanking classes can use taunt, but it's also susceptible to diminishing returns, and the Champions also have a fair chance to resist it outright. Fixate taunts like Hunter's Distraction Shot do not work.
• Death Knights are very good at pinning down melee with [Chains of Ice], [Dark Command], and [Death Grip].
• Warriors can spam [Hamstring], [Shockwave], and [Charge] stun the warrior and the rogue to prevent them from moving.
• Rogues are able to keep casters (mage, shadow priest, holy priest) on lockdown with constant stuns and interrupts. The NPC mages do use blink when stunned so unless the Rogue keeping him locked has [Throwing Specialization] should not use stun. [Vanish], [Cloak of Shadows], [Improved Sprint], and [Killing Spree] dispel [Shattered Barrier] and [Frost Nova].
• A combination of warlock and balance druid is able to chain [Cyclone] and [Banish] on the restoration druid, switching whenever the CC chain cannot continue due to DR.
• Use a Fear bomb if enough champions reach their target.
• A Death Knight with [Hungering Cold] is able to use theirs right at the start to control anyone who is not currently taken care of. Doing this at the beginning of the heroic encounter is very useful for burning all the champion's PvP trinkets early.

If a raid finds that they're having trouble burning the bosses down, it might be best to save all forms of crowd control for self defense, instead of dedicating one type of crowd control (IE: Warlock banish on the Resto Druid) and have everyone burning.

The first two minutes or so of the encounter are usually the most critical. Once the first healer is down (usually the Resto Druid) the fight becomes significantly easier.

Quotes

Intro (As Alliance):

• Highlord Tirion Fordring: The next battle will be against the Argent Crusade's most powerful knights! Only by defeating them will you be deemed worthy...

Garrosh Hellscream: The Horde demands justice! We challenge the Alliance. Allow us to battle in place of your knights, paladin. We will show these dogs what it means to insult the Horde!

Highlord Tirion Fordring: Very well, I will allow it. Fight with honor!

Garrosh Hellscream: Show them no mercy, Horde champions! LOK'TAR OGAR!

Intro (As Horde):

• Highlord Tirion Fordring: The next battle will be against the Argent Crusade's most powerful knights! Only by defeating them will you be deemed worthy...

King Varian Wrynn: Our honor has been besmirched! They make wild claims and false accusations against us. I demand justice! Allow my champions to fight in place of your knights, Tirion. We challenge the Horde!

Highlord Tirion Fordring: Very well, I will allow it. Fight with honor!

King Varian Wrynn: Fight for the glory of the Alliance, heroes! Honor your king and your people!

Killing a player (As Alliance):

• Garrosh Hellscream: Weakling!
• Garrosh Hellscream: Pathetic!
• Garrosh Hellscream: Overpowered.
• Garrosh Hellscream: Lok'tar!

Killing a player (As Horde):

• King Varian Wrynn: HAH!
• King Varian Wrynn: Hardly a challenge!
• King Varian Wrynn: Worthless scrub.
• King Varian Wrynn: Is this the best the Horde has to offer?

Victory (As Alliance):

• King Varian Wrynn: Glory to the Alliance!

Victory (As Horde):

• Garrosh Hellscream: That was just a taste of what the future brings. FOR THE HORDE!

Outro:

• Highlord Tirion Fordring: A shallow and tragic victory. We are weaker as a whole from the losses suffered today. Who but the Lich King could benefit from such foolishness? Great warriors have lost their lives. And for what? The true threat looms ahead - the Lich King awaits us all in death.

Loot

As with the other bosses in the instances, there are separate versions of each item for Alliance raids and for Horde raids.

10-man

Alliance	Horde	Description	Alliance Heroic	Horde Heroic
[Blade of the Silver Disciple]	[Sunreaver Disciple's Blade]	Dagger	Blade of the Silver Disciple (heroic)	Sunreaver Disciple's Blade (heroic)
[Faceplate of the Silver Champion]	[Sunreaver Champion's Faceplate]	Plate helm	Faceplate of the Silver Champion (heroic)	Sunreaver Champion's Faceplate (heroic)
[Pauldrons of the Silver Defender]	[Sunreaver Defender's Pauldrons]	Plate shoulders	Pauldrons of the Silver Defender (heroic)	Sunreaver Defender's Pauldrons (heroic)
[Helm of the Silver Ranger]	[Sunreaver Ranger's Helm]	Mail helm	Helm of the Silver Ranger (heroic)	Sunreaver Ranger's Helm (heroic)
[Gloves of the Silver Assassin]	[Sunreaver Assassin's Gloves]	Leather gloves	Gloves of the Silver Assassin (heroic)	Sunreaver Assassin's Gloves (heroic)
[Sandals of the Silver Magus]	[Sunreaver Magus' Sandals]	cloth boots	Sandals of the Silver Magus (heroic)	Sunreaver Magus' Sandals (heroic)
[Binding Light]	[Binding Stone]	Trinket	Binding Light (heroic)	Binding Stone (heroic)
[Victor's Call]	[Vengeance of the Forsaken]	Trinket	Victor's Call (heroic)	Vengeance of the Forsaken (heroic)
[Talisman of Volatile Power]	[Fetish of Volatile Power]	Trinket	Talisman of Volatile Power (heroic)	Fetish of Volatile Power (heroic)
[Fervor of the Frostborn]	[Eitrigg's Oath]	Trinket	Fervor of the Frostborn (heroic)	Eitrigg's Oath (heroic)
[Emblem of Triumph]	[Emblem of Triumph]		[Emblem of Triumph]	[Emblem of Triumph]

