WoW Rare Spawns

Lesser Charms of Good Fortune to Drop from Rares in Patch 5.3 & Sahn Tidehunter Moved

2013-05-19T09:00:00.000-07:00

With patch 5.3 just around the corner I figured I'd give a quick heads-up about a few of the changes that will be affecting rare spawns in Pandaria when it goes live.

The biggest change affecting all of the rares in Pandaria (minus the Zadalari Warscouts & Warbringers) is that they will all drop several Lesser Charms of Good Fortune now. I flew around the ptr killing each rare up, and every one dropped several charms. The amount seemed to be about 3-5 from each.

That isn't the only thing being added to their loot tables though, Blood-Soaked Invitations will also have a chance to drop off of the rares in Pandaria (minus the rares on Isle of Thunder). I'm not sure what the drop rate will be on them, but I had to kill about ten rares before I saw one. (Official patch notes)

I think this is a wonderful change. I'll admit, as much as I love pet battling I was getting a bit tired of it in order to get my Lesser Charms. It will also be nice to see people hunting these rares down again given this new incentive. I know I won't be flying by and leaving any of them alive any more when I come across one.

Also, the Big Blossom Excavation totally destroyed Sahn Tidehunter's Little pond in Vale of Eternal Blossoms. The poor guy had to move with his dead crab Carapin to the northern pond next to Mogu'shan Palace. He is shown at his new location in the screenshot below.

Sahn Tidehunter at his new location in patch 5.3

(And on a personal note - Our new girl baby turned one month old yesterday, and she's doing quite well. She went on her first road trip last week and she had a lot of fun. She absolutely LOVES bumpy car rides. I'm also fairly certain that I witnessed her first real smile this morning! ^-^)

A Precious Little Announcement

2013-04-22T13:05:00.000-07:00

So I tried to find a cute baby night elf or draenei to take a screenshot of for this post, because I figured it would be more appropriate given the characters I play in game, however it just didn't happen. I actually couldn't find a baby draenei model anywhere. Where do draenei come from? Eggs? Then holy moly, the night elf one I found.. simply terrifying. So here is a cute human baby to preface my announcement.

That's right, if you haven't already guessed this post is all about baby! The hubby and I just welcomed our first child into the world last Thursday, April 18th. She weighed a healthy 6lbs 10ounces and measured in at about 20'' long. She's got a full head of dark brown (maybe even black) hair and her eyes are getting bluer each day. She's absolutely gorgeous and I must say, I'm totally in love. <3

That being said, activity on my end regarding this blog will be slowing down significantly for the next few weeks/months until we've established a nice routine with our new addition. I will still be answering questions/comments, etc.

Until my next post, (pre) Happy Children's Week!

Trove(s) of the Thunder King

2013-04-07T18:46:00.000-07:00

Ahhhh treasure, who doesn't love finding a big honkin' treasure chest? I know I always get a little excited each time I run across one while playing. Well this post is all about treasure baby. No, not the typical treasure chests you'll find out in the world (although you should be looking for those too), but the actual chests you can find throughout the Isle of Thunder: Trove of the Thunder King.

Finding your first Trove of the Thunder King will land you the achievement Thunder Plunder which counts toward the meta-achievement: Stormbreaker.

These chests generally contain about 30 gold, a Shan'ze Ritual Stone, a Fortuitous Coffer (which will usually yield 1-3 Elder Charms of Good Fortune and a small chance at any one of the books required for the Zandalari Library Card Achievement). If you have not yet looted a Key to the Palace of Lei Shen since the weekly Tuesday reset from a rare or another source, there is a good chance you'll see one in your chest as well.

The Key to the Palace of Lei Shen will get you into the ultra fun, timed, single-player scenario Troves of the Thunder King, where there will be enough treasure to practically make your brain explode - but I'll leave that for another time.

So here's the deal with these chests: You can only see and loot a single Trove of the Thunder King once per week, per character. (Source) Now apparently there have been some rare instances where people have come across more than one in a week; it seems this has been when people have found chests within just a minute or so of one another - before the server has had a chance to flag that character complete for that week. That was never intended, and is apparently being worked on.

If you have multiple 90's and aren't sure if you've looted one of these chests yet this week, there is a quick way to see if you have. Simply copy and paste this command into chat:

/run print(IsQuestFlaggedCompleted(32609))

If you see a "1" in the chat window, that means you have looted a chest this week. If you see "nil", it means you have not yet looted a chest this week. (Source)

For those who use the addon tomtom, you can use a series of macros to add waypoints of all the chest locations found so far. (Waypoints taken from wowhead map on 4/7/13.)

/way 53.2, 24.6
/way 50.4, 27.3
/way 49.1, 27.2
/way 47.7, 25.7
/way 48.0, 29.3
/way 52.4, 37.0
/way 48.8, 43.0
/way 56.8, 45.7
/way 57.5, 48.6
/way 55.1, 49.1
/way 54.1, 53.6
/way 55.5, 53.7
/way 60.9, 53.6
/way 59.3, 56.8
/way 34.9, 47.6
/way 45.2, 50.7

/way 44.1, 56.1
/way 46.3, 57.5
/way 46.6, 61.6
/way 38.9, 54.7
/way 33.4, 57.5
/way 33.2, 60.5
/way 33.8, 60.5
/way 36.1, 58.5
/way 38.7, 59.6
/way 37.9, 61.0
/way 36.9, 60.7
/way 35.6, 63.7
/way 39.6, 64.9
/way 37.0, 68.1
/way 44.3, 67.5
/way 28.9, 80.8

/way 33.4, 76.3
/way 39.1, 76.8
/way 40.8, 74.7
/way 43.5, 78.6
/way 43.8, 82.8
/way 48.0, 82.1
/way 51.5, 89.6
/way 53.8, 82.7
/way 52.9, 77.3
/way 51.2, 74.8
/way 51.5, 74.0
/way 47.5, 72.5

When you have all of these waypoints in, your map will look like the one in the screenshot below. You will also be able to see the locations as you come up on them on your mini-map. Now some of these chests are located underground, in buildings etc., over at Wowpedia they have another map that shows which of these chests are under and above ground. Unfortunately the map is rather small and has about half of the known locations to date on it, but some may still find it helpful.

Trove of the Thunder King Locations

When you do find a chest, be aware that you cannot open it while in combat. Also, if you find one in the saurok area you will loose your Skin of the Saurok disguise when you try to open it. Those saurok are not very hospitable when they realize you aren't one of them.

Isle of Thunder Rares Spawns

2013-04-03T05:10:00.000-07:00

There are a total of eleven rares on the Isle of Thunder. Ten of them are required for the achievement Champions of Lei Shen. They are all on very short re-spawn timers that seem to be between 30min to an hour, and certain rares become available after unlocking different Stages of progression on the Isle. (More info on that below.)

All of these rares (minus Ra'sha) share the new tapping system introduced in patch 5.2, where so long as you participate in killing the rare you will have access to it's loot. As more and more people join in on the fight, the mob's health pool will increase with each additional player. All in all, I think this new system is great, as it gives players around the Isle more time to get to each rare once it's been called out.

Each of these rares is guaranteed to drop a Tome of Valor worth 15 valor points each time you kill them. They will also drop a single Shan'ze Ritual Stone and a Key to the Palace of Lei Shen for an individual character once each week (so long as you haven't already looted the key elsewhere). Obtaining three ritual stones will unlock the group quest Setting the Trap, which will then lead to the weekly group quest Champions of the Thunder King. Obtaining a Key to the Palace of Lei Shen will unlock the weekly solo scenario Troves of the Thunder King where you will have five minutes to grab as much treasure as you can before the clock runs out.

These rares also have a very small chance to drop the item that begins the questline for warlocks to get their green fire; Sealed Tome of the Lost Legion. The tome seems to be roughly a 2-3% drop chance off of any one of the rares (minus Ra'sha), and can only be looted by warlocks. When combined with a Healthstone the item becomes The Codex of Xerrath, which starts the questline with An Unusual Tome.

So without further adieu, here are each of these rares listed below in the order they became accessible on the Isle. If you scroll further down the page I also have a slightly more up to date map showing exactly where they can be found.

Haywire Sunreaver Construct
NPCID: 50358
Coordinates: 48, 85
Location Description: Running along the shores in southwestern Ihgaluk Crag
Base Health: 10539k
Notable Loot: Sunreaver Micro-Sentry

Abilities: Haywire: Go Haywire! Deals 18500 to 21500 Nature damage to all enemies within 40 yards every 1 sec. for 20 sec and increases movement speed by 100%. (Ranged players can still dps him and not get hit, so long as you stay right at about 40 yards. Others should be able to heal through it. If you don't have heals, I recommend getting away from him for the 20 seconds he casts this.)

Ku'lai the Skyclaw <Ward of Beasts>
NPCID: 69996
Coordinates: 36, 82
Location Description: Patrols the beach south of Za'Tual
Base Health: 7167k, Pet: 1969k

Abilities: Bladewind: Spin around in a whirl of blades, inflicting 46250 to 53750 Physical damage to nearby enemies every 1 sec. for 10 sec. (This is easily avoidable Simply move out of melee range when he starts spinning.)
Leaping Rend: Leaps at the target and slashes, causing the target to bleed for 20000 Physical damage every 1 sec. for 10 sec. (Ranged players - be sure to stand fairly close to him, he only seems to use this ability when your far, and it HURTS.)
Pet (Tamed Pterrorwing): Spirit Bond (So long as his pet is alive, Ku'lai will take half damage. KILL HIS PET FIRST.)

Progenitus <The Firstborn>
NPCID: 69997
Coordinates: 50, 74
Location Description: At the very top of the highest peak in Ihgaluk Crag. You will need Skin of the Saurok disguise to reach him.
Base Health: 7588k

Abilities: Evolution: Increases all damage dealt by 10%.
Mutagenic Burst: Inflicts 46250 to 53750 Nature damage to all enemies within 5 yards and knocks them up.
Unleash Blood: Inflicts 46250 to 53750 Nature damage to all enemies within 10 yards and knocks them back. (This ability can be a real killer, and quite literally because it can knock you off the mountain. Either stun him while he's casting it and run away, or position your back against the big dinosaur head.)

A note for pet classes: Use the "move to" option to keep your pet on the top of the mountain, especially if your pet has aggro. You can also put your pet on passive to keep Prog from chasing it down the mountainside if someone else is there tanking.

Mumta <Thief of Souls>
NPCID: 69664
Coordinates:
Location Description: On the top floor of The Hall of the Grand Imperion in the Court of Bones.
Base Health: 6745k

Abilities: Darkest Darkness: Reduces healing taken by 99% for 20 sec.

Spirit Bolts: Deals Shadow damage to all nearby enemies every 0.5 sec.

Vengeful Spirit: Summons a vengeful spirit to assist the caster. (This is by far the most important thing to look out for while fighting him. If the vengeful spirit is coming after you - RUN AWAY. The spirit hits very very hard, but it can be kited and slowed and will eventually de-spawn.)

Goda
NPCID: 69998
Coordinates: 53, 53
Location Description: Standing inside of a tree in northeastern Diremoor, just south of the wall separating the next part of the zone.
Base Health: 10539k

Abilities: Crystalline Shield: Protects the caster in a crystalline shield, reducing magical damage taken by 10%. (This ability stacks, but can be purged, dispelled, etc.)
Shell Spin: Spins around for 10 sec , inflicting 92500 to 107500 Physical damage every 1 sec. to enemies within 10 yards and knocking them back. (This hits pretty hard, but is super easy to avoid. Just run away when he starts spinning.)

Al'tabim the All-Seeing
NPCID: 70000
Coordinates: 44, 31
Location Description: On the Northwestern shore next to a large cauldron.
Base Health: 6323k

Abilities: Meteor Shower: Summons a shower of meteors, dealing Fire damage at the impact locations.
Omen: Inflicts 400000 Shadow damage after 2 min. Leaving combat cancels the effect. (This debuff isn't much to worry about if multiple people are killing him and he goes down fast. If you are soloing him however, and your dps isn't high enough this debuff can be deadly. I imagine classes with some kind of damage absorption would fair better against this guy solo.)
Shadow Bolt Volley: Hurls missiles of dark magic, inflicting Shadow damage to nearby enemies.

