How To Slay Your Dragon

WotLK Classic Northrend Leveling Guide

Quest 2 of 2 in the Hodir's Spear Chain Daily Quest

Both Factions • The Storm Peaks • Level 80 • Dun Niffelem

Use Hodir's Spear to challenge a Wild Wyrm in the Valley of Ancient Winters and fight it to the death.

Do this naked. All of the wyrm's damage is a percentage of your maximum health and none of it is reduced by armor, so gear buys you nothing and costs you a repair bill every time you fall. Dismiss your pet and disable action bar addons before you start, since both are the usual cause of a dead vehicle bar, and dismount before throwing the spear or you drop out of the sky. Wyrms circle around 60, 60 west of Dun Niffelem, though the one looping near Hibernal Cavern is not a valid target.

Phase one is grip management. Alternate Grab On and Thrust Spear to keep your grip above forty, and when the swipe warning appears, hit Dodge Claws and then Mighty Spear Thrust, in that order. Mighty puts Dodge on cooldown, but Dodge does not put Mighty on cooldown, so reversing it costs you the dodge. Mighty is where nearly all your damage comes from, so use it whenever it is up. You have to reach phase two before the wyrm circles back over Dun Niffelem or it drops you regardless of grip.

Phase two starts at twenty-five percent, in its mouth, taking three percent of your health every second. Stack Pry Jaws Open, then Fatal Strike. Twenty stacks is a guaranteed kill and anything less is a gamble, so how high you can climb depends entirely on the health you saved in phase one. Check the ground before the killing blow, because a corpse landing on a steep slope slides, and the fall kills you. Dying to the wyrm costs no durability. Falling does.

Vikstone's Classic Expedition

Standing near the spear was enough to put the idea in his head, which the giants would say is the point. The wyrm took him in its jaws when its strength failed, expecting that to be the end, and Vikstone found the angle and drove the spear down its throat instead.

Hodir’s Spear is an icon of great prowess in battle. Its mere presence instills a deep hunger for glory in all who enter Dun Niffelem. In fact, simply being near it has compelled you to test your own abilities.

Scanning the horizon, your vision locks on a wild wyrm as it flies nearby. It is decided. Of you and he, only one shall see the next sunrise….

Objective

LEVEL

80

Requires level

77

Type

Daily

Start

Hodir’s Spear

END

Hodir’s Spear

You are to use Hodir’s Spear to challenge a Wild Wyrm in the Valley of Ancient Winters. Once in its grip, you are to fight to the death.

Wild Wyrm Slain

Provided item:

Spear of Hodir

Location: Valley of Ancient Winters, west of Dun Niffelem
Objective: Use Hodir's Spear to engage a Wild Wyrm, then defeat it in aerial combat
Phase 1 - Riding the Wyrm:
Ability 1 (Grab On): Increases grip by 10. Keep above 35-40 to maintain control.
Ability 2 (Dodge Claws): Avoids incoming claw attack for 2 seconds. 4-second cooldown.
Ability 3 (Thrust Spear): Deals 1000-1300 damage. Decreases grip by 5.
Ability 4 (Mighty Spear Thrust): Deals 9000-11000 damage. Decreases grip by 15. 10-second cooldown.
Phase 2 - In the Wyrm's Mouth (at 25% health):
Ability 1 (Pry Jaws Open): Increases chance to hit with Fatal Strike by 5% per stack.
Ability 2 (Fatal Strike): Instant kill ability. 0% base chance to hit without Pry Jaws stacks.
Optimal Strategy
Phase 1 Approach:
Method 1 (Safer): Alternate Abilities 1 and 3. When warned of claw attack, use Ability 2 followed by Ability 4.
Method 2 (Faster): Use Ability 4 whenever available. Alternate 1 and 3 between cooldowns. Use 2 to dodge when warned.
Keep grip above 35-40 at all times by using Ability 1 as needed.
Phase 2 Approach:
Stack "Pry Jaws Open" at least 6-7 times before attempting Fatal Strike.
If Fatal Strike fails, continue stacking while waiting for cooldown.
20 stacks guarantees a successful hit, but usually isn't necessary. — **Location:** Valley of Ancient Winters, west of Dun Niffelem

The Storm Peaks Storyline

Reward

The following spell will be cast on you:

See Hodir’s Spear Primer

You will receive:

Upon completion of this quest you will gain:

15,240 experience

500 reputation with The Sons of Hodir

Walkthrough

Quest Giver: Hodir’s Spear (interactive object) — Dun Niffelem, Storm Peaks

Objective: Use Hodir’s Spear to challenge a Wild Wyrm in the Valley of Ancient Winters, then defeat it in aerial combat.

