Tips for Hunting Glorious Rares

Ever since my time in Pandaria kicked off I have been absolutely addicted to hunting Rares. It started with rare pets for my hunter whilst I was levelling through Northrend and Cataclysm. Every day before I start anything, I would check known locations of any pets I wanted. Now in Pandaria they have added Champions of Pandaria – rare spawns (if they can even be called that) that have shorter spawn timers than we’re used to, that drop a random piece of blue gear and have a chance to drop a rare item. For some rares its a 85-87 epic item (BoE epic pants for Krasarang Wild Rares and BoP Epic weapons for Jade Forest). For others it’s a Bag of specific Materials (i.e. Lon the Bull’s Bag of Herbs will contain all types of Pandaria Herbs, all Townlong Steppes rares drop a type of Bag). For the remainders its a vanity item of some sort.

Well, now that I have been 90 for a couple of weeks now, I have finally completed the Achievement associated with these rares (Glorious!) – I have killed all the rares found in Pandaria. Granted, this cannot be compared to Frostbitten! Or any of the previous Rares achievements – those required some dedication. But then my mission wasn’t just to kill these rares, I wanted the rare items that they dropped as well. Now suddenly this task looks a little bit harder and requires quite a bit more dedication. Anyone can go and kill 30 odd rares on a known spawn timer. It takes a little more to persuade them to do it over and over again until their special drops are collected.

So far I’ve collected about half of the items on offer. As per usual some items are more sought after than others, and I certainly have my own favourites. But first a few tips for those that are interested in getting this achievement or these rares.

Tips for Pandaria Rares

1.     There are 8 different types of Rares: Saurok, Yaungol, Mantid, Pandaren, Jinyu, Mogu Warrior, Mogu Sorcerer and Hozen. There is usually one of each type in each area. Meaning there is a total of 56 rares to collect.

2.     Discussions are ripe about how exactly the spawn timers work. My findings are as follows:

a)    When a rare spawn is killed it starts a 2 hr (or maybe longer ?) individual spawn timer.

b)    However if all rares in the zone are killed a zone-wide 50 – 80 min spawn timer is activated and upon completion all rares within the zone spawn. (I tested this theory yesterday and it appears to be accurate)

3.     Hunters should be able to solo all but a few on their own. The only one I have had trouble with is the Pandaren Monk Ai-Ran the Shifting Cloud in Vale of Eternal Blossom. Even with 6 interrupts it’s not enough to get all of the Healing Mists (this may actually have been fixed in 5.1. more on this later)

4.     Use Klaxxi Buffs in Dread Wastes to your advantage. If revered with the Klaxxi the buff Raining Blood makes all rares here almost trivial. Considering a lot of these rares have either an entourage of adds or are in high mob populated areas, the AoE stun component of this buff is a godsend. Always clear adds before concentrating on the boss.

5.     Using a tanking pet and adding Mend Pet to your rotation is usually enough to deal with most rares. Knowing what to interrupt also helps.

6.     When in Townlong Steppes you can use your Shado-Pan companion to help kill some of the rares in or near Shado-Pan daily quest areas (Yul Wildpaw, Norlaxx and Lon the Bull)

How to deal with individual types

Saurok

Sauroks are very straight forward for hunters to solo. Only 2 should provide a bit of a challenge: Moldo One –Eye in Vale of Eternal Blossom and Omnis Grimlok in Dread Wastes, both for different reasons. Moldo One Eye is level 91 and the Smoked Blade ability can one-shot your pet. Sauroks will always stealth and become untargeted before they use Smoked Blade, but if he is hit during stealth he won’t use Smoked Blade after stealthing, so timing your responses can be a bit of a gamble. Hunter’s Mark will not prevent him from stealthing. I’ve yet to try using Flare (probably should try lol). One way to combat Smoked Blade as BM is pop a glyphed Bestial Wrath (pet won’t die while Bestial Wrath is active), or pop pet cooldowns like Turtle shield and Last Stand to see if it can mitigate the damage. Another tactic is to use A DPS pet and simply insta-rez your pet with Phoenix after a Slice and hope you don’t run into a second Smoked Blade.

Omnis Grimlok is actually slightly harder as he has an entourage of 5 adds that need be controlled or killed first. The Klaxxi buff Raining Blood makes that task a lot easier. Also consider taking the Manipulator buff and mind-control one of the adds to help fight Omnis.

Sauroks also use Grappling Hook to pull in all attackers over 20 yards away.

Hozen

None of the monkey bosses should provide too much of a challenge. The only 2 skills of note are Bananarang and Going Bananas. Bananarang is as the name suggests a Banana Boomerang thrown in a certain direction – simply avoid as it’s deadly at higher levels. Going Bananas is slightly more dangerous but just as easy to deal with. He will jump to random locations dealing some very high damage but, luckily for hunters, can be interrupted using Intimidation or Scatter Shot. Scatter Shot is by far the best option as Intimidation needs the pet to be close enough to the boss and so is not always guaranteed. Hozen’s third ability Toss Filth should always be applied to the tanking pet and can therefore be ignored as it will be healed through by Mend Pet.

