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As requested, we're going "husky" on Phat Loot today, with a cool two-handed, midlevel sword that anyone can get. Plus, if you ask me, this sword has one of the best names ever. Puns FTW!
Unfortunately, that an added enchant on the pic above-- the sword doesn't glow when you get it.
A decent sword for Warriors and Paladins of the level (around 35-40). The Strength is very nice, obviously, and although you'll replace it soon (just like any other weapon in the early 40s), it's good to have around if you need to do any two-hand slicing.
Plus, the name rocks. Obviously it's a play on Excalibur, the legendary sword of King Arthur, but it drops from Razorfen Downs, so courtesy of Blizzard's witty item creation team, you get "X'caliboar." Funny.
How to Get It: Take a trip through the aforementioned Razorfen Downs, another one of my favorite instances in the game (I especially like the Undead rave going on in there). Ragglesnout drops it, and he's a rare spawn that appears near that rave (in one of the huts on the spiral). Apparently he is pretty rare, so if you really want to the sword, you may have to restart the instance a few times to see if you can get him, and then just hope the sword drops-- it's seen at about 20% which isn't bad, but when you factor in the chance that Ragglesnout appears, it's a little more rare than that.
He has a couple of other good drops for a Warrior, too-- a shield and a belt that are fairly nice. But this sword is the jewel of the bunch-- get in there, hope he spawns, down him, and maybe you too can have the chance to run around Orgrimmar or Stormwind yelling "I WIELD X'CALIBOAR! BOW DOWN TO YOUR KING!"
Err.. maybe that's just what I'd do.
Getting Rid of It: Disenchants into a Small Radiant Shard, and sells to vendors for 2g 1s 44c.
You want a bow that will make people sit up and say "whoah?" You want a bow with a neat mana proc? You want a bow that requires a really, really good PvE guild to get? Here you go.
Name: Black Bow of the Betrayer Type: Epic Ranged Bow (where are the Legendary Ranged weapons, by the way?) Damage/Speed: 201-374 / 3.00 (95.8 DPS) Abilities:
Increases attack power by 26, always very nice
On Equip: Succesful melee or ranged attacks will grant 8 mana and if possible drain 8 mana from the target. That's incredible-- it's basically 40-45 mana per five seconds, which allows any Hunter to keep up their DPS for almost twice as long as normal.
And if you want even more mana, there is a set of mail gloves created by Blacksmiths (dropped by Moam in AQ, I believe) called Black Grasp of the Destroyer that have the exact same proc. And while I haven't tried it out in game, I'm told that the effects of both stack. So with both the gloves and the bow, you'll never need mana again!
If only Shamans could equip bows...
How to Get It: Such a bow isn't going to be easy to get, and as the name might have already told you, this drops from the Betrayer himself, Illidan Stormrage, at the end of the Black Temple. There is a good argument made that if you're a Hunter able to get to Illidan, you probably aren't going to be worrying about mana problems anymore anyway. But to the victors go the spoils, so kill Illidan, be a Hunter (the mana proc on the weapon makes it just for you animal lovers), and win the roll and the bow is yours. The rest of the world gets to stare in awe at how frighteningly pointy this baby looks.
Getting Rid of It: As far as I can possibly tell, no one has. But maybe there's a guild out there who has Illidan on farm, and just doesn't need it any more. In that case, it's the usual Void Crystal, or 10g 82s 33c if sold to a vendor.
Last week we got requests to do a lowbie item, and since everyone will be headed into SM Graveyard soon to get the Headless Horseman, I thought I might let you know about another piece of loot hidden in that not-often-traveled instance.
Name: Blighted Leggings Type: Rare Cloth Legs Armor: 45 Abilities:
+17 Spirit
Increases damage done by Shadow spells by up to 10.
The Shadow spell might make you think Warlock, but the Spirit on these pants says they're for Shadow priests (Warlocks would rather have Stamina, as Life Tap can hook them up with mana as long as they have HP left). And for the level, they're very nice for young Shadow priests to grind with.
