Headless Horseman Hardmode – How To Activate, Increased Chance for Mount
October 19, 2023
Higher Chance for Mount during Hardmode
Blizzard has confirmed that during the first kill of the day, players have an increased chance to receive Rare Loot from the Loot-Filled Pumpkin, which also increases by the amount of additional Hardmode Curses players have.
How to Enable Hardmode
Our friends on Wowhead have a detailed summary of how to enable the Hardmode before the Headless Horseman encounter.
To enable the hard mode for the Headless Horseman encounter, you must talk to the Wicker Men located just to the left when you zone into Scarlet Monastery. You can talk with each smaller Wicker Men to get one of the curses, or the big ominous Wicker Man in the middle to get all 4 curses at once!
Each curse adds an additional ability to the encounter that requires you to either dodge new obstacles or execute mechanics. Activating hard mode applies a PERSONAL debuff to you only, so you can take on the challenge by yourself and not affect any other party members.
Once you curse yourself, you will have a debuff showing what curses you have active.
Ember Curse – Cursed enemies emit Shadowflame around their location periodically. Each blast inflicts a stack of Wicker Man’s Shadow.
Cursed Hot Head – Cursed enemies suffer dark hallucinations manifesting in front of their location. Moving to the hallucination dispels it. Ignoring the hallucination inflicts two stacks of Wicker Man’s Shadow to the enemy.
Shadow Curse – Insidious Cackle shackles the souls of cursed enemies in fear. The shackled soul slowly moves towards consuming flames. Souls that reach the flames before their shackles are destroyed inflict two stacks of Wicker Man’s Shadow to the afflicted enemy.
Thorny Surprise – Piercing thorns erupt under cursed enemies periodically. Enemies hit by the thorns suffer a stack of Wicker Man’s Shadow.
Failing to dodge a curse ability or execute the mechanic will result in the cursed target getting a stack of Wicker Man’s Shadow. Getting hit once or twice is usually not that big of a deal as you only use a percentage of your health, but getting hit too much will make surviving a lot harder…
- Wicker Man’s Shadow – The Wicker Men delight in the target’s suffering, reducing the target’s maximum health by 10% per stack.
Surviving is also key – The Wicker Men will protect you from dying, but in doing so, you will lose their curses – And any additional rewards.
Wicker Man’s Protection – The Wicker Men have prevented your death, reducing damage taken and restoring your health. Additionally, their curses have been lifted, forfeiting their rewards.