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Comment by 6225

Did him today with my 21 Priest. He hits hard and needs a 20+group (though rest of deadmines can be done with a 18+, VC is somewhat special ^^)
At 50% and at 25% he spawns extra adds, fear is recommended there.

Comment by 6813

VanCleef is the last boss of the Deadmines instance in Westfall, which is best attempted at level 18 or above. He can be somewhat challenging for a new group that is not well equipped, as he summons other Defias to help him at 50 and 25%. For a low level instance, the loot he drops is very good, especially Cruel Barb, which is a highly sought after one-handed sword for Rogues and Warriors. Also, Deadmines is probably one of the funnest instances in the game, so I would always recommend going to fight VC. This is one of the earlier instances you should not skip if you are Alliance.

Comment by 8237

Van Cleef can be overwhelming if you let his adds overcome you, but if you don't he isn't too hard - if you can get to him you can kill him no problem.

When you first engage him two guards will "pop out of the shadows". Polymorph or Fear one of them if you can. Have Damage Dealers attack the non Polymorph/Feared add while the Tank tanks VC. After the first guard goes down kill the other guard and have everyone focus on VC until he gets to 50% life. When he gets to 50% life he will summon two more guards. Polymorph/Fear these guards if you can and have the Tank get aggro on any that aren't Polymorph/Feared. Focus on Van Cleef until he dies and then dispose of the guards.

If you kill his first two guards he is fairly easy, but if you allow all four to be out then you will most likely wipe.

Comment by 8004

Although I've never done a regular vc run before, i have farmed it many times for the twink drops here. my friends made me run it for them 5-6 times a day so they could get cruel barbs. for the high level toons - farm t his place - can get good money Oo

Comment by 8409

VC is the first instance for alliance in WoW. Usually id say level 17+ could go, 16+ for a priest. A pretty good group to run VC with would be: Priest, Rogue, Hunter, Mage, and either a Paladin or Warrior for a tank. The low instance really doesnt require a warrior for a tank as paladins can do just as good. Just keep an eye out for patrol as you chug along through the instance. Fighting Van Cleef can be difficult unless you do it right. Many people use a bug on Van Cleef that enables the healer to never get hurt... bugging out all his adds. If the tank / paladin charges van cleef and pulls him out ..... the priest should jump on the cannon just near the ramp that you came up on. If the priest spams heals on the tank, all the adds will go to him. Unable to attack the priest, your group should be safe which will easily enable you to take him down. Just the way most groups go about taking him out.

Comment by OTLAWLS

heres a strategy for VC ok when you go up the ramp next to VC's room theres a barrel on the left side get all range and healers onto it then buff up and start the battle pull van cleef and run next to the barrel where range and healers are and tank him there when he spawns add just over heal and let the guards evade bug after you kill and loot VC just gentley have the 1 who has aggro of 1 or more of the guards jump off and onto the ramp and they will de-bug then kill them its pretty simple really well GL and HF!

Comment by Fedelis

This is a pretty easy encounter. When you go up the ramp onto the very last ramp onto the top deck, you will notice canons to the left. Your healer should jump to the neerest one before the battle begins. Have someone (preferably the tank) pull VC back towards the cannon so that he is in line of sight for heals.

Let the tank get a little agro before casting any heals, if a heal get cast early, VC will evade bug and the encounter will have to start over. Healing the person who pulled will pull the guard's agro to the healer, and they will evade bug. Simply dps and heal as you would any mob and the battle will end fairly easily.

Comment by Sly99

If you're going at him with anyone level 16 or under expect them to die quickly, its a good idea to take out the adds first so everyone can focus on him, if you have your weakest focused on the adds your strongest should have him to at least 50 by the time your done.

Comment by 8301

As everyone is saying, and I will say again, always have your healer on the cannon. If you screw up before then or don't use it, jump down to the wheel/gear, stay there and watch them evade bug. Good luck on your next run in that place!

Comment by 9545

This whole line of quests is fun and going through Deadmines is very fun. I have yet to see it's equal in WoW as far as dungeons go.

Comment by 9932

A neat trick i learned when doing VC is to get all your healers to jump onto the cannon closest to the ramp upto the deck of the ship. Then get your tank to pull him to the ramp so your healer can cast heals without worrying about his line of sight. When doing this fight, everyone should dps Van Cleef and his guards wil get bugged and stand there. Once you kill him tell your healers to jump back onto the ship, when they do so, the guards will continue attacking.

Comment by 24919

He's not a rare elite... Just an elite...