God-Hulk Ramuk
NPCID: 69999
Coordinates: 60, 50
Location Description: In front of the stairs leading down to the gate to Stormsea Landing. (Becomes accessible during Stage 3)
Base Health: 8431k

Abilities: Blessing of Thunder: Call for the blessing of Lei Shen, increasing damage dealt by 100%, damage taken by 50%, and reducing movement speed by 50% for 15 sec.
Crouch: Crouch down into a ball, reducing incoming damage by 50% and healing for 5% of maximum health every 3 sec. for 20 sec. (This ability CAN and SHOULD be interrupted.)
Pound: Pound the ground, inflicting 138750 to 161250 Physical damage to enemies within 5 yards of the impact and knocking them back. (This has a cast time, just be sure to run away the moment it starts.)

Lu-Ban <The War Crafter>
NPCID: 70002
Coordinates: 54, 35
Location Description: At the Thunder Forges, standing in front of a large mogu statue and table with mogu weapons on it. (Becomes accessible during Stage 4.)
Base Health: 6745k

Abilities: Skyforged Hammers: Skyforged hammers inflict 27750 to 32250 Nature damage on melee attack.
Storm Bolt: Fling a hammer at a distant target, inflicting 138750 to 161250 Physical damage and stunning them for 3 sec. (He casts this when your further than 15 yards from him, so ranged players just don't stand too far away.)

Backbreaker Uru
NPCID: 70001
Coordinates: 50, 25
Location Description: He patrols the back entrance of the Lightning Vein Mine. (Becomes accessible during stage 4.)
Base Health: 9275k

Abilities: Break Spine: Crush the target's spine, rooting them in place and reducing their chance to dodge and parry by 100% for 15 sec. (He uses this on his current target.)
Massive Stomp: Deals 185000 to 215000 Physical damage to all enemies within 30 yards. This ability only affects targets that are on the ground. (Combined with Break Spine, this ability can be very painful. All you need to do to not get hit is jump before he gets the cast off. If your his main target and your pinned down though, get ready to heal or use some defensive cd's.)

Molthor <The Gatekeeper>
NPCID: 70003
Coordinates: 62, 48 & 58, 35
Location Description: He has two spawn points. One of them is behind God-Hulk Ramuk on the overlook at Stormsea Landing. The other is in the back of the Swollen Vault. (Becomes accessible during stage 5.)
Base Health: 8010k

Abilities: Horrific Visage: Strikes fear in an enemy, causing it to flee in terror for 8 sec.
Scarab Swarm: Summons a bevy of scarabs to attack the enemy. (These can easily be aoe'd down.)
Thunder Crush: Crush enemies in a cone in front of the caster for 231250 to 268750 Nature damage. (Move out of this when you see it on the ground. It hurts. It looks like a grey thundercloud floating just above the ground.)

Click to Enlarge

Ra'sha (NOT part of the Champions of Lei Shen Achievement)
NPCID: 70530
Coordinates: 39, 81
Location Description: In the back of the cave by the water where the skeletal raptors are located. The cave is guarded by two elite Zandalari Execution Guards.
Base Health: 4075k
Notable Loot: Ra'sha's Sacrificial Dagger (Ra'sha does not share the same "tapping system" as the other rares in this zone. The first person/party to engage him will be the only ones able to loot him.)

Abilities: Bloodbolt: Inflicts damage to an enemy and reduces its movement speed for 4 sec.
Bloody Strike: An instant attack that deals 110% weapon damage. Increases attack damage by 5%, but reduces chance to hit by 5%. Lasts 15 sec.
Mark of Blood: Place a Mark of Blood on an enemy. Whenever the marked enemy deals damage to a target, that target is healed for 4% of its maximum health. Lasts for until cancelled. (Simply stop hitting him when he puts this debuff on you, otherwise the fight will go on forever.)

Although he isn't part of the Champions of Lei Shen achievement, he will still drop a guaranteed Tome of Valor and potentially a Shan'ze Ritual Stone. Unlike the other rares on the island he could also potentially drop a Small Bag of Zandalari Supplies or a Big Bag of Zandalari Supplies.

Helpful Addons:

IoTRares

Ever wonder what that addon is that has people calling out which rare is up, with info on the rare's location and % health left in general chat on the Isle? That is the addon IoTRares. Not only will it call out in general when you've targeted a rare, it also keeps track of when you've last seen each rare to more easily keep track of which ones will likely be spawning in next. Here is an example below of both what you'll see called out in general chat, and the timers for when each rare was last killed that only you will see.

What is nice about this addon is that it's not as "spammy" as you'd think it would be. When several people in an area working on one rare all have this same addon only one person will call out the progress on that rare in general. I've found this addon very helpful, as I know many others on my server have as well. You can download this addon from Curse.

TomTom

If you use tomtom, you can simply add these waypoints to a macro for each of their spawn locations to show up on your map:

/way 35.0 82.0 Ku'lai

/way 51.3 71.2 Progenitus

/way 35.1 62.5 Mumta

/way 53.7 53.1 Goda

/way 61.5 49.6 Ramuk

/way 59.3 35.7 Molthor

/way 63.5 49.2 Molthor

/way 54.4 35.6 Lu-Ban

/way 44.7 29.7 Al'tabim

/way 48.6 89.8 Haywire

/way 48.4 25.3 Backbreaker Uru

/way 39.4 81.6 Ra'sha

NPCScan

You can also add each of these rares into NPCScan, and it will pick them up so long as they aren't cached. You can add them quickly with these macros:

/npcscan add 50358 Haywire Sunreaver Construct

/npcscan add 69664 Mumta

/npcscan add 69996 Ku'lai the Skyclaw

/npcscan add 69998 Goda

/npcscan add 69997 Progenitus

/npcscan add 70000 Al'tabim the All-Seeing

/npcscan add 69999 God-Hulk Ramuk

/npcscan add 70001 Backbreaker Uru

/npcscan add 70002 Lu-Ban

/npcscan add 70003 Molthor

/npcscan add 70530 Ra'sha

Happy Hunting! :)

Fishin' for Rares: Krakkanon

2013-03-31T15:46:00.002-07:00

Fishing, it's not something I usually talk about on my blog. Mainly because it's never had anything specifically to do with rares (the silver dragon kind) until just recently. Well, patch 5.2 sure added a lot to the fishing profession, and one of those things is a rare - that you can fish up!

Meet Krakkanon. He's a really, really BIG kraken that you can fish up in any of the new fish of the day locations throughout Pandaria.

If you haven't been keeping up on fishing since the patch, let me give you a brief overview of some of the changes. Each day there is now a new "fish of the day" location somewhere in Pandaria. The fish of the day locations contain tons and tons of very fast re-spawning pools of one kind of fish. The type of fish that the pools contain depends on what location the pools are in; and although the pools are named slightly differently, the fish caught are identical to the ones already existing in Pandaria.

The fish of the day location seems to be determined randomly, and resets at 3am PST. To find out where the fish of the day are located on any particular day, you can talk to the fishing trainer Ben of the Booming Voice. Ben is located just outside of Halfhill at 58.9, 46.9, standing beside the Gilding Stream.

When you talk to Ben, he'll tell you where the fish are migrating on that day and what type of fish can be caught there. If your lazy like myself, you can even ask him to mark the exact location on your map. When he marks your map it will show up like the little red x that you see on the left in the screenshot below.

Fish of the day location marked on World Map and Mini-Map

There are nine possible locations where the fish of the day could be. (I have marked all of them on the map below, as well as where you can find Ben of the Booming Voice.) When you get to the designated area, if you are tracking fishing pools your mini map should look something like the one in the screenshot above. You will also know your in the right spot because there will be several friendly npc's fishing there, including Salty El herself from El's Extreme Anglin'!

Possible fish of the day locations. Click map to Enlarge.

There will literally be more pools there than you can fish, and they will keep re-spawning at an accelerated rate. Fishing these pools is a nice fast way to stock up on fish you may be needing, and it's been reported that even the coveted Sea Turtle mount can be fished out of them! If you don't have a water-walking ability, I highly recommend getting the Angler's Fishing Raft to easily move between pools. Also, don't forget to use your Ancient Pandaren Fishing Charm if you have it, as it will allow you to stock up on those fish even faster! (More info on where to find the charm and other treasures in this post: Lost and Found Achievement: Where to Find Lost Treasures in Pandaria.)

Once in a while a larger than average size pool will spawn in, and this pool will have a different name than the smaller ones around it. In the screenshot below, we had been fishing from Sha-Touched Spinefish pools until this Large Pool of Sha-Touched Spinefish appeared. The large pools always contain the same type of fish as the other pools around it, however it will contain many more - we fished this pool for about 10 minutes before we finally got to the bottom of it.

Fishing a Large Pool for Krakkanon

When the large pool has finally been fished clean, a rare elite kraken named "Krakkanon" will appear. This rare has a massive health pool of about 20 Million hp. He will not automatically aggro when he spawns in, and he cannot be "tapped" by a single person. Any angler in the area who participates in killing him will be able to share in the reward.

Krakkanon has a very large hit-box, and he only uses two abilities - neither hit very hard. His two abilities are called Gurrggggle and Shpshhh. They are both dealt as frost damage. The most annoying this he does is a knock-back that will toss you into the air in a big spray of water, but it can be avoided. If you see a small pool of water forming under you, you will have a couple of seconds to move out of it before it errupts and tosses you into the air. He should be soloable by just about any class depending on your gear. (The only time I could really see this fight being difficult would be if it continued on for a very long time and he slowly whittled your health down.)

Once defeated, Krakkanon always seems to drop a 20-stack of the type of fish that spawn in that current location. He has a high chance to drop one of the "rare-catch" uncommon quality fish like the Flying Tiger Gourami, which starts a quest that can be handed in to Nat Pagle to increase your reputation with him. Krakkanon also has a pretty decent chance to drop Nat's Fishing Journal, a bind on account item that can be used to raise fishing on your alts. Until you reach revered with Nat pagle, this is the only way to acquire this item, and it will save you a lot of gold if you were planning on purchasing it. If he drops any of these items, anyone who attacked him will all get the same loot.

The rewards aren't super-spectacular for fishing up and killing this guy, but all in all I think it's a nice addition to the game and a great way to break up the monotonous task that fishing in wow can be.

Like Raptor Mounts? Spend some time on the Isle of Giants!

2013-03-23T19:04:00.000-07:00

Ahhh mounts, who doesn't love em? Mounts, pets, titles, vanity items - they're the only things in game that will truly last patch after patch, and with each new expansion. Today I'm not going to talk about rare spawns, I'm just going to blab a little about some of these new mounts I'm loving in patch 5.2. Specifically - the Raptor mounts!

In patch 5.2 there were four new raptor mounts introduced to the game. All four of these mounts can be obtained by spending some time ~~on Jurassic Park~~ the Isle of Giants. Killing the dinosaurs on the isle will land you stacks and stacks of Giant Dinosaur Bones, which can ultimately be used to purchase Reins of the Bone-White Primal Raptor. This mount looks very similar to the Ivory Raptor, an Old School Ride that was taken out of the game in patch 1.4.

Bone-White Primal Raptor (Thank you to Arelae and Rickoutragos for posing for me!)

The larger, more difficult to kill dinosaurs drop more bones. For example, a Primal Devilsaur will land you anywhere between 35-45 bones, whereas a much easier to kill Young Primal Devilsaur will get you between 11-13 bones. Once you've collected 9,999 bones you can turn them in to Ku'ma <The Bone Collector>, to complete the quest A Mountain of Giant Dinosaur Bones. You'll find Ku'ma in a cave on the western side of the island. The quest reward is the previously mentioned sexy Bone-White Primal Raptor. You'll also receive a feat of strength called I've Got 9999 Problems but a Bone-White Primal Raptor Ain't One.

The larger dinosaurs have more health and deal a lot more damage, and will therefore require a group to kill. Their younger versions should be soloable by most classes depending on your gear. While farming for bones, it is very likely that at some point you will come across a Primal Egg. This egg will hatch into a Cracked Primal Egg in three days time and will contain one of three different mounts: Reins of the Green Primal Raptor, Reins of the Red Primal Raptor or Reins of the Black Primal Raptor.

Primal Eggs can drop off of any dinosaur mob on the island. They have a higher chance to drop off of the larger mobs than the young ones though. The egg is unique, so once you have one in your bag you cannot loot another one until the one you have hatches. The color mount that you will receive from the egg is completely random, and it is possible to see the same color more than once. I received my first Primal Egg from a Primordial Direhorn Hatchling, which I pretty much farmed exclusively. When the egg dropped, I had killed enough dinosaurs to collect 1,321 Giant Dinosaur Bones.

My first egg contained Reins of the Green Primal Raptor (pictured below). This guy kind of looks like an un-armored version of the no longer obtainable Swift Razzashi Raptor - the one mount I desperately wanted and farmed for but was never able to obtain before being taken out of the game pre-cataclysm. This guy's no substitute, but he's still pretty awesome looking.