How to Get It: They drop from Azshir the Sleepless, a rare mob in the Scarlet Monastery Graveyard wing. The GY is also where the Headless Horseman will be spawning during the upcoming Hallow's End holiday, so to get these, just camp your young Shadow Priest outside the instance, and then dive in with your level 70 group to get the Horseman. Once that's done, check and see if Azshir has spawned (he usually spawns in front of the Mausoleum), and if so, bring your Priest in, down him, and hope the pants drop-- they've got a 30% chance.
And if they don't drop or he isn't there, worry not. The Horseman is a daily quest, and odds are everyone in your party will want something from him, so put your Priest back outside, come back the next day, and check again. By the time everyone in your party has a broom, you'll hopefully have grabbed these pants as well.
Getting Rid of It: Disenchants into Small Glowing Shard, and sells to vendor for 35s 59c.
Increases healing done by spells and effects by 486, which is high enough to make grown men cry
Restores 6 mana per 5 seconds, which makes grown Shaman everywhere weep with happiness
And if your target is below 50% health, direct heals will grant an additional 180 to 220 health to your target, which makes healers' mouths everywhere drop open. Which means if you're direct healing someone below 50% health, you get at least +660 healing just from this item. Of course, not all +healing translates directly into heals (and definitely not on the lower ranks anymore). But still, that's a lot of +healing.
Trivia: The Black Temple was previously known (long ago) as the Temple of Karabor, the center of Draenei worship everywhere. The Spire of Karabor is likely a piece of the temple itself (or perhaps the Altar within), fueled by years of Draenei faith and prayer. Pretty cool.
How to Get It: It drops from someone named Van Cleef in the Deadmines!
No, only kidding. Loot like this doesn't come easy-- you've got to be prepared for this one. Illidan himself drops this baby, when you kill him in the Black Temple. We haven't seen all that many kills yet, so a percentage isn't certain yet, but odds are it's less than 20% or so, and possibly a lot less than that. And considering this is a great mace for every healer in the raid, you're going to have to be pretty good and really lucky to call it your own.
Getting Rid of It: Sells for 14g 32s 71c, and disenchants into a Void Crystal, but come on now. Don't even think about it.
Who knew a piece of cloth on your back could be so badass?
Name: Ruby Drape of the Mysticant Type: Epic Cloak Armor: 105 Abilities:
+22 Stamina, +21 Intellect
Improves spell hit rating by 18 (hot for a cloak)
+30 spell damage and healing, which is even hotter, especially for an item from Karazhan. There are better caster cloaks in the game, but they're all from higher level raids, so get this one and you'll be set for a while.
How to Get It: As Kirk might say, KarazhAAAAAAAANNN!!! Prince Malchezaar, one of the last bosses in Medivh's tower, drops this baby. In fact, getting there is only half the battle-- because this cloak is so great, you'll probably have a harder time winning the roll to get this than you will actually defeating the Prince. It's around a 10% drop, which ain't bad, but every Mage, Shaman, Warlock, and maybe a Moonkin or two are going to be after this cloak, so it's really more luck than anything.
But the good news is that once you get it, you're pretty much set-- there are sidegrades coming up, but there's really nothing that matches up to it until you hit Kael'thas.
Getting Rid of It: Disenchants into a Void Crystal, and sells to vendors for 3g 71s 96c.
We've done some rare items here on Phat Loot Phriday, but we've never done anything this rare. This high level engineering item is so rare it's not even in the game. (I promise next week we'll do something everyone can get.)
Name: Remote Mail Terminal Type: Engineering Item Damage/Speed: N/A Abilities:
When used, creates a Remote Mail Terminal that can send and receive ingame mail from anywhere.
Last for five minutes.
Pretty cool device, because I'm pretty sure the only mailboxes not in towns are in Gnomeregan, right? And just like the Repair Bot, this could be put to good use during raids-- instead of having to make your alt come all the way into the instance to trade with a group member, you could just put this baby down, and both check and receive mail right there in Karazhan.
How to Get It: There's just one problem: you can't.
