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Expeditions,
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Culture
“You’ve been successful up to this point, Vikstone, but what you must face to continue to battle within Valhalas is a gigantic horror beyond imagining. I must warn you to turn away now. Carnage is a mountain of flesh constructed by the Lich King’s most fiendish minds.
I do not see how you and your friends will defeat it. However, the choice is yours.”
-Geirrvif
Geirrvif at Valhalas has challenged you to defeat Carnage. Should you succeed, speak with Gjonner the Merciless overlooking the southern lip of Valhalas.
Suggested players: 5
You will be able to choose one of these rewards:
Runic Healing Potion
Runic Mana Potion
You will also receive:
Upon completion of this quest you will gain:
Quest Giver: Geirrvif — Valhalas, Jotunheim, Icecrown [33, 35]
Objective: Defeat Carnage in the Valhalas arena. Then speak to Gjonner the Merciless.
Quick Facts
Walkthrough
Start the Event
Defeat Carnage
After three rounds of humanoid opponents, Valhalas escalates dramatically. Carnage is a flesh giant: a towering Scourge construct stitched together from the corpses of Northrend’s native giants. This is the first fight in the arena that truly demands the “Group (5)” designation.
| Ability | Effect | How to Handle |
|---|---|---|
| Melee Attacks | Fast attack speed. Hits for approximately 1,500 on 25k armor. | The sustained pressure is the real danger, not any single hit. Healers must maintain throughput; solo players need strong self-healing or damage reduction. |
| Smash | 125% weapon damage (hits for approximately 2,300 on 25k armor) | A straightforward damage spike. No telegraph. Tanks should keep active mitigation up at all times since Smash can land back-to-back with regular melee swings. Shield Block, Holy Shield, and Bone Shield all reduce the impact. |
| War Stomp | 2,338-2,662 Physical damage to nearby enemies + 2-second stun | The key mechanic. AoE, so it hits everyone in melee range. The stun itself is short, but 2 seconds of unmitigated melee hits on top of the Stomp damage creates dangerous burst windows. Ranged classes can avoid this entirely by staying at distance. Melee should have a stun break ready (Every Man for Himself, PvP trinket, Icebound Fortitude, Berserker Rage, Divine Shield). |
Additional notes: Carnage is immune to Shackle Undead. The War Stomp stun can be resisted.
The difficulty jump from Sigrid Iceborn to Carnage is significant. Sigrid dealt moderate damage with a movement slow gimmick. Carnage deals high sustained damage with a stun that creates burst windows. Classes without strong self-healing or damage reduction will struggle.
| Class | Viability | Strategy | Key Abilities |
|---|---|---|---|
| Blood/Unholy DK | Strong | Open with Army of the Dead to absorb early damage and build a health lead. Once ghouls die, Death Strike spam is your lifeline. Icebound Fortitude breaks War Stomp stun and buys breathing room. | Army of the Dead (opener), Death Strike (sustain), Icebound Fortitude (stun break + DR), Death Pact (emergency), Empower Rune Weapon (more Death Strikes) |
| Prot Paladin | Strong | Stand-and-trade fight. Keep Sacred Shield and Holy Shield up at all times. Devotion Aura for armor. Divine Plea when mana gets low (and it will). Bubble as emergency full heal. | Sacred Shield, Holy Shield, Devotion Aura, Divine Plea (mana sustain), Divine Shield (emergency) |
| Feral Druid (Bear) | Strong | Easiest solo of any class. High dodge + armor trivializes the sustained damage. Keep Lacerate, Mangle, and Demoralizing Roar active. Berserk and Survival Instincts may not even be needed. | Lacerate, Mangle, Demoralizing Roar, Frenzied Regeneration, Survival Instincts (emergency) |
| Prot Warrior | Moderate | Shield Block reduces Smash significantly. Spell Reflect does NOT work (all Physical). Last Stand + Enraged Regeneration as emergency combo. | Shield Block (constant), Last Stand + Enraged Regeneration (emergency), Berserker Rage (War Stomp break) |
| Hunter | Strong | Pet tanks while you DPS from range. War Stomp is melee-range AoE, so you never get stunned. Mend Pet constantly. Misdirect opener to cement pet threat. If pet dies, Feign Death and let pet rez. | Mend Pet (constant), Misdirection (opener), Feign Death (reset), Deterrence (emergency) |
| Warlock | Strong | Voidwalker or Felguard tanks. Stay at max range and Health Funnel. DoT and nuke. War Stomp only hits melee, so you are never in danger as long as the pet holds. | Voidwalker/Felguard (tank), Health Funnel (constant), Soulshatter (if you pull aggro), Demonic Empowerment |
| Enhancement Shaman | Moderate | Feral Spirit wolves provide healing and extra DPS. Shamanistic Rage for damage reduction. 5-stack Maelstrom Weapon instant heals after War Stomp stuns end. Spirit Wolves should be saved for when health dips below 50%. | Feral Spirit, Shamanistic Rage, Maelstrom Weapon (instant heals), Stoneclaw Totem (absorb shield) |
| Mage | Difficult | Kiting is possible but the arena ring limits your space. Frost Nova + Blink creates windows, but Carnage’s fast attack speed means any gap-close hurts. Ice Block breaks War Stomp but wastes your emergency. Mirror Image helps split aggro early. | Frost Nova, Blink, Ice Block, Mirror Image, Evocation (between kite laps) |
| Shadow Priest | Not recommended | Vampiric Embrace cannot outheal the sustained damage. Immune to Shackle Undead. Nearly impossible to solo in Tier 9 equivalent gear. Bring a friend. | — |
| Rogue | Difficult | No self-healing beyond Recuperate (if specced). Evasion buys time but Smash still connects. Cloak of Shadows does nothing (all Physical). Better to bring a partner. | Evasion, Vanish (reset), Recuperate |
General solo tips:
Efficiency Tips
Lore & Secrets
“From the Bowels of the Underhalls”
Geirrvif’s announcement explicitly states Carnage originates from the Underhalls, the underground complex beneath Jotunheim where players previously encountered Dr. Terrible and his flesh giant experiments.
