Thursday, January 31, 2013

Vale of Eternal Blossoms Rare Champions

Major changes occured in the Vale in patch 5.4. See this post to see how it effected the rares in it: Vale of Eternal Blossoms Rares - Patch 5.4

Vale of Eternal Blossoms, a zone for max-level players, is home to eight of the rare champions of Pandaria. Just like in previous zones, there are one of each type (Pandaren, Mantid, Saurok, etc.) and they all count toward the achievement Glorious! Being the final (and therefore highest level) zone, these rares hit harder and have more health than any of the ones I've covered yet.

The rares in this zone are all level 91, with health pools a little over 4M. They each have a 100% chance to drop an item level 440 bop cloak with random stats and a small chance to drop a Small Bag of Goods. They also each have a chance to drop some very fun vanity items, or some useful items as well. Each of the items they can drop are listed below next to the rare that drops it. You can also see some screenshots of each of these items in action in this post: Sneak Peak: Special drops from Rare Champions of Pandaria.

As I have stated in a previous post - many of them 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.

Also note that many of the rares in this zone are affected by phasing. If you can't see Ai-Ran, Major Nanners, Mold One-Eye, Urgolax or Kang it's because you haven't done the opening quest line to unlock the Golden Lotus dailies  This quest line starts in Kun-Lai Summit at the Temple of the White Tiger with the quests Temple of the White Tiger (Alliance) or Temple of the White Tiger (Horde). Following these quest lines will open the gates into the Vale and eventually change the phase so that you will be able to see all of these rares.

Click map to Enlarge
Ai-Ran the Shifting Cloud (Pandaren)
Ai-Ran can be found meditating in the small cave just east of Mistfall Village beneath the Tu Shen Burial Ground.

Like other Pandaren Ai-Ran's three abilities are Chi BurstHealing Mists and Spinning Crane Kick. The most important thing to know when taking him 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.

Ai-Ran has a small chance to drop Essence of the Breeze. This is a curious item that when used will give you a ten minute buff called Gentle Breeze. While under the effect of this buff, each time you jump you will be propelled a few yards forward. One great use for this item is untangling the plants on your farm much more quickly!

Kal'tik the Blight (Mantid)
Kal'tik spawns in the middle of Jin Yang Road, just in front of the gate heading into Dread Wastes. He is completely surrounded by hostile mobs, but can be pulled away without aggroing them using a ranged attack.

Kal'tik has three abilities to be aware of: Blade FlurryTornado and Windsong. Tornado and Blade Flurry are the abilities to watch out for. The tornado will move around and deal massive damage to anyone it strikes. Blade Flurry should be avoided at all costs, it's casted as a cone in front of him and will pretty much destroy most people who stand in it.

Kal'tik has a small chance to drop Bottled Tornado. When used this item will propel you into the air, it can also help prevent falling damage if used at the correct time. Unfortunately this item's major flaw is that it is a trinket, so it would need to be equipped before actually falling.

Moldo One-Eye (Saurok)
Moldo One-Eye patrols along the eastern river bank heading toward Whitepetal Lake.

Moldo's abilities are: Grappling HookVanishSmoked Blade and Vicious Rend. The most important of his abilities to watch out for is Smoked Blade. He will use this right after he breaks out of stealth. This ability can be avoided by either using an aoe ability while he's in stealth to break him out of it early, or by not letting him stealth in the first place. You will have a moment to hit him just before he disappears. If he does vanish entirely, get ready to use some defensive cool-downs.

Moldo has a small chance to drop the Panflute of Pandaria. This is one of my favorite type of items in game - relatively useless, but totally fun. When used near critters it will cause them to follow you for 15 minutes. Now you CAN have an army of small pets!

Urgolax (Mogu Warrior)
Urgolax spawns at The Golden Stair in the northern part of the zone. This is a very high-traffic area because it is where the first leg of Golden Lotus dailies take place every day. He doesn't usually last long once spawned in.

Urgolax uses three different abilities, those are: Devastating ArcSummon Quilen and Titanic Strength. Devastating Arc is the ability to look out for here. It's a frontal attack that deals massive damage. Melee can simply run behind him and ranged shouldn't have much trouble moving out of the way. He periodically summons a Quilen add that does little damage. It can be cc'd or ignored.

