Freehold Dungeon Guide: Location, Boss Strategies, Trash, and Loot

Freehold is a max-level dungeon located in Tiragarde Sound, Kul Tiras. You can quickly access the portals in each capital city (Orgimmar or Stormwind).

This guide will focus on an extensive overview of the dungeon, providing vital information to increase your chance of completing the key. We will cover all 4 boss fights supported by the most notable trash enemies in the dungeon and their important abilities. If you would like to learn about the rest of the dungeon in Season 2, please see our overviews linked below. Otherwise, without further ado, let us begin!

Throughout the whole Smuggler's Run area (up until the first boss of the dungeon), you will be thrown Vile Coating; as soon as it lands, get out of the vile pool!

• Irontide Enforcer is arguably the deadliest non-boss-enemy prior to engaging the first boss of the dungeon due to its lethal frontal ability - Brutal Backhand (beware if you are in melee). In addition, watch out for Shattering Bellow, the uninterruptible cast can cause you trouble.
• Irontide Mastiff will cast Crippling Bite to the highest threat target (your tank) and also Bestial Wrath when its health reaches 50% (you can use Enrage Dispel abilities like Soothe to remove its damage buff).
• Irontide Corsair is the hardest trash mob for every tank due to its stackable Poisoning Strike Poison debuff (yes, you can use Poison removal effects to remove all of the stacks from your tank).
• Beware of Irontide Bonesaw and its Infected Wound (caused by Filthy Blade) Disease effect, in a combination with Poisoning Strike can create a ton of pressure on your tank's survivability. In addition, make sure to interrupt the Healing Balm cast to prevent them from healing any nearby enemies.
• At last, Irontide Crackshot is one of the only static mobs in the dungeon, to let it stack with the rest of the mobs, you have to line of sight until it gets closer to melee. Watch out for its Azerite Grenade ground animation while doing so, it turns lethal on the higher-end keys!

Make sure to defeat one of the two packs of Irontide Enforcer & Irontide Mastiff located nearby Skycap'n Kragg (either in front of the boss or behind the stairs, look at the picture down below).

Skycap'n Kragg boss fight is a two-stage encounter, each of the phases being entirely different for tackle. Stage: Mounted Assault is the first stage of the boss fight, which lasts until the boss reaches 75% health, after which the second stage of the encounter activates - Stage: Death Rains from Above. During Phase 1, you want to keep yourself close to full health because of Pistol Shot and avoid getting hit by Charrrrrge. Once Phase 2 is activated, the boss will gain several new abilities (and lose the old ones); for more information, read down below:

• Avoid being hit by Charrrrrge during Stage: Mounted Assault. Be aware that the boss can "charge" on anyone (although he prefers ranged targets), so it would be better to stay closer to melee for higher damage uptime on all melee players.
• Skycap'n Kragg will cast 2x Pistol Shot before Charrrrrge, use your defensive cooldowns accordingly.
• Avoid being hit by Dive Bomb; this ability will become lethal on the higher keys.
• Run away if there is a Vile Bombardment puddle on the ground.

• Keep a distance between you and any Ranged players as this way, you can avoid the Vile Bombardment if it targets them.

• Quickly top up your party members during the Stage: Mounted Assault (Phase 1) of the boss encounter.
• Dispel the Azerite Powder Shot Shot follow up damage-over-time effect.

• Beware of Cutwater Duelist and its Duelist Dash, it also stuns all players caught in its path.
• Bilge Rat Padfoot is one of the harder non-boss-enemies for your tank due to its Plague Step. Trying to "kite" it will result in the mob shadow-stepping behind you, so removing the Disease effect will help immensely.
• Interrupt the Sea Spout from Irontide Oarsman; this ground effect will turn lethal on the higher-end keys.
• Do NOT jump during the Slippery Suds debuff coming from Bilge Rat Swabby, you can't dispel it so let it expire!
• Vermin Trapper has only one ability to watch out for, and that its Rat Traps. You can "soak" all the traps from the ground with any immunity effect or movement-impairing immunity (like Hand of Freedom & Tiger's Lust, etc.). In addition, the Vermin Trapper is surrounded by 4x Soggy Shiprats, which die rather easily, heads up they have a nasty stackable debuff - Scabrous Bite.
• Blacktooth Brute will cast Earth Shaker, do your best to stand further than 5 yds away from the mob so you avoid all damage.
• Irontide Buccaneer is quite an easy mob to deal with; just make sure to stay away during its Blade Barrage (or stop it with any disturbing effects).
• Interrupt Shattering Bellow coming from Blacktooth Knuckleduster to prevent being locked on spell.
• At last, Blacktooth Scrapper, use Enrage Dispel effects or drop-combat once you get targetted by Blind Rage.