Sure, all it requires is an Engineering level of 335, an Adamantite Frame, two handfuls of Fel Iron Bolts, a Khorium Power Core, and Fused wiring. But while the plans for this were a world drop in the Burning Crusade beta, they never made it to the live servers. GMs have said that apparently mail was getting lost sometimes in the send. And while sometimes is good enough for Goblin Jumper Cables, it's not good enough for player mail, so the Remote Mail Terminal is MIA for engineers until Blizzard decides to put it back in.
Getting Rid of It: The schematic sells for 1g 25s, or did, when people were selling it. But it was also selling for thousands on the AH during the beta. Blizzard has already promised Engineers are getting some love soon, so maybe the Mail Terminal will make a return with the next expansion, if not before.
Sometimes you need some spell damage to get the job done. Every once in a while, you need a shield, or maybe a special trinket or a cool pair of shoulders. But every once in a while, you just need a big ass axe.
+65 Strength, +63 Stamina, which makes this clearly a Hunter weapon. I'm KIDDING! No, Mortal Strike Warriors, this one's just for you, or maybe a Paladin or a Enhance Shammy if you've already got it.
Also, your attacks ignore 315 of your opponent's armor, which is a nice bonus to damage.
Plus, just look at it! That is a huge freakin' axe!
How to Get It: You have to kill Teron Gorefiend, who you can find in the Black Temple, and who you can learn all about right here on WoW Insider's Know Your Lore. So far, it seems like about a 20% drop, which means your chances aren't bad if you're in a guild running BT and you can use this. Unfortunately, my guess is that a lot of these are going to end up as Void Crystals (disenchanted by clothies pissed that their robe or cowl didn't drop), but it's a good looking axe nevertheless.
Getting Rid of It: Well, you could DE it, of course. Vendors will give you 18g 17s 17c for it.
I'm a Resto/Elemental Shaman. I like shields. I especially like Epic shields. I especially like Epic shields with spell damage on them. And boy do I like Epics that have a nice tie to the lore.
Improves spell crit rating by 20, and increases spell damage and healing by up to 42
Antonidas is (actually was, because he was killed by Arthas, as all great Warcraft characters were) the head of the Kirin Tor, that conclave of wizards that you're hearing so much about lately. His pupil was Jaina Proudmoore (and it was she who he expected to eventually take over the Kirin Tor). When Arthas killed Antonidas (to claim the Book of Medivh), the Violet Citadel and Dalaran were both left wide open, and Archimonde moved in to finish off the job and destroy the city.
Now, of course, Dalaran is being rebuilt, and it's soon going to be flying over Northrend. Until then, Antonidas' shield has found its way back into the hands of players.
How to Get It: In fact, Archimonde must have grabbed it when he trashed Dalaran, because this is a drop from him at the Caverns of Time Mount Hyjal instance. In that instance, you fight Archi (as I like call him) fighting to gain control of the World Tree, and apparently he's been hauling this shield around with him ever since he sacked Dalaran-- drop him, and with a little rolling luck, it's yours.
As a sidenote, apparently this was one of the drops on the world first kill of Archi as well. So not only can you get a shield that belonged to one of the greatest arch-mages the world of Azeroth has ever known, you can also get a shield that belonged to one of the best guilds in the game! Two for one!
Getting Rid of It: Sells for 9g 55s 99c. Disenchants into a Void Crystal. Breaks my elemental Shaman heart.
When you need to block, look no further than this amazing tanking trinket, used by aggro-grabbers the world over. Could it be the only thing the Gnomes have made that actually works?
Equip: Increases the block value of your shield by 59.
Use: Increases the block value of your shield by 200 for 20 seconds.
If we're going to talk about why this trinket is so phat, we've got to talk about Block-- blocking is when your shield absorbs part of the damage that you've been hit with. The math gets complicated (it's not just a reduction in the block value, as your opponent's strength plays a part as well, and while some blocks can completely negate damage, not all do), so I won't go deep into it here, but higher the block value, less damage done when you block (and when you do is determined by your block rating, not your block value). Additionally, certain talents can add to your block value as well, as a percentage of what you've already got. So this trinket (with talents) adds a whole lot of damage reduction.