Comment by 7599

VanCleef can be soloed by a level 10 twinked rogue (with a dodge chance greater than 100%). Here is an article and video about someone that did it:

http://www.wowinsider.com/2007/05/07/wow-moviewatch-rogue-solos-van-cleef/

Comment by 52234

If u have a Warrior tanking him, fastest way to get VanCleef down is to get warrior to charge, and cast himself retaliation. Notice that when VanCleef is at 50% there comes new adds. AoE could be good at this point.

Comment by 40405

I have done VC many times with my lvl 35 feral druid and a lvl 18 mage. Mage on canon, i hit VC till he dies, then the adds one after the other. Easy as pie :D

Comment by 55847

The Defias that VC calls are: 2 Defias Blackguards,(19-20 elites), and 2 more Blackguards at 25% health. If you're a group that can't beat VC and his guards, just kill VC, get his letter, head, or whatever you need, so you get what you want and can just ressurect at the graveyard and be done with the Deadmines :).

Comment by Tigerboy

Don't get swamped try to have a ranged person with you to take an add of VC's. And don't let them get the better of you.

Comment by 65604

for enchanters, the dead mines is the best place to get items for disenchanting.
i ran one time and i went from lv 50 enchanting to 75.

but its not the best place to disenchant for level 145 enchanting or higher

Comment by marbar

VanCleef is a sheriff in the movie Shanghai Noon

Comment by kimsta

Van Cleef is also the last name of one of the main characters in the movie "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly". His character personifies the "Bad" in the movie title.

Comment by 52464

I've heard that there are pieces of armor that resemble alot VanCleef's, but so far haven't seen any myself, and I'm wondering if this is true or just a hoax?

Comment by 72954

Edwin Vancleef, is the last boss of "The Deadmines" this guy is fun to fight and hase good drops he sommons 2 Defias Blackguards when you first fight him, if its taking more long he will sommon another 2 Defias Blackguards just maybe sheep, fear or freeze trap them or whatever then kill Edwin Vancleef then the guards, its usally what i do.

Comment by 76934

Has anyone farmed two Cruel Barbs? If so how long did it take?

Comment by 61473

VanCleef isn't marked as Rare Elite anymore. It is possible for healers to stand on one of the cannons in order to get aggro of the adds and let dps fully concentrate on VC. His loot is considered by many as the best of that lvl, Cape of the Brotherhood being used by many until the late 30's, and Cruel Barb being a good off-hand for twink rogues (with main hand either Shadowfang/Sentinel's Blade/Assasin's Blade).

Comment by Solander

Does anyone else feel like killing this dude kinda sucks?
I mean, he totally got shafted by the corrupt nobles of stormwind.
I say we all defect, and join the Defias!

Long Live Vancleef!

Comment by 85684

Hunters if you are boosting, use flare so you can see the bodyguards and then focus on killing vancleef at first and if the group is capable let them take care of the guards. If you are having trouble if you are 35 or under focus on vancleef and then just run, or let yourself die its alot easier.....

Comment by Nailer

Now he is 20 level (2.3 PTR) instead of 21

Comment by 21721

How much XP does VC and his guards give you, at lvl19?

(Rate this question down when someone's answered :)

Comment by 71968

Maybe one of the coolest characters in the wow-universe :)

Comment by 84425

So, you've finally gotten past all of Van Cleef's bodyguards and reached him. He is inside a dark cabin at the top of the ship. Be prepared for this battle, because doesn't leaving the kingpin of the Defias Brotherhood sitting alone in a dark room seem a little suspicious? Duh. Upon attacking him, 4 Defias Blackguards will leap from the shadows and protect their master at all costs. Take them down first, and don't turn your back on them seeing as they all can backstab you. After slaying Van Cleef, rip off his head and bring it to Gryan Stoutmantle on Sentinel Hill. (Wouldn't it be funny if you could run back to Rhank'Zor and wave it in his face saying "Gryan Stoutmantle pay big for dis head!")

Comment by 115747

Relatively easy for a mid-30s warlock and mage duo. DON'T run into the dark house, instead, sneak over to the left as far as you can, and look in. You should be able to target one of the two stealthed Defias by the door. Pull him, and the whole battle moves outside. Crowd control is your best friend; lots of judicious sheeping and fearing and VanCleef goes down easy.

Comment by 90205

The easiest tactic, really. There are many good tactics listed here, but no one has mentioned the easiest technique for this hard-hitting boss.

