The chess event is the ‘encounter’ required to be solved prior to reaching/fighting Prince Malchezaar.  The pieces along the board resemble the units utilized during the First War, Warcraft history, and are placed similarly real chess.

The players control one side of the board while a ghost of Medivh plays the other, Medivh however can and will cheat throughout the game yet due to its relative ease this generally won’t affect change to the outcome.

One last note is that once the game has been completed, opening the path to Malchezaar, you can chat with Medivh’s ghost to play another game within the raid itself.

Chess Pieces

Upon beginning the event raid members will be able to take command of any current uncontrolled piece simply by talking to it.  Doing so will replace their action bar with one containing the pieces abilities as well as move your point of view to that of the controlled piece, meanwhile the player is teleported to a nearby platform.

Each piece has the following abilities:

Rotate Piece – Click this then select a square to face.

Move – Moves the piece according to the specific pieces movement capabilities.

Special Ability 1 – Unique to the piece itself.

Special Ability 2 – Same as above.

Each piece will auto-attack a piece it faces and movement abilities possess a shared cooldown of 5 seconds, the special attack abilities also have a shared cooldown of 5 seconds although independent from movement cooldowns.

King – King Llane, Warchief Blackhand

Movement – 1 space any direction

Sweep/Cleave – Deals 4000 damage to 3 enemy units infront of the King.

Heroism/Bloodlust – Grants a 50% increased damage buff to all allied units within 8 adjacent squares, does not affect self.  15 second cooldown.

Queen – Human Conjurer, Orc Warlock

Movement – 3 Straight/2 Diagonal

Elemental Blast/Fireball – Deals 4000 damage to any piece. 5 second cooldown and targetable 4 ahead and 3 diagonal.

Rain of Fire/Poison Cloud – Deals 6000 damage to any chess piece and all adjacent pieces as well.  15 second cooldown, targetable 4 ahead and 3 diagonal.

Bishop – Human Cleric, Orc Necrolyte

Movement – 1 in any direction

Healing/Shadow Mend – Heals a chess piece for 12000.  20 second cooldown and targetable up to half the board in any direction.

Holy Lance/Shadow Spear – Deals 2000 damage to any units standing before the piece in a line of 3 squares. 5 second
cooldown.

Knight – Human Charger, Orc Wolf

Movement – 2 Straight/1 Diagonal

Smash/Bite – Deals 3000 damage to an enemy piece one square before the knight.  5 second cooldown.

Stomp/Howl – Reduces the damage of all adjacent enemy pieces by 50% for ten seconds.  5 second cooldown.

Rook – Conjured Water Elemental, Summoned Daemon

Movement – 1 space in any direction.

Geyser/Hellfire – Deals 3000 damage to all adjacent enemy pieces.  5 second cooldown.

Water Shield/Fire Shield – Reduces damage done to self by 50% for five seconds. 5 second cooldown.

Pawn – Human Footman, Orc Grunt

Movement – 1 space in any direction

Heroic Blow/Vicious Strike – Deals 1000 damage to an enemy piece one square before the pawn.  5 second cooldown.

Shield Block/Weapon Deflection – Abosorbs 500 damage over five seconds.  5 second cooldown.

Medivh’s Cheating

At random throughout the match Medivh will utilize a number of cheats, although generally ineffective at turning the tide due to the encounters overall ease it can catch the unwary/unprepared off-guard and cause defeat.

Each cheat is accompanied by an emote much like those seen when pieces are slain/the game is won or lost.

Healing Cheat – Medivh will heal his King and possibly the rest of his units as well to full HP.

Berserking Cheat – Medivh will randomly select a few of his units and buff them, increasing their size, speed and damage greatly.

Damage Cheat – Medivh will target random units on your side of the field and engulf them in flames, dealing immense damage to the affected pieces.

The Game

The entire event itself is fairly simple, the King himself is a great DPS tank to utilize and steamroll weaker pieces, unlike actual chess.  Using the King as a powerhouse leader and supporting him as well as the queen with healers as well as knights to slowly move through the enemy lines is pretty much a sure win.

Another strategy is to move all the pawns forward as much as possible, leaving them around the middle of the board as a meat shield/trash line, as a pawn falls have a stronger unit take their place and begin to move forward.

Pretty much all that’s required is some coordination and light strategizing to make it through, after the first time each run will likely become a guaranteed victory.