War stories, articles & game guides
Gamer
Tribute
2026
Expeditions,
War Stories &
Culture
War stories, articles & game guides
Gamer
Tribute
2026
Expeditions,
War Stories &
Culture
“While it’s going to be crucial to defeat the Scourge on the ground, we mustn’t neglect the gate itself. The flesh giants on the ramparts are capable of hurling massive boulders and chunks of ice, inflicting devasting damage to enemy infantry below. Muster a force and defeat these giants. We need to know just what we’re up against in terms of their strength.
Oh… and bring me their spines. If memory serves, there’s a little trick I can share with you.”
-Thassarian
Thassarian on the Skybreaker wants you to bring him 5 Pustulant Spines from the Pustulant Horrors on Mord’rethar.
Suggested players: 3
You will be able to choose one of these rewards:
You will also receive:
Upon completion of this quest you will gain:
Quest Giver (Alliance): Thassarian — The Skybreaker, Icecrown
Quest Giver (Horde): Koltira Deathweaver — Orgrim’s Hammer, Icecrown
Objective: Collect 5 Pustulant Spines from Pustulant Horrors on Mord’rethar: The Death Gate.
Quick Facts
Walkthrough
Find the Pustulant Horrors
The Two Big Mechanics
| Class/Spec | Strategy | Key Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Death Knight (any spec) | Straightforward face-tank. Blood DKs trivialize this with Death Strike healing. Use charge/Death Grip after knockbacks to close the gap quickly. | Easiest class for this quest. Level 78-79 DKs report soloing without difficulty. |
| Paladin (Retribution) | Open with Repentance for a free crit. Use Judgement of Light for passive healing. Hammer of Justice and Holy Wrath both stun (they’re undead), giving windows for Holy Light self-heals. Exorcism works since they’re undead. | Very soloable. Pop Avenging Wrath and Bubble as emergency buttons. |
| Warrior (Prot) | Keep back to a wall to minimize knockback distance. TC, Demo Shout, Rend, and execute. Use Charge (Warbringer talent lets you use it mid-air during knockback for instant return with no fall damage). Enraged Regeneration for self-healing. | The Warbringer trick is the standout tip. |
| Hunter (any spec) | Misdirect to pet, maintain Mend Pet constantly, manage threat carefully with Omen. Feign Death if you pull aggro. BM hunters with Intimidation have an easier time. Scorpid Sting reduces incoming damage on pet. | Track Undead for bonus damage (Survival). MD every cooldown. |
| Warlock (Demo/Affliction) | Voidwalker tanks comfortably. Demonic Empowerment trivializes threat. Keep DoTs up, Health Funnel the VW. Place a Demonic Circle at the safe spot and teleport back after knockbacks. Use Passive command on VW after knockbacks to prevent it from being dragged out of leash range. | The Demonic Circle trick is excellent for managing the leash issue. |
| Mage (Frost) | Kite with Frostbolt, Deep Freeze on FoF procs, Water Elemental for extra threat/damage. Not immune to roots or snares. Critical: Blink through them after knockback, not away, to stay within leash range. | Very easy for Frost. Killed without being hit once by some players. |
| Druid (Balance) | Root and nuke from range. Do not let them reach you (they may evade if they melee a rooted target and then can’t path back). Keep roots up, stay at range, Starfire/Wrath. | If things go wrong, Flight Form to safety. |
| Priest (Shadow) | Shields, DoTs, kiting. Dispersion as emergency. A healing priest paired with any DPS makes this trivial. One player reported soloing as Disc in tree form (slowly but successfully). | Not the fastest solo, but doable. |
| Rogue | Blow cooldowns, stun-lock windows for Recuperate/bandage. Make sure to use Combat Readiness or Evasion. Trade bones at the Ebon Blade Witch for the “heal on crit” runestone for passive sustain. | Doable with decent gear. Keep back to a wall. |
| Shaman (Elemental) | Flame Shock into Lava Burst, self-heal with Lesser Healing Wave between casts. Hex does not work (they’re undead) but Earthbind Totem helps after knockback. | Straightforward ranged burn. |
Universal Tips
Efficiency Tips
Easter Egg
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“While it’s going to be crucial to defeat the Scourge on the ground, we mustn’t neglect the gate itself,” Thassarian said. “The flesh giants on the ramparts are capable of hurling massive boulders and chunks of ice, inflicting devastating damage to enemy infantry below. Muster a force and defeat these giants. We need to know just what we’re up against in terms of their strength. Oh… and bring me their spines. If memory serves, there’s a little trick I can share with you.”
Muster a force. I put it about the deck and got one taker.
Bombadil is a gnome, and a mage, and comes up to roughly my belt. He asked two questions before he agreed. How many giants, and did I intend to charge them. When I said five and yes, he said that was what he had been afraid of, and went to get his staff.
Mord’rethar’s ramparts are not built for anything my size, let alone theirs. The Pustulent Horrors stand twenty feet of other people sewn together, weeping down their own legs as they move, and they do not chase. That was the problem. You cannot pull one off the wall and work it in the open. Whatever you do to a Pustulent Horror, you do standing on its ground, inside the arc of its arms, for as long as it takes.
The first one saw us coming and tore a section of its own rampart loose to throw at us. Frozen stone came apart where we had been standing. I went in under the second throw while Bombadil started working from the far end of the wall.
The Destroyer went into its knee and the greataxe opened the thigh above it, and it swung wild and caught me across the chest and put me down the length of the walkway. I got up because Bombadil’s frost had reached its shoulders by then. He does not kill them; he slows them until the speed of the thing drops into a range a man can read. A Horror at full speed is faster than it has any right to be. A Horror at three-quarters is a slow-moving building. He gave me that difference.
The fourth one put him on his back and he cast from one knee before he was fully upright, and did not mention it afterward, and I have decided not to mention it to him either.
We came down off that wall with the spines and very little else. My chest is one colour from collarbone to hip and I have not looked at my back.
“Excellent. These look to be usable samples.” Thassarian turned one of the spines over in his hands the way a smith checks a billet. “Time again to use the enemy’s strength against them….”
Five spines told Thassarian what he wanted to know about the gate’s defenders, and the answer pointed at one of them in particular, a thing rotting on the ramparts that the Scourge had built badly enough to be worth a name of its own in Coprous the Defiled.
