The Icecrown Citadel (ICC) raid is now available in WoW WotLK Classic! It is confirmed that Blizzard will eventually implement a buff to ease up the raid progress – here's when you can expect the buff, named Strength of Wrynn for the Alliance and Hellscream's Warsong for the Horde, to release as well as an explanation about what it's doing.
World of Warcraft WotLK Classic Phase 4 has finally launched! After clearing the repetitive Trial of the Crusader raid for months, WoW players can now enjoy one of the most iconic raids in World of Warcraft history, including the epic battle against the Lich King himself: Icecrown Citadel, also known as ICC.
If you've played the original version of Wrath of the Lich King, you'll probably remember that Blizzard implemented a raid-wide buff for ICC that was stacking even higher every few weeks, so that also non-hardcore guilds could eventually make their way up to Arthas Menethil alias the Lich King. So when will this buff go live in WotLK Classic?
WotLK Classic: WoW Devs Talk About ICC Buff Integration
As time of writing, Blizzard has not yet announced an official release date for the Strength of Wrynn (Alliance) and Hellscream's Warsong (Horde) buff. But thanks to an interview with Blizzard's Assistant Lead Classic Designer Tim Jones, we have a pretty good idea of when the buff could release.
In the interview, Jones states that he expects the buff to hit the live servers no later than two months / eight weeks after the raid opens. Icecrown Citadel opened its gates on October 12, so the ICC buff is likely to arrive in early December at the latest. Since raids always reset on Wednesday, December 6 or December 13 are likely candidates for the implementation.
Be aware that this can very well change, since the buff release will mainly be a question of how fast the majority of guilds will progress through the raid on normal and heroic difficulty. The Blizzard devs made clear that they want a "healthy period of time where there is no buff at all", which is also a learning from their experiences with The Burning Crusade Classic, where the Tier 5 bosses Kael'Thas and Lady Vashj have been nerfed a little bit too early, in their opinion.
WoW WotLK: How The ICC Raid Buff Works
Once the Strength of Wrynn / Hellscream's Warsong buff hits the live servers, it will provide you with increased Health, healing effects, absorption effects and damage, which means every class and role will benefit from it, no matter whether you're a tank, damage dealer or healer. Starting with a 5% boost, the buff will get stronger every few weeks, probably up until a 30% increase of the mentioned effects.
Extra Tip: For those of you who seek the ultimate challenge, you will always be able to disable the buff and conquer the Icecrown bosses on the originally intended difficulty. Good luck!
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