It is important to note that regardless of which boss combination you are facing, you will always have Rummy Mancomb available on your side, throwing several brews that upon soaking will be able to grant you bonuses or harm you, which can make the boss fight easier or harder, depending on how well you manage the brews (and your luck as well!). At last, several members from your team can soak the brews, beware that bosses can also soak them, so you really need to pay attention to their positioning at all times:

• Confidence-Boosting Freehold Brew increases critical strike chance by 30% for 8 seconds.
• Invigorating Freehold Brew increases haste by 30% for 8 seconds.
• Caustic Freehold Brew deals ticking damage over 8 seconds. This can also work on any other mobs entering the brew, regardless of their quantity as long last they stay in the visual they will gain the debuff. The damage scales with keystone level as well!

I recommend using a WeakAura to determine what the next brew will be, something that I personally use is this - > https://wago.io/Hysgq68SX .

• Be mindful of your health during Captain Eudora's Powder Shot. Here is a good place to use your self-sustain abilities and defensive cooldowns. Keep in mind that any spells that grant you a physical damage immunity or drop your combat will prevent the shot from doing any damage to you.
• Avoid at all cost Grapeshot coming from Captain Eudora. Using movement speed abilities to get closer to her will be the key to survival.
• When Captain Raoul casts Blackout Barrel, quickly focus it and nuke it down. Pre-immunity and movement-impairing neutralizing effects will completely remove the spell.
• Run away from the Captain Raoul's Barrel Smash.
• Do your best to soak as many Confidence-Boosting Freehold Brew & Invigorating Freehold Brew as you can to speed up the boss fight.

• Always make sure to tank both bosses close to each other to enable your party members to effectively "cleave".
• Be mindful of which brews Rummy Mancomb is throwing on the ground, and make sure to let both bosses soak Caustic Freehold Brew so you can speed up the boss fight.

• Quickly top up players to prevent casualties from Captain Eudora's Powder Shot.

• Always have a distance when you fight Cutwater Knife Juggler due to its Ricocheting Throw.
• Interrupt Frost Blast & Water Bolt at all cost from Bilge Rat Brinescale. This is the most important non-boss-enemy in this area, so always focus on it first!
• Watch out for Cutwater Harpooner's Dragging Harpoon. It can target anyone, so as long as you are close to full health, you shouldn't worry!
• Avoid being hit by Irontide Crusher's Ground Shatter AoE ground effect and its avoidable skill shot - Boulder Throw.

Before engaging the third boss of the dungeon - Trothak, you first complete the Ring of Booty Event to summon the boss. The first obstacle is to catch Lightning. The second one is to defeat the only mini-boss in this dungeon - Ludwig Von Tortollan, after which the boss will spawn. Here are more tips on how to be quicker in finishing the Event:

• Lightning will spawn in a different location, so it's best to either have all 5 members from your party finish the Event or send your Healer to do it. At the same time, the rest of the group fights a pack for maximum efficiency.
• It takes 3 clicks until you finally manage to catch Lightning; each time you try, you will also get stunned for 2 sec. Keep in mind that you can click it multiple times even while you are under the stun effect.
• Ludwig Von Tortollan will not only be tough for your tank to handle, but it will also cast multiple Shell Bounce. The longer the fight goes, the more of Shell Bounce you will have to dodge.
• Whatever you do, make sure to NOT leave the arena, else you will likely get 1 shot by Booty Fanatic and their Throw Rotten Food cast.

• Avoid staying in the Shark Tornado.
• When Trothak casts Shark Toss make sure to kite it to the nearby Throw Chum. The same applies when you have a Flailing Shark, just kite it towards nearby Throw Chum or just run away from it, as the sharks will always target the closest enemy to them.
• Use defensive cooldowns if you get the Ripper Punch Bleed effect. Your pets can also get the Bleed effect.
• Avoid staying nearby any sharks to avoid getting hit by the Rearm charge.

• Do your best to be the closest target to the boss so that you can soak all of the Ripper Punch effects.

• Helping with kiting each shark will increase the overall damage output from your team, as the damage dealers will not have to worry about the mechanics. Do your best to help your team when you can!

