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.)

Bombyx - Trackable Hunter Pet (Silkworm)

Bombyx is the tenth trackable hunter pet that we've seen in Mists of Pandaria. He is a level 90 purple silkworm, and is considered an exotic beast - therefore he is only tamable by hunters in Beast Mastery spec. He was introduced in patch 5.1, and is a little more difficult to find than the previous nine.

The other nine trackable hunter pets in Pandaria walk in predictable paths leaving footprints that eventually lead us to the beast making them. Originally all of their tracks were backwards, several have since been fixed when patch 5.1 went live. These beasts are completely stealthed, and the only thing that will make them visible is for them to walk through a flare. A Hunter's Mark placed on the beast will keep it visible to the hunter that placed the mark until the flare wears off.

Like the other nine beasts, Bombyx is stealthed and leaves tracks that can only be seen by hunters. His tracks however are unlike anything we've seen so far. He doesn't leave actual footprints as tracks, he instead leaves a trail of Heavily-Chewed Silkweed (pictured on the right in the screenshot below.) Unfortunately because these "tracks" are basically a small tuft of flowers (and look just like a smaller version of the Silkweed herb), they do not point in a particular direction. This makes determining the direction that Bombyx is travelling incredibly difficult.

As if not knowing which direction he were moving weren't difficult enough, he also moves VERY sporadically. He twists and turns, doubles back repeatedly and even stops in place for lengthy periods of time. In the screenshot below you can see there are Heavily-Chewed Silkweed tracks all over the place. Where does one even start looking for this guy?!

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).

Krasarang Wilds Rare Champions

Moving out of the Valley of the Four Winds and into Krasarang Wilds, we step away from vanity items and trinkets as the special rare drops - and move into epic pants! That's right, each one of the rares in this zone has a chance to drop their pants! Quite literally too, the pants are named after the respective rare that drops them. These pants are all epic, item level 440 and can be equipped at level 87. They are also all bind on equip, so they can be sold on the auction house or given to an alt. ^-^

The rares in this zone are all level 87, with health pools around 1.8M. They each have a 100% chance to drop an item level 420 rare quality bop helm of a random armor type and a small chance to drop a Small Bag of Goods.

As I have stated in a previous post - they all 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.

Click map to Enlarge  

Ruun Ghostpaw (Pandaren)

Ruun spawns on the upper level of the Temple of the Red Crane. Those with flying mounts can simply fly right into the terrace he is on. Before engaging him in combat be sure to clear the add (Incarnation of Despair) that patrols down the hall in front of Ruun. This mob patrolling into you and using it's Last Grasp ability while engaged with Ruun has the potential to make things go bad fairly quickly.

Like other Pandaren Ruun's three abilities are Chi Burst, Healing Mists and Spinning Crane Kick. The most important thing to know when taking him (and other Pandaren rares) 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.

Ruun has a small chance to drop Silent Leggings of the Ghostpaw.

Bloodtooth - Trackable Hunter Pet (Dragon Turtle)

Bloodtooth is one of the new trackable hunter pets that we'll be seeing in Mists of Pandaria. He is a level 87 dragon turtle that can be found patrolling along the shoreline and small islands in the southern part of Krasarang Wilds. (See map below for his exact path.)

How to track: In order to find Bloodtooth you will need to find and follow his tracks, which are only visible to hunters. Once you find the "end" of his tracks you will need to use a flare in order to make him visible. (If you are standing inside of the flare, you will aggro him.) I recommend not throwing your flare right in front of the most recent track, but instead  placing it slightly further out. The idea is to get him to walk through it. If placed too close to the most recent track, you will likely miss him. Once Bloodtooth has walked through the flare he will become visible not only to you, but to others as well. At this point you can start taming him, or you can throw a Hunters Mark on him. Hunter's Mark will allow you, and only you to see where he is. If another hunter applies their Hunter's Mark he will disappear from your sight when he goes back into stealth. If he is heading into an area filled with hostile mobs, placing Hunter's Mark on him and following until he is in a safe location to tame may be wise.

Bloodtooth's tracks are called "Muddy Tracks", and like other beasts' tracks they do not stay up indefinitely; the furthest ones behind disappear one by one as new tracks are created. His tracks are quite dark in color and he mostly walks along a fairly light surface, making them one of the easier sets of tracks to find. Be aware - he does patrol through the water quite a bit, so if you're tracking him and lose sight - don't forget to check the water!