Green Primal Raptor

Anyone who is familiar with the Savage Raptor TCG mount should notice the incredible similarities between it and the Red Primal Raptor. I'll admit, I was a little disappointed to find out that they looked so incredibly similar. The only difference between the two seems to be the saddle and reins color. Below you can see the Savage Raptor (left) and Red Primal Raptor (right) standing side-by-side for comparison. I personally think they should have made the Red Primal Raptor a little more, gee I dunno...red. Meh, oh well. At least bronze is in the red family.

Savage Raptor and Red Primal Raptor

I think my favorite of the three possible mounts from the cracked egg is the Black Primal Raptor (pictured below). He's got such purty blue eyes! ^-^ This mount looks fairly similar to the Venomhide Ravasaur mount obtainable by Horde characters for completing the quest They Grow Up So Fast.

Black Primal Raptor (thanks Reinoverall for posing for me!)

Primal Eggs can also be obtained from a couple of other sources outside of farming dinosaurs. The Shiny Pile of Refuse that drops from Oondasta, and Treasures of the Thunder King (from bosses in Throne of Thunder) also have a small chance to contain an egg.

Ultimately, I really do like all of these new raptor mounts. Yes, even the Red Primal Raptor. As someone who plays predominantly Alliance, it's nice to have some more choices when it comes to raptor models now. I also love the fact that they are unarmored and feather-free. Don't get me wrong, some of the armored ones look fantastic - it's just that I REALLY like the less-frilly look.

War-God Dokah (Rare Elite on Isle of Giants)

2013-03-18T17:27:00.002-07:00

War-God Dokah <Ward of Beasts> is a level 92 rare elite that can be found on the Isle of Giants. He is located at the bow of the ship in the southeastern part of the zone. (Map with exact location further down in post.) This ship is inhabited by a pretty hefty Zandalari Dinomancer population.

Getting to Dokah without a flying mount can be a little tricky, especially if you don't feel like plowing your way through a heap-ton of elite mobs and the Primal Devilsaur that stands just outside the ship on your way in. To get onto the ship your going to need to jump onto one of the small canoes on the northwest side right near the two Dinomancers and the Devilsaur. Rogues and druids can simply stealth by them, hunters can get past with camouflage and everyone else who can't stealth...your in luck! You can get past every hostile mob on the ship with a neat dinosaur disguise called the Intact Direhorn Hide.

Alliance can purchase this disguise from Agrant Sharpshot on the western side of the island. Horde can purchase their disguise from Arnold Raygun on the eastern side. I would recommend purchasing several disguises because when/if your disguise wears off the item will have disappeared from your bags. I marked the locations of where you can find each of these vendors on the map below.

When you have your disguise, make sure you use it before getting too close to the ship. I chose the left canoe to get up, as it seemed a bit further from the hostile mobs. Once your on board just keep as much distance as possible between you and anything hostile and make your way up to Dokah.

This method is really only necessary if your trying to get to Dokah quickly and without dying. Otherwise I totally recommend clearing the Dinomancers for their loot. The Dinomancers can drop four different battle pets including: Zandalari Toenibbler, Zandalari Anklerender, Zandalari Footslasher and Zandalari Kneebiter. For hunters they can drop an Ancient Tome of Dinomancy, which will allow the taming of Direhorns in any spec. They even have a small chance to drop Zandalari Journals required for the Achievement Zandalari Library Card.

Ok so now your probably going to want to know a little bit about how to fight War-God Dokah. Dokah has a little over 42M health and will require a few people to defeat. I took him down in a group of all hunters and a druid tank (video below). I've also heard of others two and three manning him as well. Naturally the ideal group will have some sort of tank, heals and a dps. Before engaging him you should also clear out the hostile mobs in the immediate area nearby to avoid getting adds during the fight. (Note: Depending on how long it takes you to kill him these mobs may respawn while your still in combat with Dokah. If this happens just cc them or burn them down.)

If you are familiar with the abilities the Zandalari Warbringers use, you should be pretty comfortable fighting Dokah - he uses the same ones.

Horrific Visage - Causes a random person to flee in fear for 8 seconds. (Pretty self-explanatory)
Meteor Shower - These are very big meteors - it's hard not to see them. They do hurt, but are easy to move away from, especially for ranged who can stand out of range of the shower entirely.
Scarab Swarm - These scarabs can be aoe'd down, they don't do a ton of damage but they can be annoying to healers. They will eventually despawn if not killed.
Thunder Crush - The spell effect is very obvious on the ground in front of him. It looks like a lightning cloud sitting just over the ground. Move out of it.
Vengeful Spirit - Dokah will periodically summon a spirit that will go after different party members. DO NOT let this spirit hit you. She hurts - very badly. She also moves very slowly and can be slowed even further. If she's coming at you just move away until she despawns.

War-God Dokah's drops are also fairly similar to those of the Warbringers, minus the mounts disappointingly. He has a very good chance to drop a Small Bag of Zandalari Supplies and a Big Bag of Zandalari Supplies. Each of these can contain all sorts of materials used in professions. The big bag also has a chance to contain some epic weapons & armor. In addition to the bags, he generally drops quite a few reputation items including: Stolen Golden Lotus Insignia, Stolen Celestial Insignia, Stolen Shado-Pan Insignia and Stolen Klaxxi Insignia.

This guy has a fairly short respawn timer as well, so if you get a group together for him - odds are he'll be up.

How to Tame Hutia (Green Spectral Porcupine)

2013-03-10T08:11:00.000-07:00

Hutia is the final spirit beast I'll be going over that was added in patch 5.2. I found Hutia to be a little more forgiving to tame than her friends Gumi and Degu. Well actually, make that a lot more forgiving.

As with the other two spectral porcupines, Hutia has about 4M health and must be dps'd down to 20% before her Strong Will buff will drop and she can be tamed. If she gets within melee range she will two-shot you. She is fast, but thankfully she is not nearly as fast as Gumi. She also doesn't have any type of ranged attack like Degu does. The thing to know about Hutia is she's got an annoying heal called Spirit Heal that she'll cast periodically as shes chasing you. This spell needs to be interrupted!

Helpful Glyphs and Talents:

You can easily make this tame smoother by using certain glyphs and talents. Glyph of Tame Beast I would definitely recommend. Glyph of Disengage can also prove to be handy (I used both of these glyphs when I tamed her in the video below.) If your having trouble Glyph of Pathfinding, Glyph of Aspect of the Cheetah and Glyph of Icetrap may be enough to make a successful tame (I didn't use these).

Talents that will come in handy with this tame are Posthaste (for the nice speed increase), Silencing Shot (to interrupt her heal), Exhilaration (in case she manages to hit you), Dire Beast (for the extra dot while kiting), A Murder of Crows (another dot) and Glaive Toss (for the additional slow and damage).

Kiting:

Once you've got your glyphs and talents ready, be sure you know where you'll be kiting her. I found the best option was to simply kite her around the large tree on the ground. She can't run through the tree to smack you, but you can conveniently use all of your offensive abilities right through it! I drew some red arrows in the screenshot below to show the path I used.

The Tame:

Before pulling her be sure to put down an Ice Trap and Snake Trap in her path. When your ready to go, hit her with a Serpent Sting and Concussive Shot and start moving away. Throw as many dots on her as possible including your Dire Beast and Murder of Crows. While keeping your dots up, it's very important to make sure the Concussive Shot debuff doesn't wear off of her.

While keeping her at a distance and working down her health it is crucial that you pay attention for her heal. She will periodically cast Spirit Heal on herself, and if it gets off she'll regain a very large portion of her health. To interrupt her heal simply hit her with your Silencing Shot. She casts her heal infrequently enough that the cooldown on Silencing Shot should be finished and ready to go each time. If for some reason Silencing Shot is not available to you, Scatter Shot will also work on her.

Don't forget to use readiness so that you can use your big dots like Murder of Crows a second time. I also recommend waiting to use Stampede for emergency circumstances (shes up in your face and everything seems to be on cooldown). Of course if things are going quite smoothly and your confident she won't get anywhere near you I'd say go ahead and use it for the extra dps.

Once you have her down to about 20% her Strong Will buff will drop and she will become tamable. Before you start to tame, be sure to put as much distance between you and her as possible. Refresh Concussive Shot, throw down an Ice Trap in her path, hit Deterrence and Tame Beast. If things go smoothly Tame Beast should end just before she can get to you or she may get off one hit (which shouldn't matter so long you had plenty of health to begin with). Now hopefully you have a pretty new pet! ^-^

Where to Find Her:

You can find Hutia in The Jade Forest standing in front of a large fallen tree just northwest of Greenstone Quarry. I marked her exact location with a red dot on the map below.

WTB more stable slots Blizz.

Map of Rare Spawns on the Isle of Thunder

2013-03-07T15:52:00.002-08:00

Tabbing in and out of wowhead to find these guys was driving me nuts. Here is a map for you guys (and me) to use to more easily find all of the rares on Isle of the Thunder King.

All of these rares are required for the Achievement Champions of Lei Shen except for Ra'sha (the rare who drops Ra'sha's Sacrifical Dagger). Ra'sha also does not share the same tapping system as the other rares on the isle. Only those grouped with someone who tap him can loot him.

Click map to Enlarge

Also here's some npcscan id's for those who use it. Add em all instantly with these macros:

/npcscan add 50358 Haywire Sunreaver Construct
/npcscan add 69664 Mumta
/npcscan add 69996 Ku'lai the Skyclaw
/npcscan add 69998 Goda
/npcscan add 69997 Progenitus

/npcscan add 70000 Al'tabim the All-Seeing
/npcscan add 69999 God-Hulk Ramuk
/npcscan add 70001 Backbreaker Uru
/npcscan add 70002 Lu-Ban
/npcscan add 70003 Molthor

~~Much more detailed post on these guys incoming. Until then enjoy.~~
Detailed post on these guys with updated map is complete. Check it out here: Isle of Thunder Rare Spawns. Enjoy!

How to Tame Gumi (Blue Spectral Porcupine)

2013-03-07T10:28:00.000-08:00

Gumi, the level 90 blue spectral porcupine, is the second of the three new spirit beasts added in patch 5.2 that I'll be going over. This little guy is one heck of a terror. In all honesty I thought this was one of the hardest hunter pets to tame that I've encountered yet. Maybe THE hardest. At least for me, taming this guy made taming the other two spectral porcupines seem like a cakewalk.

Like Degu and Hutia (Gumi's red and green buddies), Gumi will need to be kited and dps'd down to about 20% health before his Strong Will buff will drop and you will be able to tame him. He will also two-shot you if he gets within melee range. Unlike the other two beasts though, this guy has no special abilities to be aware of. What makes this guy so difficult is the speed that he moves at.

This beast moves so fast, it's as if he's mastered the art of teleportation. Those who (like myself) could never seem to get out of the habit of backpedaling will likely have the toughest time taming him. It is possible though, it will probably just require a few more tries before you nail it. I'll be honest here, I died a lot trying to nab this pretty beasty. Thankfully there is a spirit healer very close by.

Where to find Gumi:

There are a few things I'd like to recommend to make this tame go a little more smoothly:

Glyphs:

Talents:

Posthaste - The extra speed buff can be very helpful in putting some distance between you and Gumi
Binding Shot - An extra cc, I'd recommend using this right before your about to tame him
Exhilaration - If Gumi gets too close and you eat a hit, this will come in handy
Dire Beast - Basically an extra dot while kiting
A Murder of Crows - Best dot you can throw on him while running for your life
Glaive Toss - It doesn't hurt to have an additional slow, plus it's instant!

Prepping to tame:

Before you even think about starting to kite this guy, make sure you are in beast mastery spec and that you have an empty stable slot open. You'll also want to make sure that you have aspect of the Cheetah up. If you choose to have a pet out to help dps him down a little faster, make sure that it has taunt off (otherwise Gumi will kill your pet). You'll also want to make a macro and have it on your hotbar so that you can abandon this pet right before you can begin taming Gumi. The macro to abandon your pet is: /script AbandonPet(). It's certainly not necessary to use another pet, but the extra dps can definitely make a difference, especially if you don't have the best gear.

Kiting location options:

Once your ready to tame, you will have quite a few kiting options. Some may find one easier than another. First, let me tell you what worked best for me. I chose to kite Gumi up through the mountain path north of Mount Neverest. I preferred this path because I encountered absolutely no hostile mobs along the way, I took no falling damage from using disengage, and being that it's already a laid out path - it's very easy to follow. At one point along the path (after you run past the graveyard) there will be a fork. Here you will take a left and then just keep following the path heading west. In the screenshot below I drew a line to show which path I mean.