1. Get your healer(s) to the cannon next to the ramp that leads to the ships highest platform
2. Let the tank pull VanCleef, and instantly cast a low-rank heal to generate threat, keep repeating heals
3. All must focus on DPSing Edwin
4. Healer jumps from the cannon, cast Fade (or nothing if you aren't a priest)
5. Kill the mobs

Explanation: All the adds keep 'evading' because they can't reach the healer, the cannon is a safespot as also is the famous cartwheel. You can also do this in the cartwheel if you are unsure how to do this.

Comment by 125997

what percent is it?cause i cant see it there.

Comment by Rach3l

I wanted to try kiting Van Cleef back to the entrance of Deadmines so the twink on my second account wouldn't have to be escorted to the end, enabling me to skip as many pulls as possible to get VC's loot. However, he leashes back to the boat as soon as he crosses the south threshold out of the Goblin Foundry. So, if you want to do as little clearing as possible, clear all the way up to the Goblin Foundry and park your twink inside of it. Then pull Van Cleef to the Foundry, kill him, and loot.

Watching for patrols doesn't matter because your twink can still roll on loot while dead.

Comment by 121742

when i run DM solo or im running someone i think Mr. Edwin VanCleef
is not challenging really at all. And im only lvl 40 is the one i run through DM a lot.
but i have life steeling and 1 other chant on my sword cuz i have a twink.
but i personily think DM is an easy instance to run.

Comment by 101494

I believe he is a reference to Stargate Sg-1 in the episode entity when it searches the data files before O'niel a file with the name van cleef appears, i may be wrong.

Comment by 160947

I solod this on my lvl 27 dranie hunter. Blizz realy needs to nerf hunters.

Comment by goblinego

I kinda think that Vancleef will be lvl 70 in future :D

Comment by 167496

Also if you haven't all ready(even tho it's kinda obvious) take out captain greenskin incase you haven't before you attack vancleef or you will have some major problems if you drag Vancleef out onto the deck

Comment by Bsmx93

Before you go up the ramp to get to the top, if you look to the left, theres a small cannon, make your healer stand on the cannon. Now aggro VC, make the tank aggro VC as much as possible but don't let anyone attack the guards, let the healer heal, the healer will aggro the guards, but since the healer is on the cannon, they wont attack and will just go into Evade mode, so all you have to do now is take VC down, heal up, then attack guards.

Comment by 159042

instead of using the cannon i use the 'wheel' for hunters/casters and letting melee stay right in front of wheel. That makes it so no one can do 1 dmg to all ranged/spellcasters unless they can use a thrown or bow ability which i have never seen.

Hope this helps
Level 14 Gnome future self twinking.

Comment by Corilithon

The first two adds don't spawn, they are already there under Stealth. If you have a Rogue with you that isn't really low-level, have him stealth and walk close to the door, and pan his camera. The two are sitting on either side of the opening, and can be Sapped before the tank pulls VC. Just makes it a little easier, but the best idea would be to just kill it instead of leaving it incapacitated for a while.

Comment by 194711

This boss summons some companions in his fight against you and your group. I have not seen many wipes on this boss but you should have a few potions with you and a good healer.

Good luck everyone!

Comment by Achile

Really strange just 17% chance to get his head, so sometimes he without her? :D

Comment by 150645

er..they didn't just "repair" stormwind, the masons rebuilt the entire city, after the orcs burned it to the ground, so yeah, I'd be kinda #$%^ed about that too, lol, he probably went about getting revenge the wrong way, but it's rediculous to think the masons would sit around and do nothing when they don't get payed for rebuilding the entire city, at that point it was probably the last straw, if you read up on alot of the backstory for most of the instances, killing alot of the guys is hard, alot of em became corrupt or went nuts :(

Comment by 162119

If anyone cares to know, his boots are called the Boot of Displacement.

Comment by 193395

Best boss fight in the game!

Comment by 131548

link voice scripts plox!

Comment by 36802

My favourite dungeon and boss. I always feel sad when killing him.
Good job from blizz btw on background for this great dungeon. I wish there was heroic DM for 80 lvl.

Comment by 293841

i solo'd this on my lvl 80 warlock. tougher than gluth IMO. lol.

he drops 2 twink items (barbs and armour) for rogues and he is the first boss that your gonna down as an alliance player. i seriously advise doing so because it provides the basis of what your gonna be doing for a lot of your WoW career

Comment by Slayers

So here you are at the final boss and using my tips. Vancleef the hardest one there. His Sword came in handy untill lvl 30. Tip:He may be hard but hes got this good stuff on him. Its lie spending gold cant do it. But the only soloing person at lvl 25 is a shaman. He is for achivement. He drops his own head. A letter for a quest. Real easy quest.

