Trial of the Crusader, every boss in the Argent Coliseum explained

22 October 2026 · updated 24 October 2026 · 4 min read · Raids

Trial of the Crusader is the Argent Crusade’s raid, held in the Argent Coliseum next to the Argent Tournament grounds in Icecrown. It arrived in patch 3.2 as the step between Ulduar and Icecrown Citadel. There is no trash at all: five encounters, one after another, in a single arena. That makes it quick to run every week and a good place to gear up for ICC.

How the raid works

Talk to Barrett Ramsey in the arena to start each encounter. There are four versions: 10 and 25 player, each in normal and heroic. The heroic version is called the Trial of the Grand Crusader and opens once your raid has cleared the normal version of the same size.

Heroic mode gives the raid a limited number of attempts for the week, 50 in all. Every wipe uses one, and the more you have left when you kill Anub’arak, the better the final reward.

Gear from the four versions:

Every boss also drops Emblems of Triumph, which buy tier 9 pieces from the vendors in Dalaran.

The Northrend Beasts

Three beasts, one after another. In heroic they arrive on a timer whether or not you have killed the last one.

Gormok the Impaler. A giant with Snobolds riding him. The Snobolds jump onto players; kill them quickly. Tanks swap when Impale stacks get high.

Acidmaw and Dreadscale. Two worms, one stationary and one mobile, that swap roles. Acidmaw’s Paralytic Toxin slows and then paralyses players; Dreadscale’s Burning Bile cures it. Players with the toxin run to someone with the bile.

Icehowl. A yeti. He uses Massive Crash to knock the raid back and daze them, then picks a player and charges across the arena with Furious Charge. Get out of his path. If he hits the wall, he is stunned and takes extra damage.

Lord Jaraxxus

An Eredar lord summoned by a gnome who regrets it. Interrupt his Fel Fireball every time. Incinerate Flesh puts a large absorb shield on a player that healers must heal through. Legion Flame leaves a trail of fire, so the targeted player runs away from the raid. He also summons Infernal Volcanoes and Nether Portals that bring a Mistress of Pain; kill the adds or, in heroic, have a tank pick them up. Mages can steal his Nether Power buff.

Faction Champions

A PvP fight against a team of player classes from the other faction, healers and all. It plays like an arena match: crowd control the healers, focus one target, interrupt and dispel. Trinkets and PvP skills are as useful here as any raid ability. The arena guide is good preparation.

Twin Val’kyr

Fjola Lightbane and Eydis Darkbane share one health pool. Each player picks up a light or dark essence from the floor, which lets them deal more damage to the opposite twin and walk safely through orbs of their own colour. Every so often a twin shields herself to cast Twin’s Pact (break the shield and interrupt it) or a vortex, and players with the matching essence take no damage. Light players stay on Eydis, dark players on Fjola, and everyone switches essence when the vortex calls for it.

Anub’arak

The Lich King breaks the arena floor and the raid falls into the Nerubian tunnels below.

• Phase one. Tank Anub’arak while ranged handle the Swarm Scarabs and Nerubian Burrowers. Frost Spheres float overhead; killing one leaves a patch of Permafrost on the ground.
• Burrow phase. He burrows and chases one player with Pursuing Spikes. That player runs across the Permafrost, which stops the spikes.
• Phase three. At 30% he stops burrowing and his Penetrating Cold hits hard, while Leeching Swarm drains everyone. Burn him quickly.

Achievements and rewards

• Call of the Crusade and Call of the Grand Crusade: defeat the raid in normal and heroic.
• A Tribute to Skill, Mad Skill, Insanity: clear heroic with 25, 45 or all 50 attempts left. A Tribute to Insanity gives a title and, in 25 player, a mount for the raid.
• Resilience Will Fix It: kill the Faction Champions within 60 seconds of the first one dying.

Patch 3.2 also brought back Onyxia’s Lair, retuned for level 80 with the same item level as normal Trial of the Crusader. Many raids run both in the same night.

Take the Trial on Lasthavens

Lasthavens is a free Wrath of the Lich King 3.3.5a realm with twice the normal experience from kills, quests and exploring. It plays in your browser, with no 17 GB download and no launcher, on Windows, Mac, Linux, Chromebook, iPhone, iPad and Android. Deadly Boss Mods is in the AddOn Library at the character select screen.

Play Lasthavens now, or start with the Naxxramas guide if you are new to raiding.