The next kiting option I've seen done successfully is to kite him around in a large circle. If you tend to backpedal like I do, I wouldn't recommend kiting this way. If your good a strafing you'll probably find this method fairly simple. You'll also encounter no hostile mobs, and if you're careful you shouldn't take any fall damage from disengaging down the mountain. I illustrated the path in the screenshot below.

Another way I've seen him tamed is to kite him down the mountain. Personally I wouldn't recommend this way unless your very careful with Disengage. Disengaging at the wrong location while working your way down can lead to a ton of falling damage or even death. I also found there was a much greater probability of running into hostile mobs along the way. Which ever route you decide to take though, it will probably take a few tries before you figure out what works best for you.

Making it happen:

Now let's talk about the tame itself, and the spells you should be using the most to make this work. Concussive shot is a must. This spell should be used whenever it's not on cooldown. The moment the debuff wears off of Gumi's speed skyrockets instantly. Use Glaive toss whenever it's available, and the same goes for Ice Trap. Concussive shot is your most important slow, but glaive toss and ice trap certainly do help.

Keep up as many dots up as you can while trying to keep as much distance as possible. That really is the name of the game here. Try to keep serpent sting up at all times. Use A Murder of Crows right away, and after using readiness be sure to use it again! The same goes for Dire Beast, summon this extra pet whenever it's up. Most of your damage will likely be coming from your dots, so everything helps. Don't forget to throw a snake trap and explosive trap in his path as well. Snake trap not only adds a dot, but it will also help slow him down a bit.

If you get hit by Gumi while kiting be sure to pop a healing potion or use your Exhilaration. When/if he hits you don't forget to put aspect of the Cheetah back on, as getting hit will knock the buff off if your using the glyph. If things start looking bad and Gumi is all up in your junk, Stampede can be your best friend. I found Stampede to be my "oh shit!" button for this tame. I'd recommend not using this cooldown right away, but save it for when you really need it.

When Gumi starts getting fairly low on health (25-30% or so) get ready to begin your tame. Make sure there is as much distance between you and him as possible. As soon as his Strong Will buff wears off you'll want to throw a Binding Shot in front of him, use that pet abandon macro, then hit Deterrence and Tame Beast as quickly as possible.

Here is a video below of my successful kite through the mountain path and tame. ~

Good luck to those who give this guy a shot and happy hunting! ^-^

How to Tame Degu (Red Spectral Porcupine)

2013-03-04T05:23:00.000-08:00

As promised, I've written up some short guides on each of the new spectral porcupines that we'll be seeing in patch 5.2. As a quick overview - there are three spectral porcupines total, and they each have not only a unique look, but a unique way to tame them as well. These tames may remind you of the Molten Front/Mt. Hyjal taming challenges introduced in 4.2.

Each one of these beasts will have a buff called Strong Will when you first come upon them. The tooltip for this buff reads "Cannot be tamed until weakened". In order to weaken them to the point where they can be tamed you will need to dps them down to about 20% health. The thing is however, these pretties will two shot anyone that gets in their melee range. This is where your going to want to know a little more about what makes each of these beasts tick.

Degu, the red spectral porcupine, has an ability called Barbed Needle that will two-shot people with poison who attack her from too far a range. The spell tooltip reads a 15-50 yard range, so the goal with her is to try to always stay within 15 yards. It's also crucial not to let her get too close because she can also two-shot you with her melee hits. This particular tame requires keeping her at that "perfect" distance while dpsing her down until her Strong Will buff wears off.

Concussive Shot will be the most important tool in your box for this tame. Use it whenever it's off cooldown. Ice Trap will also come in very handy in slowing her down. I used Ice Trap and Snake Trap whenever they were up, and they certainly helped. Disengage can also be a lifesaver if you notice she is just about in melee range, but if you do use it make sure you run back toward her immediately! If you simply disengage and stay where you are you could end up getting hit by Barbed Needle. Moving forward toward her will get her to stop her Barbed Needle cast once you get within 15 yards. (Do note that Scatter Shot is completely ineffective against her.)

Degu patrolling along the canyon wall in Krasarang Wilds

The best place to kite her while dpsing her down is right along the canyon wall where she patrols. It's nice and straight, and you should encounter very few (if any) hostile mobs along that wall. I recommend using all of your cooldowns on her and don't forget to use Readiness so that you can utilize some of those cooldowns a second time. If things start to look bad I highly recommend using Feign Death to reset her. It takes far less time to bandage or eat than it does to run from the graveyard. Hopefully this will be fixed in the future, but currently your most likely to rez at one of the Valley of the Four Winds graveyards such as Halfhill if you die along the wall. I imagine this happens because although Degu is clearly in Krasarang Wilds, she is technically in Valley of the Four Winds. The zone doesn't change to Krasarang until you move a pretty decent distance from the wall.

I marked a red line on the map below to indicate where she can be found patrolling. ~

Here is a video below of a not-so-smooth tame where you can see me getting hit by Barbed Needle a couple of times (I used Exhilaration and then a health pot to regain my health after each hit). I even fracked up the actual tame as well by moving, causing Deterrence to end before tame beast could finish. Luckily tame beast finished before I got eaten for breakfast.

Blackrock Mountain Rares

2013-03-01T15:44:00.000-08:00

Chromehound and Chrominius (with magical pet biscuit)

Blackrock Mountain, the volcanic zone containing six instances between Burning Steppes and Searing Gorge, is home to three rare spawns. Two of these rares are exotic tamable hunter pets that were added in patch 5.1. The third rare I wouldn't even really consider a "rare" due to his incredibly short respawn timer, but thanks to his silver dragon portrait he'll get a quick mention here.

The most notable rare in this zone is without a doubt Chromehound, an eye-catching level 49 core hound that shares the exact same color and model as the raid boss Chromaggus in Blackwing Lair. Yes, those of us that have tamed Chromaggus already - hes not unique anymore. Quite honestly I don't think its a big deal though. This skin is still rare enough as it can only be tamed via these two sources. If anything, I think obtaining Chromehound as a pet can prove to be even more difficult than Chromaggus due to competition from others (especially with crz) and his spawn timer which seems to be somewhere in the 3 hour + area.

You can find Chromehound wandering around the circular path in the uppermost level (The Molten Span) when you first enter the mountain. Every time I've seen him up he was moving counter-clockwise, and spawned near the large northern chain. I drew his path in red on the map below.

The second new rare added to Blackrock Mountain in 5.1 is Crystalfang, a level 49 red shale spider. Crystalfang is one of only two tamable shale spiders that can be found in this color before encountering the level 80+ shale spiders in Deepholm and The Stonecore. That being said, you will still need to be at least level 69 and in beast mastery spec to tame him.

His spawn timer is similar to that of Chromehound, and you can find him in the lowest level of the mountain in The Masonary just west of the entrance to Blackrock Depths. He spawns right in the corner, surrounded by three aggressive dwarves. I have marked his spawn point in red on the map below.

The final rare in this zone has been a long time inhabitant, and can really only be called a rare thanks to his lovely silver dragon portrait. His spawn timer is incredibly fast - I'd say somewhere around 10 minutes give or take. This guy always drops the Vilerend Slicer, and like other rares - a very decent amount of experience for leveling characters. You'll find The Behemoth patrolling back and forth east to west through The Grinding Quarry on your way to Blackrock Depths.

And the Ironman Challenge Continues...

2013-02-23T08:00:00.002-08:00

Well, it's that time again. The time where a new expansion has been out long enough to evoke longer stretches of boredom while playing my mains. Dailies wore out their welcome months ago, raid finder hasn't produced a drop for any of my toons in weeks and one can only do so much pet battling before their brain explodes. So I find myself once again picking up where I left off with the WoW Ironman Challenge last summer.

For anyone new to this blog, last year when things got dull at the end of Cataclysm I decided I'd give the Ironman Challenge a shot. Here is a quick recap of the rules (Full list of rules and current challengers can be seen at wowironman.com):

Level from 1-85 using the rules below. (1-90 now that the level cap has been raised.)

Only White or Grey gear. No Heirlooms of any kind.
No transfer of gear, items, or money from any other character (yours or others).
No gear enhancements, including gems, enchanting, and reforging. Class abilities are allowed (eg. Rogue poisons, Shaman imbues).
No specialization, talent points, or glyphs. No pet talent points.
No professions or secondary skills, except for First Aid.
No potions, flasks, or elixir s except for required quest items.
No food buffs or other external buffs (including buffs from items and other players).
No groups or assistance from other characters, even if not grouped.
No dungeons, raids, battlegrounds, or arenas.
No guilds, except for level 1 guilds created specifically for the Ironman Challenge.
No Refer-A-Friend.
No addons which assist in combat and/or leveling (eg. leveling guides, Ovale).
THE BIG ONE: No deaths. Character death for any reason disqualifies the character

A quick history of my Iron toons (the Ironsteves):

For this challenge I added a little twist of my own in addition to the above rules, and that would be that most of my experience was to come from killing rares. (You can see all of my Ironman related posts by looking under the label WoW Ironman Challenge on this blog.) I made it to level 52 with my first toon Ironsteve, an undead hunter. I died when I accidentally clicked an Alliance flight master (d'oh!). I deleted him and re-rolled two more Ironman toons (Ironsteve the troll druid, and Ironstevo the undead lock). Ironstevo quickly overtook Ironsteve in levels, gaining most of his experience from finding treasure chests once reaching Outland and finished the challenge in early June of last year. You can read the post where I re-caped his journey here: WoW Ironman Challenge Complete!

I haven't touched either toon since then, but I decided that with a new level cap and not much else to do right now it would be a perfect time to dust both of them off!

Ironstevo~

Greetings! ~From Ironstevo and his trusty meat-shield Belnak

A lot has changed since I've last touched the iron-toons. When I had been participating in this challenge previously talent points had not yet been re-vamped. Ironstevo had a whole wealth of spells and abilities at his disposal (although none of them ever hit hard). Now that most spells become available once you choose a spec post-mop, Ironstevo has been left with the bare-minimum to work with. If you look at the UI below, you can see what Ironstevo has been left with. I pretty much only ever use buttons 1-5 with him now.

Soul Fire used to be Ironstevo's "big hitting" spell pre-mop. Corrupton, Agony, Immolate, Drain Soul...these were Ironstevo's bread and butter. Well now Ironstevo has been left with only one dot, Shadow Bolt and not a whole lot else. Ironstevo's rotation currently looks something like: Curse of the Elements, Corruption, Shadowbolt/Fel Flame/Drain Life (I like to switch up these three spells to keep it interesting) until the target is dead. It's slow going, but the voidwalker does a much better job at holding threat now and deals a fair amount of damage (he hits harder than poor Ironstevo). Ironstevo also noticed he got a lovely new racial ability called Touch of the Grave which deals about 40% of his dps and heals him for a hefty amount when it goes off. Between the new racial and Ironstevo's blue marshmellow shield it makes up for a lot of lost dps.

Another change that is quite nice is Ironstevo's mana pool. Now that mana pools are dependent on level instead of intellect, Ironstevo is sitting at a hot 100k just like the big boys with actual gear at 85! He can now last a heck of a lot longer without needing mana! Ironstevo even dinged level 86 a couple of days ago while doing his Love is in the Air dailies and was pleased to receive another 20k to that mana pool, and an extra 18k hp. 18k may not sound like a lot, but for an ironman toon it's a pretty big spike!

Ironstevo enjoying some holiday quest experience

Ironstevo received most of his experience from 85 - 86 by continuing to find treasure chests throughout Northrend. This amounted to most of his experience. Holiday quests, the daily quests A Way to His Heart... and Tending the Garden (LOVE this daily), and occasional Argent Tourney dailies accounted for the rest of his experience. The amount of xp chests give him only went down slightly when he dinged, so I have a feeling most of his experience will be coming from the same place at least until level 87. After that I've got literally everything available for Cataclysm content, as I've done no Cataclysm questing on him at all. Ultimately whatever I decide to do though, I'll be taking it slow n' steady.

Ironsteve

Ironsteve the druid is still around (and alive) as well. He's been following Ironstevo's footsteps using rares and treasure chests to get to where he is now. That is actually ALL he does for xp besides the occasional holiday quest. He's been spending a lot of time killing the various mobs in Swamp of Sorrows and Blasted Lands each day.