Urgolax has a small chance to drop Chalice of Secrets. This item is pretty amusing. If you use it within 10 seconds of killing another player your character will be transformed into a Mogu and you'll do a funny little "kiss off" in their direction.

Kang the Soul Thief (Mogu Sorcerer)
Kang spawns in Autumnshade Ridge near two tents. There are also 2-3 adds nearby. It may be a good idea to focus down the adds before taking on Kang, as they deal some pretty decent damage.

Kang the Soul Thief only has a couple of abilities to be aware of. Those are Shadowbolt and Voidcloud. Shadowbolt deals a moderate amount of damage and can be interrupted. Voidcloud hurts, it appears as a dark purple area on the ground and is VERY easy to notice and move out of.

Kang has a small chance to drop Kang's Bindstone. This item will give you a ten minute buff that will make your character and any mounts you ride look grey in color. Of course, it's main purpose though is to give you a chance upon getting a killing blow to turn the enemy's corpse to stone. This thing works on bosses, players, critters, you name it. It's a whole lotta fun. =)

Yorik Sharpeye (Yaungol)
Yorik spawns directly north of Shrine of Seven Stars. He sits with a treasure chest and a tiny boat under a tree just below the waterfall.

Yorik's abilities are: Bellowing RageRushing Charge and Yaungol Stomp. Yaungol stomp does some heavy damage, but the range is small - so it's easy to move away from. Bellowing rage you need to be aware of. He deals a lot more damage when this buff is up, combined with Rushing Charge the results can be devastating. When he uses Bellowing Rage, he will be slowed though - so it is possible to just run out of striking range until the buff wears off.

Yorik has a small chance to drop one of my favorite vanity items, Mr. Smite's Brass Compass. This item will transform your character into Mr. Smite himself for ten minutes! On use (in Mr. Smite's voice) your character will yell: "You there! Check out that noise!" Your character will also occasionally yell out other familiar phrases during combat. You can still mount while under the effects of this item as well.

Sahn Tidehunter (Jinyu)
Sahn and his dead crab Carapin have been moved in patch 5.3 to the northern pond next to Mogu'shan Palace. I have a screenshot of him at his new location in this post.

Sahn has three abilities, they are: Rain DanceTorrent and Water Bolt. The absolute most important thing you need to know when fighting him is to interrupt Torrent! If not interrupted, this spell will kill his main target. Rain dance hurts, but it is survivable. The rain droplets can be moved away from, this spell can also be interrupted (but I like to save my interrupts for Torrent because of cool-downs).

Sahn has a small chance to drop Aqua Jewel. This item will allow you to breathe underwater for 10 minutes and increase your swim speed by 50%. This isn't all this item does though - while under it's effects your character will become practically invisible (similar to a hunter's camouflage). Your mounts will also take on the effect, and it will not break in combat.

Major Nanners (Hozen)
Major Nanners spawns high up on a hill by the pond south of Mistfall Village. He is surrounded by elite hozen with 1181k hp. I highly recommend clearing out a few of these guys before engaging him.

Major Nanners' abilities are: BananarangGoing Bananas and Toss Filth. Bananarang deals a hefty amount of damage, just move to the side to get out of it's path. Going Bananas is the ability he uses that can be the killer. He jumps around, and if he lands on you it'll knock out over half of your health in one shot. It's rather difficult to avoid this, be ready for some defensive cd's and/or heals.

Major Nanners has a small chance to drop Helpful Wikky's Whistle. This item is pretty neat. Upon use, a small hozen will be summoned to your side. You have a short window to interact with him and ask him to forage for you. He will then run off and you will be left with the buff Helpful Wikky for two hours. After killing a certain number of mobs Wikky will reappear and you can interact with him again. This time he will give you a Bag of Helpful Things. This bag can contain all sorts of goodies including elixirs, potions, motes of harmony, etc.

3 comments:

  1. this is no longer completely accurate. they turned all the final mobs for the golden lotus daily chains to rares too.

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  2. For the Helpful Wikky's Whistle you have to kill 50 Pandaria mobs. And Wikky won't come back unless its Pandaria mobs can't be any other mob.

    ReplyDelete