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Down But Not Out
Sorry for not posting on Friday. Had a medical issue that I’m recovering from, and I’m pretty laid out. Off my feet, no heavy lifting, pretty much just a lump on a log right now. Gonna be about a week until I can walk around, and longer before I’m back at the gym. Luckily I can still be productive in-game. After getting the farms and crafting sorted out for selling, I took some time to knock out some achievements. I managed two big scores:
After literally flying around the entire content of Northrend, checking every spawn point in every zone, I found her literally in last place I looked.
Poor quality, but I can fix that. I’ve got the time to make it happen.
Brawler’s Guild – Rank Three for Death Knights
By this point, I had become adept at killing much like a baby is adept at filling its diapers with green horror-paste. Between the guidance of Icy Veins and my own Death Knightly skillzone, possessing Clockem was inevitable. All I had to do was get through one last rank of opposition. That’s all.
But Clockem watched me from the vendor shelf and decided he didn’t want to be my new Fight Friend. Maybe there was something in my Death Knight’s style that he felt made me unworthy to possess him. Maybe he saw the madness that possessed my Death Knight when he fought and thought that fighting for a crazy person was no way to go through life, even when that life existed only to fight for crazy people.
Clockem had the industrious notion to make sure he was protected from being Pokemon-napped by executing his own agenda, and that was Operation: Rank Three Will Kick You In The Dick. This even applies if the one being kicked has no dick to speak of, which reflects the impressive aggression of the plan.
My thought was this: Bitch, you have spiked boxing gloves on the ends of your life-stealing arms. You are going to use those gloves to beat rabbits and frogs into bloody pulps, and you will do so for my general amusement. I will step on the necks of every Rank Three opponent, throw a fistful of coins at the vendor, and Clockem will begin to dine on a full diet of violence and blood.
Rank Three
Blat – Slime. Unpleasant. Nasty. Hose yourself off after this fight. Death Knight feedback:
- When it starts, immediately popped Pillar of Frost and Army of the Dead, and threw DoTs. Continued to backpedal and hit with Obliterate / Frost Strike. When he stopped, I’d spam Howling Blast on him until he caught up, then continue with Obliterate and Frost Strike. Managed to kill him with about 30 seconds to spare.
Sanoriak – This flaming lizard will light you up in short order if you’re not paying attention. This is a fight about interrupts, movement, and beating this thing down.
Ixx – Theoretically, this bug should be a breeze. Theoretically, Lindsay Lohan should be in prison until she’s two hundred.
- Use Lichborne as your tier 2 talent, since it is the only talent in this tier that will provide you some actual usage during the fight against Ixx. Simply treat Lichborne as a self-healing cooldown, which can be used to extend your survival in the arena by a few seconds. U
- se Death Pact as your tier 4 talent, because the fight against Ixx is short enough that you can make full use of the heal; your ghoul will still be alive when you need the healing from Death Pact.
The fight against Ixx is made considerably easier if you use the full combination of offensive cooldowns at the start. Frost Death Knights should use Army of the Dead, Raise Dead, Pillar of Frost, as well as making use of Empower Rune Weapon to gain an excellent amount of burst DPS. Unholy Death Knights should use Army of the Dead, Unholy Frenzy, as well as making use of Empower Rune Weapon.To defeat Ixx, simply use all your offensive cooldowns at the start of the fight and DPS the boss while standing still. There is no damage that you can mitigate through Anti-Magic Shell in this fight. You can use Icebound Fortitude to reduce the damage you take from melee attacks.
Mazhareen – Another fight that looks simple on paper. She’s another hockey fight, just straight-up melee. However, her damage ramps up as he health decreases so skip the foreplay and get right down to business.
There you have it. If you’ve made it this far, you are now a Rank Four member of the Brawler’s Guild. Clockem can’t hide any longer. Come forth, minion, and be counted in the pet stable!
Great. Just great.
Brawler’s Guild – Rank Two for Death Knights
Honk Honk.
What’s that you ask? That sound would be me tooting my own horn to an obscene degree. My Death Knight girded his loins and walked through the Rank One opposition without so much as breaking a sweat. Thanks, Icy Veins (the website, not the ones twisting through my body) for your helpful advice.
With Rank One cinched firmly under my belt, I stepped up for the first fight of Rank Two. I felt my confidence rise to an absurd level when a cute little penguin named Dippy appeared before me. I thought that maybe he was the entertainment before the first Rank Two boss stepped out. But no, apparently he would be the one my Death Knight would be cutting up into steaks. I almost felt bad for what was about to happen.
A few seconds later, I really did feel bad. And by “bad” I mean “dead”. Dippy couldn’t have twisted my shit faster if he’d put it through a blender. I had just been curb stomped, American History X style, by a bird in a tuxedo. Back I went to Icy Veins, and this is what I did to get through Rank Two.
Rank Two
Dippy – A cute penguin. Never trust cute things. A few tips from various Death Knights:
- use Army of the Dead straight away to have as many things beating on him as possible. When that was about to expire, I pulled up my regular ghoul. I used Blood Boil to keep him at bay – using up Death Runes as well as my blood runes. Other than that… just use Death Strike and Rune Strikes.
