The Cape of Stranglethorn Rare Spawns

The Cape of Stranglethorn, the southern half of what used to be Stranglethorn Vale, is home to a total of five rares.

Tamable Rares:

Scale Belly, the blue and purple basilisk (pictured on the right), had a completely different look pre-MoP. He used to be a generic looking yellow basilisk with blue accents. The paint job he sports now is totally unique, making him a pretty desirable pet for low level hunters. I'm sure someone could even come up with a cool transmog to match him (yeah, mine clashes big time I know). 

Scale Belly used to be famous for dropping the Chromatic Sword. This sword has a very unique multi-color glow effect. Unfortunately he no longer drops the sword, and it cannot currently be obtained by any means in game. Well, let me take that back, technically you could still find one on the AH from someone who still has it and never equipped it - where in that case I'm guessing it would cost a fortune.

Kurmokk, the red gorilla, is also tamable. Unlike Scale Belly, he does not have a unique model. He is the lowest level tamable gorilla of this color though, and the only red one in Stranglethorn.

Non-Tamable Rares:

If you look closely at Lord Sakrasis, you will notice that he's wearing a Purple Trophy Tabard of the Illidari (well, the top half of one at least). He spawns across the rope bridge in front of the holy spring on the Naga Island.

Preview: Timeless Isle Rares (Patch 5.4 PTR)

(For the full list of rares, with map, drops, etc. be sure to check out this post: 

Timeless Isle Rares (Timeless Champion)

Before the Timeless Isle opened up on the PTR I knew their'd be some rares waiting. Using my eagle eye I could spot three or four of them from a distance, and nothing excites me more in game than new rares! Well now that the Isle is open I've done a lot of exploring and would like to share some of the rares I've come across so far - and there's quite a few!

While running around on the Isle if you pay attention to your mini-map you can see where these rares are. There are elite and non-elite ones, and each type will show up differently on your mini-map. Non-elite rares will show up as a little skull, and elites will show as a skull with little orange triangles around it.

So far looting them seems similar to the Rares on the Isle of Thunder, where anyone who tags them can loot.

As your looking through these screenshots, please remember that these are from the PTR and what you see here may change before going live. As always, you can click on the pictures for a larger, more detailed view.

Azshara Rare Spawns

The Evalchar - Tamed

Azshara is a level 10 - 20 zone that became a starter area for Goblins post-shattering. It's also totally shaped like the horde symbol, seriously - look at the map! How did that even happen anyway? It's crazy. Anywho, Azshara has a total of seven rares. Two of them are tamable, but only Scalebeard (the blue & yellow turtle) can be tamed by hunters leveling in the area.

The Evalcharr (pictured on the right) is also tamable - but he is an exotic pet, and therefore can only be tamed by hunters who are at least level 69 and in Beast Mastery spec. The Evalcharr is also a unique pet; meaning there are no other tamable chimearas in game that share his exact model and color.

I've stated this in the past, but I'd like to remind people that rares give a ton of xp for leveling toons. If your questing near any of their spawn points, it's definitely worth it to go out of the way a bit to see if their up.

Southern Barrens Rare Spawns

My last post covered the numerous rares in Northern Barrens. Well, now we'll be crossing the Great Divide into the Southern Barrens which contains 10 rares ranging in level from 30 - 36.

Tamable Rares

Three of the rares you can find in Southern Barrens are tamable, and one of them even has a totally unique look. Silithid Harvester, the green and pink beetle, was given a quite a make-over when Cataclysm hit. He used to be a bluish-green silithid, and has since transofrmed into what you see today. He is the only beetle currently in game with that color-scheme. You can find this big green bug just outside of Desolation Hold to the north.

Azzere the Skyblade, the red wind serpent (pictured on the right), does not have a unique look, but he is the lowest level tamable wind serpent in that color. He has a rather large patrol route just south of the Ruins of Camp Taurajo.

Snort the Heckler, the purple hyena, also does not sport a unique look. However he is the lowest level tamable purple hyena that you will find before hitting the hyenas in Tanaris. These days you can find Snort standing in the center of some large bones east of Vendetta Point.

Northern Barrens Rare Spawns

The Barrens. Ahhhh, this zone brings back some fond memories. Barrens chat, pvp at The Crossroads, the first instance I ever stepped foot in (Wailing Caverns), and of course, who could forget Mankrik's wife? Well unfortunately that mega-jerk Deathwing tore the zone in half when Cataclysm came and funked everything up. Fortunately the rares weren't scared off though, as a matter of fact you can still find sixteen of them in Northern Barrens!

Tamable Rares:

Three  Five of these rares are now tamable by hunters as of patch 6.0.2 (when hydras became tamable). You do not have to be beast mastery spec to tame any of them. Humar the Pridelord, the black lion (pictured on the right), used to have a one of a kind unique look and was very highly sought after pre-wotlk. Although I'm sure he's still sought by hunters these days (especially lowbies), there are now two other cats that look just like him. One of those is The Dark Prowler, a level 21 rare in Hillsbrad Foothills (added in patch 5.1). The other is Pitch, the level 76 quest npc in Sholazar Basin. You can find Humar resting under a large tree just north of Ratchet. (On a side note, some of you may remember the wonderful story that Erinys of the Harpy's Nest blog wrote for my 1st blogiversary contest last year about Humar. If you haven't read it yet - please do! It's an amazing story about the bond between hunter & pet, and just an all around wonderful read.)

Dishu, the orange spotted cat, looks exactly like a druid's travel form (pre-mop). Dishu has three different spawn points northwest of The Crossroads. Currently with Battlefield: Barrens going on, Dishu's south-west spawn point is right on top of a hay bale next to a Kor'kron structure.