Ironsteve finds a treasure chest in Swamp of Sorrows

Ironsteve was also pleasantly surprised when he dinged level 60 to learn that he could continue killing rares for only slighty less xp than he was earning at 59. Last year when Ironstevo hit level 60 the mobs all began to give only 10% of the amount of xp they gave before hitting 60. I am fairly confident that with this welcome change Ironsteve will be at least level 62 or 63 before hitting Outland (assuming he is still alive then).

Ironsteve dinging the big 60 right in Garrosh's face!

The iron druid has changed quite a bit just as Ironstevo has, but for the most part I am really liking the changes. Everything gets killed in kitty form. I generally start out a fight with a wrath, moonfire, rejuv then hop into kitty form where I rake, mangle until 5 combo points and then ferocious bite (popping out of kitty to rejuv when needed). Each tick of rejuvenation is worth about 25% of Ironsteve's health, it's an honest to kittens lifesaver. <3

Anywho, that's where my Ironman toons stand at the moment. Stay tuned for updates, and for anyone who has never tried this challenge before I highly recommend it - it's a lot of fun! ^-^

Burning Steppes Rares Spawns - Including Tamable 5.1 Rares

2013-02-18T05:59:00.000-08:00

When patch 5.1 hit the number of rares in Burning Steppes doubled. Deathmaw used to be the only tamable rare in this zone, but with the addition of nine new beasts there are now ten interesting rare pets here to choose from! There are even a couple with completely unique looks.

Sunwing - Tamed

Tamable Rares:

The most notable one is probably Sunwing, the absolutely gorgeous black dragonhawk (pictured on the right). Before patch 5.1 Sagan was the only dragonhawk in game with this beautiful coloration. Being the pet of an npc however, he was not tamable. Well now with a little bit of patience (or luck) this pretty pet can be yours. He spawns in the far southwestern part of the zone, between the mountains west of Flamestar Post. You'll know your in the right area when you see a bunch of scorpids and worgs wandering around. Now unfortunately with CRZ and this being a fairly busy questing location, some camping may be necessary to find this guy alive. When he does spawn in he will be flying high above the ground - not so high though that your tame beast won't reach.

Chiaa, the black and yellow spiked wind serpent, also has a totally unique look. You can find him in the mountains just north of Blackrock Stronghold. He is extremely easy to spot when hes up not just because of his color, but because he's fairly large as well (see size comparison in the screenshot at the end of this post).

Although not unique, Favored of Isiset (the black and white two-headed vulture) is a fairly rare skin in that it only shares this look with one other mob in the game. That mob is Trachela, a quest npc required for the quest Torgos! in Terokkar Forest.

Heading to Molten Core to tame yourself a red corehound? Check to see if Magmagan is up first. He is now the lowest level tamable red corehound, and you can find him wandering just outside Blackrock Mountain near the lava behind Blackrock Stronghold. (Do note, he is exotic and requires beast mastery spec to tame.)

Ornat, the red nether ray, is one of only two nether rays with this look that can be tamed before encountering the Netherskate nether rays in Shadowmoon Valley. The only other tamable nether ray of this color is Blackbog the Fang (also a rare), you can find him in Felwood.

There are also two neat-looking ravagers, a dark green one (Venomspine) and red one (Azelisk). Each of these are colors that won't be common until reaching Hellfire Peninsula.

Deathmaw, the long-time tamable rare in this zone, used to have a unique look prior to patch 5.1. He now shares the same model and coloration with another rare worg named Grovepaw in Felwood. Deathmaw has long been known for his barking and making other random worg-type sounds when clicking on him. He also matches perfectly with one of the colors that the Worg Pup can summon in as.

Non-Tamable Rares:

Hmmm, not going to spend too much time on these guys. So here's the down low - Volchan is a rare elite, most people probably won't notice the difference, but my ironman toon sure did. The dude nearly killed him, so he does indeed seem to hit a little harder than a normal rare. Terrorspark is flippin' huge for a grell, and he no longer spawns in the trenches - you can find him just outside the trenches now. Hahk'Zor can be found all the way at the end of the Firegut Furnace (the lowest and most western cave entrance will get you there). Also, his name makes me lol.

Click map to Enlarge

I have screenshots below of each of these rares in order by level. The ones with the stars in the bottom left hand corner are the new tamable rares added in patch 5.1. The colors of the stars correspond to where they can be found on the map above.

Volchan, Azelisk, Catal & Deathmaw

Favored of Isiset, Gorgon'och, Ornat & Sunwing

Thauris Balgarr, Venomspine, Gruklash, Hematos & Jaxx the Rabid

Magmagan, Terrorspark, Chiaa, Hahk'Zor & Malfunctioning Reaver

All of these rares can be added to NPCScan. You can simply cut and paste these macros in game to add all of them automatically:

"Whoa, Nelly! Your BIG!"

/npcscan add 10119 Volchan
/npcscan add 50725 Azelisk
/npcscan add 50807 Catal
/npcscan add 10077 Deathmaw
/npcscan add 50810 Favored of Isiset
/npcscan add 9604 Gorgon'och
/npcscan add 50361 Ornat
/npcscan add 50357 Sunwing

/npcscan add 8978 Thauris Balgarr
/npcscan add 50730 Venomspine
/npcscan add 8979 Gruklash
/npcscan add 8976 Hematos
/npcscan add 50855 Jaxx the Rabid
/npcscan add 50842 Magmagan
/npcscan add 10078 Terrorspark
/npcscan add 50792 Chiaa

/npcscan add 9602 Hahk'Zor
/npcscan add 8981 Malfunctioning Reaver

Searing Gorge - Tamable Rares added in 5.1

2013-02-15T10:20:00.000-08:00

Many zones in Kalimdor and the Eastern Kingdoms were given some rare love when patch 5.1 hit, Searing Gorge was one of them with seven new additions. Each of these new rares are beasts, and are therefore tamable. There are now fourteen rares total in this zone. You can see the other seven in this post: Searing Gorge Rare Spawns.

The only one of these beasts that requires beast mastery spec to tame is Slavermaw the devilsaur. Although he is only level 48, that still means he cannot be tamed until at least level 69. Slavermaw can be found patrolling in the mountains among a bunch of searing lava spiders north of The Cauldron. When he is up he is quite easy to spot because he's rather large. Slavermaw also shares the same model and color as King Mosh (the devilsaur in my header image).

Slavermaw isn't the only large and in charge rare addition to this zone, Hogzilla (oh how appropriately named) is also enormous. He spawns in front of the blocked off cave entrance in the far southwest end of the zone. During the Lunar Festival Elder Ironband stands right in front of where Hogzilla spawns. In the screenshot on the right (where Hogzilla is about to eat the poor elder) you can see a nice size comparison of the two. Hogzilla is the only tamable rare with this look outside of Razorfen Kraul.

Crystalback, the blue and white felboar, is also a pretty neat addition to the zone. This boar shares the same look as the Shard-Hide Boars on Ogri'la plateau in Blade's Edge Mountains. That means hunters can now have a pet with this look over 20 levels earlier.

Rexxus, the black mastiff, is the only dog with this look that can be tamed by non-worgen hunters before encountering the Onslaught Bloodhounds in Dragonblight. So like Crystalback, this look can be tamed over 20 levels earlier as well.

Click map to Enlarge

Here are some screenshots of each of these rares in order by level. (Click on pictures to enlarge them.)

Hogzilla, Rexxus, Scorpoxx & Slavermaw

Avis, Crystalback & Snips

Each of these rares can be added to NPCScan. You can simply cut and paste this macro in game to add all of them automatically:

/npcscan add 50946 Hogzilla

/npcscan add 51048 Rexxus

/npcscan add 51002 Scorpoxx

/npcscan add 50846 Slavermaw

/npcscan add 50876 Avis

/npcscan add 50948 Crystalback

/npcscan add 51010 Snips

Silverpine Forest Rare Spawns - Including Tamable 5.1 Rares

2013-02-09T19:28:00.000-08:00

When patch 5.1 hit, Silverpine Forest saw the addition of five new tamable rare beasts. There are now fifteen rares total in this zone and seven of them can be tamed by hunters. Low level undead hunters, this means you have a lot of choices now for interesting rare pets when leveling through here!

Tamable Rares:

Finn's Gambit, the armored black boar, is the lowest level tamable boar with this look. The next boars with the same skin that you can find are in Razorfen Kraul. Finn's Gambit stands on the hillside west of the murloc village eyeing some mushrooms when hes up.

The Lost Gilnean Wardog (pictured on the right) is the lowest level tamable rare with this look for non-worgen characters before finding the level 40 Blighthounds in Eastern Plaguelands. You can find the Lost Gilnean Wardog running very quickly in a circle around some abandonded campsites just north of the Deep Elem Mine.

Gnath, the blue worm, is the only worm that can be found in this color outside of Maraudon. (Please note - Gnath is an exotic beast, and therefore can only be tamed by beast mastery spec hunters.)

Gorefang, the light grey worg, is the first wolf with this look that low-level horde toons will encounter before stumbling upon many level 30+ that look just like him in the Hinterlands. As of patch 5.1 Gorefang also seems to have at least one additional spawn point. I have been finding him repeatedly in Valgan's Field, just east of the farm patrolling among the dark grey worgs and ferocious grizzly bears.

Non-Tamable Rares:

It would definitely be a good idea for people leveling through this zone to keep an eye out for these rares no matter what class your playing. They are on short respawn timers (about 30 minutes), and when killed they grant an incredible amount of experience.

There are a couple of notable ones as well that I think are worth a mention. Fenwick Thatros, previously a quest mob for the rogue class quest Fenwick Thatros, has since retired and can be found fishing on the dock next to the vendor Killian Sanatha. He is not hostile to members of either faction, and when attacked he cries out "All I wanted was a little peace and quiet!" -poor guy

If your questing along and all of the sudden A Chill Runs Up Your Spine it seems your very close to my favorite rare in the zone, the Lost Son of Arugal. Anyone that leveled through Silverpine pre-cata surely must remember the elite, unforgiving, way-higher level than he had any right to be - Son of Arugal roaming the land eating those unfortunate enough to cross his path. Well, the Lost Son of Arugal is not elite and his level has dropped a bit, but he has thankfully maintained the original badass, non-fluffy kitten style worgen look. The kind that I SO wanted to play when I found out that they were becoming a playable race. Ah well. You can find this guy patrolling through pretty much the entire zone. I marked his path with a grey dotted line on the map below.

Click map to Enlarge

Gorefang, Kree, Nightlash & Gnath

Krethis the Shadowstalker, Bolgaff <The Mad Hunter>, Berard the Moon-Crazed & Lost Gilnean Wardog

Fenwick Thatros, Aquarius the Unchained, Finn's Gambit & Corpsefeeder

Effritus, Lost Son of Arugal & Thule Ravenclaw

All of these rares can be added to NPCScan. You can simply cut and paste these macros in game to add all of them automatically:

"Get down here you!"

/npcscan add 12431 Gorefang
/npcscan add 50330 Kree
/npcscan add 46981 Nighlash
/npcscan add 51026 Gnath
/npcscan add 12433 Krethis the Shadowspinner
/npcscan add 47003 Bolgaff
/npcscan add 46992 Berard the Moon-Crazed

/npcscan add 51037 Lost Gilnean Wardog
/npcscan add 47008 Fenwick Thatros
/npcscan add 47009 Aquarius the Unbound
/npcscan add 50949 Finn's Gambit
/npcscan add 50814 Corpsefeeder
/npcscan add 47012 Effritus

/npcscan add 47015 Lost Son of Arugal
/npcscan add 47023 Thule Ravenclaw

Arathi Highlands - Tamable Rares added in 5.1

2013-02-06T19:11:00.000-08:00

When patch 5.1 hit, Arathi Highlands saw the addition of nine new rare beasts. This ups the total number of rares in the zone to a whopping nineteen. You can see the other ten non-tamable rares in this post: Arathi Highlands Rare Spawns.

Every one of these rares can be tamed by hunters in any spec except for the shale spider Glint. Glint is one of only three tamable shale spiders that can be tamed early on before hitting Deepholm. So Beast Mastery spec hunters - that means you can have a shale spider right at level 69.

None of these rares are unique, but as you can see in the screenshots below there are some pretty nice looking ones. I love the coloration on Boros the wasp. This is the lowest level wasp you'll find with this particular look. Phalanax, the black and white beetle, also has a pretty rare skin. You can find him inside the ogre cave in the southern end of the zone.

Click map to Enlarge

Here are some screenshots of each of these rares in order by level. (Click on pictures to enlarge them.)