Comment by 127839

I'm amazed no-one here has said anything about the good old

"Edwin Vancleef will occasionally shout "Hey you guys!" as players fight their way through Deadmines." patch note.

HEY YOU GUYS!

Comment by Yakeshi

To be a true "look-a-like" VanCleef, you must kill him, for he actually visually wields a sword that he, and only he, drops. His weapons are as follows:

Main Hand=Cruel Barb Ah, the Cruel Barb...
VanCleef's signature, imo ^_^

Off-hand=Fine Scimitar Found in Durotar. Good luck true look-a-like's (human males) this one is from Horde Territory! pvp realm=possibly screwed, but probably not since to be a look-a-like for this guy you need to be a Rogue so stealth when you think someone 60+ is coming plus there shouldn't be too many level 60+ horde out there and the monsters are a joke.

I say 60+ because you obviously need to be 60-65 to wear look-a-like armor for Edwin.
Anywho, good luck!

Comment by 304197

Alright Vancleef is the final boss in Deadmines which is located in southwestern Westfall. The instance is located near this small village area called moonbrook. After clearing all the mobs and bosses, Vancleef is the final boss on the top deck of the top inside this small shed-like building. Many Twinks start farming this instance because Vancleef drops Cruel Barb and Blackended Defias Armor. The barb is considered a very good twinking main hand sword for rouges. While the chest is considered good for most melee twinks. If you are not getting run through this instance, and you have an average group, then this boss shouldn't be too hard. With some average level 15-25 group members you should be able to kill him easy. Good luck to all twinks farming the chest, it has a pretty low drop rate so beware, it took me 3 tries to get it on my 19 twink.

Comment by 326714

Yup. Did this one with a couple of healers, 1 MT 1 OT that was DPS, and 1 DPS. Cleared up to Van Cleef and just whooped his butt and took care of his guards. Later on, when the Death Knights in WotLK got in, booted up a Death Knight, soloed it right up to there when I was 58 and just totally annihilated him and his guards.

Comment by silkfire

kingpin
n.

2. The most important person or element in an enterprise or system.

Comment by 276422

The new tier 9 Rogue gear is named in honor of this character

Comment by Blackriver

This guy is SO hardcore, Rogue Tier 9 is named after him.

He just went easy on you.

Comment by 370917

He is very easy if know what to do!

Comment by grimman

Congratulations, Edwin! You now have a gear set (rogue T9) named after you! :D

Comment by Malediction

Am I the only one who finds it amusing that the rogue T9 set is named after a level 18 elite?

Comment by 236552

He carries a couple of items that is pretty nice for twinks, such as cruel barb or blackened defias armor.

When i gear a twink, i usually grabs the blackened defias armor from DM, and i do this before level 15, so I have a couple of exp to go on. Have your twink stand outside the instance while a higher level toon does his job. If you're level 19 and barely about to ding i suggest you run inside and let mobs kill your twink inside DM at the start, do not release spirit.

Whatever you choose, have a higher level char (friend, another account, guildy etc), run towards the end, just grab and kill what you find on the way. When your at VC, get aggro from him and run towards the entrance, one note tho, if you just run too far away from VC you can risk he will run back, but if you have him hitting you all the time you should be fine. At the entrance, get your toon inside (unless you've killed him) kill VC, loot him, if you didn't get what you wanted just rinse and repeat.

Great way of not riskin' your twink to ding or to gain too much experience.

Comment by Frawki

Lol, actually a lot of stockades mobs would be able to kill Van Cleef in an 1 on 1... A little bit wierd... Like a stormwind guard who pwns King varian Wrynn... :P

Comment by Bullfrogg

Edwin VanCleef makes his triumphant return as a boss in the Trail of Champions!
He can be summoned while fighting Argent Confessor Paletress.

Comment by 423089

You are talking about the spell she cast 'bad memory', this spell can summon Herod, Eck, (Gundrak) Heighan the Unclean, Prince Malchezaar, and even HOGGER (yup, so does the achievement say) and lots of more known NPC.

So Van Cleef might have to share his 'triumphant return' with someone else.

Hogger... I'll be having nightmares...

Comment by 165543

ppl who are running lowbies through this instance via leeroy pulling the whole place should note that all the mobs will start running onto the person ur running when u go into this shack so pull him with a low damage ranged ability EG:ice lance

Comment by Doomy

He's also mistaken for Krom without the mask.