- As a frost Death Knight with average gear, this fight was fairly easy. I popped Army of the Dead right when I entered the arena. I Used Outbreak, Howling Blast, and Death Coil when available. I kept slowing him with chains of Ice and just stayed out of his melee range. If you need healing, summon your regular ghoul and use Death Pact.
- Most importantly do your best to stay out of range as much as you can.
- As an Unholy Death Knight, I dropped Death and Decay, cast Icy Touch, and hit with Death Coil, when it was up. Use Dark Transformation when available and just kite around.
Kirrawk – Chicken man who poops tornadoes and throws lightning. A tip from a Death Knight on wringing this guy’s neck:
- Blood DK ILVL 482. Spec Build – 122111. Open with Outbreak, watch for tornado and dodge accordingly. Go to the boss and Death Strike/ Rune Strike. He doesn’t hit hard so Lightning Bolts are a non-factor with high HP and Mastery: Blood Shield. My mastery is currently 136% so my average 60k-70k Death Strikes heal me for 25-40k and absorb over 120k of the next incoming damage. If you face the boss with your back perpendicular to the line of tornadoes (which I noticed were coming from the direction front to back of where the boss enters the arena) the tornado will hit both of you, causing minimal damage to you but keeping you in range to continue beating on the boss. Very easy fight, no cooldowns used, summoned a minion about midway through to speed up the dps and have an emergency death pact if necessary.
Fran and Riddoh – Two for one, and it certainly feels like it. A tale of how a couple of Death Knights made this combat threesome work:
- I play a Blood Death Knight with a gear level of 475 (full gems and enchants). What I did was keep them both diseased with Blood Plague and Frost Fever. I brought the big guy down to 1M health, then switched to the little guy and took him to 200k, then switched back to the big guy, dropped him to about 100k, then killed the little guy, then the big one.
- First of all BOTH of the bosses are attackable at all times, though you will want to kill Riddoh first IMHO. You can use AOE’s and spread diseases and if you do they will be easier to deal with overall. When you move out of the minefield you will want to look for a gap, the mines are active immediately. As an Unholy Death Knight, spread your diseases with Pestilence and drop Death and Decay. A Blood Boil or two won’t hurt either. Otherwise a pretty simple fight.
King Kulaka – This big lizard is just a hockey fight. Drop gloves, grab jersey, throw hands until someone drops. Feedback from one Death Knight who dropped the King on its Head:
- I defeated this as a Frost Death Knight, when I had about 485 item level. I just used Army of the Dead, Raise Dead, Pillar of Frost, Empower Rune Weapon, pre-potted a Strength potion and just killed him. Make sure you are talented into Death Pact and use that when you get below 50% health. Also remember you can stun him ( Remorseless Winter, Asphyxiate). If you’ve done all that but you are still failing, I can only imagine that you’re very under-geared, in which case you could try going Blood.
That’s it for Rank Two. One more rank to go before Clockem becomes yet another pet in the stable!
Wow. Can’t wait.
Brawler’s Guild – Rank One for Death Knights
Worth the beating?
When I was deep into my Pet Battle madness, I was tipped off to the existence of a mechanical gnome pet with spiked boxing gloves. This vicious contraption was only available through the Brawler’s Guild at Rank 4. This became my mission. Clockem would be mine.
Numerous deathmurders later, I decided to look online for anything that could help me get through to Rank 4. And since of course they would have it, icy-veins.com brought the wisdom in a big bad way. Following their guides, I was able to get myself to Rank 4 without too much of a problem. There were occasional repeat beatings to my bloody torso, but in the end I peeled Clockem out of their cold dead hands and made him mine.
Thanks to icy-veins.com, this is how I did it. This is how you can do it too.
Rank One
Bruce – A giant gator. Not too tough if you’re paying attention.
Vian the Volatile – Caster dude. A Death Knight tip for killing this schmuck:
- Stood toe to toe and interrupted any cast I could. With Fire Line I just move out of the way. If health gets low move away and pop a potion or bandage to get it up enough to continue. Try to position the boss so he does not get hit by the orbs he has bouncing around the room and they miss you as well.
Goredome – He gores you with his dome. A Death Knight tip to cracking this dome:
- Stand and fight, worry more about the circle on the ground for his charge than anything else. Even if you have a little low DPS you can take this out as long as you don’t get hit by the charge. When the circle is there GET OUT OF IT or you are dead.
Dungeon Master Vishas: Roll a d20 and hope for a crit against this uber nerd and boss mob for Rank One. A couple of Death Knight tips for victory:
- You can absorb the fire damage with your Anti-Magic Shell, generating more and more Runic Power. In case you’re not sure, simply slow / root (depends if you have Chilblains from your talents) during his buff. Oh, and it’s not dispellable with glyphed Icy Touch(it is NOT a magic buff).
- As Unholy Death Knight, get diseases on and kite around, cast Icy Touch to build Runic Power and then hit with Death Coil. Drop Death and Decay whenever available. I do have the Chilblains talent so Vishas was slowed a bit. Use Outbreak to refresh diseases when they drop and use Dark Transformation when available. I did this at about 450 ilvl and, though it was close, it was actually easier than with my warrior as I did not have to stay close.
