Fishin' for Rares: Krakkanon

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.

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

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.

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

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.

How to Tame Hutia (Green Spectral Porcupine)

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:

Map of Rare Spawns on the Isle of Thunder

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)

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:

How to Tame Degu (Red Spectral Porcupine)

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.)

Blackrock Mountain Rares

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.