Arrrrrr back to Freehold we go. Those that played BFA will remember Freehold and those dastardly pirates well. This was a fan favorite dungeon back in the day and has been tuned to current Mythic+ levels. This guide will teach you what you need to know to send those pirates packing
From the key start you will have 33 minutes to beat those pirates to get it in time.
Before the first boss Skycap’n Kragg you will need to watch out for Vile Bombardment, which is a large green zone that Kragg fires at random player locations. Move out of these zones to avoid damage. They do despawn after a short period.
Most enemies before the first boss focus on the tank. There are two types your tank will need to watch out for. The Irontide Enforcers and the Irontide Bonesaws.
Irontide Enforcers: Casts Brutal Backhand which is a frontal cone that deals large amounts of damage to anyone caught in it.
Irontide Bonesaws: Does Filthy Blade on their current target (should be tank). This deals damage but puts a debuff on the tank that reduces all healing received by 20% stacking.
Skycap’n Kragg
The first of 4 boss encounters you will find yourself facing.
Kragg will begin the fight mounted on his trusty companion, Sharkbait.
They will charge a marked location dealing large amounts of damage and knocking anyone hit back. You can avoid this by moving, it marks the location, not the player.
At 75% hp he will dismount and Sharkbait will fly into the air. Sharkbait will continue casting Vile Bombardment on random players leaving behind the poison pools.
Sharkbait will fly to the side of the arena where you are fighting the boss and charge in a straight line in the direction he is facing. Knocking anyone hit back and dealing damage.
The group should spread out to reduce damage taken from Azurite Powder Shot which targets a random player and shoots them with a large unavoidable cone.
Interrupt Kragg when casting Revitalizing Brew, this heals him.
After you have dealt with the Skycap’n Kragg and his trusty companion you will move towards the next boss, which is a council fight. Council o’ Captains. One the way you will face new trash. The most notable of these will be the Irontide Oarsman and Blacktooth Knuckleduster.
Irontide Oarsman: Casts Sea spout that creates a nasty pool beneath each player and deals damage. This can be interrupted. Try to do so.
Blacktooth Knuckleduster: Casts Shattering Bellow that interrupts any spell casting in progress and locks you from that school of spell type. Unavoidable and uninterruptible. Stop casting when you see it, continue once the mob has finished casting it.
Council o’ Captains
Before moving towards the Council o’ Captains you need to help one of them and their crew to earn you an ally in the fight and remove their buff. To do it you usually need to catch a small dog and receive a key, then free some pirates in cages. It can also be that you need to defeat a few special mobs. It changes each run. When you do the objective one of the Captains will join you instead in the fight removing the Buff, Under One Banner which increases all the Damage and health by 100%.
Focus anyone hit by Blackout Barrel. This disorients the player until they are broken free. Destroy the barrel ASAP!
Avoid any swirls, they deal large amounts of damage.
When one of the bosses jumps to a corner it will do Grapeshot. Which shoots in a pattern from one side of the room to the other. It is avoidable if you are quick, you can move behind the boss casting it as they focus it into the arena. If you are closer to the boss it is easier to avoid if unable to get behind it as there is less distance to run.
Ring of Booty
There will be some of the mobs you have already encountered on the way to the ring as well as a couple of new ones. The one to look out for is the Irontide Crusher.
Irontide Crusher: This is a giant that throws a boulder at a player location and stomps on the floor around itself. Both create large swirls and you can avoid all damage by moving out of the swirls.
This fight is a fun fight and looks cool. It is a orge with 2 sharks tied to his arms!
Move away from the boss when he begins to whirlwind to avoid damage.
Do not stand between a shark he has thrown and himself to avoid damage when he rearms with the shark.
The sharks target the closest player and moves towards them doing large amounts of damage if it reaches them.
If focused by a shark, run it through the pools of blood that spawn around the arena. This will force the shark to stop chasing you and feed. It will continue to the closest player again once finished.
Harlan Sweete
Last boss you will encounter in Freehold.
One the way to Harlan you will encounter several new types of mobs. Some of these can be very dangerous.
Irontime Officer: Hits the tank with Oiled Blade that deals massive damage and reduces all healing received by 75%.
Irontide Ravager: Channels Painful Motivation which buffs all the other mobs in range increasing their damage by 45%. Interrupt this!
Irontide Stromcaller: Casts Thundering Squall which deals large amounts of damage to close players.
Harlan Sweete will call down Cannon Barrage on 1 player. That player needs to move and kite the Barrage away from the group. The Cannon Barrage will continually spawn large swirls that need to be avoided for 3 secs. Each swirl is hit by a cannon dealing massive damage to anyone caught inside it.
Watchout for the spears Harlan spawns. They spawn around him and fly in a random direction causing damage and knocking anyone hit back.
Kite the mob that spawns and focuses a player. DPS, kill it asap it will explode if it reaches its target. It can be damaged by the Cannon Barrage.
Route Planning
I advise checking the route each week on sites such as Raider.io. These routes are updated weekly depending on the affixes for that week.
Suggested Addons
Mythic Dungeon Tools, gives you the power to create your own routes and check the % of each mob.
MythicPlusTimer, great addon to track % of mobs and the time you have left.
Bigwiggs / Littlewiggs , boss addon that tracks what needs interrupting and when a boss ability is incoming.