But wait, there's more-- Warriors have an ability called Shield Slam, which adds your block value to the total damage of your slam. Since popping this trinket adds 200 to your block value, that's 200 directly pushed onto the base damage of your slam. If you build up a good base block value (350 is pretty good), add this on top of it, throw in Shield Master (the Warrior version of the block talent), and throw in a crit for good measure, you're talking a Shield Slam of around 2500. You're beating people down with just your Shield!
And there's even more. Shield Slam isn't even a damage ability-- it's a threat ability (even better than Sunder Armor). You better believe a 2500 Shield Slam generates aggro. Pop this trinket, crit them with your shield, and not even that smarmy DPS clothie who refuses to install KTM will be able to peel that mob off of you.
How to Get It: Heroic badges again, which means you need to down bosses in Heroic dungeons. And this ain't no walk in the park-- you need a whopping 41 badges to get this one. Then again, if you're a main tank who's good enough to want this trinket, you'll probably have no problem running all those dungeons.
Getting Rid of It: You probably don't want to-- even if you have DPS trinkets to switch out, trinkets like this are always good to have around, just to see how much you can max out things like Block. But if you do have a sudden aversion to anything Gnome-made, you'll have to destroy-- vendors won't take it back.
Veteran readers of the blog will remember when the world first of this baby dropped, but now that everyone's 70, maybe you too can get a raid rolling in Naxxaramas, and obtain for yourself the legendary (literally) weapon of Medivh.
Name: Atiesh, Greatstaff of the Guardian Type: Legendary Staff Damage/Speed: 130-243 / 2.90 (64.4 DPS) Abilties:
There are actually four different versions of the staff-- Warlock, Mage, Priest, and Druid. You can see all of them over at WoW Wiki-- they all increase spell damage and/or healing of the equipper (the Druid one increases AP in feral forms as well), but they also have a party bonus, too. The Druid gives 11mp5, the Mage increases spell crit strike of the entire party, the Warlock grants 33 spell damage to the party, and the Priest gives 62 healing to everyone in the party.
Additionally, all of the versions will do something very special: create a portal to Karazhan. Nowdays, players go to Karazhan all the time, so it's not that big a deal, but back when this staff came out, no one had ever been there, and so cracking open a portal was pretty cool
And the staff grants various amounts of Stamina, Intellect or Spirit, depending on the version you have.
Unfortunately, the stats are no longer that great-- they're incredible for level 60, but at level 70, it's pretty easy to come by equivalent (or even better) stats, and therefore, not really worth the trouble to obtain the staff. But then again, there is an immense amount of value in the lore of this item, considering that it was owned by Medivh himself.
Why, might you ask, does something so awesome look so plain? Don't judge a book by its cover, son-- that model, though plain, matches the models used in Warcraft 2 and 3. This is a legendary item, and real power is inside. Also, spectral birds sometimes appear flying around the staff. So that's kind of cool.
Also, the Shade of Aran (who is of course Medivh's father) will be kind of surprised if you show up to fight him with this thing on
How to Get It: In many ways, this is the final goal of shipping WoW. To get the item, you have to first collect 40 Splinters of Atiesh, which drop from different bosses in Naxxaramas, which means you need to run the place a few times. Then, once you've got those together, you can combine them to make the Frame of Atiesh. Once you've got that, you head off to Anachronos, the great big dragon near the Caverns of Time in Tanaris.
He'll send you in search of the Staff Head of Atiesh, which Kel'Thuzad has gotten his grubby little hands on. He's trying to put the staff back together, and the Argent Dawn is fighting against him, so if you can nab the Head away from him, more power to you. And the Base of Atiesh is the other item you'll need, and it drops from C'thun, the end boss of AQ40. See what I mean about this being the final goal?
After you've done all that, Anachronos will reassemble the staff for you, but wait! It's corrupted! (Figures.) You then take it into Stratholme, and run an event in which you can vanquish the evil spirit from the staff. Along the way, you can pick up another legendary item, a 1h sword that's freakin' awesome, but disappears after only a few minutes. After you defeat the spirit, you're then allowed to claim the staff, giving you the world's phattest loot-- of 2006.