• Interrupt Irontide Stormcaller's Lightning Bolt & Thundering Squall as frequently as you can, this is the only important mob in this area that you should be focused on kicking.
• Irontide Ravager is the most important mob in this area because of its Painful Motivation cast, which will damage 2 random enemies around him. You should NOT stop its cast under no circumstance. If this is played correctly, it can help you defeat the trash mobs quicker!
• Sidestep the Irontide Buccaneer's Blade Barrage.
• Beware of Irontide Officer's Oiled Blade ability, as it will make the life of your tank significantly harder. Keep in mind that they also have Painful Motivation cast, once again, don't interrupt it!

At last, before you engage the final boss of the dungeon - Harlan Sweete, you first must defeat the pack just in front of him (see the picture below). Otherwise, it will pull automatically once you engage the boss.

Harlan Sweete will gain additional buffs throughout the fight at 60% health ( Loaded Dice: All Hands!) and again at 30% health ( Loaded Dice: Man-O-War), which will make the fight extra difficult as time goes on. More information, down below:

• When the boss has Loaded Dice: All Hands! stay slightly spread to avoid getting hit by the same Swiftwind Saber.
• During Cannon Barrage, make sure that you leave the ground puddles away from the boss fight. During the Loaded Dice: All Hands! phase, all members of your team should be stacked together for better Flaming Shrapnel management.
• Help your team to crowd-control the incoming Irontide Grenadier, if one of them gets close to you, it might turn lethal (depending on the key level) because of its Black Powder Bomb.

• Use your defensive cooldowns during the Loaded Dice: Man-O-War phase of the boss as he will have 100% increased Attack Speed.

• Top up players after every single Swiftwind Saber as that is one of the major details of the fight. If your party goes with low health to the next Swiftwind Saber, they will likely end up dying.
• Watch out for Whirling Dagger, it will leave a Bleed effect on a random member of your party. During the Loaded Dice: All Hands! phase, it will bounce on all 5 members of your team without leaving the Bleed effect.

Type	Item	Stats
1H Mace	Sharkbait's Fishhook	Vers/Crit
Back	Parrotfeather Cloak	Crit/Mastery
Cloth Wrist	Silk Cuffs of the Skycap'n	Vers/Mastery
Mail Waist	Chain-Linked Safety Cord	Vers/Mastery
Plate Waist	Sharkbait Harness Girdle	Haste/Vers
Leather Feet	Kragg's Rigging Scalers	Crit/Mastery

Type	Item	Stats
Dagger	Jolly's Boot Dagger	Vers/Mastery
Gun	Captain's Diplomacy	Vers/Crit
Plate Wrist	Concealed Fencing Plates	Vers/Crit
Mail Wrist	Raoul's Barrelhook Bracers	Haste/Vers
Cloth Waist	Sailcloth Waistband	Crit/Haste
Leather Legs	Silver-Trimmed Breeches	Mastery/Haste
Cloth Boots	Dashing Bilge Rat Shoes	Crit/Mastery
Ring	Seal of Questionable Loyalties	Haste/Crit

Type	Item	Stats
2H Sword	Jeweled Sharksplitter	Haste/Vers
Leather Wrist	Sea Dog's Cuffs	Vers/Haste
Mail Hands	Bite-Resistant Chain Gloves	Haste/Vers
Cloth Hands	Greasy Bacon-Grabbers	Vers/Crit
Leather Hands	Sharkhide Grips	Mastery/Vers
Plate Hands	Sharktooth-Knuckled Grips	Vers/Haste
Cloth Legs	Chum-Coated Leggings	Mastery/Crit
Plate Legs	Sharkwater Waders	Mastery/Haste
Mail Boots	Shell-Kickers	Mastery/Crit

Type	Item	Stats
1H Sword	Bloody Tideturner	Haste/Crit
Trinket	Harlan's Loaded Dice	Agility
Mount	Sharkbait's Favorite Crackers

There are 7 total achievements to obtain in Freehold:

Achievement	Criteria
Freehold	Defeat Harlan Sweete in Freehold
Heroic: Freehold	Defeat Harlan Sweete in Freehold on Heroic difficulty or higher.
Mythic: Freehold	Defeat Harlan Sweete in Freehold on Mythic difficulty.
Mythic: Freehold Guild Run	Defeat Harlan Sweete in Freehold on Mythic difficulty while in a guild group.
Keystone Hero: Freehold	Complete Freehold at Mythic Level 20 or higher, within the time limit.
Im in Charge Now!	Defeat Skycap'n Kragg after summoning and defeating Patches in Freehold on Mythic difficulty.
That Sweete Booty	Defeat Harlan Sweete after destroying three Chests o' Botty in Freehold on Mythic difficulty.