New 5.1 Rare Faction Champions in Krasarang Wilds - A Closer Look

As I had mentioned in a previous post, there were a bunch of new rares that were going to be added in patch 5.1. Well the patch is here, and so are they! I've spent a lot of time over the past week camping these rare faction champions, and I figured I'd share some of the information I've learned.

First of all unless you've completed the initial couple of quests (starting with Meet the Scout -> A King Among Men/Meet the Scout -> The Might of the Warchief) at your faction's base camp you will not be able to see these rares. Completing those initial quests and their follow-ups will toss you into a new phase that will change your zone map significantly and allow you to see both the Horde and Alliance base camps: Lion's Landing and Domination Point.

Each base has three rares, for a total of six rare champions in the zone (of course you'll only be able to attack three of them, as your own faction rares will appear friendly to you). There are three different types of rares: the warrior, rogue and healy-type. Each base has one of each type. When you've killed all three champions in your enemies base, you will be awarded the achievement I'm in Your Base, Killing Your Dudes. (Origin: In Ur Base.)

Each rare has one piece of loot unique to them, and the rest are shared. The shared loot that you could possibly get from them (in order of most likely - least likely) is:

- around 10 Domination Point Commitions (Alliance)/Lion's Landing Commitions (Horde)
- Honorable Commendation of Operation: Shieldwall (Alliance)/Honorable Commendation of the Dominance Offensive (Horde)
- Small Bag of Goods (Both Factions)
- and the reason why these guys are so highly camped: Blood-Soaked Invitation (This item will grant you access to your faction's Brawler's Guild.)

These rares also grant +400 reputation with The Black Prince up to Revered.

The Commendations are by far the most common drop. Let's just say I've gotten a LOT of honor over the past few days. I now have each of the trinkets and have seen a couple of them more than once. I have yet to see the Blood-Soaked Invitation, or know of anyone who has received it. If you don't want to spend incredible amounts of gold on the Black Market Auction House though this is the only means of acquiring it at this point.

Spawn timers on these rares are very fast. The longest spawn I've seen was about an hour, but I've also seen them respawn in as little as a half hour.

(For Alliance Players) Horde Champions at Domination Point:
 

Champion of Arms: Kar Warmaker

Abilities:
- Heroic Leap/Heroic Leap He will use this if your over 15 yards away, it will knock out 40% of your health. Don't get to far from him!
- Cracking Blow (pictured left) This is the killer right here. This ability he smashes straight in front if him, and it will cost you 60% of your max health if hit. The best way to avoid this is to run right through him as fast as possible or try to sidestep it.
- Sunder Armor self-explanatory

Loot unique to Kar: Steadfast Footman's Medallion

Tons of New Rares Coming in 5.1, Including New Hunter Pets!

As many are aware, patch 5.1 is going to be bringing a lot of changes. One of the changes that I'm most excited about is the incredible amount of new rares being introduced. Not only do we get to see some new rares in Pandaria - we are also getting over a hundred new tamable rares throughout the Eastern Kingdoms and Kalimdor!

New Hunter Pets:

Qem - Pink "Brain" Bug. (Click any image on this page to enlarge.)

I'm not going to list every single new tamable rare (Petopia has already done that here), but I do want to share some of the ones that I thought were the most noteworthy.

Several of these new rares have skins that were not previously tamable or are brand new looks entirely!

There are three new "brain" bugs that can be found lurking around the hives in Silithus. There is a beautiful new sapphire owl that is tamable at level 25 (pictured left). There are seven new spiked wind serpents with absolutely gorgeous color-schemes ranging from level 27 - 53. There is a beautiful hunched striped green cat (think skarr's model + Winna's Kitten color scheme) that can be found in the Swamp of Sorrows, and another new black and white striped hunched cat in Felwood. The Arcane Wyrms in Coldarra have finally become tamable, and a new red wyrm has been introduced in Silithus. There is even a tamable monkey wearing a hat!

Several other new rares' looks were once only available in raids such as AQ40 and Blackwing Lair. Never could get a friend to help you tame Chromaggus? Don't fret - there is now an alternative that looks exactly the same! Chromehound is a level 49 rare that patrols around the inside of Blackrock Mountain. Several of the more colorful wasp models that were once only found in Zul'Gurub or AQ40 have also made an appearance out in the world.

Many other models that were once available only at higher levels can now be tamed by hunters much lower in level. Nether Rays and Sporebats (previously only tamable in Outland) can now be tamed in the level 40 - 50 range. A new level 48 boar in the Searing Gorge shares the same model as the blue & white felboars on Ogri'la Plateau. There are a couple of beetles that were originally found in Halls of Origination/Uldum that can now be found at level 27 and 39. Even shale spiders, which we previously wouldn't have seen until hitting deepholm can now be found as low as level 29 (of course not tamable until level 69 though because they are exotic).