Quick Facts

Type: Daily quest
Location: Valley of Ancient Winters, west of Dun Niffelem [~60, 62]
Requires: Honored with Sons of Hodir + completion of Forging Hodir’s Spear
Pairs With: Other Sons of Hodir dailies (Spy Hunter, A Viscous Cleaning, Hot and Cold, Hodir’s Call)

Walkthrough

Preparation

Remove all gear before starting. Damage in this encounter is percentage-based, so armor and stamina provide zero benefit. Going naked saves you a hefty repair bill if you fall. You can re-equip after landing. Claw Swipe takes 8% of max health; Jaws of Death ticks 3% per second.
Dismiss pets (Hunter/Warlock). Active pets are the #1 cause of the quest bugging out and your abilities not responding.
Heal to full health before engaging. Classes with self-buffs (Power Word: Shield, Ice Barrier, Mana Shield, Renew, Riptide) should apply them after throwing the spear but before the wyrm picks you up.
Stock Snowfall Lager while you’re learning. It grants slow fall if you lose your grip. Available as a reward from the Ancient Relics repeatable quest at Frosthold (10 Relics of Ulduar for 2 lagers). Druids can use Flight Form instead, and Mages/Priests have Slow Fall/Levitate.

Engaging the Wyrm

Fly to the valley west of Dun Niffelem around [60, 62]. Wild Wyrms patrol the airspace here.
You must be dismounted before throwing the spear. Throwing it while mounted will dismount you mid-air and you’ll fall to your death.
Target a Wild Wyrm and use Hodir’s Spear when it passes within range. The spear pulls you onto the wyrm’s back, beginning Phase 1.
If the wyrm shows “Invalid Target,” try a different one. Some wyrms near Hibernal Cavern can’t be targeted for this quest.

Phase 1: Riding the Wyrm

Your grip starts at 60 (max 100). The wyrm has 100,000 HP. If your grip hits 0, you fall. You must get the wyrm to roughly 25% health to trigger Phase 2.

#	Ability	Effect	Grip Cost	Cooldown	Notes
1	Grab On	+10 Grip	—	None	Your lifeline. Keep grip above 40.
2	Dodge Claws	Avoid claw strikes for 2 sec	—	~4 sec	Use when you see the claw warning emote. Free to use.
3	Thrust Spear	1,000–1,300 damage	−5	None	Filler damage between cooldowns.
4	Vengeful Spear Thrust	9,000–11,000 damage	−15	10 sec	Your primary damage source. Also triggers Dodge Claws’ cooldown.

Critical mechanic: Ability 4 shares a cooldown with Ability 2. Always use Dodge (2) before Vengeful Thrust (4), never the other way around. This lets you dodge the incoming attack AND land the big hit in a single window.

If you use 4 first, you won’t be able to dodge the next claw swipe.

Phase 1 Strategy (Recommended)

Open with Ability 4 immediately upon mounting.
Alternate Abilities 1 and 3 to maintain grip (keep above 40) while dealing chip damage.
When you see the emote “Wild Wyrm swipes at you with his claws!”, hit Ability 2 immediately, then Ability 4 right after.
Return to the 1/3 rotation. Use Ability 4 on cooldown whenever grip allows.
If your grip drops below 30, stop attacking and spam Ability 1 until you’re back above 50.
The wyrm flies a set circuit. If you don’t reach Phase 2 before it loops back over Dun Niffelem, your grip will decay rapidly and you’ll be dropped regardless of button presses.

Damage Note: Claw Swipe deals approximately 8% of your maximum health. This is a flat percentage, so all classes and gear levels take the same relative hit.

Phase 2: In the Wyrm’s Mouth (triggers at ~25% wyrm health)

The wyrm swallows you. Your action bar changes to two new abilities:

#	Ability	Effect	Cooldown	Notes
1	Pry Jaws Open	Adds one stack of debuff (+5% hit chance for Fatal Strike per stack, max 20)	None	Spam this.
3	Fatal Strike	Instant kill if it lands. Base 0% hit chance without stacks.	4 sec	Use after stacking Pry Jaws.

You take constant damage in the wyrm’s mouth: roughly 3% of your max health per second. This is a race against your health pool.

Phase 2 Strategy

Stack Pry Jaws Open to at least 7 times before your first Fatal Strike attempt. Each stack adds 5% hit chance. 20 stacks = guaranteed kill.
If Fatal Strike misses, keep spamming Pry Jaws Open while waiting for the 4-second cooldown, then try again. Each additional stack improves your odds.
If you entered Phase 2 at full health (possible with the dodge-first method), you have time to safely reach 20 stacks for a guaranteed kill.
Absorption effects (Power Word: Shield, Ice Barrier, Mana Shield) carry into Phase 2 and can buy precious extra seconds.

