So, after getting 30 Naga claws and turning it in, I got the quest to plant the seeds at the pump stations and the Elite quests to kill the mini-boss Naga. We rode along the South end of Umbrafen Lake and I ran through about 7 mobs and stopped right at the pump controls where there were another 7 or so Naga and slaves.

I start taking a beating and healing Phrixus’ minion, but it’s an all-out battle. The next thing I see in chat is, “run” and my heals to Phrixus came up “Out of Range.” That plea/command was followed by “L2run lol,” which is my normal joke to him for stopping to fight when we get dismounted by a daze. I keep healing myself and his minion next to me, and the mobs start dropping one by one.

Phrixus is still in bad shape and says, “u just aggroed like 10 mobs, i’m not that good yet,” to which I confidently (okay, arrogantly) quipped back, “i am.” That was at 11:01. At 11:04, he bowed to me in the midst of a hug pile of bodies and said, “ok, you kick butt / i was getting owned by them.”

Here is how to survive an all-out battle:

• Devotion Aura for durability
• Keep the caster back
• Don’t aggro casters
• Blessing of Sanctuary on tank(s)
• Heal with Flash of Light
• Use potions early for cooldown
• DO NOT LOSE YOUR COOL! (it’s only a game, lol)

That is why I play a tankadin. Why do you play your class?

Seeing that the UI indicated a level 51 gray elite named Ironback, I sat up a little bit when I saw SilverDragon pipe up that it had spotted Ironback. A quick hop on over to Petopia, and I learned that Ironback is a rare elite beast that just so happens to be tamable. I wanted him for myself, or Huntr, actually. As a level 62, it should be a pretty easy feat, but still a special pet due to the rareness. Some research reveals that the respawn time is between 12 and 24 hours. Time to go fetch Huntr, and quickly.

The Location

As I mentioned, Ironback was swimming along the northern coast of The Hinterlands, just East of the waterfall from the highland. The approximate coordinates came out to be 83, 48.5, just to the west of where Paladr accidentally aggroed him and had to die to leave Ironback there. /silly pally. Let the screenshot and dot speak for itself. The map location will read The Overlook Cliffs.

The Tame

The steps are about as mundane as possible, with only two things to really be aware of:

• opposing faction on PvP realm
• Gammerita – a roaming aggressive turtle who will aggro you if she wanders while you are standing on the shore

Of course, the basic tactic is to drop a Freezing Trap to ice block Ironback while you tame him. So, place the trap on the shore and swim out and hit him with a Concussion Shot and spin 180-degrees and swim back to shore and just past the trap and immediately start spamming Tame Beast, which you conveniently have on a toolbar, right?

If all goes as I have foreseen, your tame should end at the exact moment the ice block breaks. There is an awkward moment when it does, because you are not quite sure if OldIron is a friend or foe until you see him join you at your side. Feed him some fruit and he will begin to smile. Congratulations, you now have a pet with a great skin, cheap food, and more armor than he knows what to do with.

Now Rak’shiri for those of you that haven’t seen her is a big white saber cat with aqua stripes. See her there – a real beut ain’t she?

Nothing like seeing those glowing green eyes staring out at you from the dark I can tell you that much – crikey!

Anyway – enough of that. First things first – to get Rak’shiri, you need to be in your 57th season (or level 57 for you folks that don’t grok Ar-Pee) and it helps if you have an addon that can show you your coordinates on the world map. Growl uses and recommends Titan Panel for this, but there are lots of options.

The next thing you need in fair amounts is patience – I can’t stress this enough. Rak’shiri is a rare spawn that shows up approximately every eight hours or so. Some of you will follow this guide and nab her on the first try. Others won’t be so lucky and it could take days. If you plan to lay in a semi-permanent camp for this fine cat, I’ve scouted a good spot for you already and will detail the location later on.

So first things first – get your fuzzy-loving self to Winterspring.

Remember though, this is a high-stakes tame in contested territory (for those of you on a PvP server) and the area you’re hunting in is positively *full* of other deadly cats. Make sure to bring plenty of bandages and don’t forget to bring along a stack of meat or fish. After all you’re likely going to need to accomplish not *one* but *two* tames to successfully camp Rak’shiri. Why two tames? Because unless you plan on abandoning your existing pet in favor of Rak’shiri, a temporary companion is highly recommended.

There are a lot of options in Winterspring when it comes to finding a temporary pet. So keep on the lookout as you travel. Good options that are very close to Everlook include the Shard-Tooth Bears and Winterspring Owls. If you don’t mind a bit of travel (and if you’ve enough level for them) any of the graceful, Frostsaber Huntresses or Frostsaber Stalkers found near Rak’shiri’s hunting grounds are also excellent companions.

Once in Everlook, talk to Azzleby and stable your existing pet. Check your bags one last time for meat/fish and prepare to move out.

Ready? Good – mount up and lets go find Rak’shiri!

First off, best thing to do is know where you’re going – so lets do a bit of map recon. Open your world map and mark a waypoint around 51.14. That’s the spot I recommend you set your camp up on. The route is simple – just follow the road south to Frost Saber Rock. There are depressions east and west of the road. Both are full of cats. The westerly valley is the one we’re after.