Carnage was “possibly created by Dr. Terrible,” which tracks perfectly: in The Sum is Greater than the Parts, you killed Dr. Terrible while riding his own creation Nergeld. Carnage may be another of Terrible’s creations, now unleashed as a Valhalas gladiator.
This makes Carnage the third flesh giant players encounter in the Jotunheim questline alone (after Nergeld and the Putrid Colossuses at the Fleshwerks). The Scourge’s flesh giant production pipeline runs deep in Icecrown.
Flesh Giant Lore
Flesh giants are the next evolution beyond common abominations. While abominations are stitched together from humanoid corpses, flesh giants use body parts harvested from Northrend’s native giants, making them dramatically larger and stronger.
They serve as the Scourge’s living battering rams. The prototype flesh giant was Grobbulus, encountered in Naxxramas. Players also face a flesh giant in the Pit of Saron, where the boss Ick is a flesh giant ridden by the gnome Krick.
Possible Spider-Man Reference
Explore Icecrown’s hidden easter eggs, lore mysteries, and connections across Warcraft history in Vikstone’s Icecrown Chronicles, along with the complete quest storyline.
Vikstone's War Journal“You’ve been successful up to this point, Vikstone, but what you must face to continue to battle within Valhalas is a gigantic horror beyond imagining. I must warn you to turn away now. Carnage is a mountain of flesh constructed by the Lich King’s most fiendish minds. I do not see how you and your friends will defeat it. However, the choice is yours.”
Mardagan looked at me. I looked at Superjosh. Two fights ago a nerubian’s scream had that man three strides toward the lip of the arena, and he was not looking at the lip now.
We accepted.
“Carnage is coming! Remember, no matter what you do, do NOT leave the battle ring or I will disqualify you and your group.” Then out over the pit: “From the bowels of the Underhalls comes Carnage. Brave and foolish Vikstone has accepted the challenge. Vikstone and his group stand ready to face the monstrosity. Lumbering in from the south, the smell of Carnage precedes him!”
She was not exaggerating about the smell.
The bowels of the Underhalls. I have been down there. I have read the book they build these out of and I have driven one around a laboratory with my own hands inside it.
It dragged itself into the ring on legs taken off men of four different sizes. Fluid came out of the joints as it moved. Somebody had given it a face.
Its first blow put a crater in the ice where the four of us had been standing. Superjosh was half a second slow and the shock took his feet and slid him most of the way across the arena. Mardagan had him up without breaking stride, Light already going into his ribs before he was properly upright.
I kept its attention. The shield took impacts that came up through my teeth. The mace went in and opened holes that did not bleed the way holes ought to. The knights worked the legs and the joints. Mardagan took the far flank and left smoke where the hammer landed, and every strike of his took the stitching apart.
Then Superjosh got up and went at the thing’s leg, and instead of swinging he dropped to his knees and consecrated the ground directly underneath it.
Carnage lurched. Holy fire went up through the bulk of it from the floor, which is not a direction anything is built to be attacked from, and the stitching at the knee let go. It buckled.
When it went down the arena moved.
“The horror known as Carnage is no more,” Geirrvif called out. “Could it be that Vikstone is truly worthy of battle in Valhalas? We shall see.”
“I’m starting to respect your prowess in the ring, Vikstone. Now I really don’t like you. I would much rather have preferred to see you and your friends stuck to the bottom of that flesh giant’s foot!”
Superjosh was sitting on the ice holding his ribs. Grinning.
Killing a construct only proved they could outlast one, so Geirrvif reaches back into the vrykul ranks for someone who chose this and hands them Thane Deathblow.