Getting Rid of It: The Greatstaff of the Guardian! The staff of Medivh himself, shattered when Archimonde destoryed Dalaran! Reassembled from shards dropped by ancient demons and cleansed by the most powerful of Azeroth's heroes! And a vendor will give you 18g 45s 58c for it. Go figure.
With BlizzCon going down as we speak, what better item to cover than the hookup lots of people got at Blizzard's last big event (this event, you'll remember, we're all getting the Murloc Suit). And on a more personal note, let me just say that: God, I hate Murky.
Name: Blue Murloc Egg Type: Noncombat Pet Abilities:
Summons Murky, an annoying (some say "cute"), periodically dancing Murloc
When you click on him, he even makes the Murggurguguglglgg murloc sound, which you can actually download from the WoW Wiki page. Although I don't know why you would-- it sounds like a cat coughing up a hairball while trying to sing.
God, I hate Murky. Whenever my guildie pulls him out, I just feel the urge to punt him (even moreso than gnomes). Murlocs are bad enough as it is, but when they're cute and tiny... Ugh. Hate, hate, hate Murky.
How to Get It: You can't, unless you attended BlizzCon 2005-- Murky was one of the giveaways to attendees there, and Blizzard hasn't given him out since. They have given away a Pink Murloc Egg to European players (after they messed up their Burning Crusade netherwhelp pets)-- that summoned a very similar (but pink) dancing murloc named Gurky. And with all the possible name combinations (Lurky, Turky, Jerky), and green, purple, and orange baby murlocs found within the game files, there may be more baby murlocs coming to a giveaway near you in the future (ugh, I hope not). But for now, if Murky's not yours, he never will be.
Good riddance, I say. Getting Rid of It: See? Vendors hate him too-- they won't take him. So the only way to get rid of him is by destroying the egg-- I recommend high-velocity punting.
This twinkalicious quest reward isn't exactly much loved, but it has its place.
Name: Everglow Lantern Type: Uncommon Offhand Damage/Speed: NA Abilities:
+3 Stamina
Use: Heal your target for 135 to 165. Unfortunately, there's a gigantic 30 minute cooldown on this one, so it's not extremely useful. But in certain situations it comes in handy, and while it's likely you'll ditch this one fairly quickly, for the level or two that you have this paired with a good one hand weapon, the extra healing helps in a pinch.
The thing looks pretty cool, too, as the glow spreads on your character, other characters, and in the surrounding area. Kind of fun to carry around at night with all the graphic options turned up, and RPers may even keep it around for those nighttime play sessions.
How to Get It: This is a quest reward, that's available to both factions via two different quests. For Alliance, you've got to do Supplies to Auberdine, an escort quest in Ashenvale, and Horde can do Weapons of Choice at Camp T in the Barrens. Horde can get their quest at level 17 (though the mobs are much higher level, around 23-25), and Alliance can get the quest at 19 (though it too will be hard for someone that low to complete. But with help it's more than possible, so if you really wanted to put this on a 19 WSG twink, you definitely could.
Truthfully, there are better items you could put on a twink, but speaking as a Mage who brings this thing into the lowbie battlegrounds, there's nothing like getting funny tells when people wonder how you heal yourself. I can only hope the other side wonders, too. Getting Rid of It: Oh right-- this is why I have this section. Because not all the phat loot you get is worth keeping. A vendor will give you 16s 32c for this, or it will DE into a Strange Dust, Lesser Astral Essence, or a Small Glimmering Shard.
And speaking of Phat Loot, have you left a comment on our Spectral Tiger Mount contest yet? The contest ends tonight at 7:00pm EST-- if you haven't, hurry over and get it done!
This stunning fist (geeky pun intended, of course) is wielded by the Warchief at the top of Hellfire Citadel. And you've got to fell him (after fighting through his clan) to get it.
Name: The Bladefist Type: Epic Main Hand Fist Damage/Speed: 152-283 / 2.60 (83.7 DPS) Abilities:
Chance on Hit: Increases your haste rating by 180 for 10 seconds.