Now a word of warning: while never a particularly traveled environ, Winterspring is even more devoid of other players now that the Burning Crusade is live. That said, it’s still advisable for those on PvP servers to keep their professional sense of paranoia on at least medium alert. Not only are there are stealthed Wintersaber Stalkers nearby (so watch out for them) – but the scent of a rare pet attracts other hunters…particularly those from the opposite faction.

So – once you arrive and clear out one or two of the stealthed cats, you can mount the crest of the small hill around 51.13 – 51.14.

This is a good point for your high-hide. None of the big cats path through the hill and you have a commanding view of the deceptively empty valley to your north.

Okay – here’s where the patience part comes in. Remember that 8 to 10 hour spawn rate? Right. Get comfortable. A number of big cats prowl the western depression. Most are the solid white Wintersaber Huntresses or Stalkers. From time to time though, a black striped Wintersaber will path into view and get your heart racing.

Be calm – make sure to check your target – you’re looking for the tell-tail silver dragon icon to mark your quarry. When you catch the big azure striped cat he’ll likely be pathing straight toward you (or away.) Use caution – that peaceful snowy lowland is a furry valley of fang filled death. Stealthed Frostsaber Stalkers fill the valley around Rak’shiri’s patrol path. For lower level hunters, simply setting foot off your hilltop will invite an immediate attack. Unless you’re worried about your quarry getting sniped by another hunter or killed by some clueless schmuck, hold your position and watch the rare cat patrol its territory. With some careful killing or creative use of feign death you can work your way into taming distance. The rest is fairly simple – drop a freeze trap – concussive shot – and start taming.

Taming a rare spawn like Rak’shiri is one of the best parts of being a hunter. While rare spawn pets no longer have special skills or faster attack speeds, many, like Rak’shiri have skins that are unique in the game.

In fact, the only other big cat that shares the same skin as Rak’shiri is the mighty Shy Rhotam – who is the target of a Horde only quest – and almost impossible for Alliance characters to tame.

Tips For Making Your Hunt Successful

• Create a simple macro to make your hunt easier – bind it to a key for spamming while you’re camping: /target Rak’shiri
• Park your character on our camp spot and log off. Play an alt or spend some time with the spouse. Check back at the top of each hour. While it’s tough to guess Rak’shiri’s actual spawn cycle – checking back on a regular interval lets you live your life while also camping this rare spawn
• If you *can* – check for Rak’shiri right after server maintenance or nightly server resets. These actions should restart the spawn timers. It’s also a good time to catch the big cat and not have to worry about other hunters beating you to the tame.
• If you’re a skinner – and don’t mind killing some time farming – clear the valleys of all the cats. Lots of rugged leather to be had. Killing the Wintersabers won’t make Rak’shiri spawn any faster, but the leather can be sold or crafted. Use the time to practice jump-shots or level weapon skills.

There you go folks – while Aunty Growl can’t guarantee you’ll find Rak’shiri on the first try – ifyou follow this guide, you’re guaranteed (eventual) success! Stay focused, stay positive and try not to squee too loud the first time you see those bright emerald eyes gazing back at you!

Olm the Wise is one of 4 owls/owl-types in the game that has this skin color, according to Petopia.com. I did have to set my rep status to be At War with Cenarian Circle to tame him, but that was no biggie. He went right into my ice block Freezing Trap and I tamed him with only about 10 seconds of getting hit. (location: 55.7, 21.5)

Here are my screenshots. Notice his new name. 42 points for the first person with the reference.

Oh, yeah. Ding 54. 5d 10h 26m /played time.

The Slave Pens is located in Zangarmarsh in the center of Coilfang Reservoir. It is meant for levels 62-64 and is a 5-man instance. You should bring along some crowd control races and a Shadow Priest is quite handy during the Rokmar fight when he blasts the party with an AOE lightning effect.

Down to the details:

There are more group pulls of more dangerous trash mobs than in the previous instances of Outlands. The Naga have healers that need to be taken out quickly, and others have AOE and single-target fears, creating the potential for wipes.

Turn right to go fight Mennu the Betrayer first. Things to note about this fight: he drops totems, his spells are uninterruptable, his fire nova does 2.5k damage, and he resists stuns. Sounds like fun. Here is what I want from him:

Time to go take on Rokmar the Crackler. Now it’s time to really love being a Shadow Priest. Rokmar sends out a Lightning Bolt to everyone that deals 2k damage EACH. Time to lay down Vampiric Embrace and start dpsing the crap out of him. He also has an ensnare and gives the tank a wound that hits for 800 points per tick. I want two things from him:

For the last boss, Quagmirran, I’ll get to take care of more AOE/DOT damage. He has a 2.5k AOE Poison and a 2k DOT that Shadow Priests will need to take care of. Someone needs to take care of debuffing his DOT, and he needs to be taken down quickly or you will run out of mana with him dealing that much damage. Finally a good cloak: