World of Warcraft has way too many legendary bosses between its dungeons and raids to ever get an objective view of which one of them is the “best” or “most iconic.” But the player base always has its opinions on the bosses that stand a little taller than the rest of the field.
Perhaps the most iconic and well-recognized bosses in WoW’s lengthy history come from its Classic era, when each dungeon in the leveling experience and endgame raid had an end boss that played a role in not just their home dungeon but the overarching storyline of the world around them. And since the game wasn’t so saturated with bosses and instances, many of them stood out as eye-catching.
In a thread posted to the WoW subreddit earlier this week, the game’s players debated which Classic-era WoW bosses are their favorites—and the community narrowed it down to just a few choices.
It was pretty much unanimously agreed upon by all WoW players in that Reddit thread, though, that Edwin Van Cleef, the final boss of the Deadmines, was the most iconic and beloved dungeon boss from the game’s Classic era. Second only to him was Sally Whitemane, the final boss of the Scarlet Monastery Cathedral.
In retail WoW, Edwin Van Cleef has been removed from the game and replaced by his daughter Vanessa as the final boss of the Deadmines. Although this change took place in 2010, and players don’t have access to the original version of the dungeon in modern WoW, you can still play through the OG Deadmines and experience the Edwin Van Cleef encounter as it was in WoW Classic.
Related: Here are the early WoW Classic Hardcore patch notes
Still, the loss of the Edwin boss fight isn’t all that bad, considering Vanessa Van Cleef’s emergence came alongside one of the best questing experiences in the game. Vanessa is the main villain of the Westfall leveling experience, which is still—even 13 years after its release—one of the best early-game storylines that new WoW characters have the opportunity to play through.
Beyond Edwin Van Cleef, other dungeon bosses mentioned as players’ favorites included Baron Rivendare in Stratholme, as well as Eranikus, the final boss of the Sunken Temple.
