The Last Line Of Defense

Quest Giver: Siegemaster Fezzik — Argent Vanguard, Icecrown [85, 75]

Objective: Use an Argent Cannon to destroy 100 Scourge attackers and kill 3 Frostbrood Destroyers. Return to Siegemaster Fezzik when finished.

Quick Facts

• Level: 78
• Chain Position: 4 of 4 in the Crusaders’ Pinnacle lead-in series (A Cold Front Approaches → The Last Line Of Defense → Once More Unto The Breach, Hero)
• Pairs With: Nothing while on the cannon. However, see the Daily Quest Exploit tip below.

Walkthrough

Getting to the Cannons

• The Argent Cannons sit atop four towers surrounding the Argent Vanguard, right near Fezzik’s location. You need a flying mount (Cold Weather Flying) to reach them. Fly up to any tower and right-click the cannon to mount it.
• No flying mount? Die near the base of a tower. Your ghost can fly in this area, so position yourself on top of the tower railing (behind the cannon, not directly on it) and resurrect there. Awkward, but it works.

Cannon Abilities

• Ability 1 (Argent Cannon): Fires a missile at the targeted area. Each shot generates 100 mana for the cannon. Right-click and hold both mouse buttons to aim. Spam this ability constantly.
• Ability 2 (Reckoning Bomb): Costs 1,000 mana. Unleashes a devastating AoE blast. This is your primary kill tool. Fire 10 normal shots to charge it, then unleash on the densest pack of Scourge you can find.

Combat Strategy

• Aim normal shots at the large packs of Scourge ground mobs swarming the Vanguard. Each Reckoning Bomb should wipe out a significant chunk of your 100-kill requirement.
• Prioritize Frostbrood Destroyers. These flying mobs attack the towers directly. If they destroy your cannon, you lose your seat. Target them with normal shots between Reckoning Bomb charges. Ground-landed Destroyers are easier to hit than airborne ones.
• If your cannon is destroyed, stay on the tower. It respawns in roughly a minute. Alternatively, fly to another tower’s cannon.
• Each Frostbrood Destroyer only counts as 1 toward the 100-kill total, so don’t rely on them for bulk kills.

Efficiency Tips

• The quest is straightforward and fast. Most report completing it in under 5 minutes once they get the rotation down.
• Known Bug (WotLK Classic): Sometimes the cannons won’t fire. If this happens, dismiss any summoned pets, disable addons, leave the zone (fly to Storm Peaks briefly), then log out and back in. /reloadui alone does not fix it.
• Daily Quest Exploit: If you delay completing this quest, the Scourge kills from the cannon count toward Argent Tournament dailies like “A Valiant’s Field Training” and “Taking the Battle to the Enemy.” A few cannon shots can instantly finish those dailies.

Lore & Secrets

The Siege of the Argent Vanguard

This quest represents the Lich King’s direct retaliation for the rescue missions at Scourgeholme. After you extracted Captured Crusaders in Into The Wild Green Yonder, Arthas launched a full-scale siege against the Argent Vanguard using Frostbrood Destroyers and waves of Scourge ground forces.

The quest text from Fezzik emphasizes the desperation: the cannons are blessed by Father Gustav himself, and Tirion Fordring personally fights on the ground below while you provide covering fire.

The completion text confirms Tirion was fighting in the field during your defense. This is one of the few moments in WotLK where a major lore character actively participates in combat alongside the player during a standard quest (outside of scripted phased events).

What Happens After

• Completing this quest opens Once More Unto The Breach, Hero (or a Death Knight variant, Death Knight variant), which pushes the Crusade through the Breach and into Scourgeholme itself. The quest chain then branches into multiple parallel objectives at Scourgeholme before converging on The Battle For Crusaders’ Pinnacle, where Justice Keep is finally established.

Easter Eggs

• Reckoning Bomb (Paladin History): The cannon’s Reckoning Bomb ability is a direct callback to one of the most infamous exploits in vanilla WoW. The old Paladin talent Reckoning granted an extra melee swing each time the Paladin was critically hit, and these stacks accumulated without limit. Players would intentionally get crit hundreds of times by low-level mobs, then unload all the stored swings at once on a boss or player for absurd burst damage. A level 60 Paladin famously soloed Lord Kazzak in the Blasted Lands using this technique, in a video that forced a near-immediate hotfix. Blizzard eventually patched the talent to cap at 4 stacks. The cannon’s tooltip leans into the joke, describing the Reckoning Bomb as dealing “ridiculous damage. Some might say the damage is ludicrous.”
• Fezzik’s Pocketwatch: One of the quest rewards, Fezzik’s Pocketwatch, is named after the quest giver. As noted in the A Cold Front Approaches guide, Siegemaster Fezzik himself is likely named after Fezzik from The Princess Bride.

Explore Icecrown’s hidden easter eggs, lore mysteries, and connections across Warcraft history in Vikstone’s Icecrown Chronicles, along with the complete quest storyline.