Snuffles, Phalanax & Saurix

Ripwing, Swee & Boros

Zorn, Cackle & Glint

Each of these rares can be added to NPCScan. You can simply cut and paste this macro in game to add all of them automatically:

/npcscan add 51040 Snuffles

/npcscan add 51063 Phalanax

/npcscan add 50865 Saurix

/npcscan add 50804 Ripwing

/npcscan add 50940 Swee

/npcscan add 50891 Boros

/npcscan add 50770 Zorn

/npcscan add 50337 Cackle

/npcscan add 51067 Glint

Silithus Rare Spawns - Including Tamable 5.1 Rares

2013-02-02T11:00:00.002-08:00

Silithus is a pet collector's dream for hunters. With the addition of ten new tamable beasts to this zone in patch 5.1 there are now sixteen tamable rares, and nineteen rares total in Silithus. Five of these new rares have totally unique looks too!

One of the most notable additions is Acroniss (pictured on the right), a beautiful pink and red arcane wyrm. You can find him in Twilight's Run (his exact location is marked with a red star on the map below). He spawns in the very back of the cave, right where the summoning circle is and he does not patrol.

Acroniss - Tamed

There are also three new damaged silithid "brain" bugs; a pink one (Qem), blue one (Manax) and an orange one (Qu'rik). These bugs have a really neat glow animation with tiny bugs flying over their damaged heads - and they keep the look when tamed. All three can be found underground. Qem and Qu'rik you will find in Hive'Ashi, and Manax can be found in Hive'Regal. NPCScan will pick them up above ground, and having a raid target icon on them will prove very helpful in pinpointing their exact locations. (Please note that silithids are an exotic family, so you will need to be in beast mastery spec to tame them.)

The final unique pet that was added to this zone is Karapax, a very colorful ravager (orange, red, pink & purple). He spawns above ground between the termite mounds northeast of Hive'Ashi. He is not exotic and can therefore be tamed by hunters in any spec.

Although not new to the zone, there are two more unique pets that can be found flying around. Those are the wasps Rex Ashil and Zora. Rex Ashil flies in and out of the tunnels around Hive'Ashi, and Zora has multiple spawn points underground at Hive'Zora.

The remaining added rares are not unique, but there are still some really neat looking ones. Losaj and Bornix the Burrower share the same models and color as Vem and Lord Kri respectively. Toxx, the green armored scorpid shares the same look as the green version of Madexx in Uldum.

Click map to Enlarge

Acroniss, Ffexk the Dunestalker, Huricanian, Zora & Gretheer

Grubthor, Karapax, Krellack, Lapress & Rex Ashil

Setis, Toxx, Twilight Lord Everun, Manax & Qem

Losaj, Qu'rik, Bornix the Burrower & Tix

All of these rares can be added to NPCScan. You can simply cut and paste these macros in game to add all of them automatically:

/npcscan add 50737 Acroniss

Qu'rik - Tamed

/npcscan add 50897 Ffexk the Dunestalker

/npcscan add 14478 Huricanian

/npcscan add 14474 Zora

/npcscan add 14472 Gretheer

/npcscan add 14477 Grubthor

/npcscan add 50370 Karapax

/npcscan add 14476 Krellack

/npcscan add 14473 Lapress
/npcscan add 14475 Rex Ashil

/npcscan add 14471 Setis
/npcscan add 51004 Toxx
/npcscan add 14479 Twilight Lord Everun
/npcscan add 50743 Manax
/npcscan add 50742 Qem
/npcscan add 50745 Losaj

/npcscan add 50744 Qu'rik
/npcscan add 50746 Bornix the Burrower
/npcscan add 50747 Tix

Oh, and if you run across one of the more notable tamable beasts such as Acroniss or one of the brain bugs - please, for the love of puppies DON'T kill them. People wait for hours for some of these lovely pets.

Vale of Eternal Blossoms Rare Champions

2013-01-31T13:50:00.000-08:00

Vale of Eternal Blossoms, a zone for max-level players, is home to eight of the rare champions of Pandaria. Just like in previous zones, there are one of each type (Pandaren, Mantid, Saurok, etc.) and they all count toward the achievement Glorious! Being the final (and therefore highest level) zone, these rares hit harder and have more health than any of the ones I've covered yet.

The rares in this zone are all level 91, with health pools a little over 4M. They each have a 100% chance to drop an item level 440 bop cloak with random stats and a small chance to drop a Small Bag of Goods. They also each have a chance to drop some very fun vanity items, or some useful items as well. Each of the items they can drop are listed below next to the rare that drops it. You can also see some screenshots of each of these items in action in this post: Sneak Peak: Special drops from Rare Champions of Pandaria.

As I have stated in a previous post - many of them seem to spawn in around the same time, so if you run across a corpse or someone else fighting one of these rares it wouldn't hurt to check the rest of the spawn points to see if any others are up.

Also note that many of the rares in this zone are affected by phasing. If you can't see Ai-Ran, Major Nanners, Mold One-Eye, Urgolax or Kang it's because you haven't done the opening quest line to unlock the Golden Lotus dailies This quest line starts in Kun-Lai Summit at the Temple of the White Tiger with the quests Temple of the White Tiger (Alliance) or Temple of the White Tiger (Horde). Following these quest lines will open the gates into the Vale and eventually change the phase so that you will be able to see all of these rares.

Click map to Enlarge

Ai-Ran the Shifting Cloud (Pandaren)
Ai-Ran can be found meditating in the small cave just east of Mistfall Village beneath the Tu Shen Burial Ground.

Like other Pandaren Ai-Ran's three abilities are Chi Burst, Healing Mists and Spinning Crane Kick. The most important thing to know when taking him down is to interrupt Healing Mists, and run away from Spinning Crane Kick. Ranged players should also stand within 15 yards of him to avoid his Chi Burst which deals some pretty massive damage.

Ai-Ran has a small chance to drop Essence of the Breeze. This is a curious item that when used will give you a ten minute buff called Gentle Breeze. While under the effect of this buff, each time you jump you will be propelled a few yards forward. One great use for this item is untangling the plants on your farm much more quickly!

Kal'tik the Blight (Mantid)
Kal'tik spawns in the middle of Jin Yang Road, just in front of the gate heading into Dread Wastes. He is completely surrounded by hostile mobs, but can be pulled away without aggroing them using a ranged attack.

Kal'tik has three abilities to be aware of: Blade Flurry, Tornado and Windsong. Tornado and Blade Flurry are the abilities to watch out for. The tornado will move around and deal massive damage to anyone it strikes. Blade Flurry should be avoided at all costs, it's casted as a cone in front of him and will pretty much destroy most people who stand in it.

Kal'tik has a small chance to drop Bottled Tornado. When used this item will propel you into the air, it can also help prevent falling damage if used at the correct time. Unfortunately this item's major flaw is that it is a trinket, so it would need to be equipped before actually falling.

Moldo One-Eye (Saurok)
Moldo One-Eye patrols along the eastern river bank heading toward Whitepetal Lake.

Moldo's abilities are: Grappling Hook, Vanish, Smoked Blade and Vicious Rend. The most important of his abilities to watch out for is Smoked Blade. He will use this right after he breaks out of stealth. This ability can be avoided by either using an aoe ability while he's in stealth to break him out of it early, or by not letting him stealth in the first place. You will have a moment to hit him just before he disappears. If he does vanish entirely, get ready to use some defensive cool-downs.

Moldo has a small chance to drop the Panflute of Pandaria. This is one of my favorite type of items in game - relatively useless, but totally fun. When used near critters it will cause them to follow you for 15 minutes. Now you CAN have an army of small pets!

Urgolax (Mogu Warrior)
Urgolax spawns at The Golden Stair in the northern part of the zone. This is a very high-traffic area because it is where the first leg of Golden Lotus dailies take place every day. He doesn't usually last long once spawned in.

Urgolax uses three different abilities, those are: Devastating Arc, Summon Quilen and Titanic Strength. Devastating Arc is the ability to look out for here. It's a frontal attack that deals massive damage. Melee can simply run behind him and ranged shouldn't have much trouble moving out of the way. He periodically summons a Quilen add that does little damage. It can be cc'd or ignored.

Urgolax has a small chance to drop Chalice of Secrets. This item is pretty amusing. If you use it within 10 seconds of killing another player your character will be transformed into a Mogu and you'll do a funny little "kiss off" in their direction.

Kang the Soul Thief (Mogu Sorcerer)
Kang spawns in Autumnshade Ridge near two tents. There are also 2-3 adds nearby. It may be a good idea to focus down the adds before taking on Kang, as they deal some pretty decent damage.

Kang the Soul Thief only has a couple of abilities to be aware of. Those are Shadowbolt and Voidcloud. Shadowbolt deals a moderate amount of damage and can be interrupted. Voidcloud hurts, it appears as a dark purple area on the ground and is VERY easy to notice and move out of.

Kang has a small chance to drop Kang's Bindstone. This item will give you a ten minute buff that will make your character and any mounts you ride look grey in color. Of course, it's main purpose though is to give you a chance upon getting a killing blow to turn the enemy's corpse to stone. This thing works on bosses, players, critters, you name it. It's a whole lotta fun. =)

Yorik Sharpeye (Yaungol)
Yorik spawns directly north of Shrine of Seven Stars. He sits with a treasure chest and a tiny boat under a tree just below the waterfall.

Yorik's abilities are: Bellowing Rage, Rushing Charge and Yaungol Stomp. Yaungol stomp does some heavy damage, but the range is small - so it's easy to move away from. Bellowing rage you need to be aware of. He deals a lot more damage when this buff is up, combined with Rushing Charge the results can be devastating. When he uses Bellowing Rage, he will be slowed though - so it is possible to just run out of striking range until the buff wears off.

Yorik has a small chance to drop one of my favorite vanity items, Mr. Smite's Brass Compass. This item will transform your character into Mr. Smite himself for ten minutes! On use (in Mr. Smite's voice) your character will yell: "You there! Check out that noise!" Your character will also occasionally yell out other familiar phrases during combat. You can still mount while under the effects of this item as well.

Sahn Tidehunter (Jinyu)
Sahn spawns right next to the corpse of Carapin, the large crab half sticking out of the pond southeast of the Golden Pagoda.

Sahn has three abilities, they are: Rain Dance, Torrent and Water Bolt. The absolute most important thing you need to know when fighting him is to interrupt Torrent! If not interrupted, this spell will kill his main target. Rain dance hurts, but it is survivable. The rain droplets can be moved away from, this spell can also be interrupted (but I like to save my interrupts for Torrent because of cool-downs).

Sahn has a small chance to drop Aqua Jewel. This item will allow you to breathe underwater for 10 minutes and increase your swim speed by 50%. This isn't all this item does though - while under it's effects your character will become practically invisible (similar to a hunter's camouflage). Your mounts will also take on the effect, and it will not break in combat.

Major Nanners (Hozen)
Major Nanners spawns high up on a hill by the pond south of Mistfall Village. He is surrounded by elite hozen with 1181k hp. I highly recommend clearing out a few of these guys before engaging him.

Major Nanners' abilities are: Bananarang, Going Bananas and Toss Filth. Bananarang deals a hefty amount of damage, just move to the side to get out of it's path. Going Bananas is the ability he uses that can be the killer. He jumps around, and if he lands on you it'll knock out over half of your health in one shot. It's rather difficult to avoid this, be ready for some defensive cd's and/or heals.

Major Nanners has a small chance to drop Helpful Wikky's Whistle. This item is pretty neat. Upon use, a small hozen will be summoned to your side. You have a short window to interact with him and ask him to forage for you. He will then run off and you will be left with the buff Helpful Wikky for two hours. After killing a certain number of mobs Wikky will reappear and you can interact with him again. This time he will give you a Bag of Helpful Things. This bag can contain all sorts of goodies including elixirs, potions, motes of harmony, etc.

Hunters - Tame a Gorishi Grub while you still can!

2013-01-27T09:07:00.000-08:00

The Gorishi Grub in all it's glory

This is the Gorishi Grub. He's big. He's green. Quite frankly, he's awesome - and he may only be tamable for a little while longer. The Gorishi Grub has been in the game for eons, but had never been tamable until patch 5.1 hit. Perhaps he was never meant to be though? In the patch 5.2 ptr he can no longer be tamed. Whatever the case may be, if your even remotely interested in this guy you better snag him while you still have a chance!

Well, how do I tame this guy and where do I find him? I'm glad you asked. This ridiculously awesome looking worm spawns from level 54 rare named Clutchmother Zavas in Un'Goro Crater.