25-man

Alliance	Horde	Description	Alliance Heroic	Horde Heroic
[Justicebringer]	[Dual-Blade Butcher]	Two-handed axe	Justicebringer (heroic)	Dual-blade Butcher (heroic)
[Bastion of Purity]	[Bastion of Resolve]	Shield	Bastion of Purity (heroic)	Bastion of Resolve (heroic)
[Chestplate of the Frostborn Hero]	[Chestplate of the Frostwolf Hero]	Plate chest	Chestplate of the Frostborn Hero (heroic)	Chestplate of the Frostwolf Hero (heroic)
[Vambraces of the Broken Bond]	[Bracers of the Broken Bond]	Plate bracers	Vambraces of the Broken Bond (heroic)	Bracers of the Broken Bond (heroic)
[Girdle of Bloodied Scars]	[Belt of Bloodied Scars]	Plate legs	Girdle of Bloodied Scars (heroic)	Belt of Bloodied Scars (heroic)
[Bracers of the Untold Massacre]	[Bracers of the Silent Massacre]	Mail bracers	Bracers of the Untold Massacre (heroic)	Bracers of the Silent Massacre (heroic)
[Legguards of Concealed Hatred]	[Leggings of Concealed Hatred]	Mail legs	Legguards of Concealed Hatred (heroic)	Leggings of Concealed Hatred (heroic)
[Boots of Tremoring Earth]	[Sabatons of Tremoring Earth]	Mail boots	Boots of Tremoring Earth (heroic)	Sabatons of Tremoring Earth (heroic)
[Treads of the Icewalker]	[Icewalker Treads]	Leather boots	Treads of the Icewalker (heroic)	Icewalker Treads (heroic)
[Vestments of the Shattered Fellowship]	[Robes of the Shattered Fellowship]	Leather chest	Vestments of the Shattered Fellowship (heroic)	Robes of the Shattered Fellowship (heroic)
[Cord of Biting Cold]	[Belt of Biting Cold]	Cloth belt	Cord of Biting Cold (heroic)	Belt of Biting Cold (heroic)
[Boots of the Mourning Widow]	[Sandals of the Mourning Widow]	Cloth boots	Boots of the Mourning Widow (heroic)	Sandals of the Mourning Widow (heroic)
[Cloak of Displacement]	[Shroud of Displacement]	Cloak	Cloak of Displacement (heroic)	Shroud of Displacement (heroic)
[Ring of Callous Aggression]	[Band of Callous Aggression]	Ring	Ring of Callous Aggression (heroic)	Band of Callous Aggression (heroic)
[Satrina's Impeding Scarab]	[Juggernaut's Vitality]	Trinket	Satrina's Impeding Scarab (heroic)	Juggernaut's Vitality (heroic)
[Trophy of the Crusade]	[Trophy of the Crusade]		[Trophy of the Crusade]	[Trophy of the Crusade]
[Crusader Orb]	[Crusader Orb]		[Crusader Orb]	[Crusader Orb]
[Emblem of Triumph]	[Emblem of Triumph]		[Emblem of Triumph]	[Emblem of Triumph]

Related achievements

•  Call of the Crusade (10 player)
•  Call of the Crusade (25 player)
•  Call of the Grand Crusade (10 player)
•  Call of the Grand Crusade (25 player)
•  Resilience Will Fix It (10 player)
•  Resilience Will Fix It (25 player)

Patch changes

• Patch 3.2.2a (2009-09-25): Tooltips were updated to reflect the hotfix.
  

Class	Spell	% Reduction	Reduced damage	Old damage
Hunter	Explosive Shot	43%	1813-2187 Fire damage	3173-3827 Fire damage
Hunter	Aimed Shot	42%	Increases ranged damage by 1750	Increases ranged damage by 3000
Mage	Arcane Blast	25%	6013-6987 Arcane damage	7863-9137 Arcane damage
Mage	Arcane Barrage	16%	11565 damage over 15 sec, 20817-24183 damage if dispelled	13875 damage over 15 sec, 24975-29025 damage if dispelled
Paladin	Judgement of Command	30%	3325-3675 Holy damage	4750-5250 Holy damage
Priest	Vampiric Touch	40%	12375 Shadow damage over 15 sec	20250 Shadow damage over 15 sec
Rogue	Eviscerate	23%	4375-5625 Physical damage	5688-7312 Physical damage
Warlock	Hellfire	55%	2500 fire damage to all nerby enemies every 1 sec	5500 fire damage to all nerby enemies every 1 sec

• Template:Patched
• Patch 3.2.0 (2009-08-04): Added