Leveling From 85 to 90 Without Questing
Hello Patch 5.3.0, it could be nice to meet you.
Now me being me, I haven’t really looked too deeply into what Patch 5.3 is giving us. That would take time, and what little I have for World of Warcraft is best spent in game, not reading about it. You could probably swing by MMO Champion and find a breakdown on all the patch highlights.
There’s two things that did grab my interest in the patch notes. Thing the first is the Patch 5.3 Changes being made to Death Knights. Let’s go over them, shall we?
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General
- Blood Plague no longer benefits from the damage increase granted by Tricks of the Trade.
- Frost Fever no longer benefits from the damage increase granted by Tricks of the Trade.
- Necrotic Strike healing absorption effect has been increased to 225% from attack power, up from 200%.
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Talents
- Gorefiend’s Grasp can now affect a maximum of 4 player targets. The number of non-player targets that can be affected remains unlimited.
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Unholy
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Sudden Doom now requires the Death Knight to be in Unholy Presence to activate the effect that causes Death Coil to cost no Runic Power.
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HAHAHA seriously what the Hell! That’s it?! I make more of an effort when I’m changing my underwear than Blizzard does making changes to Death Knights. Either the class is really that awesome, or Blizzard doesn’t care because most people aren’t playing Death Knights enough to notice the need for change.
Now let’s get to the more important 5.3 change that many people are sporting cyber-wood over:
The amount of XP needed to level from 85 to 90 has been reduced by 33%.
Can you hear that? That sobbing sound you hear is the tears of joy from the people who have been waiting forever to level their alts. That other nasty sound you might be hearing is angry people who have already leveled their alts to 90 and are showering their keyboards with rage pee.
I, for one, don’t blame either group. As pretty as Pandaria might be, it’s just like any other leveling zone. Once you’ve quested through it a couple of times, you’re pretty much happy to never see it again. Some people muscle through the content a couple more times and then wash their hands in it. Some insane people level ten of their alts to 90 without somehow losing their minds.
Because I clearly have issues that the medical community still can’t explain, I started leveling my third Death Knight from 85 to 90. I’d be at the character selection screen, see that 85 DK and think to myself that yes, today would be the day I would take him to level 86. But as soon as I saw the inside of that inn in Jade Forest, my brain would send anxiety waves to my hands and render them useless. It was like suffering agoraphobia, only in this case my fear was going outside in a digital world and facing humanoid Pandas with exclamation points hovering over their heads.
There had to be a better way to level. No, check that. It didn’t have to be better, it just had to be something that didn’t make me feel like I was being made to drink a bucket of warm donkey piss at gunpoint.
My alternatives were limited. I didn’t have a gathering profession, so I wouldn’t be reaching 90 by way of picking flowers or smashing rocks. Dungeons was definitely an alternative, but that had the double downside of first looking at queues of 15-30 minutes as a DPS class, then dealing with four other strangers and hoping they knew what the Hell they were doing so we could get through the run without wiping.
The solution came to me when I noticed this guy hammering on a side of beef like it owed him money.
Yo Adrian!
Pet Battles. My favorite bad habit in WoW. It was staring me in the face the whole time.
I’ll discuss the beating I took over this battle pet in a future post (OMG SPOILERS). Right now, I was still nursing fresh bruises and full body aches in the aftermath of these conflicts. Why not let these battle pets earn XP for me? I didn’t see a downside to the idea – the pets would get experience, I’d get experience, and I wouldn’t have to spend hours getting abused by spirits, monkeys, and giant bugs.
Was it effective?
Before Patch 5.3 hit, I’d already gotten myself midway through 88 once I had a team I was comfortable with. I had three pets at level 25, and trust me I didn’t need three. My Celestial Dragon was taking care of all sorts of business by itself, soloing packs of level 24 and 25 pets in the Vale of Eternal Blossom. I was able to powerlevel two other low level pets while raking in XP of my own. In Northrend I was earning 96-104k XP per fight, and in Pandaria I was looking at 130-136k XP per fight. At roughly three minutes a fight, I was looking at about TWO POINT SIX MILLION XP PER HOUR in Pandaria. After the XP nerf, it only took about 12.5 million XP to get through level 88. More importantly, the XP per fight appears to go up to 161k!
What? How?
The secret to rapid fire battles is to pick fights near a stable master. After the battle is over, quickly fly to the stable master to heal or revive your pets, then get back out and start another battle. Northrend has a perfect spot – quick respawns for non-stop battles, and a stable master very close by.
Once you’re ready for the level 25 battle pets, make your way to the Vale of Eternal Blossom. The lakes and nearby moths provide plenty of battles, and the stable master is just up by the flight master. You’ll gain 134,000 XP back to back, faster than you’d get per quest. In the time it would take you to accept the quest, do the quest, and hand in the quest, you could have done two or three Pet Battles.
So if you’re ready to slit your wrists at the thought of another quest grind, whip out some vanity pets and throw down. You’ll be glad you did. So will this guy.
Don’t make me hurt you, punk.
Rokk Talk 