Rage Winterchill Guide: Strategy, Abilities, Loot

Rage Winterchill is the first boss you will encounter in the Hyjal Summit raid instance. Rage spawns a minute after the first set of 8 trash waves are defeated. Rage is a relatively simple boss with only a few abilities, but it is important to deal with them properly or raid members can quickly start dying to his spells. This is a one-tank encounter and should not require you to bring any extra healers.

Make sure to be able to track who Rage targets with his Icebolt as they will need a large amount of healing from not only the initial hit but the powerful damage-over-time effect after.

Be ready to dispel any players rooted by Frost Nova so they can get out of Death & Decay.

Be ready to use mobility cooldowns to help your healers deal with the root from Frost Nova.

Spread around the boss to minimize the amount of people hit by Death & Decay.

Be ready to use mobility cooldowns to help your healers deal with the root from Frost Nova.

Have a plan of where you want to move the boss if Death & Decay is impacting your melee players, the Alliance Basecamp where this encounter takes place has quite a bit of line-of-sight so make sure your healers know where you are positioned and where you plan to move.

• Frost Armor — Rage will constantly have the Frost Armor buff on himself causing players who deal Physical damage to him to be Chilled, slowing their movement and attack speed by 25%.
• Icebolt — Rage will fire a bolt of Ice at a random target dealing a large amount of Frost damage from both the initial hit and a deadly damage-over-time effect that will leave the target stunned for its duration.
• Frost Nova — Rage will root all enemies within a short distance from himself for 10 seconds.
• Death & Decay — Rage will summon a dark, 20-yard-wide patch on the ground that will deal 15% of max health per second to anyone standing inside of it.

Rage will spawn and engage your raid about 60 seconds after the final trash wave is defeated. It is crucial to be ready to pick him up as soon as he becomes active and position him in a central location that allows your raid to spread entirely around him. Make sure to give tanks appropriate time to establish threat as you may have to move him quite a distance.

There is only one phase for the Rage Winterchill encounter; the boss acts the exact same from 100% health until it dies. Once Rage is properly positioned and players have spread around him the primary focus of the raid should be minimizing damage taken as opposed to dealing maximum DPS. Rage will randomly target a member of the raid with his Icebolt ability, dealing massive damage to them so it is crucial to be in range of at least one healer at all times. Note that the stun/DoT portion of this ability can be removed by the use of a PvP trinket or abilities that remove stun effects such as Blink from a Mage or Divine Shield from a Paladin. Rage will also occasionally cast Frost Nova, rooting players near him in place. It is extremely important to make sure that the root from this is dispelled as quickly as possible to limit damage taken from Death & Decay. The strategy for Rage is extremely simple and comes down to just following a few rules: Run out of Death & Decay, Dispel Frost Nova, and heal those targeted by Ice Bolt.

Item	Item Type	Slot
Chronicle of Dark Secrets	Accessory	Off-hand
Blessed Adamantite Bracers	Plate	Bracers
Cuffs of Devastation	Cloth	Bracers
Bracers of Martyrdom	Cloth	Bracers
Rejuvenating Bracers	Leather	Bracers
Blood-stained Pauldrons	Plate	Shoulders
Tracker's Blade	Weapon	Dagger
Deadly Cuffs	Leather	Bracers
Furious Shackles	Plate	Bracers
Howling Wind Bracers	Mail	Bracers
Stillwater Boots	Mail	Boots
Design: Great Lionseye	Pattern	Jewelcrafting
Design: Flashing Crimson Spinel	Pattern	Jewelcrafting
Design: Inscribed Pyrestone	Pattern	Jewelcrafting
Design: Sovereign Shadowsong Amethyst	Pattern	Jewelcrafting
Design: Stormy Empyrean Sapphire	Pattern	Jewelcrafting
Design: Veiled Pyrestone	Pattern	Jewelcrafting
Design: Mystic Lionseye	Pattern	Jewelcrafting
Design: Shifting Shadowsong Amethyst	Pattern	Jewelcrafting

If you were looking for a full guide for the Hyjal Summit raid, or would like to know what specializations the loot from Rage Winterchill should be prioritized to, see the links below.