Comment by 423801

would this boss be soloable for a level 34 combat rogue?

Comment by 489166

Appears to be wearing the Stormshroud Armor set, Boots of Displacement, Cruel Barb in MH, Fine Scimitar in OH and a Red Defias Mask.

Comment by 493392

http://www.darklegacycomics.com/208.html
Who knew he had an alt?

Comment by 266285

Heroic Deadmines in Cataclysm.

Vanilla WoW was merely a setback!

Comment by 560755

As of the moment, Van Cleef is a simple boss, the hardest aspect about him is the elites he summons, I ran my 80 through Deadmines to practice my staff, it took several hits to kill him (of course), longer than it would a regular group. The longer I spent on him the more adds he summoned. He doesn't do anything special like stun or silence you. Just a job that is easier the faster it goes.

Comment by 560755

right on! it'd have to be quite different to make it a difficult instance however. lol

Comment by 315859

Deadmines is going Heroic, and Edwin VanCleef celebrates!

Since the instance is for high levels... is he going to drop Epic head now?

Comment by 615069

As I read on Cataclysm article , Deadmines will have a heroic version.
Wonder if this is the reason...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qX7ehxyYRQc
Pretty good video and music.

Enjoy !

Comment by bbyoshi123

are there any in-game boots that match his or anything similar?

Comment by Happyfisherman

In Cataclysm, in the beta at least, he has a daughter called Vanessa VanCleef. She also takes the spot of his father in the new Heroic DM; if she's gonna take the spot of his daddy in the low level version of DM remains unknown.

Comment by 630308

He's on a boat!

Comment by TehOracle

Is Edwin still around in normal mode for the low level characters to see?

Comment by 281586

I Love his voice when fells a player "And Stay Down" so badass!

Comment by kscott

Deathwing heard Edwin was being removed from the game with Cata and got his revenge on Stormwind for him.

Comment by 593641

he is not dead the one we killed was merely a decoy the real edwin vancleef is in hiding waiting for the right time to strike! and he will be the last raid boss for watever expansion comes next!

Comment by Blackbark

Edwin, words can't say enough how much i miss the old deadmines... despite you are ganked countless times during all this years, you will always have a special place to the players that started to play before the cataclysm expansion. I actually remember when i started, your miners and guards could makes us wipe.
Now your shattered brotherhood is controlled by your mad daughter (seriously take her to some psychiatric) and what remains is a shadow of your former glory...

Edwin VanCleef, wherever you are, dead or alive, you will be missed... the old deadmines will me missed...

Comment by 353888

RIP Edwin VanCleef!
*sniffle* It seems like only yesterday I killed you on my Pally...
You will be missed!
XD Seriously, Blizz, bring VanCleef back =/

Comment by Tim200

Does anyone know what his gear is?

Comment by Ethlin

I was sad when heroic Deadmines was just a heroic of the "Future version" so we didn't get to see this guy on heroic mode (Nor Mr. Smite).

This guy is in my top 3 "Most badass characters" with Kel'Thuzad and John J. Keeshan.

EDIT: Remembered the 3rd.

Comment by 848763

In the new expansion - Cataclysm Edwin is replaced by Vanessa VanCleef the new leader of the Defias.

Comment by Whammies

This boss has been discontinued.
:(

Comment by LanceofAbel

The trouble with this jerk wasn't that he was a bad guy. It was that he let himself become a bad guy. He and his stonemasons' group were treated badly by the nobles (who, not at all surprisingly, were controlled by Onyxia aka Katrana Prestor) and deserved better. But so did all the normal soldiers and guards just doing their jobs who were killed to get to their bosses, the innocents the Defias robbed and the ordinary people of Stormwind whose only crime was not being in power and doing something to help the Stonemasons. He let the Brotherhood wash itself in blood and money before pointing to Prestor's actions and claiming he was fully justified. And I say he abandoned his moral authority to become a terrorist, or the equivalent. I regret only that his daughter followed him down that path.

Comment by Dis4aster

Oh Edwin, you shall always be missed.

Comment by 1205711

Fun fact:
Ash Howarth, better known by his stage name Edwin van Cleef, is a nu-disco/electronic musician from Leeds, England.

Comment by 1358429

"Criteria of 'Captain Cookie kills (Deadmines)'"?

Comment by Knightsword

The LFR version of the Treads of Violent Intrusion is a good match to the rest of the set, if looking for a replacement.

Edwin VanCleef <Defias Kingpin>

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