At level 70, that means an increase in speed of ~17% when it procs, which according to reports, is fairly often. (Procs per minute involves a lot of math, and regular readers will know I'm terrible at getting math right, but from what I understand, this thing hits at 3 PPM, halfway between Crusader (1), and Lifestealing (6). So pretty often, but not every time.)
Also, I'm told the Mongoose enchant can stack with this ability, which means if you've got both going, it's a lot of slashy slashy and stabby stabby (technical terms).
Unfortunately, this baby is Unique (not to mention Main Hand), so no, you can't dual wield them like Kargath does.
How to Get It: To answer that, we have to go back a little bit in Warcraft Lore. Kargath Bladefist wasn't always warchief of the Shattered Hand clan, and he wasn't always known as the Bladefist. When he reached the level of grunt, the dude cut off his own hand, and replaced it with this weapon. And anyone badass enough to do that should definitely be Warchief, so he rose through the ranks and took over Shattered Halls. There's more to it than that (maybe we'll see a KYL someday on him), but that's what this weapon is all about.
And you know taking it away from him is not going to be an easy task. You've got to storm into Shattered Halls (which means you've got to get the key, which is a nice quest chain in itself), and you've got to do it on Heroic mode. Make your way through the Gauntlet, past the stupid Ogre (I'm just kidding, he's awesome), and all those damn assassins (they are not), and then topple the Warchief himself. Pull this bad boy from his wrist (it drops at around 5%), and it's yours. Impressive, no?
Getting Rid of It: I don't know why I ever decided to include this section. Why would you want to get rid of any of this phat loot? A vendor will give you 10g 46s 29c for it, and it will disenchant into a Void Crystal.
For sheer ranged damage (anywhere in the world, not just in Tempest Keep), no other ammunition does it better. This is the only Epic ammunition in the game, and it's pretty clear why.
Adds 53 damage per second. That's like having an increase of over 700 attack power. The next highest ammo, Adamantite Shells, are +43 DPS, so this is far and above the best ammo you can obtain and use anywhere in the game.
How to Get It: And so of course it doesn't come cheap (in either gold or effort). To get these arrows or bullets, all you have to do is buy them-- they're available from Andormu or Nozari in the Caverns of Time. But the first catch is that you've got to be Honored with Scale of the Sands to do it.
Just to get Friendly with Scale of the Sands, you've got to obtain Vials of Eternity, so that means that you've got to beat both Vashj and Kael in SSC and the Eye. Yup, if you just stopped reading right now, I can't say I blame you.
And after that, I believe the only way to gain Scale of the Sands reputation is to run Mount Hyjal and get rep from kills in there. Work your way to Honored, and you'll be able to buy this ammo. And the last catch on this one? Each stack of 200 is a whopping 2g a piece. Unless you're overflowing with money (and then again, if you've made your way to Mount Hyjal, maybe you are), this is strictly raid boss ammo only.
Getting Rid of It: Vendor will give you 25c back for them if you decide you'd rather not pour out DPS like a Hefeweizen at Oktoberfest.
Name: The Decapitator Type: Epic Main Hand Axe Damage / Speed: 167-312 / 2.60 (92.1 DPS) Abilities:
+27 critical strike rating
Here's the fun part: on use, you can throw it at a target up to 40 feet away for 513-567 damage. Oh, and the throw can crit as well (at about 5%, most players say), so while you can't really use it to spike your DPS in PvE (most bosses are immune to it, apparently), it's very helpful in PvP. Got a runner with just a little health left? Toss this guy and watch the numbers fly and the dude die. Then go eat some pie.
3 minute cooldown on the use, which is kind of lame. Also happens to share a cooldown with trinkets that increase your attack power, which is kind of a bummer, but not a gamebreaker.
How to Get It: Drops from the Prince in Karazhan at around 11.5%, so chances are your guild may have Voided one already. But if you're a Fury Warrior or a Shaman with an axe fetish who really likes the sound of throwing this thing around in PvP, you can probably convince them to give it to you.
Getting Rid of It: Bored of tossing axes around already? Disenchants into a Void Crystal, and sells to a vendor for 12g44s56c.