After the Kill: The wyrm dies and crashes. You’ll be ejected from its mouth. Watch your landing location: if the wyrm dies over a steep slope, you may slide off the terrain and take fatal fall damage. Try to time your killing blow when the wyrm is flying over flat ground near Dun Niffelem rather than over cliffs.

Efficiency Tips

This quest awards the most reputation of any Sons of Hodir daily (500), making it the single best daily for the grind to Exalted. Don’t skip it once you’ve mastered the mechanics.
If the quest bugs (abilities stop responding), log out completely and restart the game. A simple relog sometimes isn’t enough. Certain action bar addons (Dominos, Bartender) are known to interfere with vehicle ability bars.
Wait a beat (1–2 seconds) after mounting the wyrm before pressing any abilities. Pressing buttons too quickly after mounting is a common trigger for the bug.
You can bandage yourself after landing but before turning in, since you’re not in combat during the fall/landing sequence.

Lore & Secrets

The Sons of Hodir and Norse Mythology

The Sons of Hodir are frost giants based on the Jötnar of Norse mythology. Hodir himself parallels Höðr, the blind god who killed Baldr. Their home, Dun Niffelem, derives from Niflheim, the Norse primordial realm of cold.

The entire Sons of Hodir daily quest series reflects the zone’s deep Norse foundations: proving your worth through combat, earning respect from a warrior culture, and slaying great beasts with a legendary spear.

Easter Eggs

Quest Name: “How To Slay Your Dragon” is a play on How to Train Your Dragon, the 2003 Cressida Cowell book series (and later DreamWorks animated film franchise).

WotLK Classic vs. Original WotLK

Renamed in Patch 9.1.5 (2021). This quest was originally called “Thrusting Hodir’s Spear,” part of a series of intentionally suggestive Sons of Hodir quest names (alongside “Raising Hodir’s Spear,” “Polishing the Helm,” and “Blowing Hodir’s Horn”). Blizzard renamed several of these quests in 2021 as part of a broader content review. Since WotLK Classic launched after the rename, Classic players only know it under its current title.

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

Quest Series (2):

80 Forging Hodir's Spear
Learn more
80 Daily. How to Slay Your Dragon
Learn more

Upon completion of this quest you will gain:

6,100 experience

75 reputation with Argent Crusade

Vikstone's War Journal

They set Hodir’s Spear up in Dun Niffelem, and inside a day I understood why Randvir had been in such a hurry about it.

The thing works on a man. Stand anywhere near it and there is a pull toward doing something reckless and being seen doing it, and every giant in that settlement walks past it twice a day at minimum. I do not believe that is an accident.

Vikstone Portrait Act 3 — Illustrated by Christian DiBari and Simon Gough.

I looked up and found a wild wyrm riding the wind west of the town, and the thought arrived in me fully assembled: of the two of us, only one sees the sun come up.

Days ago a woman I trusted turned out to be a titan-forged keeper who put me in a stolen face and walked me into a trap, and I have not stopped taking inventory of my own thinking since. I stood in front of that spear, felt something reach in and set a course for me, recognized it for what it was, and went and did it anyway.

The spear brought the wyrm down out of the sky. I got beneath it, got both hands into the scales at its chest, and then the ground was a very long way off.

There is no swordwork to be had on the underside of a flying animal. There is only your hold, and what a strike costs you off it, and whether you can win that back before the claws come round again. I hauled myself flat to its chest when it raked at me and lost skin off both forearms regardless. I struck when I had the angle and slipped a hand’s width every time I did.

Twice I got down to fingers and had to spend a long while climbing back up its chest instead of hurting it.

When it began to fail it did what a wounded predator does and took me in its jaws.

That was the opening. I set my back against the lower jaw and my boots against the upper and pushed until there was room to work, and put the spear down its throat with both hands on the shaft.

We came apart in the air. I got clear of it before the ground.

It is done, they told me in Dun Niffelem. I had stared certain death in the face and emerged victorious, and by single-handedly defeating such a mighty beast I had brought great honor to the settlement.

The giants would hear of this.

There was one among them nobody could impress and only feed, and that was Feeding Arngrim.

Solo PvP Guide

Star Wars Galaxies Chronicles

The Guide to SWGEmu

Solo PvP Guide

Star Wars Galaxies Chronicles

The Guide to SWGEmu

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Objective

LEVEL

80

Requires level

77

Type

Daily

Start

END

The Storm Peaks Storyline

Reward

14 Gold

80 Silver

15,240 experience

500 reputation with The Sons of Hodir

Walkthrough

Phase 1: Riding the Wyrm

Phase 2: In the Wyrm’s Mouth (triggers at ~25% wyrm health)

6,100 experience

75 reputation with Argent Crusade

Vikstone's War Journal

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The Making of the Guide

Solo PvP Guide

Star Wars Galaxies Chronicles

The Guide to SWGEmu