To get a grub to spawn, all you need to do is walk up to her until she notices you. Don't attack her please, just aggro her so that she'll begin laying eggs.

These eggs are where our cute little Gorishi Grubs are going to come from.

When an egg hatches simply tame the cute little grub that was inside - and make sure your in beast mastery spec, as he is exotic! (I chose to freeze Clutchmother Zavas while I tamed the grub, and then ran away afterwords so as not to kill her. I highly suggest doing the same so that as many people can have a shot at this pet as possible.)

Also, (thank you Starre for pointing this out in the comments) I completely forgot to mention - put your new grub on passive the moment you finish taming it. If you don't put him on passive right away he will destroy his mother. :(

When your done taming the grub grows pretty much a bazillion times the size it was pre-tame. I have a feeling though, that even if we can keep this pet in patch 5.2 it's not going to remain this size.

The exact location you can find Clutchmother Zavas at is in southern Un'Goro Crater in The Slithering Scar.

Click map to Enlarge

She is underground in the location marked on the map below. Basically when you run inside just take your first left and she spawns in that room.

Click map to Enlarge

Her spawn timer is several hours, so as I mentioned before - if your looking to tame this grub please don't kill her. The more people leave her alone, the more chances everyone will have of finding her alive and snagging this awesome pet.

I threw together a quick fraps video of the tame as well to better illustrate what I just babbled on about. Enjoy.

Badlands - Tamable Rares added in 5.1

2013-01-25T16:36:00.000-08:00

Tabbs - Tamed

When the magic wand of rare tamable pets was waved over Badlands this zone saw eight new additions. There are now a total of seventeen rares that call Badlands their home. You can see the other nine in this post: Badlands Rare Spawns.

One of the news rares in this zone sports a totally unique look, and that is Tabbs the cat (pictured on the right). This cat looks like a cross between Pogeyan (hunched, shiny look with red eyes) and Araga (coloration). You can find her sleeping along the mountainside just behind a small camp.

The rest of these new tamable beasts aren't unique, but there are still some pretty neat looking ones that low level hunters may find interesting. I think Blackshell the Impenetrable has a very attractive coloration (which is strangely enough not even close to black) that isn't very common.

Zormus, the dark purple warp stalker, shares the same look as only one other mob in the game, and that is Gezzarak the Huntress. Gezzarak is a spawned mob for the quest Adversarial Blood up in Skettis. The addition of this rare not only allows lower level hunters to have this model as a pet earlier, but it will also save people from having to farm for Shadow Dust and then Time-Lost Scrolls x10 to summon her.

None of these new rares are exotic, so hunters of any spec can tame them.

Click map to Enlarge

Here are some screenshots of each of these rares in order by level. (Click on pictures to enlarge them.)

Blackshell the Impenetrable, Needlefang, Tabbs & Zormus

Kalixx, Serkett, Vorticus & Deathstrike

All of these rares can be added to NPCScan. You can simply cut and paste this macro in game to add all of them automatically:

/npcscan add 51000 Blackshell the Impenetrable

/npcscan add 50731 Needlefang

/npcscan add 50838 Tabbs

/npcscan add 51018 Zormus

/npcscan add 50726 Kalixx

/npcscan add 51007 Serkett

/npcscan add 51021 Vorticus

/npcscan add 50728 Deathstrike

Don't forget your matching battle pets!
The Lizard Hatchling and Spiny Lizard can each share the same color scheme as Zormus.

Dread Wastes Rare Champions

2013-01-22T16:37:00.001-08:00

Looking for fun vanity items? Rare companion pets? Or perhaps something more useful? Look no further, the rares in Dread Wastes can drop all of these things. Each of the items are listed below next to the rare that can drop them. You can also see some screenshots of each of these items in action in this post: Sneak Peek: Special drops from Rare Champions of Pandaria.

The rares in this zone are all level 90, with health pools around 3.8M. They each have a 100% chance to drop either an item level 440 or 450 rare quality bop chest piece of a random armor type and a small chance to drop a Small Bag of Goods.

Click map to Enlarge

Ai-Li Skymirror (Pandaren)

Ai-Li Skymirror can be found kneeling in the middle of what's left of a large dead tree stump just south of Rikkitun Village.

Like other Pandaren Ai-Li's three abilities are Chi Burst, Healing Mists and Spinning Crane Kick. The most important thing to know when taking her down is to interrupt Healing Mists, and run away from Spinning Crane Kick. Ranged players should also stand within 15 yards of her to avoid her Chi Burst which deals some pretty massive damage.

Ai-Li has a small chance to drop a really neat vanity item called Ai-Li's Skymirror. This item allows you to take on the shimmery appearance of other players. It works on players using transformation mounts and other transformation items, druid shape-shifts, all sorts of fun stuff. The effects don't break in combat either like a lot of other transformation items do. The one downside to this item is that unfortunately it can't be used while mounted.

Gar'lok (Mantid)

Gar'lok has a few different spawn points around the Heart of Fear. When you find Gar'lok, before engaging him I would recommend clearing out the npc's outside of whichever hut he spawns in. This fight tends to go a lot more smoothly if you can pull him outside.

Gar'lok has three abilities to be aware of: Blade Flurry, Tornado and Windsong. Tornado and Blade Flurry are the abilities to watch out for. The tornado will move around and deal massive damage to anyone it strikes. Blade Flurry should be avoided at all costs, it's casted as a cone in front of him and will pretty much destroy most people who stand in it.

Gar'lok has a small chance to drop Eternal Warrior's Sigil. This item is pretty nice. It will restore 90% of your health and mana in only 6 seconds. It can be used while mounted. Unfortunately it cannot be used while in combat or in dungeons/battlegrounds though.

Omnis Grinlok (Saurok)

Omnis can be found patrolling around The Briny Muck with several other non-elite saurok. CC will be your friend for this fight. CC the adds, and take them down one by one before forcusing on Omnis.

Omnis Grinlok's abilities are: Grappling Hook, Vanish, Smoked Blade and Vicious Rend. The most important of his abilities to watch out for is Smoked Blade. He will use this right after he breaks out of stealth. This ability can be avoided by either using an aoe ability while he's in stealth to break him out of it early, or by not letting him stealth in the first place. You will have a moment to hit him just before he disappears. If he does vanish entirely, get ready to use some defensive cool-downs.

Omnis has a small chance to drop Golden Fleece. When this item is equipped there is a small chance that upon killing a mob that gives experience or honor a pile of gold will drop to the ground. The pile of gold generally equals about 20g. In my opinion this item isn't really worth the stat loss. Now if it weren't a trinket that would be another story. Oh, and equipping this item will make your character sparkle.

Krol the Blade (Mogu Warrior)

Krol the Blade has a few different spawn points in the most northern part of the Terrace of Gurthan. This guy's name is totally a tribute to the infamous Krol Blade (which he happens to weild as you can see in the screenshot).

Krol the Blade uses three different abilities, those are: Devastating Arc, Summon Quilen and Titanic Strength. Devastating Arc is the ability to look out for here. It's a frontal attack that deals massive damage. Melee can simply run behind him and ranged shouldn't have much trouble moving out of the way. He periodically summons a Quilen add that does little damage. It can be cc'd or ignored.

Krol has a small chance to drop Elixir of Ancient Knowledge. This item can be given to your alts for a huge exp buff while leveling. Unfortunately its only good for one use and the buff will wear off if you die.

Karr the Darkener (Mogu Sorcerer)

You can find Karr the Darkener on the Terrace of Gurthan, east of the Forgotten Mire. He spawns between two Ancient Guardians who will attack you once Karr is engaged.

Karr the Darkener only has a couple of abilities to be aware of. Those are Shadowbolt and Voidcloud. Shadowbolt deals a moderate amount of damage and can be interrupted. Voidcloud hurts, it appears as a dark purple area on the ground and is VERY easy to notice and move out of.

Karr has a small chance to drop an Imbued Jade Fragment, which teaches the pet Grinder. (Pictured on the right.) Grinder can be put in a cage and then traded or sold on the auction house.

Dak the Breaker (Yaungol)
Dak the Breaker spawns on the Venomous Ledge surrounded by scorpids. If your not well-geared, it may be a good idea to clear a few of the scorpids before engaging him. If you pull him backwards from his initial spawn point, it's also possible to have few very adds during the fight.

Dak's abilities are: Bellowing Rage, Rushing Charge and Yaungol Stomp. Yaungol stomp does some heavy damage, but the range is small - so it's easy to move away from. Bellowing rage you need to be aware of. He deals a lot more damage when this buff is up, combined with Rushing Charge the results can be devastating. When he uses Bellowing Rage, he will be slowed though - so it is possible to just run out of striking range until the buff wears off.

Dak has a small chance to drop Yaungol Wind Chime. This item changes you into a Yaungol when using it to charge. It is only usable outdoors in Pandaria.

Nalash Verdantis (Jinyu)
You can find Nalash Verdantis on the small island in the center of the Lake of Stars.

Nalash has three abilities, they are: Rain Dance, Torrent and Water Bolt. The absolute most important thing you need to know when fighting him is to interrupt Torrent! If not interrupted, this spell will kill his main target. Rain dance hurts, but it is survivable. The rain droplets can be moved away from, this spell can also be interrupted (but I like to save my interrupts for Torrent because of cool-downs).

Nalash has a small chance to drop the Hollow Reed, which teaches the Aqua Strider companion pet. (Pictured on the right.) This pet can be caged and traded/sold on the auction house. Also, unlike his name suggests, he cannot actually walk on water.

Ik-Ik the Nimble (Hozen)

Ik-Ik spawns in an underground cave beneath Kypari Zar. The entrance to his cave is located at 54.9, 65.7. He is all alone in there - taking a nap and sucking his thumb.

Ik-Ik's abilities are: Bananarang, Going Bananas and Toss Filth. Bananarang deals a hefty amount of damage, just move to the side to get out of it's path. Going Bananas is the ability he uses that can be the killer. He jumps around, and if he lands on you it'll knock out over half of your health in one shot. It's rather difficult to avoid this, be ready for some defensive cd's and/or heals.

Ik-Ik has a small chance to drop the vanity item Hozen Beach Ball. This item gets you ready for the beach! When using it your gear will disappear and be replaced by a tanktop and capri pants. You'll also be carrying around a shovel and bucket.

Hunters Rejoice! New Spirit Beasts Coming in 5.2

2013-01-18T09:05:00.000-08:00

It's been quite a while since hunters have seen any new spirit beasts. Well, in patch 5.2 patient hunters everywhere are finally getting some new ones, and I have to say - I think they look great! These spirit beasts are all porcupines and they will be making an appearance in three different colors: red, green and blue.

Click picture to Enlarge

My favorite thing about these new beasts, is that in the style of the Molten Front/Mount Hyjal taming challenges introduced back in patch 4.2 - these guys are NOT going to be easy to tame. Each one of these pretty spectral porcupines has it's own unique challenge associated with it. Unlike the beasts in the Molten Front/Mt. Hyjal though, these pretties are not going to sport a silver dragon around their portraits - which I think is a great idea. They will instead have the golden elite dragon pictured above. Although these beasts are likely going to be rare, the silver dragon seems to scream to people "Kill me, I probably drop some awesome loot." I imagine when non-hunters spot one of them with just the golden dragon, that they'll be more likely to continue on their way.

All three of these beasts have slightly under 4000k hp, and will have to be kited and dps'd down (not unlike Deth'tilac) to about 20% in order to remove their Strong Will (Cannot be tamed until weakened) buff. Each of these beauties will pretty much two-shot anyone they attack within melee range, and taming them will require some patience and practice.

Degu

Degu, the red spectral porcupine, has an ability that will two-shot people with poison who attack her from too far a range. If you get too close to her face, she will quite literally eat you. This particular tame requires keeping her at that "perfect" distance while dpsing her down until her buff wears off.

Degu - Tamed

You'll find Degu in Krasarang Wilds patrolling north of Crane Wing Refuge along the canyon wall that separates the Valley of the Four Winds and Krasarang Wilds.

Hutia

Hutia, the green spectral pocupine, has an annoying heal that must be interrupted. Unlike Degu, you can (and should) stay as far away from her as possible while kiting and dpsing her down. She will definitely nom nom your face if she gets too close. Fortunately the terrain around her spawn point makes kiting her fairly simple.

Hutia waiting to be tamed

Hutia can be found waiting in front of a large log ever so slightly north east of the mine entrance under Tian Monastery in The Jade Forest.

