Headless Horseman (2024)

For the creature who attacks the villages, see Shade of the Horseman.

Headless Horseman

Gender

Male

Race

Human(Undead)

Level

72 Elite

Resource

Mana

Reaction

Alliance Horde

Location

Scarlet Monastery, Tirisfal Glades

Status

Killable

Scarlet Monastery

Thalnos the Soulrender Brother Korloff High Inquisitor Whitemane	(lore) (lore) (lore)
Loot

The subject of this article or section is part of Hallow's End, a seasonal event that lasts two weeks. Once the event has run its course, this will no longer be available until next year, but there are no guarantees.

"Prepare yourselves, the bells have tolled! Shelter your weak, your young and your old! Each of you shall pay the final sum. Cry for mercy, the reckoning has come!"

During Hallow's End, the Headless Horseman is a summoned elite boss spawned in the Pumpkin Shrine in the middle of the Forlorn Cloister in The Graveyard, an instanced wing of the Scarlet Monastery. Additionally, his shade attacks Horde and Alliance villages at various times throughout the event.

The Horseman was once a Knight of the Silver Hand, but is now cursed. He is of the belief that he is alive, while those who face him are dead. When defeated, he is revealed as Sir Thomas Thomson.

To spawn him, click on the Pumpkin Shrine. While the Horseman can be summoned, killed, and looted as usual in a raid, the instance limit is 5 people.

With the new Dungeon Finder, you can now queue up and be teleported to the fight when a full group is assembled. Everyone gets a loot-filled pumpkin upon completion of the battle.

The Headless Horseman is voiced by Carlos Larkin.

Abilities[]

[Cleave]: Standard cleave, hits for ~4k damage to plate.
[Whirlwind]: After losing its head, the body will AoE whirlwind for ~2k/sec.
Summon Flaming Heads: Several flaming jack-o-lanterns appear and move toward the party, exploding for ~100k damage when they hit a player.
Conflagration: An AoE DoT, can only be removed with a PvP Trinket or other similar abilities(Ice Block, Divine Shield, etc.). Ticks for a percentage of your maximum health every second and confuses the target. Lasts ~5 seconds. Feigning Death right before the conflag hits will cancel the fear effect, although the emotes and animations will still proc. You can attack/move as normal. Not sure if this also cleanses the DoT too. Also triggers Conflagrated Weapon.
Conflagrated Weapon: Gives the Horseman a chance to do extra fire damage on melee attacks. Allows the use of Fiery Cleave. Lasts 11 seconds.
Fiery Cleave: Deals 100k damage to targets in front of the Horseman.
Head of the Horseman: Active after the Horseman suffers 99% damage each phase. 63000 Health.
Pulsing Pumpkin: Tossed on the ground during phase three. Casts sprout after ~15 seconds. ~10k Health. If a pumpkin lands on a player, they get a disease named Squash Soul which is -18 Spirit for 20 minutes.
Pumpkin Fiend: Sprouted from the Pulsing Pumpkins. Deals ~650 base damage and has ~10k Health.

Strategy[]

The Headless Horseman encounter is a three phase fight.

Phase one[]

The Horseman makes his entrance and engages whoever lit the candle. The tank should taunt immediately if they did not start the event. Watch out for [Cleave] and DPS him down.

At 1% the horseman will go immune, toss his head, walk around disoriented, and occasionally use a [Whirlwind] attack. The Head of the Horseman will become an active target while the body heals to 100%. All DPS should have a target macro for Head of the Horseman. After the party damages the head to about 60%, or the body heals to 100%, the head will rejoin the body and the next phase begins.

Phase two[]

When the Horseman rejoins with his head, he targets the player with the highest threat. This is the same as phase one except he will randomly cast Conflagration on a random party member (not the tank). You can use a PvP Trinket to remove the Conflagration. Healers and ranged DPS should be alert to the location of both tank and Conflagration target; steer clear of these.

Phase two ends if the head reaches about 30% health, or when the body heals to 100%.

Phase three[]

The Horseman does not use Conflagration in Phase Three. Eventually he will toss four Pulsing Pumpkins, which sprout Pumpkin Fiends after several seconds, and they will completely heal. The fastest course of action seems to be having the tank stand in the middle of the pumpkins with focus abilities at the ready. The rest of the party continues DPS on the Horseman until his head is tossed. If the party has low DPS, a second or even third wave of Pulsing Pumpkins can be spawned before the head is tossed.

Tanking the Horseman on the steps to the underground area will cause all the spawns to land very close to the boss. This should make it very easy for the tank to pick them all up.

Once the Head of the Horseman dies, the Headless Horseman has been defeated, and the remaining pumpkins will die. If you don't kill the Head of the Horseman before the Horseman heals to 100%, Phase Three will repeat, meaning you have to nuke the Horseman again to get him to toss his head.

Notes[]

Having a Paladin or Death Knight tank makes this Phase much easier due to [Consecration] or [Death and Decay]. The rest of the party hugs the tank, inside the spell's range, allowing the tank to pick up the Fiends, thereafter the DPS can burn these down.

The key to the Headless Horseman is to find and DPS down the head as fast as possible when it is off the Horseman. The head does no damage so all DPS should feel free to unload on it. The macro "/target Head of" helps with this, as it allows you to pick up the head almost as soon as it detaches. To make certain that the macro does not inadvertently target the Headless Horseman, you can use "/targetexact Head of the Horseman".

Quotes[]

On Start: (Player) says: Horseman rise...; (Player) says: Your time is nigh...; (Player) says: You felt death once...; (Player) says: Now, know demise!; Headless Horsemansays: It is over, your search is done. Let fate choose now, the righteous one. [emits a horrifying guffaw]

Lost Head: Head of the Horsemansays: Get over here, you idiot!

Rejoined: Here's my body, fit and pure! Now, your blackened souls I'll cure!

Conflagration: Harken, cur! Tis you I spurn! Now feel... the burn!; Harken, cur! Tis you I spurn! Now feel... the burn!

Sprouting Pumpkins: Soldiers arise, stand and fight! Bring victory at last to this fallen knight!

Player Death: Your body lies beaten, battered and broken! Let my curse be your own, fate has spoken!

Horseman Death: This end have I reached before. What new adventure lies in store?; A ghostly orb of light leaves the undead form and flies over in front of the ruined tomb behind the Pumpkin Shrine, revealing it to be the ghost of Sir Thomas.

Additional notes[]

When the Horseman was introduced in 2007, making multiple attempts required resetting the instance each time and creating multiple instance IDs, running up against the 5 instances per hour rule. In 2008, the event was changed so that resetting the instance was no longer required.

Loot[]

As of 2017, all gear drops - including those in the Loot-Filled Pumpkin - scale to your character level when you acquire them.

The Headless Horseman can also drop any item normally found in a [Treat Bag].

Loot-Filled Pumpkin drops[]

The [Loot-Filled Pumpkin] is a reward given only for the first completion (per day, per character) of the "Headless Horseman" Dungeon Finder instance run. Like the [Satchel of Helpful Goods], this container is placed in the character's inventory (or mail, if inventory is full).
The Loot-Filled Pumpkin always has 4-6x [Tricky Treat] with a possible chance to get a [Flimsy Mask] and/or one or more of the following:


	[The Horseman's Reins]			[The Horseman's Sinister Slicer]
	[The Horseman's Horrific Hood]			[Flying Broom]
	[Magic Broom]			[Hallowed Helm]
	[Sinister Squashling]

2016-2017 drops[]

- [The Horseman's Sinister Slicer]
- [The Horseman's Horrific Hood]