Major Nanners in Vale of Eternal Blossom is the most challenging hozen as he is surrounded by elite Hozen Face-smashers.  Approach from the rocks behind him and pull with pet on passive and drag him to the lake. None of the elites should pull.

Jinyu

Jinyu can be challenging if certain abilities are not dealt with. The 2 abilities to pay attention to are both channelled – Rain Dance and Torrent. During Rain Dance the Jinyu will splash water randomly around the area and each splash hurts a lot. Either avoid or stun the Jinyu out of it using Intimidation or Scatter Shot. Torrent is another channelled spell which deals high periodic damage to its target. For both skills use stuns or interrupts AFTER the cast is complete, at the start of the actual channel, otherwise he will just cast it again once the silence or stun wears off. The 3^rd ability Waterbolt is just a standard damage skill that can be ignored through Mend Pet.

Mantid

The 2 skills of note with Mantids are Blade Flurry and Tornado. Blade Flurry can be healed through with Mend Pet and Tornado does not appear to affect the pet, or at least not like it does a hunter. Simply just stay out of it. Blade Flurry can be interrupted by stuns. Most Mantids have mobs in close proximity to them. When facing Gor’lak in Dread Wastes make sure to kill adds first. Kal’tik the Blight in Vale of Eternal Blossom can be pulled away from his entourage without them aggroing, simply put pet on passive and pull from distance.

Yaungol

None of the Yaungol are to challenging for hunters as their big damage ability Yaungol Stomp can be healed through with mend Pet. Just ensure to stay out of it yourself. His second ability Bellowing Rage is an Enrage, which can probably be dispelled but again is not necessary as it the damage increase can be healed through. Thirdly stay within 20 yards to avoid Rushing Charge which will stun and do some damage.

Only Lon the Bull, Dak the Breaker and Korda Torros have an issue with other mobs in close proximity.

Mogu Warrior

Mogu Warriors use Devastating Arc, a 180 degree frontal attack. Hunters should not stand in it and pets can get healed through it. He also summons a Quilen pet, but their damage is insignificant. Titanic Strength is a stacking damage increase buff that increases his damage by 5%. I guess don’t take too long to kill him. May even be dispelled using Tranquilizing Shot but I’ve yet to try (or care).

Urgolax and Kah’tir can both be pulled away without aggroing surrounding  mobs with pet on passive. But as per usual take care of any adds first.

Mogu Sorcerer

Mogu Sorcerers are probably the easiest to deal with as only Voidclouds are of note. Don’t stand in them but pets can be healed through the damage.

3 Sorcerers provide a bit of a challenge because of adds. Karr the Darkener in the Dread Wastes, Kang the Soul Thief  in Vale of Eternal Blossom and Norlaxx in Townlong Steppes. For Karr and Kang simply kill adds first. Norlaxx can be pulled with just one elite add which can either be CCed or killed.

Pandaren

Pandaren Monks are by far the most challenging due to Healing Mists which heals the Pandaren for 30% of his health. Problem is that after your interrupt wears off they cast it again. Unlike other classes, where the interrupt locks the pandaren out of that spell school, meaning the pandaren will not cast Healing Mists until after the next Spinning Crane kick, We hunters can only silence meaning the pandaren will cast Healing Mist again and again and again...Spinning Crane kick is a Melee AoE attack, that since we are at range shouldn’t bother us, just heal the pet through it.

On all pandaren except Ai-Ran the Shifting Cloud hunters should have enough DPS to kill the Monk...eventually. This is including interrupting 4 times using my pet crane’s sleeping ability, Intimidation, Silencing Shot and Scatter Shot, then popping Readiness to use them all again. For Ai-Li the Skymirror in Dread Wastes, Raining Blood and Angel of Death Klaxxi Buffs provide enough burst DPS to kill her quite easily.

Also consider using any of the Shado-Pan caster companions (Fei Li or Snow Blossom for example) in Townlong Steppes to assist killing Yul Wildpaw, as they will stay out at range and won’t be killed by Spinning Crane Kick.

Always make sure that your pet has aggro the Pandaren’s Chi Burst will close to one-shot you if you have aggro and are more than 15 yards away.

UPDATE: It appears that since the introduction of 5.1 Pandarens no longer continue to cast Healing Mist until their next rotation if it is interrupted (at least with Silencing Shot). I will investigate this further and keep you posted.

Have tested this again it does appear to have been fixed.

So there you have it. Hopefully this will help some hunters defeat these champions of Pandaria.

For more general info including loot , location and ability summaries for each rare check out this guide on WoWhead.