Gumi

Personally I thought the most difficult pet to tame was Gumi, the blue spectral porcupine. This beast really seems to have one deal, and that is - she's FAST. This porcupine moves like a freaking Ferrari. She doesn't heal, she doesn't have a ranged attack, she's just a whole lot of in your face and when she gets there - say goodbye. Concussive Shot and Ice Trap will slow her down, aspect of the cheetah (glyphed) and disengage will barely keep you ahead of her - basically if your slows wear off at the wrong time and cooldowns aren't up - things can go badly very fast. On top of that, the mountainous terrain can be tricky if your not familiar with it. I had the best luck kiting her along the mountain roads, and even so still died countless times. Thankfully there is a spirit healer very close by.

Gumi, nom noming some slow hunter's remains

Once tamed, Gumi will match very nicely with the new companion pet Spectral Porcupette, who is also making an appearance in patch 5.2. This tiny version of Gumi will be a reward from the quest A Large Pile of Giant Dinosaur Bones on the new Isle of Giants.

Gumi can be found sitting in the mountains north west of One Keg. Another hunter pet, Stompy, patrols right around where Gumi sits.

I'm working on some fraps videos of these tames right now, and I plan to have separate guides for taming each of these beauties up soon, which I'll link in this post. Until then, Happy Hunting! :)

New Rares and Mounts Coming in patch 5.2

2013-01-14T08:06:00.000-08:00

There are quite a few things I'm excited about in patch 5.2. Naturally, one of those things is the addition of a whole heaping ton of new rares. We've got many different types of rares to look forward to as well; new world group bosses on each of the new islands, rare elites requiring a small group to kill, rare soloable elites and other miscellaneous rares will all be making an appearance soon! We're even going to be seeing some new mounts - DINOSAUR MOUNTS - from these guys. Hurrah!

Zandalari Warbringers & Warscouts

The Zandalari Warbringers are five rare elites that will be spread out around the continent of Pandaria. These rares can be found in The Jade Forest, Krasarang Wilds, Kun-Lai Summit, The Dread Wastes and Townlong Steppes. (See map with locations further down in this post.) They each have 21079k health and will require a group to defeat. (On the ptr we were able to defeat them with a group of three - two BM spec hunters and an elemental shaman, however it went much more smoothly with a full group of five.)

Each of these rares drop 3-4 very nice reputation items including: Stolen Celestial Insignia, Stolen Golden Lotus Insignia, Stolen Klaxxi Insignia and Stolen Shado-Pan Insignia. They also tend to drop either a Big Bag of Zandalari Supplies or a Small Bag of Zandalari Supplies. Each of these bags will contain a fairly decent amount of crafting materials, and are basically another version of the bags that drop off of the rares in Townlong Steppes. That's not all these guys can drop though!

Zandalari Warbringers (Click photo to Enlarge)

If you look carefully at the screenshots above, you'll notice that the Warbringers are sitting on different color mounts. There are three colors that they can spawn in, and the color that actually spawns seems completely random. You may ask, Why does it even matter? Well here's why - because these rares each have a small chance to drop a mount, and not just any mount - their mount. The one they are sitting on when you engage them. Killing a Zandalari Warbringer on a Jade Primordial Direhorn will give you a small chance at that mount. At least this is what I have seen so far. I saw these mounts drop multiple times on the ptr, and each time the color that dropped was the exact same color as the one ridden by the Warbringer. It could be coincidence, but until I see otherwise I'm pretty sure this is the case.

Here are some screenshots of each of these new Direhorn mounts (which I think look absolutely fantastic).

Amber Primordial Direhorn

Jade Primordial Direhorn

Slate Primordial Direhorn

Ok, enough drooling over mounts - let's get back to fighting these rares. As I mentioned before, they will require a group to defeat. Preferably a tank, healer and at least a couple of dps. It is possible to kill these guys with less people, and with only dps so long as you have a pet that can tank or are good at kiting. (Obviously gear will make a huge difference too.) Naturally it's going to be more difficult without a proper group though.

All five Zandalari Warbringer's share the same abilities, and when you click on their nameplates you will notice that each rare has four different buffs. Each buff grants the rare a different ability. There are more than four possible buffs that they can have, however the ones you see on the actual mob will be the ones used while fighting that particular rare.

These buffs they can have and their respective abilities are:

Tribal Mask --> Horrific Visage (Causes a random person to flee in fear for 8 seconds. Pretty self-explanatory.)
Scarab Brooch --> Scarab Swarm (These scarabs can be aoe'd down, they don't do a ton of damage but they can be annoying to healers. They will eventually despawn if not killed.)
Thundering Sigil --> Thunder Crush (The spell effect is very obvious on the ground in front of them. It looks like a lightning cloud sitting just over the ground. Move out of it.)
Star Map --> Meteor Shower (These are very big meteors - it's hard not to see them. They do hurt, but are easy to move away from, especially for ranged who can stand out of range of the shower entirely.)
Spirit Charm --> Vengeful Spirit (The Warbringer will periodically summon a spirit that will go after different party members. DO NOT let this spirit hit you. She hurts - very badly. She also moves very slowly and can be slowed even further. If she's coming at you just move away until she despawns.)

You can see a really short version of the fight with one of these guys in the video below, along with the loot and mount drop - and then using said mount (running, /mountspecial).

Ok, with all this talk about the Zandalari Warbringers I nearly forgot about their less intimidating friends wandering around nearby. Near each of the five locations where you'll find the Warbringer's, you'll find their buddies - the Zandalari Warscouts, skulking around in close proximity. There were usually one or two just sort of wandering around a short distance from the spawn points of their more formidable mounted friends. These guys are soloable. They are also very important if your looking to get the new achievement Zul'Again, which is to kill 10 Zandalari Warscouts and 5 Zandalari Warbringers.

Zandalari Warscout & Loot

Zandalari Warscouts have 5297k health, and like the Warbringer's - the Warscouts also have buffs that grant certain abilities. They seem to have the exact same buffs as the Warbringers as well, however instead of having four different random abilities they have three. Their loot table is also basically a trimmed down version of the Warbringer's loot table. Instead of dropping multiple reputation items, they seem to drop just one, as well as a bag of crafting materials.

As of right now, Zandalari Warbringers and Warscouts will be located in the areas marked on the map below.

Rares on Isle of the Thunder King

There are also a bunch of rare elites that can be found in different areas throughout the Isle of the Thunder King. Most of the ones I ran across had 3151k health and were soloable. These rares included a couple of Mogu Spirit Channelers, a Mogu Crafter, a Zandalari Gatekeeper and even the Zandalari God-Hulk. I did run across one rare though who was no pushover, and that was Goda - the huge Drakkari Golem (pictured below on the bottom right). Goda had 21079k health and required a solid group with a tank, healer & dps to down.

Some of the rares I stumbled across on Isle of the Thunder King

Each one of these rares, including Goda, dropped an item called a Lei Shen Ritual Stone. The flavor text reads "A spell focus used to summon powerful combatants at key points throughout the Isle of the Thunder King. The opponents will require a group to defeat."

These Ritual Stones can also be looted from chests throughout the Isle. These chests are labeled "Trove of the Thunder King," and also contain about 40 gold and a grey item that vendors for about 25 gold.

I'm not sure where these "key points" are yet, but I've got a lot of these stones saved up and hopefully I'll get to find out soon.

Nalak <The Storm Lord> (Boss)

Nalak is going to be one of the new world bosses coming in patch 5.2. We'll be able to find him on the Isle of the Thunder King flying high above the new raid encounter Throne of Thunder. He has 305M health and is buffed with Static Shield, which zaps nearby targets with nature damage. You can actually see the jolts of lightening coming off of him as he flies around - it looks pretty neat.

Nalak <The Storm Lord>

Lore (via Dungeon Journal):
When Lei Shen discovered a rare clutch of thundering cloud serpents, he was awed, and set to subjugating them. The largest hatchling fiercely resisted, and when Lei Shen visited the handling pens, he laughed mightily at the charred mogu that lined the walls. He took the hatchling for his own, and for its obedience, granted it power over the storms and the sky. For thousands of years following the death of the Thunder King, Nalak has guarded the walls of his hidden citadel, awaiting his return.

Abilities (via Dungeon Journal):

Arc Nova - A pulse of electric energy inflicts 350000 Nature damage to players within 35 yards and knocks them back.
Lightning Tether - Nalak tethers several players to him, inflicting 10000 Nature damage every 1 sec. and an additional 20000 Nature damage if they are greater than 30 yards from Nalak. Lasts 15 sec.
Static Shield - Jolts of power surrounding Nalak inflict 20000 Nature damage every 1 sec. to a random player.
Stormcloud - Nalak places storm clouds above several players, which inflict 50000 Nature damage every 3 sec. to all players within 10 yards for 30 sec.

Isle of Giants - Oondasta (Boss)

Oondasta is the second new world boss we'll be seeing in patch 5.2. This boss can be found in the tar pits in the very middle of the Isle of Giants. He has 872M health, and is surrounded by a bunch of elites called Zandalari Dinomancers with 1575k hp. There is also one particularly nasty mob who stands just in front of him named Dohaman the Beast Lord with 42159k hp. I haven't had a chance to test out this raid encounter yet, but I must say this boss looks very formidable!

Oondasta

Lore (via Dungeon Journal):
As the war against Lei Shen's island citadel began, Alliance and Horde scouts made an effort to intercept missives between the major Zandalari camps. One such exchange seemed to revolve around an unfamiliar Zandalari word, always surrounded by terms of conquest and power: Oondasta. Somewhere in Pandaria, the Zandalari Beast Ward raises their mighty beasts as engines of war, and is putting the finishing touches on this Loa-infused monstrosity. The exact location, however, remains unknown...

Abilities (via Dungeon Journal):

Crush - Oondasta crushes his current target, inflicting 462500 to 537500 Physical damage and reducing armor by 25% for 1 min. This effect stacks.
Alpha Male - Oondasta seeks only the most hearty challengers, making him immune to taunts, but also increasing tank-specced players' threat against him by 100%.
Frill Blast - Oondasta's armor is more than just for decoration, and can charge up this powerful blast that inflicts 800000 Fire damage to all players in a 60-yard hemisphere in front of Oondasta.
Growing Fury - Oondasta's rage grows as the fight progresses, increasing all damage by 10%. This effect stacks.
Piercing Roar - Oondasta unleashes a piercing roar, inflicting 200000 Physical damage to all players and interrupting spell-casting, preventing spells of that school from being cast for 10 sec.
Spiritfire Beam - Oondasta fires a beam of spiritfire energy at a player, inflicting 138750 to 161250 Fire damage and jumping to a nearby ally. Up to 20 players can be affected, with damage increasing by 50% with each jump.

(Note: Information in this post is subject to change, as it is from the ptr.)

Eastern Plaguelands - Tamable Rares added in 5.1

2013-01-13T15:29:00.000-08:00

Snort - Tamed

Nine new rare beasts were introduced into Eastern Plaguelands in patch 5.1. This brings the total rare count for this zone to twenty-two! You can read about the other thirteen in this post: Eastern Plaguelands Rare Spawns.This zone got some really neat looking additions in my opinion. Four of these new tamable rares are "ghostly" see-through models, and they retain that look after taming.

The four ghostly rares are: Spirocula (love the name) - a level 40 white worm (must be BM spec to tame), Fene-mal - a level 41 black and white two-headed vulture, Snort - a level 41 brown saber tooth worg and Varah - a level 43 undead boar. Each one of these ghostly rares is also totally unique.

The remaining rares added to the zone are not unique, but will still make some very interesting looking pets. Bleakheart, the white demon dog, shares a model with only one other mob in game. That mob is Fidonis, who is another new rare added in patch 5.1. You can find him in Felwood. Quirix, the brown scarab beetle, has a model and color that could previously only be found in Uldum. Anyone that has ever quested through Zangarmarsh will probably recognize Sporeggon, as he is essentially the twin of Sporewing.

Click map to Enlarge

Here are some screenshots of each of these rares in order by level. (Click on pictures to enlarge.)

Spirocula, Fene-mal & Snort

Bleakheart, Likk the Hunter & Quirix

Varah, Snark & Sporeggon

All of these rares can be added to NPCScan. You can simply cut and paste this macro in game to add all of them automatically:

/npcscan add 51027 Spirocula

/npcscan add 50813 Fene-mal

/npcscan add 50915 Snort

/npcscan add 51042 Bleakheart

/npcscan add 50775 Likk the Hunter

/npcscan add 51053 Quirix

/npcscan add 50947 Varah

/npcscan add 50856 Snark

/npcscan add 50779 Sporeggon